Title: I own an ex-cop car. Legality of putting lights & sirens in it for show in Florida?

Question:
I own an ex florida highway patrol Crown Victoria. It still has a lot of the gadgets and tech, and I think its a neat project car.

The exterior has antennas and is cleanly painted all black. I have window bars and the partition still in the back with the police center console. I want to put sirens and emergency lighting (red and blue) back in the vehicle, STRICTLY for show and entertainment purposes. Obviously, I cannot use these on the road.

For me, an 18 year old male, not licensed or certified in the state of florida to practice law enforcement, is it legal to simply have them equipped in the vehicle, and drive said vehicle on public roads?

I actually do plan on being LE- and would not want this to negatively impact my future. This is simply a hobby.

Answer:
 No, it is not.  Florida specifically prohibits the use or display of blue lights on a vehicle except for law enforcement and corrections vehicles.

The same applies to sirens with only an exception for emergency vehicles.

Neither statue makes a distinction between having the lights/sirens merely equipped or actually using them.


Title: I need help to report my ex-girlfriend raping me 10 years ago (Canada) (x-post from r/rape)

Question:
Hi everyone,

10 years ago I was in a lesbian relationship and my then girlfriend abused me sexually for months. I said no and I cry and she would still do it. She would threaten suicide and self mutilation to keep me there.

Now 10 years later, she admitted to all the facts in a facebook conversation. I asked specifically: do you admit to raping me 10 years ago? And she answers yes. She also sent me a later 3 years ago trying to apologize for what she's done.

Now... I just wanted reddit's help to know if a written proof like this is enough to report her to the police. I thought about doing this years ago, but because it was a lesbian relationship, I was 100% sure to not be taken seriously. Is it enough if she admitted to it and I saved the conversation?

Thank you for your help.

Answer: Talk to the police. Stop trying to build a case for them and let them do their job.Answer #2: You can report her to the police at any time, evidence or no.  If you want to report it, report it and let the investigators determine if there's enough.  More, stop trying to **get** evidence, as you're more likely to cause harm than to help.


Title: Head on collision from Traffic Pattern-OH

Question:
Tuesday night my boyfriend and I were driving north on a street with heavy construction. He was the driver, I was in the front passenger seat. The street is normally two-ways(traffic going north and traffic going south), the street is still two-way but the lanes are sectioned by traffic cones. The lanes are not straight and there are a lot of traffic cones on this street that pave a path for north and south bound traffic. I drive this road every day to get to work so I am familiar with the traffic cones and the pattern. Tuesday night the traffic cones were not night arranged how they normally have been. While driving on this road (Tuesday night) the traffic cones indicated that northbound traffic should veer to the left, my boyfriend veered to the left following the traffic pattern and we collided head on with a car traveling south in the same lane. Both cars were totaled.

The police were called and my boyfriend was eventually ticketed for "failure to control." The other driver was not cited for anything. My boyfriend maintained control of the car, he was following the traffic pattern that was in place. We feel that we may need to get a lawyer to help him "fight this ticket." If he is found guilty of failing to control then his insurance will sky-rocket and he will be liable to pay damages to the other driver.

Before we even begin to look for a lawyer I wanted to hear other people's thoughts on our situation.
What do you think..?

Answer: Do you have pictures of the traffic cone setup?Answer #2: Either the ticket is wrong or your knowledge of the traffic pattern is wrong. Either way get a lawyer. Answer #3: Please tell me you got photo / video of how the cones were at the time of the accident.


Title: German shepherd bit a teenager who came in uninvited [WA]

Question:
My brother and his friend were staying at our house in the evening. The friend had *his* friend come to pick him up (someone who never came to our house before).

The friend of the friend (let's call him X) parked his car outside. We have a red front door which is really easy to see and a small door to the yard which is pretty hard to find and open.

For a really weird reason, X decided to come in through the yard door (without knocking first or calling). So in the dark, while everyone is in the house, he gets into the yard, where our German shepherd sees him and bites him. Not very hard, but enough to have some wounds. He probably bit him because X was trying to get away.

X most likely didn't know we had a dog (since he and my brother don't know each other very well).

Anyway, in the house my brother gave him some band aids and said everything was okay, X also said that it was his fault and not a big deal. Until X goes home and his mother sees the bites, panics and takes him to the doctor. She also reported the bite to police (a policeman paid a visit to our house).

Now, even the policeman said that the dog behaved as expected, but animal control still will come and check on him (probably to see his papers).

I am wondering if this will count as a bite history, and I know that if a dog has two accidents they can take him away. So, now if something like this happens again the dog will be taken away?

Also, does this count as the owner's fault? I could see them saying that we had to put a sign on the backyard saying we have a German shepherd... Or that my brother had to tell X that we have a dog... But then again he is not even the one who invited him.

Hope someone can help with some insight or advice.

Answer:
 The kid probably assumed you were in the back yard, which is why he walked into the back yard *after* he was called and invited to the home by one of your guests.

A nip is the same as a bite and a dog that bits people when they run is a major liability.

The fact that you didn't have signs up warning that you have an aggressive dog freely roaming a back yard that had a totally open door is certainly not good for you. The fact that you didn't warn him is also bad.

