Title: My Neighbor (30 something year old male) just violently yelled at and attacked my girlfriend and I over a backyard.

Question:
Kind of a long story but would really appreciate any advice. This is taking place in Brooklyn, New York.

My gf and I moved into an apartment in Bushwick in March. There is a backyard to the apartment. Our next door neighbor has stairs that lead to the yard - we do not. We have access through the basement, or a ladder we put outside of our window. we are the only tenants who have access to the basement because of my step brother who manages the building.

After a few weeks of living here, my gf stuck a letter on our neighbors door asking if we could plant a garden in the backyard since it has definitely been neglected by our neighbor and we wanted to make it look nice / use it at our leisure. He agreed and we planted a bunch of plants and cleaned it up.

He asked us to text him whenever we were planning to go outside because sometimes he would keep the door open to his bedroom, which is obviously a privacy thing. We respected his wishes, but after a while it definitely became tedious for him. He tried to get us to go out there on a schedule. He even went as far to text my gf tht she could water the plants on Tuesday’s and Friday’s at 9am as if she is his personal gardener.

At this point, we called my step brother, the manager, to ask him if our neighbor truly had rights to the backyard. He said that it is not in his lease, and it is not a private backyard by any means. So we texted our neighbor that he shouldn’t be surprised to see us out there, and that we will be going out there whenever basically and not on his schedule.

Fast forward to today. We were out there fixing up a planter and making a little stand for our bonsai trees. David comes out and I say hello. He begins yelling at me and my girlfriend, threatening us that we are starting a war and that he will be violent. He throws one of our plants around but it didn’t break. We have a cast iron metal window cover that opens up - he yells at my gf who has her head out of the window and then slams the metal gate towards her face three times. This could have broken her fingers, or severely damaged her face had she not had quick reflexes. He then went inside.

I am waiting for the step bro to get back to me, I figure I have to keep his best interests in mind but we are seriously thinking about bringing the police into this as he just tried to assault my girlfriend. Neither of us yelled or matched his aggression. We both tried to be calm and I even told him he doesn’t need to be violent, to which he became even more violent.

What are my options here? We know his lease is up in July and he probably won’t renew based on this conflict. Do I need to start recording / filming one of his bouts of aggression? What is he guilty of at this moment?

Thank you so much for reading, please help us we are worried about this escalating any further.
Topic:
Douche

Answer:
 > He throws one of our plants around but it didn’t break. We have a cast  iron metal window cover that opens up - he yells at my gf who has her  head out of the window and then slams the metal gate towards her face  three times. This could have broken her fingers, or severely damaged her  face had she not had quick reflexes. He then went inside.
>
>What are my options here?

Call the police.


Title: Washington State: Neighbor is currently video recording me and has a camera directly pointed at my bedroom window. What can I do?

Question:
I spoke with police here and they said that he legally has the right to record anything he wants.

However, I am sure I have some right to privacy. When the police visited my neighbor regarding the camera, my neighbor did move the camera ever so slightly toward the street. Now, a month later, the camera is directly pointing into my bedroom window again.

My home is about 50 feet away from his. It is clear that this is where it is recording. He has also threatened me when I have asked personally to move the camera, and he replied with, "My house, my rules", as well as a mention of a recording of me calling him the "N-word" (I didn't) on said camera.

I just want it pointed away from my bedroom window. I'm sure he can hear what goes on in the bedroom as well.

What are my options?

Am I allowed to put up a board on my property blocking the camera view from my window? Honestly, that's about all I have left in the tank.

Thanks.

Answer:
 Put up curtains

EDIT:  And yes, you can set something up on your property blocking his view.Answer #2: So.... this guy has a camera that is 50 feet away, but capable of picking up audio of you in your own home? And it has night vision capabilities? *And* he's going to report you to the FBI? And he's... told you all of this?

Look, it sounds to me like this guy is batshit crazy but I really doubt any of the things he's told you are actually true. I mean, what exactly does he even plan to report to the FBI?  He probably doesn't have any audio recording equipment or night vision powerful enough to be worth anything from 50+ feet away, through a window no less.

Pull your curtains shut when it's dark out and otherwise ignore the lunatic unless he becomes legitimately threatening.Answer #3: > Am I allowed to put up a board on my property blocking the camera view from my window?

Barring any HOA rules, sure.

There are also some wonderful little IR LED devices designed specifically to blind cameras pointed at them.


Title: [IL] Airline gave up my seat; is this legal?

Question:
I was on American Airlines at O'Hare airport travelling recently with one of young children. This was our last flight of the day, and had arrived from a connecting flight. We had a 2 hour lay over. We presented at the gate at exactly the time of boarding, and I saw we were group 9 of 9 (the very last to board) so we ran around and played, used the toilet, etc. In other words I didn't stand glued to the gate.

They finally get to group 9 and I was the second person in line. When I gave my tickets to the attendant, he says something along the lines of, we gave up your seats, we called you twice and you didn't show up so we assumed you were gone. "You're supposed to be here 15 minutes before boarding" was his rationale.

I politely protested, said I was there and did not hear them. There was no mention of our name on their lovely TV at the gate. They reluctantly agreed, and returned with two people who I guess gave up their seats. They repeated several times that "you are so lucky they agreed" and "be more careful next time"

It doesn't seem right that I had to thank the airline for giving us back seats that I paid for months ago.

My question is: is this legal? They call my name a couple times before boarding, and like a reverse Beetlejuice I just disappear to them? When can an airline give up one's seat?

Thank you for your time!

Answer:
 Yes. If you are not there at the gate, they can give your seats away. Boarding time is not the time to go run around and play and use the bathroom, regardless of what group you are in, and especially since you already had 2 hours to do all of this. It doesn't take that long to board a plane. Answer #2: > "You're supposed to be here 15 minutes before boarding

I suspect if you look at the fine print of your ticket, you will find that airlines are allowed to do this if you are not checked in X minutes before a flight, and are notifying you of that possibility. It is not an unusual clause and is present with pretty much every airline.

So, yes... it's legal.

Did they rebook you on another flight?


Title: Wife's psychiatrist had her hauled off in handcuffs

Question: My wife struggles with depression. During a recent psychiatrist appointment (her second with him) she told him about one of the methods she uses to deal with it, where when she's feeling her worst she thinks through committing suicide and how hurt I and our kids and the rest of her family would be to lose her and it snaps her our of it. Her psychiatrist's response to this was to summon security to prevent her from leaving. She called her sister, who was in the waiting room, and managed to alert her that something was going on before security took her phone away. Her sister tried to find out what was going on, but despite her being on my wife's HIPAA release, they refused to answer her questions. Police showed up and handcuffed her and dragged her out the back door to take her to a mental hospital. Her sister had managed to hear enough over the phone to figure out where they were going and followed her there. The mental hospital staff acted professionally and released her after a couple hours, but I'm furious at how her psychiatrist and her staff handled the situation. She's now afraid to be at our house during the day because her psychiatrist has our home address and she's terrified she's going to be hauled off again. It's also destroyed any trust she had in psychiatric professionals and probably permanently stopped her from going to them for help. We're in Oklahoma. What can we do?

Answer:
 The first problem here is that you don't know exactly what she said to the psychiatrist, but if she told him that she was suicidal then he may be within his rights to have her moved to a psychitric facility.

She can, if she wants, file a complaint with his licensing board. Answer #2: I'm very sorry. You have only your wife's version of events, relayed to you after an event that was no doubt traumatic for her. I do not believe most psychiatrists take their power lightly. Even the way she described it to you (possibly minimized) is very concerning.

You can find her a new psychiatrist. You can talk to a lawyer about medical malpractice if you want - but the facts as you describe are very difficult.

I think you should focus on your wife's healing. She sounds very sick and this is not normal. Answer #3: IANAL
I am a physician that works in an ER that does psych intake

While it might be hard to hear, your wife made some statement to the psychiatrist that was suicidal or homicidal in nature. The doctor followed the standard protocol for an emergency psychiatric evaluation.

Answer #4: Sounds like she made statements that justified a 72 hour hold evaluation. If she refused to go calmly and tried to leave he was well within his rights to use security to detain her.


Title: [California] - Can I transport a firearm under my seat in a vehicle?

Question:
I live in a pretty bad part of California, where gang activity and violent crime is rampant. I'm saving up to move out of the area, but for now I'm left with this predicament. I have almost been the victim to a violent crime twice now. I want to be able to defend myself. I've tried to obtain a concealed carry permit with the county Sheriff and was denied because I didn't have "enough reason" to carry, despite my clean criminal record and 7 years of military service.

I want to be able to carry/transport a firearm in my vehicle, in such a way that if I need it in a self\-defense situation, I can acquire it somewhat easily, and legally. I need some help, however, interpreting California Penal Code section 25610. Basically, from what I've gathered, you can transport a firearm in your vehicle as long as it's in a "locked container" and "unloaded". So, does this mean I  can keep my pistol and loaded magazine in the same locked container underneath my driver seat? As long as the loaded magazine isn't in the firearm and the container is "locked" to some extent? The firearm wouldn't technically be "loaded". The locked container with firearm inside would be directly reachable by me. It's better than nothing.

I have found a lock\-box that fits under my seat and is very easy/quick to unlock, and it keeps the firearm secure. I've also secured it to the seat frame so no one can steal it. I just want to make sure this is "legal" per CPC 25610.

