About Beth Taylor
Beth Taylor has been a senior editor for Super Lawyers since 2003, and has won dozens of awards for headline-writing and editing throughout her career. Previously, she was an editor and covered courts for The Orlando Sentinel. She also worked for go2net and KIRO-TV in Seattle, where she wrote for and edited their websites. In addition, Beth edited The Kitsap Business Journal and Media Inc. Beth has written travel books, including Around Seattle With Kids for Fodor’s and Seattle Day By Day for Frommer’s, and online travel guides for Google. Her travel writing has appeared in publications including the Chicago Tribune and the San Francisco Chronicle. Beth has a B.A. in communications/journalism and a master’s degree in political science.
Articles written by Beth Taylor
Should I Join a Class Action?
You get a letter in your mailbox or an email about a class action claim. You're informed that a product you bought, a pharmaceutical you used, or a company you worked for is being sued as part of a class action lawsuit. A class action lawsuit combines the similar legal claims of a large number of people against the same defendant. The notification gives you a chance to remain in the class or exclude yourself. For most potential class members, their best option is to remain in the class. …
Interstate Divorce
Divorce laws covering child support, custody and other issues can vary greatly from state to state. And if the divorcing spouses live in different states, it is sometimes difficult to even decide which state has jurisdiction. “If there is a dispute, the courts will decide,” says divorce law attorney Dalma C. Grandjean says. “First, the court must find that at least one of the spouses meets the [six-month] residency requirement. As long as the residency requirement is met and the other …
Monument Maker
Charles Foster has seen to it that memories of George H.W. Bush, James Baker and LBJ are set in stoneIt was 2015 and Charles Foster thought it was high time President Lyndon Johnson had a monument in Houston. So the immigration attorney spearheaded a project to build a larger-than-life statue, installed next to Houston’s federal courthouse last January. LBJ taught high school in Houston in the 1930s—before Foster was born—but Foster met him in 1960 when Johnson was campaigning for president. And LBJ’s aunt and uncle owned a house behind Foster’s childhood home. The 8-foot bronze …
With a Little Luck
Trial superstitions might or might not help—but they can’t hurtWhat is your superstition? John Zavitsanos: I wear a suit made by my father during closing arguments. He had a small tailor shop in Chicago for 40 years. My father worked harder than any person I know. He made many suits for me, but one black suit was his pride and joy. My father could not read or write because he never attended school—due to World War II and the Greek Civil War. He wanted to make sure his son was as well-dressed as the opposing lawyers. He impressed on me that if I wore …
Divorcing in the Military
Getting a divorce is never an easy process for a couple to go through, but for military couples, an entirely new layer of complexity is added to the divorce case. For one thing, the physical location of an active-duty military member can sometimes pose a challenge. “There may be complications in getting service on the service member if he or she is overseas, aboard a naval vessel, or deployed to an unknown location,” says divorce law attorney Dalma C. Grandjean. Even if the whereabouts of …
Rolling Art
Stan Beck has been collecting and racing cars since he was 12Stan Beck bought his first car before he could drive: a pea-green 1950 Ford sedan, which he bought with $50 he’d earned from his newspaper route. He was 12. It needed work. “I was going to make sure it was running by the time it was legal to drive,” Beck says with a laugh. Thus began a lifetime of collecting, racing and tinkering with cars. “According my mother, the first word I said was ‘car,’” he says. He started buying “real cars” and racing them at 17, financed by his …
Discrimination Suit Can Proceed Against Contra Costa DA's Office
San Francisco firms Nichols Law and Ratner Molineaux are representing 5 women deputy DAsA federal court in San Francisco has given the go-ahead to a discrimination suit filed by five female DAs against the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office. “The women are alleging, in essence, that they have been discriminated against by the DA’s office because of their sex, and—in the case of the [four] women over 40—because of their age,” says Sarah Nichols, an employment & labor attorney whose firm, Nichols Law in San Francisco, is handling the suit, along with …
Police Killing Leads to Changes in Columbus, Ohio
Dayton attorney Michael Wright and team negotiated a $10 million settlementAndre Hill, a 47-year-old resident of Columbus, Ohio, was walking out of the garage of a Northwest Columbus house on Dec. 22, 2020, unarmed and holding his cell phone, when he was shot and killed by a Columbus police officer. A neighbor had placed a non-emergency call, asking police to check out a car that they didn’t recognize being turned on and off. “Mr. Hill's vehicle was having problems being started,” says plaintiff’s personal injury attorney Michael Wright, with Wright & …
Florida Adoption Law: Options for Families
The COVID-19 pandemic left its mark in many ways, and that is true even when it comes to adopting a child. “Births globally are decreasing,” explains Erica Tate Healey, a board-certified adoption attorney at Tate Healey Webster in Tampa, Florida. “A lot of agencies aren't accepting new families right now, as there is a surplus of families that would like to adopt.” That situation could change, and it doesn’t mean anyone should give up on adoption; it just might take longer. Or …
Woman Settles With State of Washington Over Foster Abuse
She was assaulted for many years by the man in whose care she was placedA 48-year-old woman and her daughters received a $16.5 million settlement from the state of Washington over years of sexual and other abuse by a man with whom the woman was placed in foster care at age 8. State social workers ignored many red flags that should have alerted them to possible abuse, say Nathan P. Roberts and Evan Fuller, plaintiff’s personal injury attorneys at Connelly Law Offices in Tacoma, Washington, who handled the case. When the woman was placed in the foster home as a …
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