Tuesday, December 31, 2013

MARYLAND "BITCOIN TRANSACTION" UPDATE: JHU Professor Seeks Transaction Anonymity

www.charlesjeromeware.com. " We are here to make a difference."

A Johns Hopkins University professor, Matthew D. Green, and his "team of researchers" are allegedly seeking to develop an untraceable digital currency ( to be called " Zerocoin"),which will be intended to make " Bitcoin" transactions truly anonymous.

According to Professor Green, the goal is not to assist criminals, but rather to " allow people to communicate and perform transactions in an anonymous and completely democratic way --- much like using cash."

Some critics protest that Professor Green's proposed " Zerocoin" system will help criminals launder massive amounts of money.

Obviously, this is another area in the " Bitcoin" phenomenon to watch.

[ http:// www.baltimoresun.com.news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-bitcoin-20131125/by E. J. Fagan]

Bitcoin is has not taken hold very much in Maryland as yet; but there continues to be potential for its increased use in some markets in the state.

[ http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/technology/blog/bs-bz-fiddlefly-accepts-bitcoin/J.S.Hopkins/December 12, 2013]

Saturday, December 28, 2013

POLITENESS versus FLIRTATION

Politeness has become so rare that some people mistake it for flirtation

Attorney Charles Ware's Blog: MARYLAND OPHTHALMOLOGY MEDICAL MALPRACTICE UPDAT...

Attorney Charles Ware's Blog: MARYLAND OPHTHALMOLOGY MEDICAL MALPRACTICE UPDAT...: www.charlesjeromeware.com . " We are here to make a difference." This blog is designed for informational purposes only and not int...

MARYLAND OPHTHALMOLOGY MEDICAL MALPRACTICE UPDATE

www.charlesjeromeware.com. " We are here to make a difference." This blog is designed for informational purposes only and not intended to be used for, nor considered to be, legal advice.

$ 1,0000,0000 CONFIDENTIAL SETTLEMENT : OPHTHALMOLOGY MALPRACTICE

This New Jersey  medical negligence case involved a 45-year-old plaintiff maintenance worker who initially sustained injury to his right eye when a drill bit broke while he was drilling a hole into a metal plate at work, causing a large piece of metal bit to strike him in the right eye.

The plaintiff contended that the defendant emergency room physician negligently failed to advise
the co-defendant ophthalmologic surgeon that the CT-scan reflected the presence of an opaque
foreign object and the ophthalmologic surgeon negligently failed to properly read the CT-scan in conjunction with surgery, closing the patient while the foreign object (portion of drill bit) was still present. The plaintiff alleged that the object was abrading the retina and remained for seven days causing extensive inflammation and blindness in one eye.

Plaintiff contended that his vision in the affected right eye is essentially limited to counting his fingers, and he cannot drive. Plaintiff also maintained that he will be permanently precluded from working in the field of maintenance and that using tools such as saws is now very dangerous for him.
The plaintiff can work in other fields and the plaintiff's vocational expert would have discussed (had the case gone to trial) an approximate 20% reduction in plaintiff's earning capacity.  The case settled prior to the plaintiff's retention of a medical expert on liability for $ 1,000,000.  The settlement did not disclose the percentage paid on behalf of each physician.

[ The national law firm of Charles Jerome Ware, P.A., Attorneys & Counselors, is conveniently headquartered in the Columbia, Howard County, Maryland. For an initial courtesy consultation, contact us at (410) 720-6129  or  (410) 730-5016;  www.charlesjeromeware.com]

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Attorney Charles Ware's Blog: CHARLES WARE's " BITCOIN" UPDATE : The BITCOIN MOV...

Attorney Charles Ware's Blog: CHARLES WARE's " BITCOIN" UPDATE : The BITCOIN MOV...: www.charlesjeromeware.com .  " We are here to make a difference." The national law firm of Charles Jerome Ware, P.A., Attorneys &a...

CHARLES WARE's " BITCOIN" UPDATE : The BITCOIN MOVEMENT continues, www.charlesjeromeware.com

www.charlesjeromeware.com.  " We are here to make a difference." The national law firm of Charles Jerome Ware, P.A., Attorneys & Counselors, is conveniently headquartered in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland metropolitan area. The content of this blog is presented for informational purposes only, and not intended as legal advice.

                                       THE  " BITCOIN " MOVEMENT CONTINUES

BITCOIN is the latest poster currency for a growing movement of alternative financial tender.
Essentially, BITCOIN is an innovative payment network and a new kind of money. BITCOIN uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks. Managing of transactions and the issuing of  bitcoins  is carried out collectively by the network.

