Title: (FL) My boss fired me after noticing that I have a slight limp. Is that discrimination? What can I do?

Question:
It doesn't have any affect on my day to day life so I don't think it would be considered a disability.

I've had a slight limp since I was 16(horrible fight), it's not really noticeable. It's a bit sore in winter though.

My boss noticed the other day(I worked there for 2 years!), after that he kept making comments to people about how unattractive women are when they have "physical problems"(it's clearly not a problem if it took you two years to notice), then he started to refer to me as limpy or Igor. I spoke to HR are about it.

I was fired two days later for "not being physically able to preform my duties". My duties consisted of sitting at a desk and occasionally getting up to make coffee or grab some stuff off the printer..

Answer: How many employees work for this company?


Title: What do I do about animal abuse? Chickasaw, Alabama

Question:
[deleted]
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer: Contact the City of Saraland (I believe this is the right municipality) [animal control/shelter](http://www.saraland.org/?DivisionID=3607&ToggleSideNav=) and report the abuse. They should be able to investigate it.


Title: Is the hypothetical situation from this math problem even legal?

Question:
The situation is as follows:
"A will of a recently deceased woman specifies how her money is to be donated to a charity. Her total wealth of $12.5 million is to be donated for eternity with the first donation of $1 million in the first year"

It's a geometric sequence, where each year the amount donated is 23/25 of the value of the previous year. Aside from the obvious question of "why would you do it like that", what is the legal standing of this? Is such a will, which sets out an obligation to be continued "for eternity", likely to be upheld - if not for eternity, at least for a long time?

The textbook this problem is from is from Australia, but the problem makes no mention of location, so if there's any jurisdiction where this would be followed, I'll count that as a win for the textbook.

Answer:
 With the help of an inheritance trust, it's possible.

Well, not exactly possible for eternity, but it's not really a legal problem, it's just that reality doesn't quite work that way. After 166 years (=ln(1/1000000)/ln(23/25)) with your setup, that's less than a dollar a year that is donated while you will have to deal with legal fees, the cost of setting up the trust, taxes, inflation,... and so on.


Title: [Best Of] My GF wants to kick out her autistic son but still collect disability. Will I get in trouble?

Question:
*Beep Boop Beep Beep Boop*

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URL:  https://www.reddit.com/r/bestoflegaladvice/comments/4s1bcl/my_gf_wants_to_kick_out_her_autistic_son_but/

Answer: this is what would happen. Mom locks out son, son wails and screams for two hours, the neighbours call the cops, the mom lets him in and makes up an excuse, the cops don't care and want to leave so as long as the son isn't wailing in public anymore they leave. Repeat weekly


Title: Is not being able to cut my hair the way I want to a violation of my human right to freedom of expression?

Question: My parents don't allow me to cut my hair the way I want and my mum usually cuts my hair or goes with me to a barber and makes sure they cut it how she wants it. I spoke to some close friends of mine about this issue and one was adamant that it was definitely a violation of my right to expression and my parents are denying me a human right. Is that the case or are my parents just being control freaks?

Answer:
 You have no such "human right."

Even if there was such a "human right" it would probably not include the hairstyle of a minor. Answer #2: This isn't a legal question.

The 1st amendment prevents the government from telling you that you have to cut your hair and other more important things.  Your parents can set the rules for their own household.Answer #3: No rights are being violated here. If you're under 18 and living in their house, then you're out of luck.

Have you talked to your mom about how you would ideally style your hair?


Title: [Hypothetical] What if a Supreme Court justice is convicted of a serious felony unrelated to the court?

Question: [deleted]

Answer: They can be impeached by Congress.


Title: School reccomends I tell people about my "disability" for the benefit of other students

Question:
[deleted]
Topic:
Disability Issues

Answer:
 I would talk to the counselor like they recommended and maybe your parents. You don't have to share it if you don't want to but it may make your life easier.Answer #2: If group work is a major part and you can't work in a group, you need to work with the school to find a resolution.  Other students are also paying for their education and have a right to not have that impeded.

You can continue to tell them you're not willing to discuss your disability with your peers.


Title: [ohio] Brother was arrested for animal cruelty and felonious assault for hitting a horse and rider running across a road.

Question:
He was driving in a park and a horse came running out of the woods across the road and he had no time to stop. The girl on the horse broke her collarbone and leg but is otherwise ok, the horse had to be put down.

Now the cop arrested him for failing to yield, animal cruelty and felonious assault. My question is does a horse count as a pedestrian when someone is on it's back? Especially if you can get a DUI while riding one drunk.

Answer:
 >  My question is does a horse count as a pedestrian when someone is on it's back?

I'm confused; what does the definition of pedestrian have to do with this?


Title: Arrested for DUI despite blowing a 0 BAC and being completely sober. Ohio.

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Your friend wasn't arrested for DUI.  He was arrested for reckless driving and endangering an officer.  His urine tests relate to that, but aren't specifically necessary or required in that.

His urine tests are likely, in this case, a condition of his release.


Title: [NY] Right to refuse blood test while on probation

Question: [removed]

Answer: This entire thread smells suspiciously like sovcit nonsense.


Title: Property Manager Was Fired Now I Have to Sign New Apartment Lease

Question:
[Colorado]

My property manager was fired. I am 9 months into my rent and now the owners of the property and their newly hired property manager are making me sign a new lease.
This lease has different terms. Most notably they want to start touring potential tenants starting in November when my lease ends end of January. The previous lease said they would start tours 14 days before the lease ends.
After much difficultly trying to get into contact with her about my concerns, the new property manager came over to discuss the new lease terms with me after I expressed some concern about the differences from the previous lease.
She said that since the previous property manager was fired, my previous lease (which was supposed to go until January 31st) is now invalid. We got into a heated screaming match about the terms and she said that she is trying to compromise but I am not working with her.

What are my rights here? Is my previous lease completely invalid? Are they really able to just make us sign a new lease with a bunch of different terms? I’m probably going to move out early now that this situation is becoming so difficult.
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 >She said that since the previous property manager was fired, my previous lease (which was supposed to go until January 31st) is now invalid.

That is completely false, and it's unfortunate that an apartment **manager** believes it to be true.

You do not have to sign a new lease, nor can you be evicted for not signing a new lease. The old lease is still in effect. If they try to evict, show up to the eviction hearing, explain your argument, and watch the Judge laugh at them.

In addition, *the ball is in your court now*. If they want new terms, they can find a new tenant. If they want a new tenant, they can buy you out to vacate. If they don't want to buy you out, they're simply stuck with you until the current lease ends.


Title: Are alumni considered to be "affiliated"?

Question: I'm making a website to make a link list of public information (lawsuits, news reports) regarding a residential school where I was severely abused. My website looks very official. Do I need to put a disclaimer to say that I am "unaffiliated" with the school, or, in being an alum, does that count as an affiliation?

Answer: Unless you enjoy lawyers, courts, and depositions, you should have a lawyer's advice before you put this website online.


Title: HELP!! CRAZY Ex and mandatory NJ college child support

Question:
Dear Redditors, I've been an avid redditor for a while and know there are extremely intelligent posters. I'm writing this post for a long standing issue my father has had with a crazy ex and a child he had with her who is now in college.

Scenario:  the child my father had with this woman from a brief fling is now two or so years into college and because of NJ's wildly liberal child support laws he is forced to pay for a certain amount of his college. The child's mother is the definition of crazy, stalking years back, going to court in excess of ten times over child support through this kids childhood. Admittedly, I am the oldest and have a good childhood / relationship with my father.  The child I'm referencing did not for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to the relationship between his mother and my father is toxic, I should also mention his mothers pregnancy was unplanned and unwanted by my father. He wanted her to get an abortion.  As a result for this his other childs life he was almost entirely absent, arguably estranged.

Contrary to what one would assume, due to NJ law you are / can be forced to continue paying child support for college and even graduate school based on my understanding. When the other child first started college he did not inform my father until after he enrolled at a $50k per year university, but yet expected my father to pay. This was clearly unreasonable since my father is firmly middle class blue collar.  Due to not asking my fathers opinion he was not forced to pay as much in child support as there were other comparable schools for much less. I should also mention my father did not attend college.

Recently due to his companies economic circumstances my father was essentially forced into early retirement (he's 60) and has been forced to look for other work. However his delusional ex and other child still think he should be paying the same in child support, which is insane considering the circumstances.

I should also mentions for context I went to a four year university (received grants and money for athletics). I also had to take out loans for what I didn't get in aid, which I have basically paid off and while my father helped when I was in school I am/was responsible for the vast majority of my college debt (>95%). I also graduated found a good job and now make significantly more than my father did/does.  As a result of that I find it infuriating that he is forced by NJ to pay for a sizable portion of his other child's tuition.

The question I would really appreciate redditors input is related to how my father could avoid being forced to pay for college of an estranged 21yr old son?  If that's not possible the question would be how to reduce his support in a cost effective way (i.e. Not spending a ton on legal costs). Additionally, how can he limit the number of times his crazy ex can bring him back to court?  One last thing to mention is there is no agreeing on terms with the ex because she has stated recently he should continue to pay the same regardless of his recent drastic decrease in earnings.

Thank you for any help and/advice you may be able to offer.

Answer:
 How about your father taking some responsibility for the child he fathered and abandoned? How about you showing some compassion for your half-brother who, through no fault of his own, grew up without a father?

