New iPad Overheating? Apple Responds To Allegations As Consumer Reports Investigates
Apple probably wanted its newest iPad to be thought of as a hot item, but not like this.
Over the weekend, reports began to circulate that the newest iPad, just released on Friday, was becoming physically hot to the touch during use, specifically in the lower lefthand corner. Now, Apple has responded to these reports, issuing a statement to The Huffington Post, as well as AllThingD and The Verge. Here's what Apple had to say about its hot new iPad:
(Translation: Chill out!).
Not everyone was satisfied by this explanation, apparently, as product review publication Consumer Reports launched an investigation into the new iPad's supposed heat problems. CR, which famously could not recommend the iPhone 4 based on a faulty antenna, published its recent findings in a blog post Tuesday afternoon, stting that the new iPad does indeed get up to 13 degrees hotter than the iPad 2, according to thermal images, when playing the graphics-heavy Infinity Blade II game. This corroborated an earlier report from Dutch blog Tweakers.net, which similarly found that the new iPad was running up to 10 degrees warmer than the iPad 2 in its own tests.
Throwing cold water all of the excitement, however, Consumer Reports writer Donna Tapellini says that though the new iPad hit 116 degrees Fahrenheit, this warmth is no cause for concern:
"During our tests, I held the new iPad in my hands," Tapellini writes on the Consumer Reports blog. "When it was at its hottest, it felt very warm but not especially uncomfortable if held for a brief period."
The tangible heat on the new iPad has been attributed to its larger battery and graphics chip. The iPad's new Retina display has four times as many pixels as the screen on the iPad 2 and reportedly necessitated a bigger battery in order to maintain the high battery life that the iPad 2 enjoys; that bigger, bulkier battery has apparently been enough to warm up the back casing of the new iPad, sending many new iPad owners to the Apple Discussion Forums to complain.
Of course, there are many more new iPad owners than there ever have been before, as these initial reports of iPad hotness have not cooled down demand. Apple recently announced that it had sold over 3 million iPads in its first weekend of availability.
Take a look through the slideshow (below) to see a few of the other minor problems critics pointed out while testing the new iPad. (Note, however, that critical responses to the new device were overwhelmingly positive. Click here to see what reviewers liked most about the tablet.)
more @ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/20/new-ipad-overheating-apple-consumer-reports_n_1367808.html?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec3_lnk1%26pLid%3D145178
The new iPad delivers a stunning Retina display, A5X chip, support for 4G LTE plus 10 hours of battery life, all while operating well within our thermal specifications. If customers have any concerns they should contact AppleCare.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Prenuptial agreements
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Prenuptial agreements aren't just for married folks anymore.
A growing number of unmarried couples are seeking similar legal protections through cohabitation agreements. These legally-binding contracts, which are drawn up by an attorney, protect each person's assets, address child custody issues and determine support obligations, much like prenuptial agreements do.
"We've seen a real dramatic increase," said Ken Altshuler, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, or AAML. "A lot more people are delaying, or forgoing, marriage and people are realizing as you get older, you have more things to protect."
In a poll conducted by the AAML last year, 39% of the divorce attorneys that were surveyed saw a rise in co-habitation agreements between live-in couples over the previous five years. Of the attorneys surveyed, 70% said the majority of the agreements they drew up were for heterosexual couples as opposed to same-sex couples.
Are you financially compatible?
Almost half of the 1,600 divorce attorneys polled by the AAML said they had seen an increase in the number of court battles between unmarried couples who had lived together.
If one person chooses to stay home to care for children "a cohabitation agreement would specify the rights and support for each party in the case of a break up," said Silvana Raso, matrimonial attorney with Schepisi & McLaughlin in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
With consumer debt now at $2.5 trillion (and growing), these protections can also prove important when it comes to safeguarding against an ex's debt.
"One party can have a lot of credit card debt or student loans and the other party may want to make sure they are not liable for that," Raso said.
With just 51% of all adults tying the knot these days, a record low, according to the Pew Research Center, co-habitation agreements are particularly valuable when a couple intends to buy a house together and raise a family -- all without a marriage license.
