New York Paralegal Blog

It's Friday, May the 6th the opening day for the new Marvel movie Thor and like a child on Christmas day I eagerly anticipate getting off from work and rushing over to the United Artist Theater in Farmingdale, New York, for the 5:30 p.m., showing of Thor! It is 3:00 p.m., and I am off from my job as a Certified Nursing Assistant, so off I go in my grey medical scrubs and duffel bag, (common attire for today's medical professional) on my journey to the United Artist movie theater in Farmingdale, NY. At last I am there and my adrenalin is pumping, I cant wait to see Thor! I rush into the movie theater and I am first on line, I hand the box office woman my debit card as I ask for one ticket to see Thor in 3D. After purchasing... Full story coming soon to New York Paralegal Blog.

WASHINGTON – Citizens Republic Bancorp Inc. (CRBC) and Citizens Bank of Flint, Mich., will open a loan production office in an African-American neighborhood in Detroit, invest approximately $3.6 million in Wayne County, Mich., and take other steps as part of a settlement to resolve allegations that they engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of race and color, the Justice Department announced today. The settlement, which remains subject to court approval, was filed in conjunction with the Justice Department’s complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The complaint alleges that CRBC, as the successor to Republic Bank, and Citizens Bank violated the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which prohibit financial institutions from discriminating on the basis of race and color in their mortgage lending practices. The lawsuit alleges that Citizens Bank, and Republic Bank before it, have served the credit needs...

SAVANNAH, Ga. - A federal indictment, unsealed on 4/13/2011 in federal court, charged Oscar Lazo, 51, a citizen of Peru; Eva Ramos, 35, a citizen of the United States; Mauricio Cruz, a citizen of Mexico; Manuel Cruz, a citizen of Mexico; and an unnamed defendant with conspiring to sell the stolen identities of U.S. citizens. The charges follow an extensive undercover investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents in Savannah. The indictment alleges that beginning in July of 2010, Lazo and Ramos, both managers of a local McDonald's restaurant owned by NTG Enterprises, sold stolen identities to other prospective McDonald's employees, including Mauricio Cruz and Manuel Cruz, who used the stolen identities to obtain employment with the restaurant. Lazo and Ramos were also charged with harboring illegal aliens. All five were arrested on criminal charges today by ICE HSI special agents in Savannah. N...

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department announced today the filing of a lawsuit against the State of Vermont and Vermont Secretary of State Deborah L. Markowitz, alleging violations of the Uniformed Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). UOCAVA is designed to ensure that uniformed military members and overseas citizens may effectively participate in federal elections. Vermont and the Secretary are responsible for collecting and reporting the number of military voters and overseas citizens who are sent ballots, return them and have them successfully cast in each federal general election. Vermont has failed to fulfill this important obligation ever since it became law in the Help America Vote Act of 2002. The complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Burlington, Vt., seeks a declaration that Vermont has previously violated the law, and seeks an injunction against any future noncompliance. "Accurate and complete information about whether our uniformed service members and over...