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Search results for “police stops”

20 results

Terry v. Ohio: the street stop rule that grew far beyond one man on a Cleveland sidewalk

Terry v. Ohio created the rule that lets police briefly stop and pat down someone without a warrant, and the real fight now is over how much suspicion counts as enough.

ARTICLE by Colleen O'Brien

Illegal search, real evidence: why police can lose a case even when they found the goods

Mapp v. Ohio made illegally seized evidence unusable in state criminal trials, forcing police to follow the Fourth Amendment instead of treating it like a suggestion.

ARTICLE by Kyle Reinhart

cease and desist letter

Like a hard brake before a pileup, this is a written warning telling someone to stop doing something now and not start again. Legally, a cease and desist letter is usually sent...

step-down provision

The part that catches people off guard is this: the policy may show a big coverage limit on the declarations page, but a hidden clause can cut that amount way down for certain...

examination under oath

Miss this for a routine phone call, answer loosely, or skip it, and an insurer may use that against you to delay, reduce, or even deny your claim. An examination under oath is...

Habeas corpus is real, but proving you should be released is brutally hard

Habeas corpus lets a prisoner challenge unlawful custody, but modern federal habeas mostly turns on a punishing rule: it is not enough to show the state court was wrong.

ARTICLE by LaKeisha Davis

Why is my criminal record still showing up if it was expunged?

Expungement does not always mean the record disappears everywhere. In the United States, what "expunged" means depends heavily on state law, and in many places it is closer to...

What evidence can be excluded from court, and why?

A judge can exclude important-looking evidence at the last minute, even if it seems decisive, and once that happens a claim or defense can weaken fast. That surprises many...

Eighth Amendment: the "evolving standards" test that changed everything

The Eighth Amendment is not a list of banned punishments so much as a moving constitutional standard, and one Supreme Court case explains why.

ARTICLE by Pete Rossignol

patent prosecution

Defense lawyers may throw around "patent prosecution" in a way that sounds like someone is being accused of a crime. It is not criminal prosecution. In plain English, it means...

A guide to RFRA and why Congress made it harder to enforce some laws

RFRA was Congress's response to a Supreme Court decision that weakened free-exercise protections, and it gives people a powerful way to argue that federal law burdens their religion too much.

ARTICLE by Sandra Fischer

Can employees report illegal conduct without being fired?

Yes. What the insurance company does not want you to know about this is that whistleblower protection laws can block retaliation when a worker reports certain illegal conduct,...

reservation of rights letter

A reservation of rights letter is often confused with a denial letter, but they are not the same. A denial letter says the insurer is refusing coverage or refusing to defend a...

ADA coverage looks narrow on paper, but the disability loophole mostly failed

The ADA has a definition that once let employers and businesses argue lots of people were not "really" disabled, but Congress and the courts largely shut that down.

ARTICLE by Brian Saarinen

DMCA takedown notice

Not a court order, and not proof that someone actually infringed a copyright. It is a formal request sent under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA), usually...

How does a government tort claim work after a long-delayed injury?

A recent policy shift has made this more visible: federal agencies have tightened online claim procedures under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), so more people first learn...

Your gun rights may not save you - here is what Heller actually protects

Heller recognized an individual Second Amendment right, but people get burned when they assume that means every gun restriction in a lease, eviction case, protection order, or criminal case is automatically illegal.

ARTICLE by Keisha Williams

What counts as employer retaliation for filing a workers' compensation claim?

What the ER doctor records is your injury, work restrictions, and likely cause; what the workers' compensation insurer does with that information is decide compensability and...

Why is an insurance company asking for money out of a settlement that is supposed to help pay for injuries? Subrogation is the right of an insurer, benefit plan, or government...

uninsured motorist coverage

Think of it like a spare life jacket on a boat: you hope you never need it, but it is there when someone else fails to bring basic safety gear. Uninsured motorist coverage is...