Title: Guy I texted to buy weed from stole my phone and used it to send himself $225 using a cash app, do I have any recourse?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Man... if you can't trust your drug dealer... who CAN you trust?

You can report it to the police.  If you do, they are very likely to find out the truth about what happened.  Lying while making the report is a new crime.

How you proceed is up to you.Answer #2: Options:

* Take your dealer to small claims over $225 plus your filing fees. Take the risk that he files a police report claiming (accurately) that you're in possession of pot.
* File a police report. Take the risk that the police either ask why you were there, or that your dealer turns you in out of spite.
* Let it go. Take the risk that your dealer uses your personal information to sign up for credit in your name. (Freeze your credit!)

There's no magic, here. You were engaged in a transaction for illegal goods. You have all the same options you'd have if someone stole from you under other circumstances, but your dealer has a number of ways to make your life bad in the process.Answer #3: Just call your bank and chargeback the transactions. Tell them you need to dispute the charges. They may need you to make a police report though. Just tell the cops the phone was stolen, don't mention anything about it being your dealer, or that you might know the person, or anything. It was stolen, you don't know who it is, get the report info and give that to your bank.

Nothing will likely ever happen to the guy, because the bank won't bother doing much over a couple hundred dollars, honestly.


Title: Building a home, only to find the neighbors planted a row of trees on our utility easement. Which party is responsible for removal/possible replacement?

Question: As the title says. 500ish feet easement for utilities(water,gas,cable). Fully grown pines. We’d ask about granting an easement offset but a utility poll blocks that path to tie in.

Answer:
 How do you plan to prove they planted the trees? Full grown pines don't happen overnight.

You are most likely going to have to pay first, then pursue the case against them.Answer #2: If the utility company needs to access the easement, they will likely remove the trees themselves. They may then send you a bill for the cost of doing so if the easement advises that the \[easement\] is supposed to be kept clear of vegetation. If this happens and you want the trees back, you're likely on the hook for replacing them.Answer #3: If they were new, the utility company might bill the land owner, in this case document that they existed before you purchase the property, this may or may not help you.

If they have been there for years/decades then the utility company will probably just remove or trim them.


Title: [CA] Neighbor is putting large amounts of Green Waste in my Green Waste Bins

Question:
I wouldn't have a problem with if the waste wasn't larger than city limits.

Each trash pickup day I've had to pull it out/tie it/and squeeze it so that I don't get fined. I have recorded the person on CCTV and have reported it to the police. They have gone to talk to this person twice telling him to stop doing that.

What's weird is that this person has green waste containers that are not even full but he has to put it in mine.

He has told the police that "he rotates every time to find a different trash container because there are too many people in his house".

What am I to do when I'm at work? I don't want to get fined because of this person. Are there any legal steps I can take?

Answer:
 You insist they cite him instead of issuing a warning

"Well under these circumstances we usually just give a warning"

Yeah, I don't care.  Please cite him.  Who is your supervisor?Answer #2: Ask the police to officially trespass him from your property. If/when he does it again, take your security cam footage and file a criminal complaint.Answer #3: Contact your city public works department, or whichever agency regulates the trash services. The police deal with the legal/criminal matters, but the government agency can issue citations and fines for violating the waste-related rules.


Title: My company is trying to mandate that employees opt-out of mailed pay stubs. Can they do that?

Question:
I received this email this morning from our HR department:

> "As a company, we utilize ADP for our payroll services.  Part of their payroll tools includes the use of their iPayStatement website.  Effective with the June 7, 2015 payroll, the company will be moving to a policy of 'Mandatory Pay Stub Suppression'."

Since I work at home, I prefer to receive my paper pay stub every pay period because it makes my record-keeping much easier.  Is it legal for them to mandate this, and under what state or federal laws can I formally refuse to comply with this mandate?  I live in California, and the office I work for is in California, however, the company is based in Las Vegas.

Edit: changed "live at home" to "work at home"
Topic:
Labor Law

Answer:
 As a practical matter, just print a copy of the past sub from the website.  Then you'll have the hard copy every period.Answer #2: http://blog.primepay.com/payroll-business-experts-blog/bid/33887/What-States-Require-Printed-Pay-Statements

http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_13702661

It does appear that you have a right to request a paper pay stub but do you really want to be that guy? Do you have access to a computer and printer at work?  Is this really a fight you want to have?


Title: Someone might have tried to case my apartment, I don't feel safe and am wondering if this is grounds to terminate my lease early

Question:
First off, I admit this is probably a long shot, but here goes: I am currently living in Oklahoma City. Today someone who I believe may have been a criminal tried to case my apartment (he claimed he was a "newspaper boy" but never tried to sell me anything, didn't have any newspapers on him and I don't have any subscriptions, I never opened the door or let him in). I live in a building with 4 apartments, and I'm on the top floor. The front of the building has no lock, the only locks are the ones in front of peoples' units. The thing is, the doors are extremely weak, and a bigger guy could probably break through if they really wanted to. The Oklahoma tenant laws state that a landlord must keep the apartments "safe and sanitary" (http://www.tenant.net/Other_Areas/Oklahoma/tenant.html section 118 part A), and I don't feel that it's very safe if someone could walk in the front door of the unit, break down a very weak door and take all the stuff they wanted. However, the wording seems arbitrary and I'm not a lawyer so I was curious if:
A) I could leave the lease early because they aren't providing a safe unit and
B) If it sounds like they're violating any safety laws. This is an unsafe part of town so I don't know if other requirements apply, but it seems like the unit isn't safe. If it sounds like they're violating the law, what legal actions would be available to me.
Thanks in advance for any help that can be provided!

Answer: No.


Title: Supervised Visitation has completed and the ex is trying to push for more!

Question:
[deleted]
Topic:
Juvenile and Youth Law

Answer: Yes, she'll have a say.  She always has a say.  Her "say" isn't binding, however, nor will it be the final word on the matter.  The judge will listen to both sides and will make a final decision.


Title: Pulled over on bicycle. Were my rights abused?

Question: Got pulled over on my way to work this morning while riding a bike. As I was already late to work my first statement after pulling my i.d. out was "what am I being detained for?". The cop flips a switch and basically start harassing me saying I "can't talk to him any way I want" and that our verbal exchange was the basis for my ticket. We go back and forth before more police arrived and he went to his vehicle to write the ticket. The other 2 cops were more than respectful and I was able to explain that not immediately explaining why he stopped me felt like a violation of my rights. So one of the officers steps to his vehicle and says I'm "pretty heated about him not explaining what was going on". He then proceeded to exit the vehicle and started that the way I was talking made him "jittery/jumpy"(I forgot the actual word he used) and to place my hands behind my back. He cuffs me later searches me and then pushed me up against his vehicle saying I was to "remain silent until he gets done with the ticket" he comes out and says hes gonna explain what's going on, which was that I'm the 2nd put of 150 bile stops that recieved a ticket. After asking for his badge # to no avail he says I dont get, wont anytime soon or ever. Sorry for all the errors. I'm fuming at work atm and just want to know was this against my rights?

Answer:
 Was all this against your rights?

Doesn’t sound like it. A cop stopped you. You were difficult/hostile and it made him nervous, so he cuffed you, then let you go at an appropriate time.

Did you get a ticket? Were you breaking the law? What state?Answer #2: What was the ticket for?

All I can see is:   "our verbal exchange was the basis for my ticket. "


Title: If I'm being talked to by police, am I within my rights to leave and if so when?

Question:
So this is the scenario, police see security camera footage of a suspected drug deal. In the footage, you see the suspect shaking hands with a few people, talking to them then just as their about to put their hands down their pants to pull out drugs, someone walks in the way of the camera. Whoever made viewing the footage wouldn't have seen anything come out of the pants

The police then see the suspect pass something to someone else, then that person swallows it.

Right after this happens a police officer approaches suspect. Says that they have suspicion of him selling drugs, and asks if he has anything on him. Suspect denys this, then proceeds to search suspect.

The officer doesn't find anything during the search, the drugs are located right in front of the dick. And to my knowledge police aren't allowed to touch you there unless back at the station.

Is he free to leave at this point? Police came, searched, nothing came up so does the suspect have the right to leave? I've watched too many videos of people doing the whole "am I being detained" thing and getting off, but I'm wond ring if it has any legal standing?

Answer:
 He is not free to leave. Police can conduct a pat search of the penis in public (first time I've ever said that) but they may not conduct a strip search in public. Big difference.

Edit: since your location is Australia you should disregard the above advice unless it is confirmed by a source familiar with Australian law. Penis pat law is not the same everywhere


Title: my wife wants to move out and take the kids

Question: My wife and I have decided to separate. We haven't drawn up any kind of informal agreement yet because we can't agree on the parenting plan. She won't agree to 50/50 and instead says I should only get them every Wed for 2 hours and every second weekend overnight. Also she is moving the 3 of them into a 2 bdrm so the 3 of them would be sharing a bedroom which I'm not so sure is going to go over well for her. She has put a deposit on the place and paid the first month and wants to take the kids today and move into it. We haven't even talked to them about the separation yet. I don't feel that this arrangement is going to favour well for me if I just agree to let her take them and then work out an agreement after. I can't get a hold of my lawyer and she is already on the phone with someone. I know I could get royally screwed here but I also just want her to get out so I don't have to worry about getting upset with her in front of the kids. Can she legally take the kids and move out without me signing some sort of temporary agreement.

Answer: Without any type of custody decree, yes, she can take the kids without your consent.


Title: My apartment contract cashed 2 rent checks for the month of September, nearly overdrawing me. Do I have any legal options?

Question:
Hello, r/legaladvice!

