Title: Was I raped?

Question:
Hey so obviously if you can't tell from the title this is going to be dark but I need some genuine help and although I've looked online I still don't know what to call my specific situation. I really do need help with this and I'm going under a private name, in fear my 'friend' might see this. Continue reading if you think you can help me.

I'm 15 and just about to turn 16, the person who had taken advantage of me is 16, meaning he is the age of consent, but I am not.

To start from the beginning of this story, I need to go back to last year. We had dated and only once had he made a move on me with me fully enjoying it. after that he began to get more risky and wanted me to do more things I was not comfortable with. I don't know how to say this respectfully but one time he had forced me to deepthroat him, and it scared/hurt me to bad I nearly started crying. Another time he took a condom out and when I said I didn't want to because I was worried about getting pregnant, he begged me until I finally said yes. Often we would start with something and I'd feel okay with it but hed then pressure or force me to do stuff I wasn't okay with. He would constantly touch me while I was just trying to do simple tasks like get water from the kitchen, or sit down to watch TV with him.

The thing is; Sometimes I liked these things. Other times I would feel absolutely horrible. But I was always fairly passive and often I would find myself apologising to him instead of the other way around.

Then, today something REALLY bad happened. At this point we are no longer dating, but I do consider him my firend and I think he considers me his. However today he had to drive me home, and once at my place he came in with me. I was okay with that cuz he wasn't acting funny or anything, however when he realized my parents weren't home, he completely changed.

While taking my shoes off he began touching around my waist. We were in the mudroom which is very small so I figured it was accidental and didn't think much of it. Then when entering the house I had to comfort my dog (who had horrible separation anxiety) and was on my knees petting him. He's a lap sized poodle so hes very small, so I have to be on my knees to pet him. Once he was calmed down my friend offered to help me up, so I held my arms up for him to grab but instead he grabbed me by my breasts and pulled me up, which really hurt and I made an involuntary gasping noise, which was enough for him to get the hint to back off. By this time I was just really confused and scared, so I figured I'd just go downstairs to sleep and that he'd get the idea to leave.

When downstairs, I laid down on my bed and I realized he had followed me down, now here's where things get difficult.

I hate using this term, I think it's gross and cringey, but I am what some people consider "touch starved" and having him hold me felt really good. I let him press against me for a while and even was passive when he began letting his hand trail.

I wish I could censor this more but I feel I need to share most of it for people to get the full picture.

He began taking my pants off and again I was passive, then he got up and pulled a condom out of his wallet. THIS was what finally got me to speak up. I told him we can't do that, because it was even more risky now that we weren't a couple than it was when we were. He didn't listen though. Eventually he got me to say yes through manipulation and a repetitive process.

And now, for the worst part.

The condom broke.
It fucking broke.

My parents are highly religious, although we both don't think I am pregnant, if I am, I'm going to have to face my parents with the guilt. This was exactly why I said no the first time, and now I'm just highly scared and confused. I don't know if any of this is considered rape, but I think it is and I need to find someone to talk to about it. If you can help me that'd be great, and if you have any idea of who I could talk to irl about this, I'd like to hear suggestions. I was thinking my art teacher, since I trust him and he always has some insight. But I feel like opening up to him about this is just too shameful. If you think it'd be a good idea to talk to him, then please tell me, or if you think someone else would be a better option please tell me who. I feel super lost and confused and scared and guilty rn, any advice is appreciated.
-Thanks.

Answer:
 Yes.

Also, he is not your friend.

It will be difficult, but if you want to have a healthy psyche and a relatively "normal" ability to have appropriate relationships in life, you need to cut him off completely and work on setting and enforcing boundaries in the future. He is abusive.

Wishing you strength and all the best.


Title: Roommate's father is trying to take away his inheritance left by his grandfather

Question:
My roommate's grandfather left him with a $30,000 inheritance that he can only access when he turns 30. Until then, my roommate's father has control of the funds. For a time, his father would send him money to pay for school and rent, but as of late, his father is unhappy with his performance and life choices.

My roommate says that the financial advisor who oversees the inheritance account has been talking with his father, who plans on getting rid of the money so that my roommate cannot get it when he turns 30.

Is there anything that my roommate can do to prevent this? Should he talk to a different financial advisor or lawyer, or is it a lost cause, since he has no control over the account until he is 30, even if it was meant for him?

This is taking place in Portland, OR
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer: What do you mean get rid of it? The financial advisor should be investing to the best of their ability for the benefit of the inheritor. They're not supposed to purposely tank it. Are you certain you're getting all the information straight?Answer #2: Dude, tell your roommate to get his shit in gear. Have him sort out with what's going on with his father. It vaguely sounds like he's got a drug problem or not doing well in school and fixing both of those should get him back on to alignment with that money. It doesn't sound like his father has hurtful intent.


Title: International case of the stolen picture of the sexy Moroccan woman

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 IANAL, but here is what I'd suggest to your friend.

Find out who the manufacturer of the tea is, and where it is produced. From there, look into that country's laws regarding unauthorized use of likeness. This may be difficult due to language barriers.

Likewise, try to contact the company and see if this can be sorted out without involving lawyers. They may be willing to simply stop using her photo.Answer #2: [Relevant Simpsons](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiAaEPcnlOg)


Title: I got "arrested" at a mall.

Question:
I have an interesting story I wanna explain and for you guys to explain if anything wrong happened. But before I begin can police say " if you don't cooperate I'm going to arrest you and send you to jail " is this a scare tactic?

To begin...

It was a bright day in Arizona and one of my friends told me that he had a iCloud locked IPhone. At the time I didn't really know what this meant but I sold phones here and there so I bought it cheap. I searched the information about the particular phone and made sure it wasn't stolen. Everything checked out and was good to go. I listed the phone for sale for a big price. I bought it extremely cheap for around $50 and listed it for $300. I get a text message a few hours later from a lady asking if she wants to meet up and she kept spamming me and was persistent on meeting up with me. I tell them I'm at the mall and they said they're coming. I waited 15 minutes and no one.. I waited 30 minutes and still no one.. After about 45 minutes I get a call saying that she will becoming but she is just running late.. I though this was weird but ignored it and waiting about 40 more minutes. After almost 2 hours gone by I finally meet up with her and she asks for the phone. She glances it once and out of no where 3 cops pointing tazer at me come out of nowhere and scream get on the ground. I was so confused and thought this was a prank or something. I get to the ground and the lady is screaming at me how I traumatized her little girl because I stole her phone. I kept telling her i didn't steal it and she kept looking at me with this disgusted face and calling me a liar and that I "hurt" her child. The cops put me in cuffs made me take off my jacket and hat and sat me down on the side of the street. There is now a huge crowd looking at me and this point I'm extremely embarrassed and confused. One of the cops is talking to the lady about how they're glad they found her phone. The cops give me a form and threatening to put me in jail if I don't answer all of there questions and give them my phone to look at messages. I was scared shitless so I complied.

They said they saw a guy steal these phones from Starbucks and showed me a picture. And what do you know it was my friend. They told me if I tell my friend why happened they will come get me and put me in jail. One of the cops said " Since you didn't give us a hard time we didn't arrest you we just detained you, you're free to go. " They said this case will be under selling stolen property because he said I knew it was stolen because I bought it for $50 and tried selling it for $300. I wasn't in the mood for arguing so I just said okay. After I got home I emailed the lady apologizing about the whole situation and wanted to let her know that it wasn't me who stole her daughters phone. I didn't get a reply.

About 2 weeks past by and I asked my friend if he got any calls or talked to the police. He said no..

So what happened? Did the cops just drop this case? Is this on my record?

Answer:
 You might not have known it was stolen, but FYI I think the chances are that you did.

Look:  I know what kind of phone every single one of my friends has.  Every time a friend gets a new phone, it's a common topic of conversation.

Me:  Whats up?
Friend:  I got a new phone
Me:  Oh ,cool, what kind?

I am highly confident this is how most of the world works.

If a friend of mine says "I have an Iphone, can you sell it?" The first thing I would ask is "where did you get it?".

This is why the cops don't believe you, fyi.


Title: Wife's pregnant, boss is making her take PTO to see the doctor.

Question:
US in IL here.  My wife is in her third trimester of pregnancy.  She's been doing her best to make appointments with the doctor in the mornings and coming in an hour later (and staying an hour later) in order to not have to use PTO, which she's been trying to save for when the baby actually come.

We just found out she has gestational diabetes and there's a whole range of new appointments she needs to make to see various doctors.  Now her boss says that it "isn't fair to the others that she leaves so often" and that she needs to take at least a half day of PTO every time she has an appointment from here on.

This may be wishful thinking, but can her boss even do that?  What recourse can we take?  My wife wants to work and can perform her job duties (she sits at a desk on the computer).  She just wants a little flexibility to allow her to see the doctor for her appointments without having to eat a half day of PTO.  I feel terrible for being unable to help her out.

She loves her job as it is in a field she really cares about, her boss is just a total bitch.  Is there any recourse we can take?

Answer:
 First off, contact the doctor's office, and ask if they can provide a note to help request FMLA and an ADA accommodation. Take that note to HR and file for FMLA if she is eligible, and officially request the ability to move her shift around as an ADA accommodation.

It is not uncommon for managers to either a.) not understand how these laws work, or b.) not think that these laws apply until someone specifically references them. This one of the reasons why HR is there - to protect the company from ignorant managers.