Same-sex spouses lose big on taxes
Those types of investments are particularly important to specify, Altshuler added. "States don't have cohabitation laws, so if you buy a house together with someone you are not married to, a cohabitation agreement can define how those assets and debts are divided and that can save years of litigation," he said.
Ironically, couples in the honeymoon phase of their relationship are best suited to map out these types of difficult situations, advised Daniel Clement, a divorce lawyer in New York. "It's a happy time, when you don't have the bitterness that you experience at the time of a break up."
A growing number of unmarried couples are seeking similar legal protections through cohabitation agreements. These legally-binding contracts, which are drawn up by an attorney, protect each person's assets, address child custody issues and determine support obligations, much like prenuptial agreements do.
"We've seen a real dramatic increase," said Ken Altshuler, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, or AAML. "A lot more people are delaying, or forgoing, marriage and people are realizing as you get older, you have more things to protect."
In a poll conducted by the AAML last year, 39% of the divorce attorneys that were surveyed saw a rise in co-habitation agreements between live-in couples over the previous five years. Of the attorneys surveyed, 70% said the majority of the agreements they drew up were for heterosexual couples as opposed to same-sex couples.
Are you financially compatible?
Almost half of the 1,600 divorce attorneys polled by the AAML said they had seen an increase in the number of court battles between unmarried couples who had lived together.
If one person chooses to stay home to care for children "a cohabitation agreement would specify the rights and support for each party in the case of a break up," said Silvana Raso, matrimonial attorney with Schepisi & McLaughlin in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
With consumer debt now at $2.5 trillion (and growing), these protections can also prove important when it comes to safeguarding against an ex's debt.
"One party can have a lot of credit card debt or student loans and the other party may want to make sure they are not liable for that," Raso said.
With just 51% of all adults tying the knot these days, a record low, according to the Pew Research Center, co-habitation agreements are particularly valuable when a couple intends to buy a house together and raise a family -- all without a marriage license.
Same-sex spouses lose big on taxes
Those types of investments are particularly important to specify, Altshuler added. "States don't have cohabitation laws, so if you buy a house together with someone you are not married to, a cohabitation agreement can define how those assets and debts are divided and that can save years of litigation," he said.
Ironically, couples in the honeymoon phase of their relationship are best suited to map out these types of difficult situations, advised Daniel Clement, a divorce lawyer in New York. "It's a happy time, when you don't have the bitterness that you experience at the time of a break up."
IRS policies
IRS policies help fuel tax refund fraud, officials say
North Miami Beach, Florida (CNN) -- Criminals across the country are raking in billions of dollars in tax refunds through a new and brazen form of fraud that takes advantage of the IRS's fast online returns, law enforcement officials say.
Using laptops and free Wi-Fi connections, criminals are stealing identities and using the names of legitimate taxpayers to file fraudulent online tax returns. They've raked in billions, buying luxury cars, expensive jewelry and plastic surgery, police said.
"It's like the federal government is putting crack cocaine in candy machines," said Detective Craig Catlin of the North Miami Beach, Florida, Police Department. "It's that easy."
First, thieves obtain Social Security numbers and other personal information from insiders at hospitals, doctor's offices, car dealerships or anywhere the information is stored. Then, they file an online tax return using the real taxpayer's name and a fictitious income. In most cases, the criminals buy a debit card so the IRS can issue the refund on that card, although some thieves have also gotten their returns on actual Treasury checks.
The thieves know that the IRS does not verify the employer W-2s sent with the return until after the refund is issued.
It is a particular problem in the state of Florida, according to law enforcement officials.
"We can't go ... two days in a row without making a traffic stop, and there's going to be tax return fraud in the car," Catlin said. "We could stop an 18-year-old kid who's got five (debit) cards. The average is $5,000 per card. So they'll have $25,000, which is really cash, even though it's on debit cards."
And it's not just small-time criminals, he said.
"We have other cases that range up to $100 million where subjects have opened up corporations and bank accounts and business accounts," Catlin said. "And they're receiving millions of dollars from the IRS that are all fraudulent."