I live in SC, and rent an apartment here.  The apartment complex has recently come under new management.

I supplied my complex with a check for $707.00 for September's rent.  I beleived this to me the correct amount.  I promptly received a call from my complex, informing me that I had overpaid by $4.  I just as promptly gave them a new check for $703.00, which they cashed a few days later.  I was told in person that the original check for $707 would be destroyed.  I could not verify its destruction personally, as the complex manager had left for the day with the check.

Yesterday, the original check for $707 was also cashed, nearly overdrawing my account.  Both checks read "Rent September 2015" followed my apartment number in the memo line.

This strikes me as egregiously bad business practice, but I'm wondering whether the complex may have actually broken any laws, or if I have legal recourse. I plan to move out when my lease is up regardless, but if I could be compensated for this mistake, that would be wonderful.

Thank you!

Answer: You should have cancelled the check. So long as they credit your account properly, you likely have no recourse here.


Title: Any consequences for a lawyer who submits a forged will for probate?

Question:
If a lawyer submits a forged will to probate, are there any possible professional or legal consequences for the lawyer?

The will in question is not notarized, mentions assets the deceased did not have, and claims it was to be kept "private" for at least 30 days past the death of the testator (I'm not in Louisiana where sealed wills are valid under some conditions). The fake will is an attempt by several disgruntled heirs to supersede a self-proving will that doesn't give them the inheritance they believe they deserve.

Furthermore, the will has been reviewed by one forensic handwriting analyst who said the signature of the deceased is not genuine, and another analyst is reviewing the signatures independently.

Local police told me that the handwriting analysis is enough to open a forgery investigation, particularly when combined with facts like the fake will's pages are not numbered or initialed, and contradicts established evidence about banks used, etc.

If the will is determined to be a forgery, can the lawyer who helped file it for probate get in trouble?

Answer:
 Do you honestly think the answer is no? Do you honestly think you live in a society where an attorney can intentionally do something fraudulent without consequences?

I assure you that is not the case.


Title: Is This Even Legal?

Question:
My question is two fold. I have a friend who works for a small family mower repair business in Washington State. Part of his benefit package is 1 weeks paid vacation after a year. He past his 1 year mark in March 2017. After paying 1 employee at a time their vacation pay they finally got around to him. On Friday he was denied his vacation pay and was told that they were keeping it "to pay back the company" for a repair that ended in the company replacing the entire motor. Many hands touched this motor so there is no way of truly knowing who or how the motor was broke during the repair process. Can they with hold his vacation pay like this?

Also, is it legal if a small business owner gives a personal loan to an employee with out the employee asking, just the owner trying to help out to make sure the employee gets to work. Is it legal to make that same employee after accepting the personal loan to work 6 days per work with 1 of those 6 days being w/out pay and not clocked in?

Answer:
 None of that is legal. Contact the labor board.Answer #2: [Washington State](http://www.lni.wa.gov/WorkplaceRights/Wages/PayReq/PayDeduct/) has pretty good employee protections against deductions from wages.

The employer cannot with-hold owed wages because of a business loss or damage to inventory or equipment, unless three criteria are met:  the employee must agree ahead of time in writing, and it must be proven that the damage or loss was due to an employee's dishonest or willful act, and the with-holding can only be done from the employees final paycheck (i.e. the employee has to be fired).

Is paid vacation owed to an employee like wages are?  Yes, if it's part of a compensation plan and has already been earned.   This can be subtle;  it's possible he doesn't have a claim on that benefit yet.   But your narrative suggests this is an illegal deduction from his compensation.

The question about giving a loan to an employee without the employee asking is a little confusing.   If they offered a loan and he accepted the loan, that's legit.   They can then deduct the loan repayments from his paycheck or do it outside of the wage payment.   Loans aren't income.

Was the extra day of work intended to be in repayment for the loan, or is he still expected to pay the loan back ?

Even if it was, this isn't legal because they aren't doing the correct tax withholding on his wages.

Your friend needs to document these violations, and can make a complaint to the [Washington State Department of Labor and Industries.](http://www.lni.wa.gov/WorkplaceRights/ComplainDiscrim/WRComplaint/default.asp)Answer #3: If you have a text or email that states they told him they were withholding it that's even better. See if you can find any proof that shows they are breaking their contract.


Title: UF Law student here, looking for advice. How much flexibility is there regarding alternative schedules if I want to be an environmental/property lawyer?

Question:
[Florida]
How many smaller law firms (or better yet, nonprofits) out there would allow me to work night shifts?

I recently discovered that I have something called Delayed sleep-phase disorder (DSPD).  Essentially, my sleep rhythms are off. My most productive hours are between 3pm to 1 or 2am, but due to law school and, you know, life, I am forced to get up around 8 or 9 everyday (during the weekends, I sleep till about 2pm).

During the week day, it takes me 2-3 hours after waking to get focused, and even then my focus only lasts for so long. Throughout the day, I  continue to be somewhat sleepy and get easily distracted, so that I am not very productive. Not to mention, getting less than 8 hours of sleep exacerbates another debilitating health issue.

I am afraid about going through with the rest of law school if when I get out, I will only be able to work the usual 9-5+ work days, and feel like I am constantly sleep deprived and unfocused.

I believe DSPD is a disability, covered by the ADA...but it has to be truly "severe," and realistically, can I expect to get any leeway asking for accommodations in such a conservative field like law? I don't want to have to be self employed to do so...

Answer: Shifts? Oh boy. I have good news and bad news. The good news is you'll be working night shift. The bad news is you'll be working day shift too.Answer #2: Being a lawyer generally involves a lot of communication, which is difficult to do when the people you need to talk to are asleep. I would guess it's going to be hard to get an accommodation to work the hours you're looking for.


Title: Do we have a Medical Malpractice case? Doctor's office withheld bloodwork showing RSMF for over 2 weeks

Question:
My wife has had a number of health issues recently - fatigure, headaches, body aches, nausea, etc.  We found out from her doctor earlier today that she had tested positive for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.  Our biggest concern is that she had submitted bloodwork on 10/15, the doctor's office had received the results on 10/20, and they didn't contact her until today with the results (11/7).

She has mild symptoms for the disease, but it is well documented that not starting immediate treatment can lead to serious complications in the future - i.e. gangrene, amputations, paralysis, etc.  Even if she has no further symptoms in the near term, knowing these complications may likely be a part of her future will affect her mentally for the rest of her life.

Say for example she were to take her medication and have no complications until well into the future.  How would this be affected by the statute of limitations?  Is it best to contact an attorney and at least document the process now? Withholding this type of medical information from a patient and not starting treatment for 18 days in this case is inconceivable from a medical standard.

Answer:
 > Withholding this type of medical information from a patient and not starting treatment for 18 days in this case is inconceivable from a medical standard.

You don't know this unless you're a medical expert.  See an attorney, most medmal people offer free consultations.


Title: Is my high school violating my freedom of expression? If so, what can I do?

Question:
Clarksville TN, CHS.

I sold and printed about a hundred shirts with the message "Sex Is Okay" and a illustration of a bee. They are innocent in appearance, as was my intention.

The reason I did this was to promote a more open culture in regard to sexuality among people of my generation. I live in the southern US where sex negativity is at the root of massive STD rates, teen pregnancies, and foolish legal jurisdictions. I knew the school wouldn't be HAPPY about this, but since I saw them as being a part of the problem, I figured that was unavoidable.

What I did not expect was for the school to bar me and my fellow supporters from wearing the shirts all together.

I understand that the school DOES have the right to bar freedom of speech if it is "vulgar" as defined by the Bethel VS. Fraser case, and if it poses a "material and substantial disruption" as defined by the Des Moines VS Tinker supreme court trial, but I can see no argument by which the word "sex" is vulgar, as there is no more politically correct replacement. Besides, the word is included in non-literary educational material.

Am I missing something important here? Is the school perfectly within their right?

------------------------------------
TLDR: Printed and sold shirts reading "Sex Is Okay' for a movement I've been working on. High School banned them. Is my freedom of expression being trodden upon? Is there anything I can do if it is?

Answer: Yes, the school is within their rights. They have pretty wide latitude to determine what is a disruption. Answer #2: The school are allowed to do that.


Title: Sister's roommate didn't pay rent and now she is getting evicted

Question:
This is in Georgia, USA. She lived in this apartment with four other people, there is only one name on the lease lets call her E. The three other people including my sister paid their share of the rent to E and just now the landlord showed up with a eviction notice saying that the rent has not been paid. Is there anything my sister can do to get her money back and what kind of repercussions can my sister expect to receive. She's worried that having an eviction on her record would make it difficult to find another apartment. Thank you for any advice you can give us.
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 If she is not on the lease, the eviction will not name her.

She can sue the person on the lease who has been collecting the rent but not paying it to the LL in small claims court.


Title: (WA) When you move, does a change of address you submit get reported?

Question:
My brother does not live with me. He has never lived at this address.  He has always lived financially insecure and irresponsibly. A piece of his mail was delivered to my address. The envelope had a bank's name I've never heard of on the cover and it literally has my address under his name. Not a forwarding sticker. His story is when he did a change of address, the post office must have notified the bank of the change of address to my address instead of his. But, in our arguing he slipped and told me he had done paperless billing. That's significant because he thought I'd never see.

The first two letters of our first names is the same and our last names are the same. But, there's a significant enough difference that it's easier to read they are different, like Samuel and Sarah.

I didn't think the post office notifies businesses of your change of address. When I moved I had to manually change my address with my bank.

A couple of my theories are:

1. He used my address and lied. He needed a credit card and didn't want to use his address.
2. This bank was searching for him and was using every similar address to try and find him.

