The Federal Trade Commission issued a warning that nursing homes in several states are trying to require their Medicaid residents to sign over their stimulus checks. However, according to the CARES Act, these payments are tax credits, and tax credits do not count as “resources” for the purposes of federal benefits programs like Medicaid. Individuals who reside in long term care facilities typically manage their own money or appoint another person to handle their financial affairs. The stimulus funds are to be handled as any other resident benefits. Since stimulus payments do not count as income, they do not affect Medicaid eligibility or qualify as a Medicaid resource. The FTC…
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NORTH CAROLINA AUTHORIZES TEMPORARY EMERGENCY VIDEO NOTARIZATIONS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Effective May 4, 2020 through August 1, 2020, Notaries Public are permitted to notarize documents via video conferencing so as not to impede crucial business transactions, real estate transactions, estate planning necessities, medical documents, court documents, and most other important notarizations. In order to be valid, video notarizations must: Be conducted during a real time interaction between the principal signer and the notary; Involve audio-video technology quality that allow for clear video observation of the face of the signer and any acceptable form of identification; and The signer must indicate which county in North Carolina they are in when signing the documents, identify the documents they are singing, and allow…
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MAJOR BANKS ACCUSED OF “DISHONEST AND DEPLORABLE” BEHAVIOR WHEN PRIORITIZING LARGER COMPANIES FOR PPP APPLICATIONS
Class action lawsuits against large corporations are booming in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic. This month, we examined class action suits against both United Airlines and Ticketmaster regarding their wavering ticket refund policies. Unsurprisingly, given the chaos surrounding the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), several major U.S. banks find themselves defending a class action lawsuit filed by a group of mom-and-pop stores. On March 27, 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“Cares”) Act, aimed at providing relief to individuals, businesses, and government organizations suffering amid the Coronavirus pandemic. The CARES Act included the Paycheck Protection Program, which intended to provide American small businesses with cash-flow assistance…
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RAGE AGAINST THE TICKETMASTER MACHINE: CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT CHALLENGES CHANGES IN REFUND POLICY AMID COVID-19
Derek Hanson spent $590 on four tickets to two different Rage Against the Machine shows to be held in Oakland this month. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, those and about 55,000 other events scheduled between March and the end of the year were impacted. Previously, Live Nation and one of its divisions, Ticketmaster, had a policy for which they issued refunds to all events that had been postponed, rescheduled, or cancelled. Like many folks, Hanson wanted a refund since he could use the money and Live Nation’s own president predicted live events may not occur again until 2021. To his surprise, however, Ticketmaster and Live Nation retroactively changed their policy…
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“CHEF CURRY WITH THE POT, BOY”: AYESHA CURRY SUED FOR $10M FOR TAKING HER FOOD AND LIFESTYLE ROYALTIES
Ayesha Curry, the 31-year-old wife of NBA superstar Steph Curry, was sued in Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday by celebrity branding company Flutie Entertainment. According to the lawsuit, Curry was trying to build herself as a global brand when she signed a five-year deal with Flutie Entertainment in November 2014. Robert A. Flutie, the founder of the Florida-based company, asserts Curry had a modest following for her social media and food blog before their business relationship began. Flutie Entertainment claims it brought “significant and unprecedented results” during their five years working together. During that time, Curry landed a show on the Food Network, had a hosting role on ABC’s “Great…
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POLICING THE AIRLINES: MINNESOTA OFFICER SUES UNITED AIRLINES FOR REFUSING REFUND FOR COVID-19 FLIGHT CANCELLATION
Minnesota police officer Jacob Rudolph planned to take his family to Hilton Head, SC for vacation on April 4, 2020—then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Rudolph paid $1,521.45 for three tickets in January 2020. The airline cancelled thousands of flights due to the coronavirus pandemic, impacting thousands more customers. United Airlines offered to rebook its customers’ flights or issue travel vouchers, which would expire one year from the original ticket date. The airline since extended the voucher expirations for up two years. After repeatedly requesting a refund to no avail, Rudolph filed a federal class action lawsuit in Chicago (read it here). United Airlines’ refusal to refund passengers is particularly troubling…
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SCOTUS Approves State Piracy Without Consequence in North Carolina’s Blackbeard Lawsuit
In 1718, decades before the Founding Fathers quarreled over State’s rights versus Federal rights, Blackbeard’s infamous Queen Anne’s Revenge ran aground off the coast of Beaufort, North Carolina. Nearly 300 years later, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously ruled that all States enjoy sovereign immunity from copyright lawsuits. In June 2019, we published a blog post detailing the lawsuit between Nautilus Productions, LLC (“Nautilus”) and the State of North Carolina. When the wreckage of Queen Anne’s Revenge was discovered in 1996, Intersal, Inc. (“Intersal”), a private research and salvage company, conducted the exploration and recovery of the ship’s artifacts. Interstal hired Nautilus to document its efforts over the…
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“TIGER KING” JOE EXOTIC POUNCES ON FEDS WITH $94 MILLION LAWSUIT
Foremost, if you haven’t seen Netflix’s seven-part, true crime documentary series “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness”, do yourself a quarantine favor and watch it now. Joseph Maldonado-Passage f/k/a Joe Schreibvogel a/k/a Joe Exotic is a former big cat breeder and roadside zoo owner who is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for two counts of murder for hire, eight counts of falsifying wildlife records, and nine counts of violating the Endangered Species Act (in part, for killing five tigers). Launched from his jail cell in Grady County, Oklahoma and serving as his own attorney, Exotic is suing the U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and…
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TRUST MODIFICATION ACTIONS: THE TWISTS AND TURNS OF AMENDING THE BLACK MAMBA’S TRUST FOR THE BENEFIT OF HIS INFANT DAUGHTER
In 2003, Kobe Bryant created a trust for the benefit of his wife, Vanessa, and their children. Last amended in 2017, the trust does not provide for their nine-month-old daughter, Capri. If Kobe were still alive, the trust could have been amended with relative ease by his signing an amendment drafted by his estate planning lawyer. However, since his tragic passing, the trust became irrevocable (i.e., Kobe is no longer alive to revoke or amend the trust) and any modifications to that instrument will require court approval. As such, on March 17, 2020, Vanessa filed a Petition to Modify Trust in Los Angeles Superior Court. So what is required to…
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CORONAVIRUS EXPOSURE AND NEGLIGENT INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS
The World Heath Organization recently classified the coronoavirus outbreak as a global pandemic, and everyone should consider steps to protect themselves from the virus. But what if you’ve already been exposed? Two passengers aboard the quarantined Grand Princess cruise ship filed a federal lawsuit in California, alleging Princess Cruise Lines, Ltd. (“Princess”) caused them emotional distress by exposing them to the virus. A claim of negligent infliction of emotional distress (“NIED”) will likely be among the causes of action included in the lawsuit. What is NEID, and how does a plaintiff establish a prima facie case? The Elements In North Carolina, to allege NIED, the plaintiff must establish…
