Year: 2019

  • Evictions can only occur for legally valid reasons

    Owning a rental property can provide an Amherst property owner with an abundant passive income stream. However, that also means dealing with tenants and those relationships do not always turn out as intended. Evictions happen for a variety of reasons, but they must fall within the law. It may be tempting for some property owners…

  • When an officer can make a traffic stop

    In order to charge someone for a crime, police officers need to conduct arrests lawfully. In the case of traffic violations, the police officer must also carry out the traffic stop appropriately. Here’s when and how law enforcement can lawfully request that you pull over while driving by using their lights and/or siren. Breaking traffic…

  • Reckless driving is a serious traffic offense

    Few people here in Amherst or elsewhere always honor the rules of the road. Police write tickets for speeding, failing to yield the right of way and other offenses that qualify as infractions and ordinarily do not reach the level of criminal charges. However, one traffic offense, reckless driving, could result in a misdemeanor charge,…

  • It is possible to accidentally waive Miranda rights

    For many Amherst residents, the first time they hear about the right to remain silent is on television or in a movie. While being read the Miranda rights is properly depicted in several of these shows, they often neglect to accurately portray the fact that waiving those rights can happen unintentionally. Understanding how this happens…

  • Protecting your rights in a health care merger or acquisition

    Whether you want to expand your current Amherst practice by purchasing an existing one or consolidating with another practice, you look forward to the possibilities and future success. Finding the right opportunity probably took some time, and now that you found it, you are impatient to get started. However, you must address several issues prior…

  • Don’t make the mistake of not taking traffic tickets seriously

    Many people here in Amherst and elsewhere do not consider speeding, running a stop sign or some other driving violation as serious infractions. After all, you probably will not end up in the back of a police car for most traffic tickets, so they may not seem that serious. The problem with this theory is…

  • Your rights after being pulled over for a DUI

    Before deciding to drive home after a night out drinking, it’s important to be absolutely sure you’re sober enough to drive home safely. Otherwise, if you’re pulled over on suspicion of driving while under the influence of alcohol, you won’t have many rights. Can the police pull me over randomly? Sometimes. Typically, a police officer…

  • Why eyewitness testimony is so hard to trust in criminal law

    How confident are you in your memory? What did you have for lunch last Friday? If you witnessed a crime, how sure are you that you could identify the perpetrator in a police lineup later? Most people know that human memory is often imperfect. As time passes, details fade away. The power of suggestion, say…

  • Evicting tenants requires more than telling them to leave

    When you own property, you generally think that you have the right to say who can and cannot be on it. That may be true in some instances, but if you rent space to either residential or commercial tenants, you lose the right to simply tell someone to leave under New York law. Rental agreements…

  • College students often face possible repercussions on two fronts

    Going to college is often a young adult’s first foray into independence. Being away from home for the first time can be a liberating and daunting experience at the same time. College students can easily make bad decisions that put them in the position of facing potential repercussions on two fronts — New York’s criminal courts,…