Title: My got got mangled by what I believe to be my neighbors dog.

Question: [removed]

Answer:
 Was your cat outside, and did this happen in your neighbor's yard?
 You didn't include your location, but in most areas cats aren't technically supposed to be roaming free outside, so if it was in your neighbor's yard and the neighbor's dog attacked it, there's probably not going to be any legal recourse for you.Answer #2: Where were the two animals when this occurred?Answer #3: Whose property did this occur on?

Was your animal on or off leash?

Was the other animal on or off leash?

My dogs have killed cats before (and birds, and frogs, and whatever else they come across) in their dog run in my backyard. Animal control will always ask the above questions. Aggression can be a concern if the animals were in a gray area (like two off-leash animals meeting on a sidewalk), but if the dog was on his property you will likely have limited recourse.


Title: EX won't give me MacBook back and is holding it randsom for $2500

Question: I have a recent ex-boyfriend who is holding my MacBook Pro randsom in exchange for $2500. We had an argument this morning and I left my computer at his house. And not he is refusing to give it back to me. I contacted Hillsborough County Sheriffs office and they told me there is nothing they can do for me because he is telling me that I owe him $2500 and that I left it there on purpose to hold until Friday and supposedly pay him. HE IS LYING and I need my computer back as I use it for work. Do I have a case against him?

Answer:
 You can sue him for it, but that's it. Also, that takes time.Answer #2: Be sure to save communications from him. If you live in a one-party consent state, try and get him on the phone and record him admitting that he's holding your computer hostage. After that, try the police again and/or small claims court.Answer #3: Thank you all. I have communications with him documented as well as the receipt and bank statements that the computer is mine and has been purchased in my name only.
He also has no documentation of me ever agreeing to giving him and money. It's my word against his, but I have documentation. He doesn't have proof for anything.Answer #4: Sure, you could sue him for the value of the computer. Answer #5: Wow, that is a savvy ex.


Title: Dogs Attacked my Car (FL)

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 If this happens again, please get video in case you do track down the owners so that there can be no denial.

If they return again call animal control and say that *you fear for your safety*. Otherwise it's a low priority and they most likely won't come again.

Answer #2: If your parents don't have comprehensive coverage under an auto insurance policy I don't see any source of recovery here unless you somehow discover the identity of the dogs' owners.Answer #3: > Do I make a claim against my home insurance?

You can try.

I can't think of anything else you can do if these are strays and the owners are never located. Answer #4: Homeowners insurance never covers cars.  The only exception would be is if the car is somehow permanently part of the house.  So if your parents' car was damaged while in your custody, your homeowners insurance won't help.  If they don't have Comprehensive coverage for their car, then they don't have any insurance of their own to cover it.

That leaves tracking down the dogs' owner(s) and bringing the witness statements to them.  Their homeowners insurance might provide coverage, but your parents might have to sue the owners to make it respond.


Title: University dining court mislabeled chocolate brownies containing peanut butter as normal brownies and now I'm in the ER for anaphylactic shock

Question: So the title pretty much says it all. I took home a couple brownies from the dining, the label for them didnt saying anything about peanut butter being in them along with the normal allergy warnings. I ate one (still have the other) and almost immediately went into anaphylactic shock and ended up having to call an ambulance. What should I do? Should I call insurance and tell them and let their lawyers handle it or should I get a lawyer or what should I do?

Answer: Was it at Earhart dining court? My friend had the same thing and had a reaction too...happened on Thursday


Title: [NY] Office Job - Employer admits they can verify I was in and working despite forgetting to clock in, but still refusing to pay for the time - anything I can do?

Question:
Western NY, not NYC or surrounding areas.

I'm working for a Fortune 500 company. Recently on one of my shifts, I neglected to formally log into the phone systems they use to track our working hours, and instead began working on aspects that don't require me to literally be on the phone. I realized about an hour into the shift when I did go to make a call that I had neglected to log in.

I sent an email to my supervisor, who eventually replied that though they can see I was in fact in the office and working, they will not be paying me for the time it would be held it against my attendance record. While I can accept it being held against my attendance record, I am very much upset that despite admitting they can see I was in fact here and working for the company, they are refusing my pay.

I know that this is a result of my own negligence, but I don't understand how they can deny my pay when they admit I was here and performing work during my expected hours. Is this legal at all?

Answer: This is illegal. You must be paid for all your time worked, even if you didn't login to the time keeping system properly. Your recourse is to file a wage claim with the NY Dept of Labor.


Title: Soon to be ex wife giving prescriptions for one child to another without prescription (Al)

Question:
My youngest son was diagnosed with Strep Throat and a Staph infection last week. He was prescribed Cefdinir, an antibiotic. Tonight I learned that my oldest son came home from school yesterday with a fever and complaining of a sore throat. My wife did not take him to the doctor but determined herself that he also had Strep Throat so she decided to stop giving the medication to my youngest and start giving it to my oldest.

I'm not happy about this but I don't know what options I have. I only had enough time to contact my lawyer before the close of business hours and they weren't much help. I called the GAL assigned to my case and left a message, I also called DHR but they were closed so I'll have to call back tomorrow, and I also called the sheriff's office who referred me back to DHR.

We have a court date coming up next week and this will definitely be brought up but is there anything I can do in the meantime? What are the legal consequences of her doing this? She told my mother she was doing this and I also have the phone conversation recorded where I called and confronted her about it so she really wont be able to deny it i think. I know it's "just an antibiotic" but to me that doesn't matter, a prescription is a prescription and she is not any kind of medical proffesional.

Answer:
 Stopping antibiotics midstream is how resistant bacteria emerge.  Her doctor should have explained this.

Yeah, this is a stupid move, and not good for your kids or for society.

Ask the doctor's office/nurse to call her and let her know that the full course of antibiotics must be taken, for the patient's safety.


Title: [MI] Can't request access from a church-owned property. Need to have tree removed, which will be dangerous without a second lift on church property.

Question:
Hey all. Looking for some advice.

My home is next door to a property which is owned by a church. It's a dilapidated home. No one lives there, and they use the driveway to store cars.

I have recently discovered that a gigantic 50+ foot tree which has grown ~~between our properties~~ on both of our properties (grown through fence, leaning toward my garage with gigantic branches over both of our properties) is absolutely rotted to the core, and will probably not survive the Winter. If the tree were to drop its massive limbs which have been rotten through, it will probably crush my garage.

I only discovered the extent of the rot recently, and want to have this rectified immediately.

I had a contractor come out to look at the tree, and he asked if he would be able to position a man lift on the neighboring property to properly ensure safety.

I have no way to contact the owner of the property. I have the number for the son of the pastor of the church, but he is being unresponsive, and has not answered my calls or texts.

I need this tree gone. It's going to ruin my garage. Can I just tell the contractor to the church property without permission?

Edit: clarification

#Update: I spoke with the church pastor who said I have his permission to do whatever is needed. Bonus: he also stated he would like to have a tree on his property cleaned up by whoever I use to fix my tree, which is cool for us both because that tree has effectively grown into his roof.

Answer:
 Not a tree removal expert, but my husband is and our company does tree removal.
Tell your tree removal guy that you aren't successful getting permission. Tell him he needs to figure out an alternative method.
Chances are he is suggesting the easier way to remove the tree


Title: Friend's workplace overpaid her, now deducting from her paycheque in such a huge amount that she won't be able to cover rent. Does she have any rights in this? (NB, Canada)

Question:
Hi there,

My friend works for a call centre for a bank in NB, Canada.  She recently realised her work had overpaid her for a few months' worth of paycheques and told her workplace right away.

They said that they will be deducting amounts from her paycheque to make it up, she'll be getting about $300 biweekly with their plan and won't be able to afford living expenses.  She argued with them on the phone for a few hours today but has now given up hope, which is why I'm posting here for her.

Does she have any rights here?  If the new amount they pay her works out to be below minimum wage, can she contest it?  Thanks in advance.

Answer: Out of curiosity, what did your friend do with all the extra money?


Title: [TX]School is threatening my roommates job over my girlfriend being in our house.

Question:
I share a house with three other guys. We are all equal lease holders. One of these guys is a teacher in a high school a couple of districts over. About two months ago I started dating someone who was a student of his last year (I met her through work it's just a coincidence). She still attends the school and the administration found out that she had come over to our house. After the administration had interviewed both him and my girlfriend and talking to her mom about it (who knows about and is fine with the whole situation) they told him that that if she kept coming over he would lose his job. This doesn't seem right to me as she is here to be with me and doesn't interact my roommates at all.

Is there anything I can do or are they in the right?

Answer:
 Does the district have a written policy on the matter?

Texas teachers are under contracts, so that will matter as well. If he is at the end of his contract, they could simply not renew it.


Title: My under warranty car's engine blew up and caught fire 2 days after bringing it to the dealership with complaints. How do I handle this?

Question:
I bought this car new in 2011 and have kept up with routine maintenance and repairs. It has a 10-year 100k powertrain warranty and I brought it to the dealership last month for a full multi-point inspection because it was nearing 95k miles. (I'm in Oregon btw).

The dealership said everything looked good, except for my tires which I had replaced by Costco the following week.  They did mention a recall they addressed that extended my warranty on my engine to 120k miles.

 However, after driving it for a month now I started noticing a rattling noise and on Friday my check oil light came on.  It was late and I parked on a slope so Saturday morning I moved it into the street where it was level and checked the oil. The dipstick was completely bone dry and I was still 1k+ miles away from needing another oil change.  I've never had my car burn through oil between changes, there was no sign of oil leaking on my driveway, and no signs of smoke when driving it. Just the rattling sound.

