Title: If a child got frostbite waiting for the bus this morning (school district didn't cancel school; windchill is -25 F), would you be able to sue the school district? No intentions of doing so, just curious.

Question: Naperville, Illinois (outside of Chicago).  A bunch of kids in my Calculus class are really salty they didn't cancel school and are saying that we should "sue the school district", etc.

Answer:
 No.  The school didn't force your kid outside way too early to wait for the bus; nor did the school under-dress your child.  Answer #2: Umm, Most likely the parents would face a criminal investigation. I grew up in the cold snow in the upper mid-west and we had warm jackets, boots and gloves we wore walking to school or waiting for the bus. Answer #3: Jesus, snowflake. Back in my day we walked to school buck-ass naked uphill both ways in neck high snow with broken beer bottles as shoes with packs of wild coyotes chasing us.  AND WE LIKED IT.    I also live in Illinois btw, last year was brutal.  We have been damn lucky with only one major storm this winter.  Answer #4: Well, you could sue. But unless I am missing some essential details, it is hard to construct an argument in which it would be the school's responsibility.

It is the parent's responsibility to ensure the child is appropriately dressed, the parent's responsibility to get the child to the bus safely, and the school has a pretty low level of responsibility for getting kids to the bus stop appropriately clothed and safe.

Some people live in places where it is extremely cold on a daily basis, and they ensure their children are dressed appropriately on a daily basis.

That being said, maybe there is some reason that the school would be responsible that I am not grasping. Is there something specific that you are thinking of that would make that a case of school negligence and not parental neglect?


Title: I was ticketed in a speed trap in Nevada

Question:
Leaving a small Nevada town, I turned onto the highway where the speed limit is 70. As I was accelerating, I saw a sign indicating that the limit was still 35 so I slowed down -- only not soon enough. There was a cop by the side of the road who quickly pulled out and ticketed me for going 45.

I know I was in violation of the posted limit, but not intentionally, and when I saw the I was speeding I tried slowing down. The area was clearly a speed trap -- why else was the officer there by the road? Is there anything I can do to increase the likelihood of getting my ticket dismissed?

TL/DR: What's the best way to get a minor speeding ticket thrown out?

Answer:
 The best way to get it thrown out is to present evidence that you weren't speeding.

In this case, you seem to be using the term "speed trap" to mean "they were watching for people breaking the law."

That's not a thing that gets you out of a ticket.


Title: I booked travel accommodations through BookIt. I am being told that what I initially paid for was improperly marketed and to "live with it."

Question:
I am living in Colorado, United States.  My fiancee and I booked travel plans for our honeymoon through BookIt, a popular third-party booking agency.  When we booked, we were offered a 7-night honeymoon package at a resort in Costa Rica.  We took this offer and paid for this up front.

We just received word from the hotel that we do not have a honeymoon package booked nor do we have the room that we originally paid for.  My fiancee has been in contact with BookIt multiple times in the past few months for multiple issues.  After confronting the agency about the room issues, she was refunded money that we were originally told could not be refunded for the rental car.  BookIt's final word on the honeymoon package error was that there was a mistake on the representative's part during booking, and that the ad was improperly marketed.  We pushed harder and harder, until the manager told us that we should not have been offered what we paid for and that there is nothing that can be done.  "You need to just live with it," was a direct quotation from the manager.

I am interested in knowing if there is any legal recourse here.  We have all of our receipts showing what we initially paid for and what we are receiving.

Edit: I realize that I wrote the original post poorly. We were not reimbursed for the hotel room, we were reimbursed for the rental car. The importance was that we were told that we would have to eat the money for the car originally, and this only changed when the company looked into our hotel/honeymoon package mistake.

Answer: If you have received a full refund than you have no damages. Sucks but write a bad review and find a more reputable vendor.


Title: What are your legal opinions on the validity of blogs like this one?

Answer:
 It seems like an entertaining way to explain some legal fundamentals to laypeople.

But laws differ greatly from state to state, and nobody should rely on it in deciding how to act or not act, and it's certainly no substitute for either a real legal education or a lawyer.


Title: I purchased some concert tickets from a guy over Facebook. Money sent. Over a month later and tickets have not be sent. Now the guy won't reply to my messaged. Do I contact the police now? Please help.

Question:
I posted on an events page on Facebook looking for tickets. Someone responded quickly saying there were selling two tickets. After we agreed the price, I sent the money over. A month later and he still have not sent the tickets over and now will not respond to my messaged. After speaking to ticketmaster, it appears this guy doesn't have an account with them and lied to me when he said he was getting in contact with the resale team at ticketmaster. He even sent a screenshot of a forged he received from ticketmaster. What should I do? Contact the police? UK
Topic:
Criminal Law

Answer:
 You were scammed. Money is gone. Guy never had tickets. Answer #2: Well, that was kind of dumb.

You can certainly contact the police. The odds of that Facebook profile belonging to the actual scammer are incredibly low; as are the odds of you ever getting your money back. It's much more likely that it's a fake or cracked profile that was discarded as soon as they got your money.

Ticket reselling is an area ripe for fakes and scams; so it's not something where most people just blindly send the money without verifying the goods first; or using some kind of escrow service.


Title: Airbnb and compliance with seven day rental requirement in upstate NY (not NYC)

Question:
I rent a vacation cottage that has been in the family for 50 years. No issues, dozens of 5 star reviews. Now the town is starting to enforce regulations due to a few bad apples and some vocal hotel owners that feel threatened.

So town law states I'm exempt from commercial "tourist accommodation" rules. They apply only for "single-family dwellings when such dwellings are available for rental and/or rented on a short-term basis of less than seven days on any occasion." So basically they require seven day rentals or make renting a home like a hotel (with sprinklers, someone on site 24/7, etc.).

The issue: When I put a seven day minimum on Airbnb my rental requests drop to nothing. Zero. It's just how the local market works. If your advice is to deal with it please just move on to the next post.

My questions:

1. If someone stays a few days, and the rental is empty the remainder of the "seven days", could that be considered "rented for seven days"? Can they reasonably expect to force people to physically occupy the premises for all seven days? I could write contracts such that all rentals are officially for seven days, regardless of occupancy status. Could even write these seven day contracts despite having actual overlapping occupancy dates if I wanted to push it.

2. How would the town even know if it's my friend or my Uncle Joe staying there versus a "rental" anyways? Do they have the right to audit my finances? Or get records from Airbnb? Or would I just be notified, fined and presumed guilty until I proved otherwise? And a new plot twist: airbnb is now in talks with the town (!) to eventually ensure a new tax is collected and town rules are followed. If so I'll do weeks only but the overall issue of town over-reach remains - it won't stop here.

Bottom line: the town is catering to their hotel owner buddies to stop ALL airbnb activity, this is only step one and I want to be prepared when they 1. move the minimum to 30 days (or longer) OR 2. decide to treat airbnb as a commercial business and regulate all airbnb out of business through compliance with a multitude of requirements.

Answer:
 1. No.

2. The only real methods to stop regulatory "town over-reach" of this sort are political, like help people get elected who favour different rules.


Title: What does it legally mean to "intend to temporarily deprive"?

Question:
Suppose I see a dog chained up outside a store on a public sidewalk. I decide that dog looks sad and so I take him for a short walk before bringing him back to where I found him.

[Reading this law in the state of Virginia](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title18.2/chapter5/section18.2-102/) I see the following:

> Any person who shall take, drive or use any animal, aircraft, vehicle, boat or vessel, not his own, without the consent of the owner thereof and in the absence of the owner, and with intent temporarily to deprive the owner thereof of his possession thereof

In this scenario, my intention is to cheer up a sad dog, with no thought given to the owner. While this might *entail* temporarily depriving the owner of possession of the dog, my actual intention was different. Would I therefore not be guilty under this law?

And additionally, am I actually depriving the owner of property that they have left tied to a post outside in the first place?

Answer:
 You don't need to specifically intend to break the law, you only need to intend to perform the actions, and you're willing to admit you intended to take the dog for a short walk, and that you were acting without the owner's permission. There's no credible way to construe that as anything other than intention to temporarily deprive the owner of their dog, even if you frame your goals against the animal's welfare.

You are actually taking their dog from them by removing it from the post and walking off with it, yes.


Title: Outside weather conditions with job

Question:
My work requires me to be outside for 7 hours and we still go out no matter the weather conditions (below freezing). We aren’t given anything that allows us to stay warm and we are mostly stationary the whole day. Next week will be even colder perhaps in the negatives. I am in IL.
Do I smell a lawsuit or am I talking cray cray?

Answer: Wear warm clothes.


Title: [Kansas] My Significant Other would like to move in with me. My lease says I can't have anybody else living with me. What would happen if we got caught?

Question:
The title is the TL;DR.

My significant other has a rude roommate that keeps being a nuisance. The significant other works early mornings starting at 6am, and has night classes as well. She does her homework before and after her night classes and goes straight to bed. Her roommate is a bum that keeps playing music throughout the day, slams doors, and consistently wakes up my significant other in the middle of the night while loudly playing video games. She talked to her roommate of course, but they haven't stopped. She talked to her landlord, but because her roommate isn't breaking anything in contract her landlord won't help her. The landlord did say she could move out if she could find a replacement for her lease, but we have been looking and have received no offers over the past month.

