Title: Currently being evicted. Soon to be ex-Roommate/homeowner is claiming ownership over shared property.

Question:
I'm located in Pittsburgh PA. I got an eviction notice on the 1st of July and prior to then on June 18th I got a notice of my rent being raised to 350(a 50 dollar increase) and starting July 1st that I was to pay 20 dollars for toilet paper and paper towels every month. I previously paid 300 for a room in his house. I gave him the twenty for supplies for July on June 31st and then received the eviction notice the next day. I haven't stayed in that house since I got the notice.

The main issue I'm having is about my computer. I bought the computer from my place of work for 100 dollars,  with 20% employee discount, turned out to 85 dollars and some change with the tax. I paid for this using my debit card and I still have the receipt. The receipt even has my name on it. Now when I got the computer the homeowner suggested to me that he would give me money for half($40) and that I would deduct it from my rent owed that month. As we were on good terms,  I agreed and did that. Now since I was arranging getting my stuff out of his house I said that I would repay him his 40 dollars whenever I would see him when I got my belongings out as well as rent for the days of my things being there. He later replied with this( http://imgur.com/9P8l9l5 ). I still haven't replied to him. I edited out the personal details.  So basically what he is trying to do is retroactively say that I owe him money, even though the notice of my rent being raised said "starting July 1st"  for the toilet paper. Is there something I can do so that I can get my computer back? I really dislike being threatened with destruction of my property.

Tl;dr: ex roommate wants to keep the computer that we split the cost of due to retroactively saying I owe him.

Answer:
 What does your lease say about paying for paper products? That's a dumb (and likely illegal) excuse to withhold your property.

Can you purchase another computer at that price with your discount again? Do you have documentation of the computer payment arrangement with the landlord?

If no documentation of this half ownership agreement, take LL to small claims court with your evidence of purchase and demand to be paid the replacement cost or return of your property.

If it's documented, offer to sell him the remaining amount to cover what you'd paid (as you have). Then take him to court for the amount unpaid for him to have full ownership -or- for return of your property.


Title: Is this gym in the right?

Question: I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, I'm just gonna tell the truth. I went to a gym once with a friend as his guest. We get there and the gym tells us that they are no longer allowing guests, only members. So next thing I know I'm sitting down with a beefy gym guy talking about my contract. It should be noted that I am only 17. A minor in Alabama, which is where I live. That won't change until I'm 19. Now they want their money and won't leave me alone about it. I can't tell if they can legally hold me to the contract since I am a minor, on top of the fact that I did not have a parent as a cosigner. Which is what a lot of other gyms do. Help would be much appreciated.

Answer:
 Nope, you have the power to void the contract if you want to. Tell 'em to pound sand and if they keep bugging you then you'll call the police (non emergency line, please) about them harassing a minor over a void contract.

But in the future, you know... just don't do that. The day when you can't play this tactic anymore is coming up fast.


Title: Probably raped 8 years ago. Didn't do anything. Other victims have since come forward. [Indiana]

Question:
[removed]
Topic:
Removed - PII

Answer: Go ahead and contact the investigators. If anything information you provide might help other victims.


Title: [MA] Anonymous e-mail sent to HR about behavior outside of work. Can I pursue criminal charges/sue the sender for defamation?

Question: An anonymous e-mail got sent to HR last week about my conduct outside of work. What was stated was true. Can I pursue criminal charges or sue the sender? I've hired a lawyer and a PI to figure out who sent it. Thanks!

Answer:
 It ain't defamation if it's true. Answer #2: > What was stated was true.

Then you have absolutely no chance. Truth is always a defense against charges of defamation: people are legally allowed to say bad things for the purpose of ruining someone's life so long as they are true.

> I've hired a lawyer and a PI to figure out who sent it. Thanks!

I would advise against that. Have you heard of the "Streisand Effect"? That is the observation that if you try to make a fuss about someone bringing up a topic you didn't want discussed, it very frequently results in many more people discussing the topic. Discovering who sent the message will not help you to suppress it and might very well result in much broader distribution of the information.Answer #3: Since when is it a crime to tell the truth about someone? Unless they revealed something personal that is protected by law you got nothing. What did the email say?


Title: Is it illegal or just shitty to make your employees do personal work for you? [QC, Canada]

Question: Basically what the title says. Work that does not endanger the employees, but it simply personal work which they were not hired to do.

Answer:
 It's most likely legal for your employer to ask you to do personal tasks for them, unless:

 - They are not paying you for the work as required by law
 - The work in question is illegal
 - The work legally requires a license or other official qualification to perform which you do not have (e.g. practicing law or medicine)
 - You have an employment contract, union agreement, or similar that explicitly outlines the tasks you can be assigned to perform at work and doesn't allow for whatever task you are being asked to do

That said, it's possible that asking you to do extracurricular tasks may be a violation of your company's own internal policies; if some middle manager in a large corporation is having random employees wash his car or run personal errands for him on the company's dime, for example, the higher-ups may take a dim view of that personal use of company resources.


Title: Individual Homeowner with girlfriend & child with said girlfriend splitting up.

Question:
I live in Wisconsin, I have been with this girl for over 7 years now. We have a 5 year old daughter together, and recently decided to split up. I am a home owner with mortgage payments, and she has been giving me $400 dollars a month since living in this house, but she is not on the deed and has never officially been a renter. Since the decision to split up, she will not be paying me "rent" anymore (who can blame her) but I'm not sure what legal action I must take in order to require her to move out. How official does it need to be, etc.
The other situation with the child custody is probably going to be much more messy, and probably too many variables to even try to explain. Her family lives in Florida, she has no relatives close by. We have lived in Wisconsin the whole time, I need to know what actions I must take in order to ensure the child stays in Wisconsin. Preferably I would want full custody or at least split custody, but I hear that is rare in Wisconsin for the father to get.

Answer:
 > has never officially been a renter.

Yes she has. She is protected by your state's landlord-tenant laws.

> I'm not sure what legal action I must take in order to require her to move out.

You need to give her a written notice to move, allowing 28 days as required by Wisconsin law and specifying the date on which her tenancy will end.

>  The other situation with the child custody is probably going to be much more messy, and probably too many variables to even try to explain.

You need a lawyer for that one, the sooner the better.


Title: [CA] Can my landlord restrict which type of animal I can own as an Emotional Support Animal?

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Don't be one of those assholes who keeps a dog in a single bedroom or, god forbid, a studio apartment.


Title: /r/hedgehogs needs your help :(

Question:
I'll submit a link to the subreddit' but basically someone is taking all of our beastbabies pictures and posting them to their website with our captions' but no credit whatsoever. Is there anything we can do? :(
http://www.reddit.com/r/Hedgehog/comments/36w673/theres_a_tumblr_and_it_just_takes_pics_from_here/

This is one of my pictures: http://cute-hedgehogs.tumblr.com/image/110715066140

Answer:
 Over in /r/warhammer we have this problem from time to time with sites that use automated bots that scrape the sub for content.  What we do is have a couple of days where everyone posts images like [this](http://imgur.com/459g1Bt) and then puts the actual content in a comment in their post for actual users to enjoy.  Immature and silly to be sure, but it usually only takes a day or two for the perpetrators to stop scraping our content.Answer #2: It is my professional opinion that that is indeed a cute hedgehog.

You should also follow /u/swalsh411's advice and file a DMCA request.Answer #3: https://www.tumblr.com/dmcaAnswer #4: This actually just happened over at /r/ferrets as well. The people there started putting obnoxious watermarks and whatnot insulting the reposter on their pictures, as well as kept doing takedown requests. Problem went away.


Title: Hong Kong is suing me due to an inactive Hong Kong Company , what should i do?

Question:
Hey guys,

Throwaway account here. I just received a letter from Hong Kong court telling me to attend the hearing and plead guilty. Please check the image for more context.

Background :

I opened a company in Hong Kong in 2015. I never filled tax returns because i was never able to open a bank account for the company and i never made business using the company. So it was always inactive and there was nothing to declare.

I don't live in Hong Kong but i'm worried what will happen i don't show up to court and if i don't pay the fines, it's really expensive to go to hong kong and to pay all these fines.

what do you guys recommend i do?

Letter : [https://imgur.com/a/Y7xAEuO](https://imgur.com/a/Y7xAEuO)

Thanks in advance

Answer:
 This sounds fairly serious. I know zero about Hong Kong law, but it sounds like you were required to file the tax returns regardless of what hat operating status your business was in. This could potentially even be a criminal matter. At least, in the US it would be.

You need to call a lawyer in Hong Kong and have a consult.


Title: How to protect assets before marriage?

Question:
Originally posted this over at PersonalFinance but someone recommended I post this here.
I'm 26. (Michigan)
I'm planning on getting engaged sometime in the next 2-3 years.
Right now I have about $60K in retirement accounts & about $35K available for a down payment on a house.
I'm planning on having $37-$45K set aside for downpayment/closing cost, plus an additional $10-15K emergency fund. So i'm thinking 15 months from now I would buy a house.
So my question is.. should I purchase the house by myself before I am legally married?
Basically i'm just asking if the timing matters & in the event of a divorce what happens to the house?
From what I understand as far as retirement accounts go I would keep everything I contributed pre-marriage, is this correct?
Obviously i'm not planning on getting divorced but I understand that things happen & would like to be prepared for the worst.
Edit: Splitting things equally including the equity in the house is not a problem for me once the marriage begins.     I'm just more concerned about everything pre-marriage including the initial down-payment/equity in the house.

Answer:
 Your location REALLY matters.

You want a prenup.  The best way a prenup stands in court is when both parties have their own lawyers and it is done months, or even years in advance of the wedding.

Talk to a lawyer.Answer #2: That is why you can get a prenuptial agreement. It will involve lawyers for both people who are to get married and it is not something you want to do last minute.


