Title: Should I hire a lawyer for divorce?

Question:
I live in CT.  Have been married for 5.5 years, we are in our late 30s.  No kids, one dog (adoption papers are in my name and I want to keep her and have paid for roughly 80% of her care).  Have a mortgage on a house that is only in my husband's name, as he bought it before we were together.  We went to counseling for about 6 months last year, but stopped going because the sessions were no longer productive, although the relationship had improved from the beginning of the sessions.

I am employed full time.  My husband works seasonally and is self-employed.  We each own our own vehicle, and he owns a few recreational vehicles.  We have a joint account with very little money.  He received a settlement for a car accident last year but spent all of what he had after the lawyer's fee and repayment to health insurance for medical services/subrogation.  I have two retirement savings plans, a Roth IRA from my last employer (before we were together) and a 401k with my current employer that was mostly contributed to while we were married.  Since I don't want anything from him, would you recommend hiring a lawyer?  My main concern is him coming after my retirement savings, does he have any legal claim to it?  We are mostly amicable, but I haven't even told him I am seriously considering divorce right now, so that will probably change.

Reasons why I want out are pretty straightforward.  He becomes obsessed with one thing and spends all of his free time doing it - right now it is reading news and political involvement.  He works seasonally and for about 5 months out of the year, does not bring in a steady income (sometimes does not do anything to earn money for a solid 1-2 months).  Instead of being productive during this time, he just focuses on the obsession.  Last winter it was an online battle game on his phone.  He spent over $1000 on it, and that was why we started going to counseling.  We have sex maybe once every 2-3 months.  Any attempts I make to talk to him about what is bothering me and try to find a resolution are met with him leaving the room, or making a joke/trying to change the subject.  It is near impossible to have a conversation with him about something that I would like him to try to do.

Our house needs several major repairs (something wrong with furnace/hot water, significant presence of radon in water that needs a remediation system, no railings on back deck or stairs in house), but he can't afford it.  Our arrangement is we split the mortgage, electric, cable, auto insurance, oil for heating.  He pays for phone and home upkeep and repairs.  I pay for medical, dental, FSA, groceries, and most of the dog expenses (vet, groomer - he has paid about 1/3 of the groomer visits, food).  We roughly split any entertainment expenses, though I would say I pay more often.  We haven't gone out much lately because I feel resentful always having to pay.

No one has cheated, there is no abuse, just a general lack of interest and growing anxiety/frustration on my part due to him being so disconnected from life and obsessed with whatever he is into at the time.

TL;DR Childless couple with few assets possibly getting divorced, wondering what the potential risks/consequences of not hiring a lawyer would be.

Answer:
 Try a divorce mediator first. If that doesn't work, then you can get a lawyer.

A mediator doesn't try to get you back together, it's a neutral third party that helps separate your finances and does stuff like custody and visitation for kids.

If he has to sell the house without your income, it may get tricky.


Title: [Lewisville, TX] My charter high school is banning t-shirts and only allowing polo shirts/button-up collar shirts. Is this constitutional?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 This is clearly a violation of your second amendment right to bare arms. Answer #2: It is likely legal. You don't have to attend that school.

Non-legal advice: you can fill up your closet with surprisingly nice stuff for surprisingly little money if you visit a Goodwill or similar store in one of the nicer areas of your city.


Title: (OR) woman behind my property is harassing my dogs.

Question:
I don't know if this is where this belongs if not please direct me to the right sub.

Back story: My property has an easement road that runs behind it. It is a buffer ( of about 20') between my fence and my back neighbors. The neighbor behind me converted his garage at the back of the property into a apartment. For the last 18months a woman has been living in it. She has two pits bulls and no fenced yard.

The woman has been letting dogs run around outside. She opens up her door and just lets the dogs run on the easement and the surrounding properties ( owned by other people). I have three dogs contained in a fenced yard, the neighbors on both sides of me have no fencing on the back (where the easement road is) her dogs run all around my fence stirring up my dogs. I have bark collars on all three of my dogs, to make sure they are quite. I also don't let them out all day( their only out every few hours for about 30 min). I have spoken to the neighbor about her dogs stirring up my dogs as well as damaging my fence.She has stated 'it's not her dogs barking so she is doing nothing wrong'. I haven't had any other problems until a few weeks ago when I caught her hosing my dogs down in 20* weather. She said that it is because they bark non stop (while her dogs are running around my fence). I explained to her that she has no right to hose my dogs down, and that she needs to contain her dogs.

I contacted my local county dog services and they stated that they have no known address for the apartment she is in. But I could report her dogs being at large,using the main address So that's what I have done 3 times so far.

My problem is now that I have reported her dogs, and she has had a visit from dog control. She is pissed. She is recording my back yard when my dogs are outside. She is stirring up my dogs, by kicking trash cans and yelling and screaming. I have tried to tell her it is in acceptable and only making my dogs worse.  But she only gets nasty with me.

I'm not sure where to go from here. How do I protect my property and dogs from my neighbor?

Answer:
>I contacted my local county dog services and they stated that they have no known address for the apartment she is in. But I could report her dogs being at large,using the main address So that's what I have done 3 times so far.

Check your local code enforcement to see if the apartment is even a legal dwelling. If neither she nor the landlord will discuss this reasonably, maybe your next step is to contact the county about the apartment itself, not the dogs.

Answer #2: Get a camera setup to film all of it


Title: PetSmart just completely screwed up my dog...

Question:
So I just got back from PetSmart in Southlake, Texas and they completely messed up a cut on my Golden Retreiver. I'm incredibly annoyed and speaking to the store manager tomorrow, would appreciate any other advice.  When we phoned to speak to him this evening, the assistant sore manager stated 'oh, you must be the person whose dog got accidentally shaved today' so in effect, they've already acknowledged the fault.

I'm concerned (since, against our instructions, they shaved her) about the summer now and getting sunburn while outside. She isn't an outdoor kept dog, but we spend a lot of time taking her on walks and with her playing out in the back garden, this will severely affect the time we spend with her over the next few months.

[Album](http://m.imgur.com/a/XxzHw)

Inwould appreciate any advice on how to handle the ongoing issue with PetSmart, I am pretty sure they'll offer a refund tomorrow, but is there any other recourse? Should I just push for gift certificates or something from them to make up for the inconvenience? She is a from a show background (parents are champions) but we have never shown her, doll, her hair may never grow back in fully the same since Goldens are Double coated.

Answer:
 Get a full refund.    There are no other damages here.

Now, if the manager at petsmart was a good manager he would offer you something to keep you as a customer.  Like two free cuts in the future or a gift card.  Answer #2: We get our shi/peke mutt done at Petsmart - the only advice I can give about dealing with them is to figure out which of their groomers are good with your dog and which aren't.  We always request the specific groomer we want.   She does a great job,  and we tip well,  so she's always very thorough about the work she does for us.

I'm so sorry about that shave - it is pretty rough.  If my dog came home with that, I would request a refund of that grooming, and if possible a gc or coupon for the first full groom once he grew back in, just because of how much more work will need to be done on that first groom.Answer #3: Ask for a refund and Get a doggy shirt for her and put spray on sun block on her for about 2 weeks when you go out. After that her fur will be long enough to protect her. Best friend is a dog the Dog groomer this is her advice when she has to shave a dog. Yes, It will take her coat a while to get back to normal but as you said she's not a show dog so you have  no monetary damages beyond the refund.


Title: "You're not allowed to bring that in here"

Question:
Reddit law students:

Is there any legal reason for bars to say I cannot bring an external alcoholic beverage into a bar? They clearly have a licensed establishment. I get that they want you to buy a beer from them but is there any way I can take legal action if they deny me?

Same question can be used for bringing pop into a movie theater? I have encountered this many times and I am getting to the point that I want to start legally challenging it.

Also, any legality differences between american and canadian law? I live in Canada.

Answer:
 > Is there any legal reason for bars to say I cannot bring an external alcoholic beverage into a bar?

Because it's their property and they don't want you to.Answer #2: It's probably more accurate to say that you have no legal reason to insist on bringing your beverages into their establishments. It's their property and as such they can tell you that you can't bring in a beer, a helicopter, or a ferret.


Title: A driver destroyed my fence while I was at work.

Question:
I came home today and discovered that half of my fence was missing when I got home. I  immediately took some pictures of the damage. Most of which was to my fence, but it looks like they hit an apple tree that was behind the fence as well.

I called 911 and they gave me the number to "records" and informed me to call to get the police report. I have no idea if the driver was insured or if their insurance will cover the damage to my fence.

Some questions:
1. Should the police have left a note? It sounded like there was an ambulance and the driver was taken to the hospital. I had no idea what had happened and it feels weird that I would have to call the cops to find out that something had happened on my property.
2. What should be my next course of action after I get the police report?

I live in Minneapolis MN.

Answer: You might also contact your home owners insurance company and file a claim through them. They should then take care of dealing with the driver's insurance company.


Title: (Oklahoma) MIL posting photos, maps, phone numbers, names for my husband and myself on various websites, forums, ect. Harrassing emails, parcels, ect.

Question: I have a dragon of a mother in law who we cut contact with several years back. She pays search companies to track us down when we move. She sends mail to us with hateful things inside, bypasses email block functions with gophones to send hateful emails to us. She posts our personal contact info and names, photos, maps to our home on various social media and websites. We've called the police. They told us there is nothing they can do about it. One she's in another state and 2 she's not threatening us. I'd argue posting our info and maps to our home is a threat to our safety but apparently, it's not. Is there really nothing we can do besides keep filing complaints with these websites and social media? We have a child and I am very not okay with the idea that our personal info is being posted for who knows what kinda crazy folk to get their hands on.