Answer #2: > Scenario: the child my father had with this woman from a brief fling is now two or so years into college...his mother and my father is toxic, I should also mention his mothers pregnancy was unplanned and unwanted...how my father could avoid being forced to pay for college of an estranged 21yr old

He should have used protection 21 years ago. He can now try to petition the court for a modification.


Title: Parent won't take their own child, what is their legal obligation?

Question: My wife's sister had a child while she was incarcerated and her mother (the child's grandmother) took guardianship of the child.  The grandmother had been raising the child for a number of years, but lost her job and ultimately became homeless and can no longer support the child.  The child's mother hasn't been incarcerated for many years now, has a stable job and a home, but has no interest in being a part of the child's life and refuses to take the child.  What legal obligation does she have to the child?  She still has parental rights, but does not have guardianship.  Would she be legally required to take the child in since the guardian is no longer capable of caring for the child?

Answer: The guardian needs to contact the social worker and tell him or her that she can no longer take care of the child.  If nobody else in the family is willing, and the mother is unwilling or unable, the child will be placed in foster care.  If the mother has no wish to try to reunify, the state will probably move forward with terminating her rights and freeing the child for adoption, if that's possible.Answer #2: The grandmother should look at getting child support off the mother.


Title: [UK] Leaving a shared house - who is responsible for emptying it?

Question:
Hi,

I'm about to move out of a shared house with my 3 housemates, as the house has been put up for sale, but there's something I'm a bit unclear about. We're obviously going to move all our things, and clean the house top to bottom, but we have a cellar that has loads of random objects in it (old chairs, christmas tree etc.) that have been left there by previous tenants who have since moved out. We never bothered to clear it, as we weren't expecting the sale of the house. We're just worried that the landlord (who we are not on good terms with unfortunately) will do something like phone for a skip, and have other people collect it all, then take it out of any deposit we get back.

Is this something he would be able to do? Or can we take all of our own things, and leave the house in good order, and leave it at that? There's far too much stuff just to leave it out on the street or get it picked up by the bin men who come every week.

Any advice would be very gratefully received. (I can't check our contract for this either, has we have never been provided with one, despite numerous requests, and that is part of the reason for our current dispute).

Answer:
 First, I'd call the landlord and ask him what he wants to do with all of his stuff that is in the cellar and that has been there since you moved in. If he denies any knowledge of it or claims that it's not his, I might in your position be inclined to call a mate with a van and buy him a case of beer in exchange for him letting you spend a couple of hours loading all that shit up and taking it to the dump.

You might not be legally required to do it, but it's probably less hassle than trying to fight after the event in small claims.


Title: [CO] Former employer harassing and threatening court

Question:
To say I am having a lot of anxiety over this situation is an understatement.  Last week, I left my job for a single employee tax firm.  The only other employee was the owner.  I quit because I had been bullied more than once and advised by the owner that I had to do what I was told regardless if I felt uncomfortable or not.

When I quit, my husband came with me as support and witness to my leaving.  All I said to my employer was that I was leaving.  As this is an at-will state, I knew I did not have to provide reason.  The quitting was not taken well.  The following evening, I started receiving nasty text messages from  my former boss.  I had to add a call blocker app to my phone to block any text messages or phone calls.

Earlier this week, I received my final pay check from the employer.  They left a nasty note on the pay stub.  I did not read it, but my husband did and advised me not to read it for now as it would only upset me.

Fast forward to today, and I have learned that the employer is going to take me to court, accusing me of copying client files.  I did not take or copy any client information throughout my short tenure at this office.  I am concerned about fabricated evidence or even my ability to defend myself should this come to fruition.  I am fairly confident that I can prove my innocence, but I am still freaking out to say the least.

Is there anything I can do to help myself to ensure that my husband and I are safe from this person?

Answer: Don't worry about anything until you are served a court summons. A lot of people say they are going to sue and they don't. If you are sued then hire a lawyer and he could advice you to counter sue your employer. Make sure you save all the text messages and the pay stub for evidence.


Title: [AR] Tenant moved out (?) with belongings still on premises. What are we allowed to do?

Question:
Hi, everyone.

One of our leases expired today.  There was just 1 person on the lease.  According to his girlfriend (not on the lease) who lived with him, he had moved out some time ago, leaving his things.  I'm assuming they aren't on the best of terms, and she herself has packed up and moved out today.

Some things: This tenant had not paid rent for July; we are in the process of remodeling all our units, so his stuff must go.  We have been unable to reach him with the number he gave us when he signed the lease.  We do have an In-Case-Of-Emergency number for him.

What kind of legal action can we take?  Is there some grace period we need to abide by with storing his stuff?  Can we sell his stuff to recuperate the unpaid rent?  Are we required to contact his Emergency Contact to try get him to come pick up his stuff?

Thanks for reading.

Answer: Unlike most states, Arkansas is very straight forward. If the tenant leaves property behind it automatically becomes yours and you can do whatever you want with it; there is no waiting period unlike a lot of states.


Title: [Indiana] Fmr employer denied severance because employee filed for unemployment.

Question: Hi, my friend in IN was terminated and was told she would be given severance. She filed for unemployment shortly thereafter, and her former employer told her she wouldn't get the severance because now they would have to pay her unemployment. This reeks of illegality. It's retribution for taking advantage of unemployment insurance available to her as an IN resident who had been with that organization full time for years. When I was unemployed before, severance needed to be reported and could affect when UI began, but this sounds shady. I've urged her to go to small claims. Am I correct? Thoughts?

Answer: Does she have a contract stating she will receive severance? If not, she's out of luck. Severance isn't guaranteed, ever.


Title: Can Camera tickets be fought and won via written trial or trial by affidavit?

Question: Recently moved to a new city. There's one particular camera at an intersection that caught me going 10 mph over the speed limit four times. I forgot to notify the dmv of my address change and was told, a month later, that I had four tickets sitting at my old address. There's no way I can afford four $250 tickets or a lawyer for that matter. Is there any way I can fight these on my own, concretely? I can't attend multiple court dates as I have a full time job and can't afford to miss work.

Answer: You can try but I doubt you can win. 4 speeding tickets over the course of the month at the same location shows you are not respecting the law. Your best bet is to hire a traffic attorney.


Title: Workplace does not offer regular breaks, docks pay for mistakes. I want to report them to fix it but I'm afraid of losing my job.

Question:
My workplace schedules us for 12.5 hour shifts. We can take some breaks if it's slow but if it's not slow we generally only take 5 minutes to speedily eat and then continue working. Legally we are entitled to a 30 minute unpaid break for every 5 hours worked, and a 10 minute paid break for every 4 hours worked. That could be an hour and a half of break time plus 10 minute breaks throughout the day. They also dock our pay for some mistakes. This is illegal where I live.

I contacted the labor board and was encouraged to file a claim, but they also told me that if requested, they had to release my identity to my employers. I don't want to lose my job. I know it's not legal to fire someone for that but it happens all the time, employers find other ways and reasons to fire people.  Has anyone dealt with this before? I don't know the best way to handle it.

Edit: I am employed in Washington state

Answer:
 >Legally we are entitled to a 30 minute unpaid break for every 5 hours worked, and a 10 minute paid break for every 4 hours worked.

You didn't provide your location, but by the wording of the text my guess is you're in California?

>I contacted the labor board and was encouraged to file a claim, but they also told me that if requested, they had to release my identity to my employers. I don't want to lose my job.

You are federally protected against employer retaliation when you file these complaints. If you're fired, get a lawyer ASAP.


Title: [Utah] Can a 7-year-old child be subjected to an involuntary 72-hour psych hold?

Question:
Yesterday my ex-wife took my 7-year-old son for a routine initial psychiatric evaluation with a new doctor, and during that process my son was nearly admitted to the hospital for an involuntary 72-hour psych hold.

Quick background: My insurance recently changed, which caused us to have to change mental health providers, so this was the first visit to this doctor. My son has autism but is high-functioning, and we've been working with him on behavioral issues for a while now. When embarrassed or threatened he can become disruptive and verbally aggressive in a childish way ("I'm going to hit you", "I'm not afraid of you", etc.). He is not actually violent and has never hurt himself or anyone else.

About an hour into the appointment my son became disruptive and my ex-wife's failure to stop this behavior prompted the psychiatrist to call a social worker over and together initiate some sort of process to attempt to forcibly admit my son for psychiatric treatment. The social worker told my ex that if she tried to leave with my son she would call the police.

At this point my ex called me and frantically explained what was happening. I asked to speak with the doctor and was given to the social worker instead. I asked the social worker to explain what was going on and was given pretty much the same story my ex gave me. I was surprised and concerned by the extreme behavior that was involved, and I told the social worker that. My primary arguments against admittance were that a.) my son is seven and admittance would be incredibly traumatic, and b.) there was no credible threat that he would (or could) hurt himself or anyone else.

After about 10 minutes of arguing, the social worker told us angrily that we would be allowed to leave AMA, but that she would be filing a report with DCFS and that a state social worker would be visiting my ex-wife's home to follow up.

I know this sounds like one of those "there must be more to the story" things, but as far as I've been able to determine, not actually having been present, there isn't any more info.

Could the first social worker, who works for the hospital, have forced my son to be admitted involuntarily against our wishes? Do we as his parents have the legal right to refuse and leave? When the DCFS social worker shows up, should we be prepared for any consequences to our actions in this situation? There is nothing wrong with the way my ex takes care of my son, her home is just fine.

He wasn't actually admitted, so there are no damages to sue for, and I'm not litigious anyway. I just want to be better informed about my rights as his parent. Sorry for the long story, and thanks for any help.