Thanks in advance, and let me know if you need any clarification on anything.

Answer: Question: A gang member stops you while you are in your car about to start it.  How exactly do you think you will be able to grab your key, bend down in your seat, stick the key in, grab your gun, load the magazine and point the weapon at the gang member before you have six rounds in your body?


Title: Rich, psycho grandma threatening legal action to get access to grandchild (Ontario)

Question:
So my biological mother is like an old-lady version of Michael Jackson (in a bad way). She is really fixated on little kids- my daughter in particular.

If she behaved like a normal grandparent this would be great, but she doesn't- her (always bizarre) behaviour got so bad recently that last year I severed contact with her completely.

Now after nearly a year of NC she has sent a threatening letter saying that she's going to get legal counsel to try to get access to my daughter.

I'm disabled (brain injury) and would have to use the legal aid system if I need a lawyer. Mom has money, and also (probably) a not-yet-diagnosed personality disorder (this is according to feedback my sib & I get from OUR mental health professionals).

What I'm wondering is... how worried should I be? My daughter's father (a long-distant parent at the moment) and I are certain ANY contact with grandma would be harmful for our daughter.

My initial thought is that no matter how much money she tosses around, nothing's gonna happen... but other members of my support network are telling me to panic, call Children's Aid, get a lawyer, call the police for a restraining order, etc.  Some perspective would be appreciated!

Answer:
 If your mother has not had a relationship with your child and the two of you are competently parenting, there's almost no chance she can compel access. Ontario does not provide [statutory rights to grandparents](http://www.familylawhelp.ca/glossary/grandparents-rights/), so family courts take it case-by-case in the interests of the children.

A competent parent's decision to remove a family member from the child's life generally carries weight, especially if both parents agree.

If she does file seeking custody, do respond. Legal Aid is no fun, but if you respond you should be okay.

In big, friendly letters:

# Don't PanicAnswer #2: Ignore here completely unless you're actually summoned to court.  Ontario has no laws that enforce a grandparent's right to a child.

[Here's an article for you.](http://www.familylawhelp.ca/glossary/grandparents-rights/)


Title: If someone falsely writes that they committed a crime in a private diary or writes threats in it while also writing elsewhere in the same diary that they are false, can the diary still be reliable evidence of commiting a crime or conspiracy to commit a crime?

Question: Basically I created a private online diary in google docs on a new account to write out my intrusive thoughts and wrote them as though I actually believed them or that I did things or plan to do things that are illegal and morally reprehensible, mainly in the beginning of the text and then the next few pages were more typical of a regular diary. I wrote a disclaimer in the beginning before writing any of this, stating that this was just a space to write out intrusive thoughts and that claims or intentions or beliefs I express in this diary are not all true. In the time of writing I was just writing things as they came to mind, the most awful things came first, but they were not true nor accurate of my intentions. They were quite random and blunt, they didn’t get technical, but they were really bad and I worry about them being investigated or approached by police for or putting me on a list or something. I tried to log into the account later on the same day of writing, and I knew I had the right password, but it claimed it to be wrong. I clicked on “forgot password” and it stated that google couldn’t verify that the account belonged to me, didn’t give me any options for verifying. I did some research and it suggests that my account could’ve gotten flagged or locked for TOS violations. If google were to examine the doc (the only piece of evidence that could possibly be used to claim that I did those things) and report it to police, could the diary be considered credible evidence to charge me with anything?

Answer:
 Even your written confession can't be used to charge you with a crime unless it can be linked to an actual crime. That's the "body of the crime".

For example, if you wrote "I killed this person in these conditions", but no such person was found dead (or at least disappeared), then there is no crime to charge you of.

Obviously, if you are being charged with a crime, your written confession can be used against you.

By the way, if google tells you it can't verify the account belongs to you, it means exactly that. They're not sure you are who you pretend to be, so they're not giving you access to what is potentially someone else's documents.

It does not mean it has been flagged nor locked for TOS violations. If it were the case, Google would tell you that explicitly. They have no reason to lie to you about you violating their TOS.Answer #2: Confessing to crimes in writing and placing a disclaimer on it as being fiction is unlikely to shield you from prosecution if your writings can be linked to actual crimes.  Your statements may or may not be enough evidence to convict but they would almost surely be more than enough to prompt further investigation which may result in prosecution.


Title: Can Border Patrol officers take down my house door (twice) , not pay for it at all, and force their way inside my home because they thought there were illegal immigrants inside?

Question:
This happened a few years ago so there's not much I can do about it now, but I just wanted to get this story out and actually find out if the U.S. border patrols allowed to do this.

Context: So I live in a border town called Calexico. CA, that shares it border with a town called Mexicali,which is on the mexican side. We used to live in a two story house right in front of the border, (like, we could see mexico from our front window, kind of close). The only thing separating us is a 25 ft red fence. Illegal immigrants are always trying to cross over it into the United States. The Border Patrols here are always in a constant lookout for these guys because some of them actually manage to get away.

 So this happened on two separate occasions. The first time it happened was at 3 am in the morning (we were obviously asleep), the border patrols claimed to have knocked before deciding to use a sort of battering ram to take our front door off its hinges and allowing themselves to come inside and start questioning everybody. They woke up everybody and proceeded to question all of us. After about 20 minutes of them bashing  us with questions and searching the house, they left, just like that.

The second time, we weren't even home. We came back home to a torn down back door and the doors in every room open. At first we thought it was a robbery, but nothing was unaccounted for. Plus, numerous neighbors told us that they saw border patrol trucks and officers outside earlier. We assumed they had done the same thing again. We had to pay to fix them both times.

Now, my question is, are they allowed to do this?
Do I not have some kind of rights that say that they can't invade my home without my consent? And, Can they just destroy my property and get away with it?

Thanks for taking your time to read this post, I don't usually post but I felt this was important.

Answer:
 They may enter your land without a warrant, because you live within 25 miles of the border. However, they cannot destroy private property, nor can the enter a dwelling, unless they have a search warrant ([source](https://www.acluaz.org/en/know-your-rights-border-patrol)).

Unfortunately you will have an uphill battle getting them to stop. You will likely need a federal tort claims lawyer to deal with getting compensation under FTCA for their destruction of property. There isn't a direct remedy for the illegal entry itself, but if they found evidence against someone it could be excluded by a court.


Title: Dentist locked my boyfriend's jaw while filling a cavity, he is now having to pay $1300 because of it. Does he have a possible claim against them?

Question:
About 2 years ago my boyfriend was having a routine cavity filling performed by his dentist. They did not give him anything to bite on and did not use any kind of tools to assist him in keeping his mouth open during the procedure, because of this, he was forced to keep his mouth hinged open. This caused his jaw to lock and since they did not have the capabilities to anesthetize him or perform the surgery to get his jaw unlocked, they took him to a specialist. Obviously, due to his jaw being locked open, he could not effectively communicate so after being dropped off at the specialists he was only made to sign a waiver for the surgery - they did not ask him for any information: mailing information, cell phone number, insurance, ect. After the procedure he was picked up and they never collected any sort of information. About two years has passed and he never heard from them during that time, until he randomly got a collections notice for the $1300 surgery. Not wanting to hurt his credit he decided to pay the collections agency first then try and deal with insurance companies and the specialists later. He was covered under two separate insurance companies at the time and after communicating with them, both companies refuse to pay because the length of time since the procedure. The specialists, of course, say it's out of their hands since it already was sent to collections, despite their lack of communication or effective delivery of the bill.

&#x200B;

My question is, would my boyfriend have a claim against the dentist who locked his jaw (i.e. would this consistent malpractice?) so that he doesn't have to forfeit $1300 for an avoidable mistake?

Answer: Fillings don’t require bite blocks. The onus would’ve been on your boyfriend to ask for one as they are not standard. It sounds like the dentist got him to a specialist for help and was not negligent.


Title: Subframe of my car rusted out and broke while I was driving. This was 4 days after a mechanic passed the vehicle for inspection. Am I still responsible for repair costs?

Question:
Yesterday I was driving and lost control of steering because the Subframe detached from the control arm due to rust. The car passed inspection on Tuesday. New York state insurrection points includes checking rust on the frame.

I know this will not be a cheap fix, as I likely will have to replace the whole sub frame. I had the car towed to the same mechanic who passed it before it broke down and he's currently trying to find a new Subframe for me.

What are my options here? Am I responsible for the repair costs in full? Is there a case I can make for him passing the vehicle when it was unsafe to drive?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you

Answer:
 You could likely sue him to recover the cost of the inspection. But he didn't cause the rust. Answer #2: You'd be paying the cost of the subframe repair regardless of whether it was done before the inspection or after, so that seems like a non-starter.

You don't have an argument to get the costs of the inspection waived, as you have to pay for it pass or fail.

Your bill for the towing though is something that would not have been incurred but for the bad inspection, so I'd at least push for that to be repaid.

*After* you get your car back, you can also look into filing [a formal complaint](http://dmv.ny.gov/forms/vs35.pdf).


Title: How often would the police decline to search because of an invitation?

Question: "The police officers declined an invitation to look around the house, believing the invitation was sufficient proof that there was no girl in the Minato house."

Answer:
 When they don't want to search you in the first place, or they have better ways to spend their time.