I immediately called the dealership and left a message explaining the situation. I was asked to bring it in, so I added ~3 quarts to make sure it could make it on the highway to the dealership. I explained the situation and told the service assistant that it appeared to me that they didn't put any oil back in my car after my inspection last month. She refused to believe that and they brought the car in to inspect for leaks.  They stated they couldn't find any evidence of leaks, but insisted they put oil in.  They printed a detail of these statements and told me to come back in 500 miles for a consumption test and topped off an additional 1/2 quart of oil.

Well today I was driving home from my son's daycare (15 minute drive) and otherwise hadn't driven the car since dropping him off at daycare in the morning and the car completely popped, began smoking and caught fire. We're safe and ultimately fine, the fire department responded quickly.

I immediately called my insurance company to begin the process of getting it towed, getting a rental, and filed a claim.

I haven't called the dealership yet, as it was close to 8pm after all was done tonight.  I'm not sure how to approach them with this considering I was just there complaining that the engine was making noises 2 days prior and they sent me away.

I also just paid this car off last month and the titled arrived in the mail today.  If the car is totaled, which it most definitely will be, it isn't worth more than $6-7k.

Feels like I'm in a horrible position and I hate to place blame on the dealership but I feel they this was avoidable and I tried my best to resolve and prevent this.

How do I go about contacting the dealership about this? Besides the totaled value if the vehicle from the insurance company am I entitled to anything from the dealership since it's under warranty?

Thanks for any advice, I've never paid off a vehicle before and I've never had a totaled vehicle before either.  I was prepared to drive this car for the next 10 years and am not looking forward to having a car payment again.

Answer:
 Wanted to add I have documentation of both inspections at the dealership.

Also the engine recall was apparently due to manufacturing errors that could potentially create debris causing the vehicle to stall.


Title: Downstairs apartment neighbors complaining about our dogs barking for "several hours" when the dogs were not at the quoted time.

Question:
First off, we are in TN (in Knoxville, if that matters) My wife and I have just moved into an apartment after a few months of talking to the community manager and getting everything squared away. We own a 4 year old Border Collie and a 1 year old Great Dane. The community manager knew about this, and knew that our GD weighs 100+ pounds. They decided to put us into a 3rd floor apartment.

The first day we moved in, our downstairs neighbors complained that our dogs made too much noise. I'll admit, they probably did make a lot of noise, as we were unloading furniture and as they tried to adjust to totally new surroundings. Nevertheless, they complained immediately. The community manager said deal with it (as he told us). Then they complained again, saying that our dogs constantly wake them up in the morning and make too much noise when they are watching TV. This, to me, is absurd. Our community's quiet hours are from 10pm-8am. Our dogs sleep in the bed with us and do not wake up until we get them up and immediately take them outside. In the evenings, we take them to our dog park and run them ragged, they come back and lounge around or sleep all evening and night long. Nevertheless, with this complaint our community manager suggested that we leash our dogs in our apartment at all time and tie them up in the apartment whenever we leave. This absolutely dumbfounded me. They advertised that this was a "pet friendly community." Our downstairs neighbors own a small dog, and our building is located next to the dog park. It baffles me that anyone can think that it's okay to suggest that we tie our dogs up during the day. We spoke in person with the community manager, explained our position, and he seemed to agree with us and said he'd talk with our neighbors and say that during non-quiet hours they essentially need to deal with it.

Nevertheless, just to be overly accommodating, my wife and I said we would be willing to move to a first floor apartment. As a result we haven't even gotten to unpack all of our stuff, since we expect to move sometime kind of soon.

Fast forward to now, we get another email saying that our neighbors have complained yet again, this time about our dogs barking for "several hours" this past Saturday at 10:30 am. Uh, well, one problem, we were with our dogs that day, and we don't let them bark, much less that they could bark for "several hours" at a time. In fact, my parents were visiting, we when they first arrived that morning, I took the dogs out to the dog park in order not to disturb neighbors as the dogs got excited to see them. The community manager emailed us and said "when the neighbors called we could hear the loud barking in the background." I again responded explaining that this was not possible. I further explained that our neighbors who live next door (NOT the downstairs neighbors) own two dogs that we have heard barking for extended periods of time. I informed him that I am a bit worried that those dogs were barking, and we are being unfairly blamed. This time, the community manager suggested we buy a shock bark collar, which we decided to do in order to prevent them from taking action against us. The community manager informed us that "further complaints of this type could result in termination of your lease for breach of the terms of the lease." Our lease does in fact say that we will ensure that our dogs do not bark too much. We have done just that, but apparently they don't care.

We have had our Border Collie for 4 years, and our Great Dane for 1 year. We have NEVER received a complaint about them before. We get here, after living here for 3 weeks, and apparently the world is ending for our neighbors' downstairs.

Here's where it gets interesting. Each time our community manager has informed us of these complaints, he has waited until exactly 6 pm each Friday, which is close of business. This past time he said "sorry that it took me so long to write you this email, but we received these complaints last weekend. Oh by the way, I'll be on vacation starting now for the next week. But be sure to fix the problem." Paraphrasing, of course, but the bad part is that is the gist of it.

Before, I couldn't help but think that our downstairs neighbors' complaints amounted to harassment. Particularly because they beat on their ceiling (our floor) whenever they think our dogs make any sort of noise. While my parents visited, we ordered in some food, and as we shuffled around setting the table to eat, they started to beat on our floor. Our dogs were both asleep at the time. They seem to feel entitled to absolute silence, and any noise they blame on our dogs and immediately cry to the community manager. This, to me, seems like harassment.

However, my wife and I now feel a bit like we have been set up by the apartment manager himself. He knew we had a large, young dog, but put us in a third floor apartment. Now, whenever he gets a complaint, he waits until the last possible minute to mention it to us, so we cannot respond with our position quickly. We've been here less than a month, and I worry he will continue this behavior until he can argue that we have broken the lease and owe the full year's payments. My wife and I have good credit. We don't want this to happen. At this point, we really just want to mutually agree to leave the lease and move out.

What are our options here? We worry we may get screwed. We just want to move, even if it means having to pay a new lease deposit somewhere, and paying for movers again. Whatever it takes to keep our dogs and our good credit. Any help is greatly appreciated. Sorry this turned out to be so long. Thanks!

TLDR: We feel that our apartment neighbors are harassing us about any noise we make. They want us to be quiet during the day, during the evening, and during the weekends. Our apartment community manager now has started to do some shady things, like waiting a week to inform us about complaints (unfounded) until close of business the day before he leaves for a week-long vacation. Any help to get out of the lease is appreciated. Thanks.

Answer:
 Personally, I would get a camera with audio for your apartment.  Stream the video to the cloud.

Then when accusations are made, you will have proof that the are false.

Once you have proof, I would contact a lawyer to send a cease and desist letter to both your neighbor and your apartment management.


Title: [IA] Fire at my rental house, what to do next?

Question:
Hello /r/legaladvice

I rent a house in Iowa with one of my friends.  This is embarrassing to admit, but my roommate and I accidentally caught the house on fire about 3 months back.  We both smoke cigarettes, and we have a bucket out behind our house for the butts.  It was really hot and dry one day, and one of the butts must have lit up because it started the house on fire.  My roommate and I managed to put the fire out for the most part, but we still called the fire department.

Since that day, everything in the house was repaired by a crew the landlord hired.  Once repairs were done, our landlord asked my roommate and I to pay the deductible which seemed fair to us.  He told us at that time that everything was resolved.

Now about a week ago, my roommate and I both received a letter from our landlord's insurance that stated after their internal investigation, they have determined that my roommate and I were negligent and will be responsible for paying the company back.  The bill is almost $35000!  Neither my roommate or myself have renter's insurance (I have since bought it, but I did not have it at the time of these events).

We are both young guys fresh out of college, and there's no way we have this kind of money.  From what I'm reading online, my situation seems pretty hopeless... Is there anything I can do here?

Thanks in advance for any  advice you can give me..

Answer:
 > He told us at that time that everything was resolved.

Between you and your landlord, things are resolved.

The insurance company will probably sue you. You can always try to negociate (get a lawyer).

In the future, always always always have renter's insurance.

Answer #2: You can wait to be sued.  Doubt it will be a long wait.


Title: [CA] Currently on FMLA leave due to an accident that left me with severe injuries. Employer stated I should be able to return to my job without accommodations since I have a desk job?

Question:
Hello everyone, I have a question regarding FMLA and ADA accommodations. Early December, I got in a motorcycle accident early and injured most of the right side of my body (dislocated shoulder, Medial malleolus (ankle) fracture, bruised pelvis, and several abrasions).

My employer was immediately informed and told me that If I was going to be out of work more then 2 weeks, I was required to submit FMLA paperwork. I filled out the needed paperwork got it signed by my doctor, but never received a verbal or written from my company confirming that my FMLA was approved.

I thought I was gonna be back to work sooner then usual but I ended up needing ORIF surgery to correct my ankle fracture.
Three weeks later, I see my surgeon for my follow up appointment. My doctor feels that I am still unfit to return to work and he ends up extending my work leave for another month.  At this point, I still have four more weeks of FMLA leave. I give my work a heads up via email and attach my doctor note as well. My employer stated that they are unable to wait the last 4 weeks and need a replacement. I informed that that I am willing to work if they can accommodate me with a part-time schedule instead.

