Title: [PA] Friend’s boyfriend kept Keys after break up. Threatens to show up without consent. What can we do?

Question:
Basically the title. I am also interested in whether or not he is breaking the law by holding on to the keys.

Thanks!

Answer: change the locks, and give the landlord a new set of keys.


Title: Lawyer wants me to sign 7 year commitment if I article - advice needed.

Question:
Hi everyone, this is a throwaway account for reasons which  will become obvious. I would desperately like some insight from lawyers, or anyone really, about my situation.  If there is a more appropriate sub to post this in please let me know.

I am nearly done my law school. I live in Canada and plan to work in Canada. I have been back and forth with a lawyer who offered to take me on as an articling student in a very narrow field of law. However, if I agree to article the lawyer wants me to sign a contract committing to a 7 year partnership to begin right after articling ends.

Further, this lawyer does not want me to work in the same city as him and  “take away “ his business so the contract includes a clause where I must relocate and “expand” the lawyer’s business to a new city where we would be 50/50 partners and share in the profits of the law firm in the new area where I would be working and growing the new law practice. In recognition that I am doing the lion’s share of the work the deal includes a base salary for me, which is not that much but a decent amount. But the base salary comes from the profits of the partnership.

The contract also includes a clause where I would be forbidden from working a few kilometres from where the lawyer’s territory is for two years. I would also be responsible for paying my own professional insurance and law society fees, which is a concern for a broke trucking student just starting out as these, from my understanding, can be expensive.

Is this a common practice in the legal profession to have articling students commit long term like this?

I am very apprehensive about the whole thing. Why commit to a field of law I might not like right out of the gate, but not be able to escape because I have a multi year commitment I cannot breach without severe financial consequences. On top of everything, according to the partnership agreement I will be making hardly anything my first 2 years due to start up and operating costs, etc, not to mention taxes and other expenses like personal debts. I simply cannot afford to go two years without much income because i have student loans to pay back. This is the sacrifice of starting your own business, the lawyer says. I just do not feel capable or ready for such a sacrifice right out of the gate.

On the other hand I want to make sure I am not missing out on a good opportunity. Any advice would be helpful as I try to decide what to do.
Topic:
Canada

Answer:
 Sounds like a great deal... for the other guy.

Seriously, this sounds very one-sided and exposes you to a great deal of risk. Answer #2: I would ask one of your teachers, or school advisors. Does not sound like a good idea at all.


Title: [FL] I think my former landlord opened up a credit card in my name, collection agency tells me to make 24 monthly payments on the bill.

Question:
Back in 2012 I rented a house from a landlord who ended up going to jail a couple years later for fraud. I didn't think much of it at the time since I didn't live in the house anymore.

Fast forward to last week and I get a letter in the mail from a collection agency. It's demanding about $5500 from a major credit card company. I've never had a credit card with this company so I call the company directly, they refer me to the collection agency. I call the collection agency and they tell me that I do owe the money and that I can pay it off in 24 installments.

They gave the address on my account as my home address, which is next to impossible since I just bought this house about 2 months ago and they claim this account went delinquent last July and opened last January. They then give my old 2012 address that I rented for a year in school as the address given with the account.

Now I'm starting to put two and two together. The rental application I gave my old landlord would have had everything needed to open a credit card in my name. The place is 400 miles away and I'm afraid confronting the old landlord would lead to violence (he was always an angry person). He ended up serving not quite a year in jail for some sort of fraud and he still owns the house.

I gave the collection company the landlord's name and what I think is his current address but they said I'm responsible for the account and need to start paying something on it. I hung up at that point but for $5500 I have a feeling they might try to sue me. What exactly do I need to do here?

Answer:
 OP, I’m not a lawyer. I have worked in personal finance for close to 20 years. I want to know how you bought a house two months ago and no one informed you that you had an outstanding debt of $5500. That part doesn’t make sense to me.

How did you buy your house?


Title: [NY] A lawyer told the other side he is not representing me because he doesn't want to get served?

Question:
So let's say I have a lawyer who is in contact with another lawyer/firm that is threatening to sue me but he told them he is not representing me.  And he explained this to me by saying he doesn't want them serving him and instead have them serve me but he will still be lawyer.

Am I understanding this correctly?  Is this shady business or typical?

Answer: He's saying he's not going to accept service until you become his client. He likely doesn't want you to become a client until you're actually served the papers. It's not shady per se, he's just likely seeing if the other party is going to take the time, effort, and money to personally serve you instead of them taking the cheap and easy route of serving him. It's more of a "wait it out" kind of deal. Everyone threatens to sue. Not everyone follows through. Lawyering up sometimes forces the suit where there doesn't have to be one.


Title: Bought a foreclosed property in 55+ community, not 55? Riviera Beach, FL

Question:
Ok so I got this property in a foreclosure auction.  I am not 55 yet, soon but not yet.  I called today to inquire what was going to happen.  Right away they gave me crap.  Other properties sold the same day at auction to others that were not 55 yet, but those people put their properties into business names.

If I had put my property in a business name would the Co-op be able to block my access as they are indicating they can do?
Palm Lake Co-op - Riviera Beach, FL.

Answer:
 Is there any reason you need to let them know your age?
Also, if you dont live there then are you really breaking their rules?
Get a copy of their HOA rules, it may say you need to be 55+ to live there, but not 55+ to own it.
Also, see it if allows rentals or leases.  Answer #2: I am 2.5 months from being 55.  Now they want me to fill out an application and turn over two years of taxes.  This place is not a really nice community, I am going as an investor and was hoping to buy a place, improve it and sell it.  Not living there does not break their rules.  No mortgage as I bought it as auction.Answer #3: You should be fine as long as you do not live there. But how old are you? Are you close like 52/53? As some places will let you fill out an age waiver if you are close and they might let you live there sooner if you are almost 55.


Title: Can I sue my school?

Question: My brother came back from a school camp at  yesterday saying that he had had very little to eat for dinner. The kit list said he needed to bring dinner, breakfast and lunch, so he brought a boil in a bag camping meal. The teachers claimed to have no hot water, and in stead of calling our parents, they gave him 3 sausages and nothing else. The next day, for breakfast he had bacon, undercooked by the staff, who said "it will do, it is taking to long to cook". My mum is furious, and wants to know if she could get any compensation for my brother, so I offered to post here

Answer:
 > The kit list said he needed to bring dinner, breakfast and lunch, so he brought a boil in a bag camping meal.

He needed to bring 3 separate meals, and he brought one, single meal?


Title: I want to evict my roommate at the end of this rental period, before the lease has expired. He is on the lease, I’d like to avoid involving police or a court order.

Question:
I know I’m kind of asking for my cake and to eat it too, but me and my second roommate have become fed up with his refusal to do household chores, constant verbal abuse, occasional physical aggression, temper tantrums, and occasional theft with refusal to reimburse. I’d really like to do this without the cost of a court order, and I’d like to avoid wasting the time of the police with such a trivial issue. Anyone have any advice or am I asking too much?
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer: He's your roommate, not your tenant. You would have to talk to your landlord and ask him to terminate all of your tenancy, and sign a new lease with just you and your other roommate.


Title: NJ - How do I keep someone off my property, if my wife doesn't care either way?

Question:
My sister-in-law has a new scumbag boyfriend. My position is that I don't want to harm my wife's relationship with her sister, but I absolutely don't want the boyfriend in our house. My wife, trying to appease her sister, wouldn't be able to tell the boyfriend to fuck off.

Is there any way I can allow my sister-in-law to come over, while barring her boyfriend, even when my wife is home alone? Preferably without coming across as too much of a dick.

Answer: No.  Your wife has the same right to invite guests into your home as you do.  Answer #2: The real answer here is you need to talk to your wife.  There isn't really a legal solution to this.


Title: [MD] Wife got pulled over due to "move-over" law.

Question:
We live in Carroll county, Maryland. Me and my wife were driving home from the gym at around 11:00 PM last night when she drove past a couple police cars on the side of a four lane highway. Immediately after passing the officers she got pulled over. The officer issued a citation for "failure to switch to a lane not immediately adjacent to an emergency vehicle".

She also got to written warnings one for "negligent driving" to go along with the original citation because the roads were wet and another because she couldn't find her registration (she found it didn't after).

The ticket carries a $110 fine and one point on her license. We are basically trying to determine if she should go to court or just pay the fine. We would also like to know if she does go to court what would she say in her defense? Any advice is helpful, thanks much.

EDIT: I should also mention the my wife nor I have ever heard of this law and she has a completely clean driving record.
Topic:
Traffic and Parking

Answer:
 Just to clarify, the move over law states that you must move to the left if an emergency vehicle is stopped on the right with lights on?

I am fairly certain that is a law in all 50 states and DC.


Title: Teenage Emancipation

Question:
Hey guys,

I was hoping you could help me with an issue.  I am currently living in a horrible situation with verbal and psychological abuse in my household.  My father is terribly abusive to me and my mother is doing nothing to help.  I have tried telling teachers and the police, but I am not taken seriously.  I don't know where to turn and wanted to know if emancipation is possible.  Is this a real thing or just something from TV?  I have an aunt in Ohio who I could turn to, but so far my parents won't let me leave.

I am 15 and in Alabama.

EDIT:

I should mention I have $500 in savings my parents don't know about and would use that to travel to Ohio to live with my aunt.  Plus my parents also have a trust fund for me, so I'd use that once I turn 18.

EDIT:

After hearing some advice, I have decided not to emancipate yet.  I will wait until I am 18 and file a suit for my trust then.  Thanks for the words of wisdom.

