Title: Houseowner keeps locking me out of the house where I am renting a bedroom!

Question: I am renting a bedroom in California this Summer. Houseowner has locked me out twice so far. Both times I told them exactly when I was coming back. I have the keys to the door but they insist on putting the door chain. The first time I texted them and told them when I was getting back to the house a few days ahead of time and yet they left town with the chain on the door. They leave from the garage door so they can still put chain on the main door that I have keys to. The second time we talked in person. They said they were leaving town too but since I was getting back earlier than them they were going to leave the chains off. When I got back, the chains were on and when I texted to ask if they were close by the situation escalated with them calling me a lier, ugly, text abusive, and how from here on the chain will be on after a certain time at night and on weekends and if they are away it’s not their responsibility. I am paying rent to live in this house. Can they legally do that to me? What are my rights here? Thank you!

Answer:
 No, they cannot legally do this to you. They must allow you to have access to the room you rented. This is a civil code violation under  §789.3(b)(1), which means they can't lock you out unless you've been evicted or abandoned the property.

He has no obligation to leave the home unlocked entirely for your access, but locking it only with the key so you have access is entirely reasonable. Locking it with the chain so you cannot get in is arguably illegally evicting you.

The next time he does it, call the police.Answer #2: Can you ask for the garage key or code or opener?Answer #3: I believe the legal aspect has been answered but if you do happen to be locked out again with the chain you can use a card. Just open the door far enough to slide it in, place it under the chain, and pull up really fast and this can knock the chain out of the latch. It takes a bit of practice but it should be doable. (Also I learned this getting in to my own home not someone else’s)


Title: Is it legal for my landlord to prevent me from subletting my apartment? [New York]

Question:
I am looking to get out of my lease as I need to move to be closer to my new place of employment.  My lease says that the tenant shall not sublet the apartment; however, a quick look online suggests that this isn't legal and I have the right to sublet in NYS.

"Even if your lease forbids it, you have the right under the law to sublease your apartment, and the lease provision is null and void."

Is this true, and if so, what steps should I take to force the issue if my landlord tries to enforce it?

Answer: There are a few exceptions but generally: "Unless a greater right to assign is conferred by the lease, a tenant renting a residence may not assign his lease without the written consent of the owner, which consent may be unconditionally withheld without cause provided that the owner shall release the tenant from the lease upon request of the tenant upon thirty days notice if the owner unreasonably withholds consent which release shall be the sole remedy of the tenant. If the owner reasonably withholds consent, there shall be no assignment and the tenant shall not be released from the lease."  NY CLS Real P § 226-b.


Title: [USA] I ordered a hot tea with lemon from Dunkin' Donuts and after finishing about half of it, I opened the lid to sip from the cup and not the lid. I noticed a lot of the Styrofoam around the top was deteriorated as if it had been melted away. Is this something I can pursue?

Question:
I can provide some pictures if need be

*edit - pictures provided
http://imgur.com/a/tjx1O

Answer:
 You are owed $50 million and 35% of the company.

OR

A coupon for a free hot tea with lemon.

One of the two I always mix them up.


Title: [FL, USA] My roommates get weed via USPS.

Question:
So when my room mates moved in they told me they smoked weed.  I really don’t care if you do just don’t let it affect me.

My roommates started getting a lot of packages in and one day I made the mistake of asking “What’s with the packages?” The gf said ohhh that’s how we get our weed.

(The packages are either addressed to a wrong name or no name)

I thought this was sus but me being a dumb 20 something didn’t think anything about it.

Fast forward to today, I went to go mail in my taxes (long story don’t ask).  I was talking to the mail lady and asking about horror stories and she was telling me some person got caught mailing shit through them and was sent to prison.

I’ll answer any questions I can but I just want to figure out what to do so I don’t have to go to jail.

Topic:
Drug Possession

Answer:
 >I’ll answer any questions I can but I just want to figure out what to do so I don’t have to go to jail.

Have you roommates stop getting weed in the mail.


Title: Caught stealing $154 worth of merchandise from Dillards

Question: As the title says, I was caught stealing $154 worth of stuff from a Dillards in Kentucky. They caught me on camera and a worker took all of the stuff back, and the police came and gave me a citation and court date. I have never been in trouble before so I don't really know what to do. I cannot afford a lawyer and plan on using a public defender. What are my next steps? What's the best/worst possible outcome? Also (I don't know if this matters or not), I live in Indiana and am moving about 3 hours away from the court location before the actual court date. I don't know if my distance from the site will matter or not. Thanks for your help!

Answer:
 Distance doesn't matter, you're going to be at that court date.

How sure are you that you can use a public defender? Right now, find out the procedures in the county for applying for a financial affidavit to see if you qualify for PD.

Nobody can opine on the "best" possible outcome. You're facing a misdemeanor with up to 12 months in jail/$500 in fines or both/court costs of $135.


Title: Should we file a small claim against AT&T for unjustly denying warranty?

Question:
My partner is in a dispute with AT&T currently. Basically the touchscreen on his phone stopped responding to touches in a certain section of the screen and also would register phantom touches.

He took it to a local AT&T repair center and was told by the workers there that it was definitely a hardware defect and he shouldn't have a problem getting it approved. However to go through AT&T's warranty service you have to agree to accept a brand new phone before the central warranty center that they ship your phone off to approves or rejects your warranty. This is actually great if your warranty gets approved because you get a new device right away, but if they deny it then you're on the hook for the cost of the new device, which in this case is $420. There is no option to just send the device in and get it back if it's rejected without agreeing to the new phone.

Well obviously they denied the claim and claimed that some cosmetic scratches on the touchscreen were the cause of the touchscreen defect. Firstly I would consider these scratches to be normal wear and tear from use of the device, the screen was not shattered or anything. Secondly after some searching this is a widely documented problem with this phone model (LG G2) so there's pretty much no way that this defect was caused by neglect or user damage.

So basically AT&T is refusing to honor their warranty even though it is a hardware defect, and their own people at the repair center initially said it was a hardware defect.

Is this the kind of thing that we can file for in small claims court, and do we have a chance at winning? Also, are we able to claim things like compensation for time spent and cost of gas driving to and from their repair center?
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer:
 You need to check the warranty documents.  It's very possible they have an arbitration clause that may or may not exempt small claims.Answer #2: Not a lawyer just a tech. I'm gonna take a shot in the dark. (It needs to be noted that without holding the device I cannot diagnose it) Can you make a manufacturer claim? LG should stand by the device for 1 year. Also the problem with 1st Tier carrier techs is that a lot of them don't know enough about your specific device. They probably just didn't have the training/tools to help/fix it. If you're in a major city ask around at your local Best Buy (Talk to competitor reps). Ask if there are representatives of LG (Usually Vice Presidents) that haunt them. Find one. They are god tier.

I understand that you are far beyond this advice. But I figure you're not going to stop buying phones anytime soon. LG is suckling hind tit (sorry step dad was a redneck) and they could use the story on how they saved the day.

I'm really hoping I'm not breaking any rules here. Just want to help you out if possible.


Title: Is it legal to get an IUD at age 16?

Question: I'm in the philippines and I would like to get an IUD insertion. Would I need my parent's permission to get one as well?

Answer:
 This sub is mostly for USA/Canada. It is unlikely that anyone here is familiar with Phillippine law.

Could you maybe contact a local family planning clinic to ask or speak to a trusted school nurse/teacher?Answer #2: There may not be much Philippines specific knowledge here.  Some quick Googling suggested that this is very much in flux, with Duterte and the Catholic Church squaring off.

I found this article, which does not answer your question,

https://www.cosmo.ph/health/health-report/contraceptives-available-philippines-kinds-prices-effectiveness-side-effects-a1526-20170203-lfrm2

but I'll bet that the author, Andie Estella, would have some good resources and knowledge about providers in different cities, or would know who to ask.

I think it may be against the rules of this subreddit for me to post her email address, since she's not quite a public figure or public official, but it ends in

@cosmo.ph

and there are exactly five characters to the left of the @ sign.   I bet that if you were to look for her Instgram profile, you'd be able to figure out the rest of her address pretty easily.

Good luck!


Title: A nonprofit hosted a paid event with a speaker and someone videoed the speaker without permission from the organizers. Does the nonprofit have any claim to that content? [Oregon]

Question:
The speaker doesn't care. Is the person who filmed without permission at a paid event in violation of anything legally for distributing that content online? We're mainly just dealing with a shitty person who won't go away but are curious if any legal lines were crossed that would give us reason to ban him from future events.
Topic:
Intellectual Property

Answer:
 If there was an explicit, written condition to attending that no recording was allowed, then the organizers might have a breach of contract action if they could prove actual, concrete damages.  If it was a one-off with that speaker and they didn't record the talk themselves with the intent to sell it, that seems unlikely.

They have no claim to ownership of the recording, IMO.


Title: CPS referred social worker to investigate my family

Question: Hello reddit. My girlfriend and I just had a child in the state of Kentucky. The mother tested positive for thc at the time of giving birth. The babies urine test did not come back positive and we were informed they would be testing his stool, but never heard of the results. A social worker left a note on our door after a surprise visit before the baby came home with us. I work 9-5 as a web developer for a company so I was not home at the time. We followed up with a phone call as soon as I got home. I did not talk to the social worker, but my girlfriend did. They asked for our social security numbers and dob's for background checks, and informed us she will be coming to interview the mother monday the following week. (I will be at work the time of the interview) We have nothing to hide, and are very respectful people. We do both have criminal backgrounds for multiple marijuana charges, and one pain pill charge each because we were pressure to snitch and did not. No charges have been within the past 4-5 years. Unfortunately, neither of us know much about what our rights are in this situation or what we should and shouldn't do, and would like to be more informed. Any comments will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for giving us your time.