My employer emailed me and was pretty upset that I was taking more time off. In the email she basically stated that since I work a desk job and do not stand I do not require any accommodations whats so ever. They also informed me that any accommodations must be clarified with a doctors note. My current doctor's note I provided has my status of disability, how long I will be out, my next appointment, and my doctor's contact information, Is this not sufficient proof? I feel this is unfair since several coworkers who were on maternity leave were allowed to return as part-time in order to care for their newborn children. I have not returned my bosses email because I am unaware how to approach them regarding the issue. *Are they able to deny me my request? Also If they never told my request for FMLA was approved is it still considered FMLA leave? Lastly, I have four more weeks left of FMLA, are they able to question my ability to work If I have already provided them with a doctor's note for a leave extension.*

**Tldr: Got in bad motorcycle accident, injured most of my right side of body, work asked for FMLA paperwork. FMLA was never denied or approved. Now I am trying to return to work earlier then noted because no one can complete my work and they can not "wait for me to return". Asked to work part time, was rejected due to not having a doc's note with said accommodation and because I sit most of the day. Other co-workers have been granted part time when returning from maternity leave in order to care for babies.**

Answer: They can require a doctor to fill out paperwork for ADA accommodations.


Title: [NY] I am a graduate student concerned about how the current tax reform bill will treat my tuition waiver as taxable income. My university sent a campus-wide email claiming I will be unaffected. This sounds a little too good to be true.

Question:
I am a graduate student at Cornell, a private university. I currently get paid a yearly stipend of roughly $25K, in exchange for teaching undergraduate courses. I am given a tuition waiver, which is about $30K. This is a standard situation for graduate students in STEM fields. Under current law, this is not treated as taxable income.

There are concerns among graduate students across the country that the new tax reform bill will treat tuition waivers as taxable income, which would mean we would be taxed as if we make tens of thousands of dollars more than we actually do.

However, my university sent a campus-wide email claiming I will be unaffected by the bill. This is what they wrote:

"One of the sections of H.R. 1 proposes to repeal subsection 117(d) of the current tax code.  Some observers have interpreted repeal of subsection 117(d), if signed into law, as changing the non-taxable status of tuition waivers for funded graduate students to instead be considered taxable income.  It is important to understand that Cornell University does not rely on 117(d) for favorable tuition-related tax treatment of funded graduate students, who are considered students, not employees, at Cornell.  Other universities, particularly public universities, may be required by state law to treat certain graduate students as employees under state law, and therefore may be more reliant on 117(d) for favorable tax treatment for their graduate students.

Cornell graduate students receiving a tuition waiver are receiving a qualified scholarship as described under sections 117(a), 117(b), and 117(c) of the current tax code, provisions which are not proposed for repeal in H.R. 1.  Thus, the proposed repeal of section 117(d), if passed into law, will not have an impact on how Cornell graduate students’ tuition scholarships are handled."

This sounds a little too good to be true. They claim everybody else's taxes will go up whereas mine will remain the same. I want a second opinion on this.

Answer: NAL, but I'm a grad student at Princeton. The administration here has told us that we *will* be affected, and probably pretty dramatically. It seems unlikely that the two universities are doing something very different in terms of how tuition is treated.


Title: Should I be getting paid for lunch meetings?

Question:
I am classified as an exempt hourly employee (USA).  The company's policy states,
> "Exempt employees may be asked to attend meetings during the lunch hour. If a Non-Exempt employee is asked to attend a meeting during the lunch hour, he/she will be paid for that time. Lunch should be provided and paid for by ELS for all mandatory lunchtime meetings."

We regularly have to attend meetings at which lunch is provided, which seems to me to indicate this is a mandatory meeting, furthermore attendance is often taken at the meetings.  Should I be getting compensated for these meetings?  Can I claim back pay?

Answer: Yes you should be. Exempt doesn't mean you don't have to be paid for all time worked it means you are except from overtime.


Title: [Nevada] Came home from vacation and roommate is gone. Took everything.

Question:
What's up r/legaladvice. This just happened to a friend of mine, if anyone has any advice she'd appreciate it.

"Hey all,

Pretty much what it sounds like. Roomate took everything and is gone. The apartment complex is being cool and said they're going to go after her for the buyout and stuff. I have no idea where she is but some of the stuff she took wasn't hers. She left my cat, thank god. Is there anything else I can do here?"

Answer: File a police report for the stolen items ?


Title: Dad doesn't want to be involved with son

Question:
I got pregnant with a child by a man who had been recently divorced. I think he did it just to upset her and it worked because as soon as she found out she wanted to get back with him. Now they are back together and he wants nothing to do with him (my son). He will be 8 months old next week and he has seen him twice. I want to take him to court but I don't know how.
Indiana/ USA

Answer: Ideally, get a lawyer. You can't compel him to be involved if he doesn't want to be, but you _can_ [compel him to provide financial support](http://www.in.gov/dcs/2483.htm) for his child. He may realize he wants to be more involved once he realizes he's not going to be able to just walk away,.


Title: Doctor talked me out of surgery minutes before procedure

Question:
I have been having pain for a long period of time and last year (2019) we met our medical deductible so I decided it was time to get this taken care of. I saw a specialist who referred me to physical therapy which made the pain worse. I finished my required number of sessions then back to the specialist for steroid injections as the next step. I had a series of two shots which did not help. I was then referred to a surgeon who agreed surgery was the correct option.

Surgery was scheduled for before the end of the year so I would have no more out of pocket and everything would be covered by insurance. The doctors office confirmed two weeks before surgery that everything was good to go and would be approved, and I would receive a pre-approval letter from insurance stating so.

Fast forward to day of surgery I am in the hospital bed 15 minutes prior to the procedure and the doctor tells me insurance will not cover the surgery because there is no pre-approval for this surgery and that I did not meet the medical policy requirements.

Days later I found the policy, reviewed it, called insurance and they agreed that I did in fact meet the requirements and surgery would indeed of been covered.

Now the surgeon wants to reschedule and now that is after the new year, my deductible has started over and I will be responsible for my out of pocket again.

What is my best course of action or person to talk to? Is it possible for a doctor office to cover a patient out of pocket? If it matters, this takes place in Iowa.

EDIT #1: I am not looking to sue, I am just looking for opinions and options on what I should do. This may not be the correct forum, but it’s all I knew about. Since many are hung up on this pre-approval, there is no such thing for this type of surgery. It is FDA approved but they just have a medical policy checklist that has to be followed in order for it to be covered by insurance. It is the surgeons responsibility to make sure I have met all criteria since it includes many medical terms that the lay person may not be familiar with, which was explained by the insurance company. They went on to say if surgery was performed and I didn’t meet this criteria, the surgeon is liable for all expenses not covered by insurance.

Answer: Confirming insurance eligibility and coverage is generally your responsibility, even though your doctor's office may attempt it as a courtesy. There's nothing to take action over here.


Title: Going from a home to construction zone

Question:
Essentially my girlfriend and I are renting a house in Central NY. My landlord now want to do construction to turn the attic into a bedroom as well as the closet in our bedroom into a bathroom. Essentially they would be doing construction in our bedroom and attic for over a month. I was wondering if we had any legal right to stop this from occurring.

Thanks so much for any help!

Answer:
 If you have a written lease, then most likely yes. The construction would undoubtedly change the premises that you leased, the landlord would have to enter the premises for reasons unrelated to safety and wellness, and because it would breach the covenant of quiet enjoyment that is inherent in a lease for residential property. All of those likely put the landlord in breach of any written lease you have.

You have a few options. First, you can tell the landlord you don't want to and see what kind of civil conclusion y'all can reach. Second, you can wait until it starts and terminate the lease for breach (I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you have an attorney review your lease and local statutes). Third, and probably the best option for you: negotiate some sort of displacement fee with your landlord. I would suggest asking for either reducing or abating rent while the construction is happening and an extension of the lease for however long the construction takes, OR a termination payment/moving fee/difference in rent (if you need to leave permanently).


Title: Help with HOA and neighbor

Question: When we moved in, the only house next to us had nothing in their backyard. Since then, they have erected metal cages with farm animals in the backyard. They did not buy their house, rather they were gifted it by parents. This has caused them to be out of touch with the rest of the neighborhood. We have an HOA, but they refuse to do anything about it because the chainlink cages are not classified as the "chainlink fences" which are banned. Apparently farm animals weren't even mentioned in the rulebook, presumably because nobody who would buy a house here would act like hillbillies as they do. Nobody else has a house that borders theirs, but their farm-like backyard devalues our house tens of thousands, and is just an eyesore in general. Is there any recourse for us with the HOA or the neighbor? Can rules be enacted which would prevent currently existing structures? Just to be clear, this is a residential subdivision and their property is less than two acres. It isn't like they live on a neighboring farm.

Answer:
 Have you checked with your city about their laws? Many places have regulations around how much livestock a house can have.Answer #2: So you've had an appraisal done since they got animals?

How exactly do animals devalue your own property?

Chickens rabbits and hamsters aren't really nuisances  unless there's a rooster. A lot of urban places allow chickens rabbits and bees because of this.Answer #3: Is it chickens? Because animals can mean a lot of different critters, and chickens vs pigs are two entirely different levels of nuisance.Answer #4: Here, urban farming is very popular--half the people I know have chickens for organic egg laying in their backyard.  It sounds to me like the problem isn't the chickens, but rather that their coops weren't designed to be attractive.  The coops I've seen (often with lovely gardens near them) are quite attractive.
As for legality--location, location, location.  What does your city say?