Answer:
 Do you have a job? Support yourself? Live on your own?

You need to start with those things before you can emancipate.


Title: Seen "having sex" by mall cop (Mass)

Question:
 So me and my girlfriend went out to the mall last night and parked in the parking garage. We went back to the car after dinner and ate the rest of the food in the backseat because we don’t really ever get a chance to hang out together at one anothers house. We then saw the flashing orange lights of the mall police parked in front of us and we panicked. we waited for a minute unsure what to do. we were never confronted and so after waiting another minute we drove out of the parking garage. Obviously i know what he thinks he saw, but if we weren't confronted, is there anything he or the police can do? We are both 17 btw.

Is any legal problem present here?

Answer:
 Mall cops aren't going to track you down and try and charge you with anything. (they can't)Answer #2: No.

Don’t have sex in public. Answer #3: The mall cop wanted you gone. You left. He may or may not have put it in his reports. Nothing really happens with these reports unless it leads to another crime. Answer #4: I once got caught while not having dinner in a parking lot at about your age.  Let me tell you, nothing kills the mood like 4 sets of flashers surrounding the car.  Luckily, they just told us to leave or her dad might've made sure I wasn't around to post this.

But for real, nothing to worry about.  They could've made note of the license plate, but that's about it.  You weren't doing anything wrong, nobody's coming after you.


Title: So my dog was taken by the old owners and they wikl not give hime back.

Question: My dog had unfortunately run away from my friends back yard although we had attempted to barricade him in. He was an adopted dog from a family that could not take care of him anymore, and it had seemed that the dog might have been hit since he was so skiddish. I had not yet switched the dog tags out and the old number was on his is collar still when he decided to run away. Now the dog is back with the old family and they will not give him back. When I adopted the dog I was given the papers and everything else. My question is that do I technically own the dog and have my right to get him back? PLEASE HELP ME From California

Answer:
 How would you adopt a dog that still had old tags on the collar?  Did this family give the dog to you?  If a shelter was involved, they wouldn't have given you the old tags.

Answer #2: Have you contacted the police?Answer #3:  Under CA law, taking a dog that doesn't belong to you is petty theft if the dog is worth less than $950. IANAL, but I would advise you to call the police if you really want this dog back. Like the other commenter said, if the dog keeps running away, it may be worth it to just work something out between you and the previous owners since they want to keep it so badly.


Title: What is the legal value of "I do not recall/recollect/remember"-statements?

Question:
So I just watched the BBC interview of Prince Andrew on his connection to Epstein and alleged sexual activities with a minor. I also noticed some politicians start every sentence the say with these words when they were questioned on certain scandals/allegations.

**Are statements that use remember/recollect/recall of any value at all or not?**

**Is it a standard procedure to phrase every answer like "I do not remember/recollect/recall" so that upon new evidence surfacing your previous statements cannot be called a lie, as no one knows for sure to which memories a person has access to and which not?**

**Is this what a lawyer would advise one to speak like in any scenario? Or is this only done when the person has something illegal to hide?**

I ask this specifically because I don't see a reason why to answer in such mysterious ways if you are innocent.

As someone with no legal background I perceive both of the following statements as the same when first hearing them and not reflecting on it (I assume it might be the same for a large part of the general public too):
A) "I don't remember doing this."
B) "I didn't do this."
Only at second examination statement A appears to be worthless and B worthy of an answer.

**Do you think I can reliably deduce at least for my personal evaluation of how honest a person denying allegations is by looking at how they phrase their answers?**

Because to take the example of an accusation of rape (which isn't something that one just forgets like what meal one had last Monday): If I know that I'm innocent, I would certainly say "I never in my life sexually abused this person or any other" under oath. And not go like "I don't recall even meeting her". To me this "not recalling" just seems to be an attempt to evade punishment by law in hope that there is not enough evidence. But by not directly disputing it (which should be no problem at all if you didn't do anything wrong), you admit it in my eyes.

If anyone can recommend resources or books to learn more stuff that would fall in this category, I would greatly appreciate that. Basically a bit like "basic insights to law to understand politics" or "language of law translated into everyday language". (I hope you get what I mean by this gibberish hahaha)

Answer:
 Simple answer. It prevents yourself from self incrimination. Not remembering is not admitting guilt. Contrary to popular belief, exercising your 5A(US only) also is not any indicator to guilt. Cannot be used in court as an indicator of guilt(your reasoning, “if I was innocent, I would tell them”.). The problem with telling them you’re innocent on this question is what happens on the next question if you’re not innocent?  Consistently giving no useful information for them protects you in more ways and forces them to rely on the physical evidence to PROVE guilt(remember, Innocent UNTIL PROVEN Guilty).Answer #2: A defendant in a rape trial is usually not going to be on the stand at all. And if they were asked a question like, did you rape xx, they aren't going to answer, I don't recall.

Judges and jurors are real people, they ultimately decide the facts, they decide your guilt or innocence. Someone saying they can't recall is more believable than someone remaining silent.


Title: Can I change my state of birth and get a new birth certificate?

Question: So I am trying to get my sex changed on all my legal forms and I can get basically all of them except for my birth certificate changed. I live in california so all of my stuff falls under california law except my birth certificate because I was born in Idaho. I cannot get my sex marker changed in Idaho but I can in  California. Is there any possible way to change it so I was "born" in California so that way my birth certificate falls under CA law? I can get my drivers license, passport, and basically everything else EXCEPT MY DUCKING BIRTH CERTIFICATE?? Any help here would be great!

Answer: Absent a time machine, no. You cannot change where you were born. Answer #2: You cannot get your birth certificate re-issued in another state, sorry. You're SOL unless Idaho suddenly starts allowing sex marker changes on birth certificates.


Title: [CA] Put on notice for social media post

Question:
I'll keep this short:

I went through a bad breakup with an abusive bf who is also still a coworker. For the most part, we ignore each other at work but we remain professional and civil if we have to interact. His desk is also a few feet away from mine, which sucks.

We've blocked each other on social media but a mutual friend sent me a screenshot of his recent post on FB that indicates he wants to date again but hopefully not someone who is high on the crazy scale, as that was what he dated prior. I suspect coworkers saw the post, if not liked or commented on it.

In the heat of the moment, I got pissed and retaliated by posting something along the lines of don't send your single friends his way because he's abusive. I am friends with his exes and the comments got graphic (they shared their experiences of abuse), but we made sure not mention his name. I AM AWARE THAT THIS IS MY MISTAKE, AND I SHOULDN'T HAVE LET SOMETHING STUPID GET THE BEST OF ME.

A few days later, I get an email from the HR director telling me he read my "profane, demeaning, graphic" post against a coworker and that he has put me on notice because the company's name also appears under my name. He told me to cease talking about my ex on social media or I could face termination. I don't know how he got wind of my post, but I suspect a coworker either tattled to him or tattled to my ex.

I have removed my workplace from my profile, hid the post, and that's about it. I haven't posted anything about him since but I'm still worried. I don't trust this HR person because he is the type of person who's been trying to become close friends with my ex, who I admit is charismatic and well-liked at work.

I have evidence of his abuse: rude texts, audio recording of him spitting on me and verbally abusing me (recorded without his knowledge, so I doubt I can use this anywhere), sexts of him cheating on me with another girl, etc. Despite this, no one really believes me because I am unable to release this info without fear of retaliation at work.

All this said, is there anything legally that I have to consider or worry about? I have started job hunting because I have a feeling I will be sent packing tomorrow when I go in.

Answer:
 HR is right, you could face termination for continuing to talk this way publicly about a colleague.

Whether or not he was rude to you or cheated on you isn't really relevant from a workplace or legal perspective. Spitting on someone could be considered assault, but I'm not really sure how an audio recording would provide conclusive evidence of that, and historical assaults which did not result in bodily harm are not usually investigated by the police.


Title: Eyebombing = defacement?

Question:
As the title suggests, I am in urgent need of legal advice. I have yet been unable to find a clear answer to this question. I live in Maryland if that matters.

edit: these are self-adhesive googly eyes that leave no residue when removed after use

Answer:
 >  that leave no residue when removed after use

Theres no way you can guarantee that. Answer #2: More details please. If it's this thing I googled about pasting googly eyes to things then technically yes it can be defacement.


Title: [Columbus, Ohio] I fucked up and feel embarrassed

Question:
My wife and i were suppose to have our first night out because she just gave birth two our son 3 weeks ago. so, we dropped both kids off at their grandparents and went out.

Long story short, i turned off her headlights cause i was eating in parking lot. Three beers later (Nothing for me), we left the bar to go meet up with some friends. But, i had forgot to turn on the head lights and we got pulled over. The cop smelled alcohol, and tested me. on top of being extremely nervous.. it was 35 Degrees, windy, and pouring rain. I did all the tests perfectly, but he said i didn't pass and wouldn't tell me what i failed. I have never had a run in with the law except for one speeding ticket 5 years ago. i know i was fine to drive. i have court on Wednesday for a possible OVI and I have no idea what to do. I feel like a huge failure.

Answer: When you took the breath test, what were the results?Answer #2: Why do you believe you did the field test perfectly? What clues do the police look for on each test? How were you able to see your own eyes during that test?Answer #3: Did they do a blood test?


Title: Possible custody battle looming for sister. Options? (MN)

Question:
So, my sister has two small children (3 year old and 9 month old) with a man with whom she's not married. They're splitting up and moving into separate homes just now.

During the move, she got angry at the 3-year-old for messing some things up, and ended up throwing her (literally) out of the room, roughly enough that it was very worrying to the father, as well as my parents, who were also there helping. She has, apparently, reacted this way (too physically, potentially abusively) two other times that we know of. (I'm living out of state, so I hear all of this after the fact.)