Answer:
 What you should do:
Cooperate with CPS.
Be polite
Stop doing illegal drugs.
Remove all illegal substances and paraphernalia from the home.
Completely comply with any and all stipulations CPS gives you

What you should not do:
Be uncooperative, surly, or otherwise make things more difficult for them.
Continue to do drugs.
Have drugs in the house.
Not comply with CPS directives.Answer #2: You can view CPS as much like police.  You have a right not to speak with them, not to allow them into your home, and so on.  You have the right to decline any services they might offer for your family.  They are investigating you with an eye towards adverse consequences for you, much like police, so prudence would indicate you shouldn't talk to them, much like police.  If you do start talking to them but then decide not to continue, you can stop.

In some cases if they have evidence of abuse, they can obtain a court order to enter your home and possibly remove the child from the home.  (Think: police search warrant.)  If they do have such an order, it's not voluntary.  But in the absence of such an order, you can tell them thanks but no thanks, and to go away.

Also much like police officers, some CPS workers are bright and friendly and helpful and actually want what's best for you, and some are surly, awful human beings.  You don't know which is which until you start interacting with them.


Title: Girlfriend (18) transferred high schools and was never told her credits didn't transfer until she tried to enroll at a college. Now is being made to repeat junior-high classes for a year.

Question:
[deleted]
Topic:
School Related Issues

Answer:
 >How is it that credits couldn't have transferred between two school in the same town?

This would be a good question for her to ask.

>Can the school be held accountable for not notifying her of it until a week before she was scheduled to graduate and putting a serious hold on her life?

How could she or her parents not have noticed this?  Did they not sit down with anyone when she transferred?  Check her transcript before college admissions season?  Anything?  Ultimately, it's every student's responsibility to keep track of their credits and make sure they are on track to graduate.

It's not a legal issue and there's nobody to sue.


Title: [AZ] Corporate policy at my restaurant is not to give you proper change

Question:
I tried to summarize as best I could in the title but I apologise if it's confusing. I work as a server at a mid-large local chain, and obviously as a server I get tips. At the end of the night we get all of our tips in cash, rather than having them added to our paychecks. Corporate policy prevents our managers from giving us proper change, however. I'll try to give an example to explain.

So say I had one table for the night and their total was $20. They pay with a card and write in a tip of $5, then as I left I would be given $5 in cash for that tip. But, if I had a table whose total was $20.50, and they paid $25 in cash, that means I would owe my restaurant the $20.50 in cash and I keep the rest as my $4.50 tip. If I were to give them $21 and ask for 50¢ back, policy prevents my managers from giving me back my 50¢, meaning I would only get a $4 tip rather than the $4.50 the customer intended. Is this legal? If it is, what allows them to do that?

Sorry if that doesn't make sense, I tried to make a good example. I'll explain more in the comments if people have questions.

Answer:
 Tips are a side deal between servers and customers. The company is not a party to tips and should never ever keep any money intended as a tip. Things like tip pools can exist by mutual agreement, but again the company isn't allowed to keep any of it.

Mandatory Gratuity or anything automatically included in a bill isn't a tip and therefore can be disposed of in any manner.

You can file a complaint with the Arizona Department of Labor, but do be aware that this will make your relationship with your employer adversarial so it's important to have your ducks in a row before you file.Answer #2: This is easily fixed by carrying change with you.


Title: [IN] Punishment for Selling Deceptive Products

Question:
What happens if I (for instance) sell an item that is knowingly deceptive?

Lets take an example:

I sell a diet pill to customers that will make them not hungry for 4 hours (Say I know this because I tested it on 1000 individuals and took the average).  However, on my packaging, I state that it will make them not hungry for 12 hours, over exaggerating the effectiveness of the product.

Who would come after me for doing something like this?  What law would I be breaking?

Thanks!

EDIT:  So we do not get tied up in FDA/Drug approval, lets consider this example:

I have a cell phone I have created from my company. I know this phone has a battery life of 3 hours, yet I sell it and advertise it as a battery life of 4.5 hours, in order to increase sales.

Now, a lot of customers do not notice this. They simply do not measure it and don't add 1 and 2 together to realize my product was misleading.

Now lets say a customer does find this out, he contacts my company and I apologize that he is unhappy with the device and let him return it and refund his money. It's hard to prove that all of the phones in fact do not last 4.5 hours, maybe the battery had an imperfection and caused HIS phone to be different than the others.

Would the customer that did the research come after me? Is this scenario indeed still considered fraud even though I deal with customer dissatisfaction and accept his return? I hope what I'm saying is making more sense, but I'm having trouble coming up with examples that are similar to my real one. This one is closer, however.

Thanks for the help so far! :)

Answer: Fraud, false advertising, unfair business practices as to the customers, and the government would also get involved, since they don't really like people selling drugs that lack FDA approval.


Title: [NH] Is there any law that would restrict me from pulling to the side on a public roadway and playing this game?

Question: I live in a lake community in NH.  I'm also an avid Pokemon Go player.  I've recently learned of a neighborhood across the lake from my home that has a rare spawn point.  As such, I'll occaisionally drive through the neighborhood (4 times a week or so), bring my vehicle to a stop, catch the Pokemon that are there and move on.  The whole process takes less than five minutes.  Now, this road is very narrow, and the houses close together, so I can't pull off the road very far without being fully in someone's driveway or yard.  Luckily the road is also not well traveled so my blocking the roadway is generally not a problem, as I will move off to the side to allow anyone that comes up behind me to pass immediately.  It has become a problem once, though. A man arrived home to a house that I was near when I was finishing up, and walked toward my vehicle.  I called over that I was just catching some Pokemon and would be done in a few minutes and then would move on.  He told me I should leave immediately, I told him that since I was on a public roadway and not his property I would leave when I see fit.  He said he was calling the police, and I invited him to do so but then was done catching Pokemon so I attempted to leave, but he obstructed my pathway and photographed my license plate.  Was I doing anything illegal?  Obviously obstructing the roadway, but I wasn't actually obstructing anyone attempting to pass (seriously, I've seen a total of 3 other people on this road, there's never anyone there).

Answer: Yes, obstructing a roadway is illegal and poses a hazard to other drivers.


Title: (Adult) [Colorado] - I would like to keep my body from being possessed and buried by my estranged "next of kin" and instead donate it to science.

Question:
What steps do I need to follow and what paperwork to fill out?
Also, because of my chronically deteriorating condition, I may commit suicide before I lose my identity and mental functions. Would suicide nullify my will to donate my body to science? Thanks!

Answer:
 Suicide wouldn't nullify your will to donate your body to science but it may prevent it from being used for science. There is a certain time frame for using bodies for science so if a body were not found right away it might not be in usable condition.
As wanderingdev pointed out, it would be a good idea to keep a copy of your intentions with you at all times. I would go so far as keeping a copy of your will with you. It would also be a good idea to give copies to people you are close to and trust.


Title: Help with a lease agreement: My landlord is using my leased space as a job-trailer.

Question:
Hi, /r/legaladvice!

I recently took over operations of a family company. Our company operates out of 2 offices but is currently leasing 3 offices because of an automatic renewal in a lease agreement (the property owner was not given 90 days notice of our intent to not renew, so it renewed automatically for another 3 year term... this is part of the reason I am now running operations for the business). Having lost most of our business in the area, we had decided to move the staff in the now unoccupied office to our other offices which were receiving more business. We have continued to pay our lease every month and have not missed a payment despite not using the office.

Until this week, we had not occupied the office in approximately 2 years and had no plans to. This week, however, we picked up new clients and our business now could need that space to operate since the clients we picked up are in the vicinity of the unoccupied office. Yesterday, I went to check on the unoccupied office to see what all I would need to stock it with to get it started up again (the office has been unoccupied for 2 years now, although we have had to continue to pay the lease). I arrive and find out that place has been gutted - The kitchen removed, office walls knocked down. Other offices in the vicinity owned by our landlord were being remodeled. They were using our office as storage space for construction materials.

We never received notification (formal, verbal, or informal) that our space would be modified or used in this manner while we were not occupying it.

What I'm trying to figure out is if I'm liable for a lease payment while they are occupying the space, if the lease agreement is void since they modified the space without notifying me, or if I can get out of the lease altogether.

Any advice will certainly be appreciated. Thanks in advance, /r/legaladvice!

Edit: Thank you so much for all of your help! It's truly appreciated. And, as the sidebar says, has given me plenty to ask my lawyer. I'm by no means done here and if anyone else has a suggestion to make, I would greatly appreciate it.

Answer:
 Since this is a commercial lease, standard landlord-tenant laws (that most of us are familiar with) aren't going to apply.  Most states do have commercial leasing laws.

Practically speaking, either you're leasing the office space or not.  If you're leasing the space, he needs to restore the space to its previous state and accommodate your needs until it is repaired.  If you're not leasing the space, then you should get a written statement that you're no longer bound by the lease as to that office.

It's possible that you have a right against your landlord for his previous 2-year occupancy of the leased space, but realistically I don't see where you have damages.


Title: Boss stopped scheduling me for work after refusing to send suggestive videos and photos of myself. Does this constitute filing a discrimination charge?

Question:
Backstory: I applied to an indie film company in my area, was hired for a normal day job as a marketer. Since this was a film company, the job app required your acting resume and headshot to be sent along with your professional resume. Therefore, my boss knew I used to act and model.

