• Blog Post

    Is it Legal to Ban Kids from Restaurants?

    There’s a restaurant in my neighborhood that has a “no children in the bar side of the restaurant” rule. It is a family-friendly Italian restaurant with arguably the best pizza in town. We had no idea of the policy, though we noticed that one side of the restaurant always had tons of children. After the birth of our first child we discovered why. When we requested our favorite booth, we were immediately shut down: “no children or babies on the bar side of the restaurant.” With our heads hanging, we made our way to the “kids’ side.” Were we mad? No. Did we understand? Absolutely. Did we still get to…

  • Blog Post

    What Business Owners Should Know About Service Dogs and Emotional Support Animals

      With increasing frequency, dog owners are claiming their pets are service animals, even when they are not. Unlike the United Kingdom, the United States does not have a requirement that service dogs be certified, but they do have to meet certain criteria under the Americans with Disabilities Act (the ADA) and an increasing number of states are making it illegal to misrepresent your pet as a service animal.   According to the ADA, service dogs are defined as “dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities.” This means the person must have either a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or…

  • Blog Post

    Changing Domicile: How Mental Capacity Factors In

                Domicile is a relatively straight forward legal concept that combines the place where a person permanently resides with where he intends to remain.  However, what happens when a person who has been adjudicated incompetent desires to permanently move. Can he possess the requisite intent to change his domicile in legal terms?               The Georgia Court of Appeals recently took up this question in Estate of Milton Theophilus Pond, II.  In the case, a probate court granted Milton Pond guardianship of his son, M.P., who was an adult man with autism.  Since M.P.’s childhood, he lived with his mother,…

  • Blog Post

    Legal Standing: As Illustrated by an Indonesian Monkey Named Naruto

              To bring a lawsuit in the United States, one must have “standing.”  This legal principle essentially requires the person or company filing a lawsuit have an interest in a dispute.  That interest could involve a piece of property subject to an easement, a Constitutional right, or an injury suffered at the fault of another.  In an ongoing U.S. Court of Appeals case nicknamed the “monkey selfie” case, defense attorney Andrew Dhuey argues a monkey cannot satisfy the requirement of standing, saying, “monkey see, monkey sue is not good law – at least not in the Ninth Circuit.”  Despite the fact that the case was dubbed…