Regardless of the answer to that question, as the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and in anticipation of “National Dog Bite Prevention Week May 20-26, 2012,” here are some tips on what you can do to avoid a bite, courtesy of State Farm insurance and the American Humane Society.

    1.    NEVER leave a baby or small child alone with a dog.
    2.    Be on the lookout for potentially dangerous situations.

    It’s Spring and sure as “rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,”*  you are likely thinking of adding some new landscaping, maybe even a new addition to your home.  But before you dig up that ever so green, watered regularly, and mowed lawn, to plant any petunias, poppies or pansies, or before you hand over $1,000.00 to that contractor referred by your neighbor who did such a great job for them, you might just be one of the tens of thousands of people who live in a common interest development with a homeowner’s association (HOA).&nb

    It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that we’re still getting calls from people having problems communicating with their mortgage company/servicer/bank, and as April is Financial Awareness Month, another resource for potential help is the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).  Three months ago, President Obama appointed Rich Cordray to be the first Director of the CFPB and you may remember the public battle over whether this new government agency should even be created.  Well the time has come to start putting it to the test.

    While the good people of Ireland and everywhere else will be celebrating this weekend, a commentator at the online news source, independent.ie. suggests the Irish should be wearing t-shirts which say “Kiss Me, I'm Irate.” 

      No, there is not a Groupon for half off your traffic tickets, but through June 30th, 2012, “drivers who have old unpaid traffic tickets might be able to catch a break. . .” Certain unpaid traffic tickets are eligible for a 50 percent discount – if you clear the debt during this 6 month amnesty period. 

    Nobody is probably ever going to “Friend” the DMV on FaceBook, but then again... strange things are happening, like using the word friend as a verb and shortening the word application to app.  There are “Apps” for this and that all over the place these days and we’ve probably all heard or said “There’s an app for that...” or, “There’s gotta be an app for that...” or “Why didn’t I think of that app?”  Welcome to the digital age.

     In a factually technical and emotionally difficult case, the Court of Appeal in Hoag v.

      Even if you’re not unemployed or you’re happy where you currently work, you might know someone who is looking for work, especially if you know some recent veterans.  According to the Army Times, male veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan era have an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent.  For women of the same era, the unemployment rate was 17.3 percent as of January 2012.

     Find out on the California State Bar website, which provides a quick and easy question and answer checklist on topics from the steps to follow when you’re buying a home to what you should do if you want a divorce, or if you're wondering what in the world it means legally, now that you’ve turned 18.  Check it out at:

http://www.calbar.ca.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=REVCXS6ShNQ%3D&tabid=1322

     Maybe, but in this “hot topic” area of law, there are not many clear answers.  In an effort to give employers and employees more guidance, the Acting General Counsel at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a report late last month analyzing more cases touching on the lawfulness or not, of employers’ social media policies and rules.