Sister also has some unstable behaviors, but all undiagnosed. We suspect she's BPD, but don't know. She recently switched from full-time temping to a full-time, salaried job, and is otherwise doing all right, considering. We think she needs counseling, minimum, but of course you can lead a horse to water....

After this incident during the move, the father took the kids to his house, and claimed he wouldn't let my sister see them again unsupervised.

Currently, there is no official legal anything between my sister and the father--no custody arrangements, child support, anything.

We (the rest of the family) are of course very upset in multiple ways. My parents, the kids' grandparents, have been very active in helping raise them (my sister and the eldest actually lived, without the father, at my parents' home for several months). We don't approve of how my sister has behaved recently, but we also don't want the father to just take the kids to wherever and keep them away from us because he's scared my sister will visit.

We also don't know what action he's been taking since he took the kids five days ago.

So, to the advice: legally, what should we consider doing? We want to do the best thing for the kids, we want my sister to get help, but we want to have access to the kids as well. The father hasn't exactly been stellar nor particularly active up to this point, though nothing horrible has happened that we know of.

Answer:
 Well, your best option is to talk to the father. Explain that you want to have a relationship with the children. Explain that you will not, under any circumstances, allow the mother around the children if he allows you to take them. And then ask if you can just come visit all of them. Explain that you do not condone her excessive discipline and abusive behaviors.

That might be a good start.

But he can say no. He is the father. His children are being abused by their mother who just happens to be your relative. Might not be fair but it is the way it goes. He will hopefully hire an attorney. Get full custody with supervised visitation for the mother.


Title: Wrongful termination for made up reason days after claiming disability

Question:
My partner was just fired and I'm pretty sure it's discrimination based. I want to give her the best advice possible when seeking out a lawyer. I've been in various court battles but never against a large corporation, so I know this is much more difficult. We live in Illinois, which is an at will state. I'll refer to her by Nicole throughout.

Nicole is in her 30s, a store manager at *large coffee chain*, bisexual dating a trans woman, and has various mental and physical health disabilities. She lives in an at will state, but they gave a reason for firing her that was not only baseless, it was rather defamatory. Here is the reason given by her company:

> On *date redacted* Nicole received a final written warning for failing to meet expectations of the store manager role, including integrity and failure to communicate absences. During this meeting it was made clear that Nicole is expected to work her posted schedule, communicate any absences from work via phone call, and to communicate with transparency and integrity. Any further violation of *Company* standards, policies and procedures may result in further corrective action, up to and including separation from employment. It is expected that the store manager manages with integrity, honesty and knowledge that promote the culture, values and mission of *company*.

First this is mostly false, she always puts in over 40 hours a week and managers don't clock in or out so the dates and times in question are only provable because Nicole updated her schedule and informed her staff per company policy and stated rules. She works very hard, has received awards for her store, and has vastly exceeded performance expectations. The days in question, all but one of them were adjustments at the request or requirement of the business. The one other was a sick day she took and found someone to cover her shift then notified her manager as soon as she was able.

She has never violated company standards or policies, she has never failed to work her scheduled time as she updated the time per company policy. She has incredible integrity far beyond most other managers in the area yet is treated unfairly in comparison. Her manager never once instructed her to notify her of every absence... yet she has actually notified her of every absence through text or email and has proof of this.

This was her first write up and final warning and the document refers to an action plan she was never given and refers to a meeting that never took place. She was fired the day after her disability was denied by the company. She has been going to physical therapy, seeing a doctor, and taking medication to deal with her condition. She even had surgery to reduce the crippling pain she is in some days.

Let me be clear, Nicole followed everything by the book and did nothing wrong. The only perceived wrongdoing she did was took time off due to her disability, which she used up all of her vacation time for and even filed a short leave of absence to get surgery and recover. Disability she was trying to treat and get acknowledged by her company. Her store's previous manager would not show up to work and notify no one, would leave early and would actively not do her job yet she was never written up or fired. Other store managers have done far far worse and have not been fired yet she was fired on the spot with no discussion, correction, or warning.

Nicole has disputed the original write up and wasn't even able to dispute her disability that would validate her taking time off for medical reasons because they fired her the day after notifying her she was denied. She is currently disputing her firing with the company. There is more to this story than I've stated but even this much to me, looks pretty bad for the company and would lead anyone to believe she was fired for disability. I've done some research and found this isn't uncommon for the company to do and they've been sued multiple times for firing people because of disability.

**TL;DR** Nicole followed the rules and her manager is singling her out and treating her different based solely on her disability and mental health issues. She was denied disability by the company and fired the next day for a reason the company made up for a rule that doesn’t exist with falsified information. We rigorously went through dates, information, and records to make sure she did nothing wrong. There is no reason for her to be fired due to her exemplary performance. The only reason I can see for her being fired is discriminatory and the company has no valid case for firing her.

Answer:
 > I'm pretty sure it's discrimination based

Most firing are discriminatory but are not *illegally* so. Also, most firings (at least in the US) do not need to be for a "valid reason"). In this instance your location matters very much, but you'd need to establish:

1. You can *prove* an individual was fired for reason "A".
2. Reason "A" is an illegal reason to fire someone.

That said you can always file a complaint with your state labor board and/or sue if you feel you have a case.


Title: Broke my back, employer being weird.

Question:
Hello! Ok first of all, I'm not sure this is the right sub for this question. I apologise if not.
Alright, let's get down to business.
I am a 27 year old female with no medical conditions. I am a paramedic and have been for 5 years. In November of 2016, I picked up a laundry basket full of picture frames and other heavy stuff and felt a pop in my lower back and then nothing- everything went numb. I went to my doc, they sent me for an MRI, and it turns out I had fractured my 5th lumbar vertebrae and squished (medical term, haha) the disc and the nerve bundle at the base of my spine. Long story short, I screwed myself up. Ok so now here is the issue, I did this at home, not on the clock. My doctor told me it is a direct result of years of lifting heavy people (300+ pounds). My employer is refusing workers comp or any financial help. I am not able to work on an ambulance still, and I am working in our office on light duty. I have had my hours cut from 60+/week to 10/week. My boss, who owns the company (private company) came to me last week and told me he feels I am taking too long and that my doctor doesn't know what she's talking about and that a broken back can not be the result of heavy lifting. He said he had minor knee surgery and was back to work (desk job) in 3 weeks, so my broken back should be healed after 4 months.  He threatened me with removing me from the light duty position but said he would not fire me. He said he just might not have any positions available for me unless I can get back to working on an ambulance. Both my therapist and doctor have told me I am not ready to go back. He has offered me disability, but then two days later, he told me nevermind the company doesn't offer disability. I guess what I'm wondering is can he fire me? What are my options, legally, in pursuing workers comp? If the injury is related to work but didn't happen on the clock, am I just screwed? He has begun to clean house and I'm afraid I might be next.

TL;DR: Paramedic, broke my back at home, employer being weird with me. Need advice.

Edit: I work in Michigan, an at will employment state.

Answer:
 Good news: your employer doesn't get to 'refuse' worker's comp. He is not your treating doctor and cannot dictate care. If you go to Michigan's [Worker's Comp website](http://www.michigan.gov/wca/0,4682,7-191-60870---,00.html), you can contact them and ask for help opening a claim.

Normally, doing it off work hours would mean it's not a work-related injury. Having an MD state that it occurred because of your line of work is a big, big statement. You will need him to back you up.

The process is that you'll go into a worker's comp doc. It's like a general practitioner, but they guide your case through the work comp process. I suggest finding a good one, because this is going to be a hassle. You'll be fighting uphill the whole way.

That worker's comp doc will manage the light duty requirements, etc. If your employer doesn't follow your work comp doctor's orders, he'll be in big trouble.

This is all dependent on your worker's comp doc agreeing with the opinion that years of repetitive stress broke your back, not a traumatic injury.

That said, you can talk to a worker's comp attorney. They almost certainly offer free consults and your state bar will have a website for referrals.

Finally, look into [FLMA medical leave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_and_Medical_Leave_Act_of_1993) if that doesn't pan out. That's a whole 'nother ball game. Generally, your employer must be big (50+ employees), you work at least for a year, and have logged 1250+ hours in that year. Your state might have expanded rules.

Not a lawyer, but worked in worker's comp in my state.


Title: Is it criminal (indecent exposure, etc.) to walk around in your underwear in your home with the windows open? I.e., at risk of neighbors seeing you in your underwear?

Question:
Topic:
Criminal Law

Answer: It's not indecent exposure to walk around in your underwear in public. You have to show your genitals or, in some states, nipples.


Title: First time at freelancing and having trouble getting the company to pay my invoice. NSW Aust

Question:
About 6 months ago, a friend approached me to do some freelance work for a web design company she ran the accounts for. It was a small company with maybe a half dozen workers. I discussed rates etc with her via facebook chat, her bosses approved me, gave me some small projects to start with, then a few larger ones. I never got a signed contract as I trusted my friend and she was in charge of paying invoices so I wasn't worried.
I have a day job and not hanging for money, so originally I offered to invoice per individual project as it was completed - however some projects stalled, and some never got past the proofing stage so after about a month of no updates on projects, and the impression that they had stopped using my services, I told them I was just going to invoice for the total amount of work, including partially completed projects. I sent an invoice which totalled just over $500. The invoice requests payment within 14 days.
I did not hear back, so 3-4 weeks later, I contacted the friend who informed me that she no longer works for them, and that the person doing the invoicing is a bit scatter brained so I should resend.
I resent it, and also sent a text message to the guy now handling the invoicing(the owner of the company). He replied that he would do it later that week when some money was coming in. It has now been another 3 weeks. A few days ago I sent another email and a text with no reply so far.
What is my next step? I don't know if he is intentionally withholding payment or just forgetful as my friend suggests. While I do not have a contract, I do have the email from him agreeing to finalise the invoice. My emails have been friendly so far. Perhaps a strongly worded email will get him to move, but I don't really know what to say, and I feel like I have given him enough emails and time. It is not a huge amount of money, but I know if I do nothing, this invoice will never get paid.
I should note - yes I realise I was stupid not to get a contract signed, but I am new to freelancing and excited by the prospect of getting paid by my chosen field. I also trusted my friend.