This was a year and a half ago and he's never changed his story.  I rarely talk to him though. He's done stuff like this before so it's not out of character,  but I want to believe him. It's completely ruined our relationship to have him lie for so long.

Is it possible for a change of address to go wrong?  Does a bank change your address for you?

Thank you!

**tl;dr**; I think my brother lied about using my address.

Answer:
 > I didn't think the post office notifies businesses of your change of address.

Yes, it does. Businesses pay the post office for this service.

Answer #2: You can write "not at this address, return to sender" on the envelope and drop it in a mailbox.
Edit: Black out any bar codes on the envelope first Answer #3: When I worked for a large insurance company, we would get reports from the post office showing changes of address. We would then update the new address in our system. So he is likely telling the truth.


Title: What makes a Pardon Official?

Question:
My question is what makes a presidential pardon official? Is there specific Presidential Letterhead, a Pardon Form, napkins written in Crayon signed X President, Does it have to be notorized or can it a verbal thing.

If there is a form of some kind could a hypothetical ex president print a bunch before leaving office and say he signed them before leaving having pardon for any federal charges that could come his way. I know Not romotely the same but my TV production teacher would presign excused absent slips for his TA to date and give when we needed out of a different period to setup for sports or an assembly.

Answer:
 [CFR 28 Section 1](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/28/part-1) provides advisory regulations about how it all works, from the perspective of the justice department handling the pardon.

[Here is a detailed walkthrough](https://www.justice.gov/archive/pardon/adams1.htm) of the process, at least how it stood in 2001.

From the perspective of the president, he issues a “warrant of clemency” (or commutation) which could really be formatted however he wants I suppose, but in practice (copying from that second link):

> When the President decides to grant clemency, whether in the form of pardon or commutation of sentence, the Counsel to the President informs the Office of the Pardon Attorney to prepare the appropriate clemency warrant. Typically, if the President intends to pardon a number of applicants, a master warrant of pardon will be prepared for his signature. The signed warrant bears the seal of the Department of Justice, lists the names of all of the individuals to whom the President grants pardon, and directs the Pardon Attorney to prepare and sign individual warrants of pardon reflecting President's action to be delivered to each pardon recipient. The preparation of the individual warrants by the Pardon Attorney is therefore a ministerial act which simply sets forth the decision that the President has already made. The individual warrant likewise bears the seal of the Department of Justice and reflects that it has been prepared at the direction of the President. When the individual pardon warrant has been prepared, it is sent to the applicant, or his attorney if he is represented by counsel, along with an acknowledgment form that the pardon recipient completes and returns to the Pardon Attorney's Office to reflect receipt of the warrant.


Title: (Florida) How to prove Paternity when the Mother is deceased…

Question:
A man was in prison while mother was pregnant with his alleged child.

While he was serving time, the mother passed away, and the child was left in the care of the maternal and paternal grandparents.

Mother’s sister becomes legal guardian of the child while father is still serving time.

Father gets out of prison, and is dedicated to caring for the child, so much so that the Legal guardian allows him to care for the child 24/7. However, guardian does not trust him, situation is very adversarial.

Father is now working with a stable job and is a homeowner who is current on mortgage payments. DNA evidence shows that he is the father.

Biggest issue is: How does the father file a paternity action against the mother if she is deceased? She also has no estate.

Answer: INAL but I would imagine they’d be filing for custody or placement of the child and the grandparents would be the other party to that. Establishing paternity would be a step in that process. Take this all with a grain of salt as I know nothing about florida family law and INALAnswer #2: He hires a family law attny.


Title: (NSW, Australia) My friend has been prescribed medication for Bi-Polar Schizophrenia after recently turning 18 years old, but her parents are withholding said medication. Is this illegal now that she is 18?

Question:
She is still dependant on her parents, thus unable to obtain the medication on her own, and after being prescribed and purchasing the medication, the parents are now refusing to allow their child to have the medication. She is worried for her own mental safety and wellbeing, and I was just wondering if there is anything that we can do, or if the fact she is no longer a minor nullifies the situation?
Topic:
Medicine and Malpractice

Answer:
 Is she able to speak to her doctor in private? This could be a way to raise concerns via appropriate avenues and plan a course of action.

Another consideration is whether or not her parents hold a Medical Power of Attorney, Guardianship, etc over her as this would impact her ability to do things.Answer #2: Does Australia have laws on illegally possessing medication not prescribed to you?Answer #3: Try r/auslaw.Answer #4: Friend is 18. As /u/shillyshelly says, she can make her own doctor appointments, or go to any public hospital for a mental health appointment (free, because Australia. Nationalised medicine/Medicare). For help with the mechanics of this, Beyond Blue or the Black Dog institute will be more than happy to offer phone advice.


Title: My brother was hit by a car the other day.

Question:
We live in upstate New York. My brother was crossing the street on a bike, some lady turned on a red light not paying attention to him, and he ended up unconscious for a minute on his back in the street.

Now, he says that he woke up maybe a minute before police arrived, and someone that had walked by helped him up on his feet. The cop gets there and essentially, had brother sign off saying that he was at fault and didn’t want medical attention. He says he felt pressured into doing so. (Small town with corrupt cops, it’s not surprising.) He is severely disoriented (pretty severe concussion) and trembling hard, has VERY visible road rash on the back of his head and his arm, as well as a wide rash on his back that was hidden by his shirt. His bike is very damaged as well, that’s also pretty plain to see.

About an hour later my mother has been informed and picks him up so they can go to the hospital and get him checked out. They stop by the station to get insurance information from the woman who hit him. The cop who was present walks out at this time. He states that he believed my brother was “doped up” (the concussion)  and that he “had no injuries” so.. he has done no paperwork or forms whatsoever and refuses to share any information on the woman that struck my brother. My mother protests against this, stating he was very “disorientated” because of again, his serious concussion and shows the officers in the room my brothers physical injuries. The cop just mocks her and waves them off.

One hospital trip later, yes he has a bad concussion and lots of road rash, no internal bleeding thank god, and he’s released with a script for muscle relaxers and recommended otc pain meds.

My mom is very hesitant to even protest things further, so I figured I would come here and see if there’s anything to be done here. Any action we can take. We’re poor, we can’t afford his hospital bill even, and the entire situation is SO incredibly fishy to me.

Answer: Have your brother contact a personal injury attorney tomorrow. Many work on contingency (they take a percent of winnings, and get nothing if they lose). Your mom and brother should start writing down names, dates and times of who and what they've been dealing with now. Has your brother seen his primary care provider yet?


Title: Employer changing vacation leave policy - Maryland

Question: My employer is making everyone sign a new employee handbook stating that upon termination, vacation days will not be paid out.  When I was hired the policy stated that vacation days would be paid out upon termination. I have been here for over 8 years so I have alot of vacation--more than my employer would ever grant me to take at one time. Is this legal?  I live in Maryland.

Answer:
 The policy supercedes here, and unfortunately, your employer can change policy. There is Maryland statute which requires they pay out PTO and/or accrued time, unless stated otherwise in company policy.

You're out of luck here.


Title: Landlord keeps showing up to the house I rented

Question:
So here is some back story:
I rented a house from a lady. She used to live here with me but eventually moved to her other house , so she is no longer living here in my rented house.
Here is the issue:
The land lady keeps showing up to the house I’m living in, and every time I tell her this is a breach of privacy she has excuses such as “I left some stuff here, I forgot to bring them to my other house so I’m just here to pick up my things”. She also brings her whole family over, they hang out in the living room and it makes me uncomfortable to even walk out of my room to use the toilet as I don’t know them very well. so cars are always obstructing my driveway and I end up having to park mine on a grass patch, also have to always sit and hide in my room until the whole gang leaves .
This happens every few days and she always uses the same excuse - “I’m just here to pickup my things that I left behind”. Why can’t she just take all her stuff in one sitting and leave for good???
Here’s the thing. She will drop me a message that she’s coming over and I always reply “ok” even if I feel like telling her “stop fucking coming over every few days!” Because her reason seems valid. It just annoys me that she comes over every couple days , it just doesn’t feel right.
what actions can I take for her to stop coming over and obstructing my driveway and causing great inconvenience to me?

Answer:
 Stop telling her “ok”.

Look up your state’s laws on entry rights and privacy / quiet enjoyment, as well as look at your lease.

You may need to write to her advising she is only to come over as permitted by the lease (or county / state laws), and with appropriate notice and for appropriate reasons.

It’s not ok that strangers enter your house and hang out.


Title: [x-post] [serious] If I tell my auto insurance provider that I now identify as female, do my rates go down?

Question: Someone posted this question to /r/showerthoughts, which is a joke site, but I'm genuinely curious about the legalities of the answer.  Do transgendered people qualify for different rates than the gender listed on their birth certificate? [NJ]

Answer:
 If you've changed your name and check the female box when applying, I'm betting yes.  It's not like most insurance agencies will be asking for a birth certificate in the first place.  Answer #2: I'd be very surprised if they change your gender marker unless you provided them with an ID with a different gender marker on it.Answer #3: This probably depends a lot on particular state law and the policies of the insurance company. Its also probably still somewhat murky and many states will not have case law about this specifically, and some companies will not have policies about this.

So I dunno. Answer #4: In not sure about auto rates but I do know that for life insurance it is by your birth gender due to the medical needs and requirements.

Source: work in insurance.


Title: BC, Canada- Want to sue my ex for theft. Is it a good idea?

Question:
Hi Reddit!