She wants to move in with me and just wait out the contract, however my contract says I can't have any other residents in my apartment without their knowledge. I've hinted at this idea before to my landlord, but they said they'll raise the rent by $100 if I have somebody move in with me. My sign other can't afford to pay her rent and help me split my rent, likewise I don't want to carry the new fee all by myself. We're thinking about just moving her in and hope that he doesn't find out. So, what could happen if I have a resident stay with me if I'm not on the lease?

Edit: Thanks guys for the responses.

Answer: You'd get evicted. To violate a lease  is to get evicted. Answer #2: You would get evicted, which would make it hard for you to find a new place. On top of he could sue you for the extra cost of having her there. Your best bet would be to just tell the landlord, sign something and move her in, and have her go ahead and look for someone to take over her lease. Or only charge her the extra 100 a month that your rent would go up until she finds someone else for her lease. Answer #3: Notify landlord, have gf move in, have her pay the extra 100.Answer #4: Dumb question: can your significant other afford to pay the $100 extra while they wait for their lease to expire. Then start paying half afterward?Answer #5: Yeah that's a horrible idea.  You did the right thing asking about this before running into problems.  Don't risk your own eviction just to resolve your gf non legal issue.


Title: Overheard local probation officers and lawyers discussing the sitting judge has gone a bit senile and should have retired already...

Question:
So in my town, I used to know some people that were probation officers and while at the courthouse for a traffic ticket I was overhearing a conversation going on. The conversation being that the sitting judge is a day to day never know what you're going to get and has gone a bit senile over the years. They discussed he's been harsh on people that don't deserve it more and more mad made it easier for the state to get away with not providing much to get a prosecution. Their words saying basically he's screwing people dude to just getting old, cranky, not being connected to today's world, etc... Now, they all like the guy, and he used to be a fair and solid judge, but they have noticed the worries. I sort of mentioned this to my dad's wife's friends that happen to still be active lawyer/paralegal atm.

Just wondering how that situation plays out? I'm assuming it's just a faux pas to report such a thing, but isn't it technically a duty? I know the prosecutors don't mind it, it tends to help them, but where is the oversight? I've seen what they were talking about just based on logic watching him let a woman off with a slap on the wrist after putting her toddler and 7 month old baby in danger(the story had the whole courtroom audibly angry) then slamming a kid because their car broke down and ran off the road.

This is just a curiosity as I was talking to my stepmom's friends today about it and they seemed pretty concerned and not surprised, especially since they have to deal with him a lot and were surprised to hear it was a thing being discussed, but not necessarily surprised by several of the actions they've experienced.

Again, the man was a pretty fair and solid judge for years, just recently he's been a bit out of touch but I think because he was so good for so long people have just been letting it continue hoping he'll retire before it gets too bad and because it's still a day to day thing on which one of him you get.

Answer:
 Nearly impossible to remove a sitting judge.Answer #2: I'm not sure what it takes. We had a judge whose daughter drove drunk and ran off the road and died and he was a great judge as long as you went before him for anything but a DUI. If you were accused of a DUI, he suddenly turned into an Inquisitor from Warhammer. Accusation was proof of guilt, and by God he was going to teach you a lesson by raining punishment down on you.

AFAIK he just ended up retiring eventually after being like that for about fifteen years.

So apparently "Hoping he'll retire before he gets too crazy" is the way it goes.Answer #3: Welllll, there IS a code of judicial conduct and it applies directly and only to judges. Your state's Commission on Judicial Disabilities (or whatever your local version is called) will accept and investigate reports about a judge's ability to act in accordance with the CJC. (I would just google "\[state\] judicial misconduct complaint" and something useful should appear). Reports can include potential health issues that are affecting the judge's abilities as a neutral arbiter. Here's the list from my state's website for potentially reportable disabilities:

Disability means a judge’s “mental or physical disability that: seriously interferes with the performance of a judge’s duties and is, or is likely to become permanent.”

Examples of a judge’s physical or mental disability that may constitute disability: alcohol or drug abuse; senility; physical illness; mental illness.

Hope this helps, good luck.Answer #4: Judge in my hometown is a notorious alcoholic. Removing him would be impossible. 🤷♀


Title: Thinking of pursuing a class action lawsuit against a federal government agency. If I lose, is there a chance I could be on the hook for legal fees?

Question:
Location: Oregon, USA

I heard that some people that lose class action lawsuits have to pay the defendant’s legal fees. Also, if true, why do lawyers get so much more from settlements in class action cases than the lead plaintiffs? Sounds like the lead plaintiff has the most to lose.

Topic:
Consumer Law

Answer:
 Whoa there nellie.

You can't pursue a class action against anyone.  All you can do is find a lawyer, who is the only person to decide if they think there might be a class claim.  Against a government agency?  It's pretty unlikely.


Title: GF broke up with me, we just bought a house, what to do?

Question:
My girlfriend and I just bought a house in April of this year, last week she decided she didn't want to be with me anymore. We both want the house and I'm not sure if it's worth fighting for, or just selling. Looking to find out what my options are. She has moved out and has said she will pay half the mortgage and utilities until we figure it out.

The house was 210,000, she put down 35,000, I put 7000 on the down payment. The house appraised for 226,000. Since we moved in, I've paid the mortgage and most of the bills. This was the agreement we made since she had saved enough to make the larger part of the down payment, but needed my credit, and didn't have enough income to pay for it alone.

As most break ups go, there have been ups and downs, today it got bad, she told me she's just waiting for me to move out so she can buy me out. What am I entitled to if this happens? I don't think she can afford the home alone, she doesn't have enough yearly income.

I've heard that what was put down as down payments doesn't matter in the sale of the home. Whatever the profit is, I'm entitled to half? Is there a way for her to just buy me out without reselling the home? Or am I looking at going through the whole home selling process all over again?

I appreciate any response and advice you guys have for me, thank you in advance.

I'm in Chicago, IL.

Answer:
 One of you can buy the other out for whatever you negotiate between the two of you. Whoever is selling should make sure that the other party refinances the home though, otherwise the person selling will still be on the hook for the mortgage payment if the other person doesn't pay. Talk to a lawyer to make sure this is all done properly. Answer #2: Yeah the only option is for one of you to buy the other out and if that happens, make sure your name is off EVERYTHING. Treat this as a sale to the other party just like you would a sale to a person off the street.

The other way is to actually sell to a person off the street and share the more than likely losses you're going to take on that. Unless you're in an absolutely insane real estate market, there's no way you're not going to lose money selling a house you bought 5 months ago.

You'll be lucky to break even and this is going to be complex and difficult. The very expensive lesson is don't buy property with someone else unless (1) you're married, or (2) you are buying it through a regulated corporate structure like an LLC.

Reddit is consistently posting about how marriage is outdated, etc., but those legal property disposition rules would have provided some guidance here. Answer #3: If she can refinance it into her name alone, she should do that then agree to buy you out.

Otherwise just sell the damn thing and "split" the profit along a fair (to both of you) line.


Title: OR - Roommate refused to bring me a key to our apartment when my keys were stolen. Can I sue her for the locksmith cost?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Why didn't you just crash at your friends house and go home when she was home the next day?  Answer #2: >Did she, as the only person who had a key and had the ability to help me, have a duty to do so that she breached?

No, she did not have a duty to you in the first place. And unfortunately whether or not you believe she had adquate reason to refuse to help you is also irrelevant. Answer #3: Nope. Not her problem.


Title: Can I be turned down for a in-company transfer because my manager didnt tell my VP?

Question: I put in for a transfer to another branch. I got the interview and was told to tell my manager and VP. I told my manager and told them to relay the message to the VP because I figured I didnt want to go over their head. Anyway, I interviewed and they offered me the position. Turns out my manager didnt tell my VP and is saying I didnt tell them to relay the message. HR is now saying they may block the transfer because of this. Is this legal or what can I do? This is in New York and transferring to Colorado.

Answer:
 >I got the interview and was told to tell my manager and VP

Why didn't you follow instructions and inform the VP?

Either way no legal issue.


Title: Does my boss have to see my medical history?

Question:
I recently started a new job and I’m filling out the insurance paperwork right now. It is a small company so no HR department this paper work is going straight to my boss. The application for insurance is asking for medical history. Specifically what medications I take and for what reason. I do not want my boss to see this information. Am I going to get in trouble with the insurance company if I do not disclose this information and then immediately need them to approve my medications? One of my medications that is $1,500/month and every insurance company I’ve ever had has tried to get out of paying for it so I’m worried if I don’t put it on this form they might have a good reason not to cover it.

Thank you.

Answer:
 > Am I going to get in trouble with the insurance company if I do not disclose this information and then immediately need them to approve my medications?

Yeah.  Lying on an application is going to get your policy cancelled and could potentially get you charged with a crime.

You can talk to the company about your concerns but you should never, ever ever lie. Answer #2: You forgot to put a location


Title: Changed locks illegally. How can he get evicted?

