My family owns some cattle. Adjoining our property is a highway. The cattle have escaped before without incident. If our cattle were to escape and cause a car accident, would we be held responsible? The answer to your question is “maybe” and depends on the surrounding circumstances. The Kansas legislature has adopted a series of statutes that deal with this situation. Most notably, Kansas law imposes a blanket-wide prohibition making it “unlawful for any neat cattle, horses, mules, asses, swine or sheep to run at […]
Newton’s Legal Eagle
Is there any hope for my lost luggage?
I was on a flight approximately several weeksago and the airline still has not found my luggage. I did not have anything particularly valuable in my suitcases but it is still extremely frustrating. The airline has worked with me but hasn’t been as accommodating as I would expect. They haven’t contacted me asking how much my luggage was worth in order to replace it. What are my rights against the airline? That is a very frustrating situation. It reminds me of a similar scenario in […]
Are there any limits to advertising for lawyers?
I personally find most of the lawyer advertising on television distasteful, insulting, and just plain annoying. I doubt this is a question you get asked too much, but are there any limits to such advertising by lawyers? Although I am rarely asked this exact question, I have heard numerous people complain about offensive lawyer advertisements on television. Believe it or not, many lawyers likewise feel that these advertisements undermine the integrity of the profession. In short answer to your question, a host of parameters actually […]
Do we have legal recourse to demand back child support?
My legal question is probably a first for you. In 1989, my wife’s first husband severed his parental rights and the judge said he was not to have contact with the kids for life. Since 1993 he has had contact with them. My question is do I have any legal recourse for demanding back child support from him as this was his reason to severe his rights in the first place – to get out of child support. I can’t believe the judge chose to […]
I asked an acquaintance to work on the house; now we have a legal mess
A while back I asked an acquaintance to perform some work on my house. He started the work but has not finished. When he was a little over halfway done with the project, we started to disagree regarding how the work was to be performed and the terms of our agreement. I dug around and found a copy of an agreement that he gave me with his signature before he started work. However, my signature was not part of the copy. Is the copy a […]