Title: Is a website that identifies online daters as players, scammers, carrying STD’s etc a good idea or would that just be constant slander/libel suits?

Question:
I don’t do online dating but some friends do and there are some dudes/ladies that maybe others should know about. Only kinda joking!

I’ve seen a few like “Don’t Date Him Girl” or whatever but it seems like there would be a ton of them.

Say I started one. Would I just get the shit sued out of me constantly?
Topic:
Computer and Internet

Answer:
 because no one would ever lie about their ex having an STD and post it online.

I promise you see the inside of a court room a few times, you would need a lawyer on retainer.Answer #2: I can absolutely see this being a massive legal issue.Answer #3: > Would I just get the shit sued out of me constantly?

Unless you have a way of somehow verifying all claims made on your platform, yeah there's certainly a possibility of slander/libel claims.


Title: [NY] Neighbors feeding and entrapping my cats after multiple conversations to stop.

Question: So this has been a rather ongoing thing. So im going to sum up the jist of it. I have two outdoor cats that roam during the day and come in at night. They wear collars and the neighbors know very well they are ours. It started a few months ago when I noticed they had a water bowl on their porch. I didn't think nothing of it at the time, even though they have no pets. Shortly there after I started to notice my cats weren't on my porch, were they always are. Than slowly my cats stopped coming home at night. I would go three days and not see my cats. Some days they would be around all day and disappear all night. Well shortly thereafter I discovered my neighbors giving my cats treats. I told them not to feed my cats. And then it would be the same thing cats missing at night. This eventually evolved into my cats migrating permanently to the neighbors front porch. Come to find out they had been giving them piles of the good treats( you know the ones your only supposed to give them 6 a day). And I have caught them in the act of feeding them and letting them in. I have repeatedly told them not to feed my cats and not to entrap my cats. And they continue to do it. They wait until they think no one is around than grab them or feed them. Well up to this point I have had enough. I have told them at least five times. Both nicely and not nicely. Every time they will continue to do it the very same day! So two days ago I set up a camera to record their porch area. And it quickly yielded great results. A clip of them going out to the store and coming back with a huge bag of cat treats. A couple clips of them feeding them. And of coarse videos of the cats being let in and out of their house. Even as we speak they have one of my cats in their house. Like I said these cats have collars. We have veterinary records proving they are our animals. And video evidence of them blatantly and repeatedly disrespecting our wishes. I have made it very clear that these are not their animals. Whats even worse is since this started one of my cats has gone from a normal healthy size(when only I was feeding him) To insanely obese. So much though that I fear for his health. That and the water bowl that they leave out for them. Has a fair amount of mold in it. One of my cats has gotten sick.  Now I will say one thing. My neighbors are not the smartest of people. In fact they are pretty low geared. At this point I am wondering what are my options for the criminal aspect and the civil side. I would like them to be arrested. How serious does New York treat this sort of thing? Do I have civil options as well?

Answer:
 Nobody is arresting your neighbors and you have no damages for a civil claim.

Keep your cats inside.  It will keep your neighbors away, and they will live longer, healthier lives.  Not really rocket science.Answer #2: To clarify - you're upset that someone is caring for the cats you're letting roam the world without restraint?

If you've "had enough" you could take the bold step of keeping your pets on your property.Answer #3: Are they microchipped with your information?

And why can’t you keep them in your house? Obviously this neighbor will continue being an issue with your cats, so I’m not sure why you don’t consider bringing them in full time. Cats adjust well to it. Answer #4: I really hate to say this because all of my cats over my entire life (and that's eight so far) have been predominantly outdoor animals, but you're probably going to have to keep them indoors if your neighbor won't abide by your wishes and your cats are suffering poor health due to this extraneous care. New York state doesn't really have any rules on point here except as it pertains to ferals, but you might try contacting your local Animal Control for advice? Maybe they can help. Don't get hopes up though -- realistically speaking this is not something you can shut down without revoking your cats' yard privileges.


Title: (OR) Can a popular hotel chain charge more for a handicapped accessible room?

Question: My mother in law booked a hotel a few weeks in advanced, but called to confirm everything a few days before. She told them that she needed a handicapped accessible room when she booked it, but when she called to confirm they told her they have her staying in a second story room, no elevators (apparently). They said they could switch it but they said they would charge her an extra 50 dollars a night. Can they do that? This is in Oregon

Answer: are they charging more because it's handicapped accessible or are they out of the cheaper rooms and the only handicapped accessible rooms left are fancier ones?


Title: [Massachusetts] Serious question, would it be legal for my friend to make lobsters fight and charge people money to view said fight?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Animal cruelty laws aren't just for the cute and cuddly critters. Your friend would be taking a big chance taking bets on lobster fights.

Also, getting lobsters to fight on command would probably be an exercise in futility. They're social creatures, and generally not aggressive toward each other outside of mating season or stealing each other's hiding places.Answer #2: Have you ever seen lobsters in a tank? They're not that fast even if they were just caught. Answer #3: I kind of like the idea of lobsters having a duel with old-style derringers.


Title: Can I get a stop sign ticket acquitted?

Question:
The other night my girlfriend and I were driving back from her hometown late at night. I was driving her car and I got pulled over at 1:40 A.M. for blowing a stop sign. It was on a one-way road that came to an intersection on our college campus. I rarely drive on this road and it was dark/rainy. The officer noted the conditions on the citation.

&#x200B;

I either can go to traffic court in a few weeks or pay the $163 fine. Is it worth contesting? The [stop sign](https://imgur.com/a/UQPXnJs) had another sign on the other side, making it look rectangular, not like an octagon. It was dark and rainy and I was not familiar with the road. Does this argument have the potential to get my ticket dismissed?

&#x200B;

Also the officer was rather aggressive and rude to me and I regretfully had a rude attitude back. It's not an excuse, but I was tired and frustrated.
Topic:
Traffic and Parking

Answer: Nothing you have stated is a potential defense to this charge (well maybe the thing about their being another sign next to the stop sign if that is against whatever rules exist for posting a stop sign).  Unless going to traffic court has the potential of reducing the fine, I would just pay the ticket and pay more attention in the future.


Title: (OH) Mother-in-law passed away, wife written out of will

Question:
So, the short version of this long story is...
My wife and her mom never had the best relationship. It all came to a head about 4 years ago when they had an argument at her mom and we left. Hadn't seen her since. Many harassing emails, text, and phone calls later resulting in changing numbers, email addresses. Never any kind of physical interaction since 2014 though.

We got a call from my wife's cousin 2 weeks ago telling us her mom had passed. Unfortunately she was an alcoholic, had been in and out of rehab, lost her license and had a probation officer. All at 67 years old.   3 years ago she had her will rewritten and my wife taken out of it.  We know this because her mom's companion told us a few days after we got the news she had passed. He also told us that he hadn't talked to her since.

Before her passing she was forced by the court to appoint a power of attorney over her trust and livelihood because she was spending money and making bad decisions. It was also made aware that she had been diagnosed as bipolar. Something that we felt was there for a long time but she denied.  Since her passing my wife has been included in all the planning decisions. The family has accepted her as they should have even though her mom did nothing but RIP us apart to them. They have seen through her stories for what they are.  But my question is this:
In her will, her mom is basically giving family heirlooms away to random family members that have no association with her.  We were told by a family friend that maybe my wife should consider fighting the will as they feel it was written or adjusted out of spite and because of her health issues she may not have been in "her right mind".  Her mom had willed all her monetary estate items to her former college, as well as requested her funds to be donated as well except for what was used to cover last expenses. Does my wife have a leg to stand on? Is it even worth us looking into? For my wife it's about the family items that she really wants to keep in our family, but they  are being given away.

Sorry this is so long.

Answer:
 Perhaps the people receiving the sentimental items will understand if your wife asks for the items she would really like to have? Answer #2: Challenging the testamentary capacity of an individual is no small task.  You need a mountain of evidence, and usually, a wrongdoer who stands to benefit in order to mount a case.  I see neither of those elements present here, so it would be an uphill battle, as in pretty much straight uphill.  (See:   [*Young v. Bellamy*, 2017-Ohio-2994](http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/5/2017/2017-Ohio-2994.pdf) )  It seems likely that the bipolar diagnosis and any real world evidence would be the focal point to challenge capacity.

It is quite usual for parents to write their descendants out of their wills.  Given that you acknowledge there was acrimony, and that other family members are receiving items (often the wrongdoer takes everything, leaving the whole family in the lurch) I can't see a case to be made for undue influence here either.

The long and short of it is, your wife has no 'right' to these items, they were her mother's to do with as she pleased.  Any challenge you would mount, in my opinion, would not be successful.  These are also very costly disputes to get into, and can eat away at any inheritance rather quickly.

&#x200B;Answer #3: Something similar happened to my mom.  In her case, her father passed and had written her out.  They repaired their relationship and she took care of him dutifully.  He never put her back in even though it was clear he meant to.  Two attorneys told her there was almost no chance of winning such a case.  Her siblings gave up a bit of their shares but not much.  She was devastated and it sucks.  It doesn't matter if it WAS done from spite.  That's not illegal.


Title: Overly aggressive sprinkers [NY] [bad MS Paint diagram]

Question:
[Bad MS Paint (actually Photoshop) as promised.](https://i.imgur.com/tEU6YSe.png)

Horizontal Street = Main St

Vertical Street = Oak Street

Blue splotches = sprinkler radius

**TL;DR:** An apartment complex I pass on the way home from work has sprinklers that soak anyone who passes them on the sidewalk, and they turn on way too early, especially given the temperature this time of year. The managing agent told me to cross the street, but that can add over five minutes to my walk home which sucks when I have to poop. WAT DO?