Que a load of sexual harassment comments. . . Anyway, since this is an indie film company, and I used to act/model, he asked if I wanted to be in one of his productions. I never signed onto it or gave a verbal yes. It was just up in the air. As part of promo for his stuff, he asked for me to send him suggestive videos and photos (not nude, just you know, showing myself off and looking attention getting - attention getting was actually exactly what he said) for him to post online as promo. I sent him an email saying no. He ignores it, and texts me a few days later asking for the pics and videos, I say no. Since then (3+ weeks ago) I've never been scheduled for work.

It may be worth to add that I am just a part time employee and work elsewhere, this is an indie company so he's the only full time worker out of like >10 people, he hasn't paid me since I've worked with for over a month (already filed that sweet  unpaid wages complaint!), he sent me under the table via paypal, so I contacted the department of taxation and they listened to my pay issues and instructed me to report him for tax fraud (already done!), but now, since I know sexual harassment/discrimination has a vague definition in the world of law, would it be worth filing a complaint with the EEOC? I mean, at the end of the day I just want my money and for him to rightfully punished for his willful refusal to pay me (have email proving this, which was sent along with my unpaid wages claim), so would I have anything to gain by doing this? I don't exactly want this man who's like 30+ years older than me coming after me.

Answer:
 >He ignores it, and texts me a few days later asking for the pics and videos, I say no. Since then (3+ weeks ago) I've never been scheduled for work.

Some lawyer somewhere just started salivating and they don't know why yet.

Save those someplace safe. Keep details notes about timeline of when he cut work hours.

https://www.zeekbeek.com/OSBA#region=OHAnswer #2: How many employees? Is it 15 or more? If it's under 15, federal sex harassment laws don't apply.


Title: 2 people drove through local park to run us over with their car

Question:
We are in Pennsylvania. Bear with me this one is a little long. My friend and I were at the park, sitting on the swings. It was a little late, around 7-8pm, dark out. We started to get too loud just being stupid teenagers, when a house across the street started screaming in a not so nice way to be quiet. Of course we did yell some things back at them, they threatened to run us over, we didn’t think they were psycho enough for that so we said to come do it. They took up the offer.
2 people in 2 different cars drove through the park, in the grass around the equipment. The cars basically rangled us up so both of us were inbetween both cars. Long story short we made it out okay with a few scrapes and bruises not nearly anything like it could have turned out, but it was terrifying knowing these people wanted to badly hurt us.
My reason for questioning is the cop on duty (who is known as the easy going “cool” cop who never tickets anybody) said because we taunted them they can’t be charged. Is this even a thing? When someone threatens to run you over and you say do it, and they try, it’s okay because I said to do it?
 There was evidence of them driving through the park, tire marks tore up the grass all over. They could have at LEAST been charged with vandalism, not even that.

EDIT: typo

EDIT 2: location bot told me to

Answer: Do you have a question?


Title: [FL] Neighbor uses a loud whip daily, is there nothing I can do?

Question:
I live in an rv park, neighbor has a whip he uses multiple times daily, it's extremely loud and disruptive. I'm at the end of my rope with him waking my kids up and keeping them from napping. Not to mention it's just fucking annoying multiple times every single day. I tried talking to him about it and he agrees he's being an asshole and doesn't care. He's an ex cop and says he's not breaking any laws, the park says they can't do anything about it. So is that really it? Am I really stuck with this asshole doing this until one of us move?

EDIT: His daughter just came to speak with me. Apparently he makes whips for a living and has to test them out.

Answer:
 >I'm at the end of my rope

Would you say you're about to crack?

It's up to the police. Or you could do nothing and wait for the idiot to get bored, which he inevitably will.


Title: Been asked to preform a wedding ceremony in Texas

Question:
Tl;dr:  do I have to be ordained in some sort of religious nonsense in order to officiate a wedding in Texas?

Texas: some family have asked me to preform their wedding.  I graciously accepted, but that was before I was trying to find out what is required of me.

I can't find anything in regards to a non religious official guidelines and legal requirements.

All I can see is the Universal Life Church ordainment.  And the couple does not want any religious hocus pocus in the ceremony.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Answer:
 Get ordained by the Universal Life Church (or any other officially recognized religious organization of your choosing) online and then perform the wedding sans religious stuff.

In Texas you need to be a religious official or a judge to legally perform a wedding.


Title: Received a parking violation notice from my apartment complex’s contracted tow company threatening to tow my vehicle.

Question:
I reside in Riverside, Ca in an apartment complex. My fiancé (31F) and I (32M) both own our own vehicle, with my vehicle being used the most. I keep my vehicle in the garage and her’s is parked in the apartments first come first serve parking space. Today we checked her car and notice a warning citation from the tow company stating that we were in violation for “storing” her car and threatened to tow her vehicle. Mind you, her car is in operable condition, it is not abandoned, it is fully registered and insured, and registered with the apartments leasing office and displays the proper parking pass/ sticker on the window. A week ago the maintenance guy who also live in the complex told my fiancé she should move her car so it doesn’t look like the vehicle is abandoned and she explained to him we have two cars and use mine more often and that her car works. I think the spot she was parked in was his usual spot and was upset that her car is always parked there. We are going down to the leasing office fist thing in the morning. What would be the best approach for this situation?
Topic:
Traffic and Parking

Answer: Move your car regularly.


Title: Tenant threatening to sue for deposit

Question:
CALIFORNIA

So my dad rented his condo out to a tenant for several years and only took a $500 deposit. Essentially the guy did several thousand dollars worth of damage to the home. The place was completely trashed and most of the appliances within the residence were broken due to misuse. We have tons of photographic evidence of the place after he left.

My dad sent a letter to the guy asking him to pay for the damages. The guy did not pay and obviously my dad did not return the $500 deposit.

EDIT: Yes he did include an itemized list of deductions!

Now the guy has hired a lawyer who is threatening to sue if my dad doesn't return the deposit.

What's the best course of action? Should my dad resend the letter documenting the damages to the lawyer? Or just ignore it?
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 Under California law, your step father was required to return the tenant's deposit within 21 days, along with an itemized list of deductions. Assuming he didn't do this, the tenant does have a case.

Your step father can sue the tenant for the damages caused to the property.


Title: (WI) Should I question my attorney, or is this the normal way things are done?

Question:
Not sure if this is the right place to post. Sorry if I'm breaking any rules.

&#x200B;

I just got done with court about an hour ago. It was supposed to be my preliminary hearing, but when I arrived, my attorney pulled me aside and handed me a piece of paper to sign explaining that he thought we should waive the preliminary hearing. I told him I didn't want to, but he said, "Trust me, these things are a waste of time. Let's waive the preliminary and move to the next step so I can request discovery, and we can go from there."

&#x200B;

He's my attorney, so I felt that I had to trust him. Later when we went before the Commissioner to waive the preliminary hearing, the Commissioner asked me if I understood that I was waiving my right to question any witness that the state provided. He also mentioned that I was waiving my right to call up my own witnesses (I have three in my case, and they were all at my preliminary hearing). I hesitated before responding, and when I looked at my attorney, he nodded his head. So I said yes, I knew I was waiving my rights. The Commissioner then continued that by waiving my rights, they would automatically find probable cause and bind me over. As much as I wanted to NOT waive my rights, I nodded and agreed after my attorney reassured me that this is what we should do.

&#x200B;

Now that I've left court, I feel so wrong... I don't think I should have waived my preliminary hearing. Is this normal advice from a defense attorney? Also, I found out that my attorney has never spoken to any of my witnesses, even though I gave him their information almost a month ago. Is this normal behavior for a defense attorney? Should I question him, or should I just continue to let my attorney go about things his way? This is the first time I've ever been charged and also the first time I've had to hire an attorney, so I don't know the usual way of doing things. My gut is just telling me that I shouldn't have waived my preliminary hearing, but maybe I'm wrong.

Answer:
 I'm a Wisconsin prosecutor so take my position with a grain of salt, but preliminary hearings are a waste of time in 9 out of 10 cases. It's almost always just the office that wrote the police report taking the stand and going through what he already said in the report. Unless there are specific issues your attorney is looking to find out more about, it's pretty much a formality and hard for the state to lose. All we have to show is that it's more likely than not a felony has been committed and that it's probable that you're the one that committed it. It's a really low burden. And you'll usually get slightly more consideration in plea negotiations having waived it.

Your lawyer definitely should have taken the time to explain this all to you in detail to the point you felt comfortable that you understood it completely and knew why that was the choice he was recommended. Sorry he didn't, the process can be confusing for non-lawyers. Overall, this will likely have no impact on your case and you shouldn't worry about it. Be more assertive with your lawyer about what you don't understand going forward.Answer #2: Often time preliminary hearings are waived. If you've got no viable defense to probable cause, it's largely a waste of time.  Probable cause is a very low bar to meet. You'd have to some fairly damning evidence to show that the officer didn't have it.


Title: Upstairs neighbor will not allow anyone in to fix water leak.

Question:
I live in Brooklyn, New York. On March 30th 2020, I reported a water leak coming from the ceiling of my bathroom to my superintendent. He came in the next day to inspect and said it was a damaged toilet pan from the apt above. He also told me they would not allow anyone in to do repairs due to the quarantine.

It has been over 2 weeks now and the leak is getting worse by the day. We have just heard back from the leasing management, they stated they have been working with the super to try to gain access to the apt. According tot the super's wife, the tenants will not let anyone in for repairs until the quarantine has been lifted and they can resume their lives as normal.

I understand we are living in scary times but this is unacceptable. While the Leasing management and super state they have been trying to find a way to remedy this issue, we have been kept in the dark until today. If I were able to have the repair fixed from my apartment I would, but according to the super it must be repaired from upstairs.

What can i do? Currently breaking my lease is not an option.
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer: Leaking water is an emergency by any definition.  The landlord or his representative can enter the upstairs apartment, quarantine or not.  They are choosing not to do anything about this.