Answer:
 There's limited info, but I have to disagree with /u/thepatman somewhat. Emergency removals by DCFS where the minor child is in immediate danger can absolutely happen. In Utah, though, your child is entitled to due process for a mental health hold, which means a court committal hearing, *before* being admitted to a mental health facility, and in your particular case I don't see anything, again based on your story, that constitutes imminent danger to either the child or someone else. A hearing would not be justified, and if one occurred you would almost certainly prevail. The social worker calling the police would have led them nowhere.

Further, 62A-15-706 entitles you to a parent advocate in the event commitment proceedings are begun. You would not have had to navigate this on your own even if you did get dragged into it.

In my opinion, you were not only entitled to leave, AMA or no, but the behavior of the social worker was completely inappropriate and a gross overreaction. When and if a DCFS social worker pays you a visit, you can describe exactly what you did here and not worry about adverse consequences. You (or your ex-wife) were well within your rights to take your son and leave.Answer #2: [Yes](http://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title62A/Chapter15/62A-15-S628.html).

There are rules, obviously, but yes they can be involuntarily committed.


Title: Illegal Search at school.

Question:
TLDR: Parent enters locker room at high school frisks my daughter now the school wants to punish my daughter and ignores the parent.

Basically my daughter was accused of having a "vape" pen in the locker room by this woman's daughter.  She has no affiliation with the high school other than a kid that goes to the middle school.  The woman entered the locker room and frisked/padded down my daughter trying to find it.

The assistant coach eventually stopped it, but here is the problem they are acting like that is no big deal.  They are however considering punishing my daughter for the vape pen that has yet to be found.

I've had a police report filed and I really don't like to sue people.  I am not looking to make money, but I thought the school would at least act like they cared.  They however don't.  They have a tendency to blow things off and blame the kids.

Should I even bother?  Is there something else I should do?  I am 40+ years old and I know my school would have never stood for a parent to come in to search a student.  I'm really outraged.  TIA

EDITED: because autocorrect and people on a legal forum act like children

Answer:
 I would follow up with the police if it was my kid. Some random adult went onto school property, where your child should be safe, and put her hands on your daughter for no reason other than she wanted to. She had other appropriate avenues she could have used (reporting to the school or the police) but she made a choice to put her hands on someone else. Not ok and I would teach my kid that it is not ok for anyone to do to him/her. But that is me.

I would then go to the next school board meeting and let them know that the school allows random adults to enter campus and accost (I would use assault but I am a pain in the ass) children.

If nothing happened, I would then inform the media that the school allows students to be physically accosted by random adults that walk on campus and into locker rooms.

Again, I am a pain in the ass and do not like schools walking all over kids.

And if the school even hinted at trying to punish my kid for something that never happened, I would contact a lawyer.


Title: School looked through my private search history while investigating me as a potential school shooter.

Question:
Let me start this off with saying that this investigation lasted three days, with no charges ever being brought against me and no punishment being handed out by the school.

&#x200B;

About a week after parkland my school got a series of tips suggesting that I had said something about shooting up the school. These were almost entirely fake and make no sense if you know me ( I like guns but don't own them, have plenty of friends, keep my cool, etc). During the course of this investigation the school went through my browser history from home without notifying me. They did this by signing into a school computer on my account that I had signed into chrome on, allowing them to access my browser history. This was unnecessary as the school's server logs all web traffic and in some of the rooms they can check whats on a screen at any given moment. They presented me with some things I had been looking online, at home, after school hours, on a personal computer on a personal account and asked me about them. My understanding is that this violated my rights against search and seizure, as all of the data they searched was not connected to school and they didn't notify me. I found out about the investigation two hours after it started because the detective involved requested access for a google file and I looked him up ( hes a pretty cool dude by the way shout out to him).

&#x200B;

Were my rights violated? What courses of action can I take to prevent this from happening in the future?

Answer:
 > What courses of action can I take to prevent this from happening in the future?

You could refrain from making school shooting threats that are *almost* entirely jokes.

If you stored your password or left yourself logged in on a school machine, you likely weakened any possibly claim of privacy you had, if there was one ever at all.


Title: (MS) Stray wandered into apartment through broken back door we previously notified them on. Now we're being charged with a $500 pet violation.

Question:
Can they do this? The lease clearly states no pets, and to violate that is a $500 fee. There is no rule against outside feeding of the multiple strays around the complex so long as no animal crosses the threshold.

We have a broken back door that opens and closes itself with a strong enough gust of wind, and we have notified the complex of its issue multiple times (working now on getting proof). We brought the cat food inside due to rain/ants and said stray came in when the door was blown open looking for it. No one let the cat in, or even realized it had come in until after the fact. The property owner saw the cat and is now saying that the door was closed, the animal was inside, it wasn't raining that day, and there was food for it so we are in violation of the policy and now must pay the $500.

It's been since December that we've been notifying them of the door (and a window), which was broken when the apartment got robbed over Christmas. So can they enforce this fee if the only reason the policy was unknowingly violated was due to a pre-established maintenance issue they never fixed? They claim that photos of cat food inside count as proof that the cat lives in the apartment.

plz help

Answer:
 Who's cat food was it that you brought inside?

Why is there cat food there if there are no pets allowed in the complex?


Title: Is it illegal for onlyfans content creators to hook up with their fans?

Question: In NYC it is very common for women to have only fans and ask you to be a subscriber and may hookup with you.  You're not directly paying them you're paying for their content.

Answer: It is illegal to exchange money for sex. Would a jury believe that money exchanged in those circumstances was purely for content? Maybe.


Title: Phillipines girl is threatening to leak inappropriate video of friend unless he pays her

Question: [deleted]

Answer: This sounds like a common scam.


Title: California Non-Compete for Equity owner to a client not a Competitor

Question:
I'm leaving a job which I was a 2% equity owner of an S-Corp in California.  I signed a non-compete which focuses on trade secrets and competitors in 2008 but I'm leaving the company to go to work for a client of the company which is not mentioned in the non-compete.  The company I'm leaving is withholding my cash payout of my 2% because they are saying I'm in violation of the non-compete because I'm going to be costing them thousands of dollars in missed opportunities when I'm taking a position which I could give them an inside track on multiple opportunities.  My question is should I pursue a an employment attorney for a legal claim against my former company for the full amount of the equity or just walk away with my middle finger in the air?

TLDR;  Is a CA Non-Compete for an equity owner valid when going to a client not a competitor?

Answer:
 Non-competes are generally not enforceable in the state of California.

If your 2% stake in the company is worth a significant amount of money, you should retain an attorney.


Title: $0.00 Rent On My Lease

Question:
I’ve been at my current apartment in Connecticut for the last 4 years. About a month ago my leasing office emailed me telling me what my rent would be if I renewed my lease. I told them that I am planning on staying so they sent me the lease agreement electronically. The issue is that in the section concerning monthly rent, they filled it out as $0.00. I signed the lease and two days later they signed it as well. I have this all copied in my email and I printed out a copy as well. The only phrasing I can find that says they can make changes is, "You will agree to any reasonable changes in these rules and regulations."

What obligations, if any, do I have to inform them of their mistake? If they don’t catch it for a few months, am I on the hook for the missed rent? I don’t want to do anything wrong, but if I can get a years worth of free rent out of this then wouldn’t I take it? Any advice or insight would be appreciated.
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 This is obviously a mistake. No court will find that you don't have to pay rent as a result of this, so you might as well just tell them now. Answer #2: >What obligations, if any, do I have to inform them of their mistake?

None.

>If they don’t catch it for a few months, am I on the hook for the missed rent?

Almost certainly.  If they sue, no judge in the world will believe that this is a valid contract, or that you *actually* thought that your rent was $0.00.  The rental office will point to your previous rent payments and the verbal contract over the phone, and that's all that will be needed to legally require you to pay them the missed rent.

Further, this is what's termed a [palpable, unilateral mistake](https://www.upcounsel.com/unilateral-mistake), which means that your leasing office is within their rights to immediately void the entire contract and begin eviction proceedings against you -- *even if you pay them all of the delinquent rent*.  Your best option would be to pay the rent you agreed to over the phone, and let them know about the mistake so that they can fix the typo and have you sign an amended lease.  Trying to be clever and pull one over on them just risks you being kicked out of your apartment.


Title: A bad night of drinking turns into potential theft and sleeping in a strange van. Please help?

Question: Last night, after leaving a bar, I was invited into a very random houseparty by strangers. Being already fairly drunk, I thought it was going to be fun. I remember having one drink out of a red solo cup and throwing up. I think I passed out in the bathroom. This morning, I woke up in a van that was several blocks from the area where the party was. I do not remember exactly which house the party was in, even after walking around the area. I have a picture of the van and the license plate. I was pretty scared, and left in a hurry, and realized that my wallet was missing. Part of me feels like I might have even been drugged. I found a bunch of Canadian coins in sandwich bags in my pocket that do not belong to me. I want to contact the owner of the van and figure out if he was the one who threw the party, or knows someone there, and where my wallet is. I do not want to contact the police yet because there were a lot of drugs at the party (I didn't do any), and I am scared that someone has my drivers license, and if police start asking around I don't want these people to come to my house or anything. Can anyone advise me?

Answer:
 > Can anyone advise me?