I'm hoping to get some legal advice on whether or not I can, or should, sue my ex. We were in a common law relationship for 6 years (although never filed taxes that way, because he never filed taxes and I was nervous about being attached to whatever tax issues he had) and the last 1.5 years he got in to drugs, and subsequently (and slowly) stole everything of value from me, including most of my money earned in that period. I am paid cash (taxed employment, I just -used- to prefer getting cash over cheques)

I was an idiot, who refused to believe it was him that was taking my heirlooms and earnings, up until late last year when it was too obvious to deny anymore, which is why I never thought about suing until today. I felt like an idiot. There were renos going on in the building, and I pursued trying to prove the foreman renovating was the one stealing (he wasn't) and not my ex. My ex has balls. He filed a police report (that I authenticated with ref #) for jewellery he stole from me. Really manipulative person, who made some good efforts on trying to prove everyone around was stealing, not him.

There is also the issue of a lot of the cash he stole being apparently documented by my boss, who originally said she could give me an exact amount and is falling back on that, I don't think she wants to bother looking for the paperwork from last year. This is for extra work I had taken on, due to my paychecks (which I still have stubs for) being stolen. I want to sue for my credit card debt, which basically kept us alive paying for groceries etc while all my cheques were stolen. He wasn't working during this period.

He says he will pay me back, but my friend, who is a legal assistant, says the sooner I act the better, in case he doesn't. The last theft was Easter of this year, but most of it was in 2014.

I'll post more details if anyone here thinks it is worthwhile, but I'm wondering how difficult/expensive it would be to sue for theft in this situation, and whatever other information some kind Reddit soul is happy enough to divulge me with. I never thought I'd want to go through suing someone, but it would be about $30-$40K, and that is just too much money to keep calling a life lesson.

Thanks!

EDIT: Not sure if it matters, but he is waiting for a family member to release a large inheritance (at least 200K, although much has been 'spent' on rehab at this point) He says he will pay me back when he gets this. But it has already been years in the making, so not sure if and how this affects anything.

Answer: Sue him and call the police.


Title: Public school tuition

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Some states have a constitutional right to free public education, but not Alabama.

It is often the case that when students from one town attend school in another, the school is not getting any revenue to educate those students.  Sometimes this is resolved by the first town paying the second or by charging user fees or by simply preventing the "foreign" students from attending.  You can look into what the situation is in your area.


Title: Did I just unknowingly agree to a contract, then break it? (NB, Canada)

Question:
I am on mobile, so sorry for any typos.

Yesterday, I saw an article on the facebook Marketplace that looked nice. I contacted the seller and asked her about the price and condition of the article. I then told her I was interested and asked her if I could go check out the item and test it to see if everything was fine. She gave me a contact number and I told her I'd get contact her tomorrow (which is now today).

This morning, I told her I was no longer interested in the item (it is a video game console, and a new version is out) and that I would not be purchasing it. Have I done anything wrong? Should I buy it anyways?

Sorry if I am being paranoïd

Answer: No way a contract is involved with a simple Facebook buying/selling transaction for such a simple item... You have the right to spend your money however you like and if they think you wasted their time by changing your mind then that's really their problem since anyone has the right to change their mind and the seller has probably done the same thing at some point in their life. You can be polite about it but they don't get to tell you how to spend your own money. I've had tons of people ghost me on Facebook marketplace or change their mind at the last second and I don't really care unless I actually took time to meet up with them (even then it would just be an inconvenience)


Title: Who becomes the vice president, if the VP becomes the president?

Question: Does the Speaker of the House step into the VP role?  It sit vacant?  An election held?

Answer:
 New president nominates a VP and House and Senate have to confirm.Answer #2:

>Section 2.
>
>Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

&#x200B;

\--25th amendment to the US constitution


Title: If someone were to rob a bank, what crimes might they be charged with.

Question: (Bot wants a location - well uh...you know, whatever location you want is fine.) Let's say that that guns are involved, a few shots are fired, someone is hit, but not killed by one, lots of people get beat up and restrained and it's a lengthy robbery. What charges might be filed if these robbers were caught?

Answer: Attempted armed robbery if they didn't get the money, armed robbery if they did, assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, and the clincher would be bank robbing, which is a federal crime. There's probably a bunch of other things they could be charged with as well, depending on the facts. Either way you slice it, the bank robbers will likely be going to jail for a very long time.


Title: Parking Lot Fender Bender - I'm a POS I know (Virginia)

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 >~~Intended to leave a note, saw the driver coming back~~ Tried to sneak away, got caught.

FTFY


Title: Is it legal for me and a few friends to build a science fiction universe and play as characters through a group chat?

Question: In the United States

Answer: Yes.  Making stuff up and acting is legal.  But this should be so obvious, that it begs the question: is there any particular reason you think there could be a problem with what you're considering doing?  If, for example, your science fiction universe is an exact replica of this real universe, and your "play acting" is "planning to commit a serious crime in a manner that seems indistinguishable from reality", then that could land you in legal trouble.


Title: [Louisiana, US] [Baton Rouge] I got in a wreck last night and was taken to ER. I was drunk at the time. What should I do?

Question: So I drove to BR from Lafayette last night, which is an hour drive, to go to a club. I believe I threw up and was kicked out. I think I decided to drive home at that time, and drove into a train (?). I can't really remember. I woke up in ER, and was discharged without injuries, but my car and my belongings are MIA. I contacted the City police and they informed me that the car was towed to a lot. The hospital did a blood test, and my alcohol was 200. What should I do now? I don't know what to do. I looked at some stuff online, and they all suggested not talking to the police at all, and to get a lawyer. I am stuck without my vehicle, and the lot said that they do not have the key. They won't give me any more information, and I don't have my wallet (with my licence). Please help.

Answer:
 Alcoholics Anonymous
10319 Old Hammond Hwy C2, Baton Rouge, LA 70816
(225) 930-0026

https://goo.gl/maps/dbGACBMfq3K2Answer #2: Lawyer. Now. There are lawyers who specialize in DWI. Don't talk to police or anyone without lawyer present.


Title: What happens when the other party just stops responding?

Question:
A friend of mine posed this question to her divorce lawyer, who got really quiet and said, "You just can't do that...it would be terrible," without actually answering the question. Which brings me to you lovely folks.

I have a Friend (F) going through a less-than-civil divorce with Cray-Cray SoonToBeEx (CC). F started things by trying to get CC to go to arbitration and CC refused to engage. She just ignored all requests for information. Once arbitration failed, F lawyered up, as did CC. CC's lawyer sent a threatening "we know you were abusive and unfaithful, sign off on the house and we won't come after your retirement" letter, to which F basically responded, "bring it".

F then gets an alimony demand and some other nonsense, so F's lawyer files for discovery (forgive me if the terminology is off) to which CC falls completely silent. First deadline passes, CC's lawyer asks for an extension, sure. Second deadline passes, nothing, F's lawyer files sanctions. CC's lawyer shows up, says ONE MORE TIME, F's lawyer says okay...then again radio silence.

Which brings us to now. The latest extension has passed, CC's lawyer is totally silent. Nothing...at all, not even a reciprocal discovery filing. So F's lawyer is filing sanctions a second time and this is where F's question came up.

What happens if both CC and her lawyer just don't show up at the next hearing? F knows CC well enough to know that it's a real possibility that she won't show up. She runs from things instead of facing a possible negative situation...but what about her lawyer?

We're assuming CC hasn't paid her lawyer a retainer which possibly explains the lack of activity on the lawyer's part, but can the lawyer also just not show up? Can her lawyer drop CC as a client and just bail? How much of an impact would a stunt like that have on the lawyer's career?

Answer: In my state, F can file for default and get divorced without CC’s participation. And CC can certainly drop a client who doesn’t pay with few exceptions (such as being on the verge of trial).


Title: Received $10K for unused PTO (~230 hours ) of which I've used 184 hours when I went for vacation. I left the company today and I received the check in mail.

Question:
Just reached home, and saw packet for me, opened it and saw 2 checks. 1 my regular paycheck & other one for $10K+ amount. I'm not sure if I submitted the PTO or not as I was swamped with work in December.

Not sure what to do ? What are my options if I keep the check. Will this be considered as fraud ? I have really nice relationship with my now ex-manager and colleagues. I don't want to screw that.

Please help me.

EDIT : This is in CA

Answer: Call them and let them know. They will discover it eventually and you will owe them the money back. Just deposit the check and let it sit collecting interest. Once they tell you were to send it, write a check for the 184 hours you owe and keep the interest!


Title: In US, Is court proceeding open to general public? Can I just show up in random courthouse and sit as spectator? There's a bully at my college who got into serious trouble and I wanna see his crying face in court myself.

Question: Particularly state of New York. Also, I'm not a party to bully's case.

Answer:
 You can, but you are likely to be disappointed.

The first hearing is or was an arraignment.  Other hearings are procedural motion hearings, or where the state or defense asks for a continuance.  And in all likelihood, it will end in a plea deal and never go to trial. if you really want to go, go for the experience.  Just don't expect to get the certain sense of schadenfreude you're expecting.   Answer #2: They're usually open to the public, yes.Answer #3: Yes; the only exceptions could be some juvenile or possibly family law cases.Answer #4: Yes, as a general rule court proceedings are open to the public.  However, juvenile proceedings may not be.Answer #5: Out of curiosity, what was the bully charged with?


Title: Need legal advice regarding obtaining a F-1 student visa, with criminal record

Question: I am applying for a university in the United States. I am a Swedish citizen. Four years ago I got a penalty from the police for the use of cocaine. Apart from this there is not anything else on my record. Will it be absolutely impossible for me to be granted an American F-1 student visa?