Note: FMLA applies if:

* Her employer has at least 50 employees for at least 20 weeks in the current or previous year.
* She has worked for the company for at least a year, for at least 1,250 hours during the previous year, and at a location with at least 50 employees within a 75-mile radius.Answer #2: Has your wife applied for FMLA? She should be provided with reasonable accommodations to make her doctors appointments.


Title: [TX] Apartment complex charging for alarm monitoring, but there is no monitoring

Question:
The apartment complex that I live in charges a flat $10 a month for alarm monitoring. The second you open the door or the patio door the alarm goes off and you need to put in the code. Last month I put in my alarm code wrong and it went off. I was frantically trying to put the code in and I just couldn't remember it. It was kind of bizarre, but anyway I finally get the code right and it stops. Sure the sensors work and it makes noise BUT I didn't get a call from a monitoring agency or the police. I thought this was odd so I went to the leasing office and asked them about it. They danced around the answer and with an annoyed look said that the apartments are monitored. Ok, cool. Monitored by WHOM? No answer. Sigh.

&nbsp;

I had my suspicions about the alarm monitoring because my renters insurance offers a discount if you have a security system. I gave them my insurance company's form and the property manager wrote in pink pen ink (I can't make this shit up) that the apartment complex has an alarm system and never included the supports to back up this claim so I didn't turn in the form.

&nbsp;

So to get to the point: Can they do this? Can they charge for something as important as alarm monitoring and not actually monitor anything?

EDIT: [Here is the insurance form.](http://i.imgur.com/aBHrihQ.jpg?1)

[Here is the monthly statement.](http://i.imgur.com/eqwbNem.jpg?1)

Answer:
 OP- Does the lease specifically state 'alarm *monitoring*'?

And not just $10/month for an alarm in the apartment?Answer #2: Yeah, IANAL, but write them a letter summarizing the conversation that you have with the office (specifically mention that they refused to answer your question).

I'd then demand to know who is monitoring the apartment. I'd also write that if there currently isn't anyone monitoring the apartment, then they must refund me what I've already paid, and they must either:

1. Remedy the breach by getting someone to monitor the apartments; or

2. Stop collecting $10/month for a service that they refuse to provide.

I'd finally give them a reasonable about of time to respond to my letter (5 to 10 business days) and go from there.


Title: [Il] Was in a car accident, had some questions about charges.

Question:
The 17 year old girl that hit me and admitted to being on her phone directly to the police officer has been charged only with failure to obey a traffic signal. She blew through a red light and hit me while I had a turn arrow. I got a ticket a few years back for rolling a stop sign; the charge was failure to obey a traffic signal. Now, seeing as these are very different circumstances, shouldn't she have some more charges against her; or at least something more serious than something that lines up with a speeding ticket? Do I have a right to feel like they're going way too easy on her?

If I hadn't been paying attention, she would have broadsided me at 45mph, most likely killing my passenger. This wasn't a minor accident; both vehicles were definitively totaled. I feel like a $120 fine and a slap on the wrist is insufficient.

Answer:
 This seems like a light punishment, but it's really not up to you or me or anybody other than the DA to decide.

Fun story time: when I was 18, in between college and high school, I got into an accident. I was making a left turn against traffic from a stop sign and got t-boned by some girl flying over a blind hill. Totaled my new car, I hadn't even got the dealership tags off of it yet.

I hopped out of the car and went to help the girl that hit me, and she was *screaming*. Like, incoherent banshee screaming. She wasn't hurt, but she was absolutely *livid*. This went on for a solid hour and a half until the state patrol finally showed up. Trooper gets out of his car and comes to me first to see if I'm okay. I say "yeah, but you should really go check her out." She proceeds to scream at the Trooper for 20 minutes. He runs her info, turns out she lost her license months ago, and had no insurance. She went to jail.

I, however, was the one that was coming from a stop sign. So I got the ticket for the accident. This super cool trooper spent ten minutes in his car looking to find the ticket that would give me the lightest punishment. I got "Failure to yield right of way" which had a $30 fine and no points.

Three months later I start dating a girl I worked with. Three months after that I meet her parents. Her dad was the Trooper that wrote me that light ticket.


Title: Attempting to fight the good fight

Question:
What do we do when we feel as if our constitutional rights are being violated? Let us put our internet connections to good use and do our research. Below is a letter I recently sent to the Chillicothe Ohio Municipal Court challenging a decision to place a vehicle registration block on me. CRITICISM WELCOME! Let me know if I could have done better or if I am wrong.

I have been informed that you have made the arbitrary decision to place a vehicle registration block on me with the BMV until I begin paying twenty dollars monthly on each one of my court fines which would total three hundred sixty dollars a month. A monthly payment of this amount would be completely absurd as I am currently unemployed and have no assets. I never agreed to pay this amount on each one my fines as I do not have the necessary funds to do so.

This action is a direct violation of Section 1 Article 1 of the Ohio Constitution, the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments under the Constitution for the United States of America in that I am being deprived of liberty and the acquisition of property without due process (See attachment A). If I am unable to drive, I am thereby unemployable as prospective employers require that employees possess a valid driver’s license in consideration for employment. If I cannot register a vehicle in my name, obtaining a driver’s license becomes a moot point.

In the Ohio Supreme Court case, State v. Hocchausler, a ruling was made that “Due process under the Ohio and United States Constitutions demand that the right to notice and an opportunity to be heard must granted at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner where the state seeks to infringe a protected liberty or property interest” (See attachment B).

I have not received a hearing on this matter in compliance with 2947.14 of the Ohio Revised Code (See attachment C) and for the aforementioned reasons I am requesting that the vehicle registration block be lifted as I believe you do not have the authority to take this action. This is a form of extortion and ultimately creates a perpetual cycle of crime in our society because those with criminal convictions are often prevented from gaining employment due to the tactics of our so called justice system. Thank you for your time.

Attachment A
Article 1 - Bill of Rights§ 1.01 Inalienable Rights (1851)

All men are, by nature, free and independent, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and seeking and obtaining happiness and safety.

Amendment V US Constitution

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment XIV US Constitution
Section 1.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Attachment B
Due process under the Ohio and United States Constitutions demands that the right to notice and an opportunity to be heard must be granted at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner where the state seeks to infringe a protected liberty or property interest. Greene v. Lindsey (1982), 456 U.S. 444, 102 S.Ct. 1874, 72 L.Ed.2d 249; Boddie v. Connecticut (1971), 401 U.S. 371, 378, 91 S.Ct. 780, 786, 28 L.Ed.2d 113; Williams v. Dollison (1980), 62 Ohio St.2d 297, 299, 16 O.O.3d 350, 351, 405 N.E.2d 714, 716. However, the concept of due process is flexible and varies depending on the importance attached to the interest and the particular circumstances under which the deprivation may occur. Walters v. Natl. Assn. of Radiation Survivors (1985), 473 U.S. 305, 320, 105 S.Ct. 3180, 3189, 87 L.Ed.2d 220, 232.

Attachment C
2947.14 Hearing on ability to pay fine.
(A) If a fine is imposed as a sentence or a part of a sentence, the court or magistrate that imposed the fine may order that the offender be committed to the jail or workhouse until the fine is paid or secured to be paid, or the offender is otherwise legally discharged, if the court or magistrate determines at a hearing that the offender is able, at that time, to pay the fine but refuses to do so. The hearing required by this section shall be conducted at the time of sentencing.
(B) At the hearing, the offender has the right to be represented by counsel and to testify and present evidence as to the offender's ability to pay the fine. If a court or magistrate determines after considering the evidence presented by an offender, that the offender is able to pay a fine, the determination shall be supported by findings of fact set forth in a judgment entry that indicate the offender's income, assets, and debts, as presented by the offender, and the offender's ability to pay.
(C) If the court or magistrate has found the offender able to pay a fine at a hearing conducted in compliance with divisions (A) and (B) of this section, and the offender fails to pay the fine, a warrant may be issued for the arrest of the offender. Any offender held in custody pursuant to such an arrest shall be entitled to a hearing on the first regularly scheduled court day following the date of arrest in order to inform the court or magistrate of any change of circumstances that has occurred since the time of sentencing and that affects the offender's ability to pay the fine. The right to the hearing on any change of circumstances may be waived by the offender.
At the hearing to determine any change of circumstances, the offender has the right to testify and present evidence as to any portion of the offender's income, assets, or debts that has changed in such a manner as to affect the offender's ability to pay the fine. If a court or magistrate determines, after considering any evidence presented by the offender, that the offender remains able to pay the fine, that determination shall be supported by a judgment entry that includes findings of fact upon which such a determination is based.
(D) No person shall be ordered to be committed to a jail or workhouse or otherwise be held in custody in satisfaction of a fine imposed as the whole or a part of a sentence except as provided in this section. Any person imprisoned pursuant to this section shall receive credit upon the fine at the rate of fifty dollars per day or fraction of a day. If the unpaid fine is less than fifty dollars, the person shall be imprisoned one day.
(E) No commitment pursuant to this section shall exceed six months.

Answer:
 No. Just no. Bottom line people in robes levied fines against you.  You lose.Answer #2: That's cute. Wrong, but cute.

> I have been informed that you have made the arbitrary decision to place a vehicle registration block on me with the BMV until I begin paying twenty dollars monthly on each one of my court fines which would total three hundred sixty dollars a month. A monthly payment of this amount would be completely absurd as I am currently unemployed and have no assets.

So by my math, you have at least 18 different tickets you aren't paying the fines on? and somehow you think being broke is a legitimate defense to not making those payments?

> This action is a direct violation of Section 1 Article 1 of the Ohio Constitution, the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments under the Constitution for the United States of America

No it's not.