Legal(ish) advice:

You can contact the police or not.  It's unlikely that you are going to recover your wallet either way, I think, if you can't remember anything.  Anyone who has your wallet and wants to return it can do so- your driver's license and other information is in there.  Even if your address is old or whatever, they can get it to the police if they want to.

Bonus Advice:

You want to take a long hard look at your decision making and use of alcohol.  Answer #2: The wallet's gone. It's unlikely that the police will be able to find it. Cancel any cards you have and alert the DMV that your ID has been stolen. That way it'll pop up if someone tries to use it, and you can get a new one.


Title: I need to stop Adobe from charging my account a $86 cancellation fee.

Question: If I call my bank to stop automatic payments to them and delete my Adobe account, will they pursue me for the remaining balance?

Answer: If you have an agreement to pay them, then probably.  You can't just decide not to pay for something after you buy it.


Title: Employees of hospital speaking to the media

Question:
Is it legal to fire employees of a hospital for speaking with the media or posting on social media about events that are not in violation of hippa? Like a fire/shooting/big accident etc? Just curious!
Topic:
Healthcare Law including HIPAA

Answer: Yes, absolutely.


Title: [Serious] Anybody with any crime law background that can help would be nice!

Question: So back during June my friend and I moved into a new apartment. After being there for some time we got mail for the people that moved out.  It was a rewards/bonus visa card thing from AT&T. I used it to buy groceries a few times and kept the total purchases under $1000. How fuck am I in the state of Oregon?

Answer:
 Stop comitting fraud/identity theft. (potentially).

Stop talking about you commiting crimes.

Start talking to a lawyer.Answer #2: That's legally called "theft" and because you intentionally intercepted someone's mail, it's a federal crime as well.Answer #3: If it was under $1,000 that's theft in the second degree which is a class A misdemeanor and can be up to a year in jail and fines in the thousands.


Title: Casino won't release report of accident

Question:
I was at the local casino last week and a casino employee hit my car while I was gambling. Casino security found me at the table and notified me. They have all the info of the driver but they wouldn't release the report to me. Instead they told me to have my insurance request the info. My insurance has requested the info 3 times and each time the request was denied. I have personally been there 3 times asking for a copy of the report and was denied.

As of right now I'm on the hook for my deductible and can't get a rental while my car is in the shop (my insurance doesn't cover rentals). The accident was 100% the casino employee's fault ( he hit my parked car) and I have no clue what to do. I have never experienced stonewalling like this and can't figure out what's going on. What recourse do I have? I'm in Los Angeles fwiw.

Answer: Who won't give you the report? The casino? File a police report about the accident.  Answer #2: Honestly I'd call the actual police at a non-emergency number and ask them if they can intervene...perhaps this was actually a hit and run and the footage shows as much or something along those lines.Answer #3: There's no law they have to give it to you now. Those are private internal records. Maybe during discovery after filing a lawsuit a court would order them to turn it over but there is nothing to compel that now


Title: [TX] So They Broke The Wrong House...

Question:
In the news today a demo crew knocked down the wrong house and tried to blame Google Maps.

http://www.androidauthority.com/google-maps-mistake-demolishes-wrong-house-682123/

Clearly Google isn't liable; my question is basically just how deep in it is the company that did this?

Answer:
 >just how deep in it is the company that did this?

Completely.


Title: CA. I work at yogurkand but I haven’t been scheduled for 3 weeks today and I haven’t been fired, what can I do ?

Question: I spoke to my manager as to why I haven’t been scheduled. Ensad it was dude to work performance and cut backs, however, I am not the only person this has happened to. And I haven’t been written up for having low work performance. On top of that, my manager has hired 3 new employees and has given them more hours than me or my other coworker. The second week schedule came, and again I was not scheduled. I contacted the person above my manage, but they haven’t replied to my message til today. Today the new week schedule has been posted, and again, no hours for me. Is this their way of finding a loop hole to not firing me and risking me taking action over unlawful firing ? What can I do ?

Answer: This is called constructive discharge. Your recourse is to file for unemployment. Answer #2: You've been fired, they're just being passive aggressive about it. Apply for unemployment and search for a new job.


Title: (Florida) Grandparents have Alzheimer's and my aunt has POA. She told me that he wants to put them in a nursing home. How can I stop this?

Question:
My grandparents currently live in their own home with a live-in aid and anther aid that comes in 3 days a week to help out during the day.  Money is not an issue, they can afford to finish out their lives comfortably at home. I promised them that I would never let them get put into a home where they will undoubtedly decline at a much faster rate.

Unfortunately I cannot afford on my own to pay for the live-in help and have no room to take them into my home. Do I have any way to stop her from putting them into a home?

Edit: Thank you for all of your replies.  I will consult and elder law attorney with the understanding that they will probably end up in the nursing home and that may be what is best for them. I need to be practical and not emotional about this situation, but that doesn't make it suck any less.

Answer:
 Not legal advice, but you realize that as your grandparents deteriorate, they will require much more care than they are currently receiving? If they were to stay at home, live-in care (either paid, or family member) would eventually become a requirement. If both are ill--it's twice the work.

There are people who do take care of family members with dementia at home, but the burden (emotional, physical and financial) is very great. If you feel that you and your family can meet this burden (and are willing to do so), you would consult an elder law attorney. Answer #2: Find an elder law attorney. It will be an uphill battle though with success unlikely. You may want to focus on finding a good nursing home. Not all are bad, some are really really insanely good. Answer #3: If you want to contest this, hire an elder law attorney and fight in court. You may lose, however.

Honestly, your Aunt is probably making a good decision. Once they reach a certain point of Alzheimer's, they should be in a secured "memory unit" at a nursing home for safety reasons.

When I lived in Florida, elderly people were constantly in the news for getting run over on freeways and drowning in retention ponds. They get confused and go wandering in the middle of the night. One was even eaten by an alligator.


Title: 17-year old ran a stop sign and hit my car. Now her insurance company is trying to say I’m partially responsible and that they won’t pay for the full value of my car.

Question:
A 17-year old girl ran a stop sign at 5:50am and hit my car as I was going through a residential intersection. She had a stop sign, I did not.
It totaled my car and only put dents in hers. I’m pretty sure she didn’t even have her headlights on.
Police were called and she was ticketed for running the stop sign.
Now her insurance company is saying that their preliminary investigation is showing that I’m partially responsible because my state (Nebraska) is a “partial fault” state and that I should have “seen her going through the stop sign”
So their saying that their only going to give me partial payment for the value of my car.
Should I be getting a lawyer involved? Or my own insurance agent?
I have State Farm and the girl has American Family.

Answer:
 Of course you should use your insurance company.  If you didn’t have a stop sign at all and the other person got a ticket for running a stop sign which caused the accident, they are at fault.  Your insurance company will fight for you.Answer #2: Call your insurance company. Now.

That's why you have insurance. To protect you in these circumstances.

The other driver's insurance company is trying to get out of making you whole. They don't represent you. They represent the other driver.

Get State Farm involved.Answer #3: They are going to do anything they can to reduce your payout.  They are experts at it.

If you think you're going to fight this yourself against an experienced professional adjuster then I would ask if you would be as willing to step into a MMA ring with a experienced professional fighter?

Get your own insurance involved, let them go to bat for you.  They are also experts.  At least then its a fair fight.


Title: Got a dui but wasn't drunk or on drugs [Florida]

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Perfectly legal drugs in your system can and will still get you convicted of DWI even if they are validly prescribed if the officers can show evidence that you were impaired at the time of your arrest.

Once again, I have never seen someone stone cold sober get charged for DWI because they had an open container in their car- it seems *very* likely to me that the officers have other evidence of you being impaired besides that.


Title: “World Citizenships”: are they even real and recognized by the US courts and can they be used to avoid possession charges?

Question:
Alright, this is very much a hypothetical question since I don’t exactly know the party involved. Today, a friend of mine told me about a friend of a friend of his who was arrested a few months ago for possession of about a pound of cannabis. Apparently, he is trying to defend himself by claiming he’s a “citizen of the world” or a “global citizen” which makes him somehow exempt to the law. This concept sounds like complete BS to me, so I thought I’d see if anyone’s familiar with this.

Here are some other details: he was born in the US and is currently in Texas. He has recently received some kind of document saying that he’s a “global citizen” and doesn’t have a SSN or anything. He’s arguing that since he is not a citizen of the US, he has to be tried in another country with a world court.

OK, I realize this has got to be complete crap, and this guy should instead be looking for some kind of plea bargain. I’m just curious as to what the legal reasons are that prevent you from just renouncing your US citizenship anytime you’re accused of a crime.

Thank you for the responses. I figured it was all “complete crap”. Now, I’m hearing all of this secondhand, but here’s some other stupid:

-They are claiming that there have been human rights violations since he has been incarcerated because the water supply in prison has fluoride in it.

-They are arguing that this was all entrapment because the police officer did not have probable cause to search through his backpack. Yes, you read that right.

-There’s some claim about his rights being violated because they set bail at $30K. I am not sure if this was the actual amount—again, this is all secondhand—but they are basically arguing that the court has now put a dollar amount on his life and somehow they can sue for this.

-Oh, also, they’re claiming that they can sue the state in civil court for damages of over a million dollars because of his lost wages from while he’s been in jail.

-I don’t know the exact verbage, but the amount of weed he had on him qualifies as “possession with intent to sell/distribute”. They are arguing that the law is wrong because he was not actually intending to sell it or distribute it, so now he can go free.