Prisoners' tax refund scam nets millions from IRS
Last year, North Miami Beach police arrested the leader of the "Money Avenue" gang that they say specializes in tax return fraud. When police searched his home, they found about $250,000 in debit cards "just sitting on the dining room table for that week's worth of work," Catlin said.
"And inside his closet, there were nine to 10 spiral notebooks, ledgers of names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth and the dollar amounts of returns that they've done on 3,000 victims," he added.
Beware of tax season scams
Five apps for your taxes
It's a crime that has replaced drug dealing in many neighborhoods.
"They're sitting on a computer or iPad; they're doing a return with a stolen identity where they don't have to rob anybody or stick a gun in anybody's face or run through the streets from police," Catlin said.
Although tax refund fraud has been around for decades, North Miami's interim police Chief Larry Gomer said the speedy returns and the option of having your refund issued on a debit card are making it easier for criminals to pull off the fraud.
"I think (the IRS's) intentions might have been good in trying to speed returns to members of the community, but I think the problem is, they have set up a system that is too easy to abuse," Gomer said.
He suggested that the IRS slow its processing of tax returns.
"Right now, when someone becomes a victim of income tax fraud and they catch it, it could take up to a year for them to get their return," Gomer said. "But the way that the IRS is running the system right now, somebody can make a fraudulent return, (and) they are mailing out a check to them in two weeks without checking the information on the return."
In Florida, where identity theft is rampant, the cities of North Miami Beach and Tampa have been particularly hard hit by the fraud. Police estimate that in the past two years, criminals in Tampa have cashed in on $450 million in fraudulent tax return money.
Even police who are fully aware of the scam have become targets themselves, including four North Miami Beach Police Department detectives who specialize in combating tax refund fraud and officers in other South Florida police departments.
Police in Tampa discovered "a written tutorial that tells you step by step how to commit this type of crime," according to the city's police chief, Jane Castor.
"Throughout those written pages, it says how simple it is to do it," she said. "We've also heard from people on the street that it's about a five-minute street-corner lesson."
In fact, a police informant who teaches friends how to commit the fraud said anyone could learn it.
"It's like friends get together, and everybody brings their laptops, and we all work together," the informant said. "Some people I know get up at like 8 in the morning and don't finish until 8 at night."
Law enforcement officials said that if the IRS stopped allowing the use of debit cards, that would curtail a majority of the fraud.
"The debit cards are a huge problem," Castor said. "Plus ... the (IRS's) focus, from my understanding, is getting these tax returns out quickly ... so instead of focusing on getting those out quickly, (the IRS should) put more of a focus on the fraudulent aspect of it."
Deputy IRS Commissioner Beth Tucker pointed out that the debit cards are widely used by legitimate taxpayers who may not have a bank account.
"One hundred and forty million folks are filing their returns every year. Not every taxpayer has a bank account, and so the debit cards that are issued by a third-party provider are a legitimate way for taxpayers to get their refund," she said.
Last year, the IRS reported 938,664 fraudulent returns related to identity theft, totaling $6.5 billion, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George told a House subcommittee this month.
Treasury officials say that was money identified by the IRS as fraudulent but not actually issued. The IRS could not provide an estimate of how much fraudulent refund money it has issued.
"Any dollar that goes out of our tax system related to refund fraud is a dollar too much," Tucker said. "We have noticed that there are more folks attempting identity theft. We're in the middle of filing season, and we should be able to have a better assessment of exactly what the dollar amount could potentially be."
They're sitting on a computer or iPad ... where they don't have to rob anybody or stick a gun in anybody's face.
Det. Craig Catlin, North Miami Beach police
Last year, the IRS identified at least 582,000 taxpayers who were the victims of identity theft, which is more than double the amount from only three years prior.
In testimony before Congress last year, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson said the IRS has implemented a number of filters to catch the fraud, including an electronic marker to mark accounts of verified identity theft victims, an IRS identity theft affidavit form and a standardized list of acceptable documents to substantiate identity theft.