Answer:
 You've called the police.  Have you tried going to the police station in person and speaking with somebody about this?Answer #2: It may be worth it to speak to an attorney and see if her behavior could be construed as stalking. A cease and desist letter and civil suit for harassment may be the way to go as well. I take it that you have plenty of evidence?Answer #3: Your names and home address are public information, available to anyone who wants to go get that information.  It may be "personal" in nature, but it's very public information.

It's shitty what she's doing, but it doesn't sound like she's posted anything that is actually "private" information -- "personal," yes, but also public information that's readily available.

I do believe what she's doing could be construed as possible harassment, if there are other things going on outside of her just posting the information to various places.


Title: Woman wrote about me without my consent

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Published how? A major publisher, online only, self published? Is she (and her publisher, if applicable) located in Texas?

You would have an uphill battle, legally, to take her to court and get an injunction against her from continuing to publish the book. She didn't purchase rights to your story (a depiction release) but purchasing rights to someone's story is generally purchasing protection from suits based on defamation, invasion of privacy and the right to publicity. She presumably did not defame you (just depicted a fictionalized person), and Texas common law recognizes a right of publicity that protects the name or likeness of living persons.

But if an author changes the names of individuals involved, change the location and make other alterations so that the real-life people are not recognizable to the public, they can avoid the necessity of a depiction release.

You can speak to an attorney, but what is your end game here? Do you want the book pulled from the shelves?

Answer #2: Unless you are recognizable to others as the person in the story, I doubt you have any recourse.


Title: [Texas] Feels like I've been scammed/falsley advertised to but I'm unsure.

Question:
I bought a record from a local record shop the other day. It's a short record, and I've always seen it pressed on a single disc. So, with nothing on the packaging of this record to indicate that it was spread out over 2 discs, I bought it, for $28 goddamn dollars.

I got home and opened it, discover that this super short record was spread out over 2 discs, and that some sides have 3 songs on them, and the others have 2 songs on them :/ So, my experience with the product has been hindered by a quality that was not advertised. It is very annoying to have to constantly get up to flip the record every 7-8 minutes, and it is reasonable to assume that this record would be on a single disc.

I didn't play the record at all and brought it back to the store. The "best they could do" was to offer me a $9 buyback, a total insult coming from the same guy who sold me the same record not two hours ago for $28. I insisted it was new and not as advertised, but he pointed out that I took it out of the shrink wrap, except that I HAD TO do that to even find out that this record had been strangely split up.

So, do I have any rights to a refund? Is the business liable for false advertising? I really don't care so much to get a lawyer involved over $28, but I'm pretty pissed off. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Answer: What about the record was not as advertised?  Because as far as I can tell from reading this, nothing is.  They didn't make any claims about the contents of the record that aren't true


Title: This may sound silly, but does a student have the right to drink water in class?

Question:
I'm from EU if that helps somehow.
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer: What kind of student?  A college student?  A kindergarten student?  What kind of school?


Title: (UK) Can a Chinese restaurant stop me from taking leftover All You Can Eat food away with me?

Question:
I was at a Chinese restaurant and chose the All You Can Eat option. When I was on the third course, it was already getting too much for me. Come the next course, I ate half of it and asked to have the other half boxed up so I can take it away with me.

Even though this restaurant frequently boxes up leftovers for people to take away, they told me they couldn't do that for me because it's All You Can Eat, and I couldn't eat it.

My thinking is that, once I have the food, it's mine. I'm not asking them for extras, but are they within their rights to tell me I can't take the rest of my half-eaten meal away with me? After all, it's not All You Can Eat Here.

Personal note: I can't think of a single decent reason why they'd want my leftovers, unless they're serving them up to others or taking them home themselves.

Thanks!
Topic:
Consumer Law

Answer:
 > I can't think of a single decent reason why they'd want my leftovers

It's not that they "want your leftovers" it's that they don't want people coming in and getting a bunch of food just to take home. This is pretty standard at AYCE places.Answer #2: /r/legaladviceuk

This is generally legal in the US. It's specificially so people will not take way more food then take it home with them. It keeps the costs for the restaurant down if people aren't coming and getting 4 meals worth of food.


Title: [CA - Marin] VC 23348 (b): 104 on 65

Question:
It was a Sunday morning (4 AM) and I received a 104 on 65; 22 y/o male. First ticket, clean since before. This is not an excuse or justification but I got used to the route.

Ever since then, I've reminded myself to slow the fuck down and of course, make the extra effort to gain awareness of traffic rules I'm not familiar with. The officer was kind and certainly gave me a lot to think about.

The $900+ fine is hefty with my finances, but I can dip into my savings, cut costs and do what it takes, but the 250-400% increase in insurance for 3 years is near impossible. At this point, I'm looking into local traffic attorneys. If anyone's got recommendations, wouldn't mind.

I'm not familiar with the Marin County Traffic Court, but how likely is it that I can reduce to a 1 pointer/non-moving + traffic school.

Any personal experiences with Marin and/or this citation?

P.S. Does anyone know if AAA counts from time of citation or time of conviction?

Answer:
 At 104mph? You're facing a license suspension. If all you get is two points and a giant fine you're lucky.

You want a traffic attorney for this one. Answer #2: I'm assuming this was on the 101.  I had a friend receive a similar ticket on the 101 in Marin and his license was suspended plus a host of other fines.  Marin county doesn't play around with this stuff.  You need to lawyer up.


Title: Rear ended an expensive mercedes.. what happens now?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 1. Contact your insurance company and file a claim.
2. Wait for your ticket. It will probably be mailed to you, but may be delivered by an officer.
3. Consult with a local attorney regarding the ticket after you get it.

Speak to your insurer and let them answer your questions about your coverage.


Title: Three hours sitting in a plane on the tarmac. Am I due any compensation from the airline?

Question:
Flight from Kansas City to Houston was diverted due to weather.  We've been on the tarmac for almost three hours now waiting to refuel and take back off to Houston.  We are not at a gate, so we have not been allowed to deplane. The crew has been very apologetic and have been having conversations with us.  They are just as frustrated as us.  The pilot mentioned that the airline will likely be fined for not deplaning us after 3 hours.  Are we entitled to any compensation as passangers?

Edit: they just announced that the lavatory is full and backing up and they're out of toilet paper.

Answer: You can ask for compensation, but you likely aren't *due* any.


Title: I paid a ticket and included my info on an "offensive" sticky note. Judge issued contempt of court order.

Question:
The sticky note was humorous in nature and in faded gray fancy font read: Fucking do this.

I scribbled my name and phone number on it as a courtesy and included it with my speeding ticket.

Cops came to my door (I wasn't home) and said they were looking for me because "I was expected at court today". Not true, I called and was told my court date for the ticket was in 20 days and that the judge had issued a contempt of court order for an offensive note.

What exactly does this mean and will I get arrested or have to go to court over this??

edit: this is Tennessee

Answer:
 >"offensive"

Don't put "offensive" in quotes. By all cultural norms, this is offensive--and MUCH more importantly grossly inappropriate *in this context*. I swear like a fucking drunk retard and I would never address a court with anything but polite, G-rated language.

>humorous

I think might be hilarious in a book or a movie. In real life, you should do what others said, call the court, find out what's going on, and prepare a a *sincere* apology. However, consulting an attorney first would be a good idea.


Title: 2 weeks notice and "Early Resignation"

Question:
Hi Guys,

For some background: I am an employee of Massachussets and I was at this company for 2 years.

I recently gave my two weeks. On the 12th, I gave my two weeks notice and stated my intention to resign on the 27th of June.

My employer asked me to come in the following Monday (the 16th) and turn in all my equipment. I was handed a Resignation Agreement stating that I will be paid until the 16th only and not the the 27th. I refused to sign the paper and said I was not comfortable with the agreement. I told HR they could fire me if they desired to do so.

 In a follow up phone call, HR stated the company "accelerated the resignation" and I stated I was terminated early and did not resign on that date. Neither side conceded and the phone call was over.

Is the accelerated resignation an actual thing? I told HR I was entitled to my full pay on the 16th if it was to be considered a termination or they were liable for penalties under Massachussets wage law.

Looking for any advice here. Much appreciated!

Answer:
 You gave notice, you quit.
Two weeks notice is a courtesy on both sides but your employer is not obligated to allow someone to remain after having given notice.


Title: How to get rid of my driver's license? (MN)

Question: In November of 2014 I was arrested in Wisconsin for an underage drinking ticket and cited for possessing a fake ID (not my MN license). I am 20 years old, attend school in Wisconsin, and am on my parents auto insurance. I went to my court date in February and was able to get my fines reduced by half. Then in April, without any prior notice, I was notified my Minnesota Driver's License was suspended for 90 days due to forgery of government documents. The 90 days passed and I paid the $20 reinstatement fee. Except now, again without notice, my auto insurance company is more than doubling my parents auto insurance rates. I almost never drive and do not want to be included on my parent's auto insurance policy. However, I still use their home address as my permanent address. The auto insurance company has said that as long as their address is on my license I cannot be excluded from their policy. I would like to not have a driver's license all together, instead using a government ID card as identification. But as hard as I look I am unable to figure out how to just give up my license. Any advice?

Answer:
 What you want to do is called "surrendering" your license. It's a voluntary process of giving up your license, there's a form for Minnesota here:

https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/dvs/forms-documents/Documents/DL_ParentalConsentWithdrawalorVoluntarySurrender.pdfAnswer #2: I haven't heard of this before. But you could contact the DMV and see if there's some kind of process.