So I bought a house this summer; it's a few blocks north of a cluster of apartment complexes, which I have to walk by as I head home from the train after work. One of them has a large front courtyard; they turn their sprinklers on around 11PM, and the fucking things spray the entire sidewalk. I tend to get home between eleven and one, and they're pretty much always running no matter how late I get off the train, and this isn't a little trickle of water -- if you get hit by one, you're more or less getting soaked.

The simple solution would be to just cross Main and walk up the other side of the street, but Main is well... the main arterial road in this neighborhood, and stays busy well into the night. The crossing signals definitely favor cars, especially late at night; without exaggerating, I can easily wait in excess of three minutes to cross one way. Furthermore, crossing Oak is MUCH faster on the other side of main, as it's a busy road heading south but leads to a quiet residential neighborhood to the north. So basically, a ton of cars turn north from Main or turn onto Main from Oak, but very, very few come from that southern end. Again, with the driver-friendly crossing signals, we're talking 2-3 minutes of waiting. Bitching about 4-6 minutes may seem petty, but when you're walking home at 1am after working a full shift, it's a big deal. Especially if you've got food you're hoping to keep hot, or if you have to take a shit.

I've reached out to the building's managing agent; they ignored two emails from me, and when I called they suggested... you guessed it, that I cross the street when the sprinklers are on. My next step is to attend a city council meeting, but this city's government is notoriously ineffective when it comes to small things like this, so I don't have particularly high hopes of accomplishing anything there.

I'm honestly getting fed up with it. It was one thing during the summer when it was still pushing ninety degrees at 11pm, but it's October in NY and we've been hitting the low fifties at night. This is also a pretty busy neighborhood; there are multiple bars and restaurants within two blocks of the apartment complex in question, so plenty of people are walking to them or back to their car well into the night.

At this point, if the city council isn't helpful, the only thing I can come up with is talking to some of the bars and restaurants about making a stink. Beyond that, I'm just looking for other avenues to pursue getting these fucking things pushed back till later at night. Thanks in advance.

Answer: How much are you willing to spend for this egregious infringement on your pooping time?  A conservative litigation estimate would be $15,000 to $20,000 but it could be (much) higher if you're in NYC.


Title: Man threw a rock through windshield, found not responsible due to mental instability - can we take him to civil court?

Question:
(This is in the state of Maine.) About two months ago a mentally unstable person threw a rock through my brother's car windshield at a gas station. He stuck around, chatting with my brother until the police showed up and arrested him. The windshield took $600 to repair, so we submitted a receipt to the DA's office and waited for the court date (which was set for three weeks ago). The date came and went and we never heard back. My brother left several messages for the victim's advocate (to which they never responded) and finally today we went into the office to ask what happened. It turns out the DA read the case and decided not to prosecute because the perpetrator is mentally unfit. My mother works in the mental health field and thinks it's likely that he is a ward of the state and wants my brother to take him to civil court to get money back for the car from the state (it is my understanding that, as his guardian, the state would be responsible for paying damages). My brother also tried to get a copy of the police report but the clerk at the station said that he would need to get a lawyer to subpoena a copy of the report without the perp's name redacted because the case was dropped, and they said without his name on it it would be useless in a court setting. So he either has to spend MORE money to get a lawyer to get the reports he needs to prove his case, or he has to drop it. Does it sound like it would it be worth it to fight this? It seems like there are so many hurdles to jump, if he is a ward of the state it's unlikely my brother will win the case because the state won't want to pay, and if the perp isn't a ward of the state, he's probably broke so what's the point? And could a civil court judge even make the man pay when the DA already decided he wasn't responsible for his actions?

**Edit:** I guess my main question is, ***is there any way to find out if this man is a ward of the state?*** If he isn't, no one is interested in pursuing this any further (the guy probably has enough problems), but if he is, the state should be held accountable for damage done by people who are supposed to be their responsibility.

**Resolution, 10 months later:** Just in case anyone was curious, the state decided to drop the criminal charges against the rock thrower because he was incompetent to stand trial (because he was crazy). Funny post script, about two months after we got the window replaced, a harsh storm knocked down a branch that shattered the brand new rear window.
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer:
 > The windshield took $600 to repair

Did your brother report this to his insurance? If policy owners have comprehensive coverage, most insurance companies will waive the deductible on windshields.

> Does it sound like it would it be worth it to fight this?

No.

> It seems like there are so many hurdles to jump, if he is a ward of the state it's unlikely my brother will win the case because the state won't want to pay, and if the perp isn't a ward of the state, he's probably broke so what's the point?

This is a fair analysis. If I'm mistaken, I'm sure someone will point it out.


Title: [WA, Seattle east-side area] How badly did I screw up?

Question:
So, probably unrelated backstory to set the stage.

On thursday, my father died.  I am probably a bit over-sensitive emotionally because of this.  I also have a clinical diagnosis of ADHD, and take medicine to control impulsiveness and help me keep my mouth from speaking before my brain checks what is said. I am mid-40’s, and I was not on my medicine most of this last week due to stress/travelling/upheaval of routines.

On to the occurrence.

Yesterday, my wife and I stop at a petco.

Inside the petco, I’m waiting at the line to check out, and there is one guy working there, no help for him.  My wife takes a call and has to go out to the car to discuss my father’s funerary arrangements. She leaves the dog she was controlling with me so now I have two boxers with me as well, but they are generally well-behaved.

The guy totals me up, but now he’s being rude to me.  I put my card in the chip reader when requested, and nothing happens.  The cashier insults me about not knowing how to use a chip reader (I do).  I am a little shocked at how he is treating me, and speaking to me, so I say, "you know what, I don’t need this shit. Fuck this, and fuck you”.  I take my card, and my wallet, and my two large dogs and leave.

I go out to the car. My wife is still on the phone.  I am stewing over the issue, and getting more pissed by the second.  I know I should have driven off, and I should have calmed down and let it go, but I decide I want to complain to the guys manager.

I get out of the car, slam the door, and head for the storefront.  The guy is coming back with a cart as I enter the front door, and I tell him to fetch me his manager.  he tells me, “what?”.  I say, “fetch me your manager, I’m going to complain about you”.  he says “Actually, I AM the manager, and I am going to ask you to leave the store”.  I turn towards the door and take my phone out.  I say, “you know what, I’m going to send an angry tweet about this right now”.  then I open the camera and take his picture, and say “and I’m going to send them this picture so they know who to blame”.  (I know it was stupid and I should have held my tongue).  As I start walking out, the guy freaks out, and starts chasing me.  he’s acting weird about it, and trying to get in front of me.  He shoves his phone at my face from the side of my head, peripheral vision area, and I look over while leaning away and swipe my hand at his phone.  It was mostly reflex, with him reaching towards me.  I touched his phone but did not knock it out of his hands.  I did NOT touch him, at any point, ever.  He starts yelling that I assaulted him, and dashes over to me at my car and takes pictures of me and the license plate going on and on about how he’s calling the police on me.

Half way through dinner, the police call me.  I discuss things with them, and they claim that he states I repeatedly poked him in the chest with my finger, and that I struck him in the neck. They also state that I left a mark on his neck when I struck him. This is impossible because I did not make any contact with this person physically at any point

I give my story, as I gave it here, and emphasized that I never once touched the guy.  I mention that surely the store has video cameras that will back me up.  He states that he is going to recommend charges be filed for assault.  He also states that the guy has a coworker who backed his side of the story, even though the only other person working there within eyesight was a person who was now checking folks out as I was at the entrance of the store having my disagreement with him.

After we get home, my wife calls the cop back and asks him about the charges, and the process and what to expect.  She is furious and believes I have set back all our plans for home buying, that I will lose my job over this, and that I have ruined our marriage and our lives, and that she is going to have to pay for it because she is the primary income.  The money we had earmarked for a downpayment will now go to a lawyer, and we won’t get the house, etc. I think she wants a divorce now.

So, questions.

1. How/where do I find a good defense lawyer.

2. Is there any chance in your opinions that I will come out unscathed? How badly will this hurt financially.  am I looking at a couple thousand or tens of thousands?

3.  is there any way to get video from a store like this in cases such as this?  Do I need a lawyer to subpoena it or can I just request a copy?  What is the scoop on these things?

Answer:
 Sounds like you had a bad day.

1.) You can ask around your family/friends to see if they have attorneys that they have had good experiences with. Otherwise, your local bar will give you some referrals. Be sure to talk with a few to find one your comfortable with.

2./3) Looks like this would fall under assault in the forth degree - gross misdemeanor. Your lawery can review the evidence and, if possible, subpeona for any store footage.

In practice though: stop talking to the police, wait until you are charged/arrested, continue to not talk to the police and contact your lawyer, and go from there.

4.) Refer the stuff with your wife to /r/relationshipsAnswer #2: Hey OP, did you get the name of the officer that called you?

If you did, call SPD, say you were called by officer Soandso, but that you think it might be a hoax, and if they could confirm if they have an officer Soandso.

I don't think you were called by a cop.  I think you were called by a friend fo the Petco employee who was trying to scare you and/or fuck with you.Answer #3: I don't want to get into /r/relationships territory, but as a possible way to fend off this getting bigger, I wonder if they'd drop the issue in exchange for a sincere (and *lawyer-approved*) apology.  Explain what was going on with you, that it didn't justify it, but you hope he can forgive you, etc., etc.  Sometimes that's all it takes and it's a fuckload cheaper than a court case.


