Victor D. López's Blog: Victor D. Lopez, page 44

Non-Lawyer Judges Presiding over Criminal Trials: A Constitutionally Permissible Injustice?

Non-Lawyer Judges Presiding over Criminal Trials:
A Constitutionally Permissible Injustice?
By Victor D. López and Eugene T. Maccarrone

Abstract

The common law legal system in the United States is complex and we rely on the adversarial system to settle both civil and criminal disputes with lawyers advocating for their clients in trial courts presided by judges entrusted to decide issues of law and, in criminal cases, to sentence defendants convicted of criminal activity to pay fines and...

AbstractMedical Malpractice Limitations for New York Infa...

Abstract

Medical Malpractice Limitations for New York Infants –

Time for a Change of Time?

By Eugene T. Maccarrone, J.D., CPA* and Victor D. López, J.D.

In response to the medical malpractice crisis of the 1970’s New York passed legal reforms that included Civil Practice Laws and Rules (CPLR) § 214-a allowing for a two and one-half year statute of limitations for instituting a claim for medical malpractice. This provision was part of New York’s effort to limit judgments for medical m...

Traffic Enforcement by Camera: Privacy and Due Process in the Age of Big Brother

States are increasingly turning to automated camera systems as a means of enforcing traffic regulations. The extent of the use of photo enforcement varies, as do the fines assessed for these types of violations. More recently, some jurisdictions are also implementing photo enforcement of failure to make a full stop at a stop sign and passing a school bus. On its face, camera enforcement of traffic laws may seem a reasonable tool for police to help ensure public safety. But the technology is not ...

When Lenders Can Legally Provide Loans with Effective Interest Rates Above 1,000 Percent, Is it Time for Congress to Consider a Federal Interest Cap on Consumer Loans?

The question of whether interest rates should be regulated for the good of society has been debated by secular and religious authorities for millennia. Restrictions on the highest rate of interest allowed by law (if any) are generally set by the states. In the U.S., whether citizens are protected against unreasonably high interest rates is generally a matter for state legislatures to decide. In this article, the current laws of the 50 states and the District of Columbia are examined with regards...

Hire Lernin’ – Chapter 9

Chapter 9

He awoke as usual a few minutes before his alarm clock came to life, showered, shaved, dressed, and had two cups of coffee before heading out the door at fifteen minutes past eight. He carried a briefcase with several sheets of paper shorn from his Computer Shopper magazine and a plastic case with his installation disks for Lotus 1-2-3 and dBase III. He arrived at work a few minutes before 9:00 a.m. and headed to his office. After the hubbub of students going to their first-period...

Hire Lernin’ – Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Back in his office, Dan turned to creating a prioritized To Do list for the rest of this week. This included putting together an agenda for his first faculty meeting, developing a process for faculty evaluations, determining the competencies and preferences of his faculty as to teaching classes, developing the class schedule for the new cohort in the Computerized Office Specialist certificate program that was set to start on Monday, and beginning a review of the currency of lesson...

Hire Lernin’ – Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The next day, Dan rose early after a night of maybe two hours of restless sleep as he could barely contain his excitement about his first full day of work. He could not get the idea of the short course out of his head, nor think of a way to overcome the hurdle of needing new IBM-compatible computers for one of the labs to run the new software. He would not compromise and offer obsolete software on obsolete apple IIe’s. He’d just have to find a way. He showered, made coffee and put o...

To Thine Own Self Be True

Some simple words to all my fledgling,
Brothers and sisters of the pen,
Who long to sing most beautifully and
Stretch their downy wings of poetry.

No expert I, nor one who soars,
On powerful wings in cloudless skies,
But nearly fifty years of steady flight,
Does some perspective bring.

In all humility I offer you some simple truths,
That I have learned throughout the years,
In hopes that they may help you fly,
Long, sure and true to meet your destiny.

Read widely friend, and learn the forms,
That...

I Write Therefore I Live . . . Again

[From my new poetry Collection, Echoes of Dawn at Dusk]

Spent three nights this week
Living in 1987
Immersed in both joy and sorrow
Long suppressed

Writing a novel
Of fact made fiction
Relived a critical year
Writing of my former self

Three nights spent towards the end
At my keyboard
Not my bed
Until 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.

Then two or three hours of sleep
And back to weaving again
A renewed tapestry
From frayed and broken threads

The heart remembers
What the mind would hide
Old wounds thought...

Hire Lernin’ — Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Monday morning Dan showered, changed, had his usual two mugs of coffee and headed out of his apartment by 8:00 a.m. for the five-block walk to the 65th Street subway station to catch the G train to Queens Plaza. After a five-minute wait, he boarded the train for the short ride to Queens Plaza, where he walked across the platform to wait for the E train heading for Manhattan. Five minutes later, he boarded the crowded Manhattan-bound E train and suffered the approximately fifteen min...