Answer: I don't have any advice on how to get paid, but I can tell you this is a fairly common occurrence with freelance work. I found [this video](https://vimeo.com/22053820) particularly enlightening on the perils of doing freelance work.


Title: Wife getting sued for a non-compete violation. Please advise.

Question:
Three weeks ago my wife got a letter from her former employer. It said she was in violation of her non-compete and that she should take steps to become compliant. We assumed they met to quit the job, but that is not realistic for us as we both work for a living and don't have the luxury for her to remain unemployed for the non-compete to run out. Here is the story..

My wife was on unemployment 4 years ago and got a job offer from company XYZ Facility Maintenance (Fake name obviously). It was a full time job, the pay was just a few dollar above minimum wage, but she needed a job. The second day during training they shoved a 7 page contract in front of her and told her that if it wasn't signed before the days end she would no longer be working there. Well the contract was actually a non-compete, however we didn't learn that until after the fact. She knows nothing about law, and signed it, even tho I told her to ask if I could review it (My mother is a paralegal dealing in contract law) We never got to review it.

Fast forward 3 years and XYZ company she is working for fell on hard times. They lost a major client and laid off 1/3 of the employees. Sensing that there may not be many days left, she started looking for other employment. She knew someone who knew of company QXZ Facility Maintenance that was looking for someone. She went on the interview, got the job. Put in a proper 2 weeks notice at XYZ and left for the new job. She worked there for about 5 months. QXZ never asked her to sign a non-compete so no issue. One of the bosses from QXZ was leaving to start his own facility maintenance company WTY Maintenance, he asked her to come along and she did, a brand new startup company, really American dream kind of stuff..

Well after about 2 months, she received the letter of violation on her non-compete citing her working for a 'competitor'. After review of the non-compete it does look like she is in violation however the thing is BROAD. It says she can't work for any competitor, in any state, she cannot work for any 'client' of the XYZ company, she cannot work for any vendor of XYZ company, for an entire year after her employment ended. That would be in october. Essential anything to do with Facility Maintenance she cannot do.

Well, she got a stack of papers detailing her violations and her and her boss and company WTY are named in it along with two other employees. It is a court order for a hearing for temporary restrictions. I'm not sure if she is required to have a lawyer for something like that or not? The money's really tight already and I don't think we'd be able to afford one.

I thought our best case would be to go to court with a prepared statement and tell the judge that although she would be willing to become compliant with the non-compete and cease her employment with WTY company, it would really put her in a difficult position financially for our family.

My wife, is not becoming some sort of millionaire here, she doesn't know any kind of 'trade' secret as there are none.. She is making roughly $14 dollars an hour. She only moved jobs because she thought the employer would go under, and we cannot afford to not have an income. We have a mortgage, a car payment etc. I'm sure in a legal sense none of that makes a difference.

We are in the Toms River area of NJ. I would love any advice or any lawyer that might be able to review for us and advise of our best move.

Thank for any help.

EDIT TO MAKE IT MORE CLEAR: We got the letter 3 weeks prior to the court order. Also, when she was served the court order she did not sign again and the front page where it has the dates for the court hearing are blank. She only found out the date because her bosses was filled in correctly.

Answer:
 If push came to shove, it's probably not worth the paper it's written on.

Here are a couple of resources to help get you up to speed on the issues involved:

http://www.ebglaw.com/content/uploads/2014/06/Flynn-Hatcher-Non-Compete-Laws-New-Jersey.pdf (PDF warning)

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141009144113-174476446-competing-against-your-employer-non-compete-clauses-in-new-jersey

http://www.jerseyemploymentlawyers.com/non-compete-agreement.html

The agreement could be invalid if:

* She didn't receive anything of value in exchange for signing it
* The geographic scope is too wide
* there's no legitimate, protectable business interest, as would be the case in a job paying just above minimum wage, or
* the restrictions place an undue burden on the employee in finding new employmentAnswer #2: I think in this case she should just show up on the court date and say: 1) the noncompete is too broad and would effectively keep her from working and 2) there is no trade secret to protect.

She should also mention what she did for the company and how much she got paid.

And I'll eat my shoe if that agreement gets enforced against *her*. I'd be more concerned that it might get enforced against her boss, which might cost her her job anyway.


Title: Fired first week on the job, got asked uncomfortable personal questions during interview.

Question:
I live in Florida.

A couple of weeks ago I interviewed in person for this internship position at a small company in my city. The person interviewing me was the CEO of said company. As soon as I walked in, he said he hadn't read my resume and was interested in "getting to know each other". Most of the interview was him going on unrelated rants, and went into uncomfortable political and personal territory. He disclosed his sexuality and said he was looking "to hire someone who would be ok with that". He pressured me a lot about my personal political views and how I leaned and eventually started telling me about his boyfriend and personal stories about fights they've had over different issues. At some point during the interview he started crying, and it was bizarre. I left the interview feeling like this man was seeking to hire people specifically who aligned themselves with his personal political and ideological views and that skill was not something he cared about at all (as he stated he hadn't even read my resume). There was one other person in the room with us during the entire interview, which was another intern who was leaving and I was supposed to take her place.

I got hired and their emails congratulating me were extremely condescending and gave an air of "you should be thankful we chose you".

First day of work was Thursday where we had a video call with other employees. I was logged in to our online platform 15 minutes before the meeting and messaged him exactly on the dot, and joined the video chat exactly one minute after its supposed start time. I was given new hire paperwork, Adobe documents, which were locked and I was unable to sign them electronically. Not having access to a printer or scanner in my home, this employer required me to go somewhere to pay out of pocket to print and scan these documents during a pandemic lockdown thanks to COVID-19, because they were unable to send me paperwork I could sign electronically. I was unable to get these papers signed and scanned and sent to them until today (Monday). On Monday he called me while I was showering so I could not pick up, and less than an hour  later I received an email from him telling me my employment was being terminated due to not responding to his phone call promptly enough and due to not submitting the new hire paperwork "in a timely manner". This even after I had emailed the HR person to let her know of the circumstances and why I could not have done it sooner.

She called me and told me his other reasons for firing me before even finishing the paperwork were that I was "late for my first day of work" (which is not true, as I stated above) and did not reply to emails or phone calls promptly enough (even when these attempts at communication were well after business hours or over the weekend, such as a Sunday at 10pm). And that also he had said that since I am "a computer person", I should have been able to find a way to sign the paperwork electronically (these documents had been locked and encrypted, and I spent two hours trying to sign them electronically before finally giving up and emailing saying I'd have to print them). Regardless, they were not willing to rethink the decision and said I'd be getting a check in the mail for the one day worked and that was that.

This is purely speculation and I don't think will have any bearing on anything at all, but I'm afraid he looked me up online and dug up maybe old stuff and saw political opinions I had expressed that did not align with his own and decided he didn't want me to work there any longer.

I know I wasn't even legally an employee yet, but I feel like a lot of worker's rights have been broken here. I'm leaning more towards cutting my losses and finding more professional and respectful workplaces, but this entire situation has been completely insane and off the wall. What are worker's rights for, if not to protect workers from being treated like this when seeking employment?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer:
 You interviewed with a nutjob, and were fired because of that nutjob’s lunacy. You will be compensated for wages, so there is no legal issue here.

When a prospective employer who can’t be bothered to review your resume, tells you about his relationship issues, and *actually cries* during an interview, your instinct should be to run, not walk, away from that job. Accepting a position with that employer is a ridiculous decision.


Title: [Georgia Employment Law]When hiring personal home health care, is it legal to have a gender preference?

Question:
I'm well aware that in general employment situations, discrimination based on gender is protected.  However, I know some exceptions exist for housing (such as roommate situations).  Is there an exception for home health care preferences?

We are currently hiring an extra part time person, to do daily living activities for a gentleman with Alzheimer's.  He clearly responds much better to having a man in that role.  Is it legal to only consider hiring a man, due to the patient's preferences?  This person will be assisting with bathing and dressing.

&#x200B;

Thanks, in advance, for any time you spend helping answer this question.  A quick google search gave me tons of results about patient preferences in the medical field, but I haven't found a situation just like ours, yet.

Answer:
 Most small businesses are exempt from discrimination clauses. Don't put a gender preference in your advertisement, and don't say your looking for certain gender. Just don't hire or interview those you don't want to hire. They don't need a reason. Most company's get around antidiscrmination laws by keeping their mouth shut.Answer #2: > Edit: We are hiring an individual directly, as opposed to using a service.

If you are a private person hiring another person, you can go ahead and discriminate.

[Fed gov requires 15 or more employee](https://www.workplacefairness.org/sexual-gender-discrimination) and it doesn't seem like [GA](https://www.workplacefairness.org/file_GA) forbids it in this case.Answer #3: A starting point for you would be to look at the phrase "bona fide occupational qualification."