Question:
Posting for a non-redditor friend of mine. She moved in with a boyfriend into a new apartment very quickly into a relationship- surprisingly /s he went a little nuts a couple of nights ago, tried to let her cats out, broke some of her stuff, made her fear for her life and then she locked herself in the bedroom. She got out, took the cats, and came back to the locks changed.

They’re both on the lease but every rent receipt has been made out to her. It’s mostly her stuff in the apartment, and she has very strong community ties when he has none.

She had a police escort to help her get some stuff out and he said he couldn’t do anything and advised her to stay out of the house!

The landlord said “they needed to work it out.”

What recourse does she have?

Answer:
 Tell the landlord either she gets access to her apartment or she is suing him for an illegal eviction.

She can also seek a restraining order against the boyfriend.  IIRC New York will allow you out of the lease if you're a victim of domestic violence.


Title: My employer has violated our contract but I am afraid to quit as I don't have money for an attorney should they pursue legal action. (Indianapolis, IN)

Question:
I am a Pilates instructor in Indiana and work as an independent contractor. I work one day a week in another city and four days a week where I live, Indianapolis.

The contract I have with Studio A, as we'll call it, is fairly basic. I will not solicit their clients. I will not work or be affiliated with anyone who operates within ten miles of their business (which is a huge scope- basically I can't work anywhere else in Indy). I will respect the non-compete clause during my engagement with them and for a year after.

It also details that they acknowledge that I am not an employee, as this is a major distinction for tax purposes. It also means that they cannot tell me how to do the contracted work, only that I must complete it as agreed. I have 2.5 more years on this contract.

Unfortunately for me I quickly found out that they like to call me an independent contractor for tax purposes while trying to control me like an employee. They didn't like how I dressed so they enacted  dress code. I must teach one hour a week for them for free. When I refused to teach two, they said I wasn't a team player. We have "required" meetings (unpaid) and reviews on how we are performing. Etc., etc.

I have brought this up to the business manager. She seemed surprised that I understood the difference between an IC and employee (I am young but have been doing this for nearly seven years). She acknowledged the issue but it was never addressed.

I want to leave as I have a job offer at Studio B, which has two locations. One location is near me on the southside, outside of the scope of my non-compete, but the second location is within the scope. Even though they are the party who violated the contract, I am afraid they will pursue legal action against me for teaching elsewhere as I am a very popular teacher. I have no idea how to proceed. The work environment is extremely hostile and stressful, and I just want out.

I am also afraid if I stand my ground on what the contract says, they ill stop booking clients with me, essentially getting rid of me without having to fire me.

ETA: Studio A pays me a percentage. I earn 40% of whatever the hour session was charged.

Answer:
 There is a fairly easy out here. Unless your contract says it, you don't have to work for free. Send them an invoice for all those free hours you worked. If they don't pay, they've breached.Answer #2: It seems pretty cut and dry that your employers are acting in bad faith, and not treating you like an independent contractor even though that's what you're classified as.

Contact an employment lawyer and see if you can have a free consultation.  You could find a lawyer willing to handle this for free or on contingency, meaning you pay him if you win.Answer #3: > I have brought this up to the business manager. She seemed surprised that I understood the difference between an IC and employee (I am young but have been doing this for nearly seven years). She acknowledged the issue but it was never addressed.

Sounds like you have an easy out here: Most low-income people don't understand the distinction between IC and employee, and the business manager is banking on this. It saves her a shitload of money, for which she'd be on the hook (plus penalties, usually) if the IRS came knocking. Ask her to, in writing, let you out of your non-compete, lest you accidentally explain the difference to all her other instructors and show them how to fill [this](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss8.pdf) out.


Title: [TX] Is this illegal workplace discrimination and can I report it as just a witness?

Question:
I work in an office with 25 employees, as part of a larger company with several hundred employees. I witnessed our supervisor telling our bilingual employees that they are not allowed to speak their native languages among themselves(not that it matters, but the languages are Hindi and Spanish). The reason this was brought up was because some of the old biddies in the office seem to think that anytime someone is talking in a way that they can't hear(whispers or other languages) that the speakers *must* be talking bad about them. The bilingual coworkers are a mixture of both US citizens who were raised by parents who didn't speak English, and permanent residents born in other countries. Most of the time they are only speaking other languages as friendly chatting, however on occasion an employee may not understand a word or phrase used in English and another coworker will explain it to them in way they understand in their native language.

I am not bilingual, so the discrimination doesn't affect me, but if there anything I can do about it? Most of the ladies are very submissive and not the type to file complaints. However, if I can do so on their behalf I would be more than happy to, because I feel its wrong to tell them they can't speak any language other than English.

Answer:
 >English-Only Rule.

>An employer may require employees to speak only English at all times on the job if the employer meets all of these requirements:

>Shows that speaking only English is necessary for conducting business
Tells all employees when they must speak English
Tells all employees the consequences for violating the rule
If an employer makes negative employment decisions based on an employee breaking an English-only rule, it may be discrimination unless all of three conditions are met.


Title: [Arizona] I have paid 700 dollar towards a 1000 dollar propane bill and just received a summons to go to court because the propane company wants to sue me for another 1000 dollars

Question: Back in 2015 my grandfather and I had a propane account in both of our names. He passed away in October, and I was unable to pay the last bill of 600 dollars by myself. Me and my three children’s only income is my disabled daughters SSI benefit of 740 dollars per month. Fast forward to November of 2017, and the propane company serves me and is suing for 1000 dollars. The constable tells me if I can’t pay it, then he can remove my personal items to pay the debt. I start bawling so he offers to wave his constable fee. I call the propane and beg them to set up payment arrangements to avoid going to court. I can only afford 50 dollars per month. They agree and I start paying them. Well about 6 months into paying them, they go ahead with the judgement against me, and say it’s an accident. I keep paying and finally in November of 2018, ask for a receipt because they’ve never provided me one. I get the receipt and besides having a set judgement against me, for 1000 dollars, (they refused to waive the constable fee) they’ve been charging me a 25 dollar a month finance charge. So after a year of payments only half of what I’ve paid has actually gone towards the debt. They manager refuses to stop charging me the finance charge, pretty much tells me to suck it up. I continue paying until February of 2019. My daughter is having serious complications with her kidneys and I cannot afford the payments because I need the money for gas to get her to specialist appointments. So I’m fully expecting that since I cannot pay that the constable will show up any day to take my car or belongings for the still 650 dollars they say I still owe. The constable comes today and serves me a notice that the propane company is suing me again, this time for another 1000 dollars through a court in a different county. They have the co defendant as my grandpa, but his last name is wrong, and he’s been dead for 4 years They say I owe 650 plus, court cost finance, and constable charges. Apparently they dropped their other suit against me, and are pursuing another case against me. I don’t know what to do. This is maddening. I cannot afford to keep paying them forever because they won’t stop charging me finance charges, and I’m back to where I started again, after paying them over 700 dollars. The original propane bill was less than that. That’s an entire month of income for me and my kids. Please, any advice you can give would be great. I’m so afraid that I’m going to lose my POS car over this, and its the only vehicle I have to get my daughter to her appointments. This is a nightmare.

Answer:
 I have a few questions before really being able to dive into it.

1. What, if anything, did you sign when you started the payment plan?

2. If you signed something, does it outline the $25 “finance charge”?

You mention SSI is your only income. The good news is, SSI benefits are not able to be garnished for this.

As an aside, is there a reason this is your only income? If you are able to work, even part time for minimum wage, the judge may look much more favorably on good faith efforts to satisfy the debt.

Finally, I do not know what, if any, other debts you have, but you may also be in a position where bankruptcy is a legitimate possibility to protect yourself and limited assets.


Title: [Hypothetical] [Indiana] If an item is on sale at a REALLY low price, does the store have to honor the price?

Question: A bottle of Jameson (normally 35.99) is priced at $2.99 at my local Kroger grocery store.  Must they honor this price?

Answer: No.  They may say that it was an error or fraud, if the label was deliberately swapped or modified by someone who was not authorized to do so.  However, if you purchase it, and complete the purchase, they cannot pull it back (unless the cashier is a buddy of yours and you are stealing.)


Title: Paypal mistake involving work bank account

Question:
located in oklahoma. I have a paypal account that had my former jobs bank info attached to it because I dealt with ebay sales and used my own personal account. I was fired from said job, a month later I paid some bills via paypal unaware that the bank info was still attached and since I apparently didnt have the funds in my personal bank account it pulled them from my former employers account. I was unaware of this tell they called me today about it.

Now that they found the mistake they are saying I've commited a federal offense and are threatening me with jail and everything saying I need to pay them plus some for their time.

I'm unsure on what to do as I just drained my bank account as my car burnt to the ground today. I'll be consulting with a lawyer ASAP but I'm unsure as they aren't willing to work anything out with me and just say pretty much money or jail.

Now also just a random add in on the situation, they had me working for them for almost 2 months and NEVER paid me. Pretty much to quote them when asked before this happened on that is "not my problem".