Tucker said the IRS filters are "in place from the start of the filing season" and are "part of our prevention and detection." She also said the IRS has trained 40,000 employees across the country in the past three months to deal with identity theft.
Also, the IRS last year began issuing an Identity Protection Personal Identification Number to victims of identity theft when filing their future returns.
But the filters, according to Olson's annual report to Congress, "inevitably block large numbers of proper refund claims" since there "is no easy way to distinguish proper claims from improper ones."
IRS' tips to protect against identity theft
- Do not respond to emails claiming to be from the IRS asking for personal information
- Contact the IRS if your identity may have been stolen
- If you are filing online tax returns, use a strong password
- Save your electronically filed tax return to a CD or flash drive, and store it in a safe place
- After saving the e-file, delete personal return information from your hard drive
Source: www.irs.gov
Tax refund fraud by identity theft will be the subject of Tuesday's hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth. It is the third hearing on the issue since last year.
Tampa officials have expressed concern that the IRS is not doing enough to combat the situation, which Castor said is one of the worst cases of fraud she has seen in her career.
"In my 28 years of law enforcement, I don't think that I have ever seen this magnitude of fraud that is just wide open," the police chief said. "It's wide open and there just doesn't seem to be much being done about it."
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said he's angry that the IRS has not done more to help the city combat the fraud.
"As far as I'm concerned, they're missing in action," Buckhorn said. "They have not been helpful; they have not been a player; they have not taken responsibility for their side of the enforcement. If anything, you know, we've been banging our heads against their door asking for help and getting nothing in response. The silence has been deafening."
Tucker disagreed with the mayor, noting that the IRS has "significantly increased the amount of resources we've devoted to identity theft, a heinous crime."
A week after CNN's March 6 interview with Tucker, the IRS sent a team of officials to meet with police officials in North Miami Beach and Tampa.
Buckhorn said the problem in Tampa is "just the tip of the iceberg" and offered this warning to the mayors of other U.S. cities:
"Go back and ask the IRS in (your) jurisdiction, 'What are you doing? Is this a problem in my jurisdiction?' Because I guarantee you it is," Buckhorn said. "You may not know it, but it is."
North Miami Beach, Florida (CNN) -- Criminals across the country are raking in billions of dollars in tax refunds through a new and brazen form of fraud that takes advantage of the IRS's fast online returns, law enforcement officials say.
Using laptops and free Wi-Fi connections, criminals are stealing identities and using the names of legitimate taxpayers to file fraudulent online tax returns. They've raked in billions, buying luxury cars, expensive jewelry and plastic surgery, police said.
"It's like the federal government is putting crack cocaine in candy machines," said Detective Craig Catlin of the North Miami Beach, Florida, Police Department. "It's that easy."
First, thieves obtain Social Security numbers and other personal information from insiders at hospitals, doctor's offices, car dealerships or anywhere the information is stored. Then, they file an online tax return using the real taxpayer's name and a fictitious income. In most cases, the criminals buy a debit card so the IRS can issue the refund on that card, although some thieves have also gotten their returns on actual Treasury checks.
The thieves know that the IRS does not verify the employer W-2s sent with the return until after the refund is issued.
It is a particular problem in the state of Florida, according to law enforcement officials.
"We can't go ... two days in a row without making a traffic stop, and there's going to be tax return fraud in the car," Catlin said. "We could stop an 18-year-old kid who's got five (debit) cards. The average is $5,000 per card. So they'll have $25,000, which is really cash, even though it's on debit cards."
And it's not just small-time criminals, he said.
"We have other cases that range up to $100 million where subjects have opened up corporations and bank accounts and business accounts," Catlin said. "And they're receiving millions of dollars from the IRS that are all fraudulent."
Prisoners' tax refund scam nets millions from IRS
Last year, North Miami Beach police arrested the leader of the "Money Avenue" gang that they say specializes in tax return fraud. When police searched his home, they found about $250,000 in debit cards "just sitting on the dining room table for that week's worth of work," Catlin said.
"And inside his closet, there were nine to 10 spiral notebooks, ledgers of names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth and the dollar amounts of returns that they've done on 3,000 victims," he added.