Your other option may be to just get a PO box or something so you don't use your parent's address as your home address. Answer #3: Try r/insurance just to be sure, but I've never heard of a policy in place at an insurance company like this.


Title: Introducing /r/Trademark - a sub for discussing all trademark news and questions, modded by trademark attorneys.

Question:
Hey guys, we have taken control of this sub and will be adding trademark news as it comes in and fostering discussion about trademarks. It is modded by trademark attorneys, and we plan to make all of the content and answers high quality.

We'd love for you to stop by and discuss any trademark related issues!

www.reddit.com/r/trademark

Answer: Sweet. I will be referring all such questions to yall. Don't make a fool of me. Answer #2: Now someone will have to make /r/bestoftrademark...Answer #3: Expect to get a lot if "is this fair use" (it's not) and "I'm too lazy to create my own IP, can I steal some?"  I know this is mostly copyright but people may not understand the difference


Title: Room mate won't pay remainder of lease and is trying to leave country for study abroad, how do go about getting money?

Question:
Location: Pennsylvania

I read that if a civil case is pending and you leave the country your "escaping debts" and cannot reenter without some expensive litigation practice or something.

Answer:
 >I read that if a civil case is pending and you leave the country your "escaping debts" and cannot reenter without some expensive litigation practice or something.

I'd love to see where you read that.


Title: [Illinois] company was sold, trying to figure out my rights.

Question:
Sorry in advance, I'm typing this on my phone, and I've been awake since 4am.

(Lawn Care Company)

Today myself and my coworkers were told there was no production because of heavy rains, but there would be a mandatory meeting at the shop for everyone in the lawncare division. Our company is smaller, but still has around probably 80 lawn care techs.

When we came in we were put in a room to BS amongst ourselves, then the owner came in to tell us all that he sold lawncare to Trugreen, our only real compatition. I've read a few things online saying there should have been some sort of notification period before everything happened even though Trugreen is "taking" our techs. The notification periods ranged from 1 week to 60 days, ours was 12 minutes.

Now, as of tomorrow morning we all have to drive to a new location which for most of us is 15-20 miles further than we already drive.

Just trying to figure out if me and my coworkers have any rights, or if we're just meant to bend over and accept what we can't control.

Answer:
 I don't see a legal question here except for hinting at some sort of 'notification period' for a company acquisition, which is certainly not required for non-contractual, at-will employees.  The owner could fire all the staff one day for no reason whatsoever and nobody  would have any recourse.

This situation must be frustrating, but the honest and true answer is that you should probably count yourself lucky and be happy you all still have jobs with the new company and that they were willing to take on the employees without interviewing / screening.  Anyone who makes any noise about being owed anything, at all, is likely to find themselves unemployed, and soon.

Certainly this may be difficult to hear, but the same message has been told to people who were outright let go suddenly one day, told they had to interview to secure the same job but with the manager who hated them, etc.


Title: [Bernalillo County, New Mexico, USA] Car dealer makes you sign form saying you received a copy of information, but you never received a copy of Information.

Question: So far I've tried googling and some rudimentary Legal DB searches.  Does anyone have experience or advice regarding car dealerships using this practice?  Because it seems to be a more frequently occurring issue recently, I was hoping someone had this experience before.  A car dealer makes the purchaser sign a form stating that they received a copy of "X" information--however, the purchaser never, in fact, received a copy.  What can I do to overcome this issue?  Any experiences, advice, or tips are greatly appreciated.

Answer:
 > What can I do to overcome this issue?

You don't sign it.


Title: Can i get sued over a reddit post?

Question:
I called someone a cheater. I used a post they made as proof of them admitting it. now he's saying he's an attorney and is threatening legal action. should I be worried?

He's also saying i misread the post and that means im spreading lies. I think any reasonable person reading what im reading would  see it as an admission of cheating.

Alabama

Edit 2: [here's the post where he admitted to it.](http://imgur.com/a/fHf5G)

Answer:
 > Can i get sued over a reddit post?

Yes.

> I called someone a cheater. I used a post they made as proof of them admitting it. now he's saying he's an attorney and is threatening legal action. should I be worried?

AHAHAHAHAHA!!!! No.Answer #2: >he's saying he's an attorney and is threatening legal action.

An attorney wouldn't threaten legal action -- they'd just do it. However, the hassle of uncovering the true identity of Some Random Redditor, then filing an actual suit against him, then likely losing said suit would be enough to stop most litigation in its tracks. ESPECIALLY if the other party in question isn't using his true identity.


Title: Romeo and Juliet laws in Iowa? Are we legal or can he be prosecuted in any way? (I'm a 15 year old female, him a 17 year old male)

Question: Hi, I'm about to turn 15 in a week or two and I've been talking to this really cute guy who's older than I am. He's 17.  I kind of want to be with him but not if it means he'll get in trouble for it. We haven't done anything yet, because I can tell the idea bothers him because he's older but I want to give us a try until he turns 18.

Answer: As long as you're within four years of age it's fine.  Be responsible.


Title: Cop tickets me while misusing his radar.

Question:
I was pulled over in Oklahoma by a city cop who claims that he used his handheld radar to reflect the beam off of his squad car mirror to accurately radar me while I was approaching behind.

IMPORTANT -  He stated and reiterated when I asked the second time that he did not use the rear facing radar on his car. He used his handheld radar in his squad car mirror.

This sounds like misuse of radar and I'm curious if it's something that is beatable in court?

Answer:
 Shooting radar off of a mirror does not change the principles on which radar works.

It does not alter the speed reading obtained by the unit in any way.

So you would have all the same possible defenses to this ticket that you would have on any other radar ticket, but no extra ones.


Title: [TX] Roommate damaging and stealing my stuff

Question:
I moved into a house with another grad student about a year ago so that my dog and I could have more space and a yard. While she started showing signs of being emotionally unstable and a generally irresponsible person fairly early on, I was able to handle things.
During the year and I half I've lived here she's gradually declined to the point where she hasn't cleaned a single thing in the house since December and is contributing absolutely nothing. Her cat peed all over my futon this winter and despite multiple attempts at cleaning it I can't get the smell out.
Now she's "moving out" but I came home from visiting my parents to find she had stolen all of my bakeware (cake pans, muffin tins, cheesecake pan, bundt pans, bread pans, etc), assorted other kitchen things (towls, cutting board, colander), things from the bathroom cabinet (benedryl and other OTCs), all of which I had personally bought and brought with me when I moved from my old apartment. The problem is she's only taking things that are in common areas (that I've found so far) and will be harder to prove that I own. Do I have any recourse? Can I take her to small claims court for any of it and what documentation do I need? I can prove that she ruined the futon, but I feel like with all the stuff she stole it's going to be my word against hers. Unfortunately she's also super manipulative and great at putting on a sweet/nice facade.

Answer: You can sue her in court. If you have receipts for some of the stuff (the bakeware, for example) then you can credibly show that she may have taken the other stuff


Title: Trying to prepare for custody/visitation battle

Question: We live in California.  My fiance has a 4 year old daughter who's mother has been controlling his visitation with her since we have been together. He hardly gets to see his daughter and they had agreed through messages that he'd see her sundays. Almost every Sunday she has other plans or excuses as to why he can't see her or as to why it will only be 1 hr or so. Last year she allowed him an overnight visit which lasted from bedtime to breakfast only,  and that was only because we had just found out her bf at the time had been arrested for murdering his parents. About a month after that visit she moved to Florida without notice before his daughters birthday and denied phonecalls and video chats the entire time she was there which was about 8 months. Now a few years ago when they were together and their daughter was a baby they got into a physical altercation where she broke his nose and he slapped her back. Neither pressed charges but the DA pressed charges against him and he completed community service, 52 anger management classes and as far as I'm aware this is all true. She uses the domestic violence charge against him every time he tries to push about seeing his daughter more or getting consistent visitation at all, as well as threatening to file restraining orders but allowing him to visit her home to see his daughter when she allows him to. He works, sometimes weekends and we are restricted on our vehicle since there are two of us. His ex and daughter now live about 45 min away and she absolutely refuses to drive anywhere to allow him to spend time with his daughter. He brought up court to her as an option to get reliable reasonable visitation and or custody and she now refuses to respond to him at all telling him to go to the courts then and to stop messaging her at all. Please help with advice for us to prepare for this. I have no idea what to expect, but I am sure she will try to defame him as much as possible :(

Answer: He needs to get a lawyer and go to court.  The bar for denying custody completely is quite high.