Title: [Phoenix AZ]Caught a phone scammer just now, how to proceed?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 I wasn't even entirely finished with my post upon hearing the phone ring again. Some one with an extremely thick accent asking for her to confirm her credit card number.

Now going to call credit card company and try to get them to cancel her card.Answer #2: This is a common scam. More than likely, the scammers are overseas. The method of transfer (Western Union) is relatively anonymous and difficult for authorities to trace.

Your grandmother should be given a new phone number. Now that they have gotten money from her, she will be bombarded with all kinds of scam requests.

If you contact her local Western Unions, they may be able to put her on a watchlist for scams (e.g., not let her send large cash orders).


Title: A few years ago my then 34 Y.O. ex cheated on me(?) with my then 13 Y.O. Sister?

Question:
To be clear - they did nothing physically. (Which is why I put the question mark after 'cheated')... I found texts and dick pics that he sent and am not sure if she reciprocated with pics, but did with sexting. There were explicit texts that they would meet up and she would lose her virginity to him. This took place while I lived with him in another state, she lived with my mother in MA. I won't go into any specifics about how this impacted my relationship with her.

He's like 20 years older than her, has apparently contacted her once after but they don't speak often.
I don't know if I have any screenshots of the texts left, and I'm pretty sure she's deleted the proof off of her Facebook messenger (where this took place, mostly).

Right now he is 37~, and she is 16. Mother did not take any legal action, and basically all I could do out of spite was tell the both of them off.
I'm willing to bet there's nothing I can do now, but just to clear my head and satisfy curiosity, is there anything I could've done legally, considering the fact that they never (to my knowledge) did anything physically?

Answer:
 I'm pretty confident it was illegal for him to send dick picks to a minor. You could have called the police. Answer #2: He didn't cheat with her, he groomed her for rape.

Sending explicit material to a minor under 16 is a federal crime. Getting explicit material (which he well may have) would have been even worse. MA law says up to 5 years in prison, also sex offender registry.

Report it to the police. They will do their own investigation and punish your ex according to the crimes he committed. Answer #3: 1. It isn't "cheating", it's grooming a CHILD for sex.

2. "Telling your sister off"...she was not at fault here. She was (she still IS) a child. Treating it as if she were equally responsible for the situation is not appropriate.Answer #4: Are you familiar with Anthony Wiener? He's been in the news a lot.Answer #5: I think you should call the police.

The type of behavior you describe is usually not limited to one child, nor one occurrence.

It would not surprise me if it was ongoing.

But, that is the job of the police to investigate.Answer #6: [Sexting in MA](http://www.mass.gov/berkshireda/crime-awareness-and-prevention/sexting/sexting.html)

> "Sexting" is the act of sending, receiving, or forwarding sexually explicit messages, photos, or images via cell phone, computer, or other digital device.

> It is illegal for anyone to knowingly send to any person under the age of 18 matter considered to be "harmful. "Harmful matter" includes things that are obscene or pornographic in nature.

> Thus when an 18 year old photographs his or her genitals, for example, and sends it to their 17 year old girlfriend or boyfriend, they are in violation of this statute.


Title: Landlord not liable for tree falling in neighbor’s yard?

Question:
I was awakened early this morning to my neighbor knocking on my door.  During the night one of the trees in my yard split and fell (almost completely) into her yard, blocking her driveway.  I rent, so my wife submitted a work order to the landlord to have it taken care of.  The maintenance team came out and called to inform us that our landlord is not liable or responsible for the part of the tree that fell in my neighbor’s yard (which is 99% of the tree).

Are they correct?  And if not, what actions do I take to force my landlord to be professional?

Answer:
 > what actions do I take to force my landlord to be professional?

None. You are absolutely not involved in this at all. It is literally none of your business. Let your neighbor and LL work it out.


Title: (M31) TX. I Attended vista college

Question:
I went to vista college. At the end of the schook the give you a big tool bag filled with tools.

Before you can get the toolbag you have to clear all your debt. So i got the toolbag and went on with my life because they said i had no fees to pay.

Well fast forward three weeks i get a bill in the mail saying i owe $850 for the toolbag. I was completely taken off guard.

The bill also said that i was charged $170 every month. I never once recieved a bill in the mail.

When i confronted the manager about it she said her people are new and they messed it up. I asked to give the toolbag back and she said she isnt allowed to. They let me take a tool bag that i was under the impression was paid for.

I asked why i never recieved a letter for the bills that the last bill said i was charged and she said "we mail those out once a month it is not my fault the post office lost it."

So what legal action do i have. I do not want to pay $850 for a toolbag i dont need and isnt worth $850.

Answer: $850 divided by $170 per month works out to 5 months. Five times these bills were sent. And this lady is claiming that all five were lost by the post office. Whose literally only function is to take pieces of paper from one place to another without losing any of them.


Title: Got two traffic tickets when I was 18, got a third now at 20 and am now facing a revoked license until I'm 21. Anything I can do to prevent that?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 >I would prefer not to have a court date, as I live around 10hrs from the county I received the ticket, but will consider it if there aren't any other options.

You need a lawyer and you're not going to get out of this without a court date unless you just want to pay the ticket.

>I turn 21 in 6 months and would like to know if there is any way I can fight getting my license revoked.

Well then you shouldn't have gotten 3 speeding tickets, then. You broke the plea deal you had given to you.


Title: La.-Believe I’m being extorted. Options?

Question:
Several weeks ago I met someone on a hookup app. We began texting. It was sporadic, off and on, never met. Recently we’ve begun seriously talking about hooking up. One night couldn’t work due to a situation the took me out of town.
Last night, this person and I agreed that they would come over. They live over an hour away, and I agreed to send them $20 for gas via an online payment service app. They never came, and today I asked for my $20 back. This made them angry, and they threatened to out me (These were gay hookup apps). I freaked out, and begged them not to since I’m very closeted. This didn’t help. I blocked them from snapchat and the app we were chatting on but they sent screenshots to prove they still had the proof that we had chatted there. We had never been friends on Facebook but they mentioned specific names of people I had recently tagged in a photo and threatened to send screenshots of our conversation to them. I told them to keep the $20 and we’d move on-but they continued to threaten me and say things like “you’ve ruined my day and my week” and “I’d rather die” while continuing to threaten to out me. I begged for any possible solution that would lead to me not being outed, and while they didn’t say “what would prevent me from outing you is for you to send me $X,” they made it pretty clear that I needed to send money to make them “feel better.” It was an insignificant amount-under $200-but I sent it for fear of being outed.

Do I have options? Am I being extorted? If I file a report with the police who has jurisdiction? (We live in different cities and parishes) And if I file a report can I keep my name out of any public documentation?

Answer: Block and move on.  If you send them money they will continue to blackmail you.  You can go to the police as well but at this point they probably won’t use much resources to help


Title: [MO] My (female) friend who is currently attending high school gets touched and provoked by other guys in the hallway. When she brought it up to the school administration, they responded with "maybe you shouldn't wear provocative clothing and make it easy for them."

Answer:
 Her parents also need to talk with the administration.  [Title IX complaints](http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/complaintintro.html) should be filed within 180 days of the alleged offense. Answer #2: Yes! Have her go to her parents and her parents can hold the school liable.

This is not OK behavior and the school needs to take action to stop it. Further blaming the victim is also a really bad thing too.


Title: Perfect credit, but now have a bogus collection from an "F" rated company from the BBB (PA)

Question:
So I went to the dermatologist last year (Family dermatology based in Georgia), and had a very brief treatment (froze off a wart) and got another one biopsied. He told me to return for a follow-up a few weeks later, so I did and he refroze the spot.
Each visit was maybe 10 minutes tops.

A few months later, i get a bill for $1400!!!!
My insurance covered all but $400 of that, but I felt like something was not right.

I let it slide for a while, and recieved 2 more statements, and then no more.

Being someone who otherwise has never missed a bill in my life, I wanted to call and see if we could sort this out. I attempted to reach the number provided on the bill, and conveniently all of the representatives are ALWAYS busy, and you get a mailbox. I left my information and indicated I wanted to speak with someone. No call back.

A few days later, I tried calling the local office- but whoever I actually reached (not them) indicated that the doctor who I saw was no longer with the practice, due to abusive billing practices, etc and advised me that any bills received are void at this point and I should NOT pay it.
She offered to give me some kind of contact information for the state or something, but I said no thanks- I'm just glad its over with.

Fast forward 2 more months, I just received a collection notice from a 'Temak' collection agency. Unbelievable.

So, has anyone had experience like this? Best route to get everything cleared up? Report them to the BBB? Will the collection agency be forced to correct my credit report if it is fraudulent, etc?

Answer: Ask for debt validation from the creditor and dispute the item on your credit report.  There is an established procedure for both these things.


Title: Divorced parents disagree on school district for kindergarten. Help!

Question:
My husband and I have been divorced since May, with a 4.5 year old that will start kindergarten next fall (2016). We are at odds over the school district she will go to and an apparent arms race has ensued. I want to make sure I'm preparing to fight this battle in the right way and not wasting efforts in the wrong places.