> If I am unable to drive, I am thereby unemployable as prospective employers require that employees possess a valid driver’s license in consideration for employment.

False. McDonalds doesn't need a license.


Title: Inherited house being sold without notice due to back taxes. What are our options?

Question:
My fiancé has 50% ownership in a house in Houston, Texas (where we live) that she inherited from her father who inherited from his father. The other 50% is owned by her aunt. Neither one of them had done anything with the house since my fiancé’s step-grandmother who she has no real relationship with was still living in the house.

Yesterday she learned from her aunt that allegedly the house was repossessed by the bank due for lack of paying property taxes. Apparently her step-grandmother was not taking care of the house and was not paying the taxes. Everything in the house which included lots of artwork and antiques has already been sold by the bank and the house has been gutted and that the house had been sold. Neither my fiancé nor her aunt was aware of any problems until yesterday and the house was sold on January 9th, 2017
Yesterday we also received a letter from an attorney addressed to my fiancé and her aunt. It reads as follows.

“We represent (BUYER) in connection with a property he purchased located at XXXXX. Our review of documents has indicated that both of you may have an interest in the property. I am writing to offer each of you compensation in exchange for delivery of instruments intended to convey any possible interest you have in the property to (BUYER) and to clarify the chain of title.
Recently, (STEP-GRANDMOTEHR) contracted to sell (BUYER) (PROPERTY) in an arms length transaction. The contract price was $XX,XXXX and the property sold for $XX,XXXX. (STEP GRANDMOTHER) executed a General Warranty Deed which conveyed the property to (BUYER) at closing on January 9, 2017. $XX,XXXX of (BUYER)’s purchase money was used to pay back taxes on the property. The remaining net proceeds of $XX,XXX were paid to (STEP GRANDMOTHER)
In connection with his financing of the property, (BUYER) learned you may have a residual interest in the property. To clear the title for (BUYER), we are asking you to execute the enclosed deed and affidavits of heirship before a notary and return them to us. Once received from both of you, we will deliver to you the payment of $XX,XXX apiece. The amount represents the net proceeds of the sale to (BUYER), less the due property taxes on the property.”

What are our options for handling the situation? The amount the house was sold for is half of what the “estimated” value is on Zillow (which assumes the house was in good shape, but we are fairly certain the house was not). Was the sale even legal since the first contract was signed by someone who has no interest in the house? Do we have to sign the documents? Can we pay the back taxes and sell the house ourselves? Should we lawyer up? Or is it already too late and should we just accept the money? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer:
 Your options are to take the payment in exchange for signing the deed over or to get a lawyer and contest the sale/try to get this back.

Depending on the terms of the property ownership you may have had right of first refusal on the sale of the interest, however a tax foreclosure makes that still more confusing.

Texas does not have a right of redemption, which means if the foreclosure has happened it's happened, you can't go back now.

TX property law can also get strange, because TX seemingly can't do anything 100% normally.


Title: [TX] Bought out a business partner 2 years ago, now he's hijacked my website to redirect to his own.

Question:
I bought out a business partner's share of a business several years back for $2,500. No paperwork was drafted, but I did send him a "letter of intent to purchase" the business that basically said that I would pay the above sum, and receive all of the businesses assets, debt, and Intellectual property.

We later had a falling out, and are no longer friends. I discovered yesterday that the domain name for the company website has been changed to redirect to a different business that HE owns! I logged in and found out that the domain name was never properly transferred from his account to mine.

I messaged him and told him how to transfer the domain to my account, but his brother (who is still my friend) has told me that he saw the message, but is unwilling to make the transfer because he's still angry with me for an unrelated matter.

How do I handle this? Send him a demand letter? file in small claims court?

Answer:
 Small claims court isn't the right venue for this. You should talk to an attorney - you ideally want an order that he turn over the domain, which is beyond small claims court's authority in most cases.

Your attorney can approach him and spell out exactly how unwise this idea was. Hopefully, when he realizes he's fucked up, he'll settle with you and go on his merry way.Answer #2: I helped a small company with this issue, though I am no IT guy.

I did a whois search of the domain. The domain registrant information was under the old guy's name and he had control of the contact email that the registrar required a response from to allow any changes to registrant info. So, the registrar had me create a new account on their site and fill out a form to have the domain name transferred to the new account, then I had to get a form notarized and pay a small fee to change the registrar name and contact info (and a new email address). Then I removed the nameserver information from the account, bringing down the site. Then I found a host server service like hostgator or something to host a new website that I built from a simple template and linked to the domain.


Title: Paid off mortgage and the mortgage company helped themselves to the extra funds (FL)

Question:
Years ago when my Father had a stroke. He had his rental house deeded into my name as Trustee, but the mortgage was in his name and we kept it that way. I paid the mortgage and handled everything to do with the property.

The mortgage company (Nationstar) has been a nightmare to deal with, so I recently paid off the mortgage.  Since they would not send me a payoff statement, I just sent in an arbitrary amount to make sure it was enough to pay off.

They never sent me a settlement statement or payoff statement, just kept the excess funds and the small amount of escrow funds.  They seem to have renewed my flood insurance for another year (which I did NOT want) and I have no idea what happened to the rest.

I want to sue in small claims but although I own the house, my Dad's name is the sole name on the mortgage and he does not have the competency to appear in court.  I live in CA.  Can I sue as the owner?  Get a power of attorney from my Dad?  Can I sue in CA small claims?
Topic:
Real Estate law

Answer: Did they ever send you anything saying that you paid it off? Some companies instead of applying any extra money from normal payments to principal will instead credit it like a prepayment for the next payment.   I wonder if that is what occurred here. If you sent in just over what was currently owed and they just applied it as future payments, the interest would still have accumulated and depending on the amount could have been more than the extra you sent in after X number of payments. I would try to get a statement either online or from their customer service that says exactly what you currently owe to see how they treated that large payment.Answer #2: Nationstar grants online access to accounts.  Have you tried to log in and check your ledger?


Title: California. Forcing me to violate my own restraining order every day.

Question: The restrained person has moved within 162 yards of my home. The only way in or out brings me fifty yards from restrained person. What do?

Answer: I would suggest you speak to an attorney to have them petition the court to either quash or amend the order of protection because that is not cool. If she was afraid of you she shouldn't be moving in that close to you.


Title: [Canada] Neighbor lied to city and attemped to cut down mature tree on my property

Question: So essentially my neighbor has a heated pool that he uses into the fall. A tree that is well on my property would blow leaves into his pool so he was upset about cleaning it, so upset in fact that he lied to the city that he had our permission to cut it down. Luckily since the tree was so big it took the crew a long time to get setup, long enough for me to notice and call the city and ask what was going on. The city said they had 0 information about this, the crew then ceased the operation and left. Thankfully none of the tree was damaged so I didn't really pursue any sort of legal avenue (probably couldn't have even if I wanted) but I am curious, say if I was away on weekend and he got the entire thing cut down, could I have sued? What could I have won?

Answer:
 Yay neighbours. Mature trees are often valued in excess of $10,000. Take some pictures of it and measurements of it just in case.  Send him a registered letter telling him he does not have permission to cut any trees on your property. Contract the police and report attempted vandalism.Answer #2: Where do you live that *the city* will accept the word of one person that they were given permission to destroy someone else's property?! Answer #3: Tell the guy to get a cover for his damn pool!

I mean, talk about going to the extreme.


Title: TX - can I get sued for telling a former coworker how much I love my new job?

Question: I was fired for performance from Company A. In the separation agreement, it basically said to not encourage coworkers for leaving. I was texting a former coworker saying how much I liked this job and how everything works itself out. To cover my ass, I basically said to stick with Company A and that they’re a good firm. Should I be worried?

Answer:
 NAL - but I think they would have to go to court to prove that encouraging others to leave was intentional. You're not selling or pitching the new company and I'm sure that rule is there to prevent headhunting or union organizing.

That said, sounds shady to me.


Title: Optometrist replied to my online review and included information about my vision needs/eye health - is this a HIPAA violation?

Question:
I wrote an online review for an optometrist office in Wisconsin saying that they were very nice, but expensive.

The office replied saying the reason why it was so expensive was because I have X type of specific vision impairment and needed X type of custom lens.

Is this a violation of HIPAA? What should I do? I feel like they shouldn't post this on Yelp? Seems like a clear violation, but what do I know?

UPDATE: Thanks for the replies. I flagged the review to Yelp, and then updated my review to state that their point about what is wrong with my eyes is moot as I have received the same service from other providers and their service was still substantially more.

UPDATE: Yelp has yet to review their comment.

Answer:
 It may be a violation of releasing information to an undesignated party.  File a HIPAA breach [here](https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/breach/wizard_breach.jsf?faces-redirect=true).  Also, you can remove your post to remove their response, or flag it through Yelp to be removed (but they may not).  Screenshot the comment for your records.

Honestly, though, this is poor communication on your part.  If you felt the services were too expensive, asking for information about the pricing would have been the more responsible thing to do before taking your complaint to a public forum.Answer #2: Are you personally identified in the review or Yelp profile?


Title: (California) Caught at school for having camera batteries in my pocket, vice principal took $120 of said batteries and will not return them because they are "dangerous"

Question: I am a 12th grader at a high school and in the yearbook class. Yesterday everyone in the yearbook class was going around the school for the whole day to take pictures, so I took a camera and 3 rechargeable battery packs, around $60 each. I am a good student and have not been called in to talk to the principal before. Near the end of the school day, the assistant principal saw me and noticed there was something in my pocket (I had my phone and 2 used battery packs in the same pocket) and wanted to see what it is. I complied and showed her that it was my phone and the batteries. She took the batteries and kept them, and lectured me for 20 minutes on how I should not keep extra batteries because they can explode or shock you and that they can be used to start fires or harm someone if they swallow them. Mind you, I am legally an adult. I asked for her to give the batteries back and she refused. My parents did too and she refused, saying that she did not have the batteries. Do I have any legal recourse? Is it possible to prove she stole the batteries even if she threw them away?