The gist is that it is legal to request or require a specific gender person to provide you with intimate medical care. I don't have many more specifics beyond that.Answer #4: Don't give evidence that this is who you are looking for.

Say you are looking for a "good match" for the individual. Keep their preferences quiet. Interview a good number of people. Be courteous and professional.


Title: [PA] Renter's rights for hot water and smoking

Question:
Hi everyone,

I recently moved into an apartment complex in Pennsylvania. I have two issues I am currently facing and I'm wondering what my rights are/ what I can do.

First issue: We received a note over the weekend from the complex stating that they would be working on the boiler and we wouldn't have hot water for a week. Am I entitled to ask for money off of my rent for this? I'd like to specify that the complex pays for heat and hot water.

Second issue: The woman that lives below us smokes constantly; she smokes every 15 or 20 minutes for the entire day. The issue is that she smokes on her balcony which is directly beneath ours so the smoke comes directly into our unit (we have sliding glass doors that lead onto the balcony.) This means that we can't ever leave our windows open since it will fill the entire unit with both the smell and the actual smoke.

We have tried putting a fan in front of the window to push the smoke out but this hasn't worked. The woman herself is fairly old and very nasty (we heard her yelling at some of the maintenance staff for being too loud when working on one of the vacated apartments) so I don't think trying to confront her directly will bring us any peace.

Our lease does contain language stating that if you are a smoker you need to properly ventilate and that your smoking cannot disrupt peaceful living for the other tenants. I fear that the landlord will try to loophole us with the language since smoking outside is technically 'properly ventilating' the smoke. Do you think there's any hope here?

Thanks anyone in advance for your advice!

EDIT: I'd like to see what knowledge I can obtain about what my rights or entitlements actually are before going in to speak with the landlord about any of these issues.
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 >Our lease does contain language stating that if you are a smoker you need to properly ventilate and that your smoking cannot disrupt peaceful living for the other tenants. I fear that the landlord will try to loophole us with the language since smoking outside is technically 'properly ventilating' the smoke. Do you think there's any hope here?

How can anyone possibly give you an answer to that if you haven't even asked the landlord yet?


Title: [USA][TX] Friend booked and paid for half of a vacation with a person they met online, then backed out. Are they liable for the other half?

Question:
Please avoid judging the original actions.

My friend met someone online, and a couple of weeks later, without meeting them in person, agreed to go on a trip with them (text/phone conversations). They called up a travel agent together and each party paid half (appx. $1500 each) of the non-refundable trip. The other party recorded the phone call. The other party is apparently a corporate attorney.

Over the following days, the other party started to behave in ways that caused my friend to be concerned about safety. My friend advised the other party that they were backing out of the trip.

What has ensued is days of personal insults, legal threats and ultimately the other party is saying that if my friend does not fulfill their part of the verbal agreement (by going on the trip), they will sue my friend for the cost of the entire trip, their time off work, and emotional suffering. My friend is absolutely not going on the trip and does not intend or expect to get their money back.

The text conversations are ridiculous, to say the least, and while I have verified the other party is an attorney, I find it laughable that they would be able to successfully sue my friend over this, especially given the language in the conversations.

I've advised my friend to block the other party and ignore ALL communication until the day they're served. I don't believe my friend needs an attorney at this time, but I'm posting for your thoughts, /r/legaladvice.

Shoot!

Answer:
 Your friend would potentially still have to pay their share of the agreed upon expense for the trip, but they wouldn't have to go. Answer #2: So your friend already paid for his/her half of the trip?  Or just half of the deposit?
If their half of the entire trip has been paid already, this guy is blowing smoke.  She owes him nothing.
Her decision not to go sounds like a good call.  He is apparently an asshole.  No wonder he can't find anyone to go with him.Answer #3: Emotional suffering?  I'm sure someone can correct me if I'm wrong here but can't you only sue for emotional distress is there was some form of physical injury or something as extreme as a threat against your life?

He can't force your friend to go anywhere they don't want to. You said they already paid their half and are willing to let it go?  Anything past that would be extreme. The lawyer is still able to go on the trip. Have you contacted your state bar association?  There might be an ethics or professional misconduct issue here if he's abusing his position as a lawyer to force your friend to go with him. No guarantees but may be worth a call.


Title: OK: Told that If I will not cut my hair I am quitting but will not fire me.

Question:
I was hired as a customer service employee to a grocery store on 4/12/16 and was told when hired that I may have to wear my hair under a hat, I was never told again after that so I assumed it was not necessary for me to purchase a hat for my hair, I have never been written up and never once was there a write up about my hair, this past friday 5/20/16 I was informed I had to cut my hair or leave, this morning I got a phone call from the store manager and he told me if I was going to come into work without my hair cut then I would have no job, I asked if I could wear it under a hat and he said no you must cut it now, it is also worth noting that the woman who called to tell me I needed to speak with the store manager disclosed all the personal information that was going on between me and the store manager to my girlfriend who's phone I was being contacted through. I called to talk and was told I had no job despite my native american heritage not believing in cutting hair unless mourning and even after asking if I could just wear it under a hat like other employees. I have looked through the employee administrative manual and found that the dress code states male associates should have hair above collar and any hats would need to be approved by the store but when I was hired my hair was the same length and was down I was only told to put it up and I may need a hat. I never heard anything about it until just now and am wondering if they have done anything I can fight against, it is also worth noting they nit pick who they are enforcing these rules on we have a worker in the deli that does not cover his tattoos and has never done so while we have a cashier that is forced to cover hers. Any more info I could provide just message me and ask, I can also provide the manual I read through if you want to look at that. I appreciate any input and or help.

EDIT: I am in Oklahoma should have just written it in the title instead of OK

EDIT: I forgot to mention I called to verify I was fired and to say I am not quitting and he told me he is not firing me and that I am quitting I have a choice to cut my hair or quit so right now I am just not working until my hair is cut because I do not want to quit.

Answer:
 Definitely don't quit or cut your hair.  Go into work wearing a hat and keep a diary of what happens.  Make them fire you so you can sue for wrongful termination.  And, as the others mentioned, contact the EEOC.Answer #2: You can contact the [EOCC](https://www.eeoc.gov/) who can determine what the proper course of action is.  If it is part of your religious culture to not cut your hair, the manager should allow you to utilize the other options initially presented.Answer #3: You may have an employment discrimination case under [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc.](http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/equal-employment-opportunity-commission-v-abercrombie-fitch-stores-inc/) if the reason you aren't cutting your hair is religious and your employer is aware of this.

You could try filing an [EEOC Charge](https://www.eeoc.gov/employees/charge.cfm).


Title: NJ - Someone stole one of my paychecks from where I work, and cashed it at a bank without signing it

Question:
I work at a grocery store, part of a nation-wide chain.

When I went to pick up my paychecks last week for the two weeks before, one was missing (I tend to pick up checks every two weeks despite being paid weekly, for no particular reason).

I told the bookkeeper I was missing a check, and he contacted corporate. They sent the store a fax today in response, with both sides of the check scanned onto a page along with when the check was processed, the bank numbers, an account number, and sequence numbers. Also included are 'endorsement type's and 'TRN's for two transactions. One transaction also has a bank chain name next to it.

The back of the check was not signed. I was told the bookkeeper contacted corporate again, but given no real details. I do have a picture of the fax we received on my phone, though.

I have two concerns: whoever took my check has my money, and, they have my paystub, which contains lots of personal information. I'm worried about my money, and the possibility that my identity could be stolen.

So, I guess, my question is.. What do I do now? I have a good amount of information on-hand, and I feel compelled to try and resolve this myself. I could go to the bank where the check was processed (I said cashed before because I was told it was cashed, but I don't know for sure), but what could I demand of them? And how do I deal with the store that either gave my check away, or allowed it to be stolen?

Should I wait for my company's fraud or security department to deal with this? I'm not inclined to do that, really, because I don't know how long it would take. It feels like I'm not being taken seriously when I ask about it. Part of me would like to ask the store for help in a way which carries a legally-savvy weight, if that makes sense.

Should I talk to a lawyer?

Answer: Call the police and then call a lawyer who deals with general litigation matters. The bank may be liable for making payment on a check that wasn't properly indorsed (and yes, "indorsed" is the correct spelling for some reason).


Title: My boss told me I can't take a lunch break on an 11 hour shift, but I work an outdoor manual labor job. Is there a way to ask for one and not get fired?

Question:
USA, Massachusetts.

Hi. I run a fuel dock in a very busy harbor, and one of the things my boss told me was that I wasn't allowed to take meal breaks. This isn't an issue for half days, but for the most part, this means I'm outdoors for 11 hours a day without time to stop for a bite to eat. I have to either eat incredibly quickly, or not eat at all. My coworkers, who work in the boatyard and who work in the office get lunch breaks.

I like my job, it pays really well. I don't want to get fired for taking a break. Is there a way I can take my break without losing my job?

Answer:
 The law in Massachusetts states that an employer must provide a thirty-minute meal break during each work shift that lasts more than six hours. This is unpaid. In addition, Massachusetts' law does not require employers to provide any rest breaks at all beyond that.Answer #2: Call the labor board, are report dates and hours worked where this has happened. When he fires you, call them again to report retaliation.Answer #3: So legally you are entitled to a lunch break.

Realistically you will probably get fired if you force the issue and probably in a way that you won't be able to fight.

Find away around the issue. If it's just food, you can figure a way around the job and eat. I do it every day, but I don't have to hide it.

Are they deducting lunch time from your timecard? If they are you have something actionable. They will probably still fire you but you will have recourse.