Title: Court trying to make me pay child support for a child that isn’t mine and WONT let me take a dna test.

Question:
So a girl has accused me of being the father of her child and the court is trying to sit me down to MAKE me pay child support but when I offered to take a dna test to prove I’m not they said no. There’s only one other person on the accusation list and they can’t find him. And because they can’t find him they’re just set on pinning me. I know I’ve said this many times but my state is crooked as shit. What the hell do I do?
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer:
 I feel like there is a lot missing here. The state doesn't just pick you out of the blue.

Are you on the birth certificate? Did you miss a court date?Answer #2: First, is there an order establishing that you are the legal father of the child? This is something that should be obvious from the filings in the support case against you, as that would be the basis of your obligation to pay support. If there's no such order, it makes no legal sense that a judge would issue a child support order without also issuing a paternity order.

Second, if there is such an order, when was it issued and were you informed of that proceeding?

Third, what state is this?


Title: Ordered a chromecast for $3.00 and now they want me to return it

Question:
Location: The Netherlands

Hello,

Recently an exploit was found on a very big dutch web shop which basically gave you a bundle discount when you ordered a chromecast with some lip balm. You would pay for the lip balm which is only 3 euro and you would receive the chromecast for free. Only a handful of people knew about this but some ordered around 50 chromecasts for only 3 euro each. The error was fixed the same day and all lip balm products that could be used for this bundle discount were made unavailable. Everyone actually received their chromecasts (and lip balm) by the way. 2 days after the error was fixed, people who ordered chromecasts with the bundle discount were emailed. The web shop offered the following:

* Return the chromecasts
* Keep the chromecasts and pay for them, but receive a 10 euro discount (So you'd end up paying 30 euro for each chromecast you received)

I highly doubt they can legally make you pay (near) full price for / return an article that

* Was explicitly discounted
* Was paid for and received
* Was mispriced due to their own error

Just to be clear, the shopping cart explicitly mentioned a bundle discount for the chromecast and lip balm.

What would a reasonabable guess regarding this issue?

Thanks in advance.

Answer:
 I don't know Dutch law but in USA hell yes they could legally seek recourse. You can't knowing use an exploit to get 50 things and think thats cool.Answer #2: Already here /u/jasperval and yes /u/pottersquash you are almost correct.

In this case OP should have known that this was an error and thus the website is able to cancel the order. [a dutch source since I couldn't find the law regarding this quickly and I've got to eat](https://www.security.nl/posting/31243/Juridische+vraag%3A+Webwinkel+annuleert+bestelling+na+typefout)

edit: [here is the judgement from a court case from 2008 in which a similar situation happened only said company didn't deliver yet](http://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/inziendocument?id=ECLI:NL:GHSHE:2008:BC2420)


Title: (Oklahoma) Child Abuse or Bad Parenting?

Question:
So I'm 17, but I was 16 at the time of this incident and the subsequent court case. I'm not giving dates, but a general sequence of events will be shown.

On Friday, I had an orthodontist appointment, and for the few days following ortho appointments my mouth is in pain and sometimes it causes major headaches. (Important)

On Sunday morning my father woke me up to try to get me to go to church, but my head was pounding due to my braces and I said that I did not want to go because of that. He ended up getting fed up with me over that and dragged me out of my bed, shoving me out of my room and into a wall. He pushed me down the hall and as we got into the living room I got to where the couch was in between me and the door (the couch was shaped like an L), he dragged me off the couch and onto the floor and as he tried to pull me to my feet he told me to give him my arm so that he didn't end up pulling my hair. I didn't and he grabbed my arm and hair and dragged me out of the house and to his van.

At this point I didn't have my glasses or shoes on, and my sister had texted my mom (my parents are in the process of getting divorced) and told her that she had heard me screaming (when my hair had been pulled). My sister offered me her phone to text my mom the entire thing that had happened and my father came back from locking the door to his house.

Once he got to the church my sister gave me her phone and told me the password and they (my father, sisters, and brothers) went in the church and I texted my mom and told her everything that happened. My father then came back out, had me help him change a tire, and took me back to his house to grab my stuff so he could drop me off at my mom's apartment.

Once my mom got home she tooke to the county jail and she and I each filled out a police report and spoke with an officer. While she was home before going to the county jail she called her cousin who works for DHS and her cousin said that because I'm over 15 the Child Abuse Hotline wouldn't do anything to help me.

She ended up getting a Protective Order against my father for me, my 5 siblings, and her. When we went to court the judge took my younger siblings off the protective order and the mediator (I think) told my mom that this entire incident with me could be chalked up to bad parenting and the DA didn't press charges as far as I know. I'm just wondering if

1) Was what happened child abuse or bad parenting?
2) Would the child abluse hotline really not do anything to help me?

Answer:
 The legal answer is that if the state is declining to press charges, your father will not be convicted of child abuse, pretty much no matter what happened.

The moral answer, as I see it, is that dragging a post-surgery 17-year-old by their hair is _extremely_ excessive, and was likely abusive. The restraining order supports that the court believes you may be in some danger, especially as the order protecting you was left intact.

You won't know if CPS will do anything until you contact them yourself.


Title: IL Farm Land.....is rent from farm land passive income? or residual? How is it taxed?

Question: I have a farm in IL, and currently live in FL.....I was an only child and am in my 50's now and I inherited this farm (630 acres) from my father that passed.  The estate has all been settled now and the farm was transferred into my name and I rent it out (don't explode, to my exhusband which is super hard, but that's his job and I couldn't just say you can't do it, I am too nice, WAY TOO NICE!!)   Anyway, I am to get income from him in the way of land rent instead of half sharing the way we did it all those years with my dad, so how is rental property treated.....remember, I pay property taxes (looking at $9,000 bill right now for the year) and then I also own my dad's home on the farm property that I rent out for $900 a month, and then I also pay farm insurance and farm electric bill also, which is over $6,000 a year......this doesn't include if anything breaks down......(I don't own the machinery, just all the barns and buildings on the farm, I gave my ex the machinery in the divorce).......anyway.....I have lived now in FL for over a year and recently got married too.  So anyway, how do I classify income now.....  He is only giving me $40,000 cash rent for 2017-2018 year, and like I said, $15,000 is taken with bills, so I only really have $25,000 income after those farm expenses, but I also have the farm house rent too, which is $900 x 12 , so that is income from rental also......   Any help about how this is classified.  I am 54, so not really retired or anything, but not working outside the home.  I am a mom and housewife and do stay home right now.  Thanks again for any input!!!!

Answer:
 It's rental income (passive).  You can deduct property tax, operating expenses, depreciation, and repairs -- the remainder is taxed at ordinary rates.

You really should talk to a knowledgeable attorney -- that level of income off of a 630 acre parcel seems ridiculously low.

Edit:  average rental rates in 2016 were $221/acre -- so you're potentially being short-changed close to $100k annually...

http://farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2016/08/2016-cash-rents-land-values-illinois.html


Title: Vaccinating minors without supervision?

Question: I live at a boarding school in California but my parents live in Georgia. At 15, am I allowed to get vaccinated for measles without their permission? Which state laws apply to me?

Answer:
 > Which state laws apply to me?

In this case, it would be the state you intend to get vaccinated in.

> At 15, am I allowed to get vaccinated for measles without their permission?

While the CA Family Code [does allow minors who are living "separate and apart" from their parents to consent to medical treatment](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=FAM&sectionNum=6922.), I'm not convinced it would apply to minors at boarding school, because "separate and apart" usually means without relying on the other party.

Otherwise, the law only provides a minor can consent to STD vaccines, or care relating to the "diagnosis and treatment" of a reportable contagious disease if you were suspected or actually exposed to one.Answer #2: While state laws probably apply--the worst a doctor, nurse, or medical professional can say to you is "No." (And violate HIIPA) Many of them might not be versed in medical consent across state lines. It's also not unheard of for older teens to go to the doctor alone. I would simply *try* and see how it pans out.


Title: Landlord wants to change move-in date after we've already signed the lease (USA, ME)

Question:
(ME) So, my boyfriend and I are currently living in a great apartment, but he recently graduated and was offered a job about two hours away from where we live now, so we've been looking to move to that area. A few weeks ago we found a great little apartment online, and I reached out to the property manager/landlord and we set up a showing, which went great - the landlord was super friendly, and we fell in love with the apartment, so we decided to move forward with the rental process. Our lease for the apartment we live in now ends May 23rd, and the lease for the new apartment doesn't begin until June 1st, but we decided that we liked the place so much that we could deal with staying with my grandfather (who lives nearby) for a week until we could move in. We filled out background/credit checks which were approved and then just yesterday we had a final meeting with the property manager where we went over the lease together, signed it, and gave first + last month's rent & security deposit.

This morning he texted me there had been a 'miscommunication' and that the apartment we are renting is not actually available until JULY 1st. Now, he has another unit directly above the one we are renting which we were also shown the first time we met with him, and in the text he said that apartment will be vacant on June 1st and asked if we would be okay with staying in it until July 1st, when we could then move into the unit below, the apartment we originally signed a lease for.