Title: (ND) I might have done something illegal, but I don't know

Question:
so i'm 18, i'm a shift lead at a fast food place. the other night i got a call from someone who told me they were the owner of another fast food place, and they asked if someone with the name X worked at my restaurant before. i said yes, assuming they were calling about a reference. turns out this guy was actually calling because somebody was leaving one-star reviews on his restaurant's facebook page with multiple fake accounts. he thought it might be "retaliation" from one of my coworkers because he left an average review of our restaurants two years ago. whatever. by this time, the guy was talking so much that i went on his facebook and looked at several reviews of his restaurant saying things like "the employees look like porn addicts" and "they have no weightlifting machines." i could see that it was my former coworker because he had his own face as pictures on his fake accounts.

the guy on the phone asked two questions: one about his physical appearance (not bad), and one about his behavior. at this point i knew it was the same person and i saw this person being disgusting and i felt bad for the guy on the phone, so i told him, honestly, that yes, it was the same guy. i listened to him rant about the situation before he eventually hung up.

the guy who called then replied to my former coworker on one of his bad reviews, saying he "just spoke to a former employer. she didn't have many good things to say about you, X!" first of all, i'm not his employer and never claimed to be. second, all i ever said was "yes that sounds like it could be him."

now i know i never should've said *anything* to the guy, i got a lecture about it but i guess i just felt bad for him and i don't know the specific rules/laws about this kind of thing. i *know*.

except now, this former coworker of mine has decided he wants to file a civil lawsuit against me and my business for "slander." he called my boss the day after this ordeal and apparently told her that somebody called me because we are down as a reference on his application, and i gave him a bad reference so he didn't get the job. that is a lie. i'm not sure on what grounds exactly he could file a civil lawsuit, but does any of this sound right? i know i was out of line, but was i *that* out of line?

he just sent me a facebook message about how he's filing a civil lawsuit against me and that i could contact him or his lawyer to talk about it. then he "recommended that i get a lawyer myself so i could have a chance of winning and pay a lot less money than i will have to." quit a bit of his recent facebook posts talk about how he's "going to be rich soon." should i be even worried about this? i'm just 18, i'm in college, i've got finals coming up, and this is really stressing me out. i don't know whether to take this seriously because a) this dude is really messed up, and b) he clearly just wants money.

edited to clarify: the guy on the phone called because he wanted to identify who was leaving the terrible and disgusting, *SLANDERING* reviews on his page and figured i could help him out

edit two: i forgot to mention that after i hung up, i went and commented on one of his reviews and said it was sad that he made fake facebook accounts to leave reviews and said to get a life. i *know i know* so dumb but i knew him from work and he was friends with my boyfriend while he worked with us, though i never liked him, so i commented anyway. this was *before* i knew that the phone-call-guy made a comment about talking to a "former employer."

i figured he'd remember me from work and he'd make a snarky comment and i'd leave it at that. he replied with "i don't even know you" or something, so i said "you don't remember me from (restaurant)?" and if i had known phone-call-guy had made that comment, i *never* would have replied to a review and basically given him all the clues he needed to figure out who phone-call-guy was talking about. he then replied again something along the lines of "wow how sad is it that you have tits and your name is (my name)" (i have a stereotypical "boy" name, but i'm a girl)

i never replied after that and the review got taken down, but figured it was important to include here
Topic:
Business Law

Answer:
 You said nothing of note that could be slander. You don't have much to worry about here.Answer #2: Do not contact him! There's a very high chance he's just trying to intimidate you. Contacting him can only harm you. Take no action and if he sues you, then hire a lawyer to respond to the suit.

The most likely scenario is he will never file a suit. Just go about your life, and don't have a conversation with him at all. The only thing you should respond to is a letter from his lawyer, or a lawsuit filed against you. If he sues you, someone will knock on your door to hand you the suit.

Unless that happens, just relax, I wouldn't worry about it.Answer #3: > i could see that it was my former coworker because he had his own face as pictures on his fake accounts.

Genius. Answer #4: This guy is a troll.  Rare to meet them offline!  His goal is to engage and enrage.  Your response to him marked you as a target.  Your best course of action is to ignore him and he'll move on to more reactive people like that restaurant owner.Answer #5: IANAL but I was under the impression that for something to be slander it has to be knowingly false, and since, I'm assuming, as far as you are aware the little you actually said was the truth, it doesn't count as slander.


Title: Possible Malpractice Suit?

Question:
I went to the ER for pain on Wednesday, 7/15, and they discovered a grapefruit sized dermoid tumor.  Although they couldn't find my ovary, they sent me to my OB, who scheduled me for surgery on Monday, 7/20 to remove it.

My surgery was scheduled for 2pm, and I wasn't taken back until 5:30pm. I don't remember a lot of the details about leaving, so this section is a description from the girl who came to get me:

"When her first surgery was finished (sometime around 9 p.m.) the hospital forgot to call her aunt to let her know she would be ready to go soon. I texted her aunt sometime around 9:30 that evening and her aunt called the hospital. They were all, "oh yeah... she's been out a bit." Her aunt said on the phone she was crying that she wanted to go home.

Because her aunt didn't know she was done yet and couldn't get to the hospital right at the moment (and I live across the street), my husband and I picked up her and brought her home. She was in a lot of pain going up the stairs. A LOT. Like, I drove like a damn granny because she looked so, so tender, even being on a crap ton of drugs.

Over the next week or so I visited a few times and she was in constant pain. Even two weeks out she was in a lot of pain and should have been healing but wasn't. She was also still more swollen than I expected the last time I saw her (before my trip to Florida and before her second surgery).

I don't know man. It was a lot of pain and suffering and if the first surgery had been done right her mom wouldn't have had to come up again and she wouldn't be missing as much work."

My recovery from the first surgery was obviously slow. On Wednesday, I had such immense shoulder pain I called my doctor and she just told me to go to the ER. I took some pain killers and rode it out because I didn't want another ER trip. Then, the Sunday two weeks after my surgery the surgery, my shoulder and abdomen pain was so bad that I went to the ER where they discovered I had gallbladder stones and thought maybe that was the source of the pain.

My new surgeon discovered I had an inflammation of my intestinal track so he put me on cipro before the surgery for gallbladder. I was feeling better on the cipro, but still had pain, so they scheduled me for Monday, August 10th.

Here's where it gets interesting. When they take me back Monday, my surgeon literally can't even GET to my gallbladder because I had adhesions and inflammation everywhere in my abdomen. My liver was attached by a couple adhesions to my intestines, and there was dried blood and just generally a mess. When Mom talked to him about what to do he said this was the worst case he had ever seen and didn't recommend taking out my gallbladder but trying to clean up what happened. He said it should take about 30 minutes, it took an hour. When I woke up I was in the hospital on an IV drip of antibiotics and when he came to see me, he said my insides were a disaster. Those are the words he used.

I stayed in the hospital overnight, and then I came home on Tuesday afternoon. I'm on a course of three different antibiotics now to help with the infections and swelling.

My dad says I should sue the first doctor, my OB, for causing all the second shit. I'm somewhat inclined to agree because I don't want to have to pay for the second surgery - but I'm not sure what a malpractice suit entails, and it seems like a pain in the ass.
What are your thoughts?

Answer: Malpractice doesn't mean the something went wrong or the results were not as good as expected.  You would have to show the doc did something below the standard of care, which only another doctor could testify about.  You can speak to a med mal attorney and see what they have to say.


Title: Neighbors construction workers used our outlets and then left their things on our property

Question:
This morning some of the next door neighbor's construction workers used our outlets without asking and left a handsaw on our porch plugged in, and some sort of gas tank also plugged in (and had some sort of gas line going into the neighbor's house).

I'm pretty peeved they came onto our property and used our electric outlets without even asking (not the biggest deal), and then left their belongings on our property (with one still generating our electricity!)

I took the handsaw inside and unplugged the gas tank and rolled it in front of their house. I left a note saying they do not have permission to use our outlets and to please come knock on our door if they want their handsaw back. Is this okay? I don't want it to seem like we're stealing their stuff but I'm pretty annoyed and would like to just tell them off.

Answer: Technically, you cannot take their handsaw, even if it is on your property. But, you're willing to give it back but there was no one to return it to at the moment, and can claim you have it inside for safekeeping, so I doubt there'd be any negative implications of this.Answer #2: Pretty likely the rolling unit was an air compressor which would have a hose to power a nail gun, not a gas line.  I think you did fine.  They are probably pissed because they are working on a house without power and now they have to find another way to solve that problem. That's their fault for trying to rip you off and having a bad attitude to boot. I'm betting if they asked nicely and maybe even offered you 10 bucks or so you'd have been fine with them plugging in too.


Title: Could you sue a college professor for requiring you to buy a $200 textbook and then not using it at all in class?

Answer:
 Nope.

Just because the professor doesn't "use it in class" doesn't mean that you shouldn't have been using it as an additional resource in your out of class study.  Unlike high school, in college you are expected to enhance your learning yourself after class.  Sometimes with other materials.   The professor identified materials which may explain points in alternate ways or add information.Answer #2: No.

I mean, you could try to file a suit, because you can sue for nearly anything, but you can't expect to win. Putting a textbook on the required list for a class does not enter the professor into a contract to use the book in class. In fact, I've had classes with required textbooks where we were told explicitly the textbook wouldn't be used in class; we were expected to read it on our own time, for further information.


Title: Question about what is considered mal-practice in hospitals.

Question: So I’m 18 and know practically nothing about the legality of anything. But my sister recently had a C-section and a infection was the result. She was in the hospital for 4 days and was released without the doctors checking to see if she “caught” anything. Now she’s in the hospital with multiple issues and they have no clue what she has. Is this consider malpractice because of them clearly fucking up the surgery. Is this something you can take legal action against. Sorry if this a retarded question but I want to know

Answer:
 Bad medical outcomes aren't malpractice. The two are independent, though malpractice rules are there to prevent systematically-bad outcomes and to protect the public.

Malpractice is professional negligence: failure to meet the implicit duty of care that comes with being a doctor. If your sister received an infection because the surgeon didn't follow established protocols for controlling infection, that might be malpractice. If your sister received an infection in spite of the best care, that's bad luck, but not malpractice.

Since malpractice cases are often _highly_ fact-sensitive, it's generally impossible to assess them based on a reddit post. If your sister believes the doctor may have been negligent, she needs to talk to an attorney. Initial consultations are inexpensive and her attorney can likely determine if this is worth pursuing or not.Answer #2: Infection isn't an indication of a "fucked up surgery". Infections can happen to anyone, at anytime.