Answer:
 You can take camera batteries on-board luggage on a plane. Her claims of danger are her own projections. If she refuses to return your property take her to small claims court as a learning experience. /r/photography might be helpful. They are supportive of photographers and have seen similar situations.Answer #2: Personally I would get your diploma and official transcript before filing charges or calling the police.

You shouldn't have to do this, but I would.  The principal seems unsound.


Title: [New Jersey] If I brought my new car to the police department and requested they search it for drug residue, would they do it? Would they grant amnesty?

Question:
I won a car through an event/contest. It was stolen/recovered prior to being refurbished and given to me (which is the reason they had the car to give in the first place).

I dont doubt their dedication and diligence to restoring whatever may have been wrong with the car after being stolen.  However, and maybe I'm being overly paranoid and ignorant about these things, I can't help but consider the unlikely scenario that illegal drugs were used in this stolen car, the unlikely scenario where the organization did not clean the car sufficiently, and the even more unlikely scenario where this somehow affects me someday.

I'll sum up my question once more:  **Can I explain this to the police department and receive a search of my car free of consequence regardless of the findings?**  Thank you.

Answer: Or you could spend a couple hundred bucks having the inside detailed and move on. Police have arrested people over [drywall dust](http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/28/us/drug-test-drywall-positive-arrest-trnd/index.html) that tested positive on their ridiculously poor field testing kits. They aren't going to spend the money on a good test for your peace of mind.


Title: CT- ex girlfriend ran up 25k in credit card debt

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Did you give her permission to use your cards and received monthly reports of the charges?


Title: I stopped filing unemployment claims after two checks because I was depressed and felt like giving up. Is there any way to receive the unemployment benefits retroactively? (Massachusetts)

Question: I was laid off from my job in Massachusetts at the end of September. I filed for unemployment right away and received two checks in two weeks. My state then required me to attend a small group job-seekers seminar to continue receiving benefits. At this point my depression was too much for me to bare and I felt like giving up and did not attend the seminar. The state informed me that I did not qualify for my third check because of this. I put what little energy I had left into looking for work on my own without reporting it or keeping a log. I lived off my savings and severance for the next couple of months and managed to squeak by. I just accepted a new job (pending a background check) and am pretty much out of money. Is there anyway I can retroactively receive the unemployment benefits?

Answer:
 Doesn't sound like you've met any of the requirements.

Please seek counseling for your depression.Answer #2: Very unlikely.  Generally you have to meet all the requirements to continue being eligible for UI.  It sounds like, besides not continuing to file, you didn't meet the seminar attendance requirement.


Title: [Hypothetical] Someone just shot up a bank I was at and killed a bunch of people. I decided to hide in a backroom and survived. When I left nobody was there and a bunch of bodies were on the floor. Would it be illegal for me to take the cash out of the dead people's wallets?

Answer:
 Yes.  There is no "I just survived a mass shooting" or "but they're dead" exception for theft.Answer #2: Yes. Dead people are not abandoned property, this is not the wild west.  Their property goes to someone and it is not you.Answer #3: 2 robbery convictions for the price of one!

Not only is that definitely illegal, but those wonderful bank cameras will catch you in the act. So instead of just getting theft charges, it'll definitely make it look like you were somehow involved in the robbery. Even if you weren't. Gonna be really hard convincing a jury that your crime was completely unrelated to the robbery. Especially with you being a sole survivor.


Title: Husband has 6 months to live, would like to gift house to son, what is best way to do it?

Question: I am asking this question on behalf of a family member. Their husband has 6 months left to live, and they bought a home many years ago for \~$50,000. The house is now worth \~$140,000 and they would like to give it to their son. The women, Nancy, does not have long term care insurance, and is worried at some point she might have to go into a nursing home and will be sold to pay for the nursing home rather than going to her son.  When would be the best time to give it to their son, before her husband dies, after her husband dies, or after they both die, and what are the tax consequences?

Answer: Contact a lawyer and have a will made up, they’ll definitely want to do it before the wife ends up in a nursing home. My parents are actually going through this now. My grandmother’s health sickly declined and she had to be put in a nursing home but she had never made a will and will have to sell her home


Title: Babies stolen from family

Question:
My nephew was born during late 2017, shortly after his birth my brother made a call from the hospital that CPS was involved, and my nephew would be removed from his custody. From that moment on, many people in our family have desperately been trying to figure out how to gain custody, including the babies grandmother. Sister 1 flew to California from Massachusetts to attempt to pick him up just days after he was born. Meanwhile from Georgia, Sister 2 was making frequent calls to CPS to see what else could be done. Once in California, sister 1 was told she would not be permitted to gain custody even though the guardianship transfer paperwork had been written by the parents before removal by CPS. Sister 1 was told by social workers she wouldn't be considered because she lived out of state, even though it was the parents wishes that she go pick him up.

Sister 2 made several attempts to contact social workers expressing interest in adopting our nephew, and was eventually told he would be going to a foster to adopt family despite all our efforts to care for him. The social worker told sister 2 we should just let him be adopted, and not get in the way of it. By this point, our nephew had been with the foster family for over a month, and sister 2 was now told since our nephew had been with the foster family for so long they would be given preference for adoption. Sister 2 sold her house in Georgia and moved to California in order to go through the investigation process there, in order to do everything the social workers said needed to be done in order to gain custody. My nephew was 5 months old before sister 2 was finally allowed to meet him, and she made as many visits with him as possible. The situation became more complicated when nephews mother got pregnant again. Time kept going by, and at this point our nephews twin sisters had been born. Once again, they were removed from the hospital and placed in foster care.

We have now been told the next court hearing will terminate parental rights, and these babies will all be placed permanently with the foster to adopt families. For over a year, multiple people in our family have been fighting to gain custody of these babies, and we have been kept away from them. We were continuously ignored by social services, until my brother stood up in court and told the judge we had been attempting to be investigated for placement. The judge had been told by the social worker that they contacted all relatives, and none of us wanted to take them. None of us were contacted in any way, or asked at any point in time if we wanted these babies. The next court date is next month, and without an attorney we have been told we have next to a zero chance of being able to keep these babies within our family, but we are unable to afford the cost of attaining an attorney in such a short time. It feels as though they have been kidnapped, and we feel helpless in this situation. Is there anything else that we can possibly do in order to regain custody of my nephew and nieces? Is there anything we can say at our next court date, if we are unable to afford the attorney? Any suggestions at all are appreciated.

Answer:
 You have exhausted all the legal resources available to you. Given the actions of CPS, there is much more to this story. CPS doesn't take children away from an entire family unless there are extreme, EXTREME circumstances that you haven't stated.

You need a lawyer for so many reasons. Lawyer timeAnswer #2: If CPS feels the mother is unsafe they may not want to give custody to a family member if they think you will give the mother access. One of these kids has been in care for over a year and you're not giving any details about why the kids were removed at birth so I am not sure anyone will have advice for you beyond getting a lawyer.


Title: Got a speeding ticket in MI for 25 over on the freeway in a contruction zone. But they wrote out the ticket not in my name?

Question: The license plate number is correct. But nothing else. What can be done?

Answer: Clerical errors generally do not invalidate a ticket. You can call them and let them know about the errors, and they'll correct the information.


Title: Vet lost a vial of blood from a dog so took another dogs blood in its place. Is that legal? Should I do anything or just let it go?

Question:
I don’t know if this belongs here because it pertains to animals.
My kid has her first job working as a secretary at a veterinarian’s office. The vet is highly unethical. He often lies to the owners about what he did/gave their pets, charges different prices to people that look like they can afford more money, and rough handles the animals. (Like hard tosses them into their kennels while the animals are sedated)
When people bring their pet to him to be euthanized he will sometimes just put it in a kennel suffering for days until he feels like doing it.
Yesterday was a little different though. Long story short, the vet somehow managed to lose a vile of blood they needed from a dog. His solution to the problem was to take another dogs blood they had in the office and mark it as the lost ones. Which (as my kid pointed out) doesn’t even make sense; they can’t use any of the results as they aren’t true. Anyway, if this were humans we were dealing with I know it would be extraordinarily illegal. Is it with pets? I have no idea how to advise my daughter in this situation. (She knows she is quitting end of summer to go to school so she is just trying to stick it out.) Is there such a thing as animal malpractice? I don’t even know what this is called.
My kid can’t talk to her boss about concerns as he becomes verbally abusive at even the little things and frankly she is scared of him.
Is this something I should even care about legally or is it a life sucks moment?
I know state laws are all different. If it helps, I live in Louisiana and really hope the “vet” doesn’t have reddit.
Tl;dr Vet lost a vial of blood from a dog so took another dogs blood in its place.
Thank you in advance.

Answer: Vets have boards, the vet can be reported to their state board.


Title: I am a veteran looking to upgrade a military discharge under special circumstances. Texas, USA

Question:
I don't know if this is the most appropriate subreddit, I've posted this question under a different account in r/veterans but as I'm preparing my case I find I need more expert advice.