Title: Purchased a new car, it turned out to be a lemon. Need advice.

Question:
I purchased a 2014 Hyundai Tucson in December of 2013.  It has had a myriad of problems.  Hyundai Motors of America are agreeing to swap it out for a new car.  My question is; Is there a use fee in the state of Tennessee that I will be hit with?  They have pussy footed around for 7 months (it has had issues since late december, had 2 engines, more trouble) so if there are any use fees, can they be avoided?

They are going to refund my Tax 100% via a check.
I will not be able to do a swap on collateral with my lender.  Kind of sucks, 1.9% interest was pretty good.

Links with details:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Hyundai/comments/29rfjg/2014_tucson_vibrates_at_1200_rpm_and_makes_a/
http://www.reddit.com/r/Hyundai/comments/1wf854/2014_hyundai_tucson_loud_clanking_noise_under_the/

Thanks

**EDIT**: First, thanks for your responses.  Second, for the record I have yet to invoke the Lemon Law in TN.  I'm not sure if this is a bad thing.  I was holding it as a last resort if they did not fix my issue or give me a new car.

Answer:
 > Hyundai Motors of America are agreeing to swap it out for a new car.

Wow. Good for you, OP! You apparently have ***THE*** definition of a lemon. I have never heard of a car manufacturer just saying "Yep. Your car is so bad we're going to give you a new one."

>1.9% interest was pretty good.

Have you explained to the lender that you are having the car swapped at the manufacture's insistence? This isn't a collateral swap - this is "my vehicle is so bad that......" situation.

Maybe try something like? "The manufacturer is making me swap out the vehicle on the loan because the vehicle is not up to standards and has been called back. Is it possible to honor the terms of the original contract since this is not my fault? They are replacing my vehicle with another... and I'm not sure how to change this on my loan. They aren't charging me more or doing anything other than recalling the lemon of a vehicle and replacing it with something that - um - functions. Can you help me? Who do I need to talk to? I know this is unusual but..... someone should be able to help me?" (It may be worth a shot - you can let them know that the original collateral isn't worth anything and the manufacturer agrees - and will be sending your old vehicle to certain death - and you now have something that is going to be worth something?)

I don't know anything about use fees in Tennessee.... I'm just... Um... Wowsers! You win, OP. You got a major manufacturer to give you a new car. That's awesome.


Title: Illinois - I have an order of protection against someone and that person just sent me a package...

Question:
Like the title says, I live in Illinois.  I have an active order of protection against someone who has sent me a package.

The envelope did not have his name on the return address, but it is absolutely his handwriting and a package of information letting me know that his wife died.  His name or signature isn't anywhere, but this is obviously him trying to tell me that his wife died.

Unfortunately, I cannot call my town's victim services office until Monday (just got the package at 5pm on Friday night), so I'm not sure how this will be dealt with.  Can anyone tell me how this is likely to go down?  He didn't include a letter or sign his name to the envelope, but it his his handwriting and information about his dead wife in the package.  Is this evidence enough to bring some sort of charges against this person?  Advice?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT 1:  Just checked the return address.  He sent it from his therapist's office.  He didn't put his name on it, but this is further proof that it is from him.

EDIT 2:  The report has been made.  I am told a detective should be contacting us in 48 hours to follow up.  If we don't hear from a detective, I have been given a report number and a phone number to follow up with.  Any advice on next steps?

Answer: Call the police so they can document it and call your victim advocate monday morning.Answer #2: Do you know if the therapist knows about the order?  If not, I would probably give them a call as well - they obviously can't talk to you about a patient, but they would probably like to know that a patient was trying to use their office to contact someone that they shouldn't be contacting.


Title: Soon to be ex wants a restraining order against my girlfriend

Question:
My soon to be ex wife, J, wants to get a restraining order between our 17 month old toddler, R, and my girlfriend, G. I'm not sure if she has any ground to stand on. We are in upstate NY.

J and I have been in a sexually open marriage for about 6 years, with a few rules to abide by. G and I have had an on and off again relationship in this time, but our recent interactions have left J feeling like I was breaking some of our rules and not communicating where things with G were with her. J decided that she wanted to pursue a divorce, calling me an adulterer and a liar. The separation process has been going smoothly enough, but recently J told me that if we are sharing custody of our daughter than she doesn't want G anywhere near R, saying that if I didn't agree she would go through legal means.

G has been nothing but great to R, she loves kids and the three of us often spend time together. Since G can't have kids of her own she has really taken to R and treats her like her own, especially since J asked for a divorce.

Is my ex actually able to pursue any kind of legal restraining order? Could she make it a demand on some kind of divorce agreement? If I don't agree would my wife have an easier time trying to take custody
away from me?

Answer:
 You need a divorce lawyer. It doesn’t sound like she has grounds for a restraining order but she certainly could make it a term of the divorce agreementAnswer #2: Because she doesn't like her? No that's not good enough reason.Answer #3: I have seen custody orders saying child is not allowed around significant others for 6 months, and then only when mutually agreed upon.

Edit: this was also while the one and new SO were already living together which meant the child had to be away from the house, or the new SO had to stay elsewhere during custody times.Answer #4: Like others have said: she may not manage a restraining order, but she could make stipulations in the order that your gf cant live with you unless your married if you're daughter it there. Source: friends bf did this so his ex wife wouldnt have her multiple boyfriends around his daughters at night.


Title: County bus hit my car and did not stop. County stated that I cannot complain and there is nothing I can do. (MD)

Question:
On Friday (6/16) a county bus hit my car that was parked on the street. According to my neighbor's who witnessed it the bus was speeding, hit my car and did not slow down or stop even after they attempted to wave the driver down. The bus ripped my mirror off, but luckily I was able to reassemble and fix it myself. I am mostly upset because the bus has hit my roommates car 2 times (and caused significant amounts of damage) and now mine within the last 6 months. I called the county hotline to complain and they basically told me there was nothing that they could do since the driver did not stop.

Is there anything I can do to stop this crazy ass bus driver? I live in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Answer:
 I would have called the police to report a hit and run.Answer #2: Maybe team up with your roomie and get a dash cam or two. Point them at the road when the car is parked so that sooner or later you get footage of the bus driver doing a hit and run. I strongly advise you to make sure you have at least good quality footage of one, preferably more, hit and runs before calling cops and/or confronting the driver or city. This way you leave them no wiggle room.
Not sure about your area, but where I'm at the police are legally required to take all accident reports, even from third parties ala your neighbors who called. I would say to try and talk to a sergeant cop or shift supervisor about getting a report done and see if he/she is more professional than whoever you tried with before. If that fails, try speaking with state cops and explain the situation and ask them to take report.Answer #3: Whoever you spoke to on the county hotline is incorrect.

Try filing a police report again, preferably with your neighbor present and available to give a statement. You may need to visit the local police station to do so.

Then, send a claim letter to the county, stating what happened, when/where/how, how much the damage was, and that you demand the county pay you $X to repair. In Montgomery County, that letter should be addressed to the County Executive, and sent by some recorded means such as certified mail. The county should initiate an investigation and send you a formal response.


Title: IL- Jury duty today. Do they choose today and I'm on the jury today or is there a wait?

Question:
If chosen will I be on a jury today as well or will they choose today and I'll jury another day?

Update: ;( There was only 1 case and my group number wasn't selected to be the ones to stay. I didn't even get questioned. Lol.

Answer:
 The trial may start today if it's early enough, the court's schedule is clear, and both parties are ready to proceed. You should be told an expected length of the trial. When I've gone in for jury duty and gone through selection, I've usually been told that it will be somewhere from 3-10 days, and asked if it would present a hardship. The definition of hardship is somewhat nebulous. While some are crafted into the law (in Texas, having a child younger than 12 years is an automatic excusal), many others are left to the judge. I've seen a judge decide to work the trial calendar around a doctor's appointment and to deny a self-employed person excusal even though the trial was expected to last more than a week.

I've never made it onto a jury, but that's the process at least leading up to the point of being thanked by the attorneys for my time. Keep in mind that if you do make it on, your employer is not required to pay you for the time away from work (but also cannot fire you). The court can pay you (apparently $25 for the first day and $50 per day after that, presuming it's an Illinois court and not a federal court, which is $40 per day), but if your employer compensates you for your jury duty, you may be required to decline the jury duty pay.


Title: When does conviction take place?

Question:
I have already had my arraignment during which I pled guilty. Does this mean that for job applications I must reveal conviction of misdemeanor charges? Or am I not formally convicted until sentencing takes place...
Thanks.

Kentucky

Answer: If you've been arraigned you should have your sentencing date. On that day you'll be convicted.


Title: Signed lease and gave security deposit two months ago- still can’t move in.

Question:
So just wondering if we (roommates and I) have any legal leeway against our landlord during this unfortunate situation.

We signed a year lease in April for May 1 and gave our security deposit. The house at the time wasn’t complete but, very close. We were aware of the time crunch for it to be finished (Only thing that wasn’t done was hard wood floors, driveway and appliance hook up) and so was the landlord. We had agreed it would be fine if it was pushed back a week or two. It’s been 2 months and the landlord keeps pushing the date back week by week. We understand it’s out of her control but, her banking on the house being finished with out any solid facts to hold that up has led us to be homeless w/o a solid place to stay for nearly two months. Now we are waiting for a fire inspection on the 29th which at first we were told was the 26th. Do we have any legal action available to take against the land lord??