So...this isn't a HUGE deal, just incredibly inconvenient, and I guess my boyfriend and I are just really upset because we've been a little stressed lately and we just want to get moved and settled in and start new jobs without having to worry about our living situation. Also, like I said...we JUST went over and signed the lease for June 1st YESTERDAY. Although I do think that we're willing to stay in the other unit for a month, I guess I just wanted to get some thoughts and opinions, because we're not really sure what to do. Should we at the very least try and get one of the months of rent back for the inconvenience, or is that unreasonable?

Answer:
 I would be a little bit weary about a bait and switch scam. You move in to the upstairs apartment and come July 1, the downstairs one is still not available. Either a later date is promised or he tries to convince you to just stay where you are. Or he tries to get you to sign a lease for the upstairs place, saying he can change it later. Maybe it's unlikely, but I've seen enough threads similar to this on this sub to make me skeptical.

If possible, I would sign the lease for July 1 and look for other accommodations for June. Or just cut your losses and look for another place altogether. Or see if you can get in touch with the people living in the apartment now directly.


Title: Local Police Department says it wasn't a home invasion or burglary because my parents were home.

Question:
This happened to my parents last night. This happened on the US territory of Guam. My parents were asleep when someone broke in. They took my mom's purse,both car keys,my dad's wallet,and their cellphones. When the police were called they told my parents there was nothing they could do as it technically wasn't a home invasion or burglary because they were both home. I've looked it up the legal definition of burglary and saw this

"*The* *criminal* *offense of breaking* *and* *entering a building* *illegally* *for* *the* *purpose of committing a crime."*

&#x200B;

Do you have to be out of your home for it to legally be a burglary or home invasion?

Answer:
 The opposite. Guam requires someone else (not involved in the crime) be present for it to meet their definition of a "home invasion"

Escalate within the police department if they've refused to investigate


Title: [Virginia] Can a public school and or teacher be sued for the actions of a known bully?

Question:
My 7 year old God daughter was at school last week, in recess, on top of the monkey bars when a boy climbed up and pushed her off resulting in a dislocated elbow and a compound fracture of her arm. She had to have surgery and was in the hospital three days. She will be in a cast for at least three months and will require physical therapy. They believe she will regain full mobility but cannot be certain.

The boy is a known bully and her mom has (verbally) spoken to the school numerous times about her concerns for her daughter’s safety. They live in a low income area and I suspect the boy’s family has no assets. Medicaid will pay the medical bills but her mother believes she can sue the school and/or teacher for negligence and collect for pain and suffering (she also believes she can receive money for the medical bills but I don’t see how that is possible if the government is paying them). Do public schools and their personnel have immunity from lawsuits like this and do you believe this is an actionable case? If so, what type of lawyer would she be best retaining?

Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

Topic:
School Related Issues

Answer:
 As folks have already told you, immunity will likely prevent any additional recovery from the school. Unless the school was reckless and willful in their supervision of the boy, then there will be no liabilty. And we are talking about a 7 year old here. He is not a known "bully." He is a child with what sounds like a bad home life and severe emotional problems. Schools don't have the ability to toss away children with issues particularly at this age. What should they have done put the kid in isolation at 7? It's unfortunate what happened to your goddaughter but kids roughhouse and get hurt daily in every community. It's obvious the school is going to have to take more steps to deal with this child but sometimes things like this unfortunately happen.Answer #2: In what way were they negligent?

Schools can be sued but she will have to prove it is their fault this happened. That is unlikely to happen. Also, any pain and suffering she gets will have to go into a savings account for the child. Mom cannot spend it.

She can contact a personal injury attorney for a consult. They are generally free (the consult)


Title: Lease says garage is included in rent, leasing office says it is not.

Question: So we just started renting an apartment and in the lease there's a "summary of key information" which has a section for "check here if included in monthly rent" and it has checked Garage, Carport, Storage, Washer/Dryer. We have a washer and dryer in our apartment, included. When we asked about the garage, storage, carport, they said that it isn't included in the rent and those are "automatically checked" in case somebody wants to add it later and they'll increase the rent. Is that right? Can they do that?

Answer: no they can't. if your lease that you and the landlord/leasing agency/management office both signed says you have a garage included in your rent, then they need to provide you with a garageAnswer #2: No they cannot do that. If it's a signed lease that's what it is. This is not a clerical error. You agreed and believed your rent entitled you to the garage and carport. Insist that you be given access to them in accordance to the lease.


Title: [FL] Wage garnishment for 20 year old debt

Question:
I just received a packet of legal documents staying my wages are going to be garnished by 25% for a $25000 judgement on a car that was repossessed 20 years ago.

These documents ordering the garnishment are dated March 27th of this year and state I have twenty days from receipt to respond before the garnishment begins. The garnishment started being taken from my last paycheck, before I received the notice.

I don't know where to begin to deal with this. Who am I supposed to talk to other than the lawyer listed on the court order representing the creditor?

What are the statue of limitations on this? How can they do this after 20 years without contact?

Answer:
 They aren't required to let you know before garnishing your pay. Have you been making payments at all on this debt?

If this is valid garnishment it's unlikely you can do anything. They would much rather take money from your check than rely on you to make payents.


Title: Protective Order / False Allegations

Question:
I’ll keep this short because it’s my first post. Long story short.
Wife and I separated October of 2018 got divorced June 2018.
We rekindled our relationship September of 2018. I’ve been ling with her since that date.
June 11, 2019 I found out she was cheating on me.
June 14, 2019 I brought the matter up and we had a calm discussion about it. (Been going to counseling for my emotions for months at this point so staying calm was a priority.)

She “explained it away” and we came to common ground. I would continue to live there and we would work on our relationship.

June 21, 2019

I was feeling very emotional (felt she was avoiding me and keeping my child away from me) and she wasn’t hope and kept blowing me off.

She gets home 11pm and we have verbal argument. I took her phone and keys so she had to talk to me and long story short I cried like a bitch and eventually punched a wall two separate times.

(There was a fun in the room which she grabbed “in its case” and I tried taking it from her)

Everything calmed down later and the next few days were normally she even invited me to church. June 25 2019 I’m served with a emergency protective order. I had to leave our home with what I could stuff in my very tiny car. I haven’t been able to see my son. I hadn’t seen him since the Saturday before hand. (He was not home during the argument) I’ve called lots of lawyers but haven’t found one who makes me feel super confident. Due to our previous visitation even if I got to see my son on those days it’s only for a few hours on Tuesdays and Fridays.  I never went to court during the divorce because I thought it was mutual and I could trust our previously agreed plans.

I’m just not sure what to do. Some people say I need a family law lawyer. Others say criminal defense lawyer. I just want my kid. I’d love to keep the car that’s in both of our names. (She has another one that’s in both our names as well) but I can’t pay the bank because it’s through her account and I can’t make contact with her.

Just need any and all advice. Thanks

Answer:
 >I took her phone and keys so she had to talk to me

That would be enough for a temp protective order (you can't do that, you know that). Try to find a lawyer who thinks s/he can stop this from being longer than just temp.


Title: An artist that I've worked with previously copyrighted a song that I wrote

Question: I am a music producer in the Atlanta, Ga area. I have been working with a specific artist in Atlanta for the past year or so. I've worked with them on tracking, mixing, mastering, beatmaking, and songwriting. About 5 months ago I personally wrote, arranged, and released a song to my soundcloud. I made the beat and wrote the lyrics (the hook and 2 verses) for this particular song. When the artist heard the song, they wrote a few verses and I liked them, so I told them they could be on the remixed version. I ended up re-recording the whole song with them, however, there was still the same beat and the same hook on their version. We released the song through distrokid about 2 weeks ago. Yesterday I got a call from the artist and they told me they got a call from a local radio station wanting to do an interview about this "hot new song thats sweeping atlanta." Apparently its getting very big, very quickly, so the artist copyrighted the song (applied for a copyright and paid the fee) without my knowledge. They said they included my name in the paperwork but I have to be realistic here. If the artist copyrighted my work without my name involved will I have a legal leg to stand on in a court? I am the only one with any master copies of the song, and all project files. They of course have dates and I have stems for both songs and the instrumental. Plus, multiple emails showing that I provided him with the song and instrumental in the first place. Am I screwed r/legaladvice?

Answer: depending on how your name got into the copyright (if at all), you may not have a leg to stand on by yourself and it will boil down to how deep your pockets are for litigation.  You got enough proof but if he has a label behind him they'll just do what they call litigation fatigue on you and run your coffers dry.  It all hinges on if the guy was a standup guy and put you in the copyright as a co-creator or not.  Look up the copyright and see what it states.


Title: Ex GF left without taking her name off of the lease.

Question:
Ill try and make this as short and sweet as I possibly can.

I have recently broke up with my ex gf just last week.We had signed a lease for a house together just a couple of months ago.We had a verbal agreement that I would pay the rent and she would pay the bills (power, water and cable).I told her she could get away for a couple of days to cool down and then we could sit down and talk about what we would do with the house. I arrived home the other night only to find that she had already moved all of her things out and is not willing to pay any of the rent.All of the bills are still in her name and her name is still on the lease.I tried to be as helpful as possible through this transition but I am unsure at the moment on how to move forward at this point.

Answer: What exactly are you trying to do? Take her off the lease? Make her responsible for part of the rent? Get out of the lease all together or just protect yourself now that she's moved out?


Title: Subpoenaed for Medical records

Question:
I witnessed a car accident a few months ago. The other day I recieved a subpoena for medical records for one of the victims. The subpoena claimed I was a doctor that treated them after the accident. Now I have lawyers hassling me to return the subpoena with the records. I've explained multiple times I am NOT a doctor and only witnessed the accident.