I'm looking into upgrading a GUHC (general under honorable conditions) Discharge I received following an AWOL from the Army in 2008 under some extenuating circumstances. I had a five year contract and was in my remaining two months of the contract on terminal leave with an honorable discharge on file. My unit decided to stop loss me and rescinded the honorable discharge. After two years AWOL I turned myself in and received the GUHC discharge. This transpired between 2008 (original ets date) and 2010 (turning myself in) Can you provide any assessment of my options or any comment on my case? I am just now building the timeline and consolidating my paperwork before proceeding with the upgrade. I want to make the strongest possible case.

Additional info that may bear on the case: prior to my original discharge I signed on with the National Guard to continue service and attended several training sessions but was given an uncharacterized discharge after the TxNG was contacted by my Army Unit following my discharge rescission.

Answer:
 As you probably already know, the only way to effectively upgrade a discharge is to apply either to the Discharge Review Board or the Army Board of Corrections for Military Records. The BCMR certainly has the power to upgrade your discharge. The problem is that they're very hyper technical. The cases that get approved aren't the ones with the best story or the saddest case. It's the ones where the Army screwed up on some hyper technical thing, like failing to send notice within a certain number of days, or getting the wrong signature approving official to sign the discharge. What you think of as important to the case normally doesn't play into the final decision; it'll be something burried in the regulations that you overlook. Having a civilian attorney who used to be a JAG is a great resource in these kind of petitions, because they're familiar with the administrative law and the regulations regarding separations.

Most of these are handled by mail without a personal appearance, so your package is incredbily important.

You can see the applicants guide [here](http://arba.army.pentagon.mil/documents/ABCMR%20Applications%20Guide%2020141203.doc)

There are also redacted decisions posted [here](http://boards.law.af.mil/ARMYboards.htm) so you can get a feel how cases before you have turned out. Spoiler; ts tough to get approved, so go in with help.

If you ended up being court martialed for the unauthorized absence, then even the BCMR is limited in the relief they can offer. But it sounds like that's not the case.

There's also technically a 3 year statute of limitations; but they waive that all the time if they actually locate an "error or injustice" in the record.


Title: [CA] Can a TOS prevent law enforcement from using my android app?

Answer:
 Not only would it not prevent them from using it, it would ensure that they would become very interested in it, because it makes it obvious that your "business" involves illegal activities.Answer #2: >Would that actually prevent them from using it?

Nope.  It would likely increase the odds of law enforcement looking into your app.

Your recourse would be (upon discovery) to terminate their service.


Title: When someone commits suicide and they make letters or notes to certain people, do they legally have to be viewed by that person?

Answer:
 After my father committed suicide, they said he wrote a note.  My mom had to ask several times for it. It was a pretty shit note, full of hurtful things, which is why I think they tried to politely suggest she not read it. Alas, curiosity..

Edit: clarity


Title: [NY] Cat Adoption Legalities?

Question:
So at the golf course I work at there is a family of semi feral cats that live there. We would like to find them a home, people have shown interest in taking them. I wanted to know if there are any legal problems that the course might run into.

1. Can we give away cats that we don't even own by using an "Adoption" sign?

2. Is the course the legal owner of the cats because the live on the grounds?

3. If someone does take one of the cats home, are there any liabilities the course might have if there is a problem with the cat?

4. I think they are spayed and neutered but I'm not sure about vaccinations, does that matter?

Also the course is a public one, owned and operated by the County if that has any bearing on anything. Thanks for any advice you'll may have.

Here are some pics of them from when they were kittens:

http://i.imgur.com/CuvhqsK.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Moqvt4m.jpg

Answer: /u/sorthum is our Dog Law expert. I don't know if he works for the "other side," but maybe he will chime in with some advice.


Title: I think I might be getting scammed but I'm not sure

Question:
Hi, I'm from Alberta, Canada, and I just found a job offer online for a babysitting job. It's from a family moving to my home town for work, they are coming here from Australia. The pay is really nice but I have some concerns. They only gave me and email at first and they have now sent me a cheque for $3,500 dollars. They expect me to deposit this cheque into my account and withdraw all but $400 (which is what they offered to pay me weekly) and then deliver the rest of the money to some unnamed store manager. The person offering the job has stressed a sense of almost urgency, she wants me to deposit this cheque the same day it arrives.

I can't help but feel like this is seriously fishy, at first I was just surprised they were paying me in advance when they hadn't even met me but to send a total stranger $3500 seems absurd. I feel like this might be some sort of money laundering scam, I will be seeking further legal advice, but I wanted to come one here and see if anyone has ever heard of or dealt with something similar. Thank you.
Topic:
Criminal Law

Answer: Yeah, its a scam. If they wanted to send money to someone, they would do it directly and not trust someone they don't know to hand over a majority of the money. Answer #2: Obvious scam is obvious. No one is going to send a stranger a ton of money


Title: [NJ] Marriage headed towards divorce, question about financial decisions

Question: Nothing has been filed, nothing has even been said, but we're headed that way.  My question is: I am the sole earner,  most assets (excluding the house) are in my name.  If I feel like this is coming, do I have the right to make financial moves - i.e. move her into a lower cost vehicle or purchase a second residence solely in my name? Or could that come back to bite me in the ass in court?

Answer: She's going to get half of whatever you've accumulated during marriage. Buy a cheaper car. She'll get half of it and half of the money you 'save'. Same with your second residence. Put it in your name, but she'll get half in the divorce. It's called equitable distribution.


Title: Refused entrance to airport because I didn't have my mother's credit card (DC)

Question:
I was returning home to overseas tonight for Christmas, but was refused entry to the terminal at the gate. I had my ticket, my passport (which matched the name on the ticket), and everything else that I have taken with me every single time I have gone home.

&#x200B;

When I got to the front of the line, the man at the desk told me that I would have to present the credit card which paid for the ticket. Now, my mother paid for this ticket. The man told me that the only way he would let me in is if she brought her card to the airport. Only problem: She is currently in a different time zone, and it is the middle of the night over there. Even still, when I pulled out my phone to call her, the man told me to put my phone away. He told me that if I started recording him, he would call the police on me.

I confess, I was getting mad, and asked him what the f\*\*\* I was supposed to do, since I needed to get home, but he told me that if I swore again....he'd call the cops. He then told me to leave or, you guessed it, he'd call the cops. And then he walked away from his little desk and refused to speak to me.

So here I am, sitting in the airport, 2 hours from my school apartment, and only a couple hundred yards from my plane, and I can't get in because some asshole with a god complex decided to turn me away.

There is another woman sitting nearby, who is crying because he turned her away too for not having the credit card that bought her ticket.

Can he do this? What can I do? (Is getting him fired an option? I would love to get him fired.)

I did get his name.

Answer:
 Yes, they can do this.

Several airlines actually have this as policy.  It is an anti-fraud measure and during the holiday season, airline fraud goes up.  They don't have to do this every time. Check the Contract of Carriage for the airline. As everyone else said, call Customer Service.

Source: I worked in airline financial fraud.


Title: [HIPA] I complained about a doctor online. His staff responded with my medical information. How guilty are they?

Question: A couple of months ago I got a nightmarish laser burn on my chin. I'm still wet bandaging it. I started having panic attacks about other people getting injured, so I posted a negative Yelp review. His staff responded by complaining that I had not come back to them after they called repeatedly and saying they didn't burn me. Neither is true. They burned me pretty badly and,  they sent me to a doctor outside of the practice who wasn't working that week. Just generally, if I file a HIPAA violation report for them releasing my information in the context of responding to the Yelp review, how likely am I to succeed?

Answer:
 I am not a lawyer, but if them saying they didn’t burn you is the information they released then you likely will not succeed.

You most likely stated in your negative review that you received a burn.

They didn’t say anything more than what you had already said.Answer #2: You posted a Yelp review that said, "This doctor's office burned me," and the doctor's office replied to your Yelp review saying, "We did not burn you, we tried to call you?"

What information did the doctor's office release about you?


Title: [LA] Minor accident, no police report. Now driver of other vehicle is claiming injury and hired an attorney. Insurance company is telling me not to panic. What can I do to be proactive?

Question:
Was in an accident at the beginning of this month. It was a side-swipe accident and according to my insurance company, we're likely going to share 50/50 fault. I filed a claim but later decided to pay out of pocket for the minor damage to my front bumper, rather than going through my insurance.

The damages to both vehicles were minor, as the accident occurred at low speeds. Police weren't called and they likely wouldn't respond due to the benign nature of the accident. I took pictures of the damage of my car.

At the scene of the accident, neither the driver nor the passenger spoke English. They did ask me if I called the police ("Policia?"), and I said no, I don't think it's necessary. Both occupants were outside of the vehicle, standing, and did not seem to be in any distress. We exchanged insurance information and that was that.

Fast forward to today: I was asked to give a statement about the accident and was notified that the other driver had hired an attorney and they were claiming injury.

The insurance company told me not to freak out, but I just graduated from college and started working--I have mountains of debt that I need to pay off, but fortunately I found work immediately. I don't really think I can afford an attorney if it comes to that.

Should I listen to the insurance company? I was told if there was a lawsuit, they would have one of their own lawyers represent me in court. I was also told not to worry--but I'd rather be proactive about this.
Should I relax and let the insurance company handle it or should I be seeking my own attorney?

Answer:
 >Should I listen to the insurance company? I was told if there was a lawsuit, they would have one of their own lawyers represent me in court.

Yes

>What can I do to be proactive?

Listen to **your** insurance company.  This is why you pay them.