Answer: You are most likely inadmissible and the exceptions are mostly for things that are deemed national interest or for humanitarian purposes. You can check with the consulate to be sure but you are probably out of luck. Sorry


Title: Issue of Determining Paternity/Custody

Question:
I will try to keep this brief, but thank you in advance for any help you can give.

My wife is pregnant and unfortunately we are unaware if the baby is mine biologically, as she was also assaulted by an acquaintance around the time we think she conceived. We have decided to keep the baby and we do not plan to try and determine paternity, we just plan to raise him/her as our kid, that's not in question. I do, however, have some concerns and given that we have not told anyone about either the assault or the pregnancy so far, I would prefer to find out if my fears are baseless or not before going to a lawyer, which could result in her having to discuss the matter with someone besides me or her therapist.

1. There should be no way to determine from appearance at birth whose child it is. The rapist does not know she is pregnant yet (and we will attempt at all costs to keep this knowledge from him) but he is interlinked in her social circle to an extent that I'm worried this is NOT an ironclad guarantee no matter what we do. If I am named on the birth certificate, and my wife and I agree in a united front that I am the father, is there any way he could possibly force a paternity test?
2. If he can somehow obtain a paternity test and God forbid is the biological father, does he have any chance in hell of obtaining any rights/visitation to our child? If he did try and obtain rights to our kid, is it possible to bring up that he raped her in a civil custody case or is that considered non-admissible given that we have not reported him or pressed charges (and my wife would prefer not to if she can avoid it.)

If it matters at all, my wife and I live in Virginia, as does the rapist. The assault happened in DC. Thanks again.

Answer:
 > If he did try and obtain rights to our kid, is it possible to bring up that he raped her in a civil custody case or is that considered non-admissible given that we have not reported him or pressed charges (and my wife would prefer not to if she can avoid it.)

You can bring it up, but it's certainly going to be suspicious.

Here's the thing:  This is a very complicated, and sensitive matter.  It is a matter which should be discussed with an attorney, and the details of which should be fully disclosed to the attorney.  He will advise you based on those details which you cannot disclose here.

In fact, I think that your wife should speak to an attorney on her own, in confidence, and privately disclose everything to him.  I don't know... But there may be elements about what happened that she does not want you to find out... But might be critical to an attorney attempting to give proper advice.


Title: Is it legally possible to leave hospital along with my child, earlier than they want me to? Are there negative reprecussions and if so, what are they? [NYC]

Question:
If I were to give birth in a birthing center, they let myself and the child go home in a few hours, after making sure we are healthy with no complications.

However, in a hospital, they have a ridiculous minimum policy of a 24hour stay, and often even 3day stays - even if your baby and yourself, are healthy and measuring normal.

I'll be giving birth in a hospital, to have safety in case anything bad happens like needing an emergency C section or something of the sort.

But if myself and baby have an easy birth (my russian family has a long history of easy births ... "I squatted in the bushes on the side of the farm and my baby came out" type births lol) and my baby and I have good health, measurements, vitals, etc ... I would like to go home in a few hours like they let you at a birthing center.

Am I allowed to demand to check me and the baby out in a few hours like that? Are they gonna do anything negative if I force them to let me leave?

American hospitals are wierd ): I'm used to a lot more freedom of choice ..

Answer: Can you demand to leave AMA? Yes. Could that concern a doctor and trigger a CPS call? Yes, possibly.


Title: [NJ] Mom had a mental health crisis, ran off the road, three tickets for DUI (without evidence), reckless driving, careless driving.

Question:
[deleted]
Topic:
DUI

Answer:
 Why do you keep saying no evidence? She drove off the road, smelled of alcohol, and refused the test. Those things are all evidence.

She needs an attorney. If she is on disability she should qualify for a public defenderAnswer #2: Seems on the up and up.

She drove off the road, smelt of alcohol, and refused a breath test. That's sufficient for DUI.

Reckless driving and careless driving from her driving off the road.

The charges are valid.

Edit: You've got to face the facts - you mother chose to drive while fully knowing, and others telling her, that she was in no state to drive. And after drinking too.


Title: [NYC] What's the Worst Thing That Can Happen If I Ignore a Clause in my Lease?

Question:
I've just renewed my lease after negotiating with my landlord about being allowed to have a dog in the apartment on the new lease.
I got the new paper work yesterday and there's a clause in there about restricted breeds, which includes the dog that I'm in the middle of organising to adopt.
If I were to sign the papers, and "accidentally not see" that breed in the restricted list, what's the worst thing that could happen?

Answer:
 > what's the worst thing that could happen?

You could be evicted.

There is no "accidentally didn't see" exception in contracts.


Title: Any way to dismiss 2 simple traffic infractions? Tips or Tricks? NJ. Stop sign and seat belt in rear.

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 You say "you know your rights" and then you rattle off a bunch of asinine ideas that you could have only gotten from those idiotic youtube videos where the drivers don't want to roll down their window for the officer.

I don't know what the cop being "new" has to do with anything.

You have no defenses here.  There are no magic wand waves that make infractions disappear like you obviously believe.  If you try to reschedule anything, it will just be kicked over to that officer's next scheduled court day (if even allowed).  Answer #2: One thing that I've learned from this sub is that anyone who says, "I know my rights" usually has no idea what the hell they're talking about.


Title: I (F, 26) put a security deposit down on an apartment. Landlord terminated agreement before move-in date, and will not return the money.

Question:
*Originally I posted this on /r/personalfinance, and it was flagged later on as being more of a legal issue*

Like title says, I've made some really dumb decisions financially lately. Mostly because I don't really know what I'm doing, or have had time to figure it out. All of this was done in a very short period of time, because of emergency circumstances.

I'm in a bad situation. At 26 I've been trying to get out of my abusive mother's house for forever. I want to an area three hours away, specifically, but in the same state. My BF (27) has been helping me out with money lately. After a particularly violent episode with my mother, I started looking for immediate work in that area. After a few interviews, I finally found someone who said that they would give me a job. They asked me how soon I could start, and I told them to just give me a few days to get housing together. The company manager agreed, and told me her boss would follow up with me in a few days via email to set up a meeting to sign paperwork.

So I was pretty excited about this. BF and I started looking on craigslist for affordable apartments near the job site. We found one, and saw it. It was a basement apartment being rented out by a middle aged Trinidadian lady. It was comfortable. and the rent was decent for the amount of space, according to BF. He went along with me for the tour and interview, even though he was not going to be living there with me. It was clear that the apartment was just supposed to be for me. She wanted a month's worth of rent for a security deposit, and rent was $950 a month will all utilities included. But, she was willing to split up the security deposit into two months. The lease was supposed to be very short term; only three months.

Here's where my bad judgement comes in. Everything seems to be in order. BF gives me $500 to put down as a security deposit with the intentions on moving in and paying another $950 for August's rent on the 1st. I did sign a paper that she wrote up saying that the $500 was part of a security deposit, and the rest would be due the next month upon moving in. (The current tenant was still living there until August 1st.)The lease was supposed to go into affect upon moving in. I thought all of this was okay, and handed over $500 in cash. I remember her writing up a "receipt' for me, but I can't find it anywhere.

Meanwhile, landlady keeps trying to get in contact with me asking about the start date of my job. I tell her the truth, which was that they told me they would be following up in email. Things fell apart when the job manager's boss finally contacted me. She informed me that they had actually decided to go with someone else for the position, even though the manager told me she wanted to hire me. This was awful, because now I was going to have to look for another job and rely on BF to pay my rent until then. The same day, landlady calls and starts grilling me about my job. So I just tell her the truth; that BF (that she also met during the interview and tour) was going to be paying my rent. I told her all of the payments would still be made on time in the same amount. She did not react well to this. She started going on about how could I possibly pay rent without a job, and she doesn't even know what kind of person my BF is because she didn't question him. (That really matters? I was the only person that was going to live there, which she knew.) She got upset and said that I had really inconvenienced her because now she wasn't comfortable renting the place out to me, and she was going to have to put ads back up. She said she turned down a bunch of people because she picked me as a tenant, and now she was going to lose money for the month of August. (Date was July 21st) I told her that we were still willing to pay her upfront for the month, and BF was willing to cosign. By the end of the phone call, she was very upset and said that she wasn't interested anymore, and I would not be getting my security deposit back because she had to recoup her loss for money and wasted time.

I feel terrible about this situation. This was BF's money, not mine. He was trying to help me out. But both of us have never gone through this process before. Now I'm back to square one. After living out of my car for awhile, my mother let me back in. I'm about to be kicked out again. When she heard about what had happened, she called me stupid and said she would break up with me if she were him. BF has been a rock to me, and has told me not to worry about the money. Hindsight is 20/20, I should have created a paper trail more carefully. I don't have the receipt or a copy of the document. Am I allowed to force her to produce a copy? Do I even need it as she chose to end it when I never moved in?