Title: What happened

Question: ESnHE9uqzRGMPx0Pmylo2XHckkXCHtHpsnRx6ZiCqqyDT8mae0S69fkFfImuXNESnHE9uqzRGMPx0Pmylo2XHckkXCHtHpsnRx6ZiCqqyDT8mae0S69fkFfImuXNESnHE9uqzRGMPx0Pmylo2XHckkXCHtHpsnRx6ZiCqqyDT8mae0S69fkFfImuXNESnHE9uqzRGMPx0Pmylo2XHckkXCHtHpsnRx6ZiCqqyDT8mae0S69fkFfImuXNESnHE9uqzRGMPx0Pmylo2XHckkXCHtHpsnRx6ZiCqqyDT8mae0S69fkFfImuXNESnHE9uqzRGMPx0Pmylo2XHckkXCHtHpsnRx6ZiCqqyDT8ma

Answer: It was communication fraud and a pattern of criminal activity, apparently.


Title: [USA, VA] Children live with me, but I don't have legal custody

Question:
I'll do my best to spare you the drama. Basically my ex wife technically has legal custody, according to our divorce decree. But she was negligent with the children, and I've informally taken them since August 1st.

She was recently released from rehab for heroin abuse, and refuses to go to treatment or therapy. I'm convinced she's relapsed. After exhausting decent discussion and social channels (including her mother), I've decided I can't let her take the kids overnight or have them unsupervised.

Three questions:

* 1.) Do I need legal custody to enforce this?
* 2.) What do I need to do to get custody?
* 3.) In what ways am I at risk from a legal standpoint / what is her possible recourse?

Thanks!

Answer:
 In the meantime, you should attempt to file for an [emergency custody order](https://vacode.org/37.2-808/), which will allow you to legally keep the children until the case is heard before a Judge.Answer #2: 1) yes without it you could be looking at kidnapping;

2) file for custody, and in this case also probably file requesting she loses hers. I urge an attorney here;

3) jail time, never gaining custody, etc. you need to file asap.


Title: Old lady on facebook accused me of harassment and wants to go to the police.[canada]

Question:
Hi everyone,

I messaged an ex-workplace bully. This 'sweet white lady' who basically made my life a living hell. I'm a POC, younger than her and was in a management role above her.

Anyway, recently all that trauma bubbled back up and I went on her facebook and wrote about all the hurtful things she did to me and to other people along with calling her a 'low-life bigot' and a 'vile creature'. I didn't swear or utter threats, or anything like that. She wrote that she has 'no clue and it's a mystery' as to who I was since she didn't know me. Obviously a lie and I had so many of her real life examples within my comments so it's pretty obvious to her (and especially to her facebook friends) that we know each other. She hasn't blocked me but said that she would contact the police.

Does she have a case?

Answer:
 Facebook is not a new arm of the judicial system.  Stop trying to use it as such.

Facebook is for doing stuff like sharing pictures of cats.

You have not disclosed anything which you would have legal recourse against her.  But, if you continue, she could bring one against you.

She can call the police if she feels that you are harassing her or threatening her.

She can bring a civil case if she feels that you defamed her.

I don't think it's likely she will prevail in either situation based on what you disclosed.  But, defending these accusations will not bring more joy into your life.


Title: Please help. Falsely advertised RV rental was in a minor accident now RV owners want future loss of business. Florida

Question:
I rented an RV from a site similar to Airbnb but for RV’s. I was in a minor accident causing surface damage to outer lower storage doors only a few days into my pre-paid monthly rental . After this happened :

1. The owners of the RV threatened that if I didn’t drive it back to them immediately over 12 hours away, they would physically come take it from me. And refused an insurance adjuster to come out where I was. So I immediately drove it back to them and returned it.

2. Days after the owners received the rv back they falsely accused me of multiple additional damages inside the the RV. I took lots of pictures and videos of it before and after. My insurance company only paid them for the storage door accident but refused to pay for other claims of alleged additional damages.

3. The rv company is holding my refund money of close to $3000 for the days I was unable to use due to the owners forcing an early return and wants the renters (us) and the owners to work it out.

4. Due to the accident the Owners are claiming they can’t rent out their RV for months and want an additional $15K - $20K in lost business. Because they say the door is a custom part that will take months to make. They said this is their job and I am responsible for their lost future potential business.

It is worth nothing that:

1. The owners are supposed to fill out a form with the renters at the time we picked up the rented RV. It is their responsibility to walk through and write down with the renters the current condition of the RV and sign it. The owners told us that it is silly and no one ever does it. I thought that was weird so I didn’t sign it but took photos anyway. The owners have said they “lost” the form. This form is the owners responsibility. The rv company is not happy with the owner not doing so.

2. The rv was falsely advertised. It was advertised as a luxury rv when it was anything but. In hindsight I shouldn’t have taken it. Everything was falling apart, things were broken, the leather chairs had bandaids on them, the levelers didn’t work properly and the owners refused to send out a professional, and the worse part was the door to get inside the RV was literally inoperable. I had to open the window and get on a step stool to be able to reach my hand around inside the rv around the window to pull the broken handle. They did not disclose this until it was sitting in front of my house and I was about to drive off.

Please help. What should I do here? I feel I am entitled to the refund of the days I was unable to use. I was threatened by the owners, it was falsely advertised, they made up false allegations in a bid to get more money from the insurance company (which the insurance company shot down) and now they want not only my refund but for me to pay for potential lost income.

Thanks so much for any help or advice.

Answer: NAL. I feel like for $3000 plus threat of lawsuit, you should probably get a consult with a lawyer and have them draft a "no and fuck off" letter. I cannot possibly imagine that you can be held legally responsible for "lost income" due to a minor car accident which would be a *known risk* of renting out a vehicle. They should have insurance to cover that.


Title: [CA] Ankle injury on way to work - Christmas eve

Question:
I work for FedEx office and on Saturday on my way to work I I was walking down some stairs and I slipped and landed right on my ankle I called them and let them know what happened and then I went to the hospital got x-rays done and they informed me that I had a partial tear in my lateral ligament and the doctor then gave me a hydrocodone prescription as well as a doctors note stating that I would be unable to work. I'm a full-time team member and I have been working for FedEx for a couple years now and they are saying at this counts as a regular sick call out and that I lose my holiday pay as well even though it was physically impossible for me to work. On top of that they also completely switch my schedule I've been closing for over a year now five days a week and they switched me to an earlier shift because I called out on the one closing shift when I got injured on Christmas Eve. I'm hoping there's something or some loopholes that are available for me to use at my disposal.

Another question is I got hired over two years ago at a lowball rate of about $10.25 I transferred to another store to become a full-time team member him and got a raise to about $11 meanwhile our new hires are getting paid $13.50. I am having to train these people in every aspect of the job and they are making quite a good amount more than me and they are trying to tell me that there's nothing they can do about it.  I'm one of the best team members in the region and I feel like I'm being used and there's nothing I can do I've talk to human resources as well but they kind of dodged the question and say that it's "hard". Whilst they do this they "cheer up my spirits" by lettting me know minimum wage is going up.  Please let me know if I missed anything or there's anything information you guys need.

Thank you for any and all help I apologize for the lack of grammar I'm using speech to text as I am unable to type at the moment.

And also like to add I got crutches from the emergency room as well as an ankle brace that I am going to have to wear for the next two weeks was keeping my leg off the ground and not using it.

Answer:
 It's typical policy for many employers not to pay holidays if you call in the day before or after. There's nothing illegal there.

I worked a job for four years making less than new hires. I quit and found another job because that's also legal.


Title: Son thrown in jail without trial for allegedly snickering, being extorted for $100?[FL]

Question:
My 16-year old son had to go to court recently because of an underage drinking citation when the judge was reading the plea, my son, allegedly snickered which caused the judge to find him in contempt of court and order him detained. He also said he's most likely going to reject the prosecution plea deal because it was too lenient and demand a harsher punishment than the diversion programme that they advised which I find is a bullshit bias.

He is now locked up in jail with the state of Florida demanding I pony up a $100 unless I want him to rot there. I find this verging on extortion and is possibly a violation of my sons first amendment rights

Can I ask his case be retried in front of a new judge for bias of the first judge?

Do I have a constitutional case here?

What are my options with the $100 snickering fine ?

Answer: OP is a troll?


Title: [CA] Employer is requiring a second 30 minute unpaid break on shifts 8.5 hours or longer

Question: This is a recent occurrence, and we are not sure if we are legally required to take a second 30 min break from worked hours 8 through 12. Thanks for any insight.

Answer:
 There is no legal issue with your employer forcing you to take an unpaid break of 30 minutes.

You're not legally obligated to take the break, with the understanding that your employer is not legally obligated to keep employing you for refusing to take a break when they tell you to take a break.


Title: My dentist asked me to verify my academic enrollment (full time) however I'm not in school anymore. What are the chances of them realizing I'm making a false verification paper? Do they call the schools or insurance companies?

Question:
I know I should probably straight up tell my parents but I'm pretty scared to be honest. I was going to go back to school in a year but I also have not told them that. I also just turned 25 this month if that is necessary info. Any advice or stories you have?

EDIT: This verification of enrollment is about my full time status as a student in a university which I am not in school right now.

Answer: What you're doing is committing insurance fraud. I recommend against this.


Title: ME - I lost and eventually forgot about an AT&T GoPhone that was set up to "auto-refill" monthly. When it dawned on me to cancel the auto-refill two years later, I found that I have a balance of $450.00+. Of course, AT&T refuses to refund the money. Do I have any options?

Question: I never received so much as a courtesy e-mail alerting me that my unused phone continued to bill me over two years. I have no use for the $450.00 in AT&T prepaid minutes. Thanks for any advice!

Answer:
 AT&T wasn't required to send you a courtesy email.  As far as they're concerned, you are getting what you signed up for.

You're supposed to look at your credit card bill (or bank statement) every month to see if there are any hinky charges.  You didn't do this for two years.