Title: [OH/TX] Parents refusing to not post pictures of daughter

Question: My wife and I, in Ohio, decided to not have our daughter posted all over social media when she was born. Most of our family and friends have been respectful of that. My parents in Texas however have refused to comply and have posted pictures of her on their Facebook pages. We began to report them and in retaliation, they are spamming their pages with pictures after each round of Facebook removals. I am constantly playing catch up to their posts and want to know if there is a way for me proactively prevent them from posting pictures of our daughter without our consent. Over the past 2 days I've probably submitted 20+ Facebook picture removal requests.

Answer: If the pictures are taken in public and by your parents, they own the copyright to them and can post them if they like. Your recourse would be to stop allowing your parents to see your child (and taking fresh pictures). Otherwise, you can't really stop someone from posting their own pictures they own the copyright to.Answer #2: Delete FB is step 1. Step 2 is to grow up and tell your parents how it is going to be and make them deal with it.Answer #3: If they took the pictures then they are allowed to post them as they please.Answer #4: You do not have the right to stop others from taking or posting pictures of your daughter. If you took the pictures then you may be able to get them removed as the holder of the copyright, but if someone else took them then you are out of luck.


Title: I have a question about storing clients' credit card information. (Kentucky)

Question:
I work in advertising for a newspaper/media co. We are currently using a system that stores our clients' CC information (presumably) securely. When I go to process a payment, I can only see the last 4 digits, etc. We are upgrading to a system that does not store this information. We get so busy that obtaining this information every time we place an ad simply wouldn't be feasible, not to mention how angry that would make our customers. My management is asking us to store our customers' information either digitally or on paper somewhere. In fact, we already have forms stored away in (unlocked) drawers containing credit card information. This includes names, full numbers, expiration dates and CVC codes.

Even if we use a password on a Word document or lock our drawers, I feel like it's only a matter of time before someone steals this information. I'm sort of uncomfortable that I'm being asked to do this. Is it legal? Am I personally liable for the information -- especially if it gets stolen? I was thinking of getting something in writing to avoid personal liability, especially in light of the upcoming upgrade. How can I best protect myself and our clients' information?

Answer:
 There are a ton of rules your company needs to follow if they process and store credit card information. Here are some [FAQs](https://www.pcicomplianceguide.org/pci-faqs-2/) and a [basic guide](https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/pdfs/pci_fs_data_storage.pdf) to start.

Alternatively, it may be time to think about switching to a third party processor like Stripe, so your company doesn't process or store the numbers directly. If this is feasible, it will keep you guys in compliance and make everything much easier for subscriptions.Answer #2: Not a lawyer... but..

Storing the CVC code is bad.  It is prohibited by PCI Compliance rules.  It can increase your risk of higher fines if stuff is stolen if you don't follow PCI/DSS rules and proper security for credit card and related information.

There may be laws in some states that will increase fines and liability if you don't take reasonable precautions to protect customer card data, and you risk losing your merchant account if they find out that you are storing the CVC or insecurely storing the credit card data.

You can read more on PCI compliance here: https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/merchants/

A good payment processing system that doesn't store the actual card information should store a token of some sort, that while identifying the card, doesn't have the actual card number.. allowing for repeat billing or subscription billing.

For example Stripe does this.  With Stripe I can save a token representing the customer, who I have loaded a card into their record and use that token for subsequent charges.


Title: [NY] Vasectomy Consultation and Procedure Help

Question:
Hi, TLDR at bottom.

&#x200B;

My significant other and I have mutually decided we are going to be child free. We have been together for 2 years and we have extensively talked about the idea of bearing children and after rigorous discussion, we don't want children.

&#x200B;

I am seeing a professional psychiatrist and have been doing so for several months. I am currently on Medicaid and here in NY, it covers vasectomy. The rule is first you have a consultation, then after 30 days you can have your procedure done. The urologist I chose for this procedure, unfortunately, was the ONLY one, to my knowledge (and trust me I checked), that accepts Medicaid, specializes in just male health & vasectomies and is accepting new patients. From what I could tell, they seem to have their shit together in the technical aspect.

&#x200B;

I had my consultation recently and it was VERY unpleasant. The receptionist staff were VERY inappropriate, saying shit like "why would a young guy like me would not want kids this early in his life". Fuck off. When I first tried making my appointment on the phone, I was greeted by an extremely rude staff member that said "We don't do that kind of shit here". Lol, so I called back and another staff member answered and I scheduled my appointment.

&#x200B;

I'm given a bunch of paperwork & I have no time to fill any of it out. A nurse ushers me into the patient room. The urologist finally comes in and inspects my vas deferens (balls). Urologist then speaks about the procedure for less than 2 minutes and doesn't even give me time I am entitled to ask questions about the procedure. Luckily, I researched the shit out of it but what a piece of shit. I tried asserting myself and asking questions but they literally just pretended not to listen and walked off to their office.

&#x200B;

I then provide a sample to perform a pre-vasectomy fertility test. The check-out staff tries to give me some bullshit excuse that the urologist might need to reschedule because they "might have other important stuff to do that day". Told them that's bullshit since I made my appointment like 5 months ago. So, after 20 minutes of haggling with the receptionist, I keep my procedure date. Later on in the day, I get a voicemail stating that urologist wants basically blank access to all of my psychiatric records and a letter from my therapist.

&#x200B;

**TLDR: Urologist is attempting to refuse care unless I hand over ANY and ALL of my psychiatric records. I confirmed with my insurance that they don't have the right to access these records, nor do they need them for the procedure. Is this legal? What should I do? What if this urologist has any legal claims against them? How do I find out any potential legal claims about them?**
Topic:
Medicine and Malpractice

Answer:
 I think they are wanting to cover their asses for doing a (somewhat) irreversible procedure on a clearly hostile patient.   I'd think the 20 minutes of 'haggling' might have set off some alerts internal to the practice.

They are not obligated to treat you, nor are you obligated you use them for treatment.  And yes, a doctor is allowed to ask for your medical records prior to treatment.  You are not obligated to provide them, but they are not obligated to accept you as a patient either.
Answer #2: You cannot force a physician to perform an elective procedure. Not only that, but it is not unreasonable for that physician to ask to see psychiatric records for someone (presumably young and child-free) who is asking for a procedure to remove their fertility. Your recourse would be to find someone else to do your procedure.


Title: Tenant refuses to allow prospective buyers to view apartment even when given eviction notice

Question:
Yeah, so this is in Ontario, Canada.
My uncle owns an apartment that he is trying to sell, he gave the current tenant the 60 day notice, and politely asked him which days are best that buyers can come. The tenant insists on being there for the viewings because he states that his property is still currently there. My uncle is pretty chill so he agrees.

BUT, so far he has cancelled viewing with 4 prospective buyers, and he refuses to allow my uncle to show the apartment without his presence in fear of someone "touching his property". My uncle tried to explain the situation to him, but he's extremely adamant saying that the timings don't work, which is bull, because he's confirmed the times but will cancel last minute. We tried talking to the real estate agent to talk some sense in him, but so far he hasn't replied.

 My uncle is obviously pissed, and is considering taking legal action against him, but he doesn't want to drain out any more cash (bad investment).

Any advice, tips, comments, or concerns would be greatly appreciated, Thanks!

Answer:
 [HERE](http://www.ltb.gov.on.ca/en/Key_Information/STEL02_111473.html) is the Ontario Landlord Tenant Board guide on entering a unit.  Looks like your uncle's tenant has no right to refuse entry if your uncle provides 24-hour notice.  Get a key, provide notice and then your uncle can enter.

That said, this guy sounds like he'll make a stink over this.  Your uncle should send him written notice that he'll be entering.  Send it registered mail so he can prove the date it was sent and the date it was received/signed for.  Post a copy on the tenant's front door as well.


Title: Can police enter a house without warrant because a neighbor phoned them for hearing yelling or whatever?

Question:
Rhode Island, USA.

I'm assuming they can, to check for safety/violence, but I was just curious and wanted to double check.  We were having an argument, but we were extra loud because we had white noise on from an old fat TV on blast due to construction 15ft away from my house with sledgehammers.  Neighbors of 4 years, whom Ive never had an encounter with besides "have a nice day!" type stuff,  phoned the cops.  Cops assumed I was the bad guy, idk if it had to do with  males being more violent in general or what. I didn't hear their knocks from the pure, ambient, crisp white noise. I step outside to get laundry and get ambushed by 7 cops pointing guns / tasers at me.  They said they got a call for yelling.  They open my door, go inside, knock half of my shit over while in there, including several WIP value-less sculptures I had worked on for 10+ hours each, to check in on my girl.

Do they have a right to enter w/o warrant over mild yelling? (If so, I'm surprised more hooligans don't troll neighbors by putting surprise ambushes on them, claiming they heard yelling and were super worried, but really just wanting an ambush to troll the neighbor)

Answer:
 Cops have three ways that allow them to enter a property legally without your permission.

1.  They have a warrant

2.  Extreme circumstances as in someone’s life could be in danger.

3.  Probable cause

The legality of the police entering a private residence is a fight in the court, what the police heard and/or were told might have been viewed differently than just “mild yelling” as you described.Answer #2: If the cops hear a confrontation in the home that can be exigent circumstance

If the cops are told there was a confrontation in the home that is not exigent circumstance


Title: [TN] Is it legal for the landlord to have cameras in the common areas of the house?

Question: So I'm renting a room and it really makes me uneasy knowing theyre recording everything I do when I'm outside my room. Theres two cameras, one pointing down the hall where my room and bathroom is and the other pointing into the kitchen. It is something they didn't even bring up to me I just came home and they were there. They are app controlled as far as I can tell and might be night vision. Any advice?