What should I do about the subpoena?

I'm in Texas but the car accident was in California.

Answer:
 Answer the subpoena with a letter that you aren't the doctor and have no medical records.  Sometimes the answer to a subpoena is "I don't have those records" but you still have to respond.Answer #2: You're going to need to provide the medical records, Dr. /u/TheCrowGrandfather. I feel the court has been very clear on this. Answer #3: Respond to the subpoena.

Something along the lines of "I have no responsive documents."Answer #4: Send them a letter, or an email explaining unequivocally that you're not a physician nor did you provide any medical treatment. If they push it and try to compel you can obtain an attorney who will almost certainly get their fees paid for by the non-amused judge. If it helps go to your state's medical Association webpage and do a screenshot showing that your name does not show up as a licensed medical doctor.Answer #5: So I'm clearly late to this party but I worked in medical records collection for many years.  Chances are it's a simple mixup and very easily fixed on their end but even if they decide to be difficult and insist on a response you can do so easily.

What you want to send is called a "No Recirds Statement" which is just a form stating you don't have records and giving a brief reason why (records destroyed after x years, never a patient here, I'm not a doctor etc.).  We used to send the form with our subpoenas but if you didn't get one a typed version with a signature and date was sufficient.Answer #6: Send them a blank page.Answer #7: Sounds like they mixed you up, respond and inform them you have no such records, aren't a doctor, and they likely have mixed you up with said doctor.


Title: Ticket not dismissed

Question:
Location: Leesburg, VA

So back in June I got a “fail to have vehicle inspected” and I went to court yesterday with the proof that my vehicle had been inspected 2 days after the ticket was addressed, but was given “dismissed, but you still have to pay court costs” normally shouldn’t the defendant pay nothing as long as they provide proof?

Answer:
 No, you may still have to pay court costs because you still caused administrative costs associated with having failed to have your vehicle inspected.

You violated the law by having an uninspected vehicle so it's perfectly fair for them to require costs while still dismissing the ticket so it's not on your record.


Title: I think my father stole 3 million dollars from me

Question: So I think what happened was I wrote a couple screenplays a few years back and my father stole them from me and sold them.  He's a very clever, financially savvy CPA (also a narcissist and passive aggressive).  What he did was send me to the mental hospital to get diagnosed as "crazy" in order to avoid paying my substantial student loan debts (>200k) and to have me out of the way and control all the money.  I'm assuming the money is set up in some kind of trust.  I'm almost 40 years old and living on $700 month disability is getting really, really old.  I contacted a trust attorney this morning through email so hopefully I'll hear back from him in the next few business days.  Can anybody help me here?  Is there anyway to find out if these trusts exists and how do I do that?

Answer:
 Are you still diagnosed with "crazy?"Answer #2: Congratulations! I think we finally have an extremely clever troll. It took me a lot of pondering about this one but you are just pushing a lot of the buttons of our collective zeitgeist. If you are one of us please identify yourself and take a well earned bow. If I am wrong, run, don't walk back to the psych ward.Answer #3: Err, no offense, but the idea that some movie studio is going to spend millions of dollars on a script from someone who has never sold one before and isn't based of an existing media is kind of crazy.

The average script sells in the range of about $300,000, but that's only if it's actually made. Most of them sell for far, far less, specially from someone selling their first script. $3 million dollars for a script would put it in the top 10 most expensive scripts in movie history.


Title: Eviction court for terrible neighbor

Question:
My downstairs neighbor is being evicted and has a court date. Long story short, the tenant has a long history of being a bully to anyone that has moved into my apartment resulting in two previous tenants moving. When my family moved in, we were told that they were difficult but was moving soon however the landlord gave them another chance after they promised to stop. We survived almost 6 months with only minor issues (that we brought to landlord - very limited contact with them) however a few months ago the mother started verbally assaulting us by standing in the common stairwell and cursing and calling us names (about a house issue that had nothing to do with us and should have been addressed with the landlord - literally an issue in her apartment that the landlord should fix).

Anyway, we reached out to landlord only to find out what was happening and just made it a point to stay away from them. When landlord showed up, they got into verbal fight (so loud and embarrassing in front of the house) and the landlord begun the eviction process based on the downstairs tenants creating an unsafe/inhabitable environment.

My question: My landlord wants my husband and I to come to court with our toddlers. Do I really need to bring our children?

Answer: No, you should not bring your toddlers. They cannot provide any meaningful contributions and it's unfair to ask kids under four to sit still and stay quiet in a court. I can't see any viable reason in your post why you need have them there. Let them stay with a babysitter if you need to go.


Title: Can a PD give out your information if you were arrested and not charged?

Question: A couple days ago I was arrested for public intoxication. I was put in a holding cell for 8 hours and was not charged with anything. They told me it was just "adult time-out" once I was released. Now 4-5 days later, I have received mail from 4 different law offices offering their services to me. So I was wondering, can the police department give out my information like that even if I wasn't charged for anything?

Answer:
 Your arrest was public record. The lawfirms that are advertising to you pay for public information on recent arrestees, which is how they got your name and address. Nothing illegal about it.

Edit to add: the lawfirms don't pay the police for the info, they pay a private data collection firm that collects public records.


Title: CEO thinks that because our company name is trademarked, Glassdoor or other business review websites can't use our company name without permission. I think the 1st Amendment says they can. Who (if either of us) is correct?

Question: The company is located in Colorado.

Answer:
 Technically, neither of you.  Other companies can use/refer to the name, but because of US Trademark law, not the Constitution (though the 1st Amendment is part of the underlying principle for that law).  It's called [FAIR USE](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use_(U.S._trademark_law))  Particularly, the section on nominative use, i.e. using something's name for the purpose of identifying it.

EDIT:  Sorry, the link won't work because it ends in a parenthesis, but it takes you to a page that links to what I was trying to include.


Title: [Mass]Is there any legal way to stop my ex from saying awful things about me to our daughter?

Question:
I have sole and legal custody, we have not been together since pregnancy. My daughter is 5. Never married. Massachusetts.

Edit for details- Never been to court or filed ANY paperwork besides his name on birth certificate. My sole and legal custody is just out of not having ever arranged a custody agreement. I guess I could be wrong but I don't think so?

The catalyst:
6 mos ago we got into an argument, he's upset by my wanting to know what time he is dropping her off. But it helps me to plan my time to know when she will be home. And I don't think it's a lot to ask. He has since refused to speak to me at any depth despite obviously needing to communicate over our child. I have asked him to sit down to build a schedule to help but he refused.

The problem:
Shortly after, my daughter came home and told me I was stupid and crazy, per her father. I texted (politely, because I don't want to fuel his fire) to not talk badly about me to her as it's harmful to her. (She was just confused and crying) He ignored me.

This happened another 2 times, the insults don't matter but they center around me being a "problem", crazy, etc.

Essentially the pattern is:

-Her telling me what was said
-Me asking him politely to stop,
-And today I found out at that point he yells at her at that point for telling me

I also agreed to have him pay me less in child support thinking it would stop this angry and frankly disturbing pattern.

Today my 5 year old told me I was "on something" (I take prescribed medication for adhd that's the only thing I could think he would be talking about) and begged me to not tell her father she told me because she doesn't want to get yelled at.

I plan on contacting a lawyer since its clear this isn't stopping and it is also escalating. But I wanted to get everyone's opinion before I spend the money on whether or not you can get a court order on this kind of behavior. I know I can't be the first dealing with this.

I'm at a loss. I can't reason with this person and honestly he is freaking me out because I'm not doing anything and am giving him everything he wants but he seems to be obsessed with trying to hurt me through her.

Tldr- ex is trying to convince 5 year old to dislike me, her mother, for seemingly no real reason and will not stop despite being asked 3 times. Can a court order him to stop? What are my rights?

Edit- we have never been to court for anything. He wants to stay out of court, likely bc he will have to pay adequate child support if we go through the system.

UPDATE.

Well you were all right. He could drive off with her today and I'd have no legal recourse. I spoke with a lawyer and she is helping me to get things under way. I am so glad I called. She is also going to walk me through child support as she scolded me that I am not giving him a break and it's not my decision to make, the money is for my daughter. The minute I got off he randomly texted me an inside joke from 10+ years ago so he must be having a psychic premonition.

I have always kept the peace to try and give her a good life but since that didn't work I guess it's time for war.

Answer: Typically, in the custody agreement, there is a clause that says that one parents cannot disparage the other in front of the child(ren). Does yours include this passage?Answer #2: Non-legal thought: Think about finding a therapist to help your daughter deal with this. It must be terribly upsetting for her.


Title: French Caterer billed us for 2 waitresses and none showed up. Now being denied a full refund

Question:
Hi Legal Advice,

I recently had a catered event in France that was billed in advance for 2 waitresses and none showed up.  The chef that was cooking the food on premise assured us we would be refunded for these services, but our guests were stuck plating the food, transporting all the silverware, drinks, glasses, plates and food up and down 2 flights of stairs.  We tipped the Chef handsomely since it was not his fault and were told his management should be in contact soon.

His management never contacted us and when we reached out to them 5 days later they profusely apologized and blamed the waitresses and assured they would never work with them again.  They also offered a refund of 4.5 hours of the waitresses time.  We paid for 2 waitresses with a 6 hour minimum and being told we will be refunded for roughly 1/3 of services we never received.  When we asked their management we were told they paid the rest of the funds to the chef since he had to take on more duties than normal.  I expressed my frustration and that I tipped the chef handsomely and expected a full refund since our guests took on most of the responsibilities.  Since then they have been unresponsive (5 days), do I have any legal action like small claims court?  The total difference in refund is around $366.  I looked in the terms and conditions and their is no language around refunds in the contract.  At this point it is less about the damages and more about the principal.