Answer:
 Renouncing your citizenship would not exempt you from being charged, convicted, or sentenced for a crime committed on US soil. Non citizens are charged with crimes all the time. They do not get tried in courts outside of the US because that is stupid.

Your friend is dumb.

Google 'sovereign citizens' if you want to read more stupid.

Edit: EnglishAnswer #2: I think everyone agrees your friend is a moron.

The way jurisdiction works is that the government has authority over every human being on its territory.  It has limited authority over its citizens overseas, and no authority over noncitizens outside its territory.  He is/was on US territory when he committed the crime, and therefore subject to its laws.  He is going to piss off the judge and get the book thrown at him for being obstinate and unrepentant.

By the by, it's pretty much impossible to renounce your citizenship if you're accused of a serious crime.  To renounce it you have to show up at a US consulate or embassy outside the US.  When you get released on bail, they usually make you surrender your passport.  And if you did manage to leave the country and showed up at an embassy, you'd get arrested by the officers there and shipped back to the US to face trial.


Title: My mom hasn't paid her taxes for years.

Question:
Hi guys. I'll get straight to it. My parents and I are all US citizens. My dad paid taxes for us as he was the sole provider in the household. He passed away summer of 2010. Since then my mom started working to support my brothers and I, but she hasn't paid any taxes. I should mention that we haven't been in the US for almost a decade, we live abroad. My mom wants to comeback to the states but she's worried about what would happen. She's willing and able to pay anything necessary to resolve this issue. What would be a wise next move for her?

Oh and the rules say I should mention which state. We used to live in Virginia but that was before 2010, any ID cards we had are fully expired at this point.

Edit: My mom earns about $80k annually.
Topic:
Tax Law

Answer:
 Contact a personal accountant in the US familiar with overseas earnings to look over all the money she has earned and see if she needs to file for taxes since 2010.  At this point, she might have to pay a penalty for a few years if she does owe money.

The IRS really only cares about getting the taxes they're owed.  They don't particularly care when they're paid.


Title: 18-Wheeler damaged my coworker's property. She doesn't use Reddit but I thought you guys could be helpful.

Question:
Here is the situation. One day a few weeks ago an 18-wheeler drove down my coworker's street illegally. Large trucks are not allowed down her road and when this truck passed her house it pulled wires from her home. This caused some damage to the roof, gutters, and the side of her house. The truck took off but was reported by a neighbor and was eventually cited for the accident.

The trucking company is now refusing to pay damages stating that my coworker needs to go after Verizon because according to them the wires were too low. My question is who responsible here? Isn't the trucking company responsible for this damage since it was their truck that caused it and they were driving illegality? Shouldn't the trucking company decide on their own if they want to then hold Verizon responsible as a separate issue? Thanks.

This happened in Pennsylvania, US.

Answer:
 All she needs to do is call her insurance and let them settle it.  The trucking company will likely be on the hook with Verizon for the damage they caused their property, and separately for the damage they caused your co-workers home.  Like I said, she needs to call her home owner's insurance policy holder and explain it all to them - and she needs to call like yesterday.Answer #2: Agreed with calling her insurance to sort it out.

Generally, municipalities have codes handed to them by the state that specify that wires or trees need to hang high enough to allow a truck to pass through.  There can exceptions and in those cases, the streets must usually be explicitly marked as such.  Sometimes the markings provided still have exemptions for local deliveries and such, or sometimes even what you might consider to be proper markings are actually insufficient, in which case the city may hold a piece of the liability.

That's what the trucking company's point of view is.  Whether they are right or not depends on lots of specifics.  Unless she knows the detail of these laws and everyone's hand in it...call the insurance.Answer #3: >Large trucks are not allowed down her road

Is there a sign to this effect?

But yeah, run this through insurance. If they were Verizon lines, run it through them (although that sounds soul crushing to go through their customer service)


Title: My friends in-laws are preventing he and his family from seeing his recently deceased brother before they cremate him

Question:
Hello. I hope this is the right place to ask. My best friend just lost his brother a couple nights ago. They found him in his car and they do not know what happened. The in laws are skipping a burial and funeral/wake all together and they are not letting his real family even view the body.

Imagine losing your brother or son, having his family withhold cause of death and any form of closure. It doesn’t make sense to me.

Is there anything they can do being his actual family to have any say in funeral planning? The deceased’s wife wants to cremate him and I don’t know if that is what he even wanted.

Thank you in advance and sorry if this is not in the correct place ( I don’t usually make posts like this

Answer: Funeral arrangements are by the next of kin.  If he was married then his wife/husband has all the say and the rights.    His 'actual family' is his spouse.  If the spouse has given all the planning to his/her parents that's not something that can be contested, it's their choice.


Title: Injuries myself on a water slide at a resort (Florida). Can I sue?

Question:
Injured myself on a water slide last week at a resort in Florida. I’m not too clear on what happen, if my foot slipped, or the lighting on the top of the slide was so dark, I couldn’t make out the edges of the slide.

When I was starting the momentum to go down, my foot hit the edge of the slide and bent backwards, forcing my body sideways and my ribs hitting the top of the slide as my other leg started to go down the slide. I thought I broke my ankle, as I couldn’t bare any weight and it felt very heavy. I had to hobble down the stairs on my ass holding my limp ankle.

I was taken to the ER for X-ray, and they diagnosed just a sprain. Gave me crutches and splinted the ankle. Followed up with my Ortho when I got back to Jersey and she placed my ankle in a soft cast and wants to do weight baring X-rays next week to determine if there are any stress fractures or joint displacement to warrant an MRI.

I am finally able to bare some weight on my foot a week later, and that’s the extent of my current recovery. Still on crutches though. Is this something worth pursuing a suit, or a wasted endeavor?

Answer:
 Sue when you’re not to clear on what happened? It’s not their fault you sprained your ankle. Answer #2: You want to sue because you’re clumsy and sprained an ankle?

Answer #3: Did the ride operator fill out an incident report? Even assuming you have a case (which still isn’t clear), how are you going to show it happened at the park, and not after the fact?


Title: Married CEO of the company I work for sent me text messages asking me how much it would cost to have sex with me

Question:
[GEORGIA] The CEO of the company I work for sent me text messages late last night and I'm just now waking up to see them. They say "you've been looking more and more amazing each day".. "don't take this wrong but how much would it cost to make passionate love to you".. "just name a price sweetheart"

He only has my cell for the times he needs to reach me outside of work to discuss a project but he's never said anything like this. He has been attempting to flirt lately but I just brush it off. I don't know where to go from here, I'm uncomfortable but I have a feeling if I tell him he will either fire me or go on some other form of a power trip. Any advice?

Answer: I seem to remember a case where a woman lost against her boss because she did NOT tell him she wasn't interested, therefore she must have thought it was OK. That was his defense.


Title: Best argument for disputing "Operating elecrontic devise while driving" ticket?

Question:
I got pulled over for for using my speech to text function while in 5 MPH stop and go traffic on the way to work. I was in the wrong for using my phone, I know.. but I plan on pleading not guilty because i really can't afford an incredibly expensive cell phone ticket or the points.

If pleading not guilty- should I say I was using my cars blutooth but just happened to be holding the phone at the time?  or that I was just checking my maps? or flat out deny that I was touching my phone? thank you.

Answer:
 You should absolutely NOT lie in court about what happened.  At all.Answer #2: >but I plan on pleading not guilty because i really can't afford an incredibly expensive cell phone ticket or the points.

Funnily enough, judges don't give a flying fuck, and tend to believe that if you can't afford an incredibly expensive ticket designed to keep you from doing an activity proven to make it more likely to kill someone, **you should have thought of that before doing that activity.**

Don't lie. Instead, ask the court for a payment plan.


Title: Dodgy hotel is charging us for bloodying a already bloodied bed.

Question:
We are Australians who recently went to a hotel in Las Vegas and I had a very bloody nose while I was sleeping. We took the covers off to check the damage and found that there is already another large dried blood stain on it. After we reported the incident to the hotel, they tried to put that fault on us and make us pay for a replacent. We since have returned back to Australia.

Is there anything we can do to not get charged for the bed?

Edit: Made it clear that we are Australians.

Edit 2: We have photo proof, red blood stain next to dried blood stain on the bed and the sheets to show that the old stain was intentionally covered up.
Topic:
Insurance

Answer:
 Contest the charge on your card.  See if Nevada has a consumer protection statute which allows for a demand letter (send a letter regardless).  It should outline your side of the story (blood stain already there, hotel must have not checked ahead of time, happy to do DNA test at their expense), they should go away after that.  Send a copy to your credit card carrier.

You're going many thousands of miles away from your problem, but it doesn't cease being a problem.  It's always good to create a record contesting a legal issue in the rare case you need to confront it in the future.  A letter is a great start, or an email.  Save it all.


Title: 4chan fbi warning real or hoax?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Of course it's a hoax. It's 4chan, for God's sake.

>Why would the fbi have a url with just the words "thank you for your tip"?

Maybe to thank people for their tips?

Anyways, you're in Canada. The FBI doesn't have jurisdiction in Canada.


Title: Los Angles county, CA. My dog was attacked and injured on a local dog beach. What are my options, if any?

Question:
We were at the off-leash dog beach that we have been going to for 5 years with my 10 lb 9 year old terrier. He is very friendly, good with all sorts of dogs, and has to visit witH everybody. He went to visit a family, and the next thing I know their huge, leashed shepherd mix has my dog in his jaws and shaking him HARD while spinning around his owner. It took the owner a minute or so to get the dog to drop mine and under control (it felt like hours).

