Charges That Can be Added to Arizona’s DUI Charges

If you have been arrested under Arizona’s DUI or Driving Under influence Laws, then there are many things that you need to know. Along with charges of DUI, there are a wide range of other charges that can be added according to the actual situation. Listed are some of the additional charges that can be added in the respective situations of Arizona DUI charges.

Aggressive Driving (ARS 28-695): This particular charge is usually added to a DUI when you drive at an excessive speed and pose a threat to other persons and vehicles on the road. A leading AZ dui lawyer says that apart from traffic school, you can get penalties like 30 day license suspension and jail. This kind of charge is most common as cases under DUI also include violation of traffic signals and rules.

Reckless Driving (ARS 28-693): As the name says, this charge is added to DUI when you drive without any regard to others on the road. Reckless driving, just like aggressive driving, is a misdemeanor offense. The outcome may include jail sentence and 90 day license suspension. If you are a repeat offender and have had DUI cases in the previous couple of years, penalties may become harsh.

Accident Involving or Causing Damage to Property (ARS 28-662): This charge is also common in cases of DUI. This refers to a situation when you hit and cause property damage. The crime falls under misdemeanor offence and hence, you may be subject to a jail sentence. Also, your license may be suspended for one year with other charges being a distinct possibility.

Accident Involving Personal Injuries or Death (ARS 28-661): If you have been involved in a case of DUI, which includes vehicle collision and death or injury of person, the charge framed is what is called accident involving death and personal injuries. This kind of offense is known as felony offense, and the results may be license revocation for three to five years including jail time. If you are charged with a felony, you better hire an Arizona DUI defense attorney because the charges are very serious.

Reforms to Legal Aid Defeated in the House of Lords

Widespread and wide-ranging plans to bring significant and sweeping change to the current system of legal aid in the UK have just been defeated. The changes to the legal aid system suffered three separate and serious defeats in the House of Lords yesterday. The defeats were the first salvos in what is expected to be a protracted and hard-fought legal battle over the controversial changed to the legal aid system – a battle that will be played out over the next few months in parliament.

The House of Lords Peers are all set to set about inflicting a whole series of planned reversals on the coalition government’s proposed plans to cut a significant £350 million from the cost of legal aid by the end of 2015. Whips from the labor party believe that the legislation will most likely attract considerably more opposition than that currently lined up against the severely criticized NHS Health Bill.

In addition, an amendment by the labor party that would require legal aid protection to be given to the victims of domestic violence was also passed. The Lords peers additionally gave their support to crossbench change, and made it clear that everyone should be able to have access to the legal services that they need to meet their needs.

So far, there have already been concessions made over the issue of legal help that is given to victims of domestic violence and victims of clinical negligence. However, additional defeats are still expected over the next few days and before the new bill returns to the House of Commons in the next couple of weeks.

James is a business blogger and writer, who writes about everything from business equipment to business technology and from umbrella companies to contractor tax .

UK Court Makes Historic Facebook Serve

A judge in the UK last week gave the go ahead for a claim to be served through the medium of Facebook , the online social network site. It was believed to have been the very first case of its kind in the United Kingdom’s high court. The high court judge, Mr Justice Tear, had given the petitioners permission to go through Facebook after they had faced significant difficulties in tracking down the involved party for the commercial claim. Similar action has been taken in other courts around the world, such as Australia and New Zealand which have seen the serving of writs through Facebook becoming commonplace. It is, nevertheless, the first time it has happened in the UK to this degree.

There have been some minor examples previously – the year before a lower court ordered an appearance through Facebook and the year before that Twitter was used to get the attention of a defendant who couldn’t be reached any other way and whose identity was both anonymous and uncertain.

The idea of using social media is not new however – legal analysts have been predicting the rise of the phenomenon for some time now, and it is believed that it will become more and more common over the next few years. The courts have already recognized the power and influence of these networks and the fact that these days property addresses may come and go but people’s Facebook and Twitter accounts stay the same. It is the belief of the courts that if the claimant in the case can now identify a defendant through their photo and an account then it is practical and legal to serve claims in this manner.

The case that has seen the High Court join in this use of social media is between AKO Capital and AKO Investment Managers (Master Fund). And it concerns a £2 million claim around the brokerage services of TFS Derivatives. The allegation is that the brokers significantly overcharged AKO in their commission rate and they are now seeking to get some of those charges recovered.

Alex is a writer and journalist who blogs regularly about issues affecting small businesses, covering everything from taxes to staff to legal issues. He also maintains a blog for a Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer .

Record Number of Workplace Injuries Raises Questions Down Under

Workplace injuries are regrettable occurrences, which employers and employees alike strive to prevent to the best of their abilities. It is often the case that such incidents turn out to be very complicated from a legal standpoint. Most personal injury cases end in complex legal battles, but when the defendant and the claimant are also involved in an employer-employee relation, the situation is governed by a complex set of regulations and contractual obligations. Recent events, which took place late last year in the province of Victoria, Australia, saw no fewer than six workers lose their lives over the course of a week and a half. The authorities quoted on the matter, among whom Ian Forsythe, a local health and safety organization manager, claimed this was the highest recorded number of such human life losses reported over the past ten years. Read on for details, reactions and possible conclusions to be inferred from the events.

The Facts

It is probably no coincidence that all the accidents involved workers in the field of constructions. A fifty-two year old man found death by water, as he was performing maintenance tasks in south-eastern Melbourne, in the sewage plant for water treatment that he was employed by. Another accident saw a man brought to his demise as a street sweeper ran him over in the Bayswater North area. The other accidents involved explosions and other types of unpredictable incidents.

The Officials’ Reactions

According to Mr. Forsythe, who runs WorkSafe, an organization committed to ensuring safe work measures for all, the end of the year is a propitious time for such accidents. The organization’s executive director states that people tend to become more relaxed and less mindful of safety constraints. At the same time, Forsythe added, the primary responsibility in making sure that every worker is safe falls strictly to the employer. Also, he rushed to state, the number of work-related accidents that took place in Victoria in late 2011 was unprecedented, “nothing in the realms of what we’ve seen in the last two weeks.” Dave Noonan, a secretary for the local Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union, or CFMEU, took a more employee-oriented stance in positing that during the busy time at the end of the year, many employers force their staff to disregard the normally observed safety measures. According to Noonan, this situation is brought on by the inordinately large workload that crops up as the year draws to a close.

Conclusions?

While a non-fatal workplace accident can actually yield a consistent reward in damages for the claimant, provided they can hire a good personal injury lawyer, fatal accidents are not to be taken lightly. According to the CFMEU representative, construction workers in Australia are highly at risk, as this professional category sees one death every seven days. Noonan also blamed the lax safety training regulation which just has workers filling out papers, without providing them with any actual, useful information on how to prevent injury.

Leicester Racial Violence Case Sparks Debates

Amid growing violence throughout the world, it seems Leicestershire has not remained impervious. It is always a pity to come to the realization that the streets of a city are not safe, especially when the injured party in such a case is a female. Recent events in Leicester confirmed once more that authorities should take a firmer stance against urban manifestations of violence, for the gap between the local population and ethnic minorities seems to be widening with each passing day.
The case in question here is the recent attack that occurred upon a twenty-two year-old Leicester native, Miss Rhea Page. Apparently, while walking through the city centre together with her then partner, the young woman was attacked by four young women of Somali nationality and Muslim ethnicity. The case is a notorious one. Its visibility and notoriety were increased by the fact that it was featured in several magazines and newspapers, while many online news portals also reported on the matter. There is a video recording of the incident, available for full viewing online.

Recent court hearings in this case have proven controversial to say the least. Among other issues circulating through the rumour mill of late, several voices claimed that the judge presiding over the case, Judge Robert Brown, had released the four women accused of the assault because they had been drinking. He allegedly used this information as an extenuating set of circumstances, since, reportedly, as Muslim women, they are not accustomed to the effects of alcohol. This allegation came from several solicitors Leicester Mercury online reports.

According to Judge Brown himself, this was not the reason behind the fact that the women were not imprisoned. Apparently, Miss Brown’s partner responded with too great a show of physical force against the supposed assailants. In addressing the defendants, the judge acknowledged the fact that their response may have been caused by their reaction too excessive violence. In turn, Miss Brown reported that she was also addressed with racial slurs from the four women in question, who thereby also added insult to injury.

In response to these events, the English Defence League, also known as the EDL, recently issued an online video. The video invites all those who feel that Islamic extremism is a problem to join a protest, scheduled to take place on Saturday, February 4. The English Defence League was arguably created in a local effort to combat cases of racial violence, such as Miss Page’s.

Amid debates relating to the racial slur that the four women allegedly shouted against Miss Page, the Crown Prosecution Service made its stance on the matter as clear as possible. According to the statements made by their representatives, it is unclear which of the four Somali women shouted the slur. The four defendants, sisters Ambaro Maxamed (aged twenty four), Ayaan Maxamed (aged twenty eight) and Hibo Maxamed (aged twenty four) were involved in the incident, together with their cousin, Ifran Nur (aged twenty eight). The four women admitted to having inflicted bodily harmed on Miss Page and were sentenced to a six month imprisonment term, which the judge suspended for twelve months.