Beware of tax season scams
Five apps for your taxes
It's a crime that has replaced drug dealing in many neighborhoods.
"They're sitting on a computer or iPad; they're doing a return with a stolen identity where they don't have to rob anybody or stick a gun in anybody's face or run through the streets from police," Catlin said.
Although tax refund fraud has been around for decades, North Miami's interim police Chief Larry Gomer said the speedy returns and the option of having your refund issued on a debit card are making it easier for criminals to pull off the fraud.
"I think (the IRS's) intentions might have been good in trying to speed returns to members of the community, but I think the problem is, they have set up a system that is too easy to abuse," Gomer said.
He suggested that the IRS slow its processing of tax returns.
"Right now, when someone becomes a victim of income tax fraud and they catch it, it could take up to a year for them to get their return," Gomer said. "But the way that the IRS is running the system right now, somebody can make a fraudulent return, (and) they are mailing out a check to them in two weeks without checking the information on the return."
In Florida, where identity theft is rampant, the cities of North Miami Beach and Tampa have been particularly hard hit by the fraud. Police estimate that in the past two years, criminals in Tampa have cashed in on $450 million in fraudulent tax return money.
Even police who are fully aware of the scam have become targets themselves, including four North Miami Beach Police Department detectives who specialize in combating tax refund fraud and officers in other South Florida police departments.
Police in Tampa discovered "a written tutorial that tells you step by step how to commit this type of crime," according to the city's police chief, Jane Castor.
"Throughout those written pages, it says how simple it is to do it," she said. "We've also heard from people on the street that it's about a five-minute street-corner lesson."
In fact, a police informant who teaches friends how to commit the fraud said anyone could learn it.
"It's like friends get together, and everybody brings their laptops, and we all work together," the informant said. "Some people I know get up at like 8 in the morning and don't finish until 8 at night."
Law enforcement officials said that if the IRS stopped allowing the use of debit cards, that would curtail a majority of the fraud.
"The debit cards are a huge problem," Castor said. "Plus ... the (IRS's) focus, from my understanding, is getting these tax returns out quickly ... so instead of focusing on getting those out quickly, (the IRS should) put more of a focus on the fraudulent aspect of it."
Deputy IRS Commissioner Beth Tucker pointed out that the debit cards are widely used by legitimate taxpayers who may not have a bank account.
"One hundred and forty million folks are filing their returns every year. Not every taxpayer has a bank account, and so the debit cards that are issued by a third-party provider are a legitimate way for taxpayers to get their refund," she said.
Last year, the IRS reported 938,664 fraudulent returns related to identity theft, totaling $6.5 billion, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George told a House subcommittee this month.
Treasury officials say that was money identified by the IRS as fraudulent but not actually issued. The IRS could not provide an estimate of how much fraudulent refund money it has issued.
"Any dollar that goes out of our tax system related to refund fraud is a dollar too much," Tucker said. "We have noticed that there are more folks attempting identity theft. We're in the middle of filing season, and we should be able to have a better assessment of exactly what the dollar amount could potentially be."
They're sitting on a computer or iPad ... where they don't have to rob anybody or stick a gun in anybody's face.
Det. Craig Catlin, North Miami Beach police
Last year, the IRS identified at least 582,000 taxpayers who were the victims of identity theft, which is more than double the amount from only three years prior.
In testimony before Congress last year, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson said the IRS has implemented a number of filters to catch the fraud, including an electronic marker to mark accounts of verified identity theft victims, an IRS identity theft affidavit form and a standardized list of acceptable documents to substantiate identity theft.
Tucker said the IRS filters are "in place from the start of the filing season" and are "part of our prevention and detection." She also said the IRS has trained 40,000 employees across the country in the past three months to deal with identity theft.
Also, the IRS last year began issuing an Identity Protection Personal Identification Number to victims of identity theft when filing their future returns.
But the filters, according to Olson's annual report to Congress, "inevitably block large numbers of proper refund claims" since there "is no easy way to distinguish proper claims from improper ones."
