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It turns out, Santa really needs to get off that toy bench and get to the gym. Doctors warn that obesity is a risk factor for a severe case of the swine flu. And who is exposed to more germs than Santa?  That is why the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas (yes Virginia, such a group exists, here is the site: http://www.aorbsinc.com/) and the group Santa America, are pushing for our beloved mall Santa to be given priority for receiving his H1N1 vaccine.

After a fellow colleague from the University at Buffalo Law School passed away in a tragic plane crash this past summer, I was plagued with a question that is surprisingly common: After death, what happens to your accounts online? This seems to be a hot topic now. Here is a rundown on what happens to your online accounts when you happen to pass away.

As recently discussed in Findlaw's Decided, Wednesday was a day of consequences for the residents of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward. The Lower Ninth took one of the major hits in the Katrina disaster and is still figuratively, if not literally, under water. U.S. District Court Judge Stanwood Duval, Jr. did his best Wednesday to throw a life preserver to the Lower Ninth and give a push to the New Orleans recovery. In a major decision, Judge Duval held in favor of four plaintiffs in their suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the negligent building and maintenance of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet canal, "Mr. Go." Judge Duval's decision may open the door to claims from as many as 100,000 more litigants.

So, who will this decision actually help?

The divorce between Walter Forbes and his ex-wife Caren could be worth billions... for the government. The AP reports that a new divorce decree issued by Bridgeport Superior Court Judge Howard Owens orders that the former Mrs. Forbes must transfer ownership of the couple's homes in Connecticut and Wisconsin back to Mr. Forbes as well as half of their jewelry and art collections.

What does this mean? It means that anything under the former Cendant Corporation Chairman's name is probably going to end up going to the government. According to the Connecticut Post, Mr. Walter Forbes was convicted of securities fraud charges back in 2007. As a result, he was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison as well as a restitution payment of $3.275 billion. USA Today reports that the accounting fraud occurred during the 1990's.  

Let's take a head count, who's up for a few census jobs? A small bit of help is on the way to employ strapped Americans. The census of the U.S. will take place again in 2010, and Uncle Sam wants you.

As previously discussed in the Law and Daily Life post, Friday Furloughs: Judge Allows Hawaii to Cut Class, the Hawaii Department of Education (HDOE) was facing legal challenges to its planned Friday furlough program for Hawaii public schools. In a bid to save the state's crippled budget money, the HDOE proposed to dismiss school every Friday. In a surprising turn of events, angered parents sued.

In recent news, employees of Premium Protein in Nebraska have filed a class action lawsuit that claims that the company violated their rights under the federal Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification Act which is also known as WARN.

What is the WARN Act?

The WARN Act is a federal statute that has been enacted in order to protect workers and their families from mass layoffs or plant closings.

What Does It Require?

It requires that employers with more than 100 employees or more (not counting new employees, temporary ones, and part time employees) be subject to the Act.

A former editor for the New York Post, Sandra Guzman, has filed a harassment and workplace discrimination lawsuit against the paper for what she feels is an unfair termination over her feelings about a NY Post cartoon. New York Magazine reports that the NY Post cartoon was considered to be racist by many news outlets. 

Guzman's complaint has been posted by the Huffington Post. While the lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages, it did detail how Ms. Guzman felt that her voiced outrage over a political cartoon that depicted President Barack Obama as a rabid chimp shot by police was the reason that she was fired. The lawsuit also detailed some pretty shocking allegations of a racist and sexually charged workplace.

An organization of African American firefighters have filed a federal lawsuit against their union for being abusive and harassing them.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the firefighters allege that leaders of the firefighters union were predominantly white and were hell bent on eliminating many practices that were in place to ensure that black firefighters were hired in the first place. In fact, the union had submitted a proposal with the city back in December that requested that hiring quotas be eradicated.

The black firefighters are naturally upset that their membership dues are being put towards union activites not dedicated to their own advancement. Mr. Kenneth Green of the Club Valiants (President of the African American firefighter group) told The Philadelphia Inquirer: "They're using my union dues to do it. It's a slap in the face."

More bad news for strapped home owners. In a decision announced Nov. 9th, in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, Judge Ann Montgomery found that borrowers don't have a right to modification loans under the Obama administration's Making Home Affordable program.