Suck situation, but it always comes down to one question : how badly do you want to keep this job?Answer #4: OSHA loves this kind of stuff.Answer #5: From what I’ve read on google,I’m not a lawyer so you might wanna fact check me just to be sure:

Massachusett employers must provide a 30 minute meal break for a shift that is 6 hours or more.You should speak to your boss and if he refuses again speak to a lawyer/attorney(I’m not really a law person so I can’t tell the difference but google will help you out.


Title: What does “shall” mean in a visitation agreement?

Question:
Friend’s baby daddy says that their decree for visitation says “the father shall pick up kids at such time Friday and shall bring kids back this time
Sunday” mean that he has the choice to see them and doesn’t have to. Or that he can choose to pick the kids up on Saturday instead of what the decree says, he says he “knows his legal rights and has the ability to exercise his right with the kids.

Answer:
 Custody orders define the rights of the parent's access to the child.  It is unlikely that this custody order would define circumstances in which the mother may move to have the father held in contempt of court for refusing to participate in visitation.  Though, it's not possible to say for sure without reading the court orders and knowing the jurisdiction.

But, if the orders say that he shall pick the kids up on Friday, if he fails to do so, then the mother would have no obligation to make the kids available at a different day/time.

Before withholding the children from visitation, the parent should speak to an attorney.


Title: Can I claim refugee status and emigrate to Canada or Australia to escape student loans?

Question: On merit alone, it seems unlikely that I'll be able to obtain citizenship to another country (Currently in the US). Is there a path to declare refugee status based on economic hardship? For me personally, I have $100k in student loans + interest, and I'm making minimum wage. I won't be able to afford living in the US for much longer. Do I have a case?

Answer: No.  Refugee status is for people who have no home to return to or are facing imminent physical harm if they do.


Title: Guy At The Gas Station used my phone to sent a worrisome text. Should I contact the police?

Question:
I was leaving the gas station and the guy at the pump next to me asked if he could use my phone real quick.. which was weird bc he was holding his phone.

So, I said yeah and he calls a number and it immediately connects to my cars Bluetooth and it goes right to voicemail. So he’s like “Can I text this number” and I said “yeah sure but I’m leaving” and he texts the number and deletes whatever he sent the person.

Welll... the person responded and they said “Dude what?? My location is off. This is why I don’t want to fucking be with you you’re fucking crazy!!!! Leave me alone”

[This is the text](https://i.imgur.com/TNcI6lj.jpg)

It seems concerning to me. Is there anything I should do?

Answer:
 You could report it to police it you'd like.

If that guy went and did something, they might already know who this would be about and this might be useful evidence.

That said, you don't have to do anything, and while you aren't guilty of anything, there's the outside chance that some cop with a novel sense of what accomplice liability is might create a problem for you, so the lawyerly advice would be to delete it and move on with your life. Answer #2: Dumb question since I don't know iPhones but if he deleted the text how is it showing in your history?Answer #3: Do not EVER hand your phone to a stranger!  That's how you get your phone stolen.   Offer to make the call or send the text for them.   Had a guy ask to use my phone,  and when I looked up from sending a text for him he was gone!  Nice try Asshole.


Title: Got rear ended, guy gave me wrong phone number but I have license plate number and photos. What now?

Question: It's pretty much all in the title. I have a license plate number and that's it. I live in California.

Answer: Report it to your insurance company. They can find him.


Title: Posting a billboard outside a hospital with all of the malpractice suits two doctors have faced, as well as information about their alleged affairs?

Question: Morality aside, I was wondering what the legality of this would be to two doctors (one man and one woman) who have essentially ruined my life. Any advice is appreciated as well as warning me this will send me to jail.Thank you!!

Answer:
 Stick to facts and things you can prove.

Their alleged affairs are not your business.Answer #2: It’s legal to state facts.  If you state an incorrect fact you can be sued for defamation and damages will likely be presumed because you are commenting on their fitness to carry out their job.  It’s also a good way to get blacklisted by every doctor who hears about it.Answer #3: What do you really get out of this? It won’t change anything. It might feel like revenge for a second, but this says more about you than it does them.


Title: Husband took off and left me with a toddler.

Question: I found out my husband has been unfaithful around 3 days ago. When I confront him about it, he ran off! We have a three year old and he is the sole bread winner. I am left scrambling to get supplies for our little one. What rights do I have in California? Thank you..

Answer:
 You have the right to file for divorce or legal separation and obtain a child support order. Answer #2: You may be eligible for some of the benefits listed on this site:

https://www.benefits.gov/benefits/browse-by-state/state/146

If there is a women's shelter/domestic violence shelter in your area, if you call them, they might be able to direct you to resources in your community. Answer #3: Save any documentation of the cheating. Contact your landlord and explain the situation, hopefully they'll give you an extension to pay your rent.
WIC will be a great help, local food banks. Do you have a joint account at the bank? Pay your rent now if possible. Answer #4: California is a community property state. Therefore, you “own” or are entitled to 1/2 of his income. Financial support of his children and the household they live in are community obligations that he is obligated to pay. If you can, find a good family lawyer who can help you out with what you and your children are entitled to. Knowledge is a powerful thing in a situation such as this. Good luck!


Title: I am being threatened with going to court if I don't pay them an amount 4 times what they quoted for.

Question:
My mother hired a housekeeper.  The housekeeper quoted her $90 for the cleaning.  There were a few places in the house that couldn't be cleaned (there was clutter or stuff in the way), so my mother asked her if she would do a couple other things in lieu of cleaning those rooms.  The housekeeper agreed.  So she did a few extra things like moving some boxes and stuff upstairs and shampooed 2 carpets.

The housekeeper subsequently says she is owed $450 (!?) now.  That price was never discussed beforehand in any way (she never mentioned an hourly rate).  She is not being refused payment; my mother actually did write her the check for that amount but put a stop payment on it later because that amount was completely insane.  My mother was going to give her $250 (more than reasonable considering it is over double what she quoted originally).  But she will not accept anything other than her demands and has now threatened her and me. The housekeeper texted me this morning (I have utilized her service once before so that's why she knows who I am)  that she was going to go to her attorney and/or the police if she is not paid.

Specifically, she texted:

"I need to know what she or you are going to do about this. Otherwise I'm going to the authorities and get in touch with my attorney."

Now; I'm certainly no expert in any field of law, hence why I am here, but to me this sounds a bit like extortion. Especially since I am a party completely unrelated to the transaction between her and my mother.

The state is Kentucky. What are our options here?  Is there any small facet of the law that I should be aware of?  Are there issues with the fact that she stopped the first check?

Thanks for all your help.

Answer:
 Pay her at least what was agreed upon and stop talking to her. If she wants to sue she can go right ahead and let a judge determine if her request has merit. The police will not care about this, it’s a civil matter.Answer #2: House cleaning services normally mean cleaning all that is reachable to begin with, so it does appear that your mother requested additional services. I think the question would be if that's a reasonable rate for those additional services.Answer #3: The situation as told, the house cleaner has a pretty good case to get the full $450.

A verbal agreement was made on terms and payment. Your mother changed the terms, the cleaner agreed to the new terms and completed the work. The cleaner then asked to change the payment, your mother agreed and provided a check in form of payment.

Your mother owes the $450, and also in fact committed a crime (fraud) mostly likely by stopping payment.Answer #4: you are getting a lot of advice suggesting this is a civil matter... writing a check and placing a stop payment or removing funds from the account so it won't be honored can be considered a type of fraud. the details matter and it's state specific, but in many cases your mother seems to be more on the side of fraud than in the clear here.


Title: Tenant did $20k damage to house and it seems there is nothing I can do about it.

Question:
I'll try to keep it as short as possible. In 2010-2011 we rented our house in South Carolina because we moved to D.C but didn't know if we would want to stay. We used a very large and very well respected rental company to handle everything. They found us a tenant, male, who was going through a divorce. He had excellent credit and a very substantial salary, so we thought we had a good one. We moved in October of 2010.

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We came back for Christmas that year and drove by the house just to check. Everything looked ok, except that my wife noticed some of her front yard plants had been moved. We contacted the rental company and asked them to notify the tenant that they would need our consent to make any changes to the property. They did and the tenant said **she** would put everything back. Um...what do you mean she? The rental company told us the husband was not living at the house, but that his wife and three kids were. This is supposedly the first they knew of it. That should have set off alarm bells, but we've never done this before and the rental company said it would be fine as long as we agreed, so we did. Bad move.

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When the tenants finally got evicted in early 2011 for non-payment we returned to the house to find about $20,000 in damages and that's being very nice, so we contacted a lawyer who told us our options where to sue them in small claims court where we could get a settlement of about $11,000 dollars, or take them to "real" court which would cost us a bunch of money for the lawyers. He suggested we go the small claims court rout. Due to a number of reasons the move to DC had wiped out our savings so we couldn't afford the lawyer anyway.

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After months of trying to find the man who signed the contract and serve him we finally found him in Florida and we sued him in small claims court in SC. He didn't show, so we won to the tune of about $11,000. A lean was placed against him, but, to date, that has done no good. You cannot garner wages in SC.

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Given the man now lived in Florida I contacted another law firm there to have the judgement transitioned. I paid him $1,800 for the work. He did nothing, for months and it even got to the point where his assistant would actively avoid my calls. I would call and get voicemail. Then I'd call on a different phone and they would immediately answer. Turns out, the lawyer had a stroke. I demanded over and over again that they refund my  money, but they never did. Even if the judgement had been transitioned Florida is a right to garnish wages state, but not if they have kids under the age of 18, which, of course, he does.

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At this point, I gave up. I couldn't afford any more lawyers and was so frustrated and angry that I just didn't want to deal with it anymore.