You can ask them if the minutes can be transferred to another account and see if you can sell them at a discounted rate, or you can buy a cheap phone and use the minutes, but I don't think AT&T is on the hook for this one.Answer #2: Same thing happened to me with a porn site back around 2000. I was nice to the guy and he refunded me like 1/2 my money -- he didn't have to, but he was nice about it since I was nice about it. AT&T, having less of a collective soul than this one guy selling smut online at the turn of the century, may not be nice to you no matter how nice you are to them, but you should try escalating at least once.


Title: I am renting a house in an HOA community. Recently the HOA voted against allowing properties to be rented to anyone not family of the owner. What does this mean for me? Iowa

Question:
My landlord has been unresponsive and the HOA board is telling me I have 30 days to move out.

So does the HOA's decision override my lease and make my lease invalid, in whi?ch case I could be forced to move out?

Or is my lease valid and it's my landlord's problem?

Thanks.

Answer:
 It's your landlords problem.  You have no contract with the HOA.Answer #2: Just like an HOA to try and impose a rule on someone who cannot legally follow it (the landlord). They could have at least written in that no *new* leases would be allowed, but instead they are going to levy fines, drag this LL into court and make life hell for everyone.

Does anyone have a positive HOA story?

EDIT:  It's good to hear some positive stories.  However, I think that an HOA is a necessity in a town-home community, condo, etc.  I was more concerned with HOAs in developments that don't have an inherent requirement for them, like subdivisions that contain separate homes- as opposed to planned areas that have significant shared resources (like pools and parks, etc).Answer #3: Does your lease say anything about HOA, change in policy, canceling the lease if the HOA does X?


Title: [N. Ontario] Grandmother is unable to move to new apartment due to being admitted to hospital. Can the landlord be forced to extend her lease 1 more month? Can she be evicted while in hospital even if she is willing to pay?

Question:
Hello,

My grandmother fell ill last week and it was pretty serious. She is getting stronger, but is not close to being discharged.

Family members who intended to help with her move have fallen ill (diagnosed pneumonia).

I do not know if the place has been rented out already for after her lease ended. The landlord has not given any tours of her apartment yet; however, it is rumoured to be a building with a "long waiting list".

Is my grandmother protected by any renter's rights?

The ill family members are too weak to carry through the move, and they would be spreading pneumonia germs everywhere if they did.

I believe my grandma is the only name on the lease, but i have yet to confirm this.

Please advise. Thanks in advanced.

Answer:
 By N. Ontario, I assume you mean the Canadian province.  If not, please ignore the following.

In Ontario, tenants do not require a lease to be protected from eviction.

Has your grandmother given written notice that she was moving out?

Are there new tenants planning to move in?  This may not be legally relevant, as it's difficult to evict a tenant already in possession of the apartment, but there's a moral argument in favour of not screwing up someone else's move.


Title: [IL, USA] Embezzlement, position bonds, and fraternities.

Question:
I am dumb. I embezzled over 5000 USD from my major national fraternity. The money was spend on food, tuition, bills (phone, etc) and some occasional dumb stuff. I am in some deep stuff and I have no idea what to do and no money to pay a lawyer.
I do not plan on fighting any charges regarding the case and hope to plea out by signing a contract with the position bond company (I have been told this is usually how they handle these cases). I want to pay back the money and not face any jail time (and hopefully not face a felony conviction for the rest of my life).
What do you guys advise? What are my rights when they pick me up to file the charges? I don't really know what is going to happen at all. Does anyone have any experience with position bond companies or anything like this?

If you need more information (I am sure you do) just ask, I didn't really know what to include in this post.

Thanks

Answer: First, you should not be admitting to criminal activity, on the internet or otherwise.  Second, you should strongly reconsider finding a lawyer to help you navigate this process.  You should Google your local bar association, which will be a good start to finding inexpensive or free counsel.  The internet is not your solution here.


Title: unsure of the porn laws in my area

Question:
so i am a minor (17) in the state of PA and im unsure of the legality of viewing internet porn, i have a few basic questions

1. is it legal?
2. from what i have been able to find, i wouldnt get in trouble but the provider would be, does this include sites that contain a "by clicking this you confirm you are over 18"
3. in regards to the previous question, if my parents chose to not prevent me from viewing porn would they face legal trouble?

i have been unable to find legitimate or sufficient answers anywhere else and i dont want to ask someone i know because its an embarassing question.

Answer:
 1. No.

2. Correct.

3. Probably not.

Look bud, you're damn near an adult, nobody is knocking down doors to arrest a 17 year old for looking at regular porn.Answer #2: Minors shouldn't view sexually explicit material. Every time you do, you risk Homeland Security, the FBI, and Kohl's LP teams busting down your door and hauling you away.

Seriously though; Its not legal, but who the hell cares?


Title: Wells Fargo denying their mistake of student loan. Edits my history. I have screen shots to prove I paid, they say I didn't.

Question:
Using a throwaway.  Typing this quickly during lunch break, please ask me to clarify if needed.

Last April I payed my loan the day before my last day, on the phone. The next day it did not show on my account. Panicking, since it was a couple hours until it was considered late, I paid online. It was immediately confirmed. I took a screen shot.  The next day I see Wells Fargo had me double pay the loan, I was over drafted 1000$. I asked them to take one ONE payment away so I would not over draft. They took away BOTH so it appeared I did not pay my loan. I immediately asked them to correct this and through all the cross communication to other departments it took about two weeks to go through officially.  They waived the late fee and told me my loan payment will show as on time(because it was)
A year later(this week) I try to release my cosigners and they say I can't because I paid late last year. They erased all records of me paying twice on time, it simply shows the date that everything went through on their end.  They made it look like I paid about a month late and they were nice to waive the late fee.  I talk to Wells Fargo and their executive of the loan department asks me to send the screen shots so they can review their own information and investigate.  I have not yet,  I believe they can edit and twist facts to their benefit.
I believe at this point I should contact a lawyer.  What type of lawyer? I have no idea what I'm doing and need advice.
I'm kinda freaking out.   Thank you for your help!

Answer:
 Send the screen shot, don't contact the lawyer. Let them know that you WILL contact :

https://www.helpwithmybank.gov/get-answers/other-topics/filing-a-complaint/other-topics-filing-complaint-quesindx.html

and if it is not fixed:

https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/credit_12666.htm

Oh, they will be so quick to fix it your head will explode.Answer #2: Send them the screen shots. It really couldn't hurt. Though it might not be much help. You're worried they'll alter the screenshots. They won't. But how do they know you didn't either?Answer #3: I agree with sending them the screenshots and giving them one more opportunity to fix it.  But if they don't I'd go to the CFPB to complain rather than the others.


Title: Can a landlord inspect at any time without notice?

Question: In Montgomery county Maryland can a landlord come into the apartment to make inspections at any time? Do they need to give notice by law? If they give notice but the timing doesn't work for the tenant, can the tenant decline?

Answer:
 If it is to make non-emergency repairs or inspections they must give at least 24 hours notice.
[Source, page 4](https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DHCA/Resources/Files/housing/landlordtenant/handbook_olta.pdf)

It also says that the lease is required to:

> Permit the landlord to enter the property, after providing the tenant with 24
> hours notice, to make repairs, supply services, or show the apartment to
> prospective buyers/tenants. A tenant may not unreasonably deny the
>  landlord access to the rental property. The landlord may enter the
>  property after due notice to the tenant, when the landlord is required by
>  the Department to provide access for an inspection under County law.
>  In case of emergency, or when the landlord has good cause to believe
>  the tenant may have damaged the property, no notice is necessary;

What does your lease say on the matter?  As it says you can only refuse entry for a "reasonable" reason.  Is there any reason you would have to be there for the inspection?

 If they continue to do it I would contact the office of Landlord tenant affairs @ 240-777-0311 and see what they have to say on the matter.


Title: [Texas] doc in the box sent me a bill dated more than a year after services rendered.

Question:
This is November and I just got in the mail a bill dated september for a visit to the doc in may of last year, billing date 16 months after. The bill is only for 40$ and is supposedly for an amount that insurance didn't cover, (it doesn't kill my pocketbook).
But I don't know if they are trying to take advantage of someone otherwise unaware or if I can do anything about it. Is this normal?
Should I report this to someone?

Answer: There's nothing illegal about it. You can call your insurance company, but they will have already mailed you some EOB paperwork detailing any claims that are made and what they paid.


Title: [Houston, TX]Help! I received toll violations due to the fault of the toll road company, tried to resolve the issue & they wouldn't help. Now the amount I owe has nearly tripled and today I received a letter from a lawyer (to collect the debt). What can I do?

Question:
Sorry this is going to be a long post, but you need all the information possible. Tl;Dr at bottom. I drive in the Houston area and use the EZ Tag system to use the toll roads. The toll road company is Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA).

&#x200B;

Now, I'm familiar with HCRTAs standard procedure when a payment doesn't go through, because I had it happen once before due to a separate issue. First when my account balance got low they sent me an email. Then when the balance reached 0 / went negative they sent an email. Then when they tried to charge my card they send an email. And finally when the payment doesn't go through they sent another email. So that's what's SUPPOSED to happen when you change cards. They're supposed to send you a bunch of emails. They also have my address and phone number on file, so if they wanted to they could also contact me that way.