Background:
I agreed nearly 2 years ago to move from Duluth (where I had lived since before we were married) to the SW Minneapolis metro area, so that he could have 50% custody and keep his job in Edina. At that time, I made it very clear that I wanted to have the say in where she went to school. I told him that I would certainly take the quality of school district and his work location into account, as to not make his commute difficult. Last April (2014), I started spending every other week between Duluth and the Cities to assess what part of the SW metro I wanted to put down new roots. At that time, we started doing the 50/50 time and he rented an apartment for them near his work and has been having his mother come do daycare during his weeks. The weeks I had her, she did her regular daycare in Duluth until this June, when I rented my house in Duluth and moved in with my boyfriend in the SW metro area. The intention never really was to stay here and I have been looking at MLS listings in the desired areas with plans to buy as she got closer to school age. My ex-husband is dead set on keeping her in Edina though, claiming it is the best school district in the State, and has intentions of buying a house in Edina very soon. I have a few areas narrowed down, but am not ready to buy a house next week. I am fearful that him establishing a permanent household before me might trump my claim to being the decision maker in this. Nothing got set in stone about this in the decree because the divorce had already taken nearly 3 years and we were looking at a full blown court proceeding over financial matters. It was left that we would decide the schooling issues later. That is already rearing its ugly head, only a few months after the divorce was finalized. I firmly believe she should go to the school in the district I live. I work from home and she could take the bus home after school instead of being sent to an after school care center for a few hours every day until one of us gets out of work and fights traffic to pick her up. I was practically her sole care provider the first 3 years of her life (while he was gone all week working 3 hours away), carry her insurance, take her to all her appointments, have done the school readiness childhood screening. I was basically a single mom to her. I sacrificed leaving my home of 14 years, sold a ton of my belongings and moved what I did have left......all so this would be possible. I know this is all up for interpretation and there is no hard and fast "rule" as to who should "win" this fight. I do want to be as well prepared for this battle as I can be though. It is very likely we will be going to mediation over this, so I need to pack my bag with heavy hitting points and tricks to spin anything that might not be in my favor. Should I try hurrying up and buy a house asap or doesn't that matter all that much? I need lots of advise and opinions. Thanks!

Note: This is in Minnesota.....if the references to Duluth, Minneapolis and Edina didn't make it clear.

Topic:
School Related Issues

Answer: This is likely going to require significant first-hand experience with the family courts in Minnesota that no one here can really give you. It's time to lawyer up, or if you already have one, to re-lawyer up.


Title: Friend got in a hit and run, then told me about it via text. Am I liable for this?

Question:
So basically a buddy of mine texted me telling me that he had been in a hit and run. It was his fault. He told me he the other person wasn't hurt, but that he had left without getting their information. That's all that I know. Could I get in any trouble for this? Is there anything that I need to do?

EDIT: This is in South Carolina.

Answer: If you are asking if you are required to report him, no. If your questioned at some point, get a lawyer and/or speak truthfully. **You may not assist him in covering up his crime.** If he asks you to do ANYTHING related to this, don't. He can confess all he wants, you can take no act to assist him in anything accept turning himself in.


Title: UNSAFE DRIVING IN NJ

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Oh for goodness sake..

No.

And start obeying traffic laws.


Title: TX. My brother was arrested this morning and was taken to jail for 4 warrants that were not his.

Question:
Hello everyone,
My brother has a common first name, and our last name is not as common but certainly not rare. He was pulled over for one of his brake lights being out. He was asked to get out of the car, for his Drivers license and if he had any warrants he was aware of. He complied with the requests of the officer, gave him his Texas issued ID card and told him he had no warrants. He was placed in the back seat of the car while they ran his Drivers license and asked if he knew his ID# by heart. He did not. The arresting officer asked then asked my brother if he knew anyone born in 1991 (my brother was born in the mid-80's). He then asked my brother if he has a brother (our brother was born in the late 80's) the officer spoke with his partner and then came back to the car and told him to "put his hands behind his back because the city two towns east of us 'confirmed' him" (for having a warrant for his arrest). He was taken to the jail and then released about 5 hours later when an officer from the town that "confirmed" the warrant arrived and checked my brothers information against the warrant. The officer said he was free to go. My brother asked for a ride back to his vehicle since it was their mistake and they would not take him back (which is just rude ok!)
I am curious to see how we should report this or if we should need a lawyer? I obviously don't want this happening to other people, and we are lucky the other officer arrived so quickly and he double checked the officer's report.
I would expect if I had a government issued ID, the police would not mistake me for someone almost 10 years younger.
I can certainly provide more information should anyone need specifics.

Thanks in advance for any input!

Answer: Unless the conduct was absolutely egregious (arresting a 90-year-old for an arrest warrant for an 18-year-old might count, but might not) there's no legal remedy for officers doing their job, even if they are mistaken.


Title: [OH] Raccoons are living in my ceiling, is my landlord required to get them removed?

Question: I live in a large apartment complex. The landlord is usually pretty good about dealing with an problems residents may have. If they can find evidence of roaches or bedbugs, they pay for an exterminator. If there's a problem with your hot water heater or AC, they fix it. However, lately they have been taking longer and longer to respond to anyone's maintenance requests or just flat out ignoring them. The current issue is raccoons. Early spring brought some loud scratching at the ceiling. At first, we thought it was a squirrel or something on the roof. But the scratching didn't stop, and it only happened at night. Every night, loud scratches would keep us awake for hours. Late spring came and we were finally positive it was raccoons because it had gotten into our vents. Banging around in the shafts all night long. And to make matters worse, the raccoon had babies. Multiple. We know this because they never stop squeaking and whining. We can't just put something in the vents or get them out ourselves because the openings aren't able to be accessed with damage to the walls. The raccoons have been in our ceilings and vents for months at this point. Im terrified to sleep in my room because they sound so close to caving our ceiling in on top of us. We called maintenance a while ago and they sent someone out. However, I guess we worded it weirdly when we called because they thought the raccoons were running around in the apartment. Once they realized that the raccoons were in the ceiling, they left and haven't come back or contacted us since. We put in another call and never got a response. Its been at least a month since the last time we called and the raccoons are still in the vents and ceiling. What can I do?

Answer: Oh my! Raccoons can carry rabies. If your landlord really doesn’t care, maybe contacting the county code enforcement or health departments might do the trick. It’s a legitimate concern, and I’m sorry you have to deal with this.


Title: Had a car accident and not at fault. Other guy's insurance company is refusing to pay for storage fees for my totaled car

Question:
I was in a car accident on July 1st. Guy ran a red and I ended up hitting a pole. Police report sides with me an I was found not at fault. My car was towed to a local tow yard and sat there until this week when the other guy's insurance company finally assessed it. His insurance company is now telling me that it was my duty to mitigate cost and that I should have towed my car to a no fee lot of parked it at my house until it was seen. Two things: 1-I'm a medical resident and have had no time to even see my car, much less tow it. The tow yard is only open on weekdays during hours I work. 2- I live in a row home in the middle of Philadelphia. I have no lot to park it in. It'd have to be parked on the street for the past 2 months which is illegal. I have not found a fee-free place to keep this thing.

So why is my recourse here? This accident wasn't my fault and I have no time and no other place to park this thing. They just assessed it this past week. I'll head to the tow yard to see what I can do with it, but I'm going to get stuck with 2 months worth of storage fees.
Any ideas?

Edit: forgot to mention i didn't have collision insurance. My car was over ten years old and ended up that insurance was not worth the cost of the car. Hindsight is 20/20

Answer:
 You could try posting over in /r/insurance.

My feeling is that, if it took this long for the other company to come and assess your vehicle, and you didn't do anything to hinder this or refuse to have it taken to a lot of their choice, they are on the hook for these fees.

I would file a complaint here http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/file_a_complaint/9258


Title: If you have a news-story about a company should you contact them before you approach any types of media?

Question:
I posted this earlier but think it was taken down due to a bad title so I’ll try again and hope it’s okay

For background and laws: I live in a capital city in Aus.

I was working at my shopping centre, using the public restrooms when I found a loaded gun left  on one of the toilet seats.

After police being called it turns out to belong to a security guard who put it down and forgot it...
I assume he will be fired, but was wondering if it’s worth trying to sell the story/ask if the security company would pay to not sell story? And whether this sort of thing would even be legal? (I would imagine it’s likely counted as extortion or similar)

I’ve thought about contacting the company the guard works/worked for to see if they have a procedure for something like this (and wouldn’t that be kinda shitty in and of itself!) but also concerned about the above..

I DO feel a little bad about trying to capitalise on someone else’s misfortune, but on the other hand it was a loaded gun in a busy shopping centre during school holidays. And with the pics I took, I’m sure it would be picked up by my local paper at least.

I’m most likely making this to be more than it actually is and will end up doing nothing.. but if anyone has any advice or info, t’would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Answer:
 As a general rule, reporters and newspapers do not pay for stories.  (For obvious reasons, because this would taint them.)

Do you have a legal right to sell your story?  Yes.

The rest is not a legal question.


Title: Can siblings sue if parent gives one child money?

Question: Situation: elderly parent wants to move in with one of his children. Parent wants to give gift of 24,000 for the trouble of housing him for possibly many years. Can the adult childs adult siblings sue him for "their share" of the gifted money?

Answer: Anybody can sue anybody for anything, but in his case the siblings wouldn’t win and would hopefully be shamed out of the courtroom by the judge.Answer #2: Well, they *could*. They'd never win tho. Not in a million years. Answer #3: No


Title: Can prenups be nullified in Divorce proceedings under certain circumstances?

Question:
So I'm watching an episode of Law and Order SVU. There's a wife that's been physically and emotionally abused by her husband. She tells the detective that her husband, then boyfriend convinced her to quit school. She'd never held a job before and had no living relatives or friends.

She was completely dependent on him for everything. She exclaimed that she can't get divorced, she signed a prenup and would be left destitute.

My question is, based on circumstances like these where she's in an abusive relationship; could a judge void the prenup?

Answer: A judge can void a prenup for a lot of reasons.  The most common is that it's deemed unfair or will "shock the conscience" of the court.  Prenups can be set aside as well if one party did not have adequate representation before signing, didn't fully understand, or wasn't in the right state of mind.