Regardless, malpractice is very fact specific. She can speak with a malpractice attorney if she chooses.


Title: A prospective housekeeper tried to scam me, is it worth going to the cops? (FL)

Question: I’ve been looking for a new housekeeper and had a woman come out last week for the first time. She did her thing for a couple hours and left. A couple days later she texts me saying she needs help because she needs a new tire and she can’t ask her family, then sends me an applepay request for $100. I tell her I’m not comfortable lending money and she sends me a picture of a tire with a blow out sidewall. I do a reverse image search and the photo’s at least 3 yeas old. I called her out and she was pretty pissed at me obviously. I don’t want this girl pulling this bs on other people, but I’m worried about retaliation. Is it even worth going to the cops to say someone tried to scam you and didn’t succeed?

Answer:
 Worried about retaliation how?

You can also try asking r/scams for their thoughts.Answer #2: You can report it to the police but probably not worth your time.Answer #3: I don't think that the cops can do anything. But you could maybe post it to NextDoor or on a local FB group?


Title: License suspended without evidence?? Help!

Question:
I got a letter in the mail today saying that my driver's license was going to be suspended for a year for violation of  "Section 6-301.2(B) of the Illinois Vehicle Code Act" by being in possession of a fraudulent ID. HOWEVER, in the section of the notice for "The conviction(s)/supervision(s) that caused this action is/are:" no information is listed for the "date of offense", "date of Conv/sup", "traffic violation", "ticket/case no.", "reporting court/state" or "telephone number".

If they have no information listed there, how could they prove that I might be in possession of a fraudulent ID? Can I challenge this suspension? Any help appreciated.

Answer: I seriously doubt that they picked you out of the phone book to send that to. They likely have a reason to believe that you have a fake ID and they may be able to prove it.Answer #2: Did you ever possess a fake ID? Did you get a ticket for it?


Title: (California) Employer requiring tracking app on personal phone

Question:
I'm an employee with an east-coast based corporation that does business in almost every state. I work from home in california, but mostly in the field driving to multiple appointment locations every day. One of the job requirements when I was hired was to have a cell phone, which of course I had, and the company allows employees to expense a set amount for monthly service. The only thing I've ever used the phone for up to this point for work was making calls--they provide company laptops for email, etc.

They're now requiring employees to install a third-party app (android in my case) which is supposed to automatically track our mileage (they reimburse us for at a set amount per mile). I don't have a problem being tracked for mileage, or whatever else the company wants to track me for during work hours--I always assumed they were anyway via the laptop. My concern is the app has permissions other than tracking location that potentially allows it to access a litany of personal information on my phone (contacts, accounts, storage contents, etc.).

I haven't been able to verify if this is legal in California, but assuming it is, are companies at least required to provide some type of disclosure and/or written consent? Maybe just my downloading the app constitutes my consent?

My hope was that if they are requiring something specific now with the phone that is different than the original purpose of my having to have one when I was hired, that maybe they should be required to provide me with a company phone, or at least let me expense the cost of buying a separate phone for work. If I don't have any legal basis for refusing to download the app, what might be an appropriate way to approach the company with my concern?
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer:
 Not a lawyer, but...

Is it a custom app or is it on the play store?  Play store there is less of a chance that there is anything fishy going on.

If it is on the store, there is a good chance it is not a problem.  Remember those permissions don't mean that it is accessing those systems, just that it needs those permissions (sometimes for really weird reasons as Google has some wonky permission settings).


Title: Was this sexual assault? How should I move forward?

Question: I was thirteen, he was 18. He fondled my breasts, butt, and crotch area. He also showed me his penis a few times, changed in front of me and peed in a bottle in front of me. We were locked in a tent together after previously being told we would be separated. This was last summer and happened over the course of five days. I disclosed about five weeks later to my parents, we went to the police, they said they had more important things to worry about. Any advice? Thank you.

Answer:
 To answer your questio : yes that was most definitely sexual assault.Answer #2: Did you actually file a police report? That's a written document that they write up that proves that you went to the station in person and reported what you reported. Whoever you spoke to there shouldn't have dismissed you like that.

If you had insisted on filing a written police report, then the police can be held responsible for dealing with what you reported, and they can't then pretend later that you didn't report it. Sometimes it's a pain for them to deal with the paperwork, so you need to be firm with them and insist that a written police report be filled.


Title: [Update] The restaurant I work at is labeling their fish as 'catfish' and it is a code violation. Is there anything I can do to stop this? [AL]

Question:
[My first post here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/36na8o/al_the_restaurant_i_work_at_is_labeling_their/)

It's been a while since I posted on here about my old job mixing mullet fish in with the catfish cakes and I'm happy to say that there is finally an update to this.

The restaurant fired me within minutes of me making my post because they caught me on my cell phone. The next day I went down to the docks looking for work and told my story to one of the boat captains, who is one of my high school buddy's dad. He asked me why I had been fired and I told him about the restaurant mixing the fish and how they fired me for trying to record their shady behavior. Boat captain was pissed off because it turns out that he was supplying some of the restaurant's seafood. I guess word got out because over the past few months, the restaurant looked like it was doing less and less business. I had to drive past the restaurant on my way to the docks and their parking lot became emptier by the day.

I found a job in the city, so I stopped driving down to the shore each day unless I had to drop something off to my dad. I drove past last week and the restaurant was finally shut down for good. I guess winter was their last death sentence and pretty much all the locals boycotted the restaurant after they heard the fish rumors.

I never did hear back from the USDA or any inspecting agencies.

**TL;DR: Don't mess with people's fish because you will piss people off and lose your entire customer base.**

Answer:
 Don't know how it works in Alabama, but in may states if you were fired for reporting or threatening to report illegal activity you actually can have a case for wrongful termination.

It sounds like it doesn't matter much at this point, but keep that in mind for future reference.
Answer #2: If they're cheaping out on ingredients, they're probably already in financial trouble. Getting caught at it just makes business go from a dive to a death spiral.


Title: My sister and I were in an accident and the car airbags did NOT go off. Can we go after the car manufacturer?

Question:
Hello reddit. I was in California with My sister and I were recently in an accident but that is not why I am writing this. When we got hit the car was coming at at a fast speed, and thank god he only hit the front bumper on the driver side. After the accident me and my sister are having pains. My sister has shoulder and arm pains and I am having pain in my lower back. Also just recently I have been having a pain on the back of my neck.

After we towed our car home and exchanged info my parents brought up that the airbags on my sister car did not deploy. My sister car has had a recall for defective airbags that would shoot shrapnel in situations. About a year ago we went to the manufacturer to have it repaired, but since it didn't work Im thinking that it had malfunctioned once again. The fact the car had a recall on the airbags makes me worry that if the accident we were in was worse, me and my sister would not be here today.

Finally what I was getting to. Can my family take legal action on the car manufacture over the faulty airbags? Feedback would be appreciated.

Answer:
 I recently had an accident involving a deer; it was a hard hit that did thousands in damage to my car, but my airbags did not deploy. I also had an accident where my tire exploded on the highway, I did three 360 degree spins across all lanes of traffic, and my car went flying into a ditch. Didn't deploy then either.

Airbags are designed to go off in very specific circumstances, and if the sensor in your car is triggered. Factors like speed, impact, location of impact, etc all factor in to this. It is possible that this malfunctioned, but it's also possible the accident was not severe enough to require them to be deployed. The computer in your car may be able to help a mechanic determine if there was a malfunction.

Airbags are a last-resort for serious accidents; when they deploy, sometimes it can lead to a car being determined a total loss. In addition, severe injuries ("rug" burn, broken bones, etc) can occur from them deploying quickly and with a lot of force. So, it may be a good thing that whiplash and soreness is all you're experiencing right now....and not a broken nose, or bruising/burns on your bodies.Answer #2: Airbags are sensored to go off in certain circumstances, and from your explanation i can't really tell much about the crash, However you should seek medical attention if your in pain and deal with it after that.


Title: Guy Keeps Harassing Me Claiming I Scammed Him When I Didn't

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Ignore him.

If you get sued (you won't), respond to the lawsuit appropriately.Answer #2: Why would you help someone game the youtube system?  I'd be more worried right now about google coming down on your own account.


Title: If I see my neighbors house getting broken into am I legally allowed to pull a gun on the robber?

Question:
THIS IS HYPOTHETICAL. I was walking my dog tonight and heard a noise and my mind started thinking of situations, then this came to mind and I became curious of the answer.

I know in a real situation you would call the police, but say there is a circumstance where one believes it is necessary; can you get in trouble for doing this?

EDIT: I am in Pennsylvania

Answer: No you can't pull a gun then take action. You should carry a cell phone and call 911 if you suspect a criminal act. If you are directly threatened you can defend yourself. Look what happened to George Zimmerman in Florida when he played neighbor hood patrol with a gun.


Title: I found out that a girl I've been talking to for months is a pathological liar and might do something drastic like accuse me of sexual assault If I leave. What do I do?

Question:
I apologize for the long post and if this is the wrong subreddit. I tried to put it in chronological order and condense it but most of it is a jumble of my thoughts as I'm a mess right now.

I am currently a Junior in my college about to enter my senior year. I already have a full-time job in my field and once I graduate, I'll be moving jobs and making good money. I am also in a fraternity (this is an important fact to remember)

At the start of this semester, I matched with a girl (We'll call her D) on Tinder and we hit it off decently well. Eventually, our communication moved to snapchat and then eventually to text messages. At around this time, I was also recruiting for my fraternity and ran into a reasonably cool dude (lets call him M) who seemed interested in the fraternity. It turns out that M and D knew each other as I saw him in one of her snaps and they were at that point becoming good friends.