I scooped up my dog,  yelled at them for having a dangerous dog that they couldn't control at dog beach (that's a strict rule at this beach) got their number and ran to the vets.

My poor dog was in shock when we got there, they put him on IV, and it turns out that he has 2 broken ribs and some deep puncture wounds. I stayed home from work today to keep an eye on him.

The owners did call to see how my dog is, and when I told them about the vet bill (around $800 so far), they basically said that this wasn't their fault, and don't feel like they are to blame, that "accidents happen".

Now, I can afford this, this is the reason I have an emergency fund. But that response just floored me. My dog isn't aggressive, and even my dog trainer friend who was with us says that only the shepherd was aggressive. So do I just leave it and ignore them? Report the dog as dangerous to animal control? Have a lawyer friend send them the bill?

My poor pup has always loved the beach, and I hate that this has ruined it for him and us. No way I'm ever putting him, or us, in that situation again - I can't trust the other owners.
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer:
 You can sue them in small claims court.

Yes, you can also report the incident to county Animal Control and they may attempt to visit the other family to make sure the risk from the dog at home is minimized, and provide resources/instructions on controlling their dog.


Title: [CA] apartment management deducted my security deposit for carpet replacement due to pet stain, but the carpet is 13 years old, is that right?

Question:
Hi, I have a dog that's housebroken, she never had an accident, the goodest girl in the world. However, after I moved out, the apartment management used black light to discover pet stains under the carpet and deducted the replacement fee from my security deposit.

&#x200B;

I did a Rug Doctor treatment before I left the apartment. The places that has the stain is in a closet that my dog could not have reached. The carpet is 13 years old.

&#x200B;

I am wondering if they could charge me for the carpet, especially because it's over 10 years old. I did some research, and I thought they could not charge me for the full carpet replacement price if it's been over 10 years old.

&#x200B;

Thank you for any advice you might be able to provide, my buddy is telling me I should just count my blessing because i didn't get charged on top of losing my security deposit, but I was deducted over $700 and it's a lot of money to me and my cup noodle diet

Answer:
 Defiantly you’re not paying the whole cost of brand new carpet. You can be charged a pro-rated amount if it relatively new, but doing a quick search leads me to believe that in California, a carpet’s useful life is considered 8 to 10 years, and carpeting is in need to replacement (generally) in that time frame regardless of a tenants actions.

I would certainly fight it, send a certified letter stating that, as the carpet is 13 years old and the general accepted useful life of carpeting is no more than 10 years, I will not be paying any amount towards its replacement. You’ll also state that you expect to receive your whole deposit back (or whatever portion is regarding the carpet) by X days (generally what, one or two weeks?) or you will file with the courts for the return of your deposit. Maybe get a lawyer to help you write and to have it on letterhead to really get the landlords attention.

Found this online:

> If the security deposit is not returned within 21 days, if the tenant disagrees with the amounts deducted, or if the tenant did not receive an itemization accompanied by receipts, the tenant should send a letter to the landlord via certified mail return receipt requested. If the landlord does not respond within a reasonable time (7 to 10 days), the tenant should then file a claim in Small Claims Court for the actual security deposit withheld and statutory damages of two times that amount pursuant to California Civil Code 1950(i). Consider meeting with an attorney prior to filing for advice on preparation and presentation of your claim.


Title: [Minnesota] Contractor died, how do I pay his estate for work performed?

Question:
I have a Michigan business that contracted out some work in Minnesota.  The work was performed and I was about to send payment (about $1,000) when I was notified by his wife that he had just passed away.  I want to make good on it--who do I write the check out to?

For tax purposes, do I need a different W-9?  Do I send a 1099 to the decedent, his wife, his estate?  Thank you all in advance.

Edit: Thanks for the gold!  As it turns out, the simplest answer is what /u/hold_my_caulfield explained.  You act the same as though he didn't die.  Sending the check out today.

Answer:
 Holy mother of god. An actual honorable person! You certainly could ask the wife who the personal representative is. Or you could make it out to the estate, person or business. The personal representative will sort it out. And thank you for making my day by saying you want to pay and not whether you have to now that he is dead!Answer #2: This is probably more of an /r/tax question, but I believe that you would pay the check to the estate and do a 1099-MISC to the estate.Answer #3: Giving you gold because of your honesty/integrity. Good for you.Answer #4: Pay it exactly as you would've had he not died. Same with the 1099

If there was a business, make the check out to the actual business. This is appropriate even if it's a sole proprietorship. Do the same thing with the 1099. If you had planned to make the check out to him personally, you can still do so; the executor or representative will be able to deposit the check.


Title: (KS) Can my landlord give my security deposit to someone else?

Question: Hi. I live in a 3-BR duplex with my brother an (now) ex-bf. Brother and I are moving out on Friday, and already have arrangements made for a professional cleaner to come in and clean the house and carpets on Thursday. My ex knows this, and said he won't pay his 1/3rd (because he's a jerk. He also broke several of my dishes and knocked a hole in the wall, and refuses to replace or repair anything.) Ex's dad came in yesterday and said he isn't going to have someone come in and re-shampoo the carpets for $200, and that my landlord will give him my security deposit ($250 for me $250 for my brother) to pay him back. Now, I am fully aware that with the broken drywall, there is no way we're getting our full deposit... but can my landlord legally give ex's dad my and my brother's deposit to pay for the carpet? Especially because we already have an appointment set up, and ex isn't helping to pay for it.

Answer:
 Are you all on one lease?

If so, then there's no "your deposit" and "his deposit".  There's only one big deposit, and the landlord will give it back to one of you and you all split it up.Answer #2: The landlord should (if they have any brains) issue a single check to the names of all tenants listed on the lease. That protects them from having some tenant claim the other took too much if they were to divide it up into separate checks.


Title: (WI) 500 gallon propane tank

Question: I bought a house 4 years ago as a bank foreclosure. When we bought the house we were told anything left on the property is our responsibility and is sold as is. On the property there was a 500 gallon propane tank. The name on the tank was for a company up in Superior WI, and we are in southern WI. We called company X as most neighbors have their tanks and were told it was not theirs and to try and find the owner. We called around and could not find out who owned the tank. We could not find anyone that said it was theres and ended up going with company X. We always payed cash(check or debt) and never singed a lease on the tank or anything else with them. On the first fill they charged us to replace the regulators at the tank, house, and valves inside. Last summer the utility company ran natural gas through our area and we signed up with them. This spring we sold the tank as we did not want it sitting on the property. A couple weeks ago we got a letter from company X that stated we need to fill the tank or pay a rental fee. I called and explained that we owned the tank and have since sold it. They are stating they have a contract with the previous owner and will take us to small claims if we dont return the tank or pay for a replacement. If we go to court do we stand a chance? A new tank coasts almost triple what we sold ours for.

Answer: The previous owner is who they have a contract with and who would be responsible for returning the tank or paying for it. I think they would have a hard time winning their suit against you. However if you are summoned to court you need to go to explain the sequence of events and avoid a default judgement.


Title: I have a criminal record from a crime 15 years ago, and I'm in Canada. I need to visit USA in three months for work, but I don't think I'll be able to cross the border. What should I do?

Question:
I was arrested and charged at the age of 19, for having consensual sex with a minor (17) and filming it (stupid, I know.) This was 15 years ago.

I need to visit the states for work reasons, but I'm afraid that they will deny me at the border. What should I do to prepare?

Thanks in advance

Answer: You likely won't gain entry to the country with a felony.


Title: [Update]Found Bed Bugs in my apartment, what do I do? We are now being threatened with eviction. (New York State)

Question:
Hey everyone, I posted [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/8kloi3/found_bed_bugs_in_my_apartment_what_do_i_do/) a few days ago about finding bed bugs in our apartment. We contacted our landlord the following Monday (two days ago) and left two voicemails, which we recorded, as New York is a one party consent state. Since we didn't receive an answer, we called the Department of Code Enforcement, which he (the landlord) appears to have an issue with.

Our appointment to have Codes come in to inspect the apartment was today at two. Two hours prior to this we called the landlord to inform him that it would be happening, he would be welcome to come himself. He then tried to tell us that he had spoken to them and the appointment was cancelled. After this conversation we called Codes ourselves and they denied that it had been canceled.

The inspection takes place at two, as originally scheduled, and the landlord did not appear until a few minutes after the Codes people left. He then told us he would have no choice but to evict us, because we "didn't give him a chance to fix the problem".

He still denies that we ever called him, he tells us his voicemail doesn't work. We went to our local Legal Aid office, however we do not qualify for their program, and we are at a loss for what to do. In the nine months we have lived here, we have had not a single issue with our him, but the moment bed bugs entered the picture it's like he became a completely different person.

We're quite at a loss for what to do, we have no idea where else we can turn, what our rights are in this situation, do we have to move out now? If so, what do we do about our furniture and clothes? I don't want to take the bugs with us to the next place and start the process all over, but we can't afford to replace everything.

Thank you in advance

Answer:
 > He then told us he would have no choice but to evict us

He needs grounds to evict you. A tenant calling code enforcement isn't a legal ground for an eviction.


Title: Sent Picture of SSN Card to a Robocaller

Question:
I have never posted before so I apologize for any mistakes. I asked my mom to send me a picture of my SSN card to me today since I needed it for a work application. She ended up sending it as a group text to me and a random number that had called her. I called this number and its a scam caller asking for a credit card number in order to pay a small fee to receive a 100$ gift card.