Title: Landlord Is Threatening to evict us for an emotional support animal. We are putting in our 30 day notice, landlord still wants to start proceedings.

Question:
This is in California. We had a chance to adopt an older dog before he was placed in a shelter. We have had an emotional support prescription for months, but we were waiting to find the right dog before adopting. The landlord was not returning my calls in regards to bringing in an ESA. We texted and left messages saying we had adopted a dog. Today I was contacted and told that I had 3 days to get rid of the dog. I promised to be out by 30 days, but they are still threatening to evict us if I don’t get rid of the dog. When I brought up the ESA prescription landlord said it was up to him or not. That it was his decision to allow one or not. I don’t think that’s right. What can I do? What can they do?

Side note: Another tenant has a dog. When I mentioned he said it’s his choice to or not to allow people to have dogs. We feel singled out.
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 > We texted and left messages saying we had adopted a dog.

You did this in the wrong order. An ESA requires you ask for a reasonable accommodation from the landlord *first*; said reasonable accommodation *usually* (but not always) means the landlord waives the no-pet policy.

However, until the landlord has the ESA attestation in his hands, as far as the law is concerned, you have a pet, not an ESA. And even *after* he has the ESA attestation, the dog isn't permitted unless the landlord grants it. The landlord can deny the animal entry, for example, until you provide county licensing info, rabies vaccination info, and proof of liability insurance; he can similarly deny the animal based on the breed. Regardless, you have to get the permission first.

Whether he has to grant you the accommodation depends on a host of factors - like number of units, whether you rent on individual leases, breed of animal, etc.

You can either try to make the situation right, or he can begin eviction processes against you. Next time, you have to ask the landlord *first,* not just tell him.


Title: FL: Nurse was stealing from her work supply room. One day there were too many people working there so she stole meds from an amputation patient during her shift. That patient couldn't speak but could feel pain for 12 hours. The nurse was convicted. Can she be sued? There was no permanent damage

Answer:
 Yes.

One, the hospital can come after her for the cost of replacing any meds they can show she stole.

Two, it may be that the amputee's insurer can sue her, rather than the hospital, for the money they paid the hospital for the meds that were never administered.

Three, it's possible that the amputee could find a lawyer willing to pursue a malpractice case against her.

That nurse is never working in the medical field again, if there's any justice in the world. She's certainly going to lose any certification she holds and she'll likely be ineligible to ever regain it.Answer #2: Sure can, pain and suffering are a thing.Answer #3: "There was no permanent damage" should be deleted from from this person's train of thought. Completely irrelevant. Waterboarding doesn't provide any physical permanent damage either. Maybe this nurse has to go through that to understand the concept that harm was still inflicted. A civil suit can be pursued under several legal theories. I'm sure there are applicable medical malpractice, health code violations, pain and suffering damages, negligent infliction of emotional distress, negligence, etc, against both the nurse and the hospital (e.g., what policies were in place to count inventory? was it negligent to not notice this kind of theft? would catching this theft in a reasonable manner lead to to discovery. Potentially, statutory reporting duties for certain levels of drugs may have been violated, etc.).


Title: Hypothetical HIPAA question

Question:
Don't we all love hypotheticals? Right, so this is just something I've been curious about since the situation has the ability to occur. I'm a nurse that works in psych. Mostly dementia, but I do venture over to the adult unit occasionally. I'm from a pretty small community, only ~12k in my county seat's population so I often know either the patient or someone related to them in the outside world. As you can imagine, most folks aren't too happy about being in an inpatient psych setting.

So on to the hypothetical question, let's say that one of my former patients see me outside and, upset about something I did while they were inpatient, assaults me or a loved one somehow. Injures us, destroys property, whatever, pick your poison.

How do I report this without violating HIPAA? Or is that even a concern at that point? Could I just say "person named X assaulted me" or would I have to go into detail about how I know them? Or could I say I knew them during fulfilling my duties at work? Because it seems that if I were to offer up how we had met, I would be violating HIPAA as psych is very confidential (as in we can't even say someone's a patient without a personalized code number)

Thoughts from someone versed in HIPAA?

Answer: HIPAA has a [specific rule](https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/faq/505/what-does-the-privacy-rule-allow-covered-entities-to-disclose-to-law-enforcement-officials/) about this. In short, if a patient victimizes you he no longer has protection.  You should minimize what you say to only that which is directly relevant, to be safe.


Title: [CA,UT] Brother is claiming next of kin after unmarried sister's death even though our mother is alive.

Question:
My brother and now deceased sister lives in Utah and my mother lives in California.

My brother is claiming to be "the closest living relative" because my mom lives in California and he lives 45 min away from where my sister lived. We have tried explaining that is not how that works. My brother is not an idiot, he knows but he wants the money from insurance which would be $4,300.

My sister died in February in a car accident where she was hit head on by a DUI driver. My brother tried to take on all of the responsibility such as speaking to the victim's advocate and trying to sign the cremation forms. He was unable to sign the forms because my mother is next of kin. He knows this.

My mother is bed bound and no one else was able to travel to Utah so she pleaded to have my sister's things shipped to her. My brother refused and said he was going to sell and throw away my sister's "crap".

~~It is important to know that he is supposed to be a staunch Christian and lives in his pastor's home.~~ (Sorry, I only meant that it would give context to the only reason why my brother put my sister's things into storage. I worded that wrongly.) My mom spoke to his pastor and my brother was forced into putting my sister's things in storage for now. He doesn't want his church to think badly of him. He said my mom could have her crap but he gets her computer and dining room table. We have objected but he will not respond.

My family is at a loss of what to do. Do we have to sue him or is there other options?

Answer:
 >It is important to know that he is supposed to be a staunch Christian and lives in his pastor's home.

This is actually completely unimportant.  The court does not care about your religion or living situation.  You could notify his church to the situation, but that's completely outside the law.

>Do we have to sue him or is there other options?

What are you suing him FOR?  The insurance company will likely determine who is the appropriate beneficiary of your sister's policy on their own, and their determination is usually sound.

As for your brother's conduct, in cases like these it is usually essential to have someone on the ground, laboring on behalf of the victim.  If your mother was bed bound and out of state, there is a real argument to be made that your brother's actions were reasonable.

He put her stuff in storage.  If your mother is the heir, then it is up to her to pay the storage bill, dispose of the things, or ship them to herself.  He isn't keeping her from them, but at the same time, if you are contesting that he should have no management of the estate, then he has no burden to get these things to you.

You could sue him for the value of the computer and table, I suppose.  But if he paid any bills on behalf of the estate, be ready for him to ask for those back.  And then be ready to pay for shipping of a dining room table from UT to CA.


Title: My grandpa died and I think the hospital messed up.

Question: My grandpa passed away kinda suddenly,he went in for a stomach pain that he could not power thru he went in and it was a hernia. So they had to do emergency surgery, so the surgery goes fine and he is back in bad awake but he is still complaining about pain so they gave him dilaudid for the pain and he slept for like 15 minutes and he woke up and he did not want to be laying down the pain was still there by the way my grandpa was a achoholic and a cranky man so the so he kinda fell when he got up so they put him back on the bed they gave him more dilaudid so he could try and get some sleep, I read that you are not suppose to give dilaudid to a achoholic which they knew he was because my grandma had told him. That knocked him out. They moved him into a new room and they were not monitoring his heart rate or anything like the were in the other room all that they were doing was watching him thru a camera in the room. The nurse came in to check his vitals and could not get his blood pressure so she went out of the room which what I thought is she was going to get a nurse but she did not come back for a minute my mom looked over at my grandpa and she could not see him breathing but my grandma said no my mom went over and checked his chest and it was not moving she ran out and got a nurse and they saw it on the camera and they called a code blue they could not start his heart for 13 minutes, they told us he might have severe brain damage. So they moved him to another room his heart stopped again for 1 minute this time but they got him back and they wanted to do a Cat scan and they did not see anything but it could take a while to show up when they got him in the new room he did not have any reflexes he did not gag or anything. He was internally bleeding it was coming out of his Iv and out of his mouth tub and everything. He passed away as he told my grandmother many times  in the past that he does not want to be hooked up to anything so he was gone and I really just don’t know why I was hoping I could get some answers we got the death certificate and it said cause of death was mods which was caused by shock which was caused by the hernia which does not sound right seeing how the surgery went fine but I don’t know I was wondering if there is anything I could do we are getting an autopsy on his body. So if there is any advice you could give me that would be great.

Answer:
 I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather.

If you believe that the care he was given was improper, your only real, viable option is to consult with a medical malpractice attorney.  That kind of stuff is extremely situation- and fact-specific and beyond the scope of this forum.Answer #2: Dilaudid (hydromorphone) can cause breathing depression but you can’t give it with alcohol so unless he was actively drunk I doubt there was a big interaction there.  Ubless he got a dose that was way too high for his weight It’s going to be hard to prove malpractice


Title: [NY] about to sue former Physician for medical malpractice and falsification of medical documents. What to prepare other than a lawyer and how to behave in court?

Question:
Hi, so, I apologize for terrible formatting or whatever as this is honestly my first time ever being on this subreddit, but a friend recommended I ask my questions here.