Answer:
 If you pulled money from their account, whether on purpose or on accident, you owe them the money.

They may very well report it as theft and you may have to answer to criminal charges. The fact that your PayPal account was tied to their bank for a legitimate reason is a good defense, but it's certainly not a 'get out of jail free' card. You could find yourself arrested well before you ever get a chance to use that defense.

Ultimately, I'd say it was your responsibility to remove their bank info from your PayPal account when you were terminated.

As far as the company never paying you, that's a separate issue. [Here's where to go](http://www.ok.gov/odol/Workforce_Protection/Wage_and_Hour_Services/index.html) to file a complaint about that ([fill out this form](http://www.ok.gov/odol/documents/Wage%20Claim%20Form.pdf)).


Title: The police are trying to make contact with me and it's likely to try to issue me a harassment warning based solely off an allegation. What do I do?

Question:
A short while ago the police just showed up at 1am at my parents' house and asked to speak with me. I do not live there, I do not live anywhere near there. I live in a different timezone in a different country, thousands of miles away. They still showed up at my parents' house to try to find me and speak with me, no call in advance, just a banging knock on the door at 1 in the morning to scare the shit out of my mom who was all alone in the house at the time. When she told them I wasn't there they gave her the police department phone number, and told her something along the lines of "he needs to call this number RIGHT NOW, tell him to call RIGHT NOW and GET IT OVER WITH." They would only tell her that they're "conducting an investigation and need to speak with me." Nothing about what it was about, but from the way they acted it sounds like I may be under suspicion in their investigation. My mom contacted my dad who was away on business at the time, they both have no idea how to deal with police so they both called me up scared and told me to just do what they say and call the number and ask for the officer. i did not. I am NOT speaking to the police without a lawyer, that's never smart. I have the name and badge number of the investigating officer, and based on the area and division, it seems to fit the location of residence of someone I used to see and had a bad falling out with. I don't want to go into details about the history of that, but it was a pretty bad falling out, but we remained in contact for a little while afterwards. Eventually I got sick of her nonsense and words were exchanged between us, and I took things out on her by saying the meanest things I could come up with through text message. She decided to stop me from contacting her by blocking on whatever platforms.

Now, months after the fact, the police bang their fists on my parents' door, not even realizing I am residing thousands of miles away in a different country. I believe it is her now pissed off at the "mean messages" I sent her, and eventually deciding to make an allegation to the police of illegal conduct. "Being mean" is not against the law, but she probably doesn't know, and the cops just want to find a way to construe this as "harassment", but likely do not have the evidence to do so. However, what I know about cases like this is that the police may make contact with the alleged offender and issue a verbal harassment warning which is then documented and kept as "evidence" in the event that something else comes up and they decide to arrest and charge.

This warning in and of itself is what I'm trying to avoid, since I know the police like to give these warnings with little to no investigation at all into the allegations, and somehow the issuing of the warning goes into their report as "the first piece of evidence." To me this looks like it amounts to a sort of punishment without a fair hearing. I understand that there is no claim of guilt by the police in the case of a harassment warning, but I want to avoid a warning altogether. ESPECIALLY since it is given without a proper investigation and is based solely on a complainant's baseless allegations. I also received an e-mail very recently from the investigating officer (probably found it with some search engine sleuthing), saying that he's been trying to get a hold of me, and to please call the number of the department, or reply to the e-mail with a phone number he can reach me at. (this is another odd thing, as I would have thought if it really is this person alleging harassment, she would have given them my number. The cops don't seem to have a phone number for me at all). I did not say a word of course. Unfortunately I'm not in the same timezone or even the same country, and it's very difficult for me to call up lawyers in that area. So I've asked my parents to try to make calls to a lawyer, and explain the situation as they knew it (all they know is that the cops banged on their door and demanded my whereabouts and to call a number to speak with them). The lawyer now wants me to call him and talk. I'm busy until at least tomorrow evening and the different timezone doesn't help. I also don't know what a proper means of contact would be since I'm so far away. A phone conversation seems risky to me, as would a Skype conversation. I'd ideally like to be in a closed room with the lawyer talking. But what can i do in this situation? In any case, if this is in fact a harassment allegation and they're trying to give me a baseless warning as a way to build evidence against me, the goal is to avoid even that. I likely will not be charged at this point which is a good thing, but at the same time I will NOT allow the police to coerce and intimidate me or my parents.

What am I to do? Have I done everything right so far? And what should future action be?

PLACE WHERE ALLEGATIONS TOOK PLACE: Canada, Eastern Timezone

PLACE WHERE I'M CURRENTLY RESIDING: United States, Pacific Timezone

That's all the information I'm willing to give regarding location.

Answer:
 You are making a whole lot of assumptions about what the police want to talk to you about. It could have nothing to do with this girl. The fact that they banged on your parents door at 1 am makes me think they may have something more serious in mind than a few nasty text messages.

Call your freaking lawyer. Skype or telephone is fine. What about this seems risky to you, exactly? You are too paranoid.

You should also pare down your description if you want people to read it. It was way too long, and most of it irrelevant. Answer #2: >This warning in and of itself is what I'm trying to avoid, since I know the police like to give these warnings with little to no investigation at all into the allegations, and somehow the issuing of the warning goes into their report as "the first piece of evidence."

What in the world are you talking about?  Warning you not to contact somebody is only ""the first piece of evidence" if you contact the other person after you receive a warning.

Stop whatever it is you think the police may be on about, and calm down.


Title: Can I be sued for child abuse?

Question:
So hear me out. I am 16 and my now ex-gf is 13 since last month. We had sex once, it was consensual and I was really careful because I really loved her and didn’t want to hurt her. After I broke up with her she started saying that she will sue me because I had sex with a minor if I don’t get together with her again. I refused but now I am scared. Can I actually be sued if I can prove that it was consensual and that I meant no harm, she was fully aware of everything?

I know that some people will call me disgusting or a pedophile or at least think of me that way. I don’t think that I am a pedophile. I didn’t love her for her age and she looks older so it also isn’t the younger looks. But if you feel the need to tell me that I am a pedophile then please do so in a polite way, insults don’t help anyone.

Germany by the way, but just a general question
Topic:
Non-US

Answer:
 A quick search suggests that the age of consent in Germany is 14 and sex with a child could result in up to 10 years in prison. When someone is under the age of consent nothing you do is "consensual". Answer #2: The age of consent in Germany is 14 and they don't appear to have a close-in age exception. So keep away from her and keep your mouth shut.Answer #3: Good grief. Well you shouldn't give in to blackmail so cut all communication with her.

Yes, depending where you are this could be statutory rape or even something worse. At 13 she simply didn't have capacity to consent. If the police get in touch talk to your parents and  don't speak to the police without an attorney.Answer #4: >Germany by the way, but just a general question

This doesn’t have a “general” answer.


Title: I (21f) wrote a bad $100 check to my brother (17m) (not on purpose) and just found out that it bounced and my parents want to take me to court .

Question:
I found out a week ago that  the check I wrote to my brother was bad and it bounced in my parents account. I don't have the greatest relationship with my family and I was estranged for a month or so, before I contacted them to see if I could get some belongings for my wedding (baby pictures, etc). This is when they told me that the check bounced and I would be getting a felony. At this point, I had just heard of the check being bad. It was from my work card and I definitely had the money in there, so I don't understand why it would bounce. They have told me if I just pay back the money, they won't press charges, but I don't want to just hand them cash because if they are lying I will have no proof of making good on the check.

&#x200B;

How should I go about this? I have a clean record and I don't want to ruin it over $100.

Answer:
 Your parents can't charge you with felony crimes. Only a prosecutor's office can do that, and a prosecutor's not going to bother looking in on a $100 bounced check between family.

You do, however, owe the holder in due course their money, plus the bounced check fee. That's probably your brother, unless he endorsed the check over to someone else. Once you've confirmed the check bounced, pay him, and get a receipt - even a hand-written note of the amount paid and the date will help if there's a dispute about it in the future.

Talk to your bank and confirm that the check bounced, first, though. They should also be able to explain why. If the check was cleared, they can provide you with a copy of the cancelled check, which is proof in and of itself that the check did not bounce.Answer #2: Have you checked with the bank or your card issuer to confirm that the payment didn't go through?


Title: Assault and involuntary intoxication

Question:
If a person were to assault a domestic partner while under the influence of prescription drugs (psychiatric medications combined with ambien), which then leads to an arrest and multiple charges-threatening a police officer, kidnapping due to preventing escape, and the offender has no recollection of the events, what is the best and worst case scenario?

Further the account of the domestic partner who was assaulted was and remains that the offender was acting out of their head, remains to have a relationship with defendant, and further will not coporate with the DA, is anything further required, i.e. hiring a forensic psychiatrist?

Answer: Voluntary intoxication is not a defense, but best and worst case depends on exactly what the charges are and what state.


Title: (MO) Was denied a promotion because they said "they wanted a woman in the office".