Is there anything I can do about this situation? (I live in Maryland.) Does she have a right to keep the security deposit when I never even moved in? (Paid the deposit on the 15th, she verbally dissolved the agreement and cut ties on the 21st via phone. )

**TL;DR: Tried to rent an apartment in an emergency situation. Lost security deposit, even though I didn't even move in. Uninformed; help?**

**UPDATE: So I have a crazy update. I wanted to see if this lady had any other issues legally with any of her previous tenants. I simply plugged her name into google along with "Maryland." And this article pops up from three years ago about this woman being arrested and sentenced for fraud after her social worker's license was revoked. She continued to scam insurance companies and take co-pays for a long time after she wasn't supposed to. The article is on Google, but reddit isn't going to allow me to link it here, as it has her name in it. Basically it says that she orchestrated a scam that netted her somewhere between 150,000-200,000 dollars. The feds got involved, and she got caught. So holy crap, you guys. She's still scamming people! And she was sentenced to home detention, probation, and restitution! The interesting part of this is that one of the reasons we picked her was because she said she was a practicing psychologist. She said that she was licensed with two masters degrees and was even working doing counseling online. We thought having her around would be good for me, as she would understand my situation and have mental health resources. Well shit, reading this just enrages me. I think I might have to let the police know what's going on here. She knows exactly what she is doing.**

**I also wrote up my letter last night demanding payment. The fact is, she chose to pull out of the agreement herself but kept the money intended as a security deposit. The person renting the same basement and paying her currently hasn't even moved out as of now. That's ridiculous; posters here were right when they said she is not allowed to do that. I'm sending the letter out today be certified mail. I'm thinking she will cave without going to court because of her past record. She knows her history and might be afraid of being taken to court for more sketchy behavior with taking people's money.**

 **What do you guys think...also reddit has told me that you guys can't get involved in this, FYI. Thank you, though.**

*Latest update: I sent the letter. I did send her a text requesting the money back. She said that she would reply via email, but then disappeared. I'm not going to take any phone calls if she attempts to call. I'm trying to get a paper trail going. As of now the letter is going to go out today as certified mail requiring a signature. I did speak to the county's free legal aid over the phone. The guy told me that he was pretty sure that there was no way that she could keep the deposit. He recommended taking her to small claims court and suing for 3x the deposit amount, as allowed by Maryland law. I have also put in an email to the people that monitor parole and probation in the state of Maryland. You guys have been awesome with your help. I'll keep you posted.*
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 In Maryland, a landlord may keep the security deposit for unpaid rent, breach of lease, or damages.  She breached the lease, as you were willing to continue paying.

Now, the good news, judges in Maryland have awarded up to 3x the amount of the deposit in damages (it doesn't seem to be codified, as in some other states, but seems common enough, especially in egregious cases).  If she doesnt pay after the demand letter, head to small claims court.Answer #2: If she's on probation, send a copy of your demand letter to them.  Also include the statute she's violating.  Give a hard deadline.  Then sue for 3x in small claims.  Intimidating, but usually pretty straight forward.  Just follow the steps.Answer #3: Well that's one hell of an edit... Sounds like you are on the right course though. Answer #4: This is not an either or. You send the demand letter, get your money back AND give copies of all your interactions to the cops as proof of fraud and violation of her probation. She should be in prison.Answer #5: I highly recommend getting a hold of her parole officer. The terms of her parole may be very strict when it comes to matters of handling money. Even if there was no violation he/she may be very persuasive in getting your money returned.


Title: Roommate imploding- afraid of false accusations

Question:
WA State

So I let this woman come live with me in an effort to make her life a bit better.  She had a long string of "everyone is shitty and I am the victim" experiences and I believed them.  Now she is here and doing all manner of self destructive stuff and has told me she is going to try to get housing assistance and move out.  Fine.

But then I was thinking about how she has said that all the other people she has had drama with have been violent towards her.  And since I am now seeing a lot of inconsistencies in her stories I am worried I might end up on the wrong side of it.

I don't want to make her situation worse.  But I don't want her to accuse me of something and have MY life get all fucked up.

Is there anything proactive I can do?  Call the police and file a "I am worried this might happen" report? Or something?

Answer:
 >Call the police and file a "I am worried this might happen" report? Or something?

Of course not, but you already know that. Are you agreeing to let her stay with you until she secures housing assistance? Because based on your description of her, you should not allow that to continue. Depending on how long she's been there, she could arguably be considered a tenant. As such, you would need to give her at least 20 days' written notice that she must leave. I'd say follow that procedure no matter what if she's that unhinged.

Otherwise, if she makes accusations or threats, document it and/or call the police if that's appropriate for the situation.


Title: How do I get my son back from my mother? I have legal custody.

Question:
Wisconsin: I am a single mother to my 10 year old son and I have sole custody and placement. Two years ago I moved in with my mother for financial reasons. I am a waitress and she wound up being his live-in sitter, basically, and the person he spent the most time with, as my shift began before he got home from school and after he went to bed, and usually all day on weekends. Any time off of work I spent with him, though, and when I first moved in with her we were very close.

My son has many emotional issues, many stemming from a sense of abandonment after his father stepped out of the picture when he was about 5 (I have never put his father down to him, I even buy him presents and say theyre from his dad), and some has been attributed to behavioral tendencies...through the years he has been diagnosed as manic deppressive, ADHD, and ODD (something defiant disorder) and been in therapy and on various medications for them. He has a violent temper and rage issues and spent most of the last school year in an alternative/day treatment center. He very skillfully plays adults against each other and lies with ease.(There is a point to all this background). His affection can also very easily be bought.

My mother is also very manipulative. She abused my sister and me physically and emotionally as children, she had violent ups and downs and used my siblings and I to manipulate our father for money. If she didnt get her way, whether it was wih us or him (we wouldnt have dreamt of telling her "no"), she pitched this awful, loud screaming fit that ended in suicide threats. My siblings do not speak to her and havent for years. I am the middle child and the weak one, so as I saw the people in her life disappear one by one (my father is happily remarried), starting with my sister, continuing through the dissolution of her second marriage, and finally ending with the person she loved the most, my brother, I stayed. She latched onto my son, though, and from the start her behavior was invasive and borderline inappropriate. She called him her son out in public, she would walk into my house without knocking, constantly make comments like "Are you drunk?" or "Are you smoking marijuana in here?" (she has never done drugs, she thinks that incense is what marijuana smells like) or "Oh, I just had to finish a load of whites so I stopped by for some of yours since I know you dont do laundry", or "I washed it with lysol first, because it came from your house." I have had two long term relationships wih men who were ultimately driven away by her awful behavior. I have had to change locks and phone numbers. Also, I believe she has a form of Munchausen Syndrome, not that she makes kids sick but she had my sister and I hospitalized repeatedly as children, and now she does the same with my son. It feels like she has been setting me up to take him for a long time, as several years ago, as I'm sitting in a neurologists' office with her, stemming from her concern that "his head is shaped funny" (its not), and the doctor asked if there was any drinking or drug use during the pregnancy. To which I say no and my moher says "Tell the truth, you drank". I was horrified and outraged, as I had put down my cigarrettes the DAY I found out I was pregnant, did NOT have a drinking problem, and coukdnt even keep down a sip of water for the entire pregnancy, let alone go boozing it up.
So to the legal part. Through buying excessive toys and video games, deliberate undermining of my authority, and calculating manipulation, my mother has turned my son against me. He does not even speak to me respectfully anymore. I have been in a relationship with a good, financially stable man with no criminal record for a year and recently moved in with him, with the understanding that my son would spend most of his time here and some time with his grandmother. Between his counsellor, the school,andeven the authorities, my mother has been building a network against me through complete lies and basically whispering in my sons ear. For example, one day he had a temper tantrum in the car and threw his shoe at me. My mother decided that the best way to get through to him was take him to the police station, where once inside he told the police that I smoke marijuana and could they please arrest me. (I do not, and can pass a drug test) This was told to him by my mother. He has only met my boyfriend a handful of times, this is a man who has 3 kids of his own (one is his ex wife's child who chose to live with him in the divorce even though they are not biologically related because he is a good man), but when I tried to get him to come fishing with us he said no. Why? Because Grandma said he was high last time because he had "bags under his eyes." Hes 41. Those bags are always there. I called the school to let them know I was going to pick him up and when I got there, the police were waiting. I asked what was going on and when my son realized I was there with my girlfriend and not "Bob", they left. So he had told them he was afraid to go with me if I was with my boyfriend. My mother has told these people that I am a drunk who does nothing but party (This is ridiculous, we were brought up as Jehovahs Witnesses and even though I am not religious now, I am a morally conscious person with many of the same values I was raised with). She has confronted my friends in the grocery store parking lot trying to convince them she should have Conner, and they come back to me very confused about my alleged drinking problem and drug issues. They know I am a good mother. She told me my father supported her in taking him from me as she presented me papers to sign him over to her (I did not sign them), and when I called him he said thats ridiculous, she needs to be put in an asylum. BUT he does not want to get involved.

I have to get him away from her. The restaurant I worked at closed down and I am currently on unemployment, which means I can finally spend time with my son. My boyfriend makes enough to take care of both of us. But my mother has him call me and say "we" (always "we") are too busy and now I only see him when I go to his baseball games, which she frequently lies about the time and location of. She has forbidden me to be at her house and I "moved" in here wih about ten articles of clothing and my cats. Everything I own, including my furniture and the papers proving I have custody of my son are in her house.

How do I get him back? At this point I feel like I would have to literally kidnap him with my boyfriend. She does not let me be alone with my son, he refuses to come here because "Bob isnt his dad" (Bob is not trying to be his dad, he just wants everyone to be happy). I have a room here ready for him, our home is clean and we do not drink or do drugs. My mother has soured every authority she can on me, though, and I fear even the police would not accompany me to get him from her house, and he would throw such a fit when I did that they wouldnt make him come with me. I am not trying to punish my mother, our family has long since come to terms with how she is and even though I know I put my son and me in the position we are now in, my job did not afford me to live on my own and its not like anyone was offering to pay my rent. I just want my little boy back before he is grown up and I miss his entire childhood. Sorry this was so long, I just needed to explain why I cant just go there and say "youre coming home wih me".
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer:
 You go over and pick him up. You created this situation. You knew she was abusive and crazy but chose to let her be the primary care giver.

You can call the police and have then help you get your son. Know that your mom will then start filing police and cps reports against you, I would guess.


Title: After many years of employment, company is forcing me to sign confidentiality agreement...