BITCOIN is open - source; its design is public. Ideally, it is claimed that no one owns or controls BITCOIN, and everyone can take part in it. It is also alleged that, through many of its  " unique properties", BITCOIN allows exciting uses that could not be covered by any previous payment system  [http;//bitcoin.org/en].

Similar to the alleged trillion-dollar platinum coin several months ago, BITCOIN has leap-frogged from a technical curiosity to "mainstream" financial news. Certainly, BITCOIN has become an object of economic escapism for some. As to whether it continues to grow as a currency phenomenom  has yet to be seen, but the underlying public curiosity that there is growing skepticism about global financial systems' long-term viability, and a correlated grassroots interest in returning to smaller scale, offline, more locally-focused systems of currency and financial exchange.

                                        IS BITCOIN A BETTER MEANS OF FINANCIAL
                                                        AND  CURRENCY  EXCHANGE ?

According to some monetary experts, a growing number of people worldwide have grown tired of being
economically abused by "globalization" and simply want to get back to functioning within sustainable local  systems. Because of the way our globalized world works financially ( great when it does work, a disaster when it does not), hard-working people and their communities are being destroyed by financial meltdowns in distant geographic locations. It is argued by many that globalization has eroded our incentives and our ability to play well together as local communities, meaning we are now less resilient to shocks of all kinds than we used to be. It should be noted, however, that some monetary experts believe that --- while currency projects like BITCOIN are quite interesting --- they set too high a bar for the average person; meaning, BITCOIN may be too sophisticated an exchange system for the general public  [http://qz.com/72697/bitcoin is just the  poster currency for a growing movement of alternative tender/April 10, 2013].

For a concise technical overview of how BITCOIN works, read the following site: http://bitcoin.org/en/how-it-works.

Monday, December 23, 2013

CHARLES WARE's TRADE SECRETS UPDATE FOR MARYLAND AND D.C., 2014

www.charlesjeromeware.com. This blog is presented for informational purposes, and not intended to be legal advice. The national law firm of Charles Jerome Ware, P.A., Attorneys & Counselors, is conveniently headquartered in the Baltimore and D.C. metropolitan area. For an initial courtesy consultation, contact us at (410) 720-6129 or (410) 730-5016.
The public can expect an increase in trade secret litigation in Maryland and Washington, D.C. in 2014, as well as throughout several other jurisdictions in the United States. Certainly 2013 was a big trade secrets year, but 2014 promises to be an even bigger year.

One very hot trade secrets issue involved the allegation by security company Mandiant in February 2013 that the Chinese government was sponsoring hackers in China that systematically engaging in cyberattacks in the United States. The U.S. responded with outrage, followed with a White House " Executive Order and 5-Point Plan" for combatting Cybertheft; then the Pentagon publicly accused China of cyberhacking in its Annual Report to Congress; and the U.S. Senators called for the creation of a watch list of foreign countries that " engage in economic or industrial espionage". It appeared the U.S. had taken the upper hand on China in terms of the moral high ground and public image on the topic.

Then came the Edward Snowden scandal of the NSA.

Snowden single-handedly snatched America's moral high ground away with his now infamous "revelations" about NSA surveillance programs, including spying on friendly government leaders and allies. America took a huge credibility hit. After all, it is very difficult to complain about others hacking when you are doing the same thing as well as monitoring  "friends' " telephone calls. There will surely be more uproar about this debacle in 2014.

All along, trade secrets legislation has also been gaining ground in the states, including Maryland and D.C.

Maryland is one of 48 states that have adopted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. Texas, by the way, became the 48th state to do so in 2013. And the Massachusetts legislature currently has two bills that would also adopt the uniform act. New York and Massachusetts are the only hold-outs thus far in adopting some form of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act., which celebrates its 34th anniversary in August.

Maryland's own trade secrets law can be found at :  Md. Com. L. Code Secs. 11-1201, et seq. (http://law.justia.com/codes/maaryland/2010/commercial-la/title-11/subtitle-12/) (http://www.lawserver.com/law/state/louisiana/la-laws/louisiana revised statutes title 51 chapter 13-a); and see, http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/Maryland Trade n - Review]/

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Attorney Charles Ware's Blog: MARYLAND LEAD PAINT DEFENSE ALERT: CA. LEAD CLEAN-...

Attorney Charles Ware's Blog: MARYLAND LEAD PAINT DEFENSE ALERT: CA. LEAD CLEAN-...: www.charlesjeromeware.com . Lead paint and lead poisoning defense litigation specialists. " We are here to make a difference. We fight;...

MARYLAND LEAD PAINT DEFENSE ALERT: CA. LEAD CLEAN-UP ORDER,www.charlesjeromeware.com

www.charlesjeromeware.com. Lead paint and lead poisoning defense litigation specialists. " We are here to make a difference. We fight; you win."  (410) 720-6129; (410) 730-5016.