It should be noted that for our fraternity, We don't directly communicate with the new guys unless we are directly responsible for bringing them into the fraternity. I did not have that responsibility and maintained no communication with M up until fairly recently.

D and I talked on and off throughout the semester with me wanting to set up a date with her. She gave me a host of different excuses that were conveniently timed to where she was always out of town or out of the city. This struck me as suspicious but at the time I had no reason to believe that she was lying as I figured that she was just a busy person as she also created a persona for herself stating that she was a star student and a dancer (both lies). She also sent me pictures of who I assumed to be her (it wasn't) but I thought nothing about it as I couldn't put two and two together as I wasn't communicating with M. Basically, we texted each other for the last couple months without meeting each other.

Recently, M became a brother of my frat and I have been openly able to talk about his friend D and how it's funny that she's always out of town. M got a weird look on his face and told me that he saw her on campus at around the time she was allegedly out of town but he wrote it off as her messing with me. Up until this point, D and I still haven't met in person and have only been communicating via text.

Today I get a frantic call from M saying that we need to talk. I end up sitting down with M and his two friends and they tell me the story about how one of them (We'll call her K) went to D's place for thanksgiving which is where all of her lies start to fall apart.

It turns out that D maintained the same lies she did with me with her friends as well and created a persona of herself as someone that was rich with a dad who was an engineer and a mom who was a pharmacist (both lies), D also stated that she lived in a big house and drove a range rover. She actually lived in a roach infested small house and drove a cheap older car. Finally, D introduced K to some of her "friends" who also turned out to not be her friends and actually hated her. They ended up telling K that D is actually a pathological liar and is actually crazy with bipolar disorder. They told K about a story about how she once spread rumors about someone she was jealous of and got our whole community (it's a culture) to hate her. Her "friends" also told K that whatever personality she puts on is an act and that she's actually mean. They also told her that D regularly steals which got K's attention as she found some of her important things (like car keys and money) go missing throughout the semester.

They called me down to meet as D maintained a host of lies about me ranging from minor things like calling me her boyfriend (even though we've never physically met) to bigger lies with K stating that D once came into her dorm room crying stating that I drunkenly came to D's room to berate her when I was actually at the library studying for a final. D  then claimed that she ran after me and ran around campus looking for me (this is false). Apparently she came to K and her friends MULTIPLE times with tears in her eyes stating that I did something to her. Keep in mind that we never even physically met at this point. I now have several people I don't know thinking that I am an asshole who likes to berate women.

Long story short, all of us went around exchanging stories about things D has told us or things that D has done and it turns out that EVERYTHING D has told us about herself up until this point has been an outright lie.

Both of M's friends signed a lease with D and are now working to cancel it. M and his friends are now cutting and severely limiting their contact with her. I am completely blindsided by this and don't know what to do as D once told me she was roofied by someone and had to be hospitalized (this is false). She has already accused me of being a drunk asshole and could very easily accuse me of much more even though we've never even physically met up until this point.

I have worked hard to get to where I am at right now and don't want all of my hard work to be flushed down the drain because of a false accusation. The situation with sexual assault and college campus' is tense right now and they will most likely side with her to avoid a PR fire. If she's willing to cry fake tears to her friends about me then I'm convinced she'll do much more if I abruptly leave her. How do I go about handling this situation?

**TL;DR Girl I been talking to for months is a pathological liar and has fabricated events of me being an asshole to her even though we've never physically met. I am worried she'll accuse me of something more if I leave.**

Answer: Stop talking to her and block her on social media.


Title: Is it illegal for me to pee in my own backyard? (Maryland, USA)

Question:
I live in a community of single family homes, and to our rear is a forest.  If I pee facing the forest- as not to expose myself directly- am I risking a police officer showing up if someone decides to call it in?

Two of my neighbors have a decent line of sight from a few of their windows although they would be too far away to make out much detail.

It would be nice to have the comfort of being able to pee whilst being assured that I'm not going to get caught smoking weed back here because of it.

Hopefully someone sees this soon because I really have to pee and I'm too lazy to go inside.
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer: If people can see you pee, you are, by definition, exposing yourself.


Title: Eviction Laws Inquiry - Denver, CO

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 First of all, if you are all on the same lease you are all responsible for paying the rent *in full*. If one or two of the others don't pay their share, you need to come up with it.

If you don't pay up, the landlord can give you a 3 day pay or quit notice. After those 3 days are up, the landlord can proceed with the eviction process. You do *not* want an eviction on your record, since it will make it very difficult to rent any decent place in the future. If it does come to that though, how long you have before you're forced out will depend on how fast the court process is and what the judge orders.


Title: [TX] First run in with the law, and not really sure what to do (class c misdemeanor)

Question:
Long story short, I was caught stealing a bottle of wine ($12) from a local supermarket. The cops were called, and after seeing that I had a really clean record, they said that they'd give me the minimum punishment and gave me a class c misdemeanor (which they said was equivalent to a parking ticket).
I'm 19 and a college student, hoping to go to med school. I know I'll have to go to court and pay a fine, but I can't afford a lawyer or attorney, but if it's as minimal as they say, shouldn't I easily be able to get a deferred adjunct or expunged after that?

Answer: It's not the equivalent of a ticket, you'll have an actual criminal record.


Title: US Servicemember stationed in Japan and trying to get a divorce

Question:
My spouse and I recently decided to get a divorce after 3 years. My home of record is in Alabama, we got married in Louisiana, and their parents/where they're going to live after they leave is also in Alabama. I'm currently stationed in Japan, and we're still living together as of right now.

The feelings are mutual, and we have already decided what to do with our assets. I have a car that I'm paying off that's in Storage in the states that I will be keeping, we have no children, and we don't own a home.

I've never gotten a divorce, and I feel like my situation is a little weird, so I'm just kinda looking for advice here on how to get a divorce especially while living abroad.

I guess specifically what I'm asking is "What do I do?"
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer: I would check with the base legal assistance. They should be able to help you.


Title: [US] [NY] Who can a business legally discriminate against?

Question:
Let's say I'm an employer at a white collar company. Which groups of people can I flatly say: "Sorry but we don't hire __________."

Obviously unqualified things like "people without a college degree" could fill in the blank, but are there any more *interesting* groups that aren't actually protected by law?

People with criminal history? Scientologists? Athletes?

"Sorry but company policy is we don't hire athletes."

Is that... legal?

edit: So far it seems like at the very least I can still law abidingly refuse to hire orphans.

Answer:
 Most of the other answers are listing the *federally* protected classes, but a bit of Googling [reveals](http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/new-york-employment-discrimination-31665.html) that New York's list of protected classes is more extensive:

* Race
* Color
* National origin
* Religion
* Sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions)
* Disability: physical or mental
* Age (18 and older)
* Genetic information
* Marital status
* Sexual orientation (includes perceived sexual orientation)
* Lawful use of any product or lawful recreational activities when not at work
* Military status or service
* Observance of Sabbath
* Political activities
* Use of service dog
* Criminal accusation
* Domestic violence victim status

If it's not on this list, it's legal. (But as u/LanceCoolie pointed out, if you discriminate against people with afros, that will probably be taken as discriminating against the race that most people with afros belong to.)Answer #2: It might be legal to say "We don't hire X" where X is not a protected class. But unless you can articulate a specific valid business reason why you won't, it's a dumb risky move to have a policy or practice of doing so, because it can easily become evidence of pretextual discrimination. I.e. If 90% of the people with the characteristic you won't hire just also happen to be black, eventually you're gonna have a bad time.


Title: We had a party. We had hired a professional photographer.There were our group photo in various poses. My friend published a book and used our photo in it. Now,photographer called and said he took photo and thus it is his copyright and asking me to pay extra money to use it. Is this some scam?

Question:
(Texas) It is basically hard to explain, but me and couple of my friends met up after a long time. It was a theme based party. And to capture the memory of this celebration, we had hired a professional photographer. He capture various photos of us doing different poses in different backgrounds.

Afterwards, my friend (Who is a professional writer) published a book. In which there was a section about friendship. He used our photos in that book. I guess photographer read it and he called it and said he took pictures so he has copyright of this picture. My payment was only personal usage of those photos. Commercial use of those pics would need more money to be paid.

Is this some stupid scam? It is our photo in different pose. We had just hired him to do some work. How is it his copyright?

Answer: That is not a scam, he holds the copyright on the photos he took. You only had the right to use them personally, as I assume a contract would have laid out, and would pay extra for commercial use. This is fairly common practice.Answer #2: If anything, your friend owes him the money since your friend is the one who used the photo and is (assumingly) profiting off of it.


Title: Husband admits to hacking into accounts to find dirt, mid divorce.

Question:
Just wondering what legal action I can take. My husband abandoned me and our child and just assumed life would be the same. When I filed for divorce and requested support for our child he became angry and vengeful. He recently admitted he hacked into several of my accounts (email, Facebook, phone account, bank account, etc) in order to dig up "dirt" to use against me.

Do I have any legal options? I brought it up with my attorney and he said he would talk to my husband's attorney, however I don't feel my divorce attorney would be the one to handle this case. Rather than use up my retainer on subject matter he doesn't deal with daily, I thought I would ask Reddit before consulting a new one. Advice?

The location bot flagged me and told me to update with my location. I'm in the Midwest (America.)

Answer: Hack? What's meant by "hack", exactly? Did he install a spyware program on your computer to steal your passwords, or did he look through your accounts when you left it logged on? There's a world of difference between those two.