Fast forward 7 years and I'm still angry. At the time of the rental this man was making over $300k a year. I just want him to pay what he owes, or, at least have some sort of repercussions. We are just now getting back on our feet after this whole fiasco, but I don't know what I could even do. The judgments are good for 20 years. Do I track him down and again and go through the whole process of transitioning the judgement to wherever he lives now? I don't want to just throw good money after bad. Any advice would so greatly appreciated.

Answer:
 >Turns out, the lawyer had a stroke. I demanded over and over again that they refund my money, but they never did.

You can sue them in small claims, too, and you can actually collect from a law firm.

This other guy - does he own any property? Does he have any bank accounts? There are ways to get your money that aren't just garnishing wages.Answer #2: There may be statutes of limitations on debt collection.  You may have let too many years go by at this point, you need to talk to a lawyer with a full and complete timeline of all your efforts to sue and collect.  Some of those actions may have reset clocks.  Some will not have.Answer #3: $11K for a small claims judgment is phenomenal. Typically Small Claims tops out at $5K. After that, it's civil litigation.

If you have a garnishment order from the court,  you can fax the order to different banks in the area where he lives/works. Start with the big banks, then move down to the smaller, local ones and community credit unions.

Eventually you will find where he banks and a lien can be made against his account. Of course, this is one time only hit, and you would get only what is in his account at the time.  He would become aware of the garnishment and stop depositing money.

If Florida does not allow wage garnishment, it's tougher. However you can garnish income tax refunds. This takes substantial work.

All of this can be done without a lawyer, btw. If you don't want to do it yourself, you can hire a paralegal or anyone else familiar with small claims to do it.


Title: Interviewed about my decision to move and why I started building a house before I had a job.

Question:
I was at an interview and they asked me why I wanted to work there. I told them I was building a house and moving. The said "so you're building a house before you have a job here" I said yes. Its really none of their business how I'm able to do this.

They seemed pretty appaled that I could do that. And I believe thats the main reason behind them not hiring me.

I say that because the HR rep said on my phone interview before I agreed to interview "we've hired and trained people with your background before and it worked out great for us".

Now they don't want to hire me because of what they say are two reasons. The first reason.
1. They don't understand why I would build a house before finding a job.(FYI, the house I'm building is paid for, no mortgage.) They don't know how that would work out for me.(Like it freaking matters as long as I show up and do my job.)
2. Now they don't want to train somebody.

So is there a problem with them using my personal decisions against me? Or is that perfectly legal? Do I have a legitimate gripe or no?

[WI]

Answer:
 Location may matter, but assuming US:

>So is there a problem with them using my personal decisions against me?

Not this particular personal decision, no.

>Or is that perfectly legal?

Yes.

>Do I have a legitimate gripe or no?

Legitimate? Yes. Legal? No. This doesn't sound like a place you'd like to work, I sure wouldn't.


Title: I'm 25, have moved around a lot, and have never received a summons for jury duty. Does this mean there's probably a warrant out for me somewhere? PA/MD/TN

Question:
I've moved around a lot the past few years, and never thought to change my address with the post office. Like most people, I do paperless billing/banking and go months without getting any mail.

Last night my boyfriend was complaining about being called in for jury duty for the second time this year, and I mentioned that I've never been called for it. He remarked that I've probably been called for it every year for the past seven years (since turning 18), but never got the summons as I've moved states so much. Apparently you're supposed to get a jury summons at least once a year?

I know that failing to appear when you've been ordered to court generally ends up with a warrant being issued against you, so now I'm concerned that I have 1-7 warrants out for my arrest. I've never been pulled over or had any contact with the legal system, which I hear is how people generally find out there are warrants against them.

Should I call the courthouses in all the places I've lived and...ask? Offer to turn myself in? Part of me thinks I'm just worrying over nothing since I just went through a pretty rigorous background check to get a particular clearance for work (and I went through one two years ago when I was hired), but I don't know if that would pull up things from other states.

Tl;dr: I've moved around a lot in the past few years and stupidly never officially changed my address. I've never received a jury summons and now I'm worried that there are 1-7 warrants out for my arrest for failing to appear. Is that how it works?

Answer: Your boyfriend is an idiot. I've been reliably registered to vote in the place where I receive mail for a decade and have *never* been called for jury duty. I have friends who have also never been called in that decade. I have friends who've been called anywhere between 1 and 10 times in that period. There is no specific amount of times you get called.


Title: Refusing bail because the money is “suspicious “

Question:
(Gering, NE)
A friend of mine (Hispanic female) recently went to try and post bail for a cousin of hers who got busted for having illicit images of minors on his phone (19, Native American male) when she went to the Jail to try and post his bail (90,000$) it was refused and the clerk told her they couldn’t accept it because “that amount of money was suspicious “ regardless of her having receipts of the transaction from her bank, older statements showing the money in her account, etc. Is there anything she can do to force them to accept the money and/or a suit for discrimination?

Answer: Was this in cash? Because that would actually be suspicious. I would just get it in a bank check or get a bail bondsman.


Title: Ex threatening to charge me for child pornagraphy

Question: Okay I will keep this short and to the point I (16) was dating this girl (15) and during that period she sent me some nude pics on Snapchat that I saved on my phone. Fast forward to now we’d have had a really rough break up and she has threatening to go to the police and have me charged for child pornagraphy. I deleted the pics from my phone now but idk I’m sure they could find them anyway somehow if they needed but I am wondering if this is actually possible seeing as age of consent is 18 here and we are both underage?

Answer: Age of consent is for having sex. Under 18 is child porn. If you had the pictures on your phone, you were in possession of child porn. If the police come, answer no questions without an attorney.


Title: I feel like my privacy was violated.

Question:
So, I came into class one day and someone was recording me. No big deal I thought. I told the person to stop recording me. She continiued. Then, she finished and started trying to post them onto Snapchat. I told her to stop and she pretended too.Thirty minutes later someone in the class showed me the video. It was on snapchat.I went to the original potter and asked them to delete it. She did.

So, I thought it had stopped. Then about week later her and her friends came and started recording me. Again I asked them to stop. This time they left. I don't know if they're on snapchat.

Then, a little while later I was leaning on a window. I feel a tappingand she and her friends were tapping and hitting the window to try and get my attention.

I want to be prepared if this happens again. So, I want to know. Did they break any laws? For reference I'm in California and in a public school.

Answer: Talk to your school administration.


Title: [Durham, NC] Someone gave me a check made out to me from people I don't know

Question:
I came home earlier and there's a pickup truck parked outside my house.

The guy in it says to me hey are you eedna (real name)? I say yeah why

He hands me a loose check and says he found it in the road its made out to me for $305 from people I've never heard of in my life with a note that says 'handyman' dated yesterday

I cant find a phone number for these people on whitepages.com or a facebook so I go to the address on the check because it's less than 10 minutes away. The people living at that address have no idea who these people are either and have lived there for 4 months. I went to go ask the leasing office if maybe it was the previous tenant (it was a condo) but they are closed for the night.

I've never done anything remotely handy in my life, if I cash this at walmart how many years will I go to jail?
I dunno if this is the right subreddit but I figured I'd start here

edit: update- I went to a BofA branch this morning, they contacted the account holder. They wrote the check for their handyman who happens to have the same name as me. How it got to my house is a fucking mystery. No $305 for me :(

Answer:
 Your best bet is to not use it, tear it up and throw it away if you didnt do some handyman work.Answer #2: I'm trying to figure out what sort of identity theft or check fraud scam this could be part of.    Did the people in the pickup truck ask you for part of the money ?

It's clear that it's not really intended for you, so the ethical thing is not to cash it.

If you do cash it, you'll be using your real ID and linking yourself strongly to whatever sort of weirdness generated that check.   Odds are very good the check will bounce and you'll owe that money back to Walmart or your bank.

Walmart does provide some important financial services (do they even cash personal checks ?  I don't think so), but their check-cashing and Green Dot services are also very frequently used by various financial scams.Answer #3: It's probably a souvenir check. /s

Walmart doesn't cash personal checks. But you could go to the issuing bank to get it cashed safely.

Or take it to BoA and tell them you think it's fraudulent and let their fraud department handle it and wash your hands of it.


Title: Is it illegal to say you're selling nudes and when they send you cash, not give them?

Question: It's wrong to do, but people do it. They "sell nudes" and when a guy venmos the girl money, they ghost them and send them nothing. Is there legal action the guy can take or is it just a lost cause?

Answer:
 Theoretically,  yes - that is fraud.

Practically, locating and then suing a stranger for $20...not going to happen.

Police MAY take an interest though if this goes on long enough.


Title: [MA] Can a landlord legally require direct deposit only?

Question:
Hi all. I have been living in my current apartment for a little over a year. In our initial lease, check/money orders and cash were acceptable forms of payment. Per the lease, after we had lived there for 12 months, we would be living in an at-will agreement, but with a mandatory 60 day notice for moving out. Our landlord is going to require payments made ONLY via electronic direct deposit that will automatically withdraw from our bank. This is an issue because me and my roommate split the cost of the apartment and we do not make enough to cover the full price of the apartment on our own. Inevitably, this will cause us to be unable to make the payments. Since I am not technically bound by the original lease agreement, can the landlord legally impose that we only pay via this method, especially since they require 60 days advance notice for moving out?
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 In an at-will arrangement, the landlord can change the terms of the lease with notice.  If you don't like the changes, you can reject them and leave and not be bound by any of the changes until you leave.