Answer:
 It's been a general consensus from this sub that, as long as the cameras are recording a shared space, while super creepy, it is not illegal. That is provided the cameras are not pointing *into* the bathroom or your room.

You can continue checking your local laws, even go pay an estate/rental attorney a hundred bucks to find out, but it's likely legal.


Title: B&E, criminal trespass or am I SOL? (FL)

Question:
Exgirlfriend moved out unexplained in October.  Sent her an email in November stating she no longer was allowed in house, changed locks and codes.  December, she shows up with county sheriff to retrieve remaining items which I obliged.  Six weeks later, she shows up with sheriff and locksmith, breaks in and cleans me out.

Even with all the evidence, sheriff refuses to do anything about it.  All utilities in her name were cancelled or changed by December.  Neighbor witnessed her leave back in October.  Sergeant told me she convinced the deputy with a drivers license (still same address, also illegal) and old utility bill to get in.

Do I have a case?  Is the sheriff at fault due to letting her break in 3 months after she moved out?  How do I proceed?

Answer: You can sue civilly for damages


Title: Can i sue homedepot for rental tool which burned my house?

Question:
So i rented one of their sanding machine. When i rented the machine, they at first check if machine still runs , then ask me my driver id, and told me that it is 150 including deposit and rental fee to pay and ask me to sign on electronic pin pad. Literally, thats all they said. And they gave me some paper saying that 'it is about the rental.'

I rented it around 10am and sand by 7pm and left the sanding machine on the one of wooden floor with unplugged power and shut down all electricity power.

Next day 7am i came back to the working site n i found whole house is covered by soot and the sanding machine head was melted like volcano with giant hole underneath.

What made me pissed off is
1. I paid the rental damage protection but they said it covers only machine itself.
2. Homedepot never warned us it can cause fire or it is fire hazardous. We were asked to sign the paper through tiny electronic panel even before reading all that and the paper which explained the possible fire damage was already signed even before we read it. When we checked the dust back before leaving, it was pretty low and still hard to believe how that could happen.
3. Homedepot said it is not their fault n they tossed me to 3rd part insurance company
4. The 3rd party insurance company has ignored me for last 3 weeks although i called them more then 4 times to check the claim status. Never called me back

I paid extra 4000 bucks to cover the damage n im glad it didnt burn whole my house. But im  now very upset on homedepot and their insurance company both. Is it possible for me go sue them?

Btw how can i add the picture? I have awesome pic of my burnt master bedroom by the sanding machine.

Answer:
 How did the sander melt?  You say it was unplugged and just melted randomly on its own while off?

This sounds more like insurance fraud then anything else...


Title: My landlord changed my apartment after I signed the lease. Do I have grounds to terminate the lease?

Question:
My boyfriend and i have been looking for a two bedroom apartment, in Cincinnati, Ohio, within our budget for quite sometime. I found a place on Craigslist and my boyfriend and I went to look at it. I loved it. It was the 2nd floor of a two family house, with two bedrooms, completely renovated and a balcony. When I was walking through I mentioned the only thing I didn't like was that it was the 2nd floor. He said the 1st floor was being renovated and wouldn't be done for two months and I said that was ok I loved the 2nd floor anyway. He said we could sign the lease but didn't have to have our deposit or first months rent until we moved in. We thought that was awesome and we took the lease home to look it over and sign it and bring it back a week later, which was a date the landlord and my boyfriend and I agreed on. About 3 days later he texted me and said someone else was interested in my apartment and in order to secure it I would have to bring the deposit and first months rent with the lease and we would have to turn the lease in by the next day. I was a little annoyed because it was outside of our verbal agreement, plus I had to work so my boyfriend went to go turn it in by himself.

The next day I get off work and my boyfriend said that we got the 1st floor of the apartment instead. He sounded really excited about it but my heart dropped. I was so confused. He said the landlord promised the 1st floor to the other couple and said he would speed up the renovations to be done in 2 weeks. I didn't even get to look at it before we agreed to the apartment! I said "but the lease I signed said the 2nd floor on it. How was it changed?" Well, my boyfriend had to cross it out and write 1st floor and both him and the landlord initialed it. I asked how the layout was and he said "well its only a one bedroom and..." I didn't let him finish before I asked how much rent was and he said the same amount!!! How am I paying the same amount for a smaller one bedroom as I would for a 2 bedroom! I immediately called the landlord and told him I still wanted the 2nd floor and he basically said too bad he already 'promised' it to the other couple. Is this a legally binding lease? I feel completely taken advantage of. I found the place first and now I'm expected to settle but still pay for something I'm not getting.

Answer: It seems like the issue is more with your boyfriend for agreeing to the change. Both he and the landlord initialing the change was to acknowledge that it happened. If anything possibly you could get out of the lease, but your boyfriend would be stuck with it. Answer #2: Your landlord didn't actually do anything wrong here. Your bf could have said no and not initialed the changes, but he agreed to the change. You can be mad at the bf if you like (I would be) but all the landlord did was offer him a choice, and he is the one who took it.


Title: [Nevada] Store sold me a $400 product labeling it as a $900 product. It has not come to my attention until after the 30-day refund policy

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Does any packaging or receipt claim that it's  the more expensive model? How was it misrepresented?


Title: Is this a scam?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Yes, this is a scam.

In general, if you have to ask, it's a scam.Answer #2: What do you think? Do you really need to ask someone else or can you maybe try and think this one through yourself?Answer #3: Yes, it's a scam.  They check they send you is no good.  You deposit no good check in to your account and send the money to whomever via moneygram and keep your part until the check comes back and your bank pulls all the money back out of your account.Answer #4: It's 100% scam, and the second counterfeit check scam we've seen today.  Here's briefly how it works:

The scammer will send you a legitimate looking check.  You'll deposit it into your account.  As per banking regulations, the funds will be made immediately available to you for withdrawal.  You'll pull a majority of the funds out and wire them to the scammer.  It's not until several days later that the check is discovered to be bad/fraudulent/counterfeit once it works its way through the system.  At that point, the bank pulls the entire amount of the check from your account, often leaving the victim with a negative balance.  The scammer gets a windfall and you get left holding the bag.

Also, there will be no salary at the end of the month, only embarrassment and self-loathing.

A quick word of advice, any time someone offers to pay you for something simple that they could do for themselves for free (like cashing checks), it should immediately raise a red flag.  And any time a wire service like Western Union of MoneyGram is involved, you can guarantee it is a scam, and you should run far far away as fast as you can.


Title: Customs Law: Declaring More Than 10k Cash After a Trip Abroad

Question:
Hi all, I’m taking a trip with my husband soon where we will be meeting up with his family in Turkey for the first time after getting married. His family lives in Iran.

My in laws want to give us a gift in excess of 10k cash during this trip. We are hoping to buy a home soon and they would like to contribute to our down payment.  I want to be sure we have our bases covered when we re-enter the US and declare this cash.  Based on my research, we should have a FinCEN 105 ready to submit with the 6059B.  I was also planning on drafting a letter explaining who is giving us the money and why they’re gifting it and having my in laws review and sign.  Am I missing something else?  Also, what can I expect?  Do you think the sanctions will prohibit us being able to bring cash from an Iranian national that is our family? Thanks in advance!

Answer: Given your husband's non-citizen status, relations with Iran, and this administration's general views on both of those topics, I would not even consider doing this without speaking to an immigration lawyer who's also familiar with customs law.


Title: [Final? Update][GA] Bought house with cash, didn't sign anything related to HOA, HOA threatening to sue over nonpayment of dues?

Question:
[Original](https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/2x8r6k/georgia_bought_house_with_cash_didnt_sign/)
[First update](https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/3dr0g1/updatega_bought_house_with_cash_didnt_sign/)

It's amazing how much you learn about real estate law when something like this lands in your lap.

So, the spark notes up to this point:

* Bought house back in October 2013 with cash. Signed closing documents with an attorney and everything.
* Paid for a title search and title insurance
* February 2015, received bill for unpaid dues, contacted HOA and attorney about it. Attorney said no HOA, they have no standing.
* HOA said they were working on it, would contact soon. Never heard anything definitive about it.

Recently I received another bill for unpaid dues. So I contacted the HOA by phone and spoke with someone about it. I was told by the HOA rep that their map shows that my lot is a mandatory lot. So I contacted my attorney and asked for all the documentation as well as a legal opinion on the matter.

It turns out my house is in a different phase of construction than most of the other houses, and that phase, per the deed, is not required to join the HOA unless a consent form is signed. From what I can tell, the form appears to be binding to everyone else who will ever own the property until the HOA is dissolved, but if such a form was ever signed by anyone before me it was never recorded.

So my attorney sent me his legal opinion on the matter and the relevant documentation. I then forwarded that via email to the HOA contact I was working with, as well as printed everything out (the entire email chain and legal documents) and sent it along with a letter to the HOA office via certified mail demanding a response within 48 hours of receipt or the matter will be considered closed in my favor. Here's the letter:

>$myName
$myAddress
$myPhone#
$myEmail

>To whom it may concern,

> I have been in contact with your office via email about the quarterly fees your office claims that I owe. When I purchased my house at $address, I had a title search performed and it turned up nothing saying that I would be subjected to HOA fees. However, I have received two (2) letters claiming that I owe HOA dues and that they are past due, the latest total being $(over 1500).

>This letter and all attached documents are being sent to you as final notice that I am not required to pay these fees. I contacted the attorney that closed on my property ($firmName), and they provided me with documentation that supports my stance.