IRS' tips to protect against identity theft
- Do not respond to emails claiming to be from the IRS asking for personal information
- Contact the IRS if your identity may have been stolen
- If you are filing online tax returns, use a strong password
- Save your electronically filed tax return to a CD or flash drive, and store it in a safe place
- After saving the e-file, delete personal return information from your hard drive
Source: www.irs.gov
Tax refund fraud by identity theft will be the subject of Tuesday's hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth. It is the third hearing on the issue since last year.
Tampa officials have expressed concern that the IRS is not doing enough to combat the situation, which Castor said is one of the worst cases of fraud she has seen in her career.
"In my 28 years of law enforcement, I don't think that I have ever seen this magnitude of fraud that is just wide open," the police chief said. "It's wide open and there just doesn't seem to be much being done about it."
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said he's angry that the IRS has not done more to help the city combat the fraud.
"As far as I'm concerned, they're missing in action," Buckhorn said. "They have not been helpful; they have not been a player; they have not taken responsibility for their side of the enforcement. If anything, you know, we've been banging our heads against their door asking for help and getting nothing in response. The silence has been deafening."
Tucker disagreed with the mayor, noting that the IRS has "significantly increased the amount of resources we've devoted to identity theft, a heinous crime."
A week after CNN's March 6 interview with Tucker, the IRS sent a team of officials to meet with police officials in North Miami Beach and Tampa.
Buckhorn said the problem in Tampa is "just the tip of the iceberg" and offered this warning to the mayors of other U.S. cities:
"Go back and ask the IRS in (your) jurisdiction, 'What are you doing? Is this a problem in my jurisdiction?' Because I guarantee you it is," Buckhorn said. "You may not know it, but it is."
Monday, March 19, 2012
Nicollette Sheridan
Judge declares mistrial in 'Desperate Housewives' lawsuit
Los Angeles (CNN) -- A judge declared a mistrial Monday in actress Nicollette Sheridan's wrongful termination lawsuit against "Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry and ABC.
The jury told the judge they were deadlocked at 8-4, in favor of the actress, after three days of deliberations. They needed nine jurors to agree on a verdict.
Sheridan sued, claiming her character was killed off -- and her acting job eliminated -- in retaliation for her complaining that Cherry hit her during a rehearsal for the ABC comedy.
Lawyers for Cherry and ABC's Touchstone Television argued the demise of her character was a creative decision unrelated to the workplace complaint.
One juror who voted for Sheridan's case said afterward that the defense story "just didn't hold water for me."
Beverly Crosby, a retired elementary school principal, said her decision to find the studio liable was based on her doubts about the credibility of several defense witnesses, which included high-level ABC executives.
"There were a lot of people that some of the jurors found not too credible," Crosby said.
Juror Johnny Huynh, who also voted for Sheridan's side, said it seemed to him that ABC executives scripted their stories "just a little bit."
"I don't say they was scripted," Huyhn said. "It's more like the story don't match for me."
Sheridan lawyer Mark Baute said while there was no victory, the jury's 8-4 vote did send a message to ABC and parent company Disney.
"They had 10 witnesses tell their little scripted story, with no documents, and eight jurors looked at their best, their presidents, and said, 'No, I'm not buying it, I'm not buying what you're selling, Mr. President,' " Baute said.
Lawyers will now prepare for a retrial, since an out-of-court settlement is not expected, he said.
"My view is that Disney is the unhappiest place on Earth, so why would there ever be a settlement offer?" Baute said.
ABC lawyer Adam Levin said the retrial will be "far more narrow than the previous case" since the judge tossed out Sheridan's battery complaint, leaving only the wrongful termination issue against the studio. In fact, Cherry is no longer a defendant, he said.
The jury of nine women and three men began deliberating on Wednesday but told the judge Monday morning they were hopelessly deadlocked.
Sheridan was asking for $5.7 million in damages from ABC and Cherry, although the actress was paid $4 million in her last year of work and is still earning royalties from her vested interest in the hit series.
Los Angeles (CNN) -- A judge declared a mistrial Monday in actress Nicollette Sheridan's wrongful termination lawsuit against "Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry and ABC.