In the vast majority of situations, saying, "go ahead, search me" isn't a good way to avoid being searched.Answer #2: Unless they have a Warrant(Or Reasonable Cause in the Case of A Vehicle Stop) Then Do NOT Let them in.
Short Story: I was once pulled over and wrote a ticket for no registration, explained to the officer I was just driving home from work and was getting my registration tomorrow, and he asked if he could search the vehicle. I politely told him no. He asked why? I said "Because My Gf is A Freak and I don't feel like you going through Our Sex Toys is Any of Your Business."  He kept trying to get me to Fuck up, and was like "Cmon Man, If you're not hiding anything than why can't I look?" eventually I just became irritated and just told him, "Dude. The Answer is No. It's not going to change. And I'm kinda in a hurry. Have a Nice Night, Officer."
I Was on Heroin at the time and had a profuse amount of drugs in the car that would've Fkd me for a long time.


Title: I am not sure if this is necessarily a legal question. I am married. If I passed away do my parents have a right to know how I died?

Question: Not that I die by homicide, but maybe by overdose or medical condition.

Answer: Death is a matter of public record - you can't somehow make it a secret that it's occurred.


Title: Drug test maybe?

Question: Hello, I am a resident in Ga and about two and a half years ago I was put on felony probation for five years for a drug related offense.  This August will be the two and a half year mark at which point they said with good behavior and following the terms of my probation I could terminate my probation early.  I used my first offenders which allows the charges to be dropped and removed from my record once I complete probation successfully. Within the first year of probation I paid all the fines, went to 18 weeks of "rehab", went to all mandatory AA meetings, was screened for drug use and reported every month. Last August I was put on non reporting.  Basically all I have to do is not get in trouble and I'm fine, I don't call anyone and no one calls me.  I have had no contact with a PO since last August.  So this is my question.  When they do terminate the probation will they have me come in for a final drug screen?

Answer:
 Can they? Yes, absolutely. Will they? No idea. It's generally up to your probation officer.

You should expect to be tested at any point in time while you are on probation. Don't risk it, because violating probation is a one-way ticket to more serious consequences.Answer #2: I know that they can. Whether or not they do, no one can say for sure.


Title: Shared bank account, ex-gf won't sign documents to take herself off account, stealing money - need some advice

Question:
Hey guys, posting this for a friend of mine who's in a bit of tricky situation. Sorry if this has been covered a million times and/or is naive.

Today my buddy called me saying his ex was draining his account. I asked how that's possible and he explained that she is also on the account. Logically I asked "why is she still on the account?" as they had broken up about 2 weeks ago. He explained that without her signature he couldn't get her removed, and that she refused to sign.

At this point I told him to contact a lawyer and the bank immediately.

He called the bank, they froze the account and had him file a police report. They then called him back saying they were depositing all the money back in the account as they caught her on ATM cams and a target checkout cam. They also mentioned she created a new account with a new address back in the spring (when she moved upstate and started a new job) and since then has never deposited a single dollar in it. This showed that they separated a long time ago (on paper)...even though they only officially separated a few weeks ago.

Anyway, my buddy got the money back, then contacted her like "WTF" and her response was "If you think I'm stealing from you, press charges and I will provide both documentation and witness."

Maybe I've watched too much tv, but that seems fishy as fuck to me.

Money is back so no worries there, bank said it was open and close thanks to her making that account in the spring and never using it, but for those of us who end up in a similar situation...what is the best way to handle something like this? short of avoidance obviously.

Thanks Guys!

Location: USA

EDIT: short answer appears to be withdraw  your money and deposit it into a new account....well what if the ex beats you to it? In this scenario it is 100% his money, directly deposited from work. I would hope the bank can recognize the source of the money as his and make that judgement call to reimburse him....right? Or do you sign ownership of the funds away by depositing them into a joint account and it's just a "well tough luck dude." type scenario?

Answer: Empty and close the account and open a new one. It's really that simple


Title: I Allegedly caused an accident between Semi & Sheriff Deputy.

Question:
Good afternoon everyone. Long time lurker, but unfortunate first time poster. This is a little long, but I am getting the feeling LEO didn't want to own his own mistakes over accident. TLDR at bottom.

So, I'm going to make this as quick as I can while making sure I get everything 100% accurate.

Two weeks ago, during rush hour, I was merging onto the thruway. I came up the ramp at regular speed, and put my blinker on to get over. While I am still looking/deciding to speed up/slow down, I hear a rather loud boom. I was shook because I thought I had just bumped into a vehicle, but this was loud and my vehicle was still driving perfectly fine.

I hear the boom, and drove about another 150-200 yards before I saw the lights come on. In hindsight, I should've kept driving because I was not in any accident, but it was just instinct to throw the hazards on and keep to the right. Mind you I was still in the lane that mergers use to get on the thruway.

It ended up being a Sheriff Deputy, and his driver side back tire collided with a semi that was to the left of him. That was the boom I heard, and also why the Deputy didn't drive up to my vehicle, he didn't have a tire left.

Anyways, after shooting the shit with the Deputy for an hour (watching everything I say) he tells me to just go back to my car and wait on the Trooper. The cavalry ends up coming, 3 more Sheriff's, a Sheriff tow truck, Thruway Authority and finally the Troopers. I thought "Ok, I'll just give my statement and that will be the end of it," but no.

Trooper walks up to my Terrain, hands me three tickets. 1.) Unsafe lane change. How is this possible if I never even got over and my vehicle was still in the merge lane at this point? 2.) Imprudent speed. This I cannot say whether or not I was going 45mph, but I have never received a speeding ticket in my life because I simply don't ever speed. And 3.) Failure to signal that I was getting over. I know for a fact my signal was on because I flipped it from the left, to the right (to get over, then hazards.)

I'm dumbfounded and pissed off because I know many Troopers and Sheriffs but I was unable to speak with anyone and the Trooper said the typical "You need to tell me these things before I go back to my car." Again, i never spoke to anyone but the Deputy that was in the accident.

I went to city hall and plead not guilty to all three charges. I am not sure if I am facing points on my license or if I should spend the money and get representation. The Court Clerk told me I would get something in the mail in a few weeks with the court date.

So at this point, my questions are, what the hell should I do next ? I personally believe the young Deputy wasn't paying attention, got spooked for whatever reason when he saw my vehicle getting on and naturally shifted his car left, thus hitting the semi and blowing put his own tire.

I have ZERO damage to my vehicle if that means anything. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. This happened in Buffalo, NY.

Ps- The Sheriff Deputy was also the "witness" to my actions. How is it humanly possible to notice all of what I was doing while he was driving and just had his tire blown off?

TLDR; Witnessed an accident (somewhat.) Thought I was just going to give statement, and I end up with three tickets for an accident I allegedly caused. I personally think they're bullshit because the Deputy was embarrassed. But that's for a Judge to decide I suppose.
Topic:
Traffic and Parking

Answer: Have you contacted your insurance? I would let them know and also contact a local traffic attorney to address the traffic tickets.Answer #2: File a FOIA request for the dash cam video (if any)Answer #3: Buy a traffic attorney for like 150-200


Title: Employer requiring finger print for time clock.

Question:
My employer is preparing to install new time clocks, which require the use of a finger print to clock in and out, rather than physical cards that we use currently.
I would very much prefer not to give my finger print. Am I legally able to decline giving a finger print?
I work for a non-union utility contractor in Maryland.

Answer:
 You can legally declined. They can legally fire you.Answer #2: If you have a legitimate religious objection, the EEOC takes the position that you can request an accommodation and your employer may be required to provide it.

Additionally, New York has a law prohibiting employers from fingerprinting employees unless required to do so by law. That does you no good in Maryland, obviously, but I mention it because we may see more states take that stance in the near future as this becomes more common.


Title: (Hypothetical) If you send Mitch McConnell a paypal request for $2000 and he accidentally completes it, can you keep the money?

Question: I saw a post on instagram of someone who claims to have done this. I was just wondering what would happen

Answer: Well... Yeah I mean legally there's not really much reason you couldn't keep it.Answer #2: I sent my own PayPal request after seeing the post so I certainly hope so


Title: (Upstate NY) gf got a notice from Medicare saying she's being investigated for fraud. What to expect?

Question:
My girlfriend has been having issues with her Medicaid since we changed counties last year but she's had it for as long as I've known her (at least 12 years). She hasn't had a job in a long long time and recently she got a small job at a store in the mall. She claims to have already reported this to Medicaid but today she got a letter (she's been at the job for a few months now) claiming she hid the fact she was working and being investigated. They need her paychecks and shit which is no real big deal, and she doesn't get a whole lot of hours (its a part time job).

My question is was this a mistake? If not, what are potential outcomes. It's not like she's been secretly making bank and not paying for insurance this whole time. Should we talk to a lawyer? Am I overreacting?

Edit: spelling

Edit 2: phone auto corrected "medicaid" to "Medicare" in the title... Sorry

Answer: Their investigation could find there was an overpayment would would need to be repaided. Generally unless there was outright fraud they are just interested in getting the money back.


Title: Customer using loaner as a Lyft car

Question:
This is in Texas

I work in a ford service department. Yesterday a customer dropped her Focus off and insisted to get a loaner. After an hour of paperwork she drove off with a Fusion.