Tldr: signed lease for may 1 and gave deposit. Move in date keeps getting pushed back. Two months later still can’t move in. Can I sue her or are we just out of luck?

Answer: Why have you not asked your landlord to pay for your accommodations until the house is ready to move in to?  You have a legal contract.  They have to comply and let you move in.  If they do not you can cancel the contract and get back your deposit.  You probably have foregone any legal action waiting so long ... smh.


Title: NY Landlord did a showing of my room today

Question:
1. They gave me 2 hour notice
2. The people who showed up took photos of my room

My room was semi messy. I felt kind of strange when  one of them asked to take a photo, this is typically something you dont do, unless the house is empty.

I had a 15 day streak recently of presentations, exams and assignments and household tasks were the last things on my mind.

My question is, could I have refused the person from taking photos of my room? I think since you dont take photos of a room usually, I fear they only took it to post in some dark recess of facebook for lulz ( from whereon it becomes impossoble to track ), I find that highly uncomfortable and intrusive of my space.

I couldn't refuse then because I didn't want to piss off my landlady, I'm an international student here and
my landlady has a track record of this sort of behaviour. Since they know I virtually have no rights,  they abuse it for their amusement often.

I know there is literally nothing I can do, but could there be something?

Edit:

In the short notice beforehand,  my landlady said that she'll be needing people afterwards for the room and asked for suggestions.  Then why would she be doing the showing in the first place ( if these people aren't going to be taking the apartment in the first place ), right?

I think she gathered a friend, her daughters and her friends and did a "showing". She's pulled shit like this before. She would bring people over to show a room on the other side of the house and then bring the person to meet me, back then, since the showing was not for my room, I had no assocination nor relation to it, I don't get why I was pulled in.

**If that girl posts it on social media poking fun at my room, can she be held accountable for a crime? , since she would be violating my privacy since she was allowed access to my room through an external entity ONLY for the purposes of the viewing? Therefore she was infringing in my space  with already limited permission under restrictive circumstances?**

Answer: What does your lease say? You could have said 2 hours notice is not enough and you need 24. You could have refused permission to take the picture.


Title: Mom stole my college diploma- Canada

Question: My mom stole my college diploma and is refusing to give it back. I can get a copy from my school but it will have "COPY" stamped on it in red ink. I want the original but mom won't even discuss it. The main issue is mom's very religious and doesn't believe women should get an education which I did instead of marrying and having kids. I briefly moved back in after college and mom believes that my belongings are hers because I'm her child so she went through my stuff and took what she wanted when I wasn't home. How can I get the original back from her?

Answer:
 >mom believes that my belongings are hers because I'm her child so she went through my stuff and took what she wanted when I wasn't home.

Nice way of thinking about what legally is called THEFT.

>How can I get the original back from her?

The police will likely be able to help.Answer #2: You can order official replacements of your diploma from your college that do not have COPY stamped across. Go back to the office and ask them again. It will cost more than just getting a copy.Answer #3: Have you considered installing small speakers hidden within your house (a few in a single room) and telling her "in the voice of God" to return your diploma?


Title: I had just opened up a retail store in Panama City and now we have to close down and pretty much start over. Wondering if there’s any legal actions that could be taken against the owner of the building

Question:
Hey guys I thought I could come here to get some input. I had recently opened a retail store in Panama City. Unfortunately about a month later this city was devastated by a natural disaster.
Our shop is located in a small strip mall with other businesses next to us. Though the structure of the building turned out being okay, we had major issues with our roof, and every time it rained our store would flood.As I know many many people had the same issue as me if not worse we didn’t get a roof until November 26th(we don’t own the building).The storm came through on October 16th. But this is not an issue at all being that I understand that there are many hard workers doing there best for the many people that were devastated.
This is what I don’t know and what I believe to be a problem. One of the units next to us had been vacant since the day we moved in. Vacant as in whatever previous business was there, they had pretty much left everything behind.(shelving, chairs, ect)
Over a one month period that unit had been collecting water and if you can imagine Florida, humidity.
Us on the other had been there everyday(closed) pushing water that was up to our shoes out the front door. We had also set up a tent, bought dehumidifiers and fans to protect as much product as possible.
The other day the restoration guys were next door in hazmat outfits saying that the mold is the worst they’ve seen. He had shown me pictures of our connecting wall of the mold that was now affecting us. Our entire unit does not have mold, but now due to the unit next door we do now.  He had also mentioned that the unit on the other side of us may have some issues as well, because that business hasn’t been back since the storm hit.That being said we have to tear down about 100ft of walls on each side and will have to close the store for even longer at an unknown amount of time.
My thought for any legal advice would be for the owner of the building and how he just left the unit next to us to rot.

Please nobody bash me, I understand we got lucky compared to others, as I am very grateful for all the emergency personal, natural disaster response, and people in general trying to get the city re built.

Answer: Natural disasters are considered acts of God. That means any damage caused isn't the fault of anyone.


Title: Am I Entitled to Contact Prescription Information If It Is Expired?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 If they're contacts, isn't it right on the box?

E: also wanna add, not a lawyer but i work in the medical field. The office is not going to give you information for a prescription that has been expired, because that information is no longer "valid". Your eyes could have changed and the old prescription would no longer be suitable. It's unlikely, but the type of liability they have to think of.

It's probably got a lot more to do with the fact that they want you buying your contacts from them, because thats how they make money.


Title: Electrical outlet burned in hotel room, they said it was okay three times before they found crispy wires.

Question:
A wire in an electrical outlet in my hotel room burned when I used a hair dryer on it. The plastic on the outlet was sooty and melted. White smoke came from the outlet before I unplugged the hair dryer. I informed hotel staff and it took over 24 hours for them to send someone up to the room. I was actually told they came by twice and checked the outlet while we were out, and that they removed the outlet cover and tightened the connections on the wires. I was told they plugged in the hairdryer and ran it for several minutes to test it.

When I went to check the outlet it starting causing the blow dryer to trip immediately so you had to press the switch on the dryer for it to turn back on for a second or two. Obviously something was still wrong. I called the staff up again and they came by while I was in the shower. Still I was told it was fine, but I knew it wasn't. I complained to the manager and she had maintenance come up one more time. I watched them closely to see how they tested it. They turned off the electric and pulled the outlet out to replace it like I had asked them to do several times previously, when they did I saw about two inches of wire burnt to a crisp. Right away I squeezed in between them before they had a chance to clip it off or anything to take a picture.

I showed the picture to the manager and she said she couldn't comp more than $200 off our room because of a contact with another company where the rooms were sold in blocks. The room cost us about $800 in total. She said we can go through insurance to get the room comped so I filled out paperwork for that and I'm looking to hear back. So the $200 discount has been applied but no more.

What I'm wondering is this something that we should go to a lawyer with? Nothing in the room other than the outlet burned, but they insisted several times over it was okay to use the outlet when I told them it wasn't. In my mind that put everyone in my hotel room in danger, all of our possessions could have been ruined by fire or sprinklers, and if the fire spread other hotel guests were in danger as well.

At the very least we should get our room comped, but I don't want to miss the opportunity hit them where it hurts on the issue if I can. The only other thing I have to say about it is that they did offer to check for other rooms to move us too, two or three times. We refused because we had six people staying five days and that is a lot of stuff to move. That said, since they said the outlet was okay the room most likely would have sold to someone else who would have been in danger from the faulty electrical.

Would the $200 that was credited to the bill invalidate any claim to go to court over this? Do I have any kind of real claim anyway? What do you think Reddit? (Bot says I have to post a location, this was in Indianapolis, Indiana)

Answer: To be honest, $200 sounds like a windfall settlement, given that you really have no damages, unless I missed something.


Title: Wedding planner not communicating and is failing to appear at weddings - I want to drop them but they have my money. How can I get it back?

Question:
Hello all,

My fiancée and I signed into a contract with an Ohio wedding planner/event organizer earlier this year after finding them at a bridal show. The company seemed to have a solid record for providing services and had many points of contact (email, office phone, cell phones, social media). In person, the owner/head organizer was extremely professional. We met with the head organizer in person to review services/terms and, after a long and pleasant conversation, we signed for around $600 worth of services and paid $300 as a 50% non-refundable down-payment.

After a few months passed, we started to find it more difficult to reach the organizer. Our e-mails and voicemails would go unanswered for more than ten days. We had heard rumors that the company had been deleting negative reviews from their Facebook page. The organizer eventually got back to us and cited the "peak wedding season" for their failure to contact us in a timely manner.

As of this past week, we attempted to reach out to the organizer yet again and have not been able to reach them. After some research, we found that almost all of their social media accounts were removed over the weekend. One account remained and on a comment for a photo we learned that the organizer completely failed to show up at a wedding this month and has blocked certain people from contacting them. Worried, we reached out to other couples in the area and learned that there are something like 7-10 instances where the company completely failed to appear at weddings and that some have filed police reports. At this point, we have decided we will no longer be seeking their services.

We are now sourcing another wedding planner but are concerned as to whether we will be able to get our money back. We have not yet officially notified the organization that they are "fired" but will be doing so soon. Technically, in order for them to hold up their end of the contract, they will have to appear at our wedding in October. However, I do not want to wait around that long for them to possibly not show up. I would like to sever the contract but doing so, I think, would legally mean that I have forfeited my 50% down-payment. The only instance where 100% of the money is returned is if the company is unable to provide their service due to a natural disaster/weather and the makeup date is already booked for them.

Some other notes -- the company does have a business license in Ohio per Secretary of State office website.