Question:
This is my first experience with this, and I would like to know if I should be concerned with anything in this document:

CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT

In consideration for and as a condition of my employment by COMPANY X, I hereby acknowledge and agree as follows:

1.  No Conflicts.  I represent and warrant that I am not bound by any restrictive covenants or other obligations that would in any way prevent or restrict my employment by COMPANY X.

2.  Company Property.  All correspondence, writings, software, computer records, customer lists, sales brochures, software, hardware, credit cards, laptops, mobile devices, and other documents, information, and materials, including all copies and any such property of any client, customer, or vendor of COMPANY X, that come into my possession in the course of my employment are the sole and exclusive property of COMPANY X (even if created by me).  I understand that this list is not exhaustive but illustrative.  Upon the termination of my employment with COMPANY X for any reason, I acknowledge my obligation, and hereby agree, to return to COMPANY X all such property of COMPANY X or its clients, customers, or vendors.

	3.  Confidential Information.  I acknowledge that, due to the nature of my employment with COMPANY X and the position of trust I will hold, I will have internal access to trade secrets and other “Confidential Information” relating to the business and operations of COMPANY X and its clients, customers, and vendors.  I hereby agree that I will not knowingly, directly or indirectly, disclose to anyone any “Confidential Information” of COMPANY X or any of its clients, customers, or vendors.  For purposes of this Agreement, “Confidential Information” means any and all technical, operational, and confidential or proprietary information regarding COMPANY X or its business (or regarding any of COMPANY X’s clients, customers, or vendors and any of their businesses) including, but not limited to, product information, marketing information, customer lists, client lists, vendor lists, sales techniques, production techniques, supply information, product development, and pricing information.  Confidential Information is intended to cover any information of a nature not normally disclosed by COMPANY X to the general public, whether on its behalf or on behalf of a client, customer, or vendor.

	4.  Remedies.  I understand that COMPANY X will not have an adequate remedy at law for my breach or threatened breach of any of the covenants set forth in Section 3 and agree that in the event of any such breach or threatened breach, COMPANY X shall be entitled, in addition to any other remedies that may be available to it, to injunctive relief (without bond) to enjoin me from the breach or threatened breach of such covenants.  If COMPANY X prevails in any action to enforce this Agreement or remedy a breach of this Agreement by me, COMPANY X shall be entitled to recover from me the expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, incurred in the action, in addition to any other relief awarded by the court.

5.  Miscellaneous.

(a)  Parties Entitled To Enforce.  The rights and obligations under this Agreement shall inure to, and may be enforced by and for, the benefit of COMPANY X, any parent company, subsidiary, or affiliate of COMPANY X, and their successors and assigns.

(b)  Enforceability.  If any part of the covenants set forth herein is not enforceable, in whole or in part, the remaining covenants shall be enforceable notwithstanding the invalidity of any other covenant.  Any covenant not enforceable in part shall be enforced to the extent valid and enforceable.  If, in any judicial proceeding, a court of competent jurisdiction shall refuse to enforce any of the separate covenants herein or shall find that the term or scope of one or more of the separate covenants is unreasonably broad, then in that event the invalid or unreasonably broad provision shall be deleted or modified by said court to the minimum extent necessary to permit enforcement thereof, and the substitute provision shall be incorporated herein.

(c)  At Will.  Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed as an employment agreement or as creating an indefinite period of employment with COMPANY X.   I hereby acknowledge and agree that I am an employee at will of COMPANY X, and that either COMPANY X or I may terminate the employment relationship at any time, with or without notice, or any reason or for no reason at all.

(d)  Waiver.  The waiver by COMPANY X of any breach or the failure to enforce any of the terms or conditions of this Agreement at any time shall not in any way affect, limit, or waive any rights of COMPANY X thereafter to enforce, and compel strict compliance with, every term and condition of this Agreement.

(e)  Governing Law.  This Agreement shall be governed by, and interpreted under, the laws of the State of Maryland.

(f)  Entire Agreement; Amendment.  This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between COMPANY X and me with respect to the matters addressed herein, and it supersedes any other agreements or understandings that may have previously existed concerning the matters addressed herein.  This Agreement may be amended only by an instrument in writing executed by me and an authorized officer of COMPANY X.

(g)  Voluntary Agreement.  I fully understand the terms and effect of this Agreement, and I am entering into this Agreement voluntarily.

SIGNATURE: __________________________________________________________

PRINT NAME: __________________________________________________________

TITLE: ________________________________________________________________

DATE: ________________________________________________________________

Answer:
 Thanks for posting the agreement.

What is your legal question?Answer #2: What no one here has mentioned, likely because its in legaladvice and this comment isn't that, is that if you've been there a while and suddenly the company is requiring everyone to sign one, I would say an acquisition or merger is imminent.


Title: Ex gf reporting me to police for touching her breasts. Will it affect me going to Australia? (Ireland)

Question:
[deleted]
Topic:
Non-US

Answer:
 > She proceeded to have sex with me afterwards

WTF??

Having an argument with her about it was a mistake.  Even an honest misstep can be exacerbated or compounded by not taking responsibility.

She probably won't get very far with a claim if she willingly had sex with you after the fact.  But she can still make your life very difficult in the interim.

IIRC Australia takes convictions in other countries *very* seriously, but I don't know about accusations.  Still, better to avoid the situation altogether if you can.

If I were you, I'd try to apologise to her directly.  Do **NOT** phone, text, IM, or email!!  (I.e., nothing where a record of the conversation will be left.)  Let her know you intend to leave and that you'll be out as quickly as you're able.

What a bloody mess.

Do not sleep with anyone more mental than yerself, mate.  Jaysus, the pair of youse...


Title: Non-Refundable Wedding Venue Deposit help

Question:
[deleted]
Topic:
Contracts

Answer:
 As a matter of customer service they *could* help you, but as a contractual matter they don't have to.

It may also be the case that your desire for a change will negatively impact their ability to resell the space, because they might be unable to sell ancillary services or upsells, even if they rent the space.

However, they are not at all required to be accommodating, and may feel that the loss of other revenue you might generate is worth the hassle factor they would suffer if they let you do what you want.Answer #2: You agreed to a specific use of specific facilities. Unless the contract states that you can swap things out, you can't.

How would you feel if the roles were reversed and the hotel told you that they wanted to cancel 70% of the arrangement you had made?


Title: Can I be subjected to an arbitration agreement just by purchasing a physical good?

Question:
I received my new Plantronics bluetooth headset in the mail the other day. While tossing various paper bits that came with it into the recycling, I noticed a slip called "Limited Warranty and Arbitration Agreement", stating that most disputes and claims related to this product are subject to the [Plantronics, Inc Arbitration Agreement](http://www.plantronics.com/us/terms/arbitration-forms/).

I purchased the product normally. I have not agreed to any EULA or other licensing terms. Use of the product does not require any communication with Plantronics servers, etc. It does not come with any software.

This arbitration agreement, while on the Plantronics website, is not listed anywhere on the product box or the product itself.

**So, if I had a cause to sue (not planning to), would I be bound by the arbitration "agreement"?**

California.

Answer:
 I'd say these "contracts" or "agreements" tend to be unenforcable.    Typically both parties have to see a contract to be able to agree to them.  As someone mentioned, it could have been online at the time of purchase.  If you would have bought the item in a store and you could not view the terms until after you purchased the item  (you can't open until you pay) the there is no contract or agreement because you were completely unaware of it and unable to agree.Answer #2: This raises a complicated question in the realm of contract law.  At best, Plantronics has an adhesion contract, and disputes regarding adhesion contracts are usually looked at through a lens favorable to the consumer purchaser, rather than the corporate drafter of the contract. So, you would have a good argument that no contract exists, and even if one does in the form of a warranty, that the arbitration clause would not be enforceable.

Unfortunately for you, Congress passed the Federal Arbitration Act, which encourages arbitration prior to filing suit.  In recent years, Courts have been more open to enforcing mandatory arbitration clauses.  See the *AT&T Mobility* case from California, which eventually went to the Supreme Court.  The AT&T case is distinguishable from your situation, though, because you did not actually sign a contract. Ultimately, I don't think the arbitration agreement would be enforceable in your situation, but thee is no way of knowing that without testing it in court.

If you read down a little further in the Plantronics warranty, you'll notice that it allows you to file suit against them in small claims court.  Unless you were planning a class action lawsuit, small claims will probably be sufficient for a pair of headphones, so this will probably never be an issue.


Title: My job refuses to give me any breaks

Question:
I work at a frozen yogurt store in California. I mainly work 4-6 hour shifts,  but I'm not allowed to take any breaks or use the bathroom even though we have a bathroom in the store.
The owner does not speak English and is the manager.

Is this justified in any way?

Answer:
 Ianal
You are to use the bathroom within reason.
An employer may not impose unreasonable restrictions on employee use of facilities, but may provide sensible limits on use

Yes you are entitled to a 30 min break if you work 5 hours

https://calaborlaw.com/what-break-periods-am-i-entitled-to/


Title: I won a poker game tournament but never received the prize money.

Question:
I had signed up for this website called Hands of Victory; it's basically a poker game with different abilities and twists.
Long story short, the game admins messaged me and asked me to participate in a "Betas vs Pros" tournament, where poker pros go against beta-players (me). The pros would stream the event on twitch, and the winner would take home $1000.

READ THE EVENT DETAILS HERE >>> https://www.handsofvictory.com/pros-vs-betas-tournament/

After two/three hours of playing, I successfully managed to win first prize.
The game manager told me that I would be contacted by email regarding my prize, but it has been more than three days and I still haven't received one. I have tried their "support", emailed them but only to get no response back.

