Bilety Radom

A century ago P.T. Barnum sagely told us, “A sucker is born every minute.” At the time he was, no doubt, correct.

No longer. In today’s internet world, that time-span has been cut back to every nana second. Now that spam has been somewhat curtailed, scam artists have moved their operations, largely, to internet bulletin boards and chat rooms. That’s all. A change of venue. Like maggots fried in hot grease, they have moved, jumped, spread out, occupied many of these new communications centers.

This up-the-ante, beat-the-street move was made necessary because state law enforcement agencies, the SEC, and the FTC have, in recent years, set up teams to daily police the worldwide web. With spam, being the most obvious and easiest to detect, the scam artists have been forced to a better, alternative outlet for their “avant-garde” visions.

With a chat room, nothing more than pulling all the old con-lines out of mothballs and reusing them is needed. With con-world tactics, they spiel out typical con-like jargon, and reel in the usual high percentage of suckers. Just like the good old days.

With bulletin boards–those Illusory walls seemingly profaned by graffiti–it’s a little different. The scam artists are challenged. Tactics and timing take greater emphasis. Try this example on for size:

A clever scam artist left a message on a prominent stock board that a small U.S. hi-tech company was about to be bought up by a European firm for $900.000.000. This was a sum nearly double its market value. The posting had a link to another bulletin board which displayed a press release giving the details. The press release was a phony, placed there by the con man himself. His purpose was 1-track, to temporarily drive up the price of the stock. With the temptations stoked by the bargain-basement price, investors flew to the stock driving its price from $5 to $7.50 in minutes. With the aid of the many day traders on the exchange, who buy quickly on rumor, the scam artist walked off with a fast-buck haul of $520,000. Presto. Nothing more than a classic pump and dump, only taken out of the usual “pump” time frame, speeded up so that the whole thing would come to climax before law enforcement authorizes could even answer their phones to take the inevitable complaints. Real. But, like a classic page from a legal thriller book.

Take a long look sometime. Observe all of the stock boards and news boards hanging in cyberspace. As so many scam artists still dance on the internet in a perpetual spam-fest, this stock “guru” found a better way. Whereas legendary con man, the Music Man’s Professor Harold Hill, gave us 76 trombones, he put a little cha-cha-cha into the sax section.

The SEC gets in upwards of 200 complaints a day about illegal activity on the web. Most pf these are stock scams. With fraud made this easy it should come as a heavy-booted reminder that this particular form of Scamology 101 should be featured in Scam School, for the benefit of all concerned watchdogs and law enforcers.

It’s textbook.

With his imposing presence, elegant sartorial style, and eloquent use of the language, the con man has evolved. And now, with his range so widely expanded, your life as a potential target has expanded right along with it. Unless you count your age in elephant years, you will most likely find yourself in his cross-hairs at some moment in your life.

Prepare. Learn. Now is the time. Be ready for that cure-all elixir when it comes.

Author:Jack Payne

Over recent months the British Police Force has found itself dealing with a number of claims for compensation due to discrimination in the workplace on grounds of race and ethnicity. One Police officer has submitted a claim for £500,000 pounds because he believes he was discriminated against and denied a promotion unfairly.

The claim is being made against the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, who has been accused of sidelining, Asian and black detectives. There is no limit on the amount of compensation which can be in claimed in a race discrimination case which typically results in demands for high payouts. However there does need to be compelling evidence that the discrimination has occurred in order for a case to be successful.

Unfortunately this Officer’s claim for compensation is not the only one to have been raised.  Another Police employee has also submitted a claim for racial discrimination at the hands of Sir Ian Blair. The claims have come as a bit of a shock, as many people believe that the Metropolitan police Commissioner got the job because of his stance on promoting diversity not for being against it. Sir Ian Blair strongly denies the claims and many others are supporting him.  However everybody who feels they have been the victim of racist in the workplace has the right to have their case heard. It may be that that the racism was not intentional but that does not matter in the eyes of the law. If someone, and not necessarily the alleged victim, feels that racism has occurred a case can be brought to a tribunal to ascertain the facts.

Racism in the workplace occurs across all sectors and industries and poses very difficult situations for both employees and employers. Tribunals are the place where the cases get settled, but cases for race discrimination can take months to reach this point. Before a case goes to tribunal there has to be evidence that the situation has been tried to be resolved within the company first. Employees need to show they have exhausted the internal company policies which are typically done through raising a grievance or going through an appeal process. If the employee is not happy with the outcome and they have reached the end of the line in regards to company policies, then they are able to take their case to the tribunal. Employment law works differently to criminal law by the nature in which the verdict is determined. In a criminal court the evidence provided has to prove beyond reasonable doubt that a crime has or has not been committed. In employment law the evidence is weighed up according to the balance of probabilities. If there is a 51 percent chance that an event occurred than the ruling will come down in favour of that event.  Claims for race discrimination are treated in this manner and it will be up to both the employee and the employer to prove what happened before outcomes of the case can be decided.

Author:Danielle Fletcher

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, over 25 million students are in school with an average of 500,000 school buses on the roads. While school buses are statistically one of the safest modes of transportation, more than twice as many children are killed while getting on or off school buses than while riding in them. Preventable School Bus Accident

A 12-year-old girl was hit by a school bus in a South New Jersey middle school parking lot. She was walking across the parking lot which had no designated lines for pedestrian paths and no cross walks. She was run over by the rear tire of a school bus as it came around a loop. She suffered multiple fractures and serious internal injuries.

The bus driver was not faulted. The girl was walking between two cars.

At fault was the school district for failing to provide a parking lot with visibly designated markings; failing to provide appropriate cross walks; and failing to provide a school safety plan for bus arrivals and departures.