She came by today throwing a huge fit, saying we tampered with the gas gauge and made it say it had more gas than there actually was. Along with a rant on how it suddenly stopped on the highway, forcing her and her 8 year old daughter to push it to a gas station to fill it up with gas. She insisted we pay $42 for the gas, yet when we asked for the gas receipt she “gave it to her daughter to hold onto, but she lost it.” There was absolutely no way that the gas gauge would malfunction unless she tampered with it herself, and her and her kid definitely couldn’t push that car miles to a gas station.

I went to check on the car, seeing if it got damaged. Noticed a “Lyft” sticker on the window, and that she had put 120 miles on it in a single day. I pulled my boss over to the side to tell him, and he said to not confront the customer about it today.

She left in the same loaner, refusing to let us put her in another one. We decided to look into the contract we have customers sign for loaners. There is no specific rule against using it for rideshare services, but it does say that the trucks can be authorized for commercial use.

We don’t know if this is against Lyft’s policies for drivers. But we do know that the car has to be under the driver’s insurance (which we found out her’s ran out in June). So if she gets in a wreck in the loaner, we pretty much have to pay for it. Do we take the loaner from her, report her to Lyft?
Topic:
Insurance

Answer:
 > There is no specific rule against using it for rideshare services

I doubt your insurer would agree with you. Check with them.Answer #2: Ridesharing will render a lot of insurance policies null and void while the app is online. That may be something you guys need to look into.

However, if her insurance has lapsed she is not eligible to be driving for Lyft. There is a strong chance that car isn't registered with Lyft for her to be using.

This violates her contract with Lyft, but it also means the insurance Lyft provides while a ride is active is not available.

Basically, if something happens to that car while she's got it, it will not be covered under any insurance outside yours.

I would both report her to Lyft and get the car back if you're able to by policy.

Edit: typosAnswer #3: Yes this is against Lyft's policy. They need her insurance on file with the specific car she's driving listed on that insurance.Answer #4: That "hour of paperwork" didn't include making sure she had insurance?
Answer #5: > driver’s insurance (which we found out her’s ran out in June).

I guarantee that even if there is nothing in your rental contract about ride share services, there is something about having liability insurance coverage. If she doesn't have insurance, you shouldn't have given her a rental car.Answer #6: >driver’s insurance (which we found out her’s ran out in June). So if she gets in a wreck in the loaner, we pretty much have to pay for it.

Call her and remove the car from her possession, she lacks insurance and Lyft requires insurance as well as any policies Ford has.


Title: My mom(58f) has a new boss who is writing her up out of nowhere. Mom feels like her boss is trying to fire her so she loses her benefits

Question:
Some background: my mother moved to the US from a spanish speaking country when my older sister was just a kid. For years she was something of a housewife, but she would babysit other children as well. When i was born in the early 90s, i went to the nearby public school. Because she now had two kids in school, my mother felt more comfortable about getting a job-so naturally she got one at my elementary school.

My mother has worked as a school aide at that school for 20+ years now. For the majority of those years there have been staff changes here and there except for the principal. She was around when i was a kid. Earlier this year she took an early retirement, and another principal from another school was put in place.

I have never met this woman, and i’m getting my information second hand from my mother so i’m taking this with a grain of salt. But so far she has: demanded that my mother only speaks in English to her, has banned any kind of non-work related conversation in the main office, has banned any speaking period outside of her private office. She gets upset whenever anyone places her mail in her mail box and says it should be given to her directly, and she even went so far as to call a meeting of the school aides just to admonish my mom’s direct supervisor for putting her mail in her mailbox.

My mother has happily worked her job for years, and recently the board of education even gave her an award for outstanding service in the past 20 years. I jokingly said it was probably because she’s been there for so long, but none of her other coworkers (some who have been there for a few years longer than her) ever received that award.

I was speaking with my mother last night and she told me that now the principal has filed some kind of a report with the school safety officer, stating that she feels like my mom intimidates her purposefully. I’m not sure if this is because my mom isn’t speaking english to her and she feels that my mother is doing it out of spite, but whatever the case may be this is whats going on.

I have never seen my mother so depressed and anxious about going to work, ever. Of course I’ve heard her gripe about it over the years but she has always sucked it up and done a great job all this time. Her health isn’t what it used to be, and she’s trying to look into retiring with disability. Her concern now, is with the way the principal is acting that she is trying to build some kind of a case to get her fired so she loses her benefits. What can she do at this point?
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer:
 Tell her to get in contact with HR or an employment lawyer and start filling complains or any other reports possible against the (seemingly racist) principle.

&#x200B;

You can do nothing other than urge your mother to actually deal with this. She is the only one who can do the work to help herself, all you can do is push her to take action.Answer #2: Many schools have unions for the various members of staff and faculty-  does your mom have a union?

>But so far she has: demanded that my mother only speaks in English to her, has banned any kind of non-work related conversation in the main office, has banned any speaking period outside of her private office. She gets upset whenever anyone places her mail in her mail box and says it should be given to her directly, and she even went so far as to call a meeting of the school aides just to admonish my mom’s direct supervisor for putting her mail in her mailbox.

None of that is illegal. Your mother needs to comply with the principal's requests.


Title: (Pennsylvania) Evict a pet you don't own

Question: To make a long story short. My brother lives with my parents and they do not have a cordial relationship in the slightest (my relationship with him is the same). Despite him living there, he hasn't spoken to them in nearly 6 months (even longer to me; cool with it though). An even bigger problem is that he owns a cat, and keeps it in their house; despite their opposition. All of the cat's ownership paperwork is entirely in his name and from my understanding, none of us can take it to a shelter without us being liable to have charges pressed against us by him (he's stupid enough to actually do this; he's done worse). My brother makes no effort to care for the cat whatsoever, my parents pay for the vet bills, food, toys, etc and my bother is never home beyond a few hours a day to take care of it. For various reasons, neither of my parents are capable of taking care of it and even if they were, they'd be unwilling and I'm on the same boat. How can I get rid of this cat in a way that doesn't put me at legal risk?

Answer:
 A cat is property.

You can't evict property.

But you can evict the owner, who will have to take his property with him.


Title: My arm is going to be permanently crooked. I have no clue on what to do next.

Question: Ok, I have no idea what I’m doing or if I can even sue but I’m so furious right now. Two months ago I broke my elbow and went to the ER, which took HOURS to get seen. They put a splint on me to reduce the swelling because it was too late to do surgery due to swelling. They send me to a Orthopedic surgeon who was supposed to do surgery in a couple weeks, but he doesn’t do it because he doesn’t want me to do regular visit  to his office as I live in a different county and would leave after a couple weeks. So, instead of doing surgery he puts a cast and tells me it’s a non emergency surgery and can do surgery once I take the cast off. Well I go to another hospital, now in my county, for my next appointment and they told me that it’s now to late to do surgery and the cast let the bone heal.  Now I’m furious because my arm is going to remain permanently crooked and tingles every time I do anything with it. I have no idea who to sue for this I am a young adult and never had to deal with anything like this and just looking for help.

Answer:
 Medical malpractice can be difficult to prove and is too fact specific for us to deal with here.

You need to find an experienced attorney who does these cases near you and talk to them to see if you have a case and how to proceed.Answer #2: I do medical law in California. Even I can’t give you an answer, because malpractice is so dependent on specific facts from your incident. I can tell you that waiting hours at an ED for a broken elbow is completely normal, though, and that it was not an emergency surgery. Many people with top-of-the-line treatment and surgery end up with permanent effects due to complex broken bones. Of course, see an attorney; however, from what you’ve stated here, (and only from what you’ve stated here...which is not much,) it doesn’t sound like anything was done improperly. Just that you had shit luck when you broke your elbow.


Title: EMS got lost on their way to a loved ones house. This loved one ended up passing away.

Question:
I don't want to give a lot of personal information so I'll keep this story bare bones.  I live in a rural Texas town if that helps at all for legal purposes.

&#x200B;

An immediate family member of mine had an accident while working on our home.  EMS got lost on their way to the scene of this accident.  I believe the route GPS would take you to get to this location takes you through part of a street that does not exist.  Not sure if that may be a lawsuit in itself. Main point being EMS did not arrive in a timely manner and this loved one passed away.  I personally was on scene then entire time and could hear the radio chatter between EMS and the first responder and they clearly lost for 10 minutes after being on route for over 20 minutes.   Had I known they were going to take this long I would have driven this person to the location Airlife lands as it was a pretty serious injury.

Part of me feels I shouldn't even be asking about this as when the EMT did arrive they did their best, but I feel like this loved one may have had a much better chance at surviving if things went differently.  Just curious if anyone could be held accountable for this mistake.

Thanks in advance for any help or guidance.
\-Anon

&#x200B;

Answer:
 If I'm not mistaken the EMT will have qualified immunity from a civil action unless their actions were against the law.Answer #2: You have no case, sorry for your loss, but absent gross negligence, malicious deprivation  of life sustaining medical treatment, or malpractice you have no claim.

You need to weigh this against the "but for" test. (Which is very, very hard to prove)

(My loved one would have lived "but for" the actions of the EMT.)

And even if you can prove this, they have qualified immunity, (with the exceptions I mentioned above).

 You best bet is to contact Google, and see if they can address the non-existent steet. and prevent furhter incidences.


Title: Baiting package theif

Question:
Am I within my rights to plant a bait package on my doorstep in order to try and collect evidence on a package theif in my building? I plan on loading an old box and loading some cat poo in it for giggles and setting up a camera in my peephole to catch whomever has been taking unattended packages. It has been a persistent problem and the landlord won't do anything about it save for a "packages have been stolen from this floor" sign. Is this sort of evidence gathering permissible for legal action? Thank you.