&#x200B;

I have an email from March 18, 2018 confirming my payment was made. My first toll violation is for May 17, 2018. So at some point between March 18 and May 17 my account balance ran out, they tried to charge my card, it failed, and they did not contact me. I'm assuming it was mid-late April since I don't use the EZ Tag often. They should have sent not less than 3-4 emails, and none were received. I also did not receive any letters or any phone calls. The first attempt they made to contact me was not until June 12. That is an entire 2 months later! Due to them not contacting me I continued to use my EZ Tag, though luckily I did not use it often. June 12, 2018 I received an email saying that my account balance was -$259.80. The violations on my account are:

&#x200B;

May 17, 2018

\- Four $1.75 charges (normal charge for using the toll)

\- Admin Fee: $40

\-Collection Fee: $56

\- Other fees: $4

\- May 17 Total: $107.00

&#x200B;

May 20, 2018

\- same amounts as above

&#x200B;

May 21, 2018

\-same amounts as above

&#x200B;

May 23, 2018

\- Three $1.25 charges and one $1.75

\- Admin fee: $40

\- Collection fee: $56

\- Other fees: $4

\- Total: $105.50

&#x200B;

May 30/31, 2018

\- Three $1.75 charges

\- Admin: $30

\- Collection: $42

\- Other: $3

\- Total: $80.25

&#x200B;

May 31/ June 5

\- One $1.00 and three $1.75 charges

\- Admin: $40

\- Collection: $56

\- Other: $4

\- Total: $106.25

&#x200B;

The total of $259.80 came from them waiving some of my fees since it was my first violation. They have since removed the fee waiver, and some of the fees may have even gone up. The ones listed here are the current amounts owed as of September 12. At the time of the original e-mail I didn't think to write the fee amounts down. My boyfriend's car is also on the account. They did not remove the fee waiver on his, so his "car" still only owes a total of $19.50.

&#x200B;

On June 12th I called HCTRA to try and figure out what happened. My initial thought was that the $259.80 I owed was from a bunch of $1.75 charges and not from a few very large charges. The lady on the phone was very unhelpful and did not give me clear answers. I asked to see the pictures that they take of your car to be sure that it was really me/my boyfriend and really our cars. I've heard horror stories of people who they camera misread the license plate, or the mechanics at the auto shop took the car out for a drive, etc. I know for a fact HCTRA can provide these pictures. They have sent such pictures to both my parents and my boyfriend's sister in the past. The lady outright lied to me. She said that they cannot provide those pictures to me. That night after I got home and saw it was a few large charges I tried to call them back again to explain that they never sent me the proper notifications that my account was low. I called before they closed, but I guess to them it was too close to closing, because no one helped me.

&#x200B;

I made a Reddit post asking for advice on what to do and asked some of my friends/family. The consensus was to call them back and see if I could simply pay the fee for letting my account go negative, the amount I was negative, and the amount needed to replenish the account, and ask them to waive the rest since it was their fault. However at the time I was in a very bad financial place, my job was not even paying all my bills, and I was looking for another one, but having a hard time. So I decided to wait to call them back until I had the money to negotiate.

&#x200B;

July 14, 2018 I received an email saying the amount I owed had increased to $311.80. I still did not have money to pay it so I couldn't do anything. Around this time (I don't remember the exact date) they also sent me the letters that I had violations (the letters they were supposed to send in April).

&#x200B;

August 21, 2018 I received an email saying the amount I owed was $535.80. I had just started my new job, so I didn't have much money, but I decided to forget trying to negotiate and just pay it off slowly. I logged on to HCTRA website to make a small payment (like $20 or so) and their website does not allow partial payments. So now I realized that I'm going to have to make the payment in full - and since the amount keeps increasing that I owe, I may never get the right amount saved up.

&#x200B;

Today, September 12, I received a letter from an attorney. It says that I have HCTRA violations that I have not paid, that I am the owner of the vehicle according to state records, and that HCTRA referred the matter to the law firm "after no response was received to resolve these tolls and charges". They never reached out to me about the charges, but are telling the lawyers they did??? The notice also says "If the matter is not resolved immediately, pursuant to Texas Transportation code, Chapter 284, you may be subject to additional fees and fines, the registration of your vehicle being refused, or the use of your vehicle being restricted until the amounts due are paid." The amount the letter says I woe is $613.00

&#x200B;

I logged on to HCTRA website after seeing the letter and they have it saying I owe $632.50 in violations, $1.30 in outstanding balance, and a replenishment amount of $40 for a grand total of $673.80 due.

&#x200B;

My questions are these:

&#x200B;

\- What can I do? This isn't my fault and I should not have to pay violations because HCTRA messed up. Had they sent me the proper notifications that my card had failed, I could have easily avoided using the toll roads.

\- What can this lawyer do? Does he have the right to garnish my wages? What does it mean when they say my registration & use of my vehicle could be restricted?

\- Is this worth getting my own lawyer over? $673 is more than half a month's pay for me. It would take me months to save that much money, and the payment keeps going up anyway.

\- Any other advice would also be helpful, I was freaking out when it was $250 I owed, now that it's half a month's pay I'm very worried. I may go into a lot of debt over this, not be able to pay bills, not be able to eat/put gas in my car/etc.

&#x200B;

Tl:dr - toll road authority did not properly notify me that my payment failed. Waited two months to send an email. Thus I continued to use the toll roads, and got fined. Those fines keep going up, and now they've sent it to a lawyer to collect. The total I owe is more than 1/2 a month's pay for me, so I'm very worried.

Answer:
 >They never reached out to me about the charges,

>June 12, 2018 I received an email

>July 14, 2018 I received an email

>August 21, 2018 I received an email

Sounds like they reached out to you plenty of times.

Ultimately the responsibility to ensure you have proper and valid payment information on file, or enough funding in the account is yours and yours alone. You knew you had an issue and chose to ignore it, and now it's too late to do anything about. Your best bet is to call and attempt to work out payment arrangements with the attorney.

>Sec. 284.209.  ENFORCEMENT OF DECISION.  A decision issued under Section 284.208(a) may be enforced by:

>(1)  placing a device that prohibits movement of a motor vehicle on the vehicle that is the subject of the decision;

>(2)  imposing an additional fine if the fine for the offense is not paid within a specified time;  or

>(3)  refusing to allow the registration of the vehicle.

They can come boot your car and refuse to allow you to renew your plates until you fix this.


Title: Pennsylvania- Restaurant owner is trying to get me to pay my service staff out of my paycheck

Question: As the title says, my restaurant owner is trying to get me to pay my service staff out of my paycheck. I'm expected to give him 10% of my cash and post-tax earnings from my paycheck that come from the credit card tips.  This means that I'm paying his taxes and giving him 10% of what should be my disposable income.  I can't imagine that this is legal.  I don't know if he's being paid under the table and I don't particularly care if he is, but I definitely shouldn't be responsible for his taxes.  Is there a way that they can remove the 10% from my paycheck?  Can I take a deduction of some sort?  I'm afraid to mess with tax fraud or screw myself over on my own loans and bills my having 10% less income than what shows on my checks.

Answer:
 Your recourse is to file a [wage claim](http://www.dli.pa.gov/Individuals/Labor-Management-Relations/llc/Pages/Wage-Complaint-Form.aspx) with the Dept of Labor.

What the owner is doing is highly illegal.

I would also start looking for a new job


Title: Paying child support for a child that lives with the non-custodial parent? [NY]

Question:
My boyfriend has two sons, age 4 and 8. He currently pays full child support to his ex, who legally has full custody. His 4 year old has lived with him for the past 4 years, and the 8 year old lives with his mother Monday through Wednesday (with us Th-Sun). Yet he still has to pay full child support, and take them whenever she wants him to, or , like she has in the past, force him to take them all the time or take them away from him because we can't afford to pay a lawyer for joint custody. So we have the 8 y/o four days out of the week, and the 4 y/o seven days of the week. Is there anything, short of suing for joint custody, that we can do? She takes half his salary (before taxes) home in child support, and he's still paying for the 4 y/o's childcare, etc, despite him "living with her".

Any advice would be very much appreciated!

Answer: He needs to get the court orders changed to reflect the fact that he has the children living with him most of the time.


Title: Can a store make you repay a stolen sum of money in lieu of filing a police report? (VA)

Question:
If you steal a particular sum and are found out, could they legally be like "repay this sum or we'll inform the police"? Is this not blackmail/extortion?
Topic:
Business Law

Answer: It is not.  It's an offer.  You can choose to accept it, and prevent the report, or ignore it and take your chances with the court.Answer #2: They're going to get you to admit to the theft, sign a paper admitting liability and promising to pay a large sum, and then they're going to report to the police anyway (with your signed confession), and they're going to fire you.


Title: An Uber Ride, A concert ticket, and a false nightclub address: Who is liable for compensation?

Question:
So here's the story:

I just moved to a big city in California.

It's my girlfriend's birthday in a few days, and to celebrate we thought we would buy two tickets to a dj concert at a nightclub venue.

Being responsible, we decided to take an Uber as opposed to driving our way to the concert. This is where we were led astray. The address listed on the ticket was inputted incorrectly, and so our driver took us all the way to the shoreside when we had intended on going downtown, which ended up being roughly twice the distance to the actual venue.

Once we reached the venue, a message arrived from Uber with a staggering bill, one which has created a situation of undue financial hardship which the two of us had not budgeted for, particularly considering the initial costs which can arise as a consequence of a big move.

When we arrived at home some time later, I pulled up our printable tickets online and checked the Terms & Conditions outlined by the ticket retailer. Under the stipulations listed there, it states that the ticket company is merely a service provider and is in no way liable for any issues regarding improperly provided services as a result of the tickets' purchase from said retailer. However, it also outlines within those terms that any such issue is at the discretion of the patron, in so far as the ability to seek recompense from the venue/promoters themselves.

So, my question is this. It seems clear that the ticketing agency is not at fault, as on the nightclub's own website their address is listed as being completely different from the information *they themselves provided* to the ticketing agency (and thereby their customers). Uber fulfilled their end of the bargain by driving us to the false address, then to the corrected location as per our request when we found ourselves lost. However, I take fault with the fact that it is solely the oversight of the nightclub/venue and their promoters which caused us to go so far out of our range, costing us up to four times the price of what it would have been had we been given the appropriate address. So what I must then ask, is who can I hold responsible/financially liable for this situation?

By purchasing a ticket which is clearly stated as being under the legal purview of the venue, do I not then create a contract, under which it is implied that a reasonable person would be able to make their way to the site of the event, so as to redeem said ticket? By failing to provide the appropriate address for the establishment within the context of that contract, is the venue not in violation of their responsibilities to myself and others in regards to what a reasonable person might expect from said contract?