Question:
Recently applied for a promotion within the company and received a call from the hiring manager and he told me me the reason they didn't go with me was because he "wanted a woman in the office". As soon as he said that he knew he shouldn't have and tried to back track and talk about other reasons why too. I didn't make a big deal out of it at the time but now that I'm back at work it is bothering me. What legal options do I have, if any? Thank you.
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer: If you feel that you were on the wrong end of illegal discrimination that prevented you from being promoted, then you should consult with an employment or EEOC attorney.


Title: Referred here by JustNoFamily

Question:
I wrote a long emotional post about a legal battle with my family on JustNoFamily and was referred here. I'll relay the legally important parts:

Almost two years ago began a court case against my step dad for Criminal Sexual Conduct (I think the 2nd degree but I can't remember and can't find it) against my (at the time) 4 year old daughter.

My daughter is 6 now and this case is supposed to go to a jury trial but hasn't yet. I think it's come up four times now (the most recent being June 6) but gotten dismissed and rescheduled.

My mother is still with this man and supporting him, my entire family believes he is innocent and I've somehow warped my child into lying.

My husband is not my daughter's biological father, we've been trying to get the adoption done but need legally help (specific to my county) and can't find a lawyer we can afford. She has no legal father right now.

I have been told both that my husband is a legal guardian and by someone else that he has no legal rights. Which one is true?

Is it possible to be legally detached from my whole family? To make sure my daughter would never end up with them if something happened to me? If I had a will stating this and I passed away before my husband is able to adopt my daughter would my will be followed? I understand he'd have to file for guardianship immediately, if it's possible my family would definitely fight him on it. Is my mom automatically not have rights because she is still married to the man there is a criminal case against?

If you can't tell I really have no idea about this legal system and just can't find the help I need. Even the prosecutor in the case doesn't help much. Anything you can tell me helps.

Answer:
 > Is it possible to be legally detached from my whole family?

Yes.  You are an adult, you don't have to communicate with them or talk to them in any way, shape or form.

> To make sure my daughter would never end up with them if something happened to me?

As you've surmised, an adoption is the best way of doing this.  If you die without another parent or guardian in play, the court will decide what the best interest of the child is.

>  If I had a will stating this and I passed away before my husband is able to adopt my daughter would my will be followed?

It will be taken into account, but not automatically followed.


Title: [MN] School district is employing a non-convicted rapist - what are my responsibilities here.

Question:
Very rural Minnesota, USA.

My old school district is employing my childhood best friend as a substitute custodian. He molested and raped my friend from age 5-age 18.

I absolutely want to contact the school district, but I'm not sure how to do so 100% anonymously (If my name got tangled up in it, my life would be in danger) and due to the insular nature of the school, I doubt they would do anything.

What steps, if any, should I take here?

Related question!

The person who molested me as a child is now married and has several school aged children. Can/should I contact his wife and tell her what happened?

Answer: That could very well be considered slander.


Title: Railing broke during a bachelor party and the individual is more or less threatening to sue...

Question: [deleted]

Answer: He can totally sue you. Whether it would be a successful suit is another story. What was he doing that caused the railing to break? If he was dangling off of it like a drunk fool and using it in a way that you don't use a railing, his negligence likely caused his injury. Now, if he was using it in the normal way a reasonable person was using it, yes you would be liable for damages. But seeing as how he didn't go seek medical attention and seems fine, his damages are likely minimal. If it were me, I'd tell him to go ahead and try it. If he does and you have home owner's insurance, file a claim.


Title: Looking to break my lease early without penalty, possible loophole in lease?

Question:
Forgive my poor writing, haven't had any coffee yet and wanted to write this down while still fresh in my mind.

**BLOT:** Resident of IL, USA. As a leasee, is it possible to break your lease without penalty if your leaser has failed to meet the agreed upon terms of a lease?

**Background:** As the title states, I am looking to get out of my current condo unit leasing agreement prior to when the lease ends. My lease is up on 3/31/2015, which is a little over a month away. However, I am hoping to get out of my unit without incurring fees or possible credit hits. I am okay if they take my deposit, but the credit hit situation worries me.

**Research:** In review of my 2014 lease, I came across this section of my lease; "Utilities paid by leasee". It states that electricity, telephone, internet and television services (above basic cable services) are to be paid by me. The important part of this is the television services. When we first moved into the building, basic television was included and we did have to pay for anything beyond basic. However, a few years back our building's contract with Comcast ran out and they never bothered to renew. This occurred **before** the new lease was signed. In other words, all television services are now something I am responsible for paying, despite my lease saying otherwise.

This is likely an oversight on the part of the leaser; since moving to this unit in 2009, very few (if any) changes have been made to our terms. Each time renewal has come up, the leaser has simply made some quick and dirty amendments to dates/rent amount. I'm hoping the lack of television services could be my loophole out, but have concerns to move forward with breaking 1 month early if there is a potential for it to backfire.

**Acceptable Risk:** I am okay with having to go to small claims court if it comes to that. My main concern is if this ends up becoming a mark on my credit as this would be significantly harder to remove.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Answer: Your remedy to one small clause being broken is not that the whole lease is invalid. You can talk to them about the clause and get a credit or some other remedy. But no, that does not allow you to break the whole lease.


Title: Fake ID Issue

Question: I made a shitty fake a few weeks ago with a few friends to prove my Photoshopping skills, with my picture on it. Long story short I lost it and got a call from University police wanting to have a talk with me. I'd like to know if its true that they can't really charge me since I they can't really prove possesion/use of the fake. This is in Texas btw. I'm going in to talk to them soon, so if anyone has any good sentences for me to tell them that'll be gold... :)

Answer:
 DON'T GO IN TO TALK TO THEM.Answer #2: Do not go in.  Do not go in.  Do not go in.

Seriously, never enter a police station of your own free will.  There is absolutely no upside to you going in, and significant downside, including that you will confess to multiple crimes.

If the police call you, hang up.  If they come to your door, refuse to answer or speak with them and say you will not speak to them without an attorney

DO NOT SPEAK TO THE POLICE WITHOUT AN ATTORNEY EVER.Answer #3: Do not talk to any school employee (even a janitor) about this either. They can very likely expel you if you have signed some form of honour code etc.Answer #4: > I'd like to know if its true that they can't really charge me since I they can't really prove possesion/use of the fake.

There are a lot of people sitting in a prison or jail cell right now who talked themselves right into a confession. The police don't have to prove much if you admit to it.Answer #5: I'm not even a lawyer and I know this. DO NOT. They can't make you, and you have no obligation to go.Answer #6: Do not talk to them. Do not talk to the school. Do not admit anything.

They will probably try to contact you more, and if you are on campus they may even try to visit if they don't hear from you. I don't care where or when, just do not talk to them.  If they ask why, say I've done nothing wrong, and if you want to talk to me you need to go through my lawyer.

If things escalate, get a lawyer.


Title: rape scene in The Fountainhead

Question:
Hello,

I have a modest volunteer project for an ambitious law student, group of law students, lawyer, or group of lawyers. Or really anyone who knows how to research and write legal memoranda.

What I'm looking for are legal analyses of the rape scene in Ayn Rand's *The Fountainhead* examining whether or not in that scene Howard Roark committed a crime or crimes, and if so, what crime or crimes.

I'd like analyses both under 1936 NY law (the year *The Fountainhead* was published), and under current NY law. In my dream world, I'd get objective memoranda, and memoranda advocating both pro and con positions.

I know, that's a lot of work, but one person doesn't have to do every memorandum. If you can do even one, it would be useful.

If memoranda of high enough quality are published here, I can see them becoming "go to" resources at the top of Google searches for persons interested in the subject, which often comes up in discussions of Ayn Rand.

I'll post a little more on this if there's enough interest. I have my own thoughts on the subject, as does anyone who has given it much consideration. But I'm looking to go beyond uninformed debate. I'd like the question examined according to real legal principles.

Thank you.

Answer: Nobody here is going to do your homework. I did actually laugh out loud.


Title: Hospital changing my medical records after a complaint? Nevada

Question:
I called the hospital to complaint about my medical records, originally they made no sense and it included procedures and other things that were not done to me .
When I called I made sure to record the call and they defended themselves and told me I was wrong.
They then erased my medical records from online, I went to their records department to get a secondary copy and my records have been completely changed, they're very different from my originals, of which I have a copy of and different from what I was told during my call.
Is this illegal? What can I do, since theyre also billing me for things that they did not do, I have a family member as a witness.

Answer: Do you have insurance? If you do, you may want to let them know about this. If they are billing for things that weren't done and altering your medical records the insurance company may want to review what they've paid out to this hospital... and not just from your account.


Title: Article was plagiarized - Ontario, Canada

Question:
Here’s my current situation:

I’m a writer by trade and was looking to write for a cannabis company/cannabis lifestyle brand. I discovered a fairly popular cannabis lifestyle blog and emailed them to inquire about how they receive article submissions, and if they were open to outside contributors.

The Chief Content Officer of the site replied to my email and we set up a call. On the call, he asked what ideas I had, my experience, etc. At the end of the call he asked me to send a couple of articles, and he would let me know if they wanted to proceed.

From there, I wrote two articles and sent them back.