Lincoln, Nebraska

Answer:
 If you are willing to commit some $ to this, find an old cell phone you can activate on prepaid, and use a GPS-enabled 'find my phone' app, and then put _that_ in the box, probably inside a stuffed animal or somesuch.

Answer #2: > loading some cat poo

Don't include this and this should be legal evidence.


Title: Am I financially liable if I shoot an expensive bull that escaped a farm and is destroying property and threatening people? [Shannon County, Missouri]

Question:
There is a bull that keeps escaping from a local farm down the road.   I've let the owners know, but he keeps getting out.

As I was on my way home the other day, the bull was in another neighbors front yard eating their fruit trees that they planted a couple of years ago. They weren't home at the time. I didn't want my neighbor to lose all the effort they put into their orchard so I got out of my truck with my shotgun and tried chasing off the bull. He was really aggressive and I had to shoot a few rounds into the ground to get him to leave.

He's destroying property and really causing a problem but I'm also worried that if I shoot him that I might be responsible for paying thousands of dollars for him because he's a breeding bull.

The owners are also a little weird, and smoke a lot of meth so I try to stay away from them.

Answer:
 It looks like the Missouri livestock laws can be found [here](https://asci.uvm.edu/equine/law/fence/mo_fnc.htm).

It looks like the preferred response is to trap it and take it in; and sue the owners for the cost of keeping it. And the owners are strictly liable for the costs of any damages incurred (like to the fruit trees). The statutes don’t mention killing of cattle (just male horses, mules, or jackasses); so the only defense would be in self defense or defense of others; not of property.


Title: Any way to get out of a lease?

Question:
I'm 18 and I live in Davenport Iowa.

I may have some issues coming up here soon and I was just wondering if I can... If you'd like to know the specific issues I did make a post in the Advice sub reddit

https://np.reddit.com/r/Advice/comments/557afj/should_i_find_a_way_to_get_out/

TL;DR - My best friend isn't really coming up with the money he agreed to pay and I don't know how much longer I can just fork over all my money. I am just looking for a way out, and I don't really want the credit that I don't even have to start out poorly.

anything may help.

Thanks in advance!

Answer:
 Your co-tenant not upholding his side of the obligation, under most leases (there are some extraordinary leases, especially in college towns), does not give you any additional leverage to break the lease.  If your lease addresses the obligations of the co-tenants separately you should read it carefully or seek legal advice.

If the lease treats you with joint and several liability as the vast majority do, your options would likely be only if there is a clause in the lease about early termination.  If it does, there are undoubtedly penalties you would need to pay.

You might also consider seeking a new roommate to help you finish out your lease term.

None of this is to say that you don't have a claim against your roommate.  You quite possibly do.  But that does nothing to protect you from the landlord enforcing your obligations under the lease or affecting your credit.


Title: My sister got screwed

Question: So my sister recently bought a car from a dealership and without telling her they added extra charges for the car onto the contract and since they didn’t tell her about it she signed it and just now found out about it.  She’s going to visit them tomorrow to see if she can negotiate something like a refund because what they’re charging her is basically an extra $2,000+ for seat protection and stuff that she didn’t want.  They’ve done this before to other people and some have negotiated a refund for it while others weren’t successful at all and they refused.  Is there any way to get the money back?  We live in Michigan by the way.

Answer: Signing a contract means you've read and understood the terms. She likely has no legal recourse.


Title: Had to stay in another country for a police investigation (potential NSFW)

Question:
Hi,

Asking for a friend.

On a recent trip to Benidorm a friend of mine was, very unfortunately, raped.
They managed to identify and catch the guy, but she had to stay in the country with her boyfriend for a few weeks to give testimony and go through the police process.

She spent 1 day in hospital, but was out the same day.

While the conviction is pending, and she's now back and work and (as far as it appears) doing well, victim support etc.

My query is: is there any support/way to claim any of the costs back from having to stay in country for that time? The travel insurance state that they would only cover time in hospital, which there wasn't a prolonged stay.

Seems incomprehensible to me for someone to have to endure that and then also the financial issues it brings with it as well.

Any help/advice appreciated.

Answer:
 Does her personal accident insurance cover legal costs? They might be willing cover the costs?

Travel insurance usually only pertains the illness and therefore the hospital stay. The remainder of her costs is a legal expenditure as she had no medical reason to remain there.Answer #2: She might ask the prosecutor who asked her to stay on. Prosecutors pay travel expenses to bring necessary witnesses to the country/city where they're needed, and maybe that budget would cover some or all of the expenses associated with her prolonged stay. In any case, the people who asked her to stay might have some advice.Answer #3: Possible look into to see if the country offers a victims compensation program. Or if the prosecution has an assistance program.


Title: Landlord wants me to find a sublet for apartment, but I'm moving because of stalking.

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 >Am I reading this correctly? I have provided the protective order and gave notice of lease termination.

Yes, you can break your lease as you are a victim of domestic violence including stalking.

>Am I obligated to find a sublet for the apartment?

No, you do not have to find a sublet. The landlord cannot legally compel you to do anything as you will no longer be their tenant.

>The apartment hasn't had work done on it for 10 years, so I feel like they need to work on the apartment and then try to find a new person to lease.

Not really relevant (sorry)

[Relevant law](http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/tenants-right-break-rental-lease-indiana.html) (as you quoted in your post)
>State law (Ind. Code Ann. § 32-31-9) provides early termination rights for tenants who are victims of domestic violence, a sex offense, or stalking, provided that specified conditions are met (such as the tenant securing a court order for protection).Answer #2: You might consider calling your local domestic violence center and having them back you up. My friend was in the same situation... 2 minutes on speakerphone with the local domestic violence hotline set the landlord straight.


Title: [TX] Should I contact HR for discrimination?

Question:
I am a female and I work a craft job at a refinery. I am very good and have several certifications and extremely qualified.

For the last 6 months I've been working for a company and the job is coming to an end (maybe a month left) so they are laying off some and transferring some. My husband and I were "transferred." We were told to head to the office the next morning to do our paperwork and get set up for orientation. Okay, great. So we head to the office and we are told they aren't hiring for the plant we were being transferred to.. which is confusing because the day before we were offered pay raises and locations closer to home. So we argue with the guy for a little while and he says "well I can only hire specific requests and y'alls names aren't on our list."
Now in the refinery business it's very common for them to say this. Mostly project managers and such submit lists of names to hire and these people get priority. So my husband calls his connect and gets us on the list in maybe  five minutes. We go back inside and he says "well I have your name but not hers so I can only hire you" and I call our friend and he said "Yeah, I called him not five minutes ago and told him to transfer both of you." So I'm upset because I was supposed to be getting a transfer but now I don't have a job? So I tell him I'm going to file for unemployment and he says "you can't because I have job openings at a different refinery for $18/He
Now this is absolutely ridiculous... I have been doing my job for several years and have never gotten paid less than $24 with a $60 per diem. So I tell him no, I will just wait until someone besides him hires me.

The NEXT day three of our friends who applied (with no former employment) in the company are hired for the SAME JOB I was supposed to be transferred to. They are all male. I feel like because I was female he decided to turn me away even though I have priority because I already work for them. So I'm not laid off, but I'm not transferred as promised either??
TLDR: Company transfers me, but then tells me there is no job opening, proceeds to hire several men

Answer: What evidence do you have that you were not hired because you're a female?


Title: Fighting custody with a registered sex offender. Need advice.

Question: Deleted.

Answer:
 Wait wait wait-- you dated a sex offender, had a child with him, and somehow didn't google what he was on the registry for until yesterday?

Tell this story to the lawyer, and do as they instruct. Answer #2: You should bring all of this to your lawyer. While you're unlikely to completely remove his custody, many of the things you're describing would be good reasons to restrict him to supervised visitation for the time being, and for you to have increased legal custody. Your lawyer will be able to fill you in on realistic outcomes.


Title: Spilt wine on wifes friends very expensive jacket

Question: The other day we were out at a bar (in Switzerland) and I accidentally spilt a few drops of wine on my wifes friends jacket. A week later he sends my wife the receipt of the jacket and it's $2300. Where does he stand legally if I refuse to pay?

Answer:
 First off, purchase price isn't fair market value so it doesn't matter what they paid for it; they're only out what that particular coat is worth today. If you do pay them FMV, be sure to take the coat in return.

Second, there's a difference between accident and negligence. What that difference is depends on where you are.

Third, does your friend live on a planet with no dry cleaners? If the cleaner can't get the stain out, might it be because the coat had already gone a long time without being cleaned? That could make it much harder/impossible to get out a normally cleanable stain. Get the cleaner to say that and your liability might drop even further. Answer #2: Can you tell us more about what caused the spill?  Not a lawyer in Switzerland, but tort is fairly universal on this kind of thing.  As others have said, you'd be liable if you were negligent/reckless (and only for the fair market value).

If, on the other hand, someone bumped you in a crowded venue and the wine spilled through no fault of your own, then tough shit.

Side note: That guy is a complete ass for sending the receipt.