Moving forward, I intend on contacting venue management regarding a request for compensation. As such, it would seem a formal request, outlining the cost to myself and the other injured party (my girlfriend) is necessary, prior to any legal action. What template, if any, might I use for such a letter? When it comes to seeking damages, where do I begin negotiations, and where do I draw the line- that is to say, what number do I give them to start within my initial request, the full amount of the cab ride, or the calculated percentage which was due to their own error?

I was thinking that I would compile my information into a small packet outlining the facts and available evidence, then calculate the additional cost due solely to the false address provided by the responsible party (the venue/promoters). Then I had intended on writing a request for compensation letter, calling the club and explaining the situation to management while procuring an email or physical address where I could forward the information for further approval (Is email an acceptable communication format, or is it mandatory that I send physical copies via postage?). As stated before, I am not entirely sure where to begin my request for damages- at the full cost of the cab? If so, should I keep the adjusted rate on hand as a counter to any attempt at negotiation? Or would it be more legitimate to simply begin my request with the adjusted rate? I'm not sure how intensely negotiation plays into such matters.

I apologize for the lengthy post, just wanted to give anyone who is interested all of the facts. Please let me know whether this sounds like a feasible plan directed at the appropriately liable party. Thank you all for your time and patience.

Answer:
 You are not due any compensation because the address on a ticket was wrong. Your damages are minimal at best at this situation. Next time just double check online before you head out. Answer #2: > So what I must then ask, is who can I hold responsible/financially liable for this situation?

yourself.

it's your responsibility to be able to locate the venue properly, even if there are good-faith mistakes on the tickets.Answer #3: You are owed nothing.  It's nothing unusual for venue changes to happen.  Any time that happens, it does get publicized prior to the event.  It is YOUR responsibility to confirm all the details of an event prior to it taking place to avoid situations like what you went through.


Title: Is it legal for a Teacher to show a politically charged video in a class that has nothing to do with the subject taught?

Question: [deleted]

Answer: It's a "complain to your assistant principal if it offends you" issue.


Title: DUI Limited Driving Permit - Question on what is considered a "work-duty"

Question: I live in Fayetteville, GA and had a Limited Driving permit/License for a DUI license suspension. The permit/license states that I can travel to/from work and perform normal work duties along with going to school and a few other things. One day at work my manager asked me to mail something to a client from the post office and to pick him up food on the way back. Myself and another employee mailed the package and on the way out of the fast food drive-thru on the way to work a cop pulled me over (he scanned my license plate and pulled me over because he knew I had a limited permit and I had not violated any traffic laws). The officer arrested me for driving when I was not supposed to be according to my limited permit. Can I reason that what I was doing was a work duty and get this charge thrown out?

Answer: The fast food? No, I mean you could get a lawyer and your boss to vouch for you, but honestly it is NOT work related.  Mailing the package definitely is work duty.


Title: Parents agreed to store my friend's car temporarily. Friend lives and works overseas and had plans to come back to sell or otherwise take it. That has not happened and I have not been able to get in touch with him for over a month - options?

Question:
The car was previously registered in Florida and that is where it is currently located, parked in my parents' garage. It has been there since February, and the original request came about because my friend's parents sold their home and moved back out of the country to South America, and my friend had no time to sell or arrange for other storage of the vehicle. He lives and works in East Asia, but travels around frequently because of his profession, and had trips back to the US planned in March and June, both of which happened but neither of which resulted in him taking care of the vehicle as he originally promised. Neither myself nor my parents are being compensated and all my attempts to contact him for the past couple months have failed. I have been especially anxious as of late because I have found an eager buyer and want to know how I can broker this for him and take the burden off my parents' shoulders. Last I heard from him was Saturday, May 16th. The title is not with the car as far as I can tell. Do we have any options here?

**Edit**: Clarity

Answer:
 DO NOT SELL THE CAR

DO NOT SELL THE CAR

DO NOT SELL THE CAR

How long was your agreement for?
What's the approximate value of the car?

When you said he came to America for business did you mean Florida or California,etc.

One month without contact from someone who lives in a different continent  is far from unexpected.
Answer #2: I don't think there is a legal way for you to sell the car without his permission.

If it were on public property, Florida Statute 705.103 describes the procedure that a police department would use to attempt to find and notify the owner.   That law does include a section that allows the police department to surrender the abandoned property to the finder, and it's possible that your local police department has a policy that would allow you to notify them, store it yourself, then receive the property after the notification procedures have been followed.

Here's an [excellent advisory legal opinion](http://www.myfloridalegal.com/ago.nsf/Opinions/EEFE4DF4F26F614785256235005BB6CF) from the Florida Attorney General.

The only real option I see is for you to have the vehicle towed by a tow operator.    The rules for that are *very* strict and specific, and defined by [Florida Statutes 715.07](http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0715/Sections/0715.07.html).

Your town may have a different set of rules for handling abandoned vehicles.   I figure the best place to start asking is the local County tax collector's office where they handle titles and registrations.


Title: I slept with an older woman and realized it was a mistake. Told her that I didn't want to do it again and she's contacting a lawyer.

Question: I live in California. Currently I am 21 and she is in her 30's. This woman has anxiety issues and claims she has ADHD and OCD. She's saying even though she asked to sleep with me, since she is known to have a mental handicap it is still rape. This woman is texting me lots of terrible insults and threats and tells me she's contacting a lawyer. I'm not replying to her texts and am saving as much as I can. Anything else I can do? Will I go to jail?

Answer:
 Anxiety, ADHD and/or OCD have never been held by a court to be conditions that make someone unable to consent to sex, as far as I know.  If the facts are as you say, I doubt you have anything to worry about.  Don't engage with her at all -- she probably wants your attention.  If the police contact you, call a lawyer.Answer #2: No, you are not going to jail.  First, because "contacting my lawyer" is not how rape charges work.  She would need to go to the police.  Second, because neither of those health issues are sufficient mental impairments to keep someone from being able to consent.

That said, if you have prior positive communications from her, save them.  Answer #3: This is for any lawyers who see this.

Would a restraining order be a good idea in this situation?


Title: Landlord Threatening Illegal Eviction(Indiana)

Question:
I have been unable to pay my rent and I am about 2 months behind. Tuesday(6/25) my landlord left my a threatening voicemail telling me she would " change the locks and lock my cat in the apartment or throw her into the Humane Society". She said she would not give me 10 days and I have until Monday July 1st to move before they change the locks and dispose of personal property. I have a voicemail and email to prove these statements.  Now it is worth noting my lease ends July 25th.( I am planning to leave this month but I have not 100% set the date, for personal reasons). Should I

A) refute the illegal eviction and threaten to take them to court and see how they respond

B) Let them illegally evict me and sue for damages

C) They are bluffing and trying to use scare tactics. They are a rather large property management company, I doubt they don't know the law and how the law works.

Either way I am leaving within the next 3 weeks, It would be a waste of all of our time for eviction court, But I do not have the resources to move by Monday, I just finally got a full time job.

Answer:
 With this amount of time, it is entirely possible that they have gone through the courts for a proper eviction.  Were you given any notice or served papers to that effect?  If not....

This is definitely illegal.  Self help evictions are not legal in Indiana.  If your landlord were to do this, you would be able to sue for some significant damages in court.  And if harm were to come to your animal, there may be criminal matters for them to contend with.

That being said, sometimes landlords violate the law anyways.  It might be wise for you to send your cat to live with a trusted friend or relative.

Advise them that if they want to evict you, they need to do so through the court system legally.  If they execute an eviction in this matter, you will bring a civil claim against them.

Also note, that your balance owed does not disappear when you move out.  They can send it to collections, or even bring a civil claim in court to get a judgement against you, which can lead to all sorts of fun such as garnished paychecks, levied bank accounts, etc...


Title: A behind the door handshake between companies nearly cost me my entire career. Could I press charges?

Question:
I work for company “A”. Company A is a customer of Company “B”. Both companies are in two different industries and do not directly compete with each other.

I was ready to leave Company A because a job posting from Company B came up in my area, and I was qualified for it. I applied and had a few connections to help speed up the process. However let it be known that I approached them. Not the other way around.

MORE BACKGROUND FOR CONTEXT: Someone else in my company recently did the same thing. Word got around about them going to Company B and our executive at Company A got VERY mad. So mad that they decided to approach Company B and told their executive friend at Company B that the next time they offer a job to anyone within our team, that executive friend at Company B needs to first contact my executive at Company A.

QUESTION ONE: Is that even legal? That feels like the fate of my (and anyone else’s) future is in someone else hands. Is my exec now given the choice to say “no you can’t hire them”? Also by Company B telling my exec, my exec would now know that I’m trying to leave! They could fire me!

SIDE NOTE: Let it be known that I was not informed of this “process” throughout my recruiting process with Company B. Mostly because it was a behind the door handshake. Also, I did not sign anything in my company A that says I can’t go to a company in company B’s industry.

FAST FORWARD: After getting the offer from Company B, I signed the offer and passed my background check and put in my formal resignation. I was careful not to tell a single soul within my Company A where I was going. In general, I didn’t get much push back. Everything seemed fine.

FAST FORWARD MORE: A few days later, my connection to Company B informed me that my hiring manager at Company B was told by another department that my offer needed to be rescinded because of this handshake deal.

QUESTION TWO: can signed offers with background checks be rescinded?

Needless to say I was scared out of my mind. I formally resigned my position and was going to be left with nothing if this was true.

The next day the hiring manager from Company B told me that an executive from within the company found out that I was being recruited and that my recruitment didn’t follow the right “process”. The hiring manager just assumed it was because of the earlier noise generated the last time someone from my company was hired by Company B. The hiring manager was audibly upset by the whole thing and mentioned they got reprimanded by the other department within company B (the same department that told them to rescind my offer). The hiring manager clearly had no idea what was going on either. While they did NOT mention anything about my offer being rescinded, they did say that as a “peace treaty” they would offer my time and energy as an employee of Company B to my current Company A as they back fill me. Which is absolute BS, but I agreed to it because I wanted what’s best for both companies. And I wanted this all to go away.

