California Keep Your Home Program -- $2-billion to help distressed homeowners

The State of California’s Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) has started a new, federally funded, program called "Keep Your Home California". There are four parts [...]

While most employers are aware that Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination in employment against persons with disabilities, most employers are less familiar with Titles II and III of the ADA which requires privately owned business that provide goods or services to the public (retail store, hotel, bank, law firm, Etc..) and commercial facilities (warehouse, factory, office building) designed or constructed after January 26, 1993, or altered after January 26, 1992, to comply [...]

On October 11, 2009, the Governor signed Assembly Bill 1046, which increases California’s statutory homestead exemptions by $25,000. Effective January 1, 2010, the base homestead exemption is $75,000 for a single person, $100,000 for a member of a family unit, and $175,000 for a person who is (1) 65 years of age or older, (2) physically or mentally disabled and unable to work, or (3) 55 years of age or older with a gross annual income of $15,000 or less (or $20,000 or less if married). See, California Code of [...]

Pursuant to California Business & Professions Code § 7031(a), an unlicensed contractor cannot file a lawsuit to collect compensation for the performance of any act or contract requiring a license, regardless of the merits of the lawsuit. California Business and Professions Code §7031(b) further requires that an unlicensed contractor be disgorged of all monies paid by their victims (more than just economic loss) and does not require the client (victim) to prove she or he believed the individual was a licensed [...]

In response to a 2008 California Supreme Court decision that held a good samaritan who gave emergency assistance to an injured person at the scene of an accident liable for making the plaintiff's injuries worse, California’s legislature enacted Assembly Bill 83. Under the new law, any person who renders emergency assistance in good faith, and not for compensation, cannot be held liable for civil damages for any act, or omission.