A California Superior Court judge in San Diego has ordered three(3) current or former lead paint-producing companies to pay $1.1 billion into a clean-up fund to help clean-up hazards from lead paint in hundreds of thousands of homes in the state of California.

The judge's decision in the 13-year old civil case, filed by 10 city and county governments in California, requires payments by defendants SHERWIN-WILLIAMS Co., NL INDUSTRIES, Inc., and CONAGRA Grocery products company.  defendants DuPont Co. and Atlantic-Richfield Co. (owned by BP PLC) were dismissed from the case. Defendants have vowed to appeal the court's decision.

The judge has ordered the creation of a fund to achieve the goals of using the money to pay to remove lead-paint hazards from homes in Los Angeles County, San Francisco and other places whose local governments joined the legal action. The fund is to be administered by California's existing state Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch program.

[ "Lead-Paint Cleanup Ordered By Judge", The Wall Street Journal, page B1, Tuesday, December 17, 2013]

Friday, December 13, 2013

Attorney Charles Ware's Blog: SCOTUS DISMISSES "UNDER THE RADAR" UNION CASE: CHA...

Attorney Charles Ware's Blog: SCOTUS DISMISSES "UNDER THE RADAR" UNION CASE: CHA...:     w ww.charlesjeromeware.com “We are here to make a difference; we fight, you win.” The U.S. Supreme Court won’t cons...

SCOTUS DISMISSES "UNDER THE RADAR" UNION CASE: CHARLES WARE"S UPDATE








 
 

www.charlesjeromeware.com “We are here to make a difference; we fight, you win.”



The U.S. Supreme Court won’t consider a case on the validity of union-employer “neutrality agreements” after hearing oral arguments on November 13.

 

Salon had called Unite Here Local 355 v. Mulhall an “under-the radar case that could deal a major blow to already embattled U.S. unions.” Unions seek to entice companies to help them in the type of agreement before the court, promising labor peace or other concessions in exchange for an employer’s help. The employer may agree in exchange to remain neutral, for example, or may help the union by providing access to employee lists.

 

At issues is whether such agreements violate the Labor Management Relations Act, which bars companies from paying money or “any other thing of value” to a labor union trying to organize workers.

 

Justice Stephen G. Breyer dissented from the court’s dismissal of the case as improvidently granted in an opinion on Tuesday joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

 

Breyer’s dissent acknowledges that the case could be moot, either because the agreement at issue expired before a federal appeals court issues a decision, or because the employee who challenged the agreement lacked standing. He said the Supreme Court should have asked for additional briefing on a third question: whether the federal law authorizes a private right of action.

 

If the case was found to be moot, the court would likely vacate the decision finding a labor violation by the Atlanta based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, “thereby removing its precedential effect and leaving the merits question open to be resolved in a later case,” Breyer said.  

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Attorney Charles Ware's Blog: 1931" SCOTTSBORO BOYS": JUSTICE DENIED , BUT PARDO...

Attorney Charles Ware's Blog: 1931" SCOTTSBORO BOYS": JUSTICE DENIED , BUT PARDO...: www.charlesjeromeware.com . " We are here to make a difference. We fight, you win." For the unfortunate "Scottsboro Boys&qu...

1931" SCOTTSBORO BOYS": JUSTICE DENIED , BUT PARDON STILL SWEET ?

www.charlesjeromeware.com. " We are here to make a difference. We fight, you win."

For the unfortunate "Scottsboro Boys" Justice delayed is still denied, but at least to some people this delayed justice is still sweet.

Finally, from this unjust and tragic 1931 incident in which 9 young African- American males, ages ranging from 12 to 19, were maliciously and falsely accused of rape of two white females on a train in the northern Alabama area of Scottsboro, all 9 of the defendants have been  posthumously vindicated.

" It has taken 82 years to clear the names of the Scottsboro Boys," said Sheila Washington, founder and director of the Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center. " And it happened today."

After considerable effort and lobbying by a consortium of law professors, lawyers, prosecutors, judges and others, a 3-person panel of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles voted unanimously on Thursday, November 21st, 2013, to issue posthumous pardons to the remaining three Scottsboro Boys who had neither already received a pardon nor had their convictions dropped previously.

It must be cautioned, however, that the criminal justice system is still far from being colorblind.
Sadly and tragically, U. S. prisons are still packed with young black people who have been falsely accused of crimes. The chances today of being jailed for something you did not do are still much greater if your skin color is black or dark.

[ posthumous Pardons In 1931 Scottsboro Boys Rape Cases, CNN, 11-21-2013, by Tom Watkins and Marlena Baldacci]