So what do I do now?

Answer: Just monitor your credit/freeze your credit. All you can really do.


Title: When you hire a lawyer and their rate is $500/hr, you give evidence to look over. Should the lawyer be charging you for looking over evidence at 11pm, picking his nose in his backyard smoking a cigarette?

Question: If not, when should a lawyer be counting it as on the clock or not on the clock?

Answer:
 If the lawyer is working on the case, then he can (should?) be billing you for that time. If he's looking over the evidence at 11PM on his patio with a glass of brandy, or if he's at his desk at noon with a Frappuccino doesn't really matter at all.Answer #2: I feel personally attacked.Answer #3: Did his billing entry reflect that he was looking over your evidence in the backyard at 11pm picking his nose and smoking a cigarette? I'm curious as to how you learned these details.

But yeah, if he's working on your case, he will charge for it. Doesn't matter where his fingers are.


Title: [IL] I received a physical therapy bill from September. It is showing no coverage from insurance. I was never told my insurance did not cover the services. Can I get any recourse?

Question:
I still need to call their billing department Monday (when they open), but the basic story is that I had some minor physical therapy back in September/very early October. I had received a bill a couple months ago now for $300 that I thought was for the entire duration. However, I just received another bill today for over $1,000.

I have insurance. I had insurance at the time as well. I specifically remember providing my insurance information to the physical therapists, and they even called me to verify the information. I was NEVER told by anyone that I would not be covered by my insurance. The statement I received has a column for the receipt of payment from my insurance provider, but that column is blank. This makes me think that my insurance is not covering any of this bill.

Is there some sort of legal recourse I can take in the event that the PT will not reduce this bill? I understand that I would have had to pay for the service, but the problem was so minor that if I knew I had to pay this much and that my insurance would not cover me I would not have gone through PT. Again, I might be able to resolve this Monday, but I'd like to know my options beforehand if anyone here can give me a few pointers. Thank you!

Answer: You are responsible to check with your insurance to make sure you are covered prior to doing something.  Have you contacted your insurance at all and asked?


Title: Business partner has invaded my privacy, what should I do? (Worth a read)

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Sounds like you invaded his privacy by going through his phones.

Anyway, where did he get these pictures?Answer #2: >What should I do?

Sever ties with this person. You two are done.

Also, I enjoy a story that starts with you complaining about an invasion of privacy and continues with you looking through someone else's phone.


Title: PA: county lost our marriage record, do we have to get married again? :)

Question:
We were married in PA in the late 2000s. Everything was processed correctly at that time, and I am confident we are legally married. We've previously requested certified copies of our marriage record from the county we filed in. My wife has used these to change her name on her SS card, driver's license, and so forth.

Late last year, we found out we need another original certified copy to confirm my wife's name change. I requested this through the county online (I now live out-of-state), paid for it, and waited, and waited, and waited.

I've called them back a couple of times to check on the status. They assured me each time they would "send it out today". Today, I called again and the person told me my record can't be found. She didn't know what to do, and referred me to her supervisor (who doesn't answer the phone, and has a full VM box).

What recourse do we have? How can we prove a name change if the county no longer has a record of our marriage and won't communicate with me? Failing all else, what sort of attorney would I look for to help with this?

TL;DR: a PA county lost our marriage record--they don't know what to do; what now?

Answer: Pro tip: get like 6 certified copies right when you get married and file them wherever you put important docs... this has saved us enormous amounts of stress over the years.Answer #2: Who officiated the marriage? Was it a district justice, a priest, they might have retained a copy?  Drive down to the recorders office at the county courthouse and just raise a bunch of hell till someone there comes up with a solution. What county was it if I might ask?


Title: MO - Baby on the way. Questions about birth certificates.

Question:
So baby is coming. Father and I are not married, but in a relationship. I won't be able to afford health insurance for the baby. I'm currently on my mom's plan and getting it through work is just too much. However, I have read that before getting any government aid, they will go after child support. The baby's father does not have legal status, so that really scares me, and we'd like to lay low while getting it sorted out. I had considered leaving him off the birth certificate to avoid this.

So my question(s) is, is that true? And what are the pros and cons of leaving him off the birth certificate? What are the downsides for each of us (me, dad, and baby)? What am I not thinking about long term?

Answer:
 Yes. If you get government aid then he needs to be paying support.

Do you live together? Does he work?

The only option is to tell the truth when you fill out paperwork. It doesn't matter if he is on the birth cert or not


Title: My former therapist wont give me my medical records b/c she thinks im suing her, but im not

Question:
My former therapist of two years terminated with me in April. It was bad. It was messy and confusing. I had unintentionally gotten her in trouble by telling a different councilor about something she said to me that was inappropriate and showed them some inappropriate texts she had sent me.  Anyhow it caused a whole lot trouble and about a week later she abruptly terminated. I was pissed. I had tried so hard to protect her reputation by keeping my mouth shut for the past 6 months and defending her once this whole shit show started. I thought what i was saying to the other concilor was confidential - i was wrong -

I ended up doing something i never thought i would, i filed an ethics complaint against her. Not with my states DPH but with the professional body that kind of 'over sees' the profession. I was just so angry she snapped her fingers and decided to start following the rules the moment she faced any type of personal repercussions ( this is after months of warning her about her behavior and buying into her bullshiting, gaslighting and mitigating. I wanted so badly for her to be right i totally ignored the voice in my head, and my friends/husband that was/were telling me that what she was doing was wrong)

So, I file the complaint and send her (smh) one last text that says that I am, but not because I want her money. So about a month passes and Im having a really hard time with the situation. Among other things Im drinking to much and the APRN at the clinic I go to suggests i try medical marijuana since its a lot safer then drinking and I would qualify because I have PTSD (this therapist is the one who diagnosed me)  Sooooooooo since, as I said, she snapped her fingers and decided to go by the book I get a lawyer who Ive used before for criminal matters to write her a letter asking for my medical records. She's changed the boundaries 180° she said shes terminated with me/cant speak to me anymore so i know i shouldnt contact her directly.  Welp, apparently when she got the letter she called up my lawyer and said she wouldnt release my records unless she was subpoenaed. My lawyer tolder her there was no lawsuit and he's not even a litigation lawyer but apparently....she doesn't believe him...WHAT THE FUCK?

I guess she had 30 days to either give me my medical records or write a note saying she doesn't think I should have them, that time has come and gone as of last week and my lawyers heard nothing from her.

So Im wondering, what are my options? After my lawyer called and told me what she said I lost it and did....exactly what I was trying not to do and contacted her. I was pissed. I didnt say anything crazy but I was just like 'What the fuck? Im not suing you. I dont want your money. This has nothing to do with money. I'll sign a covenant not to sue. Ill sign whatever paperwork is needed to ok you destroying the rest of the records. I just want the PTSD diagnosis.'

I thought maybe she was trying to get me to react out of anger again or something by delaying  giving me the one part of my record that i do want but at this point shes just breaking the law.

Why? Its like she wants me to sue her. Do I have any other options other then just having my lawyer contact her and ask her what the hell is going on?

I hate all of this so much. I feel used and manipulated by her. I just want her out of my life at this point.

Answer: What state do you live in? That will determine if she has any legal obligation to retain your records.


Title: CAN-AB: Our family business is being sued, need advice.

Question:
I have no legal knowledge other than a lot of episodes of The People's Court and Judge Judy, so here I am.

My Dad (53M) has been a fire alarm repair and installation tech since the 80s. When he moved to Edmonton he started at a small company we'll call FireTron. The company employed about ten people and has tons of business in the city, including a major apartment management company. They probably pull in a couple million dollars a year. But from what I've heard the place is a shit show.

Almost all of the employees have substance abuse problems (pot, alcohol, etc). Multiple employees have DUIs (including in company trucks) and came to work with alcohol on their breath and left early to go to the pub. They made friends there - including the city fire inspector, who is a close friend of one of the techs and forwards them business. This is a major conflict of interest, for a govt official to be recommending a specific company over others.

There were other issues. FireTron installed smoke detectors in an attic for a large building. Smokes are not approved for attic use; you can only use heat detectors in attics. That job was not up to code. The owner of the company tried to get my dad to install a fire panel in a building that was too large for the panel he chose, which is an improper job. He refused. The guideline document they are using is 1986 standard - the current standard is 2013. Overall their work is not only incompetent but potentially dangerous.

Naturally my dad had objected to this many times but couldn't afford to quit with two mortgages, so he stayed but he resisted doing things incorrectly. The owner tried to get him to sign a non-compete clause, but he refused. After a particularly big fight with the owner, he was fired. So he and my brother started their own fire alarm company, with my brother as the CEO.

Because they knew what these guys had improperly done at many sites at FireTron, the company's first order of business was to steal business from others that had been wronged by FireTron. They stole the smoke detector customer, and others, many of whom complained about the FireTron techs and their level of work before. Tron were not happy when they found out about what was going on, and called the office yelling on many occasions, arguing that they were going to sue us etc etc.

My dad and brother responded by contacting other major customers of Tron, sending them documents explaining their use of 1986 standard documents and asking the client to check that the techs they were using had police checks (they don't), were in good CFAA standing (they're not), etc etc. Malicious, but carefully written to not be defamatory.

They also sent a complaint to the Competition Bureau of Canada explaining the conflict of interest between FireTrob and the fire inspector. They have started an investigation into this relationship, but I don't know what has come of it yet.