So, the exec from Company B approached my exec at Company A with the peace treaty. It was declined by my exec and now the companies are on bad terms. No account loss yet but will take a lot to repair the relationship. Inside scoop from my company says my exec basically said F U to them (and to me).

I’m feeling so many emotions. Except for excitement for my new job. I feel awkward, guilty for causing drama at Company B where I will soon work. I feel anger that the fate of my future was in a couple of executive’s hands. I feel like I’ll have to work harder to prove myself to Company B in the event they do lose Company A as an account. I feel everything. This f’ing SUCKS.

This is obviously at the very least an HR violation, but I don’t really want to rock the boat anymore. Plus, enough people in upper management at my Company A are aware of this that I shouldn’t have to be the one reporting this. They should. But I know they won’t because everyone fears the executive who all started this.

What can I do, if anything? I don’t want to leave on bad terms and I don’t want to start on bad terms at Company B. But looks like I failed to do both.
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer:
 I am just going to leave this here for your perusal and consideration.

&#x200B;

[https://www.justice.gov/atr/division-operations/division-update-spring-2018/antitrust-division-continues-investigate-and-prosecute-no-poach-and-wage-fixing-agreements](https://www.justice.gov/atr/division-operations/division-update-spring-2018/antitrust-division-continues-investigate-and-prosecute-no-poach-and-wage-fixing-agreements)Answer #2: I went through something very similar in the mid 2000's. Luckily I made the right decision. My new Employer reminded them that you cant steal a happy employee. Found out a few years later that my time cards had been tampered with and they were hiring in new employees at a higher rate than I was making as their trainer. All is well that ends well.


Title: (CA) Work visa denied - Motion to reopen pending for 120 days- F1 Student Visa Expiring Soon - What are my options?

Question:
Hi All, My cap-subject work visa (H1B) was denied this year. I'm working on F-1 OPT now. My MTR is pending for 120 days. My attorneys raised a service request after 90 days. USCIS said they would reply by November 15th but they didn't. I'm very worried about my current status. My OPT is valid till 1/31/2017. I have grace period of 60 days to leave the country (3/31). I'm hoping the decision comes very soon. What are my options to stay in US while the decision is still pending.
I'm not keen to enroll in another Masters course to continue my F-1 status. Is going for second masters a safe option? Is there anything my employer/attorney can do to fast track my MTR case? Contact a Congressman or Infopass appointment? Does USCIS even take service requests seriously? I can't deal with so much uncertainty about my status. I'm very stressed out at this stage. Any advise will help! Thank you!

Answer: You already have an attorney so do what they say, but I would prepare to have to leave the country just in case it comes to that.


Title: [Florida] please don't delete we're not a troll I promise but we need advice

Question: [removed]

Answer: This post can be used against you as well in a wrongful death suit as evidence that you delayed calling for help to make sure you could protect yourself first.


Title: Showbiz fansite/blog claimed I was in a relationship with a celebrity when I'm not (Leeds, England)

Question:
I'm from Leeds, England. About a month or so ago, I was in one of the local papers, having won a competition. Nothing odd about that, it happens all the time.

However, my girlfriend (who I live with) found a story about me on a showbiz blog and fansite, hosted in Canada. As it is, she's a regular visitor to that site, which i wont promote here, for obvious reasons, given itd be spamming and such, and not good to promote, it would it?

The story allegedly claimed I was in a relationship with Scarlett Johansson and named me including the town I lived in, even used my photo (which was surely taken from the newspaper's website).
It claimed it'd been having a relationship with her since 2011, which is total BS.

Luckily my girlfriend sees it as ludicrous and dismissed it as nonsense and a joke.

I think, but, as IANAL, isn't this libel? Which legal system does this come under? British? Canadian? This is probably why I didn't ask it at the legaladvice UK subreddit.

I don't know the author's home nation, but given a .yahoo.ca account was the contact email, presumably it's Canadian.

I've followed your advice as you said:
> If you're worried about your identity, create a throwaway. We want to help as many people as possible, and that includes those who may stumble upon your post later.

Where should this case be pursued, and how realistic would it have a chance of being in court?

AFAIK, some cases don't even make it to court, but given that it involeves someone making allegations against someone who would be a "public figure" and me, an ordinary guy, where do I stand legally?

Could Ms. Johanssen be even classified as a public figure, under British law, or Canadian law?

Not sure, needing advice here.
Topic:
Computer and Internet

Answer:
 I may be wrong here, but are you sure that this isn't some fake click bait site that fills in the blanks of a story based on recent browsing history/tracking cookies?

Have you tried to re-navigate to this story from different computers or using your browser's incognito/private mode?Answer #2: Well I think you are now legally owed at least one date by Scarlett Johansson. Just send her a certified letter with a link to the article and a request with a time and location.Answer #3: Things like libel and slander usually require that there be damages.

I can't imagine you faced any damages being linked with Scarlett Johansen. Answer #4: Why is this a problem? You should be paying them. I'd absolutely be sending that article to everyone I know including my mother who said I'd never amount to anything.Answer #5: *What are your damages?*
Zero dollars and zero cents

*Who owns the picture?*
Not you.


Title: GA: Advice on tenant laws, eviction process?

Question:
Hopefully someone can help me with the LEGAL eviction process I must go through in my state of Georgia, I've read through the tenant/owner handbook that was posted in my county and still have some issues trying to go through the correct way of handling this situation of AT WILL TENANTS.

My husband owns a house that his grandmother signed over to him, the only agreement was that she lives there rent free and pays her utilities as she is 84 years old. We cannot occupy the house as it is too far away from his work. We allowed his sister and her boyfriend (both of whom are 30+) to live there rent free and pay half of the utilities (NO RENT HAS EXCHANGED HANDS). Stupid decision but his grandmother cannot live alone as she has mild dementia and refuses to live elsewhere. Trust me we have tried.

We thought this to be a good idea to help them get back on their feet because they just had a baby. Wrong. The first few months went great, they kept up with bills, and had no issues paying them.

Then as a few months went by and to our dismay started letting the house go. Trash was kept in areas it shouldn't have been, lawn was never mowed, and chicken feed dumped all over the driveway.

The only agreements that were spoken orally and agreed upon was that NOTHING was to be shut off (power, phone, internet, or cable), his grandmother was to be taken care of, and the house kept up.

We allowed his brother to move in as per his grandmothers request because he had no where to go. This brother has agreed to pay his half of the bills, (although he is only using the house to sleep and that's it, he works 16+ hours a day). Essentially we agreed that we would split the bills down the middle and brother/grandmother pay one half, sister/boyfriend pay the other (even though they obviously use up more electricity from the fridge & microwave they have in their room, when they have those to use out in the kitchen).

They weren't having that. They want the bills split into thirds. The brother pays his portion not with the grandmothers. We came up with a lease, the brother agreed and has signed. The sister/brother have refused and will not sign unless the brother moves out. The brother cannot and we will not ask him to move out as he has done nothing wrong. He also claims that the sister is yelling at the grandmother constantly and states he's afraid to leave the grandmother alone with them now that he has seen how she's treated. We have no proof just what is told to to us by each party.

Last week the cable got shut off. They have added more channels than his grandmother wanted on the bill in the first place and now it's shut off supposedly over $22. They refuse to give us the log in information all in the grandmothers name and now are threatening to leave the bills unpaid ($550 electric bill, etc.) that they have racked up! Every first of the month his grandmother has given them her half of the bills and obviously it isn't going towards them!

Needless to say I do NOT want them living there any longer to add more money on the bills if their just going to skip out and not pay them! What can I do? Am I required to give them any notice that I want them gone or can I call a sheriff to evict them ASAP or do I HAVE to give them a notice of 30-60 days? As I stated NO rent has exchanged hands at all. If they do skip out can my husband press charges for fraud? What can we do?

Also I know this was a stupid decision and my husband should have kept up with the bills but we have personal issues going on and for a few months thought everything was going fine.

tl;dr: Sister/Boyfriend are at will tenants in a house we own, defaulted our agreed upon terms, what can I do to evict them?

Answer: The owner of the house can give the unwanted tenants notice to vacate and then go to court to evict if they don't. The sheriff won't just thrown them out because you ask nice.


Title: [Fort Worth, TX] My girlfriend's company is enforcing some sexist rules for some out-of-country visitors...

Question:
My girlfriend's company is having some investors visit her location in a few weeks, and they were told some pretty ridiculous rules. They must wear proper clothing (nothing below collarbone can show, long-sleeves, no feet showing, etc), which is whatever, I'm okay with that.  *However*, they were also told that all women cannot make eye contact or greet these people. Apparently last time a woman offered a handshake and the man said to her "I don't shake hands with women."

Apparently these people are from Israel, so their culture is quiet different from ours, but I just don't understand how her company can enforce this kind of thing.

Edit: I should note that she is *not* trying to fight this. I was just extremely surprised and a bit outraged by what she told me and was curious on the legality of the situation.

Answer:
 This doesn't sound like anything illegal has happened.  Orthodox Jews don't shake hands with women, so it could have been more of an FYI thing on what to expect.

Texas is an at will state, so the way they will enforce this is firing her whenever they wish.  If she upsets higher ups she can be fired without any legal recourse.  The exception would be if you can prove she was fired based on sexism (her gender negatively impacting her employment opportunities).

I am female and personally I wouldn't be too upset about this.  I'm not dying to introduce myself to people who think it's a terrible fate to make eye contact with me.Answer #2: For the record, this not an Israeli norm and only makes sense with orthodox/Hasidic Jews. The same would probably make sense with Hasidic Jews from New York. This is not a typical Israeli norm. ( actually they're probably more okay with nudity than Americans.. )


Title: What exactly does the money i pay a lawyer used for?