Reddit, is there anything that can be done?
Topic:
Contracts

Answer: Write a letter terminating business due to what you've explained above.  (Send registered mail.) Sue for the $300.00 in small claims court.  Wait forever to collect judgement if you win.  Great way to begin married life, getting scammed, right?


Title: I opened a cab door that was then hit. Am I at Fault?

Question: The other night I was exiting a taxi in NJ  that stopped to drop me off on the far side of a single-lane one way street lined with parked cars on both sides. As I opened the door to walk across the street to my apartment, a car attempted to pass the cab and hit the door, damaging it. The police came, asked me a few questions, and spoke to the cab driver and the passing car driver. The cab driver is now attempting to get me to pay for the damage to his door. Am I liable for the damage for having opened the door, or is it the cab driver or passing car driver's fault?

Answer:
 Tell the cab driver to file a claim with his insurance or the passing car insurance.

Personally, I would assume the passing car to be at fault because the taxi was "parked". Its usually the moving motorist fault. Though I wouldn't use this argument or even mention it now.


Title: Car searched before tow, for inventory purposes?

Question:
I was pulled over in Massachusetts by a state cop, he ran my registration and it had expired.  He said he had to have the vehicle towed.  Before the tow truck came, he said he needed to do an "inventory" on my car.  I said I didn't want him searching my car.  He demanded I leave the car unlocked.  After taking the key off the keyring, and putting it in the ignition, as he requested, I locked the car.

When the tow truck arrived, I remembered that I had a different key for the passenger side door.  I unlocked it and the cop searched the car.  I repeated I didn't want him searching the car.  He rifled through my papers, the glove box, etc.

Was the officer wrong to search the car?  Would this constitute an illegal search?  He said he wasn't searching, but rather that it was for inventory purposes to ensure nothing was stolen.  What do you think?

Answer: Nope. An inventory search is legal when the police impound a vehicle. Your rights were not violated


Title: My grandmother needs help

Question: Hey guys my grandmother is in dire need of some help because of what happened in Houston,Tx with hurricane Harvey. She is having issues with the lady that used to own the house. She was a family friend but we don't consider her anymore I won't get much into why but she is causing my grandmother so many problems. She won't send my grandmother a picture of the check that came in from the insurance she goes into excuses as to why claiming credit score and other BS she's claiming it's $20,000 but is saying that she will only be sending $10,000 to rebuild and  that contractors have to inspect again to make sure the estimates are right or whatever and then she will send the remainder. This is what my grandmother told me incase y'all need to know more. The loan is under the ladies name but the house is  under my grandmother and grandfather in the bank. The insurance is under her name but my grandmother pays everything. I'm sorry if I'm not being real clear it's just I don't know much about this and really wanna help her. So if anyone can help us with advice on what to do it will be much appreciated

Answer: This doesn't make much sense. If it's your grandmother's house, why is the loan under this other lady's name?


Title: Small Business - Floundering employee claiming sexual harassment by her superior. Need advice please.

Question:
Crossposted from r/askhr.

Sorry for the huge wall of text and stream of consciousness rambling. This is a totally new experience for me as a professional and I could very much use your advice.

I am a senior manager in a family owned small business in Canada. Within the last 8 months we hired two new employees to work at our primary site of operations. One, a male, was hired as the Operations Manager aka "boss of the site". The second, a female, was hired as a important manager who would be in charge of a specific division of the company's business, but is nonetheless a step below the Operations Manager in the overall company hierarchy as the Operations Manager is to be where the final buck stops for everything that happens at the site.

For context,the other owners of the company and I visit the site every three weeks or so to hold meetings with the staff and check in on their progress etc. but we are not there full time.

The two were hired within a few months of each other, the female first. She was brought on to have a great deal of autonomy. As the months progressed it became clear she was struggling in her position and we communicated to her and the Operations Manager that as he had great experience in our industry, he would need to take a more active role in her division of the company to assist. She was fairly resistant to this which I took as her being a bit proud and territorial. As time has gone on she has has been very negative towards the Operations Manager basically from the first weeks of them working together. She would frequently contact the ownership to complain about his decisions, claim he was undercutting her to the staff or customers etc.
She also began to display eccentricities in her behavior as the months progress. A few examples include a time when she phoned me up during a stressful day where a bunch of things had gone wrong and basically ranted at me for 30 minutes or so about how she was concerned about her reputation being damaged in the community since things were not going well, and her lack of belief in the company's overall vision etc. I was quite taken aback by this and considered letting her go for what I perceived as a very self centered and negative attitude regarding some solvable problems, but we needed the body on site and I had a little faith she would might it around as to her defense, it was a stressful time and sometimes people need to let it out a bit.

Another time she began to divulge to myself and my brother (family business) very private details about her marriage which was apparently struggling going so far as to describe to us his infidelity problems and the fact that he was bipolar etc. I found this conversation very inappropriate and unbecoming of a professional. It was way too much information to be telling your relatively new bosses. Another red flag but again we needed the body at the site and she seemed to be doing a satisfactory job though not stellar. She has also not responded to criticism well, often crying or being a bit melodramatic during rather routine conversations about goals and targets, again this concerned me as we needed leadership out of her and she was not showing much composure.

All in all she was proving to be a bit strange, and generally a negative person who focused on blaming others (particularly the Operations Manager and the staff in her division) rather than taking responsibility for problems and finding win-wins - a cliche thing we preach.

Meanwhile, the new operations manager was thriving in his role. The staff were very much rallying under his leadership and he was really taking ownership of the problems on site. I will readily admit I have been very pleased with his performance. Don't get me wrong he is not perfect, but he seems to be a good fit. From day 1 he has stated that he does not think this female manager is the right fit on site. His comments mirror my own concerns (which had never been expressed to him). Basically his thought has been that while she is a nice person, she has a bad attitude which is something that is hard to fix. It is likely better to hire someone positive and train them for the role. I have to agree.
After a month or two of them disagreeing about things and constantly running to us (the owners) to mediate their disputes, we made it clear to them that we expect professionalism from them, and that petty squabbling was not to be tolerated. They needed to learn to work together as a team. We stressed that we needed to cultivate a strong team on site, and that as leaders it started with them. They both seemed to agree to this and for about a month they seemed to be getting along better and working better as a team.
Come mid January, other senior staff in the company began to express concerns about the female manager, specifically commenting on her avoidance of work, negative attitude, unreliability etc. I has been noticing the same things. She was failing even simple reporting tasks, and it seemed if she didn't like doing something she would either not do it, or delegate it to a junior staff member. Based on theses concerns we asked the Operations Manager's opinion on her again and he restated what he had been saying all along that he didn't think she was the right fit for the position based on her attitude and lack of accountability. He suggested some people from his past he thought might be a good fit with the company and we asked him to reach out to them and determine if they would consider joining the company.

In mid January we held a performance review for the female manager. We tried to praise what we thought were her good qualities while also pointing out where we thought she needed to step up. She didn't take it well and believed she deserved a raise. We disagreed. We stated that we would only be willing to increase her compensation if she achieved some key deliverable over the next 3 months. Basically we wanted to give her a final chance to sink or swim. She told us she was contemplating quitting because she didn't think she could achieve what we wanted. It was a very melodramatic conversation including more tears. To be perfectly honest, although she said she would give it a try eventually, at this time we basically knew she was on her way out either via quitting or we would replace her within 30-60 days.

We have been working out how to best replace her over the last couple weeks. As I said the Operations Manager is aware we are considering letting her go.

This Friday we received an email from her that was basically her stating she thought certain things we had asked the Operations Manager to do in her division were not working and that she should have more power in her division because he was messing it up. We contacted her to discuss and the conversation quickly went from a discussion of how to solve some issues on site, to her making a bunch of negative comments about how the Operations Manager is performing and generally undermining him, to her finally claiming that he was sexually harassing her.

We recorded the majority of the conversation once and took notes. Basically she stated that the operations manager has been flirting with her in the past, that she had flirted with him to try and :"keep the atmosphere at the workplace friendly". She stated "I am not innocent in this" at one point. She carried on to say that he told her his wife and him are swingers and he invited her to join them. She said she received text messages from him that were very sexual in nature. We asked if she could produce these messages and she says that some of them were deleted but she thinks there are applications to ways to recover them. She stated she eventually told him she was not interested in his advances and he persisted. She claim that another girl in the office was creeped out by him. When she shut him down he began to act cold or mean to her. She summed it up by saying she just wants to do her job and that this situation was making it hard. She was crying through the conversation for what its worth.
We immediate told her we take this kind of a situation very seriously, that we are going to complete a thorough investigation of the situation immediately and do everything in our power to resolve the situation. I mean that. We will do everything we can to get to the bottom of this, and the owners of the company take this kind of a claim as tremendously serious. We do not condone any form of harassment in the workplace. First thing Monday I will be contacting as many experts on such a situation as I can to determine the best course of action on how to proceed. I will personally be flying to the site to figure this out.

Here is the thing though... In my gut I have the feeling her claims might not be true. Her past behavior has not sit well with me. I know I can't judge a book by the cover by the Operations Manager has been nothing but professional thus far and all of his references were extremely positive about him and his professionalism. He even brought his son in law into the company and has his wife move her business closer to our site so he could dive into work. He puts in 60 hour weeks regularly and he has told us he wants to build a career with us. He knows the opportunity with us is huge. I can not fathom why he would be so stupid as to do such a rotten thing... especially to someone he knew didn't like him and would use it against him. It doesn't make sense, he isn't an idiot, though I know that is not a justifiable reason to think her claim is facetious. Maybe he is a wolf in sheep's clothing. I just don't know yet.