The jury told the judge they were deadlocked at 8-4, in favor of the actress, after three days of deliberations. They needed nine jurors to agree on a verdict.
Sheridan sued, claiming her character was killed off -- and her acting job eliminated -- in retaliation for her complaining that Cherry hit her during a rehearsal for the ABC comedy.
Lawyers for Cherry and ABC's Touchstone Television argued the demise of her character was a creative decision unrelated to the workplace complaint.
One juror who voted for Sheridan's case said afterward that the defense story "just didn't hold water for me."
Beverly Crosby, a retired elementary school principal, said her decision to find the studio liable was based on her doubts about the credibility of several defense witnesses, which included high-level ABC executives.
"There were a lot of people that some of the jurors found not too credible," Crosby said.
Juror Johnny Huynh, who also voted for Sheridan's side, said it seemed to him that ABC executives scripted their stories "just a little bit."
"I don't say they was scripted," Huyhn said. "It's more like the story don't match for me."
Sheridan lawyer Mark Baute said while there was no victory, the jury's 8-4 vote did send a message to ABC and parent company Disney.
"They had 10 witnesses tell their little scripted story, with no documents, and eight jurors looked at their best, their presidents, and said, 'No, I'm not buying it, I'm not buying what you're selling, Mr. President,' " Baute said.
Lawyers will now prepare for a retrial, since an out-of-court settlement is not expected, he said.
"My view is that Disney is the unhappiest place on Earth, so why would there ever be a settlement offer?" Baute said.
ABC lawyer Adam Levin said the retrial will be "far more narrow than the previous case" since the judge tossed out Sheridan's battery complaint, leaving only the wrongful termination issue against the studio. In fact, Cherry is no longer a defendant, he said.
The jury of nine women and three men began deliberating on Wednesday but told the judge Monday morning they were hopelessly deadlocked.
Sheridan was asking for $5.7 million in damages from ABC and Cherry, although the actress was paid $4 million in her last year of work and is still earning royalties from her vested interest in the hit series.
Danai Gurira - Walking Dead
AMC has officially announced that Danai Gurira (of Treme and The Visitor) has landed the role of Michionne, the fan favorite character from the comic book
401(k) Contributions
Boost Your 401(k) Contributions
For most taxpayers, investing in a 401(k) is the best way to lower your taxes and build a retirement nest egg. If you're among the 51 million Americans who participate in a company's 401(k) plan, you can contribute up to $17,000 in 2012, up $500 from 2011. If you are 50 or older, you can stash an extra $5,500 in catch-up contributions for a total of $22,000.
If you pay 30 percent of your income in federal and state taxes, each $100 contributed to your 401(k) costs you just $70. If your company matches your contributions at a rate of, say 50 cents on the dollar, you end up with $150 in savings for something that cost you only $70. If you are self-employed, you can stash even more into a solo 401(k) plan and a tax-deferred retirement account because you contribute as both an employee and an employer.
Roth IRAs are a great option for anyone interested in tax-free retirement income, and are particularly good for young workers who could benefit from decades of tax-free growth. Roth IRAs are also good for anyone who expects to be in a higher tax bracket in retirement.
For most taxpayers, investing in a 401(k) is the best way to lower your taxes and build a retirement nest egg. If you're among the 51 million Americans who participate in a company's 401(k) plan, you can contribute up to $17,000 in 2012, up $500 from 2011. If you are 50 or older, you can stash an extra $5,500 in catch-up contributions for a total of $22,000.
If you pay 30 percent of your income in federal and state taxes, each $100 contributed to your 401(k) costs you just $70. If your company matches your contributions at a rate of, say 50 cents on the dollar, you end up with $150 in savings for something that cost you only $70. If you are self-employed, you can stash even more into a solo 401(k) plan and a tax-deferred retirement account because you contribute as both an employee and an employer.
Roth IRAs are a great option for anyone interested in tax-free retirement income, and are particularly good for young workers who could benefit from decades of tax-free growth. Roth IRAs are also good for anyone who expects to be in a higher tax bracket in retirement.
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