Question:
I once was paying a lawyer to represent me in a gun charge case. .long story ...i have a felony conviction from 11 years ago for battery on law enforcement.  Wound up serving one year. Almost ten years later i move into a room that my sister is moving out of and she has left some clothes and stuff there.  She also left her 9mm in the closet i knew its location  but it was in a locked box.  Six weeks prior i had been denied the sale of a gun for my prior felony conviction.  Apparently when you are denied the sale alot six weeks layer the ATF may come search your house to make sure someone else didn't go buy that gun for you.  Any way to m y real question , what did the 5000 dollars i paid my lawyer actually do?  He definitely in a subtle way suggested that if i had maybe  3-5 more thousand the charges might be dropped but that for his standard 5 i could possibly expect some prison time in a bad scenario but most likely a couple years probation.  How does more money equate better defense or lighter sentencing?   I wound up with 2 years probation. Is that like rounds of golf and ivory back scratchers for the judge and D.A?  I live in North west florida.
Topic:
Criminal Law

Answer: The money was used to pay his hourly rate. I imagine he used the money on things like his mortgage, food, clothing, maybe something nice for the wife.  Pretty much what I use my paycheck for.


Title: Who's paying for my wasted groceries?!

Question:
I own a mobile home inside a mobile home park where I pay rent on a space for my home. The park is in charge of gas lines and their maintenance. PG&E found a leak in one of the pipes running under our park and has shut gas off until pipes are replaced. There are three hundred plus homes here without gas. No hot water. No stoves. No heat in home.

Residents here have no way to cook other than a microwave and a few of us have a bbq.

My question is, does the park owe us monetarily for wasted food we can't cook? Or some sort of rent reduction.

In California if that changes anything.

Answer:
 I pulled this from the *2016 Mobile Home Residency Law* page 14:

>**798.42 NOTICE OF UTILITY INTERRUPTION**

>The management shall provide, by posting notice on the mobilehomes of all affected homeowners and residents, at least
72 hours’ written advance notice of an interruption in utility service of more than two hours for the maintenance, repair, or
replacement of facilities of utility systems over which the management has control within the park, provided that the
interruption is not due to an emergency. The management shall be liable only for actual damages sustained by a
homeowner or resident for violation of this section.

>“Emergency,” for purposes of this section, means the interruption of utility service resulting from an accident or act of
nature, or cessation of service caused by other than the management’s regular or planned maintenance, repair, or
replacement of utility facilities.

http://www.hcd.ca.gov/codes/mobilehome-special-occupancy-parks/docs/mrl.pdfAnswer #2: Can't you just keep the food in the fridge or freeze it?


Title: I recently fixed my dad's old car, and he wants to give it to me. My grandpa suggested "selling" it to me for a dollar to avoid tax. How legal is this and what would I expect doing this vs just gifting it?

Question:
For reference I live in Ohio, and have tried searching this, but keep getting conflicting answers, some dating back 10 years. I need a current one.

The KBB list price says in it's condition it should be around $1,000.

It shouldn't be too much if it gets taxed, and I am not sure if it would be tax exempt in my state if it's immediate family.

Either way, my parents are wanting to go the "$1" route.

My apologies if this has been asked a bunch before, I tried searching reddit for similar threads before posting.

Answer:
 Such a stupid idea. It's like putting a sticker on your title saying: audit me.  Anyway from http://www.tax.ohio.gov/sales_and_use/Vehicle_Taxability_Compliance/VehicleTaxability/tabid/6311/Default.aspx?QuestionID=1653&AFMID=13652

>Can you provide more examples of situations where there is no tax due on the transfer of title of a motor vehicle, all-purpose vehicle, off-highway motorcycle, titled watercraft, titled outboard motor, or titled personal watercraft?

...
>j) The transfer of title between parents and their children, husband and wife, or between two unrelated parties in the absence of any clear consideration. (PRICE OF $0.00)Answer #2: Ohio's BMV has a terrible website, so I'm not having any luck, but most states allow you to give a car as a gift and have it not be taxable.


Title: [Boston, MA] My boss is asking me to file for Short Term Disability while working from home

Question:
Hi all. Though some of my work is done in-office, about 90% of my job allows me to work from home on my laptop. I sprained my ankle last week and worked from home for a few days. I returned to work on crutches this Monday, but due to snowy conditions, slipped outside of work and further damaged my ankle.

I went to urgent care, was given a "boot" in addition to my crutches, and got a note from the doctor saying "please accomodate shinyisyourheart and let her work from home for the next 3-4 weeks, as she should not be bearing weight on her ankle."

My boss did NOT like this- she was actually pretty angry when I shared the note. I told her that I don't actually expect to need 3-4 weeks, and that I will return when I can comfortably walk with my boot on. (i.e. I may not be out for full 3-4 weeks)

She said that the doctor's note did not say that accomodating me was mandatory. She wants me to file for Short Term Disability if I can't come into the office, but still wants me to work from home while I am on STD (and getting paid 66% of my salary by the insurance company, with my company not paying me anything at all). In addition, she wants me to use my 5 sick days for the year beforehand (which most STD policies require) and work during those also- when our company sick days are days off (i.e. we are not expected to work when taking sick days).

This doesn't feel right to me. I should also add: my boss is the VP of HR at my company and she has been asked to leave (i.e. fired). Her last day is Feb 3rd.

Tl;dr: I sprained my ankle and have been working from home, but boss wants me to file for STD and still get my work done. This would require burning up my sick days (and working on those days) also. She is the head of HR and I don't really have a way of going above her. Is this legal?

UPDATE: Our call got rescheduled to Monday.

2nd UPDATE: We had our call, I wussed out and said I would try to come in this Thursday or Friday. She said I don't need to file for STD then and dropped it. Sigh. Thank you all for your help.

Answer:
 Your boss is a little confused. Either you file for STD because you can't work, or you can work and are allowed to work from home for a while during recovery.  They don't HAVE to accommodate your request to work from home, but they can't make you work unpaid either, and if you are collecting STD you aren't allowed to also be working as that is insurance fraud.

Do you qualify for FMLA protected leave? If so, you could file for STD and also turn in your FMLA certification which protects your job. If they fire you for not working during your period of FMLA protected leave you go right to an attorney because that is very illegal.Answer #2: This is straight up insurance fraud against the short term disability insurance company.

Massachusetts also has a paid sick time law, meaning that paid sick time is regulated by the state, and forcing you to work while using sick pay would violate that law. The State AG's office would be interested in this request.


Title: I live in a 2-party consent state for phone recordings. Do I need to tell the 2nd party that I am recording if they have already disclosed that they are recording?

Question:
Basically, I want to record my conversation with Comcast. If the Comcast representative tells me that the call is being recorded for QA purposes and I consent, do I need to tell them that I am also recording the conversation?

By recording the conversation themselves and asking my consent, have they in effect given their consent to be recorded by me as well?

Edit: The two party consent state is California.

Answer:
 I read someone's anecdote for this situation.

Automated "this call is being recorded."

When you connect with the representative, use an incredulous voice and ask "do you know this call is being recorded?" They say yes.


Title: Me and my friend have a true slam band and would it be legally ok to name the band "Mickey Mouse Meth House"?

Question:
   I'll set the story... So me and my friend have a internet band that is a true slam metal band. (ex: Defeated sanity, Sepultura, Devourment, Ingested, etc...) And we have a ep/demo that's good to go but that isn't released out yet. I told my mother (I'm 17) about this band and what were doing with it, and she was horrified at this entire thing as expected, but not in way you'd think.

   She didn't have a problem with the band itself, but she was worried on the legal trouble we could be facing if we released the ep. Saying that I could go to jail for many years just because of defamation and slander (I can't remember what it was called but I'll stick to that). And though I did tell her that I could just make a anonymous account for the band itself with no link to me or anyone else (our plan was just to release it on YouTube and maybe some other platforms if we get traction)

    She said, one of Disney's departments goes around the internet looking for things that copy or have a relation to Disney related things and stuff like that. For me the worst I thought would happen is if YouTube would just take the songs down off the website and that's understandable and that's what might happen. Though I don't know barely a shred of legal advice, I definitely know this stuff is not fair use by any stretch of the imagination.

  So I need your thoughts on this, is it legally ok to release the ep/demo out there to YouTube and other platforms even though the band is literally called "Mickey Mouse Methhouse"?

I know this all may seem childish and very immature, but for me it's just better safe than sorry before I release this band out to the public

Tldr: Me and my mother had a discussion on if I should release a demo/ep even if the band name and song titles are both very satirically slanderous to Mickey mouse and Disney as of whole.
Topic:
Computer and Internet

Answer:
 Disney is notoriously protective of their IP.

Once they find out, you will be sued until you are bankrupt. This is a terrible terrible idea.Answer #2: >So I need your thoughts on this, is it legally ok to release the ep/demo out there to YouTube and other platforms even though the band is literally called "Mickey Mouse Methhouse"?

No, Disney wil not look kindly to your use of the name.


Title: Employer nearly scammed me for 3,000. Want to press charges

Question:
Hi there~

I'm a sophmore in college, and being in debt is something I've come to expect. I wasn't expecting (and was ignoring my tiny amount of doubt) my new employer to attempt to scam me out of 3,000 and send me into debt.

But they did. They sent a fake check (The bank thought there were too many things wrong with it to be real), asked me to send them the deposit slip, and such. I expected to have a job at the end of the month, and until the end of the school year at least. It would have paid 400. I hadn't been looking for a job for at least a week, maybe two, because "yay I have a job at the end of the month, and they're paying my first week in advance". They asked me to run an errand and pay the person building their custom doghouse, as the family hadn't moved to our state yet.

I didn't think much of it because the person is military personnel, and their photos implied that.