Title: Plastic Surgeon uploaded picture of my whole face without my knowledge

Question:
Im not sure if this is something I can take action against because it happened 4-5 years ago.  I was informed by the receptionist that they can offer a discount in exchange for my picture. I initially said no, but the receptionist informed me that they would only use the part of body that was surgically altered. One year after my surgery (2013) I discovered my before and after photo ( whole face) on a random website. I tried to contact the doctor's office numerous times about this and they did not get back to me for one year. Their reply was that I signed papers to allow them to use my picture. I informed them that I did not agree to have them use my entire face. They said it was a mistake on their end and they fixed the picture.
I was not smart enough to pursue legal action because of my lack of knowledge with HIPPA.
I feel horrified because I discovered multiple websites used my picture for unrelated reasons.

Dear reddit, is there anything that can be done? The doctors office showed zero remorse and I am left with the damage.

I am currently in the process of getting all the forms I signed in the office.

Answer:
 You can report a HIPAA violation to HHS. There's a tool on the website.

As far as individual action... You probably have no damages, and even if you did, you are probably well beyond the statute of limitations on whatever privacy tort might be relevant.


Title: Landlord evicted me and is holding my possessions at ransom - England

Question:
I have been living in this property since August 15th 2013. The first contract I signed went from August 15th 2013 to July 16th 2014, and the second contract from July 16th 2014 to July 15th 2015. The contract is set up in this way as I am a University student and the housing contracts last for one year at a time. After being at home for the summer I went back to the property on the 24th September 2014 to find that the Landlord had evicted me without reason or notice and moved in 4 new students. He had also taken all belongings that i had left in my room over the summer period and is holding them in his garage. He is refusing to tell me where the garage is so that I can collect my stuff, until I pay him the rent he claims I owe him from July 16th 2014 until he evicted me and moved new people in on September 22nd 2014. I have an appointment at a solicitors to see if I am liable for the rent he claims, and for advice on whether to go to court over the eviction or not, which I'm told was an illegal eviction. I also went to the police to explain that the landlord has stolen my belongings and is holding them at ransom for the 'debt owed' but they told me it is a civil matter and not a criminal matter, and as such, they have no authority to do anything.
Reddit, do you have any advice on how to go about getting my stuff back? And is what he did evicting me and taking/stealing my stuff illegal, and if so, should I go back to the police?

Apologies for any mistakes or errors with the layout, this is my first Reddit post.
Also I live in England

Any and all advice would be appreciated, thanks.
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer: Did you pay the rent you owed him for the summer months when you were not there?


Title: Is this Illegal or just shady?

Question:
I'm an American expat; From New York, living abroad. I meet quite a few other Americans living here as well, and there's a few people here who i think are either involved in tax evasion or money laundering or something.

Basically, they buy products from the US, export them here, and then sell them for profit if they can, if not, they sell at a loss.  But they don't care because their goal is to get their money out of the US (their words).
They don't file tax returns or anything.

So which is it? Shady or illegal?

Answer:
 Either you are misinterpreting this or they are stupid.  There is no need to "get their money out of the US".  It's perfectly legal to simply wire the money to themselves from the US.

Now, if they are making money and not filing taxes that's likely illegal but its not a big deal really if they are making less than 90K per year or so.


Title: Property sale being blocked by neighbor

Question:
Virginia - USA

I own a commercial office suite in an office park. I contracted a realtor to sell the property. I was just told by the realtor that every time he goes to show the property to potential buyers an adjacent neighbor comes over and bad mouths the property, the owners association, and the area in general.

The man is an 80+ year old retired police office who owns one the neighboring suites. He is a mean and rude man that enjoys confrontation.

I have had two offers for this property in the past two months fall through after this guy approached them.

Is there any legal action I can take against this guy?

Maybe a cease and desist or no contact order?

Can I sue him for monetary damages for sabotaging the potential sale of the property?

Answer:
 Tort interference, if his continued meddling results in a drop of sale value, you may sue him for the difference from the initial asking price to the reduced asking price.

IANAL, so consider consulting a property attorney.Answer #2: You need to document all the days and get lawyer to help you get a no trespass order or restraining order.
If he comes back then instruct your realtors to call 911 and take video.


Title: My neighbor spilled (dumped) oil all over my street. [California]

Question:
Great lawyers of /r/legaladvice, please help me!

My community's lease specifically prohibits working on vehicles on the property, especially when the exchange of fluids are involved. Nevertheless, my idiot neighbor thinks he runs an auto-shop out of his driveway. So, yesterday morning, I was surprised to see a stream of black liquid running along the curb towards the storm drain (right next to my driveway). I followed the stream up the street and found my neighbor's driveway covered in oil, and it appeared he attempted to wash away the oil with water (hence why it is now running down the street). The oil is all over his grass, driveway, and the bottom half of our street.

My tires, shoes, and driveway are now covered in oil. I am pissed off. Do I have any tort claims against my neighbor? I understand I would need to take him to small claims court, given my damages are relatively low.

Additionally, after doing some research, I believe my neighbor has also violated the Clean Water Act--given my limited research, it appears that individuals have standing to sue under the CWA. Can I sue my neighbor for violating the CWA? If so, can I use my CWA claim as an anchor claim to get my small claims joined?

TLDR: Neighbor illegally dumped GALLONS of oil onto my street, lazily attempted to wash it away with water (lmao), and has now damaged the street and my vehicle. Looking to sue in tort and potentially under the Clean Water Act.

I live in California.

Answer:
 1. Get a lawn chair and a bucket of popcorn. Settle in to watch the show.

2. Call the non-emergency number of your local fire station. Inform them of the hazmat spill. Answer #2: You can report him to the California EPA: https://calepa.ca.gov/contact-us/Answer #3: If he's doing this as a business, you could also check with your local city/county to see if there are ordinances that he's violating, such as operating a business in a residential district, or something specifically about working with cars without appropriate business licensing, or something like that. Won't give you any personal satisfaction, but it would potentially put a cap on future incidents.


Title: My friend (32F) and sister (17F) were violently assaulted and held captive by a convicted felon with a gun. "Victims advocates" refuse to turn in her victim impact statement, keep her informed of the criminal proceedings, or even communicate with her.

Question:
TLDR at bottom.

My best friend and her young sister were the victims of a violent crime about 6 months ago. A man pulled a gun on them, held them captive, told them he was going to murder them, severely beat them with his fists and a gun, strangled one of them with an electrical cord, and caused facial fractures and permanent nerve damage in the other. A neighbor heard them screaming and fighting for their lives, called police, and police broke down the door and caught him in the middle of strangling her little sister, with my friend knocked unconscious nearby. He was arrested and charged with Felon in Posession of a Firearm, 2 counts of misdemeanor battery, and 1 count of disorderly conduct, and has been held in jail on a parole violation since then. There is ample evidence of this crime, including the officers body camera footage, the blood on the gun and the blood splattered around the crime scene, the victims injuries, and a jail recorded phone call in which he admits to his girlfriend that he fully intended to murder them both and "dump their bodies where they would never be found." (I still don't understand why he wasn't charged with false imprisonment, felony battery, battery by strangulation, or attempted murder, but I digress.)

My friend was supposed to be assigned a victims advocate by the court, to help keep her informed of the legal proceedings and to act as a liaison between the district attorney and the victims. This person never reached out to them, my friend had to hunt her down herself. Since then, my friend has sent them her victim impact statement 3 separate times, via email, and received a response confirming receipt of her statement, but it has yet to be filed with or acknowledged by the courts. She calls several times a week and leaves voicemails, asking for an update in the court proceedings, but never received any response. On *the day of sentencing* last month, she and her sister received the victim notification letter in the mail, about an hour before his court date. Fortunately, he wasn't sentenced that day and they scheduled another court date instead due to "new circumstances"--something my friend had to look up on public records.

She has spoken to the victim advocates supervisor once, who told her she would get back to her. That was a month ago, and despite daily calls, she hasn't heard back. My friend has documentation showing that she has emailed the victims advocate and the supervisor over 50 times, and has called over 100 times. She's enlisted the help of the Detective on her case, and they're not responding to him either. The court STILL does not have her impact statement (no one passed it along to the court), and my friend has no idea what to expect, and is terrified that he's going to be released without her knowing. This guy has already sent people to intimidate and threaten my friend into dropping the charges, threatening her life and her childrens lives, which no one seems to think is relevant. The police did make contact with those people and warn them that they could be charged with witness intimidation, but that was the end of that.

There is another court date for him on Friday, and the only reason she knows about it is because she looked it up herself on public records. She wants to know, can she go to that court date herself and hand deliver her impact statement? Can she speak to the district attorney at that time? Is there any kind of victims advocacy group that can help her here? My friend has been diagnosed with PTSD, quit her job, abandoned her apartment, and stays in her parents house all day in fear since this incident. Half of her face is saggy and has no sensation. Her speech slurs because she can't control or feel half of her lips. All she wants is to know what's going on in this case, and the people whose job it is to keep her informed, are failing miserably.

What can she do?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

This is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

TLDR: Friend and her sister were victims of violent beating and held captive, perp admits he intended to murder them. Perp is in jail for parole violation while he goes through the criminal justice system. Victims advocate and supervisor refuse to return calls, voicemails, or emails. They have failed to forward her victim impact statement to the court 3 times, and have not properly notified the victims of the offenders sentencing, nor any updates in the proceedings. What can she do?

