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Welcome to Prater Law Firm, PLLC.  We have twenty years of experience providing expert legal advice in a friendly and responsible manner. 
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Welcome To Prater Law Firm

At Prater Law Firm, our priority is your legal security. For more than 20 years, we have represented individuals in business and corporate legal areas, including litigation. We carefully select our cases so that we can spend the time focusing on your case.  Your legal success is our number one priority.

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By Paul Prater 15 May, 2021
The CDC instituted a partial eviction ban on September 4, 2020, when Trump was in office. The CDC ban is still in place as of the time of this writing. This eviction ban has been widely misunderstood. It makes it a crime for landlords to remove individual tenants with limited or no housing alternatives who (a) expect to earn less than $99,000 in 2021 (or $198,000, for joint tax return filers); (b) were not required to report income in 2020; or (c) received a stimulus check last year under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. There are additional hurdles that a tenant must face and certain paperwork which must be completed. If you want to know more about how it works, you can refer to our article on Eviction in the Time of COVID. While it is not, and never has been a blanket ban, it has certainly caused much consternation to those who rent properties. On May 5, 2021, a Washington DC federal judge declared the ban unconstitutional. Part of his decision stated "[i]t is the role of the political branches, and not the courts, to assess the merits of policy measures designed to combat the spread of disease, even during a global pandemic. " “The question for the Court is a narrow one: Does the Public Health Service Act grant the CDC the legal authority to impose a nationwide eviction moratorium? It does not.” You can read the opinion here . The Department of Justice immediately appealed the decision. This was not the first court to make this declaration. In February a Federal Court in Texas also struck down the CDC ban on similar grounds, stating that "[t]he court concludes that the federal government's… power to regulate interstate commerce... does not include the power to impose the challenged eviction moratorium." You can read the decision here . The Texas decision directly contradicts another Fifth Circuit decision out of Louisiana, which upheld the moratorium. It is one of several courts which have done so. There is currently a similar case working its way through the courts in New York. So where does that leave landlords right now? Unfortunately, likely in the same position. As these cases are being appealed, their rulings are stayed. Furthermore, it puts a landlord at risk to ignore the moratorium. Remember though, that contrary to common opinion there is not a blanket ban on evictions. Your best bet is to speak to an attorney who can assist with your eviction case, making sure you are in compliance with the law.
By Paul Prater 14 May, 2021
While the Arkansas legislature continues to do their best to undermine the will of the people of Arkansas by continuing to introduce largely failed bills to limit the use of medicine needed by many, there was one bright spot in this past legislative session. During COVID, governor Asa Hutchinson signed an emergency order allowing telemedicine appointments for patients for the purpose of receiving a doctor's approval for medical marijuana. Just to make sure the term telemedicine is clear, this is using Zoom or other video conferencing in order to assess a patient. If the highest echelons of the government and military can use such services to keep the nation safe, I believe that doctors can assess a patient in the same manner. However, the emergency order expired and it was back to in-person assessments only. Obviously, this leads to more hurdles and difficulty for patients. Senator Leding introduced Senate Bill 703, which became Act 1112 on May 3, 2021. This bill reinstated telehealth as an option for Arkansas doctors and patients. While this is now the law, it is up to the Arkansas Department of Health to release a statement or any updated policy. As of right now, the Department of Health website still states that telemedicine is prohibited. Generally, after the passage of a bill, it goes into effect after 90 days. If you would like to read the Act, it is here .
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