Title: (IL) Not signing marriage license to reduce student loan repayment.

Question:
Fiance has $400,000 of student loan debt and makes $55,000 a year (resident physician).

She is currently signed up for an income driven repayment plan which requires her to repay approximately $250 bucks per month.

If we get married on paper, regardless of whether we file separate taxes or not, my income is taken into consideration which would hike the student loan payments up to $1,000 / month.

My question is this:

Can we go through the motions of a wedding ceremony/reception and not legally get married by not obtaining a marriage license? We would just get officially married years later when she becomes an attending physician.

Answer:
 Yes in the US a ceremony isn’t binding you need to obtain a marriage license. You’re fine to have a party and keep your legal and financial business separate until you’re ready.Answer #2: It's what we did... Had a big ceremony... in a church and all.  Just didn't do any paperwork.  With no common law marriage, we present ourselves as husband and wife, without the legal obligations (or benefits) of marriage.

But, you might be well advised to consult with a financial adviser.  There's a lot to be said for tightening your belts and getting the loans out of the way now.  And, a financial adviser might help you see your way through to getting it done.

As you go through life, you will probably always find that it's never the right time to bite the bullet on the loans.


Title: [NM] -> [TX] Parents scammed the G'vt. to reduce medical costs/childbirth, more inside

Question:
Not sure if I should even be posting this because it was around 20 years ago (JUST turned 20 years,) and I learned over the course of HS that my parents had to scam the Government because my dad is an immigrant, and wasn't a full citizen at the time of this happening... they also would have been in tremendous debt. I feel like it's too late to do anything, and details are really fuzzy, and still a dependent. But I feel the need to do something.

Added details: Had to get adopted by said immigrant dad after he was legalized, for benefits. I feel now like you all would just downvote me to oblivion lol.....

Answer: Why in the world would you want to report your own parents?


Title: was attacked by a tenant at a rental property in richardson texas, go to police?

Question:
I mow lawns, On 8/29/17 as I pulled up to service this Bush Creek property I noticed this property was now occupied. I introduced myself to the other contractor that was there (witness) who went inside and let the tenant know I was there while I began to take the usual pictures. The tenant emerged clearly intoxicated from the front door swaying all while using the wall to prop himself up, and began to yell at me slurring about how I was going to perform service to the yard. In effort to change the conversation I began chatting it up with the other contractor that was there. The tenant eventually became bored and staggered back into the garage and began arguing with the female that was there, I broke conversation with the other contractor and tried to photograph the back yard.  The tenant then began telling me about how he has 3 German shepherds "that will eat my ass alive". "You are going to mow that fucking backyard" he said  Annoyed by his bossy belligerence, threatening demeanor, drunkenness and use of profanity, I let him know that I do am not obligated to do anything to the property. I said "I'm outta here, you are not getting your lawn mowed, not by me" As I was walking off the job he began screaming about the "fucking work order", spitting at my truck, using profanity, calling me names, and giving me the finger. This was all in broad daylight, I am certain the neighbors saw all of this, the other contractor was standing in the driveway he saw everything. As I entered my vehicle and put on my seatbelt to leave the tenant thew himself on the hood scratching the front passenger fender and began to try to break out my windshield with his fist. Unable to leave with someone on top of my vehicle I attempted to exit the vehicle with pepper spray in hand only to have the tenant came around to the driver side and charge me before I could fully exit the vehicle. The tenant began swinging at me as I jumped back spraying the pepper spray everywhere, the tenant then began to brag about how the spray doesn't affect him and continued to throw punches while grabbing my clothing. It is clear pepper spray DOES NOT work on intoxicated individuals. I was hit several times before I was able to out run the attacker only to have him start to try to remove machines off of the trailer. I was able to speed away as the attacker fumbled for my weedeater gas can. As I drove away I saw the attacker stumbling after my truck. I immediately called the office I contract for when I was at a safe location and explained what happened. The attackers finger and hand prints are all over my truck. I have several pictures of a hand print that can be easily lifted from the glass by police if necessary showing the the tenants efforts at breaking my windshield. These prints will remain until I decide weather or not I am going to go to the police to file charges against the tenant. I was there to mow grass, not put up with conflict, I tried to leave this property and was attacked and beaten up by the tenant. I had every right to LEAVE and the tenant prevented this by jumping on my new truck. As the victim of an assault, I have every right to defend myself from harm and prevent theft or damage of my property. I feel like my use of pepper spray was justified.

So let's be clear about something, no one has permission, not EVER, to place their hands on me or any of my workers for any reason. No one has permission to touch my truck, trailer, or any of my machines, also I am in no way forced to complete an order especially while my safety is in clearly in jeopardy at the hands of an intoxicated individual who is clearly a threat. Historically, even as a top provider, I have found that my contract does not stand behind or support me as a contractor, my time, my machines, my efforts are completely expendable, and apparently my safety doesn't matter as well. They pulled my work orders "pending an investigation" I should have called the police then, I know, but I was being assaulted I could only run away. Should I call the police or let it go????? I do not want to press charges, nothing is broken. I just want to mow grass and for this to all go away. Will filing a police report get me into trouble for defending myself with pepper spray?

Answer:
 No one but *you* can tell you whether or not *you* should call the police.  Sounds like nothing was damaged that you're not willing to eat the cost of, and it sounds like you don't want this drunk getting in trouble with the law, so...

I would have called the police, but that's me, not you.


Title: Property manager just gave me a verbal eviction notice.

Question: My property manager came into our apartment today and told us we were being evicted. She did not hand us a legal letter of intent or even a post-it note saying this. She informed us verbally and then left. What action should we take? I live in NYS, paying month-to-month rent.

Answer: A verbal eviction, like calling a tenant and telling them to leave your property, for example, is not a legal avenue to evict someone. Take no action till the legal avenues to eviction are followed. You did not include you state so I can't link the legal eviction procedure, but it includes a properly served written notice.


Title: [OR] Is it illegal to place my neighbors dog poop in their yard after they let their dog go in my yard?

Question:
Bend, Oregon

This has been an ongoing problem. We've spoken to the landlord, and asked the tenants to please not let their dog do this in our yard because we have small children that play out front. They said ok,and then went right back to doing it.  So because we have small kids that pay in the yard, every morning, my sister goes out to check the yard before letting them out, and cleans it up if she sees any. We've just been putting it in the neighbors yard, or, when she has her car parked in her grass  (crazy neighbor can't drive at all), we've set it off to the side on her driveway.

Is this wrong? Are we doing something illegal by putting it back into her yard?

*edit* My sister has spoken with the landlord and told them that we are installing cameras, and they informed us that the neighbors are now seeking criminal charges for my sister putting the poop in their yard. So now I guess I need to know if there really are criminal charges that can be taken against us for this?

As of right now, the kids are no longer allowed to play together anymore.

Answer: Put bacon grease on it.  Next time the dog comes in the yard to poop he will eat the last one.


Title: Could you sue a Video Game company for significantly changing a game after purchase?

Question:
First of all, I have absolutely no intention of ever doing this. But I'm curious, if when you buy a game and the company later patches it significantly enough that the original reason you purchased is no longer available to you, could you sue for the price of the game?

It seems analogous to a company breaking your product after you purchasing it, like it flies in the face of the idea of ownership.

Suppose I'm in NY if its relevant.

Answer: It is unlikely you'd have any semblance of a successful claim against them in the situation you described.


Title: I recently bought a house, the neighbors stated my driveway goes about a foot onto their property. What do I need to do to ensure I don’t lose my third stall someday?(Minnesota)

Question:
I recently bought a house in Minnesota. Having a third stall on the side of my garage was a priority and continues to be one. I spoke with my neighbors one day who told me they gave the previous homeowners verbal permission to have the third stall put in on their property, as city code required a certain width for paved spots on the side of garages. I would estimate it goes 6 inches into their property.

My concern is while me current neighbors are great, if they move and the new buyers do a survey, could they make me tear up my driveway? I’m worried then that I would be out of code on that third stall.

Is there a way to have the neighbors sign an agreement or even buy that land?  It is certainly less than 10 square feet.

Answer:
 > Is there a way to have the neighbors sign an agreement or even buy that land? It is certainly less than 10 square feet.

Probably the thing you want here is called and "easement". That is a legally registered agreement permitting one party (or the owner of a certain property) to make a certain kind of use of another property.

If your neighbors are willing, you can certainly find a real estate lawyer willing to help you draw up an agreement to create an easement. Expect to pay the lawyer and to pay your neighbor something for it as well.Answer #2: I would want to get a survey done before you take your neighbors' word for where the property line is.Answer #3: What we did, was a simple exchange... we swapped equal parts of our land for theirs as the property lines were weird.

It involved a fairly significant expense ( lawyer, surveyors, county filings) but that’s the price for peace of mindAnswer #4: Did you know about the encroachment before you closed on the house? Was there a survey done?

If the encroachment is not listed as an exception on your title insurance policy, take a look at the policy to see if it excludes coverage for encroachments. If there's no exclusion, make a claim sooner rather than later. You are generally required to promptly notify any insurer of known or potential claims.


Title: [MI] Landlord wants me to fill out application for renting AFTER signing the lease

Question:
I'll have more questions later about this landlord, as he seems to be rather slack with following rental laws in place in Michigan, but for now, since it is the most time-sensitive, I wanted to ask about this first.

I signed the lease on 10/31 for my occupancy to officially begin on 11/1.  I moved in with an existing tenant, so the lease was amended and signed by all parties on 10/31.  The landlord sent me, and is requesting that I fill out, an application to rent "for his records."  He did not ask me to fill out any application prior to the lease being signed.  As far as I'm aware, if I've already entered into a lease agreement, there is nothing the application really DOES, since it is typically used for landlords to decide whether to let to a person in the first place.