Answer: Are the victim advocates she's been dealing with part of the DA's office/courthouse or separate?  I can't speak to Wisconsin, but where I live we have victim assistants who work in the DA's office and also there are outside multiple victim advocacy groups.  (Non-profits or run by the state.)  She should call the DA directly and find out what is going on and let them know she wants to make a statement.  They should also be able to point her to someone who can help her aside from whoever she was dealing with before.Answer #2: You call always show up to any public hearing.  Most states have Victim Rights Acts that require informing victims of court dates and even help with medical bills. You can also always contact the District Attorney or the ADA assigned to the case directly, which any Detective should know. If you haven’t had any contact with anyone official from the state, how do you know about the existence of jail phone calls or what they contain? This all seems very strange.Answer #3: There’s a fairly high chance that victim advocate is funded by VOCA ( a grant) whether they work for the prosecutor or are an independent agency that works within the courthouse. If they are truly dropping the ball as hard as you claim, call their funder. It’s probably the Wisconsin Department of Justice,. The people paying the salary are going to be interested in what they are paying for. The grant funder has a fair amount of power to get things done, as they control the salary funds.Answer #4: Another avenue would be to email your state's elected officials such as your governor.


Title: Can an employer take my cellphone away (United States, New York)

Question:
I wasn't even using my cell phone and my employer asked me to hand it over. Simply because they saw a bump in my pocket, and the newer employees have been using their cellphones. I've been working there for three years now. I use my cell phone for a variety of things from a wallet (Google Wallet), email, dating, etcetera. Not to mention there's an app on the second screen that if any literate person noticed they would realize "Hey this person's gay."

I keep my sexual orientation out of the workplace due to the fact that the management is rather conservative. From what I recall I didn't sign anything giving my employer the right to take anything away from me.

Answer:
 No, they cannot take your cellphone away.

But they *can* fire you for having it in your pocket or for refusing to hand it over.Answer #2: Dude, put a password/code on it so it's locked if you're so worried about your apps.Answer #3: Presumably they gave it back to you when your shift was over?  And you were in a location where you were not supposed to be using a phone, per policy?Answer #4: If you were informed that you could not bring a cell phone to work, they can probably consider it a breach of employment agreement and terminate you or discipline you - depending on their company policy.  They cannot "take" it from you.  You would have to voluntarily turn it over (which it sounds like you did).  Your options would have been: 1) quit 2) not turn it over and accept discipline or termination 3) hand it over (which you did).

Also, quit using Grindr at work.


Title: Can a former employer enforce a non-compete clause if their business no longer exists?

Question:
Location: NYC

Background: I’ve been working at a small business that offers music classes for children for almost eight years. Today (Weds) my boss informed me and my colleagues that the business is closing permanently on Saturday (aka in two days). We will be payed through the end of next week.

Question: when I was hired, I signed a contract with a non-compete clause, specifying that I may not offer private instrument lessons (I’m a music teacher) or open a similar business within a year of working at my current job. My boss told me she is expecting me to respect the non-compete clause after the business closes this weekend. In other words, I may not draw upon the large pool of students I already teach there to piece together a schedule of private lessons or informal in-home music lessons with kids I’ve met through work. To do so, according to my boss, would be a violation of the contract. Is this correct? How can I violate the contract if the business I would be “competing with” no longer exists? I’m reeling right now, trying to figure out how I’ll pay my rent. I’m tempted to give my number out to parents and tell them to get in touch, but I don’t want to make myself vulnerable to any kind of legal challenge from my (soon to be) former employer.

Answer:
 IANAL - if they sue you, what grounds will they have? You're not competing with them, because as you said, they don't exist. (rhetorical question here)

&#x200B;

I don't see anything wrong with giving your number out to stay in touch. But perhaps someone who knows more than I, could tell you whether giving personal lessons is legit or not.


Title: Banned from 4chan, freaking out.

Question:
I was posting on 4chan when an image I posted was flagged as CP and I was banned. How fucked am I? I I have no intention of viewing or distributing the stuff, as frankly, its disgusting. I've already cleared my hard drive, and need advice. I am being 100 percent serious here. I am stressing so much over this I am physically  ill, and my hands are shaking as I type this. I don't want to ruin my future over a stupid fucking click.
EDIT: I'm in the US, Texas
EDIT 2: I should mention that the incident in question took place about 2 days ago and nothing has happened yet.

Answer: You're not fucked, they do that all the time. If you actually did post CP however, you may be in some trouble. Realistically, nothing's going to happen. Move on with your life and stay away from 4chan.


Title: Should I show up to court

Question: I have been subpoenaed to court on Wednesday for a domestic dispute between me and my fiancée. There was no hitting and I want this charges to be dropped. But being in Virginia they can still charge even if I don’t show up. I’ve been told by a couple of people if I don’t show up they will drop charges. I’m just wondering if anyway from VA, specifically Fairfax county, knows of its better I don’t show up or if I go in and explain things   TIA

Answer: If you have been subpoenaed and you don't show up you are committing a crime.Answer #2: and stop listening to your friends


Title: [OKLAHOMA] Kid scratched up my car, mom said she'd pay for it but nothing has come of it.

Question:
20 months ago, my then-boyfriend's little brother admitted to taking a sharp object and using it to scratch up three of my four doors, plus the hatch on my car. I didn't notice it until I'd already left, but I took pictures and sent them to my then-boyfriend, who told me that he told his mom, and the mom got onto the boy and he admitted that he had done it, and she said she would pay for it.

I know that the statute of limitations is two years, so I only have four months left. I filed a claim with my insurance and my deductible is $500, but I don't have that kind of money and I don't imagine I can get the auto shop to just bill someone else. I don't know what to do at this point. Can anyone give me some advice so that I can get this fixed ASAP? It looks terrible!

Answer: You can sue them in small claims court.


Title: Doordash keeps charging my debit card

Question:
I haven't used doordash since last year. I canceled my account and haven't used it since. This April, they charged me a monthly fee of $9.99. I called them, emailed them, filed a report to Chase, and the fee was reversed. I also removed my credit card from my account.

Then they charged me again in May and June. This has become a recurring problem and they're obviously not planning on fixing it. Instead I have to send tons of emails to their support (which is terrible, by the way) to get each charge reversed.

Is there any way for me to stop them from charging my debit card? Or to get Chase to automatically file it as fraudulent. Thanks in advance.

Answer: The most direct method would be to cancel  your card and get a new one.  That will stop the charges instantly and you will not have to go through all the baloney of talking to them and weeding through the endless hold times and emails sent but never replied to etc.  It is also possible that your information has been compromised and a crook has set up an account with your card.  So replacing the card would also fix that.Answer #2: I have had a Chase debit card compromised before. Call the Chase Cardmember Services number on the back of the debit card and report the unauthorized charges. They will automatically block ALL charges to your account, so you will have to wait for a new card # for legitimate purchases or bill payments, but you will be free and clear thanks to their zero liability policy. You could possibly see the charges refunded, at their discretion. Being that it's 3 months worth of charges though, I don't think they will.


Title: Cannot open door in my parking spot.

Question:
I searched for an existing instance of this but did not find.

So here is what is going on. I live in a condo building. The parking spots have lines. The lines are right on top of each other. This means that my spot has about 2 inches before the spot to my left.

My parking spot neighbor owns a Land/Range(forget which) Rover which takes up about 98% of the space between their lines. This means that their doors open up into the spot next to them in order for them to get out. However, no one parks to their left so they can get out the driver side just fine.

I however, cannot. So in my parking spot, I have to park at an angle. This has been fine for 4+ years. But recently the HOA is demanding that I park within the lines.

The parking spot on my right is 3+ feet away due to a column to my right. So me parking at an angle so I can open my driver side door does not prevent my parking spot neighbor to the right from getting in or out of their car. But I am parking outside of the lines.

I cannot physically park within the lines of my spot and have enough room to get out of my driver side door. Due to the column on the back right and the giant SUV right up against the yellow line. There just is not enough room. And I have a very small/compact car.

Thus, I either have to park at an angle, or climb in the sunroof or enter through the passenger side door.

I think this is absolutely ridiculous. And my HOA does not care. They have informed me I must park within the lines and suggested I just enter through the passenger side door and climb over the seats to get into the driver side.

What are my rights, if any? Or am I screwed. It is a limited common element, and I have an easement on the parking spot. But I guess technically I "own" the spot. So switching spots would be a huge hassle and require selling, buying, taxes, deeds, tax bill changes etc.

Answer:
 Can you ask the HOA board to meet you in the parking lot by your space?  Then when they are there hand one of them your keys and ask them to get in your car and show you how you are supposed to park.

I would hope that it would make them have to come up with reasonable solutions and not any of the easy outs they have been taking (passengers side, crawl over the seats, just park like you are supposed to, etc).  You know darn well that they would not like to crawl over the seats every time they used their car!Answer #2: I'm guessing I must have missed something... But, why don't you just back in?Answer #3: Check to see if your parking lot structure is within city code. Maybe that will give you some traction against them.Answer #4: You need to get as many residents as possible to complain to whoever manages the property.

Uncertain if [this](https://chicagocode.org/17-10-1000/) applies to private lots, but if so it could be a codes violation.


Title: HELP PLEASE!!! My uncle was just hypnotized into giving away ALL of his and his family's personal information.