I am 17, and almost out of high school, but there's a glaring problem I want justice for. 3 years ago now I turned to homeschooling after I had a physician, let's call her "D" begin to up a dose on my Lithium and Lower the dose of my Seroquel, despite my former physician being very concerned about me staying on the Lithium due to early health problems it was causing me. I'd had an allergic reaction to Risperdal and was switched to a combination of Lithium and Seroquel to take effect in my bloodstream, with the intent of staying on the Seroquel and dropping the Lithium (I'm Bipolar if this has any context). In addition to completely reversing what my former physician had stated, D also just began writing me as Schizophrenic without any actual testing or medical evidence to back these claims. I had to endure bullying from several students, including physical assault and sexual harassment because the schizophrenic diagnosis on my IEP caused teachers to never believe a single word I say when I brought this up. For the past couple of years I've dealt with Thyroid Disease (Hypothyroidism) extreme weight loss, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Gastrointestinal Reflux Disease, and a scary hospital visit Thanksgiving morning due to a 200/110 blood pressure caused by severe kidney damage, all of which has been linked by the many, many, doctors I've seen for these issues to Lithium and documented as such. I'm not filing any suit alone though, as my mother is going to be the one primarily handling things with my help and input. We have all of the medical statements from my doctor's about the severe problems brought on by Lithium as well as every IEP statement D wrote, including suddenly writing in Schizophrenia as well as several contradictions within the same entry and proof of manipulation in some incidents.

My question is, other than medical costs, how much in emotional damages could I legally sue for? Her choices led to me being bullied and harassed in silence because the false Diagnosis led to most teachers assuming that I was lying about all of it because my bullies constantly denied it and couldn't pull up much more evidence than the bruises which were passed off as accidents. Secondly, how should I behave in court? This will be my first time in a courtroom in my life and I'm unsure of proper conduct regarding lawsuits. Lastly, other than the anecdotal evidence of her choices, statements, and doctor's statements about my health condition, what other evidence should be presented in the case?

Any help/information would be appreciated please, as I'm earnestly clueless about law (Majoring in Geology)
Topic:
Medicine and Malpractice

Answer:
 Have you spoken to a lawyer OP?

Ive sat In a few trials for the State as a “Pharmaceutical expert” and I can say honestly, most medical malpractice suits over medications are difficult if not impossible to win.

The reason is, doctors arent the end game of prescription medications, certian medications, (like those you described) are called “exploratory prescriptions”, depending on how you react to the meds, the doctor can then give a base diagnosis, mental illnesses are hard to spot and diagnose, most medical professionals base the first medications off the patients complaints, since a test for any illness is basically just a questionnaire known as the DSM


Title: Lost job due to short term disability - was it legal?

Question:
Location - NC
A family member of mine was injured (not while on job) and was not able to work for several months. They are still collecting disability from their employer because their doctor has not released them yet, but they were "laid off" from said job. This family member also has worked at this company for close to 30 years and was only 5 years away from retirement.
Here's the tricky part - the company is saying that if the doctor releases them they will be able to apply for their same position if it is still available or apply somewhere else in the company. Because of this the company is avoiding paying any of the package or severance they were supposed to give in the case of a true "lay off". Is this legal?

Answer: FMLA only protects a position for up to 12 weeks. It wouldn’t be a lay off, it would be because they were out of position for so long. No severance, unless there is a contract, in which they would need to go by the contract.


Title: Mom Co-signed me without my knowledge HELP!

Question:
My mother co signed me for a finance account for dental work. I did not know I was part of this finance account until my mom stopped making payments and they sent me letters saying I needed to pay. I'm not going to pay anything and I tried disputing it and the companies will not get rid of it. It is affecting my credit score and I'm only 21 at the moment. It has been moved to a debt collector and still has a balance of $915.

What do I do?

I did request for contract but they never gave it to me.

Answer:
 >What do I do?

It sucks when a parent does this because resolving this will likely mean that you will have to report your mom for identity theft.


Title: got suckerpunched then beat down.

Question: I was at a bar in New Jersey,went outside to smoke with my girl and a close friend when a couple of guys came out and started talking with us. my girl and friend went back in and I was suckerered and then beat unconscious. the cops were called,ambulance was taken to the hospital spent a week there. emergency surgery to attach my chin back, it was a scary situation. anyway the bar says the camera was not working and I saw a laywer a month after it happened he said he would take the case. I get a call 2 days ago and another laywer from the same office says he would need 15,000 for expert witnesses, I don't know where I stand, this happened last feb. if anyone has any info to share that could help me, please.. thank you.

Answer: What's your legal question?


Title: WI/USA - Sold car for cash, guy took off, never registered it, still in my name, don't know his real name.

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Go to your states DMV website, it will have the information you need. You need to let the DMV know of the sale. If your state requires you to remove plates before a sale, you need to report those missing as well.


Title: [TX] Can I sue school district for false charges pressed with no evidence?

Question:
To preface, I am a 17-y/o junior in high school, and was recently absent for school for an extended period of time due to mononucleosis. Upon the day of my return, I attempted to enter the student parking lot, and was approached by a parking lot monitor (18/m) I had never met before. Supposedly he had been hired 2 days prior. After asking me where I had been and where I was going (doctor's office, going back to class), he asked for a doctor's note, which I refused to give him, knowing I could produce my student ID. Throughout our interaction the monitor was constantly verbally harassing me, likely because I wouldn't give him my doctor's note, which I would turn into the attendance office. After he radioed into the school telling them I'd be coming in, he backed away from my car and said something to the effect of "you're good to go, asshole" to which I replied "thanks buddy," prompting him to approach (while asking "what did you just say?") as I was moving forward and essentially hit himself with my car was he attempted to grab onto my window. To clarify, I felt no impact, there is no physical trauma on his part, nor damage to my vehicle. Immediately, he radios into the school claiming I had just sideswiped him in the parking lot. I pull into an available parking spot, and he approaches my car and is told to escort me into the school. The only action that was taken was I was asked to write an account of the situation (which entails the same details I've told here), and I was told I could go back to class. This was on a Thursday.

The following Tuesday, without advanced warning, I was pulled from my class to the "youth action center" where I was interviewed by the newest school police officer, who then proceeded to write me a ticket for reckless driving. The ticket was written solely on hearsay, as the police officer was not present, there were no witnesses in the parking lot, and there were no cameras to record the incident. I had originally thought the ticket never went through, because I hadn't received a notice in the mail for weeks following the ticket, and just recently I found that the parking lot monitor was fired for reasons unknown to me. However, I just received a notice in the mail proclaiming I must pay a fine of $240 for an "illegal turn" or show up in court within 20 days to defend my position.

Having just contacted the school district, who claim the situation is out of their control, I'm curious as to whether I can sue them for the grand inconvenience that I have to endure by going to court. I am confident I can successfully defend my position, and I hope the charges will be dropped due to complete lack of evidence, but the entire situation seems so poorly handled that surely I could find a way to take advantage.

Answer: You can fight the ticket.  You will not be able to sue the school district.


Title: [Texas] If your car gets booted and you get a friend with a flatbed truck to come move it, is that considered theft of the boot?

Question: Let's say in this hypothetical, the boot person notices as your car is about to be loaded onto the flatbed. You offer them a chance to retrieve their boot, but they decline to take it off unless you pay the boot fee.

Answer:
 There was actually a pretty legendary internet story about a guy who got booted when he parked in his street in front of his house by his awful HOA. He had a flat bed, so he towed his car into his garage. There was a huge back and forth and threats and everything. When the tow truck called the police about the boot, claiming it was stolen property, the guy was like "The boot is right there, you can have your property if you want," and the cop agreed.

[Here's the entire story](http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f7/epic-hoa-parking-boot-battle-572540/)Answer #2: Can you leave the wheel and boot behind, but remove your car? The cost of replacing the wheel may be less than the fee
Answer #3: You can request a hearing if you think you were improperly booted, but you cannot remove the boot or retrieve your car without paying the fee: https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/towing/consumerinfo.htm


Title: Money stolen from my bedroom USA, NC

Question: Yesterday while I was at work, my roommate got a surprise visit from his cousin. Now his cousin has a long and documented history of drug use and theivery, as does his girlfriend who is massively pregnant. When I arrived home around 8:30, and went into my room, I noticed something was off. Blankets and pillows were on the floor, little things moved around, not put back in the right places kind of stuff. Someone had been in there looking through my things basically. I immediately went to my cash stash(a couple days tips behind a picture in a cubby on my dresser) and sure enough it was gone. I figured maybe my roommate had needed the money, so I went and asked him if he had taken it. He had not. I asked if anyone had been in my room. He said that his cousin had gone in there to get my cat. Now, this man has stolen from us before. Little things like my roommate's prescription xanax or a couple dollars that were in the open.  After looking around the room to be sure it hadn't  fallen down or the cat had gotten ahold of it, I called who I assumed the culprit was. They had left their van at my house and gone off with their coke head friend, so I assumed they would have to come back at some point. No answer. Texted. No answer. Messaged them on facebook, no answer. I told them they had until 9:30 to contact me or I would be involving the authorities. No answer, so I called the police. They came out, asked some questions, and told me there since no one physically saw him enter the room, only heard the door open and saw him coming down the hall with the cat (who stays locked in my room because he likes to potty behind the stove) there was nothing they could do. They came and stealthily collected thwir van this morning bwforw i woke up, and the girlfriend has since contacted me(rather nastily I might add) and said that she doesn't know what I'm talking about and that if he had any money she would know about it. Is there anything I can do? I would like to press charges, but the officer said they didn't have enough to go on.

Answer: Should have gotten their van towedAnswer #2: Since your room mate permitted a known thief entry in to your room, have you asked them to reimburse you for the loss they caused?


Title: [maryland]. How do I ensure that my mother-in-law cannot get custody my child in event of me and and wife dying?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 No. If you want a solid will and are concerned with it being contested, you need an attorney. Answer #2: Write a strong will.

Include a long chain of guardianships in the alternative (e.g. my sister Sally, and if she is unable to do so, my brother John.  If John is unable to do so, .... "  Keep going.)