>If your office is in possession of any documentation that contradicts the findings of my attorney, please forward them to the office of $attorney at $attorneyAddress immediately.

>Failure to remit documentation within 48 hours of receipt of this letter will be considered acceptance that no balance is owed by the owners of $myAddress for HOA dues, and that further attempts to collect will cease until the homeowners sign the required documentation agreeing to be bound by the optional HOA covenants. Your office has had months to settle this matter as I first contacted you in February via email, and frankly I'm tired of waiting on you to provide documentation.

>Any further contact on this matter that is not either a letter agreeing that I do not owe any dues or documentation supporting that I owe dues will be considered harassment and I will be forced to explore my legal options.

>Sincerely,
$myName

That letter and all attached documentation was mailed on the 14th to the HOA's PO Box, and was signed for the following Friday. And I haven't heard anything from them at all. So at this point I think the matter is settled. If they continue to try and collect the dues, I'll probably have to get the attorney that closed on the house to send a cease and desist, and go from there.

Answer:
 Boy am I glad I don't have to deal with a HOA.  Never in my life will I sign on for that nonsense. Answer #2: Just a quick FYI, I always liked putting deadlines on correspondance like this but your demand that they respond to you within 48 hours or you will consider it that they accept that you owe no balance doesn't really effect them.

It has the same effect as if you said "If I don't hear back from you within 48 hours I will assume you don't believe I owe you any money."

It's fun to see an HOA squirm, and I applaud you for doing your research.  Now let's hope that your title search was accurate, cause if it isn't recorded against the land it doesn't count.Answer #3: You won't hear anything directly from them again.

 Once an attorney sends a letter stating that you are representing you, they (the HOA) will deal directly with them from now on. If they were represented, their attorney  is barred from contacting you via your state's professional rules.

This is actually a common thing in expanding areas. HOAs get a mapped area, but covenants don't get attached to parcels for whatever reason (rezoning is a common one), but the HOA doesn't know. I was actually looking at buying a home on a golf course, and the developer wanted a premium because the HOA didn't attach the land.

Edit: After a reread of the post, I see that you sent them a letter with the legal opinion instead of having the lawyer send it to them. If the HOA has counsel, they will still probably contact you to see if said attorney is representing you in the matter. If not, they will continue to contact you.


Title: Help with the IRS

Question: About 5 months ago I received a letter from the IRS claiming I owed over $2,000 because they gave me credit back in 2015 for being a student. They claim to have no record of me being a student and if I could send in a bill, we could get it all cleared up. No problem. I contacted the school and sent them a bill for that academic year. I heard nothing back but my bill to the IRS had increased due to interest. I made an appointment with my local IRS office and they said it all looked fine and they faxed my school information in. One month later I received an even higher bill than the last time. The interest keeps increasing and it seems like they're ignoring every attempt to clear my name. Now they're threatening to levy my property. Is there anything I can do? (Rochester, NY)

Answer:
 As u/hazelstone37 mentioned the Taxpayer Advocate is the department of the IRS that exists for exactly this purpose.

Contact them and explain the issue.


Title: OH, PA: Tesla dealership keeps mailing me temporary plate for leased car

Question:
TL;DR - Tesla Dealership hasn't sent me my permanent license plate after nearly five months. Can I get out of this lease?

I signed a lease for a Model S out of the Cleveland, OH Tesla dealership in late July. I received a temporary OH plate, with an expiration date of 9/9/17, upon pickup at the Pittsburgh, PA Tesla with the instructions that I would be receiving my permanent OH metal plate in the next month.

After not receiving the plate and noticing I was coming up on my expiration, I went to the Ohio BMV because I thought I could just pay for the metal permanent plate myself. Since I didn't have the title, I was unable to do that. I called Tesla and after a ton of back and forth, they issued me a second temporary plate. I escalated the issue to "Executive Review" on my Tesla online account.

The second temporary plate didn't show up in time so I had a car with an expired plate for about half a week. It finally arrived by Fedex and had an expiration date of 10/26/17. They informed me that there was a problem at the Ohio BMV and that my metal plate was on the way. Okay, that's fine.

As 10/26 rolled around, I had a feeling the metal plate wasn't coming. I contacted customer support and escalated it to "Executive Review" again and they emailed me a temporary plate to display in my back windshield until 12/4/17. This temporary license plate was a totally different number. They said my plate had been mailed to me, but they left off my apartment number and therefore didn't receive it. I'm pretty sure that's not true because I usually still get my mail without an apartment number but okay.

About a week ago, I contacted the Pittsburgh Tesla again and they assured me the plate would be in a week or two. It's now 12/4/17 and my temporary license plate expires today.

I'm unsure how driving an expired car affects my insurance. Have they violated the lease agreement? Can I get a loaner car from them until this is resolved? What should I say if I go to the dealership today?

Answer:
 >I'm unsure how driving an expired car affects my insurance

 It shouldn't. Is your insurance payment fluctuating?


Title: What is the most secure way to buy a motorcycle without a title?

Question:
The title is on its way, the guy just doesn't have it right now because of modifications I asked him to make to it. I need the bike now because I'm going on a trip this weekend, so I'm picking up the bike this week. I'm thinking of finding a receipt template online, printing out two of them and having both of us sign it. Any other suggestions to stay safe, just in case?

I know the best way to stay safe is to say fuck it to the trip and wait till the title is here and then transfer it over to my name. But I trust the guy and am going to do this, in the safest way possible without the title. I'm in PA.

Answer:
 I do not recommend buying a bike without a title. With that being said, keep all receipts, emails, contracts, bill of sale and all communication in writing.

Pay with a money order or certified cheque. Police stations usually have secure, safe areas to conduct these transactions and they are video taped.

Also, I'm curious how you plan on putting insurance on the bike if you do not have the title?


Title: [South Carolina] I Was Never Informed of ADSAP

Question:
Back in 2015, I was convicted of Driving Under the Influence. I paid my fees, waited the 6 months, blah, blah, blah.

I never bothered to have my license printed out, as I don't have a car and can walk everywhere. I have been using a regular state identification card.

Well, today I went to the DMV to get my license, and the woman tells me that I can't have it because I never completed this program, ADSAP (Alcohol Drug Safety Action Program).

This is the first time I have EVER herd of this program. Police and judges advised me to apply for a provisional licence(didn't, I wasn't going to be driving), but nobody ever said one thing about this program.

Now, I'm looking it up and I see that all people who have been convicted of DUI are required to enroll in this class within 30 days of conviction, or they could be held in contempt of court!

First off, why am I only hearing about this nearly two years after the fact?

Second, what do I do? I have important plans that would not give time for these classes. Besides, this was almost two years ago and I have not been in trouble for ANYTHING since. Doesn't that count for something?

And before it's said, yes, driving while intoxicated is an incredibly stupid and dangerous thing to do. I regret it every day.

Any help is appreciated.
Topic:
DUI

Answer:
 Did you have an attorney represent you in your DUI case, or did you DIY it?

> Besides, this was almost two years ago and I have not been in trouble for ANYTHING since. Doesn't that count for something?

Not really, no.


Title: Landlord invoicing me for second carpet clean for new tenants

Question:
In Oregon. I moved out in late March. My deposit was returned minus some small fees for carpet cleaning (agreed upon in initial lease) and replacing a blind. It was noted that the apartment was relatively clean. I worked my ass of cleaning it to better condition than we rented it in.

I just got an email from the property manager stating that the current tenants requested a second carpet clean due to “odor” and we were sent the invoice because the landlord thinks we are responsible.

In my mind, we paid to have the carpets cleaned and they already deemed the place good by returning our deposit. Do we have to pay for the second carpet clean? It’s over $300 for 900 sq feet.

Answer: Don’t pay it and explain why (you already paid for carpet cleaning and they returned your deposit). That they failed to pay for an effective carpet cleaning is not your fault.Answer #2: I don't see any scenario where your former landlord can make you pay for this.  You paid for a carpet cleaning and I assume there's documentation to back that up.  If the new tenants aren't happy they should have either not taken possession of the apartment, or they can clean it themselves.


Title: Old landlord wanting me to remove Google review with picture of apartment manager flipping me off. Do I need to comply?

Question:
Long story short I had a Google review posted of an apartment complex I lived in for 4 years that royally tried to screw me in the end. They tried to evict but then failed to send me my security deposit or damage itemization list within the 45 day limit and I told them so. They still tried to send me a letter stating they were going to try and collect on the almost 2000 grand they said I owed but when I told them that they were beyond the 45 days and forfeited all rights to that money, they stopped contacting me. I went online at the time and posted this long review detailing all the horrible conditions of the apartment and what I'd put up with for years.

That was in August or September of 2015. Today I received an email AND a voicemail from this guy's lawyer asking me to remove the review and the picture so that he didn't have to "escalate it" or something to that effect.

I thought about it and, being mostly over it, I decided to delete the review itself just in case anything I said could somehow be construed as libelous but the profile picture I have for this account of the apartment complex manager in the apartment complex vehicle flipping me off I left up. I deleted all of the text but one line, "Profile picture is of the apartment complex manager, as you can see from the big logo on the side of the vehicle."

Do I need to remove this? I can provide the picture with the blurred out logo if necessary.

Edit: I apologize for not listing state. I am in Indiana.

Answer: If the guy wants to go around flipping people off he should expect that somewhere there is going to be a picture of it posted online.   Ask for an apology from the manager who is a representative of the complex for using an obscene gesture and a letter from HR stating that he has had training on how to properly communicate with residents.  And get what ever you didnt get back in deposits. - as a symbol of good faith.