I wanted to post in this sub-reddit because I wanted to know how to go on about this, since playing the wait game does not seem to work.

EDIT: I have now received an email saying that the funds will be transferred to my account soon.

Answer:
 >but it has been more than three days

Only three days, including 2 weekend days.

Settle down, come back and post again if you don't hear anything in 30 days or so.


Title: professor trying to fail my wife. Indianapolis Indiana

Question:
Hello,

my wife is currently in a weird situation with one of her teachers. shes currently going to Ivy tech for a teaching degree. now i'm not
sure as to what the cause is but in my wife's previous semester she listed a bunch of complaints in the typical student feedback form(which is supposed to be anonymous) against this teacher. Since then the teacher some "shitty" things.

my wife has an assignment to observe at a classroom which she does. she then has another assignment where she has to go back to said classroom and actually do activities with children. however this classroom denied the request. so my wife has sent multiple emails to this teacher as to what should she do. with no reply. my wife's first email was months ago.

my wife also recieved a 0 for not citing sources where no sources was needed.she was then asked to revise the paper. so my wife goes and revises the paper and does a bunch of extra stuff to insure the grade is good. it went from a 5 page assignment to 10.

the teacher then reviews the assignment and fails it based on 2 things:

A.) my wife has made 0 changes to the assignment. which is false.
B.) my wife did is missing key content(which is actually there).

so at this point it is clear to me that this teacher has an axe to grind.

so before we setup a meeting with the Dean to resolve this issue i would like to know if there is any legal grounds or legal concerns i need to worry about. should i consult a lawyer?

Thanks

edit: thank you for the replies!

Answer:
 Even though the student feedback might be 'anonymous', when a teacher receives the feedback it isn't always hard to figure out which person gave that feedback.

If your wife disagrees with a grade she received or believes she's being graded unfairly, speak to the head of the department or dean of students  There's nothing illegal going on here, it is all a school policy related issue.


Title: Business partner is basically trying to make us go bankrupt.

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Do you have an actual question, or is this just a rant?


Title: Military housing with black mold issues

Question:
Good afternoon all, and thank you in advance for any help.  We are located in Biloxi, Mississippi and we have housing through the USAF base located here.  The housing is privatized out through a Hunt Companies corporation, and they are supposed to provide coverage for all maintenence and repairs.

Currently there seems to be an epidemic of black mold flourishing in a large majority of the housing, and apparently this has been affecting some individuals since the homes were built in 2009. However despite the number of cases and evidence, the management will not fix the issue, and instead wipes away the mold growing. They have been promising a fix, but have not followed through with anything.  I know at least one resident paid for a mold inspection out of pocket, and the outcome was they were released from their housing contract.

I wanted to know if there was a legal action I and/or other residents may take to force the Hunt corporation to actually fix the problem.  Thank you again, and please let me know if I need to add any clarifying information.

Answer:
 Hahaha hahaha.

 Okay, I'm sorry. What you gotta do, right, is let them come into your house, take apart your ceiling on 2 or 3 separate occasions, letting you to stay in that show home on the corner for weeks at a time while they get unremovable duct putty all over your floor and counter during the repair process. And get paint on your carpet. And leave screws and nails in random places... and grossly trash the bathroom that you keep clean and made cleaner with the idea that the people working on your home would appreciate it, but unless gratitude = urine all over your toilet that didn't work out.
 This and other things will occur over the course of 2 or so years, year 2 being the one where you think the problem, perhaps, has finally been remedied. Only you won't know for sure until the following summer when the problem begins anew. Just be a squeaky wheel and involve your command. Also, we're probably neighbors.


Title: [MA] Hospital is keeping track of me with a device after discharge, without my consent. Is this legal?

Question: [removed]

Answer: You need to see a therapist and discuss your concerns regarding your medicine, not a lawyer.Answer #2: You should go back and seek more counseling. Haldol is a serious drug, and not taking it will make you *very* unstable.


Title: Question about contaminated water supplied by my landlord

Question:
I received a note this morning with my utility bill. I live in a trailer park outside of the city limits, in Colorado, and our propane and water are provided privately onsite by the facility. The note informs us that there is a parasitic contamination in our water that is "Not an emergency". The note also discloses that the state had required them to update their filtration system by December 31st, 2016.

We also had a three day power outage from January 9-12th which apparently also messed up their filtration system, which needs to be fixed. The estimated resolution time is 30-45 days.

At the bottom of the letter, it says "Date distributed: January 18th, 2017" but I did not receive this letter until today, 10 days later.

I guess my question is, am I beholden to pay for what they are admitting is contaminated water? Do they have any obligation to pay for any extra filters, etc that I have to buy to decontaminate my water? Do I have any recourse whatsoever other than to suck it up and hope I don't get giardia? Thanks in advance for any help, friends.

Answer: Call your county health dept. They will explain what reading were submitted, what you should do, and if LL did anything wrong.


Title: Someone legitimately believes in a faith from fictional material and starts a formal religion. However the fiction is protected intellectual property. How are the operations of this church balanced against protecting IP?

Question:
E.g
Would they have to pay rights in order to sell icons from the fiction?
Could they recite prayers verbatim from the fiction on public broadcasts?

Answer: I feel like there's a need in the world for Bokononism, will be following closely.Answer #2: Jediism is probably applicable here. There's been some discussion ([here](https://books.google.com/books?id=VJe1CwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT160&ots=QU7FC1MP6q&dq=jediism%20%22copyright%22%7C%22trademark%22%20issues&pg=PT160#v=onepage&q=jediism%20%22copyright%22%7C%22trademark%22%20issues&f=false), also [here](https://www.templeofthejediorder.org/forum/open-discussions/67550-jedi-copyrighted)), but I've no idea what legal conclusions were ever reached.Answer #3: In the USA, religious texts get the same treatment as any other writings: They are protected under copyright until 70 years after the author’s death. So whoever owns the copyright owns all rights to scripture until then, as well as, to some extent, any derivative works, and has a lot of control over how they are used. So they more or less can control the church until then, as long as they keep some lawyers around.Answer #4: Well there's the [Church of All Worlds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_All_Worlds) based of Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land.Answer #5: Religion does not gives anyone the right to steal.  If it did, then I could steal your car and claim that god told me it was ok.


Title: (New York) Volunteers taking jobs previously held by paid employees

Question: [deleted]

Answer: It's not illegal to replace paid employees with volunteer staff. It's a really, really bad thing for a nonprofit to do, though. It saves money at the expense of alienating your employees. You don't have any legal recourse, but you ought to be looking for another job. Everyone else at your company will be, guaranteed.


Title: [MI] A friend's employer is making him work 12 hours a day seven days a week and is only paying him for 40

Question:
A friend of mine currently works about 80+ hours a week and his employer only pays for 40 hours (salaried). He is legally exempt from overtime pay and in Michigan, employers are allowed to work you however long they want as long as it isn't discrimination. At least, based on what I saw on Google this is true.

However, I've heard that the overtime exemption only covers up to 60 hours. **Edit: I was told this by a coworker**. Is this true? Would it be worth his time to file a complaint with the Department of Labor or is this completely legal?
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer: Not a clue where you heard that the exemption only covers 60 hours. It does not. If he is a legally exempt employee he does not get paid OT.


Title: Please help, I wrote bad checks

Question:
Please, I need some advice. I just need to know if I'm gonna go to jail. I'm freaking out. Basically, long story short I wrote a few checks out of someone else's checkbook with a id I found. I took a total of maybe 500$. I just need to know how bad this is, please help.

I am in the US, also, I have no criminal record

Answer:
 That's not writing a bad check.

Writing a bad check is when you only have $5 in your account, and write a check for $10.

What *you* did is theft, forgery, and fraud.  Those are all felony crimes.  It's bad.Answer #2: Curious as to why you'd use "unlucky" as part of your throwaway account name. This problem wasn't about bad luck.  It was about bad choices. Answer #3: >I have no criminal record

You probably do now.


Title: Need some advice regarding a custody agreement.

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Not a lawyer.

My ex and I agreed the same, except he wasn't volunteering any money for any needs the kids might have. Later when we ended up in court due to an....event....in the custody situation, they assigned child support and told me I didn't have a choice.

Point being, the court doesn't care how either of you feel about you giving money to her. It's for the kids ' care, and they want it to happen.


Title: Bank of America took $800 from me at an ATM. Help!

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Yeah, don't get a house with this thief.Answer #2: Dude. The money was dispensed into your friend's pocket.Answer #3: Ughhh.... I hate to break it to you, but your friend stole that money.Answer #4: Just to tack on to what everyone else is saying....there is an audit process for ATM machines. If the machine was supposed to spit out $800 and it didn't, there would be an extra $800 in the machine. Your friend is an idiot.


Title: My work won't allow me to use handicap parking spaces because they are for visitors even though I have a legal handicap placard.

Question: I'm in California, and recently my employer changed the rules for parking. They have an employee parking lot and a visitor lot. Both lots have handicap parking. The big problem is, I work on the far side of the complex so the employee parking is the furthest away from where I am, whereas the visitor parking is right by the entrance to my workplace. I was told that if I park in visitor handicap parking, I will be towed. Can they do that? I thought because I had a handicap placard I am allowed to park in any handicap stall? Especially since the visitor parking is open to the public.... any help is greatly appreciated. By the time my shift ends there are times I can barely make it to my car as it is, let alone having to walk the equivalent of 4 football fields end-to-end. :-/

Answer: Under the ADA your employer has to make reasonable accommodations for disabled personnel, but you have to request one first (always in writing). I think it'd be pretty unreasonable to make you walk that long distance.