One of the articles I wrote/submitted was posted to their website, and I was credited as the writer. Needless to say, I was pretty excited.

I then followed up with the Chief Content Officer and asked if the second article would be posted, and if they wanted me to write anything else. He replied and said they were thinking of using the second article, but didn’t say much about anything additional.

A few weeks pass and I don’t hear anything from them. The other day I checked the site and see an article on a subject matter that was very similar to the article I wrote. Only difference being the title was changed and another writer is credited. I open the article and needless to say, not only is it the same topic, it’s literally the exact same article that I wrote, word-for-word.

So my legal question is, what are my options at the moment? In my eyes, it’s blatant plagiarism, but should I just email them and ask them to correct the name, or what’s the best course of action?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Answer:
 *"Don't attribute to malice what can be explained by getting really baked and typing the wrong author's name in an article."*

Heinlein's Grinder, I think that one's called.

Easy answers first: Ask them to attribute you. If they refuse, talk to a lawyer about the damages you have(n't) suffered, and see what the next step is (which is likely nothing). If Margaret Wente wasn't sued, you're probably not fixing this in a courtroom.


Title: (UK) Received mail for previous tenant but there is no sender address on package

Question:
We've been getting post for previous tenants for a month now, no big deal I've just been writing return to sender and post it on my way to work.
The package we got today, however,  has no return address on it. It has a barcode but I have no way of knowing what it's for.
I think it's just coffee beans judging from the little bean sticker and the quote "smells better than bills". I know opening other people's mail is somewhat illegal, depending on your intentions but can I open it to see if there's an invoice or something with the return address?
I don't want to just throw it away, would be a waste of good beans.

Answer:
 Write return to sender/not at this address on the envelope and put in in a postbox.

The Royal Mail have a centre in Belfast that opens post without a return address and returns it, repackaged, to the sender.

If the letter was franked, they probably won't even need to open it to return it.Answer #2: Label look like [this?](https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/hphotos-xfa1/t51.2885-15/s640x640/sh0.08/e35/11850428_403793223141130_1259594960_n.jpg?w=100&h=100&fit=max)

If so, it's from [Pact Coffee](https://www.pactcoffee.com/). They offer a subscription coffee service.

You can email them at ahoy@pactcoffee.com or call 020 3095 3975 and ask where to send it back to.


Title: Younger me lent a "friend" $3,000 a few years ago and he hasn't repaid a single cent yet. What can I do? [NJ/ AK]

Question:
So naive younger me (17 or 18) lent a friend $3,000 to help them out. I live in NJ they lived in Montana at the time.  I told him he should pay me back in a few months. I've reminded him multiple times over the years and we've gotten into arguments over how he hasn't paid me back anything yet. I've offered to set up payment schedules but he always claims "when I have a spare $3,000 sitting around I'll pay you back."  Meanwhile over this time he's become an airman in the Air Force. He's bought a house, new cars, 2 dogs, guns, etc.

What should I do?  I'd really like to get my money back but I'm not sure which course of action to take. I feel like interest should even be incurred but I won't get greedy and I'd be happy getting my $3k back.

I can get a copy of the check I mailed from my bank from years ago I believe. I have all the text messages on my phone between us.

He now lives in Alaska in a house off base in Anchorage. I still live in New Jersey.

Thank you so much!  I'm happy to provide any other details that may help.

Answer:
 You can sue him in small claims before the Statute of Limitations runs out. I believe the relevant state will be Montana, and it appears to be 5 years for a verbal contract: http://research.lawyers.com/montana/montana-statute-of-limitations.html. If you inform him in writing of your intent to sue him he might hurry up and get it right for fear of the suit impacting his career. Tell him you can work out a payment plan.

 You can write such a letter yourself, or hire an attorney to write it for you. Alternately, you can inform his 1st Shirt...who may or may not be passionately interested in him paying his debts. Mine was, granted my unpaid debts were with my military Star Card, but I don't doubt that he'd have called me in for having been called by someone claiming I owe them a personal debt.


Title: Houston TX Best way to break an apartment lease?

Question:
My sister (22 y/o), has 5 months left of her year lease, she's in a bad area, because that's the only place she could afford. Last night as she was making her way into her complex, 3 thug looking men followed her into the complex and proceeded to continue following her and park right by her , even as she tried to mislead them by going to another unit. As she's letting her dog pee, she notices that this car is suspiciously circling around her. Her instincts tell her to get back in her car. As she's heading to her car, she notices the man that was in the back seat get out and starts making his way towards her making eye contact and giving off threateningly focused stares.
As she starts up her car to get the hell out, the man is now at her back driver side bumper, but she drives off before they could engage.

She called the police to try to make a police report, but the cop told her nothing happened and thus couldn't file a report.

She also went to the apartment office and requested to view their footage, but they said they do not release footage to residents.

My questions are: is she really not allowed to file a report and why would the cop say that? What would be her recourse is cop was incorrect?

Is there any way to be able to see apartment complex footage? And what is the complex's responsibility regarding these matters?

And lastly, what is her best option if no one listens to her, and has to break the lease?

Thanks in advance.

Answer:
 She can break her lease by accepting and paying all the penalties laid out for breaking her lease, as described in her lease. She doesn't get a 'get out of lease free' card because someone looked at her funny.Answer #2: This is the most aggressive/hostile thing that you described:

>making eye contact and giving off threateningly focused stares

There is nothing really remotely illegal that anyone was doing.

The police are not going to conduct an investigation to determine who was looking at her hard.

And, even if there was a crime committed against her (there wasn't), there is still not grounds for her to break her lease.


Title: Employer didn't provide heating - I fell and re-broke my wrist. Do I have a claim?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 What is "absolutely ridiculously freezing cold" in degrees?  Where are you located?  What industry are you in?

Either way, when you got injured on the job you needed to go through worker's comp.  Did you do that?


Title: [NJ] What can I do in regards to apartment complex putting a gym directly under my apartment?

Question: The apartment complex I live in recently put a gym directly under my apartment.  Now I have already complained several times about the neighbors themselves being loud and playing music at around 3am in the morning and they have barely done anything about that, I did involve the police.   With this new gym people bring in speakers, they have TVs that people put very loud to hear over the fitness equipment.  They claim hours are from 6am to 10pm but everyone has a key to room and use it whenever they want being 5am to midnight.  They offered to move me from the 2nd floor to the seventh floor but it seems an overall hassle that is going to take time and money.  Is there something I can do?  They obviously didn't think how it would affect us, and they now stated that if we did move they would use it as a floor model so they clearly know not to rent it out now.

Answer:
 > They offered to move me from the 2nd floor to the seventh floor but it seems an overall hassle that is going to take time and money. Is there something I can do?

You can either take their offer, or you can consider the lease broken and move out.  You should talk to an attorney before you do the latter, to determine whether you have cause to consider it broken.


Title: [MA] My friend approached me with an idea regarding human cloning, what would be the legal implications of pursuing this with him?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 So other people have covered how this is a Very Bad Idea^(TM) from a legal point of view, but being an academic myself, I'd like to stress that your friend probably has not even come up with anything original. About every month, I come up with an absolutely bomb-ass idea about galaxy structure or evolution, only to find out that someone tested that theory 20 or 30 years ago. If your friend has not done a thorough literature review, you have the right to subject him to good-natured ribbing for the remainder of his life, when you find that some smart motherfucker tested it in 1987.

And I'm going to sound like a curmudgeon here, but I'll also advise you to put in your time with classes, get good internships, and learn the basics before trying to be a hero. I was your age once, too. Hang in there, you'll get a chance to make a difference if you stay patient. Grad school's a wonderful time.


Title: Is there any Constitution without Preamble?

Question:
During our constitutional law class we had a discussion about Preamble and Constitution, but I was wondering if there is any constitution which is in effect (or was in effect) which had no preamble to it?
I get it that preamble is very essential to constitution, my question is not why preamble is essential or whether there can be a constitution without it, I just want to know if there is any constitution without it anywhere in the world?

Answer:
 Have you tried this neat trick?

www.google.com then in the search bar you type "[Country X] constitution."


Title: |Kansas| Friend's cousin was abused by her uncle and sent to the ER, does the Cousin have a case?

Question:
My friend's cousin was abused by her uncle; sustaining a concussion and was dragged down stairs by the hood of her shirt and is now in the ER for the injuries. The Cousin is afraid to tell her parents or police/CPS because the uncle threatened to shoot her if she told anyone. What can the cousin and family do to prevent this from happening and prevent more harm to the cousin?

I'm not familiar with Kansas's laws on the subject, any advise would help! ASAP preferably
Topic:
CPS and Dependency Law

Answer: She needs to file a police report. Assault is illegal in every state. Did the hospital ask how she was injured? She can ask to speak to a social worker.Answer #2: Call police, get a restraining order on him


Title: CNN is using a picture of me and my friend without our permission and against our ideals

Question:
Today, many students in my country started manifestations against the PSU, which in english roughly translates to "college selection test", a test made to rank high school graduates and select which ones are capable of studying in college. Thing is, the test is terribly made and it just takes away oportunities for people with less resources.