Question:
I have just recently found out that somehow, my uncle was tricked into giving away ALL of his and his family's personal information! I'm freaking out for my family and have no idea what to do to help right now.  We live in Orange/ Garden Grove California and according to my uncle, this is how things went:

   My uncle is closing down his restaurant when a large Samoan man, as my uncle describes him, walks up to him.  The man explains to my uncle that he has a very large sum of money that he needs to donate or give away and asks if my uncle knows of any place or charity to give the money to. The man supposedly told my uncle that these millions of dollars he had was left for him by a relative who told him that he could not keep any of the unless he donated some of it to a charity or organization.  So my uncle tells the man that he knows of our local church that would gladly accept that type of donation AND THEN drive the man to the church!

~**THIS part absolutely baffles me** and this is where things get weird because my uncle is known to be a VERY sharp, skeptical, and cautious man. He is definitely not the type of person to be fooled with such a story, let alone DRIVE A STRANGER IN HIS CAR~ But that's not all...

   After my uncle takes the man to the church, another man skinnier than the first, meets with them. Acting like a stranger he asks them what's going on and makes conversation.  The large Samoan man tells both my uncle and this new "stranger" that he will give both of them a portion of his money since they were so kind to him.  However, in order for him to trust the two of them, he needed some proof that they were trust-worthy.  So the new "stranger" tells the Samoan that he has some cash and keys, goes to his car, and pulls out a bag with THOUSANDS of dollars and car keys in it and shows it to them.  The Samoan then asks my uncle what he has to show.  My uncle told the man that he doesn't carry cash on him, but that he does have some important documents he can show them.

So then my uncle gets back in his car and drives home. He goes into the drawer where he keeps all of his family's personal documents and throws it all in a bag. We're talking bank notes, passports, pink slips, social securities of his, his wife, his kids, **ALL OF IT**!!!  He drives back to the two men and shows the guy the bag.  Then the man tells him that he'll need some time to look over the documents to make sure that my uncle is trust-worthy and tells my uncle to drive around the church once and not to look back or else my uncle would not receive the money from him.  So my uncle gets in his car a drives off to go around the church. As soon as he makes it halfway around the church, he snaps out of it and realizes what was going on. He immediately turns around and heads back, but the two men were **gone**.

HOW DOES THIS EVEN HAPPEN??!!?!  After wracking my brain about this, I came to the conclusion that he might have been hypnotized somehow into doing all of that, because no one, ESPECIALLY him would ever do all of that so willingly!  I've read online of similar thefts that have happened to other people so it may be a good possibility. BUT I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO.  I NEED HELP!

My uncle sought advice from my father afterwards and they have notified the police of the events.  We have also frozen all of the bank accounts as well and parked my uncle car at a different location, but as of now, we don't know what to do!  How do I protect my uncle, aunt, and cousins from this?? Is there any way we can prevent their identity theft or find these guys somehow?? **PLEASE HELP!**  I want to find these guys and stop them, but most importantly, I want to protect my family!

**Please help spread my story so that my family and I can get all the help we need. THANK YOU!**

Answer:
 Not the legal aspect but your uncle should visit a doctor. Sudden and extremely out of character actions can be indicative of a serious medical condition.Answer #2: For the record, you cannot be hypnotized into doing something against your will, it is just not how it works.

It would also be a terrible way to scam people, not only do you have to find someone willing to hand over their documents to a stranger, you have to find someone who you can hypnotize on the street. Answer #3: 1. Freeze your credit reports immediately, for the whole family, like yesterday. Get account numbers changed immediately, no explanation needed other than "My credit card, bank account info, etc was just compromised. Please change my info and send new cards." It's an easy thing to do, although you'll probably have a ton to do for everyone.

2. Look into how to change your SSN. I have only HEARD about this, but it might be possible.

2. If those people come back, notify police immediately. Let them determine if the men are up to no good or not. Answer #4: I think this is most likely a troll. But if not, this reads like the kind of story someone makes up to cover up losing a load of important documents in an embarrassing way. Like maybe the uncle invited the Samoan man into his home for sex or drugs and the documents were stolen during that time?


Title: [MO] Possible sexual assault due to giving consent 'under false circumstances' but police won't contact me.

Question:
This happened in Missouri less than three years ago.  A very, very close friend of mine convinced me to consent to his rape fantasies.  He told me that I was the only one he was sleeping with, he didn't have a girlfriend or anyone else, and I was very special to him and he wouldn't hurt me.
I believed him, and let him, and it lead to some long-term physical and traumatic mental problems.  He continued to rape me because he continued to promise to make things better, and I needed him to.
So everything turned out to be a big lie, he had a girlfriend and several other women on the side, and he abandoned me without helping me get over the trauma he caused.

I can't find the wording now, but in December before I went to the police, the Missouri consent law said something about how consent doesn't count if it is given due to false circumstances.  I never would have consented if he had been honest with me about his other women or the fact that he had no plans to help my emotional and mental state of mind after he got to rape me.  He made me suicidal.  I can't have a relationship with anyone, not even friends or family, because I see those trustworthy and honest qualities that he pretended to have, and I can't trust anyone because he hurt me so much.

I filed a police report.  I now live in Colorado and had to file it here.  They sent it to the town in Missouri where I lived during the times he had sex with me.  He lives in Mississippi, and the Missouri police said they'd send the information down there.
This was in November.  I've called the Missouri police several times since then to ask how the investigation was going, if they needed any further information, etc.  They never return my calls.  I have a cousin who is a detective in Mississippi.  Should I contact him and see if he can do anything on the Mississippi end?  Should I just keep trying to contact the Missouri police?  Should I go to the police here in Colorado and see if they can do anything?  Should I be seeking out a lawyer?

Answer:
 It is not illegal in Missouri (or any other state I'm aware of) to lie about having or not having a girlfriend to have sex with someone else.Answer #2: You gave consent. You can't retroactively revoke consent years after the fact just because the result of the consent you 100% gave has since given you emotional issues. You may regret that you consented, but regret in and of itself does not make the other party guilty of a crime, especially when the consent was given with full knowledge of what you were agreeing to sexually.

What is the legal definition of "false circumstances" in the state of Missouri?

Why are you filing this in Colorado, and not Missouri? Answer #3: I'm sorry you're going through this, but I'm not sure that's exactly what consent under false pretenses covers. I don't think it covers people who lied about their fidelity with you. I believe it's more like you had sex with someone in the dark in your house and it turns out it wasn't your husband whom you believed it to be. Even then, it happened in Missouri, neither of you live in that state anymore, the likelihood that a criminal conviction is going to come out of this is low.

Pursuing it through civil courts may be a more viable option, but again you're going to run into the question about whether consent was really given.

Your time may be better spent focusing on getting professional help for your mental health concerns. Answer #4: Despite the lack of legal recourse- You should talk to a support group for women, and try therapy


Title: [MO]Got a speeding ticket in Texas a month ago, now I got a letter saying I have to appear in court or pay within 10 days

Question:
While I was on vacation in Texas, I got a speeding ticket one night(it was some place between Austin and Dallas), what made it worse was that I had just lost my license earlier that day while hiking, so I got a citation for that too. The cop gave me the ticket and said to call the number on there prior to 9/30. However, I lost the ticket, so I decided to go to the local municipal court in St.Louis and also the police station to check if there's any record for my ticket, but they didn't have anything.

Today in the mail I got a letter saying that I need to appear in court in Texas (which I cannot do) or pay the total (~$400) before 10/22, or a warrant will be issued for me.... I'm not really sure what to do now, will pleading no contendere to both citations severely damage my records? Can I prove that I was a licensed driver at that time?

Any advice will be appreciated

Answer: Pay the tickets or hire an attorney in the location of the court to help youAnswer #2: Why would you think St. Louis would have info on your Texas ticket?Answer #3: You need to go to court or pay.


Title: Racial discrimination and wrongful termination of job

Question: I believe I was racially discriminated and wrongfully terminated from my job. I am 18, there is a 17 year old that looks to be of a possible indian/arabic ethnicity that applied the same day as me. I worked for three days of training and was let go because I was told I've worked 4-5 days because of my speed not picking up enough, even though I had just learned all of the positions on the third day. The three days I worked were all slow days, and when I talked to my co trainee, he said he had much more busy days than me, giving him a better chance to speed up. The owners are of the same ethnicity/ skin color, and I feel that they are choosing him over me because of his skin color and the fact that he is a minor.

Answer: It's possible that you're right, though I'm not personally convinced, but the truth is you will never get a lawyer to take on your case because there is no way you can prove discrimination here. Best thing to do, and I know it hurts to hear this, is just pick up and move on and accept that life isn't fair sometimes.


Title: Attempting to enroll into school without guardians...

Question:
Hi. I'm eighteen years old and live in rural Georgia. I was recently thrown out of my home for personal reasons. I do not want to sacrifice my high school diploma, as I expect to be able to get into a decent university and am seeking to go into a pre-med track-- one day I wanted to be a doctor.

Notably, at my previous school, I could not even sign out without written permission from my parents. I could not sign any permission forms. Anything that I discussed with the counselor was discussed with my parents. In short, despite being 18, I had no authority.

My fear is that this would continue when I attempt to enroll myself into the school where I am moving, which, if truth be told, isn't even decided yet. My parents will not assist me under any circumstances-- how can I handle this?

Location, again: Rural Georgia
Topic:
School Related Issues

Answer: You're 18. Don't worry about it. Talk to the school office and they will figure it out.