1.  Am I required by any law to fill out this application?
2.  Am I required by law to provide any or all information requested?

I couldn't find anything about a situation like this by searching, but maybe I suck at that!

Answer:
 1. No. But is there a reason that you are opposed to it? Once again, legally speaking, you don't have to, but a happy LL is a generally a good thing.

2. No.


Title: [IL] How illegal is it to go out in the country and shoot my shotgun for the hell of it?

Question:
I live in a small town, own a shotgun, have a FOID card etc. Sometimes I go shooting with friends on private property that belongs to one of them. I don't really want to bug him, but I'd like to go shoot my gun into the air for the hell of it. Say I went out into the country, surrounded by cornfields and shot off my shotgun on the side of the road with no one within ~1/2 a mile. Is this illegal?

Addendum: Is it legal to drive a motorcycle with the gun strapped on my back in a case? I asked the local PD and he said it was legal, but I don't know if I trust his knowledge.

Answer:
 That is a horribly irresponsible thing to do. What goes up must come down. How do you know nobody is within range of where it could land. You're there. Why couldn't someone else be?

If you want shoot guns do it responsibly, at a target, with a proper backstop. Don't give the rest of us who don't put lives in danger on purpose a bad name.


Title: What does a customer have to do to be kicked out of a restaurant?

Question:
I serve at a bar/restaurant in New York where the prices of food and drinks are low and the kitchen is open very late. This therefore brings in a pretty vicious crowd. I put up with most things, including rude and snotty people because that comes with the job, but there are many scenarios where I have felt threatened and genuinely scared. I'm honestly not just being soft, I've been in this industry for seven years. I'm just wondering where the legal line is as to when I can refuse service.

I've tried refusing service to customers who have screamed at me that their food was taking too long (for the record, they waited the amount of time it took for me to put in their order and run their drinks over) and told me to cancel the order because I'm too stupid and to get out of their face, but the manager dealt with the situation by finishing the table. They were there for the next hour and a half and screamed across the dining room at me every time I walked into the dining room as I was checking on my other tables, and a couple of them followed me around the dining room and to the bar area harassing me. I tried to refuse service to another group of people who tried to refuse paying a mandatory gratuity (they were told ahead of time, and it is clearly stated in the menu) and then screamed across the dining room at me as I was talking to another table. I told them that they needed to be respectful or I wouldn't continue serving them and they went on to yell at me more. Then they sat at a different table and told the bar manager they had been waiting an hour for service and no one came over. So, he had another waitress serve them. I still tried to get them kicked out, but the bar manager said its easier just to give them what they wanted than have to deal with them complaining to the owner.

What are my rights in these types of scenarios? I don't think the owner wants to enforce strict rules protecting the employees because these verbally abusive people make up the majority of his sales. I just want to have a better idea of what I can do to protect myself against the clientele and if the owner comes down on me for drawing a line between whats acceptable and what's not.

Answer:
 >  if the owner comes down on me for drawing a line between whats acceptable and what's not.

The owner gets to decide what's acceptable in his restaurant. If you do not find it acceptable, which certainly seems understandable, you can decide to work elsewhere.


Title: I received a Cease and Desist letter from an Amazon seller. (Oklahoma)

Question:
Several months ago, I purchased a bark collar for my dog. I ended up never even taking it out of the box, so I decided to resell it through my Amazon seller account.

For those familiar with Amazon, you may have noticed at the bottom of the right sidebar on an item's page it will say "Have one to sell?" and a button that says "Sell on Amazon". This product didn't have that option, so I created a new listing and published it. This was about  a week ago.

Today, I received [this email.](http://imgur.com/MHGxfJY) I'm almost 100% sure this is BS as I can find no listing for a law firm of that name, nor an individual attorney of that name. Also, the mailing address is the same as this company's HQ and not a law firm.

I went ahead and inactivated the listing and replied to the email stating that I have done so.

Am I in the clear? Is it really necessary to sign and return this low rent cut and paste "legal" agreement?
Topic:
Removed - PII

Answer:
 It's a scare tactic.  Companies can't stop you from selling someone you bought from them.Answer #2: Even if copyright law protected 'bark collars', the [first sale doctrine](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine) protects your right to resell the item you purchased.Answer #3: This seems ~~bonus~~ **bogus** on a few more levels besides "no listing for a law firm of that name, nor an individual attorney of that name. Also, the mailing address is the same as this company's HQ and not a law firm."

1.  Even if you were selling a knock-off as their name instead of calling it a jakeblues bark collar that is a trademark violation not a copyright violation.

2.  Even if you were selling a knock off of their product under your own name but were using their patents that would be patent infringement not copyright violations

3.  They mention ebay closing your account when you listed on amazon.  They don't even know what they're responding to.

4.  This is a nitpick and maybe I'm off base but I always think of "To whom it may concern" as more of a public notice whereas I would expect the type of letter you received to be a "Dear Sir or Madam" or something like that.

There is one way you could be violating copyright law that I can think of actually.  If you copy-pasted their marketing pictures as opposed to using your own freshly taken pictures that could potentially be copyright infringement.  That being said, if I'm not mistaken Amazon doesn't let you choose pictures like Ebay does so if that's the case I think you're good to go.

To answer your question, I would not sign the form or communicate with them further.

I would contact Amazon and let them know that there are sellers sending fake legal threats though.


Title: Is it legal for public schools to auction parking spaces? (US - California)

Question: My kids elementary school has insufficient parking for parents dropping off their kids (around 25 visitor spots are available for use) yet has auctioned off 3 year long spaces in a silent auction. Seeing as it is a public school, I am wondering if this practice is legal, as it is extremely infuriating to see someone drive out of a spot and put a traffic cone in the spot, while other parents drive around trying to find a spot.

Answer:
 There is no law preventing a public school from managing their parking lot as they see fit.  Including providing parking spots for specific uses and preventing others from using them.

You're welcome to discuss your concerns about this practice with the local administration or the school board.  Answer #2: I am not a lawyer, but Googling seems to show that it's based entirely on the school district and it's policies. I don't think it's illegal. If you were forced to pay for parking in order for your child to attend, that would be illegal, but a voluntary auction seems to be okay.

[Source](https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/sf/title5regs.asp)


Title: Are schools allowed to view what websites you go on while connected to the school's wifi?

Question:
[deleted]
Topic:
Computer and Internet

Answer: Yes.  They own the network so your access is conditional on accepting their terms.  Thus, you have no privacy.


Title: My wife was scammed while I am out of town

Question: As stated above, my wife was scammed while I am away for business. She received a call from an individual who identified himself as a Baldwin County Sherrif’s Deputy Harris. This individual told her that she in contempt of court for failure to appear for jury duty, and that if she didn’t come right away to the courthouse (approx 50 miles away) with $1,800, she was going to be arrested and tossed in jail. She panicked and hurried to the courthouse. While on the way this individual told her that she would need to to send the money electronically, with the most efficient way of doing that being Walmart gift cards. Keep in mind that my wife was still in panic mode. She gets four gift cards - three with $500 on them, and one with $300 on them, and tells him the info for the cards. Luckily, a fast-thinking cashier heard what was going on and told her that she was just scammed. One of the $500 cards was already used by the scammer, but with the other three cards my wife and the cashier went and bought some huge TVs them immediately returned them, so that she could get the cash from the cards before the scammer could get his hands on the rest.  My wife went to the police, however, the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, as well as our local police both said there’s nothing they can do. I tried to call the FBI, but I not having any luck getting anyone to answer my call.  Does anyone else have any idea what we can do? Right now I am livid, and it’s worse because I am on the road, and feel like I’m failing my family for not being there right now.

Answer: Your wife should send that cashier a gift since she saved her 1300$. Realistically you can't do anuthign ebyond contacting the police and you're not going to see that 500$ again. Answer #2: The chances of getting the money back is pretty slim. Probably zero, in fact. You should have a long talk with your wife about why she would think any legitimate authority would want to be paid in Walmart gift cards.


Title: Vet gave the wrong prescription and killed my dog

Question:
My dog has a history of seizures. He is on potassium bromide. The vet wrote his prescription for potassium chloride, which is used for low potassium levels, but is also he medicine that they give prisoners on death row to stop their heart. The amount she wrote, which was not caught by or seen as an error by the pharmacist, was filled and administered. My dog then had an hour long seizure, suffered intracranial swelling, and died as a result.

My question is what action can be taken against this vet. If this was a doctor they would lose their license for such an egregious error.  I found stories online if this essentially being brushed aside as no big deal because pets are considered property. I want to make sure this doesn't happen.

Location: TN, USA

Answer:
 You can make a complaint to the vet licensing authority in your jurisdictionAnswer #2: You could file a small claims action against them for the value of the dog. Dogs are personal property. Also, speak to the board who licenses them as mentioned above. Answer #3: Here's the vet licensing agency in Tennessee: http://tn.gov/health/topic/vet-board

You can complain to them and see if they take action against him.  But you don't have much of a legal case.  At the most, you could get fair market value of the dog.


Title: Fair Housing Act, HUD help regarding service animal and disablity discrimination.

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Ok, a couple things here...

1) An ESA is not a service animal.

2) Do you have a note from a health care provider prescribing an ESA for you?

3) Those ESA registries are scams and useless.

4) Just because you have a need for an ESA does not mean you can hide your animal from your landlord and expect to get away with it.