On Twitter, @CNNChile posted a picture of me and my friend in the middle of the manifestations. The picture depicted my friend crying. Now, people started using the pic against the movement, showing how the movement "only hurts the ones that want to study". But me and my friend support the movement. The photo was unauthorized, and I want it removed. It is indirectly being used against our ideals. CNN has no contact cellphone or e-mail, and even if they had, I doubt they would respond. What can I do?

TL;DR: @CNNChile posted an unauthorized picture which depicts my friend crying in the middle of a protest that we actually support, and people started using it against the movement.

Answer:
 No legal issue here that I can see (although I have no idea if Chile has special laws in this area), CNN took a picture of you and your friend and used it in their reporting.  They aren't responsible for what other people say.

I'm sure CNN monitors twitter and the @CNNChile account though if you want to try to reach them and say something.Answer #2: Who took the picture?


Title: Need help understanding OJ Simpson's second trial

Question: I started watching Made in America and I have a big question: how did the Goldmans get the second trial underway? I thought you couldn't be processed twice for the same crime? Thanks in advance.

Answer: Second trial was civil, not criminal. Only requires a preponderance of evidence.


Title: Employer requires a 90 day notice for resignation?

Question:
I am a contractor working in the United States in Ohio and submitted my resignation this morning giving 2 weeks notice, however my company responded by saying my contract requires a 90 day notice. This is what is contained in my contract: [Company and employee] agree that this Agreement may not be canceled except upon the provision of ninety (90) days written notice to the other party, provided, however, that notice of termination may not be furnished by Mental Health Technician until at least ninety-one (91) days of service at the Hospital have elapsed under this Agreement, measured from Mental Health Technician ’s commencement of service at the Hospital under this Agreement.  Such notice shall be provided by mailgram, certified letter, or letter via overnight courier, addressed to the other party at the address specified above or such other address as may be designated by notice to the other party.  The date on which notice is provided shall be the date on which such mailgram, certified letter, or letter via overnight courier is received.  If contractual performance of Mental Health Technician services at the Hospital by [company] or if Mental Health Technician should be terminated or cancelled by the Government or by [company]’s client for these services, or, if the Government should request in writing that Mental Health Technician no longer provide services at the Hospital, or if the Government should cease to extend full privileges to Mental Health Technician at the Hospital, then this Agreement shall be terminated without damages to either party. Additionally, if the Hospital should request in writing that the services of any Mental Health Technician employed by [company] be terminated for cause, then such services will be terminated in accordance with such request.

I told them that I am unable to remain full time for another 90 days, and they responded by saying "
I will be sending this to our Management Team and outside Legal Firm for review and further action."

I'm curious what sort of action can be taken?

Answer:
 Where you are makes a huge difference with regards to this kind of issue.  In Soviet Russia you will be dragged back to the place of work and required to keep going for the next 90 days.

That said, in America what would/could happen is that they could sue you for breach of contract.  In America there is no way you would be forced to keep working for them, but depending on the state you might owe them differing types of damages.  If they can show that you leaving cost them some specific dollar value of work you might be required to pay them that, if they have to hire someone to work as a temp and that costs more then they were paying you they might be able to get the difference between your pay and what they have to pay this person.  That's basic contract law.  You should wait to see what they say, but if they do anything but say you know we are going to waive this provision cause we think you are a swell guy/gal, you should talk to an attorney.


Title: What do I do? “Boss” owes me and other employees thousands

Question:
My boss isn’t paying me. Both of the checks bounced. It is happening to many of us but we are all desperate for the supposed “money to be transferred to the bank.” Im currently looking for another job but this guy that hired me is essentially getting free work out of al the people he has not paid. I’m in marketing in DFW, Texas.

A guy that worked as the manager of a restaurant we were supposed to be opening found mugshots and reports that he used to run this con job in Florida. The doors of the restaurant have been locked due to nonpayment. What do I do? Go to the police, get a lawyer? I’m out thousands in payment. (Ill admit, I’m a naive and gullible girl but believed all his excuses.)

I want to go about this the right way. The paycheck I was given Friday bounced too. Any advice? Oh yeah, and it’s not like he’s scared and just going bankrupt. He just hired a new person yesterday and put up a new job opening 22hours ago.

Answer:
 See a lawyer. This is very very illegal.

For some basics:

https://twc.texas.gov/jobseekers/texas-payday-law

But move fast, because it's illegal enough that it's obvious he is going to try to skip on this, because there's no way this is an oopsie. Answer #2: You can file a wage complaint with the DOL in Texas. But honestly there is a very good chance you'll never see that money if he's truly bankrupt. Him hiring people and putting up job notices is totally irrelevant, it's not good if your check is bouncing.


Title: Man posted free dogs on craigslist. I responded. He wanted my social security number and more to background check me. I posted he was a scam and now he wants to sue me for slander.

Question:
Texas.

So 2 dogs were posted on craigslist for free. I contacted saying hey I own a farm, Im a disabled veteran and constantly home, and can give them a good home. Well the owner said he needed my full name, social media links, and social security number so he could background check me. I was like okay clearly you are a scam. He told me he would beat me up so I stopped replying. I flagged his ad and posted an ad saying hey this ad <screenshot> is a scam and here's screenshots of his conversation with me. Well I guess he saw that because he called me flipping out and saying he was going to sue me for slander and ruin me. I was like uh huh okay dude. This was last night. Well all day today I have been getting calls and texts because he made 17 craigslist ads for free animals and electronics with my phone number. I asked everyone to flag them and they did and ads were taken down. He then made another ad with photos of me, my full name, saying I am a scammer, I'm not a veteran, I'm a fat whore, etc. He also made a YouTube video calling me a whore and scammer and saying he would sue me.

This dude is batshit crazy and cant do anything to me in court, right?
Topic:
Douche

Answer:
 You only need a driver's license number or a full legal name to pull arrest records in Texas. He's obviously a crazy person. Answer #2: You can do something to him, if you wish. Call the police about those ads with your number on it.

Check out Texas' harrassment law, specifically (4) and (7):

https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/penal-code/penal-sect-42-07.htmlAnswer #3: Anyone can sue anyone for pretty much anything...doesn’t mean he will win.

Block this man any way you can, contact Craigslist, and ignore him. If you’re served, go to court with any and all documentation you have.Answer #4: Your opinion that he is running a scam is almost certainly protected speech. Furthermore even if you had made a false statement of fact he would appear to have no monetary damages so he wouldn’t have a viable claim.Answer #5: Sounds like you could possibly sue him for the harassment and slander and you would actually have a case since he's being malicious Answer #6: It doesn’t help much now but in the future look into using Google Voice for a Craigslist phone number. It would eliminate this kind of issue altogether.

That person sounds crazy. Like another poster said, be safe. Answer #7: You may want to unblock him but set the ring tone to silent.  That way you're not constantly bothered by him, but can collect the texts and voice mails as evidence.


Title: Can my friend and her kid stay at my house during a divorce?

Question:
My friend's husband just got out of jail. My husband and I wanted to hold her up here until she could get on her feet.

Her husband was in jail for laundering. He also has some sort of meth charges on his record and a gun charge. They are staying with his mother.

He screams at her and fights with her in front of their son. We said she and her son can stay here as long as they needed a while back.

He threatened to call cps on me for smoking pot but I've quit a loooong time ago so I told her I wasn't afraid of cps. (I have a daughter and my mom made false claims with cps a few months ago it's no big deal.) Then he said he would get custody of their child because she was ripping him out of a familiar environment. But she has been his primary care giver his whole life.

Her husband's mom has helped but my friend is still his mother. He has a history of putting his hands on her and he's been starting huge fights with her in front of their kid. He makes a pretty volatile environment.

What precautions do we need to take? She can take her kid to live with me even if her husband doesn't want her to take him right? Shes going to see her attorney today is there anything we should ask or tell her? And we are in Texas by the way.

EDIT: I should add some facts. Their son is 2. His dad has been in prison since he was 10 months old. She has given her attorney money to file. My friend and I live in the same town. Their house is like 3 minutes away from mine. I will absolutely call the police if her husband shows up I'm a homemaker and home all day I'll know. Also my house is not an "unfamiliar environment" her son has stayed with us tons of times. I used to watch him several times a week before she got day care. He knows me and my husband better than his dad.

Answer:
 I am assuming that you live nearby somewhere, and not clear across the state. That would make a difference.

Yes, she can stay with you. Be prepared for the Department to come calling. Sounds like you already know that drill. You may want to put up some security cameras outside if this dude has a violent history. She should ask her lawyer about a temporary custody hearing. Without a court order she can't stop him from picking up their child and keeping him. She needs an order laying out who gets what in terms of parenting time. Maybe also a protective order. She should ask her attorney about how best to proceed.


Title: Can I be arrested for an open container if I have two half full kegs in the bed of my truck?

Question:
Got married yesterday and bought two kegs for the wedding.

I’m heading back to return the kegs. Just wondering if I could be pulled over and charged with something. Not that I expect to be.

Answer:
 This is a prime example of "the letter of the law" vs "the spirit of the law". Technically. Yes. Is it likely? No.