“This case, on first blush, appeared to be one of a careless child darting out between parked cars and running into the side of a bus, causing her own injuries”, states Larry Cohan, counsel for the victim.

“After careful analysis, and expert review, it became apparent that this child was a victim of bad planning and bad design by her school. Had there been proper crosswalks, a safety plan and supervision, this child would not have even been crossing where she was, and the incident would not have occurred. The irresponsible school officials, who created this danger, were clearly negligent, and the school was required to pay for their failures.”

The girl received a substantial settlement. Through extensive medical care and physical therapy, she is recovering.

School budget and school districts in many states are frequently in dire straits and are forced to make choices in how their limited funds are expended. Somehow the important issue of school bus safety goes to the back of the bus and doesn’t get addressed.

School Bus Safety Problems

In 2002, 26 children were killed as pedestrians getting on or off a school bus, or while waiting at the school bus stop. Other motorists illegally passing a stopped school bus remain a problem in every community and the school bus industry urges stricter police and judicial enforcement against violators.

School buses always are operated by drivers with a Commercial Drivers License (CDL), required by the U.S. Department of Transportation, and who have received special school bus driver training required by states. In addition, no one can drive a school bus without first passing drug and alcohol screening and required law enforcement background checks.

There is no safer way to transport a child than in a school bus. Fatal crashes involving school bus occupants are rare events, even though school buses drive a remarkable 8.8 billion students to and from school annually. Every school day, some 500,000 yellow school buses transport more than 25 million children to and from schools mostly without a serious incident.

Author:Alan Haburchak

It happens from time to time that even banks do not have enough money. A lender may make a loan request that one single bank cannot handle, either because it does not have the funds or because to make such a loan would put the bank outside its legal lending limits. The solution for this bank is the participation agreement, also called a loan participation agreement. A participation agreement allows a bank to enlist the wealth of other banks to handle this one loan. Typically, a single bank, called the lead bank, will originate the loan and then seek other banks to share in the risk and the revenues. The lead bank sells participation shares to the participating banks. The lead bank also services the loan and deals directly with the borrower, thereby retaining control of the relationship.

The act of selling shares can be seen as a securities issue - and banks can run afoul of securities laws - unless the participation agreement contains certain language about the exposure to risk and loss.

Participation agreements are mainly two-tracked. On the first track, all banks share equally in the profits and the risk in what is called a pari passu arrangement. On the second track, the lead bank is senior to the other subordinate banks; the lead bank is paid first. This second track can be subdivided further in to Last In, First Out and First In, First Out arrangements.

Banks are motivated to use participation agreements for several reasons. From the lead bank’s perspective, they are useful because they generate income for the lead bank; they spread the risk among other institutions; they allow the lead bank to manage the client relationship; and they offer the lead bank the opportunity to originate a loan that it might otherwise have been able to handle. From the perspective of the participating banks, these agreements share the wealth and allow such banks to generate income in slow markets and to diversify their investment portfolios.

Where banks run into trouble, apart from the securities question, is in glossing over scenarios that are possible, even likely to happen - that is, default by the borrower, profit sharing among the lenders, and the duties of the lead bank. Participating banks may not like the terms of the lead bank’s participation agreement - such as loan fees paid by the borrower to the lead bank will not be shared with participating banks, that the lead bank owes no fiduciary duty to the participating banks - but they will certainly appreciate seeing and knowing such terms up front and in clear language, rather than finding out later, only after such problems have surfaced. Banks are well advised to make the terms of the agreement very clear and to address all of these points.

Author:Mark Warner

Once you retain an attorney to represent you in your car accident or other injury case, the process to get to settlement has a number of steps all of which may take from one to two months to run their course.

The lawyer or their staff will first of all make sure the insurance companies and medical providers are notified that you are represented. This means they can no longer contact you directly, but must go through your attorney. Most lawyers in any injury case will counsel you to never talk to the other party’s insurance company (known as the adverse) even before you have hired an attorney. Do not agree to any settlement they offer until you find out from a lawyer if it is reasonable given the facts of the incident. If you have a good case, an attorney will be able to get more money for you than you would be able to get on your own.

If you have not finished your medical treatment at the time you retain the lawyer, they or their staff will keep in touch with you throughout your treatment. You should keep them updated and let them know of any major changes which take place during the course of your medical care. They will make sure you understand how any medical treatment will affect your case, and this will help them be prepared when it is time to write up the demand for settlement.

Once you have finished your treatment, the lawyer or their staff will prepare a demand to be sent to the insurance company or other responsible party. This will explain your injuries and will stipulate a fair amount of money for your settlement. You will be able to review the demand and make changes before it is sent. The attorney’s percentage as well as other costs are included in the amount the demand requests.

The other party will respond to the demand with an offer of settlement. Your lawyer will let you know what this offer is and will get your approval to accept it. If it is not acceptable to you, your lawyer will negotiate to get you a better settlement. Sometimes this takes a few times going back and forth. Once you have agreed to a settlement, the opposing party will send a check to your attorney, along with a release which states you will not in the future be able to make a claim for this same incident. After the attorney has taken their percentage of the settlement (usually 1/3), as well as other administrative costs, you will be issued a check for the remaining amount. The lawyer will provide you with a settlement statement detailing the settlement and costs.

If an acceptable amount cannot be reached by negotiation in this way, a lawsuit may need to be filed. Your lawyer will explain the benefits and drawbacks of filing suit so you can decide if you wish to proceed. If a lawsuit is filed, you will have to pay a filing fee up front, and if it goes to Mediation or Arbitration, you may also have to pay for those services. Many times the threat of filing suit will get the other party to offer more money, and sometimes even if suit is filed, they may offer an acceptable settlement before it goes any further.

Author:T. Peterson