As for the direct deposit, why not have you each direct deposit part of your rent to the landlord?  Or set up a direct deposit from one of you to the other just before the rent is due?  It doesn't sound like a deal-breaker issue.


Title: ADA only discusses dogs and horses for animal service purposes. Are "true" ADA service animals always one of the two? (Examples included)

Question:
This post is for my own curiosity. None of these people I mention are looking to certify their animals in any capacity. I tried to google for more info but could not find anything on scenarios like this or on this subreddit.

One person I know is deaf in one ear, losing hearing in the other. He has a cat that alerts him when someone has knocked or when the phone rings. I called bullshit on this at first but witnessed it for myself. I know dogs for the Deaf can do similar things.

Another person I know has mental health issues. He follows a very strict daily routine. He is on a treatment plan which includes regular medication and therapy. His cat is unofficially considered a part of his overall treatment. When he is hallucinating, he checks to see if the cat reacts to what he is hearing/seeing. The cat also alerts him when he needs to take his medication at certain times as well.

In the 90's-early 2000's, I thought I read a story about a disabled woman who used a monkey to help open doors, turn on lights, etc but cannot find a source for that. Whether it was legal to own that monkey is a different question, but the ADA guidelines seem to suggest it would not be a "real" ADA service animal?

Tl;dr: Assuming the training and services of the animal could be evaluated and established, can a psychiatric or Deaf service animal be a cat? Or would they be disallowed since they are not a dog (even though they are used in the person's home only)?

Answer: Yes, dogs and miniature horses are the only two types of animals that can be legal service animals. Other types of animals can be emotional support animals, but that term is not an ADA classification and does not confer special rights (such as the right to bring the animal into an animal-free business).


Title: Virginia employee receiving a new title and increased responsibilities with no compensation.

Question:
In an attempt to provide as much information as possible, this post will be fairly long.

**tldr;** Received "Recognition of Extraordinary Contribution" that states that I had, "...recently been thrust into the lead Application development role.." but I have received no raise or bonus to go along with it.

**Background:** I've been an application developer for going on 3 years now for an agency in Virginia. I was given the job because I showed interest and potential, and my employer was aware that my only background in development was a single college level course in Javascript. Other than that single class, I knew very little about development. Our team consisted of myself, a senior developer, and an analyst. My senior developer showed be the basics and left me to my own devices to learn, which is what I preferred. Fast forward a year and I have developed 2 intranet based applications on my own, with little to no help from the senior.

**Where the problems began:** After I created those applications, I was confident enough in what I had learned to ask for a raise. I felt that because I had grown so quickly and proved that I knew how to apply what I had learned to our application, that this was not that far fetched of a request. When I accepted the job, I accepted a pay of around $32,000 a year. When I approached my department manager with my request, I was in the middle of working on my third application. He stated that once I had completed that application, then I should come back to him and we would discuss a raise. He said that he would prefer to have more leverage when asking for my raise. I thought that that made sense so I thanked him for his time and went back to work on my application. 2 months go by and I had finally finished my application and the end-users have signed off on it stating that it was everything they asked for and then some. As per the request of my boss, I returned to him after I finished the application to discuss a raise. I was immediately denied, and told that it's just not in the budget at this time.

**Where the problems continued:** It was about a month before our budget request was due, and I decided that I was going to take a more formal route on asking for a raise. I typed up a request that included all of my accomplishments since I had become a developer and also included what my intended goals were for the next year. I also used a website that compared my job, education-level, time in position, and cost of living with other people that fell in similar categories. I generated a report that stated that I was being paid in the 4th percentile, which meant that 96% of people with similar demographics as myself, working the same job made more money than I do. Both of these documents were submitted a month before the budget proposal was due. I approached my boss the next day and asked him if he had received my email and had a chance to look it over, and he confirmed that he had. Except that, that's all he did. I never heard another thing about it. At the end of the month, the budget was submitted and approved shortly after. At the time of approval, my boss called a meeting and stated that he had requested a new developer position for our shop. He said that this developer would be the same level as myself and that it would help us out. No word of my raise though.

**More problems....:** About 4 months ago, our senior developer quit, leaving myself and our analyst alone to deal with multiple applications. I asked my boss if because our senior developer was no longer here, was there a chance that I would be able to fill his position. I was informed that he was given a raise a month or two before he quit, (you know because it was in the budget) and that I would not be moving to his position because he was going to drop that position down to the same level as me.

**Where I have become fed-up:** I received a form yesterday titled "Recognition of Extraordinary Contribution". Inside were details as to why my boss was recognizing my efforts and all of the hard work I had done to keep our department together after the senior developer left. In the form, it states that, "[Exitil] has recently been thrust into the lead Application development role as our senior developer resigned. [Exitil] has made many critical repairs to the [APPLICATION NAME] that [WORKPLACE] uses to manage their data. These issues continue and he has a plan to modify and replace code that was made by the previous developer. He also was an intricate part of the new [SECONDARY WORKPLACE] database named [SECONDARY APPLICATION NAME]...." The rest is more of the above, and more commendations from my boss. Well I asked him yesterday if because in the form he referred to me as the lead developer, did that mean that I was getting some kind of promotion or raise. He simply said no, but that form allows him to set my yearly evaluation as high as it goes which would give me 8 hours of leave...

r/legaladvice PLEASE HELP ME! I really don't think this is legal, and I feel I can take this to the next level but I wanted to be well armed before I did so. I would appreciate any advice you guys can give.

**SIDE NOTE** In the form, my boss refers to me as the "Lead developer". My current job title does not imply that I lead anything, and it even says that I supervise 0 other employees. But after my senior left, I was left to supervise the analyst and we have recently hired a contracted developer that I supervise daily.

Answer: Not illegal, a promotion doesn't have to come with a raise.


Title: Curiosity about the ADA as relates to my employers policies.

Question:
Hello /r/legaladvice,

I'm currently employed in Texas by Walmart.

I work in what is without doubt the slowest part of the store, as such, I'll often read to pass the time in between customers.

Recently, they've been cracking down on the use of electronic devices by employees while on the clock. Which totally makes sense, it's distracting.

I've been told that physical books are acceptable. However, I'm heavily visually impaired. As such, it's many orders of magnitude easier for me to read on an e-reader, as the font is adjustable.

I often hear the phrase "reasonable accommodation" as relates to the ADA.
I feel that the modification of this policy is a pretty reasonable accommodation.

What do you think?

Answer: I think you're going to get books banned as well as electronic devices.


Title: Neighbor's cat came into my yard and my dog killed it. [Arizona]

Question:
My dogs are in a fenced area they cannot escape and the neighbor's cat wandered into my yard and my dog got a hold of it and killed it in a few shakes. I have told them and have not got a response back. Am I on the hook?

Edit: all my dogs are vaccinated and well trained.

Answer: No not unless you did something to attract the cat like leave out cat treats or call it over.


Title: Legality of Anonymous University Hate Crime Page

Question:
Hi /r/legaladvice,

My question is straightforward regarding the legality of a facebook page that a group of students launched at my university. This facebook page has an anonymous form for people to report incidents of racism on campus and its caused quite a stir. The group's posts include stories in quotations but no names, organizations, or identifying information is publicized other than the date and location of the incident. The page even includes a disclaimer in the description claiming that identifying information will not be publicized on the page. Several students are accusing the page of causing a witch-hunt and want the administration to take it down, but no cease and desist has been issued yet.

Is what this page is doing legal or is there a case for it to be removed?

Answer: IANAL: if no identifying information is being released, who could claim harm? How is this different from a rumor page or fake news site on Facebook, in that regard?Answer #2: Assuming you're in the US, it is completely and unambiguously legal. Moreover, even if some of the individual submitters made specific comments that were not legal, the group itself would almost certainly not be liable for allowing them to be posted. In fact, if you're at a public school, it could very well be illegal for the school to attempt to force the group to shut down.


Title: [MA] My dog was attacked by a dog who’s banned from the park, who’s owner purposely let them off of the leash. What should I do?

Question:
Topic:
Douche

Answer:
 Report it to police.

Take your dog to the vet.

Sue for vet bills. Answer #2: if the dog/owner, has been banned, you MUST report it to the animal control agency. They will have been the authority to "ban" the animal in the first place. be prepared, this might include euthanasia for said dog in the long run. In the interest of safety for all concerned, I personally feel, that you should make sure to report accurately and fairly as soon as possible. This is a horrible situation and I'm sorry your dog was injured. Make sure to get your dog checked out, and keep any and all records related to the bills for potential small claims suit in the near future.


Title: Can someone use the word "Fuck" or other vulgar words in a store name or sign?

Question: Title says it all. Just find the legal aspect interesting that is all.

Answer:
 Most towns likely have bylaws/ordinances against outright explicit words and vulgar words.

But plenty of business skirt the line. I've seen a restaurant called "Phở King Delicious" , for instance. Answer #2: We have a restaurant in my city called Pinché Tacos. Pinché means fucking in Spanish, and they haven't gotten in trouble.

I think it would depend upon complaints. That's how the FCC decided some obscenity charges.


Title: <Serious>I was drugged and almost raped by 3 guys

Question: [M-25-CA] After a New Years party, someone who I thought was a friend asked if I wanted to come by for some beers, a smoke, then pass out. Fearing a much longer trip home, I accepted. So, get back and his two "roommates" are drinking and smoking with us. Some time passes and I'm feeling different... They start making very unsubtle comments about GHB in drinks... I put two-and-two together and get the fuck out... Is there any course of legal action to take against these individuals? Proof of some sort, so that these asshole get what they deserve?

Answer: This sounds like something you should immediately contact a lawyer and police about. Maybe they can still detect drugs in your system.