Any advice would be much appreciated and thanks in advance.

Answer: First, get it in writing where they admit no staff showed up. It is better to have this information and never need it, than to need it later and they get smart and refuse to admit anything.Answer #2: /r/LegalAdviceEU


Title: Father was fired for refusing large pay cut

Question:
My father works in the car industry and has been working as the manager of a high-end car dealership for the past three months. His pay plan was $15,000/month + 2% commission of store sales when they earned over $400,000. Before my father started working there, the store's sales record was about $320,000 in one month. Since my father arrived, they have been approaching 400k. This month they made $440,000 which earned my father a nice paycheck.

So this morning my father was called into the office and was told by the owners that they need to restructure his pay to $10,000/month with 1% of commissions when they earn over $400,000. My father thought this was an April fools joke.  It wasn't. They said he is being paid "too much". My father was shocked because this would imply that the owners either didn't actually calculate what my father's earnings would be if he exceeded that sales tier OR they never thought that it would be achieved. This pay cut would make my father earn about $10,000/month less if they were to continue selling at that pace. My father declined to sign and they fired him. Is this legal? He increased the overall sales of the company dramatically. He was paid in full for his time there in agreement to their prior conditions.

&#x200B;

Any advice is appreciated and I'm sorry if I don't have enough details included, he just explained to me what happened. Thanks.

Answer:
 Assuming he's in the US, not Montana, and has no employment contract, yes, it's perfectly legal to fire him.

He should file for unemployment while seeking a new job.


Title: Oklahoma - I'm a special ed teacher and one of my students seizes a lot, what can I do to guard myself, the school and the student?

Question:
Important edit: I was injured during her last seizure. Does that affect this situation?

I have a student with a seizure disorder who is having them more and more frequently. She didn't have a single one for the first two months I worked in this room and now she's having 3+ a week. She has rectal medication that the nurse gave us but I know for a fact I'm not legally allowed to administer it. She has no one on one aid. The nurse herself is only here for a few hours a week. I cannot call 911 even though my friends in the medical field warn me that my ass is in serious danger if I keep not calling against  school instruction. She's already busted her lip from falling into a cart edge. My teaching assistant keeps pulling Bullshit like trying to get the kid to fucking take a walk to calm herself WHILE she's fucking having a grand mal. I'm not licensed or even physically able to restrain the student (big issue as she tends to run around the fucking room right before an episode so it's hard to kind of guide her to a safe place to have a seizure). To make it worse, the parent is starting to blame me and ask increasingly more of me to remedy the situation (like a donors choose to get them an expensive and not medically approved "seizure monitoring watch"). The mother is even more worrying as she agrees with my assistant about the making her walk it off thing and seems to think that it's the school that has set back her daughter's development and not the  loss of oxygen to her brain from so many major events in the past. I've talked to everyone above me and while there are facilities in the public school system that can better care for her(including full time medical staff) , everyone is refusing to move her without a doctor's note that her parents refuse to get.

I'm terrified that I'm staring down the barrel of a lawsuit for myself and the school and, even worse, that this student could become gravely injured because of all these issues. Thank you for reading this.

Answer: You need to call 911 when this happens. Full stop. You're not qualified to deal with this issue, and it sounds like the child does not have an adequate seizure response plan in place, either standalone or in a 504 or IEP.


Title: Just moved out, landlord charging nearly $600 for "touch up paint" and "turnover cleaning" even though the place was left spotless and holes were filled. Should it be normal wear and tear?

Question:
Oregon, US.

I just got my deposit refund check and list of deductions for a rental I just moved out of. About 100 for two damaged blinds (which I totally agree with, other than the extremely high price in which I probably could have gone to the store and gotten them for 20 a piece), 30 for replacing the furnace air filter (which is also fine, I forgot to do that), 200 for turnover cleaning and 400 for touch up paint, the latter two being ridiculous.

I've been doing some research and everywhere I've been looking categorizes small nail or screw holes in the wall from hanging shelves or photos should be considered as normal wear and tear unless it is blatant damaged that needs repaired. There were maybe 4-6 small tiny holes probably 1/10th of an inch in diameter on each of the living room walls and one or two in each of the two bedrooms.

I went to the store and bought filler and eliminated the holes, leaving only the white material to be painted or whatever, so I saved them time there. All they had to do was paint the tiny spots where I filled. I honestly have a hard time believing I should have been charged for the painting, let alone 400 dollars for it. I would have done it myself but fear of getting the wrong color kept me from that. I'm sure they also probably have stockpiles of the same egg white color in their office to use so they probably didn't have to get the paint professionally matched.

We tried so hard to get as much as possible back and we barely got half. We also had three people including myself cleaning the place for two days and left the place spotless, literally I would have eaten off the floor. We have no idea what could have possibly costed 200 dollars to clean as the entire rental has hardwood throughout other than the stairs which is carpet and it was such a tiny bit of carpet and it was clean anyways, and the kitchen and bathroom were cleaner than when we moved in.

I'm going to call them tomorrow and try to get more information and submit a formal complaint in writing and demand a reconsideration, but if they decide their charges are final, what should I do? I'm retarded and didn't take pictures before left, but I did take pictures before we moved in. I know, it was a stupid thing of me but I had no idea I would be charged so much. I would have been fine if it was less but it should not have costed 600 dollars to turn the place over considering it should have been normal wear and tear.

Answer:
 [Here is a good Oregon-specific website about rental deposits.](http://oregoncat.org/know-your-rights/how-do-i-defend-my-rights-as-a-tenant/deposits/)

So, the gist is this: landlords can retain funds from your security deposit to cover reasonable costs of repairing damage beyond ordinary wear-and-tear. They *cannot* charge for the ordinary costs of re-renting a unit.

It would probably be the best if you tried to communicate with them in writing. Email or texts would be ideal, but if you can't do that, corresponding through snail mail would be in your interest. You'll want to ask for explanations of the charges including 1) receipts for supplies, 2) the hourly rate the cleaning staff is paid, and 3) specific details about what "turnover cleaning" entails and what paint needed to be touched up. They may or may not be forthcoming with that information.

You are entitled to sue them for twice the amount you believe they are wrongfully withholding. You'll have to do that in small claims court. [Here is the Oregon Courts website about small claims.](https://www.courts.oregon.gov/courts/multnomah/go/Pages/smallclaims.aspx)


Title: Where did I go wrong? On another thread I am being told that I am wrong by telling somebody that they can be kicked out by reletives without 30 day notice.

Question:
(IL) Here's my story reddit tell me what I did wrong and why this only happened to me. And any legal advice to get my name off newspaper sites when charge was dropped.
Let  me tell you my antidotal story and you tell me where I went wrong. What I could of did different? In 2014 me and my girlfriend and two kids moved in with my parents we were saving money up to put a down payment on a house and the plan was to live there for a year and save up 20,000 dollars to put down on a house that was around 80 grand. About 8 months in my mom started getting really irritated with kids being around. At this time she was going through a pretty bad depression with my dad being sick. One day my son broke one of the cabinet drawers in which she lost it and gave him a pretty aggressive spanking my g/f and I are very against spanking kids at least as hard as she did and my g/f (not I) kind of pushed her away from my son. At this time my mom got even more elevated and started getting in our faces yelling so loud spit was hitting our faces. My mom then said we had to leave with the kids or she was calling cops we refused to leave cause due to kids safety and not having another place lined up to go. So the arguing got worse she then called the cops and said they both me and my gf were not laying hands on her but we're being aggressive towards her and she needed cops to intervene and this moment me and my gf just looked at each other like wtf. Knowing the cops would be there soon I went outside smoked a cig and calmed my nerves cause being yelled at isn't fun. Now I'll be the first to admit due to pot offenses when I was a young teen cops never really warmed up to me in my town where everybody knows everybody. But when cops came they separated us into three groups. My mom downstairs. Gf and kids upstairs and me outside cause I was smoking a cig anyway they talked to all three of US. And even though the cop said my and my GFS story matched they still had to take us away cause my mom felt threatened by us. So we had two choices with the kids while they booked us both for disorderly conduct we could either have the kids stay with my mom or have police take them in and do whatever from there. Worried about it and having a little trust in my mom that she would cool down we said they could stay with our mom. I had no idea what should happen to them if police took them so we get to the station and they book is for disorderly. While my mom who was aggressively spanking my oldest son got to sit at home with him. Now I didn't make any threat towaeds my mom but i do believe my gf did say lay another hand on my son and I'll kill u. I know not the smartest thing for her to say but then again my mom was hitting he son. Would you be able to keep your cool? So both our bond was 3 hundred and something each we both paid. But both has to spend a night in county. When we paid we were told by county that they will call my towns police to watch when we exchange kids once we found a place to go but we couldn't go back there to live . We had to get a hotel room for almost a month till we found an apartment that shit adds up and almost half of the 18000 we saved up went to the hotel and rent for a year. Because of this we both lost our jobs. Well about a month later my mom admitted she stretched the truth and charges were dropped and boy did she stretch the truth. She has since apologized a million times and I'm not a prick and realize life affects people and stress sucks and it wasn't like her. But since the first thing you find when you search our names on Google is police blogs for the incident it's been really tough for us to get on our feet again. When the truth came out my mom never got anything done to her about it no apologies were ever given by police or prostecution. We could prob do something but in the end it would have to involve my mom getting in trouble and who would do that. So what did I do wrong. Nothing I couldn't of done anything different. I with kids and a gf was kicked out in one day not no 30 days. And am still paying for exaggerated truths and a police force who trusted the single owner of the house over two people telling the same story.