I am concerned that she knew she was on thin ice, knew she was about to be let go, and is going to try and leverage her claims against the Operations Manager to either get him fired, or to prevent us from firing her. I mean, why would she wait so long to report this to us if she disliked him? She has been trying to undermine him for months, why not use this ammunition immediately? We have wanted to let her go for a little while now, but if we go ahead with it she is now liable to claim we did it because of her claims of harassment even though that would be complete BS. We would never fire anyone because of that, only for failing in performance (which she is). I feel like our hands are tied by this. If her claims are true I will fire him, but I would still want to replace her regardless. She is not the right for for our company but I feel like I am going to be damned if I do and damned if I don't.

At the end of the day, unless she has incriminating evidence, I could see this playing out as a he said she said. That would play into her favor as we then are in a bad position where it is hard to let her go of her without her claiming wrongful dismissal and that we sided with him.

As I said, we are a small company, with no HR department. Dealing with this falls squarely on my shoulders and I have no idea how to best proceed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. If you guys have any suggestions on places to crosspost that would be great too.

My anxiety is churning over this. This is serious. I just want to do the right thing for my staff and for my company.

Thanks for reading.

**TLDR:** An employee who was failing at her job is claiming her superior sexually harassed her. I will investigate the  claim thoroughly, but I think she might be fabricating the situation to extort the company in some way and need advice in how to proceed without exposing the company to unnecessary risk.

**EDIT:** To clarify my question: How do you best handle a claim of sexual harassment when you want to terminate the employment of the individual making the claim for reasons unrelated to the claim.

Answer:
 document, document, document.

you need to get her accusations in writing.

If you fire her, you need to be able to defend the decision.Answer #2: Melodramatic? Pot meet kettle. Jesus Christ I got lost after the first ten thousand pages. What happened in the end? Did Pierre and Natasha get married? What about Count Rostov? Is he still with us? Never mind my interest left long ago. Good luck!Answer #3: I'm sure you realize you should have fired this lunatic a long time ago. It was unfair to your other employees to have her around, with her negativity and incompetence, making everyone walk on eggshells around her crying fits...

She can be fired for poor performance even if she was a sexual harassment victim. She hasn't been handed a golden ticket to job security. That said, you should get a lawyer on the case now because she's probably fleshing out her future legal complaint even as we speak.

If the Operations Manager really is a swinger propositioning co-workers with dirty texts, ask your lawyer what you need to do to fire him too. (I'm presuming it's more complicated in Canada.)

You've got a potential mess on your hands, so get a lawyer familiar with these issues in your province. Good luck, and please update if you can.


Title: My mom is 89. I need to declare her incompetent, or someone does, but there is a con man here blocking me

Question:
My mom is 89 and being fleeced as far as I can tell. I'm a sort of black sheep that came to live with her for a bit and the con man was supposed to be gone but he won't leave until I do.

she is not fit to drive, and the car she has is actually a deathtrap. (she crosses over into other lanes, etc).
We are in Flagstaff, Arizona. My mom is in the Mormon Church, and fears any kind of controversy that will mar her church image. Also there are powerful lawyers in the church and I fear that if bring this to any lawyers' attention, it will get back to con man, and he will retaliate in a not nice way.

this con man has told her that any minute he would "come through " and help her do fantastic things but seriously, she is in ok shape and still kicking around well, but she has not enough teeth to enunciate, can't hear that well, and she is on SS, approx 800 a month. Con man is sitting around on his laptop all day and all night, eating her food, using her internet. he never leaves the house. I believe he has arranged for the backwards mortgage she is in, and she has told me she wants out of it, and she has also told me she wants him gone, but she won't tell him to leave, because he has all the info on the mortgage etc. It is my belief that since he has not enough money to buy the property or get the reverse mortgage , um, 'reversed', he is waiting for her to die and at that moment, since he is probably her power of attorney, he is going to scrap all the things here on the proptery. And make a bit of a bundle. I'm not after anything for myself, but this con man did swindle my brother out of approx. 20,ooo dollars some time ago, and my mom still sides with con man because he is a leach and always here and always sucking money off, and telling her exactly what to do. About everything. I'm here, and I"m on SSI, and he's eating MY food as well. Isn't that kind of wrong? For a 60 year old man who proclaims to be a savvy business man and has thrown thousands of dollars into these 'ventures' that do not pan out?

Many more details I can supply, I just need pointed to the first couple steps to take.  I looked at this: http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2013/09/legal-how-to-declaring-someone-incompetent.html

But it says you have to bring wills and estate papers. I can't get near those, they are guarded by my mom and the con man. As I said, don't even know where they are. How would I even go about finding those to get started?

Answer: Contact Adult Protective Services for assistance: https://www.azdes.gov/daas/aps/Answer #2: You call APS. Lets see how long this guy hangs around when the authorities start getting involved.


Title: Landlord charging a fee if we ask to view utilities bill (Ca)

Question:
Hi all, the property manager at our apartment complex charges us all for our share of the utilities. The only problem is that she will not show us the bill until we have paid a fee to view it.

Last time somebody paid to see the electricity statement it was found that we had been charged too much. We were refunded the overpayment when this was brought to their attention.

Any thoughts? Is this even legal? I'd like to see the bill from the utilities company just so I know what I'm being asked to pay for. I don't think it should cost me money to do so. Even though the charge is only $5 per statement for each resident it just seems wrong, somehow.

Your thoughts would be most appreciated.

EDIT: it's a large apartment complex with communal water and gas to each block of apartments. The bill is not in our name, we are just sent an invoice by the property manager.
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 Apt? or House?  In whose name is the bill?  I can't fathom any scenario where a reasonable person is expected to pay without viewing the actual cost/bill.

You might backdoor it and call the utility company directly.

It's unfair/unreasonable... and certainly suspicious to expect you to pay for something without seeing the details.


Title: Money from safe stolen while solo-shift worker is on break. Does this worker have to pay back the money?

Question:
I am asking if this is legal for my own knowledge. The actual people in this situation don't seem to give a care. This is in the US btw.

My friend's Mom works at a bar a few nights a week, they only pay her $5 an hour which is another situation entirely. When she works her shift, she works alone because the owners of the bar are too cheap to pay 2 people to work at the same time. The owners of the bar have an UNLOCKED SAFE full of money. The workers put the money in the safe after each shift. Why is it unlocked? Because the owners don't trust their workers with the combo (MAKES NO SENSE, RIGHT?).

Now here's the situation.

My friend's Mom was working her shift alone the other day when she had to take a pee break. While she was in the bathroom, someone in the bar stole almost 4k from the UNLOCKED SAFE. The bar owners are making my friend's Mom pay back all the stolen money because of course they don't have security cameras so they will never find who stole it. They are taking the money she would be making every shift and keeping it because she has to pay back the stolen money.

**IS THIS LEGAL?** For some reason this seems normal to the people this is happening to.

Oh, and this has happened 2 other times. The unlock safe gets robbed, and whoever was working the shift has to pay it back. WTF?

Answer: No, it is not legal.


Title: Biological father died a year ago, had no other family and no will. Half-brother claimed Next of Kin. (KY/OH)

Question:
So, last May my biological father died in a motorcycle accident.  I believe he did indeed sign my original birth certificate, eventually giving up rights to who my mother married 3 years later.

He had no other family aside from a half-brother.  How the 'half' is I'm not sure without further digging.  Never married, no other children, I believe a live in girlfriend though.  I know he did not have a will.  I'm sure he had at least a work provided life-insurance, as he had a decent job.

He lived in Ohio and I live in KY.  His half-brother claimed next of kin on whatever forms needed it claimed and immediately confronted some family to ensure I didn't 'get anything'.

The guy wasn't loaded, but did have some decent assets.  Do I have any legal claim to his estate/assets?  Is it too late to pursue this and if so what route should I go?  My cousin is a lawyer but I'd greatly prefer not to involve him if there is a way I can do this solo.

I'm new to this subreddit so I apologize if I messed up any of the rules but I'd love advice if this is worth pursuing.

Answer: Were you officially adopted by your step-father when your biological father gave up his rights?


Title: Need advice on how to save text messages

Question: So I filed my first lawsuit today against a person who I provided services for but will not pay.  I'm very confident in my attorney's abilities but he says he hasn't dealt with capturing text messages to introduce into evidence.  I have months of messages that need to be saved.  Does anyone know of a good way to do this and get them notarized or something.  I hate to screenshot and print to .pdf but right now, it's the only way I can think to do it.  I just need something that is air tight that the court will accept.  I'm in Louisiana.

Answer: Let your attorney research this and come up with a strategy to get the messages into evidence.


Title: Packages accidentally addressed to neighbor, and she won't give them back

Question:
So my brother-in-law sent me two boxes from out of state, and unfortunately he addressed them slightly incorrectly. They ended up being mailed to a woman who lives down the street from me. I found out the night they were delivered, because she actually called me. She said my number was written on the box and she wanted to let me know the boxes had gone to her place.

I apologized for the mistake and asked her if she could just leave them outside, since I live quite close to her and could get them off her hands immediately. She deflected and said she'd rather not be held responsible, and wanted UPS to take care of it. Okay...so I made some phone calls to UPS and they said they'd pick it back up from her. This was a week ago.

My brother-in-law told me today that this woman never left the packages out for UPS to pick up, and that UPS said they'd try to contact her and ask that she let me pick up my boxes from her. As far as I know they haven't gotten a hold of her. I called her this afternoon, and have sent texts. No responses.