So, I want to press criminal charges. I'm 90% sure that malicious check fraud is completely illegal, and have a suspicion that impersonating military or medical personnel (they said their wife was a nurse) is also illegal. I just don't know how to press criminal charges, how much I should ask for in restitution (what can I get), and lastly, since the fraud committer doesn't know I know, is there a way I can go to the police, call the fraud person, get the phone tapped, and figure out where the person is located so we at least have something to go off of location wise?

Answer:
 You can file a police report.  That's it.

This isn't a TV show.  They're not going to tap the phones or do any of that.  Chances are that the police won't even do much to investigate because they will have lots of other issues to deal with.

Basically, you can file a report and the district attorney or prosecutor will decide whether this is worth the state's resources to pursue.  You cannot force them to file charges.


Title: So my dad has a very odd concept about how home laws work, I need this cleared up if possible.

Question:
So basically me and my girlfriend are temporarily living in my parents basement while we get situated with school and moving back into the state, and now he is getting all up in arms saying that since she mailed something to the house she could now potentially issue an "Order of Protection" that would allow her to live in the house and force us all out of it.

Can you guys debunk this and explain in great detail why that is absolutely insane?

Edit - I am in New York, forgot to include that.

Answer:
 Well she's not going to be able to force you out, but she could (probably is) a tenant, with all the protections that implies. You haven't given your state, but if you wanted to evict her you would have to do all the things that you would need to do to evict any tenant on a month to month lease.

But that's nothing to do with mailing something.Answer #2: When an order of protection is issued, it can keep someone out of their residence.  It's a court order to keep two people apart.

But it has to be based on reasonable grounds- she would have to be able to articulate reasons why she feels that a person (or everyone in the house) is a threat to her, and then she would have to convince a judge of that.

Receiving mail at the house has nothing to do with it.  If she was living there with no mail, she could do the same thing (provided she had a valid reason to do so).


Title: [IL] Fired & humiliated from last job, now they're withholding my last paycheck

Question:
I was a low-level employee who had worked for the same, small, company for ~1.4 years. They fired me last Tuesday for a (bogus) laundry list of reasons, including but not limited to; inappropriate social media posts, inappropriate use of company wifi (instagram and facebook), leaving damaged product in the open while the company gave tours, and 'bad performance'.

There's nothing actually inappropriate on my social media, nor did I misuse company wifi. I'm a bisexual man, and the only thing that might be considered inappropriate was a funny picture of me kissing a girl and grabbing a dudes junk at the same time. They found out I was bi a few months ago, and since everyone I work with has treated me differently. I also only used wifi on my breaks to check my feeds. I did leave damaged product in the open, but on my supervisors commands. The shift before us always damages about $100-200 of product a night. No one cares and I've been repeatedly told to find it, then leave it out for someone else to fix. They provided no actual response to 'bad performance' claims.

When I was fired, they brought me into the meeting room with a bunch of my co-workers, my supervisor, and a few upper-level employees. They basically just shit on me for 5 minutes and said I was fired. So yea. The next day I was told to return my uniforms or else I'd be charged for them and the remainder would be sent to collections. So I did, and was called faggot multiple times and made fun of on my way out, things like "you'll never get another job again bitch boy", which I already have.

Today was supposed to be my last paycheck. I looked at the companies payroll website. My check was cut apparently. It will update on Wednesday, and then show up in my bank Thursday at noon-ish. It has not shown in my bank, and has never been delayed. I called to ask why I had not received my check, and was told to come back in again if I wanted my money.

I'm not going back. The job was in the city about 60-90 minutes away from my house. My new job is about 20-30 minutes in the complete opposite direction. Not only is the commute bad, but I'm not going back in to that toxic environment again.

I texted my old boss to mail the check if they won't direct deposit it, and was told that's not a possibility and they want to talk to me again.

Is this illegal? The withholding my last paycheck. I know the sex-insults are illegal, but I filed for an EEOC investigation around August, when everyone found out. It came back dead and so that's that. I know someone will mention EEOC, but that's already failed.

Answer:
 [File a wage complaint](https://www2.illinois.gov/idol/pages/complaints.aspx) with the IL Dept of Labor.

It's possible they mailed the last check.

Illinois is one of the few states that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation (and gender identity - go Illinois!). You can speak to a lawyer if you'd wish, and they can lump that into a lawsuit to prove 'bad faith' and possibly get a slap on the wrist.


Title: Had to go out of state for abortion at 23 weeks b\c perinatal dr didn't inform of 22 week cut off.

Question:
I'm from the great, red state of Kentucky and was up until recently pregnant with my third child.  At the 20 week ultrasound (which was rescheduled to technically 21 weeks due to 18inches of snow on the ground) we received devastating news that our unborn child was a possible trisomy syndrome. The fetus had an enlarged heart that was twisted and rotated about 60 degrees. The heart also had a large hole in one side and was already not functioning properly. The cerebellum in the back of the brain was not fussed which would cause 'dandy walker' syndrome and cyst to form. The arms and legs were abnormally short with distinct club footing and hands noticed.
As devastating as this news was, the perinatologist suggested running an amniotic test and rechecking the heart in 2 weeks. By the end of the day, my husband and I knew what our decision would be regarding the pregnancy (termination due to quality of life, fairness to our two other children and the health risks posed to me with bringing this pregnancy to term). I was already showing signs of pre eclampsia with my blood pressure rising and many days had major abdominal pain and cramping.
Flash forward to 2 weeks later, we go for our recheck, see a different doctor and no changes are seen with the fetus. The doctor starts talking about future plans for delivery and the open heart surgery the baby would need immediately after birth. Confused, my husband asks why termination isn't being brought up. We were then told we were no longer in that window. Unknown to us, abortions are illegal after 22 weeks in Kentucky. Asking why we weren't given this information at the visit 2 weeks ago, the doctor just shrugged his shoulders.
Panic assumed, anger was present and legal action was threatened. Not only did my own state ban the procedure but many of the surrounding states do as well (some go as far with 23 weeks but because of laws with up to 48 hour waiting periods AFTER seeing a doctor, we had no luck).
We were finally referred to a clinic in New Jersey who could start the 2-3 day procedure before 23 weeks and 6 days.
With no time left, we quickly made the 800 mile trip, leaving our kids at home with family members, and had to come up with nearly $5000 for the procedure, gas and lodging.
My question is, as patients do we have the right to all options being given to us even if they are against the doctor's own, personal moral agenda? We had no idea of the 22 week cut off and wouldn't have gone through with diagnostic testing and rechecks if known.  We would have scheduled the termination the next day and not only would have saved ourselves the lengthy trip and all but also about $2000 for the procedure (price goes up by the week).
To make matters worse, we are now getting bills in the mail from the perinatal office for all the tests, visits and consults!
Long story short, do we have any grounds for medical neglect due to all the information not being given to us? Or should we just cut our losses and put this awful, tragic experience behind us?
Any help would be wonderful!

Answer: I don't have any legal advice to offer. Just wanted to say that I'm so sorry you had to deal with such an incompetent doctor. I believe a doctor is supposed to give you all of your options, regardless of their personal beliefs. Thank goodness you were able to get the procedure done elsewhere. Have you thought of contacting a local law office- perhaps they are more familiar with the laws in your state? Answer #2: I'm so sorry this happened to you. From where I sit, this sounds like a very hard case to make out any real wrongdoing on the doctors part. It was a shitty, shitty thing to do, but not really unlawful. It is highly unlikely that a doctor would be held liable for not advising you of the abortion laws in your state, especially in Kentucky. Doctors are generally required to identify options fitting a certain standard (varies by state, but usually something like "reasonable alternatives and their risks and benefits"), but informing you of the law wouldn't really fit within that. You may be able to get a local law firm to scare them into waiving your medical fees, but even that would be a stretch. Sorry there isn't a better option here. Answer #3: No, the doctor is not a lawyer and is not bound to explain the laws of your state to you. It sounds like you didn't even ask the first doctor about an abortion, and didn't bring it up until the 2nd appointment two weeks later?


Title: This is a Scam, right?

Question:
I own a 33 year old, small hometown ice cream shop.  I received a call from a guy stating that he has a billionaire friend from Shanghai that is interested in learning about how ice cream is made.  He wants to open ice cream shops in Shanghai, because there is "no good ice cream over there."  He wants to learn about sourcing ingredients, the process of making ice cream, the whole bit.

So my red-flag radar is going off pretty heavy.  Yesterday the guy that called me and his Asian friend stop by the shop and I make sure I'm not around.  I'm nervous that something shady is happening so I figure I will just ignore it and it'll blow over.  They come into the shop, order a bunch of small scoops of quite a few varieties, and that's the end of it.  Or so I thought...

Tonight the guy, his Shanghai friend, and an interpreter come in.  They want to look around the shop and see my equipment.  I'd spoken to a police officer about this and went with his suggestion; tell him my lawyer isn't comfortable with us talking/them seeing the shop, be polite, serve them ice cream, and that's the end of it.  They asked some questions about the history of the shop, the way I source ingredients (a lot of vendors or just a few), and what my dream ice cream shop would look like.  I answered the questions politely and moved on.  Peppered the conversation with comments like "this is a little bit out there," "how do I know you are who you say you are," and "I'm just a small town ice cream maker."

In the end, he said he'd like to talk to our lawyer to address my concerns.  Happy to ask any questions you may have.  What a weird night at the ice cream shop.

Updated location: Illinois

Answer:
 LoL, I don't know why you're acting like you have to oblige his request to learn the ancient art of ice-creamery from you and for free. Tell this guy *no thanks* and move on. Some people have a lot of nerve. I don't even see why it matters if he is being properly forthcoming with his intentions. Answer #2: It certainly is a weird way to do market research and wouldn't be the way I'd go about it (MBus International Business student). That said I don't see what their angle is here if it is a scam.

They could be casing the joint for a robbery but presumably you lock up and clear the tills every night like a sane person so that's not likely.

So yeah... more information is needed.