If you get pulled over, you can explain. Hopefully, the officer understands. If you get a ticket, contest it and tell your story, hopefully, a judge will understand. I'm certain common sense would prevail somewhere along the line.

Edit: Just a bit of caution. Many people have quite a number of drinks on their wedding night. Alcohol can stay in your blood for up to 72 hours. Many people get in their cars after a night of drinking and don't realize they are legally impaired. You might get breathalyzed. I suggest asking a friend to help you, after all, it is your wedding! Congrats btw!!


Title: (MA) My friend's mother lied to the police about him abusing her.

Question: [deleted]

Answer: He should discuss it with his lawyer. He or she will be able to better advise him than anyone on the internet with none of the facts.


Title: Purchasing house, has basement apartment with tenant who doesn't seem interested in leaving

Question:
Location: North Carolina

My wife and I will be closing on a house at the end of the month.  The house has an apartment that we will be reincorporating back into the main house.  There is a tenant in the apartment, the current owner gave the tenant verbal notice in August to be out by the end of October (they are on a month-month agreement, likely verbal) but no progress.  The owner gave written notice last week that they had to be out in 30 days.  We are nervous that this tenant could pose a problem for us after closing.  We do not want to walk away from the deal, as this house is in a very desirable location and meets all of our very specific wants/needs.  Is there anything we can be doing now to prepare ourselves for the worst case scenario (tenant refuses to move out?)?  Although we have been landlords in the past, this is a new one for us and don't know what we could potentially be dealing with.  Thank you.
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer: Per /u/swalsh411\- I wouldn't close on the house until the tenant is out. This will put pressure on the current owner to remove (i.e. cash for keys) the tenant.


Title: Are people in the US obliged to offer medical help in the case of emergency?

Question:
Here in Europe if you find yourself in an emergency situation (e.g. a car crash) and there's someone badly hurt who needs medical help, it is your obligation to go help them ***as best as you can*** (after calling 112). That means that if you're unable to help them, it's OK not to help them, but if you can do anything (like CPR), you must at least attempt to do it.

Is a law like this in the US too?

Edit (for /u/LocationBot): Location: Czech Republic, EU

Answer:
 No, I can walk right past a person who is dying and I could save if I so chose.Answer #2: No with some exceptions. If you have agreed to be responsible for them, like a lifeguard, then you probably do. Also if you put them in that situation you might. Answer #3: It's legislated on a state by state basis, but in most states, NO.  You generally have no duty to a stranger, and in many states you are not even obligated to call emergency services (911).

Many to most people DO respond, of course, and there are laws to protect them in the event they try to help, but if someone declines to respond, it is unlikely they will see any consequences in most states.


Title: Vehicle registration placement

Answer:
 > So, are there actually any downside to storing the registration in the car?

I've never heard of anyone who **doesn't** do this.  You don't mean the title, right?  You just mean the annual registration certificate that you get from the state?

I don't know why anyone would break into your car just to steal the registration papers; at that point, they could just have the car.  Take a photocopy and keep it in the house, if you're super worried.


Title: I signed an hourly-wage contract. Now they say only some of my mandatory working hours "count" as paid.

Question:
I am an undergraduate student at a US university. I was hired as a student counselor, which is an upperclassman role for helping incoming freshmen adjust to college. I have the following questions about exceptions being made to the hourly rate we are supposed to receive:

1. Are they obligated to pay us for a week of mandatory all-day training? Right now our compensation is three meals a day (and early dorm admission for those living on campus).
2. Can they pay us a flat rate for the long hours we are required to work during the new student orientation? This is a week-long affair with 11-12 hour days. Our flat rate is about 62% of what our hourly rate would be.
3. All freshman take a 3-credit course (3hr/wk) that is basically "College 101." We are each assigned to one of these classes to act as teacher's assistant. I just found out that we may not be getting paid for these three weekly hours.

This job already involves a lot of off-the-clock unpaid work, such as class prep, handling emergencies, and being somewhat "on-call" for when a student needs us. I was aware of all of this and fine with it when I took the position.

I will be remaining at my job regardless because I am passionate about the work, the students, and my counselor peers. My immediate supervisors are also great people. However, some of this is rubbing me the wrong way--especially since I know that at least two of the hired counselors are very low-income and gave up two weeks of wages back home to arrive on campus early for this job.

Answer: Besides some amount of cash payment (i.e. a paycheck), do you receive any other form of non-cash pay for this position?


Title: Can a married mother will her children to her oldest daughter instead of her husband? Or does the father automatically become the legal guardian?

Question:
Edit: This is in the United States, specifically Texas.

My wife's mother claims to have written a will that will make me and my wife the legal guardians of her children (my wife's half-brother and half-sister, both in elementary school right now) if she were to die early.

The thing is, her husband is still alive and well, and even lives with them, so it's not like they've separated and he's not involved.

Is this legally valid, being able to pass down your children to your oldest daughter even though the children's father is still alive?

Answer: Children are not property and cannot be willed to anyone.


Title: Can I be paid NOT to publish a famous address?

Question:
I found a famous person's (work) address online via totally public information and some Detective Monk level sleuthing skills.  I am sure I am one of very few to have done this, so the demand is high and supply low for people with this information.  I would like to make money off of my puzzle-solving skills, but I want to do so legally.

If I was a member of the press, and proposed writing a tabloid article about the location of this "secret" office, could I accept money NOT to publish said article?  I know what extortion is, and I'm asking if I am a member of the press, do I then own the information I have enough to sell it (legally)?  If I sell it to the interested party (leaking the address would cost $10,000s), could they buy the right NOT to publish?  How is this different from extortion/blackmail and what would need to be different to make it legal?  What more information do you need?

Answer: Extortion. The business you are proposing is called extortion.Answer #2: If a leak could cost them that much, they'd just move offices, dingus. Answer #3: Not sure why you think this has any value at all.


Title: Samsung phone melted in my bed, how to proceed? (Belgium)

Question:
Hey guys, as the title says I had a little accident with my Samsung Galaxy S7.

It was charging overnight on my bed and I hit it with my arm by accident and it burned my arm a bit. I plugged it out of the socket and I checked the rest.

The case was molten on the bottom, the wire from my charger was badly damaged and molten, my phone has some damage to it and my bedsheets have a black spot now from the burns.
The charger was the original one and it wasn't damaged at all the day before. I have pictures of all the damaged stuff and my burn.

I live in Belgium and would like to know what steps I should take next. I assume it's to contact customer support but I want to make sure I'm one step ahead.

Answer:
 Not legal advice but had the same thing happen to me except I was using an off brand charger, but it got hot enough that it melted the charger cord in two. I assumed it was the off brand charger as I have not had any other issueAnswer #2: Again not legal advice but similar issue, they had Samsung replace the phone.

https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Galaxy-S-Phones/Galaxy-S7-Phone-overheated-and-Charger-Melted/td-p/64426


Title: What's the legality of photoshopping faces of children onto porn models, or adult genitals onto pictures of kids?

Question:
Threads of such content pop up on /b/ occasionally (they were more frequent a few years ago) and, while amusing, I always wondered what the legality of it is. It's not regular child porn obviously, as it's all artificial. This is just a general USA question but I'll put my state of New Mexico to satisfy the bot.
Topic:
Criminal Law

Answer: You spelt disturbing wrong


Title: [FL] Wife's (pedestrian) foot was run over by a car in a crosswalk

Question:
Stopped at a crosswalk (all way stop), she waited for a car to go (who wasn't paying attention). The next car stopped so she proceeded to cross, they didn't see her and accelerated, hitting her with the front, which knocked her to the side. Thankfully it only ran over her right (driving) foot. There were some lacerations on her foot, bad bruising, but thankfully they don't think it's broken. The driver was cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

We're at the point now that we're filling out paperwork for the driver's car insurance. Should we get a lawyer involved? FL is full of the TV commerical/billboard injury lawyers, we always thought of them as sleazy ambulance chasers, but I don't necessarily trust the driver's/our insurance will have our best interests in mind or properly compensate for everything (at a minimum new running shoes which were destroyed).

Thoughts?

Answer:
 Based on your description of the injuries it may be unlikely that an attorney will change this outcome enough to pay their fees.

One guesses the insurer will voluntarily pay the medical bills.


Title: [FL] Mom bought a timeshare. They won't cooperate with timeshare exit companies.

Question:
Earlier this year, my mom bought a timeshare with Bluegreen Resorts. Couldn't predict my dad getting laid off and no longer being able to pay maintenance fees. When we try to contact them in regards to anyway out of the contract, they insist that there is no way to cancel.

We spoke with timeshare exit attorneys and so far the only word is that they are refusing to work with the attorneys to let them out at all and the only thing the contract says is that they can't get out after the 30 day recession. We really can't keep paying the fees and after a bad experience trying to sell it, my parents have ruled that off of the table. Is there anyway that they can get out of this?

Answer:
 I mean...your parents bought something they no longer can afford.

You have to follow the contract, and may be sued for the amount owed. They should look into selling it via how the contract allows that to happen.