Answer:
 It's a complicated situation and without more details (or another side of the story) it's hard to make a judgment.

But minus the arrest, the violence, the spanking, etc., in general, if someone is living somewhere (with relatives or with unrelated parties) for 8 months they are a tenant, and cannot be kicked out without proper notice, which varies by state, but in your state it happens to be 30 days.


Title: Pledge of allegiance issue

Question:
So my school's rulebook lists under Pledge of allegiance the following "Students who choose not to participate must stand during the salute and must not disrupt the activity of others"
As far as I know, cases like 477 F. 2d 636 - Goetz v. S Ansell ruled that standing is not required, what is the best way to proceed if I want to remove this requirement from the rulebook? Should I send an email to the school's office?

Edit: location California

Answer:
 This is why the LocationBot is important.

California and the 9th Circuit give exactly zero shits about a 2d Circuit ruling. Seems like you should stand up.


Title: My wife opened up a Christmas card sent to our home, but it was addressed to the former tenant.

Question:
So my wife opened up a Christmas card sent to us.  She noticed who it was sent to prior to opening it; however wanted to look inside to make sure there was nothing of importance inside.  It was a simple Christmas card, and a check for $100.  We wrote VOID on the check and destroyed it because we didn't want some random person finding it and attempting to cash it.

&#x200B;

After some searching I found the person who sent the check online, as well as their phone number.  I was thinking of contacting them to alert them of their mistake, so they could resend another letter so the sender's sister (the person who it was meant for) would get a card and gift this year.

&#x200B;

However, I am hesitant on doing this because people can be petty and vindictive. No good deed goes unpunished as they say, so I'm asking if there is any legal recourse for this person.

Answer:
 Just forget about it, you open yourself up to charges by admitting to opening the letter. Throw it out and let them assume the post office lost it. And for next time don't open anything that is clearly addressed to someone else. Answer #2: There is info missing from your post:

What was the point of your wife opening the letter?  I'm assuming (giving you the benefit of the doubt here) that it was sent to your address, but had a different name on it.  And it sounds like you knew that the name was of the previous tenant.  So why open it?  Why was it necessary to check "if there was nothing of importance" in it?

And then once you did open it and saw that there was a check there, why did you write anything on the check?  Why not seal it at that point and give it to the post office as undeliverable?

And why find the person who sent the check online, instead of, again, just going to the post office and handing the letter back to them?

None of it makes sense.


Title: Dad hacking internet accounts

Question: CA USA: I don’t live with my dad and we’re not on great terms. I lived with him for a bit and when I moved out he changed all of my internet accounts passwords, Gmail, Instagram, Facebook etc and took them over, even impersonating me at one point and I think he is stalking my friends. Recently my new accounts have been doing weird stuff like following him without my input. What can I do? Is this legal?

Answer: Could change your passwords again, you will also need proof that it is your dad that has been hacking into your accounts before anything can be done.


Title: Do judges or prosecutors have to accept a case if there’s evidence.

Question:
If it’s basically a victimless crime do prosecutor’s have to prosecute and does a judge have to accept the case.

Say for example a 17 and 19 year have sex and that state doesn’t have Romeo and Juliet protection. Most people would agree what happened does not constitute abuse but it is illegal with very steep penalties. In that example could a judge just say it’s a frivolous case and throw it away. And could a prosecutor use their own opinions and decide it’s not worth it.

Note I am not involved in anything illegal.

Answer: Prosecutors have wide discretion in what charges to issue and when.


Title: Can't lift restraining order to see my mom who is dying of cancer?

Question:
I got into a weird legal situation, which btw there was no crime, no offence, and no victim, but the state decided to somewhat arbitrarily place a restraining order between me and my mom.  Shortly after this she was diagnosed with terminal cancer and doesn't have much long to live.  On both sides we have done as much as possible to lift it and the state refuses.

&#x200B;

This is my first experience with the legal system and I have to say I am shocked at how messed up it is on many levels.  The main point is why would a judge/prosecutor deny this?  It just seems absolutely monstrous and heartless.  She is estranged from all family and has spent her last birthday, Christmas, thanksgiving, etc. alone.  she divorced her husband.  I just can't believe the state would do this.

Answer:
 You are leaving something big out from your story, and we cannot answer your question until you explain it.

1. Who _specifically_ requested the restraining order, and why? ("The state" isn't specific. What department, and on what grounds?)

2. What is "the trial" you refer to in the third paragraph? Who is being tried, and for what?

3. Do you or your mother have any criminal history, or personal history together, which might be relevant here?


Title: Revenge Porn - Scotland

Question:
Ok first of all I don’t need anyone coming at me telling me I shouldn’t have sent nudes to someone because I KNOW!!!!!!

I know revenge porn is now illegal in Scotland and I’ve had a huge falling out with this guy I was speaking to.

I have quite a high profile career path and it’s one he particularly disagrees with and I’m TERRIFIED he will leak my nudes at some point in the future which would risk everything I have.

They were all sent on snapchat and he never screenshotted but I’m scared he maybe took photos on another device.

I want to know if there is any way I could have his phone searched and anything deleted without him actually ever threatening to do it.

If not, general advice on how to deal with the situation if it ever arises would be hugely appreciated, thank you.

Answer: If the crime has not taken place or a threat, you can't do anything at the moment besides make sure that this doesn't happen again with another guy. Best of luck


Title: [ON, Canada] Been disciplined at work and looking for strategies ensure not being fired

Question:
I was wondering if anyone has any good advice for my Mom.

She's worked at a group home for over 30 years as an overnight staff. When she was initially hired she was told that it was okay to sleep however in recent years the policy has changed.

A few months ago my mom was disciplined after her manager arrived to work early to find my mom sleeping. Fair enough.

About a month later the manager arrived to work again uncharacteristically early. She's claiming that she found my Mom sleeping again. My Mom insists that she wasn't sleeping. She was sitting on the couch with a blanket around her, but she was wide awake and greeted the manager when she came in. The manager asked my mom to sit down with her so they could go over some new policy but my mom refused. The manager is claiming that my Mom's demeanour and the way she was talking to her was unprofessional. Particularly because they were in a residents home. My Mom is arguing that she was calm and assertive and that it's unprofessional to have tried to have had a policy discussion in the residents home.

My Mom feels like she is being targeted. She helped start the union many years ago. The corporation has been haemorrhaging money and is looking for ways to save costs. A few months ago management tried to take the hours from one of the overnights and essentially transfer them to another overnight so that one of the positions would become a part time job and they wouldn't have to provide benefits. A number of the senior overnight staff have been fired for one reason or another over the last couple of years.

One of my Mom's friends was recently fired. She got in trouble because it turned out she was leaving work early and they discovered it was to go to another job. She was reprimanded. And then many weeks later she didn't inform management that she had traded a shift with someone else because she was feeling sick. Management accused her of leaving work to go to her other job and demanded that she provide her work schedule from her other job and she was terminated. I think the union got involved and she proved that she didn't leave work to her other job, but she felt she couldn't go back to work anymore so they settled and got approximately $16,000. She had been working for about 20 years.

Apparently the management currently has more grievances going on than it ever has had before.

The time when the manager asked my mom to sit down with her so they could go over the change in policy the manager told her that if she was not happy at work she should maybe consider moving on.

It just feels like they are systematically getting rid of people. My mom is also alleging that the manager is harassing the employees. She shows up unexpectedly at either really early hours or really late hours. She also sometimes waits at the subway stop at odd times. My Mom suspects she is trying to see if people are leaving earlier than they should be, but who knows.

It's also worth mentioning that someone who knows the manager from another job is claiming that the manager used to brag about getting 5 people fired.

My mom is not very concerned. Her attitude is that she's been working so long that even if they fire her she will get a good severance. I'm the one who is concerned. She's very financially dependent on this job and given her age it's unlikely she will be able to find other work ever again.

She's filed two grievances with the union and intends to go all the way to arbitration. I'm just wondering if anyone has any good advice. Obviously she can't be sleeping at work and she needs to be professional.
Topic:
Labor Law (Unions)

Answer:
 So an employee was fired for leaving early, and your mom fell asleep and refused to have a conversation with her boss. Her getting fired is completely justified. Also the manager has every right to hang around to make sure people don't leave when they're not supposed to.

She can start the grievance process, thats about it


Title: [MD] Can i let an under-18 year old who was kicked out sleep over?

Question: My little brother's (Bob) best friend (Charlie) was kicked out of his house by his crazy Guatemalan parents and he's been couch surfing. I'm (21) "babysitting" Bob (17) because my parents are on vacation. My brother wants to offer our couch for the night. Charlie is not quite 18, probably 17. If Charlie's parents find out he's here can they cause legal problems for me and my family? Bob expects Charlie's parents to let him back in soon, and I'm definitely calling CPS if they don't by the end of the week, but apparently Charlie doesn't want to push it because he's almost 18.

Answer:
 You can offer him a place to stay for a night or two without worrying about criminal charges.  Any longer you should probably contact CPS.

If the parents try to retrieve him, don't stop them.