My question is whether or not I have any legal standing here, since the boxes were addressed to her house (albeit with my name and phone number on them), and since I have no proof that she got them besides a phone call (which I didn't record, unfortunately). I figure I should file a police report for theft, but I'm honestly just wondering if I have a leg to stand on here.

Answer: Just because they were to her address doesn't mean she has the right to open them. They weren't addressed to HER. So I would file the police report. Answer #2: There have been some questions like this on here before and I think the general consensus is that if you contact the police department to file a report they will generally come politely talk to the person in question and that’s often times enough to get them to return the packages. Answer #3: I'm in agreement with the other comments, file the report, they'll come down and ask for it back, and odds are you'll get it back. If not, then the police should inform you of the next step or you can ask them.


Title: SO is being slapped with 15k hospital bill. What can we do? Details in post.

Question:
NY State.

My SO recently attempted suicide. She was taken by ambulance to a local hospital where she was treated and then saw a social worker. The social worker told her that she had two options; voluntary or involuntary observation for at least 72 hours at a psych ward. When she said she did not want to go into a psych ward, the social worker ripped up her paperwork and said too bad. She was taken to a different hospital and held there against her will for 5 days. She was admitted on a Friday evening to the psych ward and didn't even see a psychologist until the following Monday. This was over a month ago. Move forward to today and we get a bill from the hospital and a notification that her insurance will not be covering her stay in the psychiatric ward under the claim that because she didn't want to go, they will not cover it. It's a 15k bill...

Is there anything that can be done to fight the insurance company? They informed us that we can appeal but knowing these greedy fucks, I doubt they will change their stance.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and if you have any questions, I will gladly clarify.

Edit: Thanks to everyone who is answering and providing me with some direction and special thanks to the asshole who is downvoting all of my comments simply for asking for advice. /s

Answer:
 Have you posted this to /r/insurance?

They aren't going to pay a claim that isn't covered by the policy. That doesn't make them greedy. Having said that, she should find out exactly why this won't be covered and get that in writing. It seems unusual to me that whether or not they cover a stay would be predicated on whether or not the patient wanted to go.


Title: How to legally remove girlfriend from my house Tennessee

Question: Hey guys I was wondering if any of you know how I can remove my ex from my house. She absolutely will not leave and is causing trouble with my neighbors. Plus calling the cops 3-4x a day with made up lies to try to get me and my family in trouble. Luckily the police sees right through those lies and leaves without causing any trouble for me. I recently got a new girlfriend but cant even take her to my own house because of her I have tried to be nice about it but I have literally been paying almost 400 a week for a hotel and cant even go to my house to work in my garage without her calling the cops and arguing. I even offered her 500$ plus would pay for 2 month storage if she would just leave peacefully so I could go home. I turned my power of by the box outside because I just cant afford the bill but she went and smashed open the box and just about destroyed it to turn it back on. I am at my wits end with this just really need help removing her from the house so I can go home. Also my mother owns the land the house is on if that helps. Sorry for ranting just sick of this. fell free to ask me anything. As I finished this brother called and said police was at the house again. -sigh

Answer: Whoever owns the house needs to start legal eviction proceedings


Title: Can I sue my school

Question: I applied to 23 schools and got rejected by all of them and recently realized that the school ruined my transcript big time by not only giving me a 2.0 but doing it for a year I didn't even attend the school! And when I confronted them they claimed that mistakes happen even in the United states and it's not a big deal. I really want to sue them because I spent months applying and a LOT of money sending SAT score and CSS profile. I live and go to school in Ethiopia. Can I sue my school?

Answer: I don't think that anyone here is an expert in Ethiopian law. Is your school public or private?Answer #2: You might have better luck reaching out to the schools you applied to with the corrected transcript, asking them to reconsider your application without any additional fees. Maybe see if your school will resend all the transcripts with a cover letter explaining their mistake. Give them a chance to make this right.Answer #3: Definitely not an Ethiopian lawyer. Was the first time you ever reviewed your transcript after the 23rd rejection.


Title: My 10 year old daughter is scared to go with her mom

Question:
I'm the custodial parent and my ex is getting married. My daughter doesn't like going there because of the way that her soon to be husband treats her  and my daughter feels scared. I have been in a battle before that I didn't win so I worry about going back to court the last time I went was because My daughter was smacked and my ex left a mark, but in Utah that's okay from what the judge said. With that being said at what age can she make a choice? I can't find it anywhere. Is there anything else I can do?

Edit everyone who answered my question, thank you very much it is greatly appreciated. The rest of you who aren't looking at the situation from my daughter's view but rather than the parents view, you all need to reevaluate things. If a parent is a piece of crap and their child fears them there should be more that should be done rather than she has the same rights as you. I get that. But you all seem to be against me when I or my ex do not matter. My daughter does.

Answer:
 Your best option at this point may be to get your child into regular therapy sessions. This helps with a couple things. It gives your daughter a place to talk about everything (living with split parents is rough). It also gives you a professional that can say (if true) that the visitations are harmful to the child. Or can help if anything else happens. Having a professional say things is much better than just you saying them.

As was already posted, at 14 she can tell the judge what she would like to happen but the judge can still do whatever he feels is fair. So she cannot just choose.Answer #2: >With that being said at what age can she make a choice?

It looks like at [age 14](http://cordellcordell.com/resources/utah/utah-child-custody-questions/) the courts will consider her wishes.

Hang in there, OP. There are a lot of family/custody minds on here who will jump in with some additional information.


Title: Analyzing the Instagram TOS..

Question:
So, I actually looked at the Instagram TOS for the first time ever tonight, and the second basic term is this:

>You may not post violent, nude, partially nude, discriminatory, unlawful, infringing, hateful, pornographic or sexually suggestive photos or other content via the Service.

Violent, got it. Nude. got it. Partially nude? That's... Hard to put a pin in... Is a woman in a bathing suit partially nude? Or lingerie? How is this decided. The next 5 categories, okay. Then... Sexually suggestive?? Oh boy. So, ANYTHING that could be seen as sexually suggestive is gone, even non-sexual things? A person seductively eating fruit? A car ad comparing the car to a woman? How exactly can these be enforced, with such vagueness? And beyond that, a large portion of the content that gets posted already breaks this rule, could Instagram's lack of enforcement be used against them, if someone decided to take them to court over a TOS violation?

Answer:
 >  How exactly can these be enforced, with such vagueness?

The more vague the better. That way Instagram gets to decide what does or does not violate it.

> could Instagram's lack of enforcement be used against them, if someone decided to take them to court over a TOS violation?

Huh? How and why would anyone take Instagram to court over a TOS violation?


Title: if you're deported from the USA on a felony will you face charges in your home country?

Question: A couple of friends of mine allegedly, possibly may have gone to pick up 20 tabs of some substance and got their car searched right after they pulled away from the house. The one brown kid on a student visa got arrested and blamed for it, and he's now in a county jail. Best case scenario he's deported. His home country, Indonesia, has very strict drug law. Is there a chance he faces charges in his home country?

Answer:
 Is there a chance? yes, a very high chance.

I have never understood why someone on a visa would do this kind of shit.


Title: [BC, Canada] I'm on disability. What do I do when people refuse to rent to me based on just that fact?

Question:
My only income is disability and I know it's illegal here for people here to refuse to rent to someone based on their *legal sources* of income--and that includes because they're on welfare, disability, etc.

But what do I *do* when that happens?  Where do I go to?  I've had it happen several times over the years--people tell me they ~only~ rent to people who have a job and turn me away.

I can't just *not* tell them I'm on disability because the government requires that I have my landlord fill out a form proving I'm paying them rent from my disability check.
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 You can contact the provincial residential tenancy branch.

That said, landlords can impose income restrictions (i.e. you need to net 3x the rent) that you need to meet.


Title: [TEXAS] Apartment unlawfully towed 17 cars?

Question:
Apparently, today, my apartment complex towed 17 cars from the parking lots, one of which was my room mate's. When he went to talk to the front office and figure out why, they said they towed them for having expired inspections/registrations/whatever. They also told him to call the tow company to deal with it and everything from here is "out of their hands."

NOTE: Yes, my roommate's car did have an expired registration.

However, in researching the apartment guidleine handbook they give out to everyone upon move in, it says that cars can only be towed after a 48 hour notice period has been given. The lease itself was even more favorable, saying "We may have any unauthorized or illegally parked vehicles towed or booted at the owner or operator's expense at any time if the vehicle has no current license or registration, **and we have given you at least 10 days' notice that the vehicle will be towed if not removed.**"

Having gone to work and numerous places in the previous days using this same car, there was nothing that he found on his car to indicate it was at risk of being removed, nor was he provided notice in any form of verbal, written, or electronic communication. Considering I haven't seen any of the orange stickers they normally put on cars they plan to tow on ANY car around the property, it would seem to me that they towed all the cars without any kind of notice.

All this being said, what kind of legal recourse does my room mate and/or my fellow residents have in not getting fucked by the towing company?

EDIT: Or rather, getting fucked by the apartment management company. Seems to me that they are responsible for any fees to get the vehicles back, but I'm no lawyer or expert in any of this.
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 > what kind of legal recourse does my room mate and/or my fellow residents have in not getting fucked by the towing company?

Nothing.  **If** there is an error here, it's on the management company.  Your roommate should get his car out of hock and then discuss the matter with the management company.


Title: [MI] Do we have grounds to break the lease and maybe get some money back?

Question:
A timeline of events related to our apartment:

- Moved in on August 26, 2016.