Explain specifically why you want to exclude her.  (In other words, the courts are more likely to honor your wishes if they see logic not irrational hate.)

And you should hire a good lawyer, don't go with the generic forms.  [A basic intro.](http://theduvallfirm.com/lawyer/2013/10/30/Wills/Naming-a-Guardian-for-Your-Minor-Child\(ren\)_bl10175.htm)Answer #3: Since you think your will might be challenged do NOT DIY this. Get a good attorney to write as bulletproof a will as possible.


Title: Former landlord complaining about cleanliness

Question:
Hi all,

I would just like some advice about how to handle this situation. My roommates and I recently moved out of an apartment. The landlord is now complaining to me about the cleanliness that we left the unit it.

Our lease said we should leave it in the condition we got it in. This was the second lease we signed on this place, so the condition it was in was after we had been living there for a year. The first year we moved in the unit was under construction and covered in dust. Which condition would this lease require us to leave it in?

We do not have a security deposit. What are the possible outcomes from this? I do not want to pay for a cleaner, especially for this landlord. This is the kind of guy who paints over a leak in the roof and calls it fixed.

Thanks!

Answer:
 You should have documented the condition when you moved in.

That being said, he will have to sue you to recoup the costs. Then you'll go down to the local courthouse, and explain why you shouldn't be charged.


Title: My mom tried getting a motel room, but when they looked at her ID and saw where she was from, they denied her and said they wont rent her a room to her because of the town she's from

Question: So we live in SoCal (San Bernardino County) and when my mom tried getting a room at a motel, they looked at her ID and said that they will not give her a room because she was from a certain town. Is that legal?

Answer: When I worked in a hotel there was a 1% chance we'd rent to any locals.  You had to prove your house burned down or was inhabitable.  Locals are usually partiers and drug addicts who destroy rooms and seem to live on making other guest miserable.


Title: Husband wants divorce... what steps should I start with? [GA, USA]

Question:
Sorry, my head is a jumbled mess and I'm sure that this isn't cohesive.

We live in Georgia and have been married for almost 4 years. We also have one child together.

Marriage has always been rocky, and we've been to the point of divorce before but have never actually filed. I've met with two separate attorneys at different points and was so turned off by the whole process - the first one spent so much time telling me how she'd fight to get me full custody, while the latter one talked about how we could take my husband for everything he has. Neither of these are what I want.

In all honesty, I want to be happy with my husband. He refuses to go to a counselor, and won't talk with me about anything. He goes back and forth quite a bit about what he actually wants (last week he did a full 180 and was acting like we were back to happy and normal).

I resigned from my job last month and he told me that he wants a divorce after that. I have several promising leads for ones, but all of our money is tied together and he handles all of our finances.

There have been several questionable actions when it comes to our finances, and I know I'm going to have to spend some time sorting all of this out. For instance, the down payment we put on our house came from money that my grandmother gave me for something else.

We do have a home together, but he put the home solely in his name. We also have three cars - two of those have both of our names on them and the third is solely in his name.

I also am the primary caretaker for our daughter - I want him to be involved in her life, but he is incredibly distant as it is. He is not responsible for any of her care as it is.

I know my first steps will be to meet with a lawyer, but what else should I start preparing?

Answer: Focus on getting a new job.  Get your direct deposit put into a different checking account for the new job.  Start keeping receipts.  As much as you want an amicable divorce, they get really messy on the subjects of money, property, children -- it's never easy.


Title: Issue with employer over being an Army reservist

Question: So I recently quit my job of 3 years over issues with me being in the reserves. I enlisted early last year & had gone to basic in August. Before shipping my managers were very friendly & willing to work with my school schedule and any days I needed off (and I took off a lot towards the end of senior year). Once summer began they had asked me when I was quitting. Not if, WHEN. I had explained to them my rights & told them around the time I'd be expected to be home and when I wanted to begin working again. Upon my return, I had given them my DD 214 & told them what day I wanted to begin working again. They were very pleasant & friendly at first. About a month and a half after beginning work, I had to take 2 weeks off for AT. They put it in for vacation even when I argued several times it was not a vacation. When I returned I had asked for my vacation back & they had said they would call payroll & get my vacation back. After that incident it seemed as if there whole demeanor towards me had changed. Every shift there was a comment asking when the last time I worked was or how I'm always on leave. My last straw was when the schedule came out for the first week of July. I had put in a request to have Independence Day off & I had not gotten it off. Our union has a rule about the people with the highest seniority get the day off first. I had asked my manager why I didn't get the day off but people who were just hired had it off. He replied with "how many days off have you had since you've been back?" I put in my two weeks that following Monday & put in a vacation notice for the second week of my last 2. My boss then told me I don't have any vacation left & I had used it when I was on orders. We had gotten in an argument about it & he kept telling me that I wanted to have it be put in as vacation & I had specifically asked him to do it. I'm wondering if there is any action I can take against him or if there is any way I can prevent this from happening to any future employees. Also I live in California & that's where the company is based

Answer:
 Shoot this up your command like a red star cluster. Reserve CO's are aware of these challenges regarding civilian employment and have many avenues they can take to resolve the situation. We just had one last week at my unit. It ended up with two government lawyers sitting down with the buisness owner and 30 min later the kid walked away with his vacation time back and 3 months severance pay in lieu of him returning since he wasnt very thrilled about working there again. Business owner got off easy in this case.Answer #2: http://www.esgr.mil/USERRA/What-is-USERRA
USERRA is a Federal law intended to ensure that persons who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, Reserve, National Guard, or other uniformed Services: (1) are not disadvantaged in their civilian careers because of their service; (2) are promptly reemployed in their civilian jobs upon their return from duty; and (3) are not discriminated against in employment based on past, present, or future military service. The law is intended to encourage non-career uniformed service so the United States can enjoy the protection of those Services, staffed by qualified people, while maintaining a balance with the needs of private and public employers who also depend on these same individuals.

USERRA protects the job rights of individuals who voluntarily or involuntarily leave employment positions to perform service in the uniformed Services, to include certain types of service in the National Disaster Medical System and the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service.

USERRA affects employment, reemployment, and retention in employment, when employees serve in the uniformed Services. USERRA also prohibits employers from discriminating against past and present members of the uniformed Services and applicants to the uniformed Services.


Title: Tricked into paying for a hotel room I can't afford?

Question:
Hi, so the story is my friend booked a hotel room, and told me if I wanted to I could go check in with a couple other friends and he would join us later. He said the room was paid for already, so when they asked for a card at check in, I assumed it was just for incidentals, as this has happened to me before and nothing was charged to the card.
So after the weekend was over, I get a call from my bank saying my card had been charged multiple times for various sums of money. Also, my card had been frozen. So now theres no money in my bank account and my friend has been kicked out of his house with no way to pay me back. He said his dad was going to take care of it but I can trust him as far as I can throw him. So basically, how can I get my money back and my name off the hotel before this debt goes to collection and starts ruining my credit??

Answer:
 Are you an adult or a minor?

What happened when you confronted hotel management?  Surely you told them that you didn't reserve the room, didn't authorize the use of your card, and didn't sign or acknowledge anything in writing that you would be responsible for the room charges, right?  What was their response?Answer #2: Are you sure this guy is your friend? Because this doesn't sound like the kind of thing a friend would do.

You could sue him in small claims but you may have a hard time convincing the judge given that you did stay in the hotel room and your friend didn't. If you have something in writing/e-mail/text/... that might help. Still that is not a quick solution and it won't help if your "friend" is judgement proof (that is, cannot pay).


Title: Weed will be legal to possess in MA soon. What does this mean for employers that drug test?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 [I wonder how many people search before posting](https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/5dozym/can_companies_screen_for_marijuana_in_states/).

tl;dr: Yes they absolutely can fire you / not hire you for using weed. Just as much as they can fire you / not hire you for liking Star Wars, or wearing the color green on a Sunday, or pledging eternal allegiance to Lord Skeletor.Answer #2: I think you're correct.Answer #3: Yes, they can drug test you and fire you if you have weed in your system. Even if it's legal. "Weed smoker" is not a protected class.Answer #4: Using weed is not a protected class.

Becoming the founder of the First Church of Trees may be your only hope ;-)


Title: My friend is being fired from his job. For of a few things. Psoriasis. Is that covered under ADA?

Answer: How about you tell us why your friend is being fired.


Title: {USA, PA}, Just *how* honest do you have to be when answering a potential employers question about a criminal conviction nearly a decade ago? Can that be skirted a bit without potential termination later on? *Possible Trigger*

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 If you lie about a conviction, you can certainly be terminated for it.Answer #2: > How much do I have to tell them?

Literally, you don't *have* to tell them anything. It's not a crime to lie on an employment application except in very limited cases which don't apply here.Answer #3: > just *how honest do you have to be*

Honest honest.  Like, not lying honest.


Title: A man left his gate open last night and 3 cows went out into the road and hit my car

Question: My brother and I were driving and a black cow was in the middle of the road, it charged towards us and hit my car. It broke the driver side headlight, the driver side mirror, the drivers window, and scraped the left side of my car. The police made a report and took the 3 cows. Can I take any legal action to the cow's owner and make him pay for my damaged car?

Answer:
 Texas is an open range state, so *generally*, ranchers have no duty to keep livestock off the road.

2 exceptions: state and federal highways (not including FM roads), and localities with stock laws. You can contact your county commissioner’s courts to see if there is a local stock law, or contact a local ag lawyer. I can’t find whether Hidalgo Co. has passed one, and my brother got turned into a hamburger last week, so I can’t ask him.Answer #2: paging cow law expert /u/zanctmoo