Knowing the threats to sue us we expensed a video doorbell to monitor comings and goings at the house, which is our current office. For the last week or so, we have had rings on the doorbell by both a woman and a man, carrying papers and looking in windows, so we figure they are trying to make good on that promise so far. But today they left papers taped our front door. We can't touch them, because that would count as being served. But we figure they're serving us.

I will update with more details when I can, but so far I have the following questions:

1. Do they have a case against us for anything? To my knowledge none of what was said or communicated to clients is defamatory. But could they get us for anything else?

2. My dad didn't sign a non-compete agreement, so he should be able to fully compete with them through any legal means possible, correct?

3. Is there any way for me to know what the papers on the door have on them? Could I ask an underage non-resident to read them to me? Or does the act of leaving them at the house count as service?

Feel free to advise of anything you think I might need to know. Thank you all in advance.

Answer:
 >We can't touch them, because that would count as being served.

If by "we" you mean a corporation, leaving the documents at the place where the corporation operates [counts as service](https://albertacourts.ca/provincial-court/civil-small-claims-court/civil-claim-process/service-of-documents). You are ignoring those documents at your extreme peril, and unless your own hired lawyer whom you've paid has told you otherwise, I would not ignore them a moment longer.

>Do they have a case against us for anything? To my knowledge none of what was said or communicated to clients is defamatory. But could they get us for anything else?

They could allege it, which means you'd better be prepared to answer their claims, preferably through your lawyer, describing how each of the statements you made was true. Definitely talk to a civil lawyer about this, because the defamation line is blurry to lay people (tr: "to me").

>My dad didn't sign a non-compete agreement, so he should be able to fully compete with them through any legal means possible, correct?

Probably. Dude's got the right to make a living.


Title: NY (state, not city): Is redlining legal for small businesses, when based on crime statistics?

Question:
I have a small business that involves going to people's homes to provide mechanical services.

There are nearby areas where people are frequently robbed, assaulted and sometimes killed and other nearby areas where this almost never happens.

I would like *not* service the dangerous areas even though they're nearby, and only service the safe areas.

I know that redlining is (was?) illegal for banks, but is it illegal for small businesses when based on actual risk; IE. if my service area map was based on a crime statistics map?

Can I be up front about this on my website and simply say "Sorry, but due to the crime statistics, we do not serve zipcodes xxxxx,yyyyy, etc."

Answer: I'm not aware of any law saying you must service high crime areas. But I wouldn't put "because of crime statistics". I would simply say that this is outside of your service area and leave it at that.


Title: [California] My sister used to work for a retail company and was forced out after being (I believe) sexually harassed. Upper management put her in emotionally tough situations and then gave her the choice of resigning or getting fired. She resigned and is too scared to go to a lawyer.

Question:
My little sister (let's call her Jane) worked for 1.5 years at a successful warehouse retail chain (one of the most profitable locations in the country).

One day, a coworker (C1) of Jane was talking to Jane and another coworker (C2). C1 asked if Jane was hooking up with another coworker (C3), and Jane said no. C1 then told C2 that *Jane probably just sucks his dick* (paraphrased/summarized conversation; not verbatim).

Jane and C2 filed a complaint about C1, but it fell through when something made C2 withdraw his complaint. C2 then become completely silent about the issue and refused to back up his side of the claim.

Upper Management then started putting Jane in tough situations like: moving her around different positions by morally guilt-tripping her with other coworker's stories (made-up stories), and giving her schedules they knew she didn't want or couldn't do because of her college classes.

Jane became very emotionally distressed and Upper Management went to her and said "I've never seen someone work so slowly in my life". They also told Jane that she took a couple extra minutes on her break, and that they would check the camera footage and use that to fire her. So they gave her the decision to resign (without a 2 week notice) or get fired. Jane resigned.

---

---

This happened in Q2 of this year. I didn't know about this until last month because my little sister cries when she talks about it. She was breaking down in front of me even trying to recall it all. She goes to a psychiatrist who she has told all of this to.

My little sister thinks she doesn't have enough evidence because, by her words, they said something to make her witness shut up. She also does want to be blacklisted by other retailers and never be able to find work.

I think she has a good case. But I respect her wishes to not take this to court. However, I still want some justice. My little sister has never been the same since and she had a really well paying job that she was doing well in while taking college classes.

---

---

Is there anything I can do at all? Do you think we have a case if we were to take this to court? I don't want to force my little sister to do something that she'll regret if there's no justice.

Answer:
 >Is there anything I can do at all?

No.

>Do you think we have a case if we were to take this to court?

There is no "we" here, only her.

A single incident that doesn't involve physical contact is almost never enough for a sexual harassment lawsuit.  She can try to sue for retaliation, but that's a very uphill battle.

If your sister is interested (not you, but her) she can consult with some attorneys.  She has to file an administrative claim within strict time limits, so she should get cracking if she wants to pursue this.


Title: (NC) Landlord has been stealing electricity over the past 12 months.

Question:
My roommates and I have recently discovered that our landlord has been stealing electricity from us to power his business office that is located in the backyard of our rental house. We discovered this when our power was temporarily disconnected for a late payment and our landlord came and asked if we had any power about 30 minutes after we were disconnected. We then realized that our late payments should have no affect on his offices power supply and thus determining that he has been leaching power from our lines without telling us. There is no meter on his office and no evidence that he has his own account with the power company.

We rent through a 3rd party realtor and upon confronting them they said they will not be able to handle anything as it is between us and the landlord, but that our landlord has requested our previous electricity bills for the past few months. So it seems that our landlord is willing to back pay us whatever electricity he has used over the past 12 months but my concern is how to determine what exactly he owes us. His office space is about the size of a 2 car garage with its own A/C unit and he runs a carpentry business where he is in the office around 8-10 hours a day repairing furniture. What would be a proper way to go about finding out how much our landlord owes us for electricity and what legal action would there be if he refuses to pay a fair amount? Thank you for any insight you all can provide!

Answer:
 You should contact the utility company and ask if they are willing to pursue a theft of service claim.  They should investigate, especially if any "homemade" wiring is involved.

If you really want to blow up the landlord, look into the zoning for the property.  He likely doesn't have the permits to be running a commercial business in a residential neighborhood.

I would think a "dirty" business like carpentry (requiring ventilation for particulate and chemicals for finishes, proper disposal of flammable material, etc.) would be out of place next to people's homes.  The neighbors would be very unhappy to hear about it, too.Answer #2: The easiest way is to prorate by square foot.

The most accurate way would be to get the office on a separate meter and then use the average of the next three months ratio to the use of the house. Answer #3: Don't underestimate due to assuming winter & summer use is same as spring use. Temperatures with AC and heat use causes consumption to vary between different months of the year.

Please note: All square footage does not consume power at the same rate. Does his space have good insulation or is it just a garage/ shed? That would use power faster, too.

I think a fraction of total use for each month is probably your best approximation.


Title: VA paternity issue

Question:
It has recently come to my attention that I should get a paternity test in regards to a child I had with my ex-wife. My wife and I were visiting family and going through photo albums; the child doesn't look anything like me at all or my immediate family. No resemblance whatsoever.

I've gotten a test done and it's on it's way to the lab. If it comes up as I'm not the father, what are my options? The child is 7. His mother absolutely refuses to coparent and only goes with the bare minimum on the order. I live 2 hours away and get to see him maybe 1/6th of the year and he calls her bf his other dad.

Honestly, I'm emotionally torn with what to do. I love the kid, but I'm nearing the end of my financial and mental ropes fighting with his mother to spend time with him and try to build a relationship with a child that merely says he's just a visitor in our home. Advice?

Answer:
 If you were married when the child was born I’m presuming you were put down on the birth certificate as the father.

There is typically a time limit on when you can dispute paternity. 7 years is a very long stretch so you may be out of luck. But, speak to a lawyer if the results come back negative if there are exceptions applicable to your situation specifically.

You may be forced to pay child support even if you aren’t a biological father. Keep in mind though that as a parent you have equal responsibilities **but also equal rights**. You can petition  for 50/50 custody or more frequent visitation rights. And if you’re wife is uncooperative that won’t fly well for her in court.


Title: I sold a cracked account online, the previous owner took it back, buyer is angry

Question:
Yes, I know selling cracked accounts is a bit dodgy and kinda illegal. Anyhow, someone bought it off me, on eBay. I told him everything about cracked accounts and how the previous owner can take it back whenever. He then proceeded to spend money on it anyway, now expects me to refund him all the money he spent on the account. He said he can get me in trouble for fraud because he claims I said the previous owner is a mate, which I didn't ever say that. I just wanted to know if he can actually get me in trouble in anyway? Most people say the worst that can happen is I have to pay him back the $6 that he bought the account for, which I'm fine about. And anyway, he was part of the illegal transaction as he called it which should be as bad as selling, just like drug dealing.
Topic:
Douche

Answer:
 Can you get in trouble for doing something illegal?   Is that your question?

Yes, yes you can.


Title: VA,USA- Co-Owner of Boat. Other owner put lock on boat trailer and took speaker system. Police won't charge. What are my options?

Question: Boat bought with verbal agreement that both parties would split costs. I paid down payment and initial property tax. Loan, title for boat and title for trailer all in my name. The other co-owner took speaker system (costs of which were shared) off of boat and locked the trailer which sits on a marine lot public lot (I pay storage fees). The speaker system was taken after a dispute about being able to both access the boat. Halp.

Answer: This is a civil matter.  Your remedy is to sue the other party in court for the owed value.