About Erik Lundegaard
Erik Lundegaard has been a senior editor at Super Lawyers since 2005 and its editor in chief since 2013—during which time the magazine has won close to 100 journalism awards around the country. His freelance writing has been published by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Slate, Salon, MSNBC.com, The Christian Science Monitor, The Seattle Times and The Believer, among others. He has a B.A. in English from the University of Minnesota, studied Mandarin Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan, and lives in Seattle, Washington, where he is a long-suffering Seattle Mariners fan. In his spare time, he is working on a book about the movies of James Cagney.
Articles written by Erik Lundegaard
What Makes a Good Personal Injury Case in Texas?
What do attorneys look for in a good personal injury case? Two Texas attorneys use the same metaphor: They look for a three-legged stool. The legs are constructed from three questions: Is someone else at fault? Are you injured? And can someone pay? You need to be able to say “yes” to all three questions to have a solid case. Liability in Personal Injury Law The first leg is all about liability or fault. “If you said to someone, ‘I was drinking at a bar and on the way home I ran a red …
When Does a Car Qualify As a Lemon in California?
If you’re a resident of California and wondering whether your new car qualifies as a “lemon,” some important words to consider are substantially impair. They come straight from Civil Code section 1793.2, part of the Song-Beverly Act, which passed in 1970. “In the state of California, a vehicle qualifies as a lemon when it has a defect or defects — covered by warranty — that substantially impair the use, value, or safety of a vehicle,” says Richard M. Wirtz, a consumer attorney at …
The Life Lessons of Howell Heflin
How a U.S. senator changed a life and made a lawyerDerrick A. Mills has had his share of mentors: his mom, who worked three jobs to raise five kids by herself; federal Judge U.W. Clemon, for whom he clerked; and David Marsh, the founder of Marsh, Rickard & Bryan in Birmingham, where Mills practices. But one of the most influential has been Howell Heflin, the one-time chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and three-term U.S. senator. “I don’t think I’d be a lawyer without him,” Mills says. In the mid-’90s, as Heflin was …
What Do Lawyers Look For in a Dog-Bite Case in Georgia?
What do attorneys look for in a dog bite case? According to Lindsey S. Macon, who practices personal injury, including animal law, at McArthur Law Firm in Atlanta, the questions they ask are frequently about the circumstances surrounding the bite: Did the dog bite incident take place in a private home or a public place? If the latter, was the dog on a leash? If the former, had the victim been invited in? What were the interactions with the animal immediately beforehand? “And we obviously need …
Do I Need To Charge Sales and Use Taxes When Selling in Other States?
If you own a business that makes frequent sales in other states, your business practices may have changed after June 2018. That’s when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. that state taxing agencies can require out-of-state sellers to collect a state’s sales and use tax for purchases by the state’s residents even if the business has no physical presence there. Before Wayfair, A Company’s Physical Presence Was Required for State Tax Purposes The previous …
California Dog Bite Cases: Tips To Navigate
John Montevideo, an animal law attorney in Irvine, California, represents victims in dog-bite cases, but he has advice for everyone who is unfortunate enough to be involved in the often chaotic moments of an animal attack. 1. First, Make Sure Everything is OK “No matter whether you are the dog owner, whether you’re the one that’s attacked by the dog, or there’s more than one dog in the mix, the first thing you need to do is just pause and make sure everyone is OK,” he says. …
What Rights Do I Have During a Traffic Stop in My State?
Most drivers feel stressed when law enforcement pulls them over for a traffic stop. Drivers often appear nervous, even if they don't know what they did wrong. They may fumble for their driver's license or proof of insurance. Even answering simple questions can be challenging. Many drivers forget their basic rights during a traffic stop, including their right to remain silent and the right to refuse a vehicle search. The U.S. Constitution protects your rights during a traffic stop. However, some …
Alabama's Medical Marijuana Law Doesn't Apply at Work
Alabama's medical marijuana law does not provide employment protections for failing a drug test that violates a company's drug policy. Employer zero-tolerance policies can require workplace drug testing and fire an employee for a positive drug test, even with a medical marijuana card and off-duty use. Employee rights do provide wrongful termination protections for disability discrimination or failure to provide reasonable accommodations. There is a Controlled Substances Act federal prohibition …
Burmese Days
A summer among soldiers and refugees forever altered Kellen G. RessmeyerIt started as an accident. I was 22, graduating from law school, and I had a federal clerkship, which meant I didn’t immediately need to be thinking about private practice. I saw [the summer of 2007] as basically the last time I was going to have three months off without any concerns for the foreseeable future. I was walking out of the career services office and bumped into someone—she had been one of the practice judges in a Philip C. Jessup moot court competition I had been in—and she …
The Rules Rule
Ariana Tadler on her stint with the Federal Civil Rules Advisory CommitteeYou were appointed to the Federal Civil Rules Advisory Committee by Chief Justice John Roberts in 2017. How did that come about? I don’t know about the background machinations, but right before the 2006 discovery amendments I started attending both the Civil Rules Advisory Committee meetings as well as the Standing Committee meetings. Over time, I became a formal observer of both committees. On my own or my firm’s dime, I would make the trip and participate as an active listener. …
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