- Same day, we realized our air conditioner wall unit provided by the apartment (per our lease agreement) did not work. Emailed our property manager on August 27, August 29, August 30, August 31, September 7, and September 8. Finally, on September 8, a temporary window unit (read: very small air conditioner that only cools the air immediately surrounding it) was placed in our apartment, which has since been removed by our landlord because they decided it's cold enough that we don't need it. We had to buy a $400 portable air conditioner out of pocket just to have a temperature below 78 degrees in the apartment. Our wall unit still has not been repaired or replaced.

- Discovered our bedroom window was broken on August 28. I attempted to open the window and the bottom of the pane came out of the frame into my hands, as if it is not secured into the track. A strong gust of wind could blow this thing out of its frame. We emailed our property manager on August 29, August 30, August 31, September 1, October 12, October 14, October 17, and October 18. We were told on September 1 that the property manager contacted the "window company" and was waiting for a call back, and were told the same thing on October 12 when we inquired again. The window is still broken. The window doesn't lock and is very precariously leaning against its frame - it is both a safety and security hazard.

- We have baseboard heating in our apartment. When we first moved in, our linen closet (near the baseboard vent) smelled strongly of urine. I have a dog at my mom's house so we assumed it had peed on something we had brought and proceeded to wipe down everything in the linen closet. The smell persisted. We discovered on September 8 that the urine scent was coming from the baseboards vents. We got on our hands and knees and inspected the inside that we could see through the vent for about 30 seconds each - we could see absolute layers of filth and grime inside the heating vents, and both were nauseated and vomiting for the rest of the night after being that close to the vents. We emailed our property manager on September 8, September 9, and September 12. Maintenance came out twice to clean the vents. They are still filthy. We are both having allergy issues and we believe this is the culprit.

- We attempted to use our heat for the first time on October 23. We immediately discovered that our thermostat did nothing and the heat would not turn on. It was 62 degrees in our apartment. We immediately contacted our property manager, who sent maintenance out. He said there was a valve that needed to be turned on and turned it on. The heat kicked in, but hours later it would not turn off. It got up to 83 degrees in our apartment. We emailed the property manager on October 23, October 24, October 25, and October 26 about this issue and were told that a new valve had to be ordered, which would take two weeks. After I raised a big fuss about this, we were told that they magically had a valve already, which was installed on October 26. Now our main vent will not turn off even when the others do, and is continuously putting out heat - the temperature is around 76 degrees at all times, even with both windows open in Michigan fall temperatures. Maintenance was supposed to come out yesterday and did not show up. We have sent emails about this issue both yesterday and today.

Our lease explicitly states that the landlord is responsible for keeping in "good and working order" our air conditioner, our heat, and our entrances/exits (including windows), excluding any damage done by the tenant. We have not done any damage.

Moreover, every time we have requested a reasonable (prorated and then cut in half) rent reduction for one of these issues, she has told us that the property owner says no.

Our lease states that to terminate our lease early, we must pay one month's rent and then pay each subsequent month until a new tenant is found. Obviously, we cannot continue to live in these conditions. We've only been there two months and it's been dreadful. We want to find a new place, but cannot do so if we have to continue to pay for our current place.

Are the conditions we have faced enough to break the lease without having to pay the termination fee and subsequent rent until a new tenant is found? We have been very careful to always email and thoroughly document our ongoing issues.

ETA: I'm not sure if this is relevant, but the apartment was advertised as newly renovated when we leased it. Both the advertisement and the property manager referenced it as so. This is clearly not true.

Thanks in advance for your assistance!

Answer:
 You are not owed a rent reduction, ever.  You cannot break your lease because you didn't get a rent reduction.

You need to first send them a list of needed repairs **in writing**(not email, on paper) and preferably with a controlled delivery service.  You must give them reasonable time to repair - two weeks is a good number, 30 days better.  Then, and **only** then, can you look into breaking your lease without penalty.  You should talk to an attorney before you do that, though - I don't actually see much in the way of grounds here, with the exception of possibly the dirty vents.


Title: Dear Redditors, Ongoing Harassment entailing vehicular manslaughter by an unknown neighbor. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Question:
Dear Fellow Redditors,
Before i go into my 'story' of what has happened to me, I am well aware that a lot of the experiences I've had could be a product of my own perception.  A little about me, I am a 26 year old young man trying to come back from unemployment (laid off from working on a farm); in the process of regaining my life (health style, motivation, and becoming goal oriented); confronting PTSD from being molested when i was a child through the process of EMDR therapy.  A little information to help you understand my situation better/my fixation on these events:  I have gone to the ER twice from being harassed by an unknown neighbor.  The First Visit my blood pressure was around 200 and after a one minute ambulance ride to the nearby hospital my blood pressure had dropped to 128 without any medication.  The second ER visit my blood pressure was around 200-210 and also dropped to 144 by the time i came to the hospital.  A hold was put on me and a transfer to a Psychiatric Ward where I was misdiagnosed with Schizophrenia and was told I was in denial and that antipsychotic medications were needed.  I refused to take any medication; also they hand out ativan as an answer to every problem.  They put a 4 day hold on me at that point, and it required my family coming up for my psychiatric hearing to vouch for my safety and then i was released.  A recommendation for further psychiatric help to keep me from similar situations was made.  They would not release a person who is harmful to themselves or to any others in society.

The Harassment Situation:
An Unknown neighbor had harassed me perpetually for 2 months straight.  The last month being literally 24 hours a day.  He has grown to become obsessed with me and wants to become me.  He has fallen in love with me and has made threats through what I believe are speakers/microphones that he had rigged up in my apartment.  I avidly walk my dog and idiotically leave the door unlocked because I am too trusting.  What worries me and adds more validity to my paranoia is that I have placed a police report about a missing/stolen wallet from my apartment.  I had thought I misplaced it over a week ago, but it wasn't until I began packing and moved out had i realized that my wallet and other items are actually stolen.

Redditors, is it possible to brainwash or play mind games with someone through the use of microphones/sensors and whitenoise to reinforce it?  Would it make a difference If i wore glasses 24 hours a day and something was tapped on that as well?  It sounds absolutely insane but that is why I am here.  I am here to ask for advice considering I've admitted myself willing to the hospital and have only been misdiagnosed and released.  The weird thing is i believe my car and cellphone have been tapped; and the noise/whatever he may be saying to me goes away/lessens the farther away I am from home.  Luckily I am moving into a new home, but I believe he has somehow discovered the address and has also said some threatening things to me through high and low pitch frequencies.  From what he's told me it entails the use of spyware?  It freaks me out to even write this or attempt to post it considering I feel like he knows a lot of my private information.  There is a suspicion of IP Hacking.

I would go into more detail but I'll save that for those who are interested in hearing what I believe has happened to me.  Technology in the 21st century creates a lot of possibilities.  I hope that I am just going crazy, but after being medically evaluated I am left only confused and feeling threatened/paranoid for my own life and for the ones I love as well.  Throughout the past 2 months, I went through a decline of mental concentration to the point where I was in a constant state of paranoia.  I have lost at least over 1,000 dollars in late fees/other financial hiccups.  Not blaming him for my debt, but yes blaming him for the late fees.

And to you cynical redditors, no i am not going to go to a psychiatric ward again.  I have gone and come back sane and alive.  If anything there is more of an appreciation for the normal every day things in life.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.  And yes there is a hope for some type of monetary help, but no i am not foolish enough to set up a  paypal account.  ADVICE and FRIENDSHIP are more needed in this moment.

Answer:
 I'm so sorry you're having these experiences. They must feel overwhelming and frightening, and difficult to understand as intellectually, they don't seem reasonable or rational yet you know it's happening. My best friend is schizophrenic and what she sees, hears, and lives with on a daily basis would be too much for most people to bear. It breaks my heart that you have to live in fear.

As difficult as it is to hear this, it's crucial that I tell you there is no neighbor or anyone else who is doing those things to you. There is no technology available that does what you've described, and even if there was, (seriously, there isn't), you are too good of a person for anyone to do that to. There is no magic cure for what you're experiencing, but doctors can prescribe medication to help you turn those awful fears and voices down to a nearly inaudible murmur. You just have to accept that what you're experiencing isn't real and know it is harming you. A lot.

I hope you get through this. Take care.


Title: [Canada] Girlfriend's apartment is not constructed and she is left without a place to stay.

Question:
First, thank you for anyone that is reading this. My girlfriend is currently extremely upset and I'm trying to help her.

My girlfriend was supposed to move into her apartment today and it is no where near finished. The stairs to the lobby aren't completed, there are boxes and wires everywhere and nothing is painted. The building sent out an e-mail in advance saying the building might not be finished on time but they would relocate the tenants to another building while it is finished.

But to begin the apartment only signed a lease to one person and then the other occupants become a subletter. So when my girlfriend saw the building wasn't finished she asked to go to the temporary building. The building manager then began to flip on her saying "he doesn't give a fuck if she lives on the street", she's only a subletter so she doesn't mean anything.

On the phone with the person she is subletting with asking them to talk to the manager the manager refuses to talk to the lease holder and the lease holder doesn't care what happens to my girlfriend. She has already paid first and last months rent but now wants nothing to do with the building. So can she legally void the lease as she isn't receiving anywhere to stay when she has paid? please help.

TL;DR Can my girlfriend void a lease if she isn't given a place to stay?

Answer:
 IANAL. The obligation for the service would be between her and the leaser. She needs to read whatever contract says too for some help.

She should be able to get her money back from the subleaser though because they were obligated to provide her a living space and it isn't being provided.