It presumably will count as bite history, since the dog bit someone.  [Yes, you'd be liable for the damages associated with this dog bite](http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=16.08.040).  Answer #2: If you have homeowners insurance contact your agent. Dog bites can become severely infected because of the bacteria on the dogs teeth so usually a doctor will start an anti-biotic.


Title: Boss admitted something awful, unsure what to do

Question:
Hey guys, I'm not even sure if this belongs here, but I'm at a total loss of what to do.

I'm a female, my boss is male. I've always felt uncomfortable around him, even felt physically threatened. However, today was the last straw. I heard him tell a story today about how he almost killed a transgendered person simply because they were transgendered when he was drunk with friends.

Needless to say, I'm looking elsewhere for work. But I want something to be done, and I'm looking into the HR department.

Is there any legal action/ investigation that could come of this by just going to the HR department? Is this considered harassment, or is there another term for it? I want to know what it is I'm getting into before I dive in. How many directions could this go?

Thank you in advanced for any input. And I do apologize if this doesn't quite fit with the forum rules. As a side note, every other manager was there when he told this story, so I don't feel that I can confide in them my concerns as they all laughed it off.

I'm in the United States.

Answer:
 > Is there any legal action/ investigation that could come of this by just going to the HR department?

No, the HR department is not the law.  You can report it to HR, and they can take internal action, if they choose; or you can report it to the police, who can take criminal action if they choose.

>  Is this considered harassment, or is there another term for it?

Probably not.  It's inappropriate, but unless you're transgendered and he knew that, it's difficult to claim harassment.


Title: (NY) Got my credit card information stolen, bank closed card and reimbursed me but now vendor is suing me for non-payment!

Question: I noticed a fraudulent charge on my credit card statement and immediately closed the credit card. I got a new one, used it for a couple months and noticed another fraudulent charge to the tune of $2000 out of state. I again immediately called Citi and they closed the credit card. I got a police report and Citi eventually reimbursed me. But then, I got certified mail from the vendor from where the charge came from, telling me that I was being taken to small claims court over non payment! Since Citi already reimbursed me, they are not willing to help me with the vendor at all. I reached out to the vendor and they are not willing to work with me, even after I explained what happened. They are persistant in taking me to court. The problem is that the vendor and court are 10+ hours away! What the hell do I do?

Answer:
 You have to show up and defend yourself lest the vendor be granted a default judgment.Answer #2: If they file, then you must respond.  You could respond with preliminary objections as to jurisdiction and hope to convince the court that they must file where you live, or you could defend where they filed.  They won't win because you actually filed a police report about the fraud, and your credit card issuer determined that the charge was fraudulently made.  They will have no evidence that YOU made the charge (presumably if they did, then they wouldn't have lost the dispute with your credit card issuer).  PS. There is no need to mention the first fraud as it's not relevant to the second fraud.

Of course, if they have evidence that they shipped some merchandise to your house, and that you are in cahoots with your boyfriend who lives with you, and that's who made the purchase and received the goods, then that's whole 'nuther story.


Title: Second Degree Assault charges but very confused? Colorado.

Question:
I figured I'd create an throwaway and ask here since I am absolutely confused.
This is in Colorado, any help and opinions would be greatly appreciated.
On Wednesday night at a bar, my brother "Bob" was drinking at a bar when police entered.  My brother and the police are by no means friends (he prides himself in peaceful activism), and he turned and smiled at them.  He has been pulled over, stopped while walking, and generally harassed by the police officers here.  He records his interactions and saves them.

He gets up to go use the restroom and as he is walking back.to a friend, the cops grab him, drag him out of the bar, and 4 officers proceed to hit him and beat him up, then arrest him and take him to jail.

I got to speak to him briefly Thursday evening while he was in jail to which he told me that he had been asking for medical attention at the hospital because he was knocked unconscious, and was witnessed asking numerous times throughout his stay.  They finally offered medical attention when the bailer was there at 3pm Friday, over 24 hours after the incident.

The newspaper and judge did say he has a second degree assault charge, but when I was looking at his ticket with the charges, it only listed "Harassment, Resisting arrest, and Interfering with Government Operations".
Assault is not listed anywhere on the ticket.

His bail was initially $20,000, but was reduced to $5000.
He looks unrecognizable.  He has a big giant bruise on the top of his forehead, he has a swollen black eye, bruises up and down his arms and hands, a bruise on his inner thigh, red marks around his neck.  I don't understand with what's listed on his ticket, why it was necessary to use that much force. I also don't know why we don't have documentation of the assault charge, if there is one.

I'm so confused, we are meeting with a lawyer on Monday, but peoples opinions on the matter would mean the world to me.  I'm a wreck.

I might also add, we live in a small rural town where everyone knows everyone else.  When he requested at the ER to get checked for a concussion, the doctor simply said no, that he didn't have one, but proceeded to tell him to avoid video games and TV for two days.  Almost as if he didn't want to document anything.

Sorry this is such a long post.

Answer:
 You have presented one side of a story.

I wonder what the other side looks like?

That side will likely be reflected in the police report of the incident.

Bob needs an attorney- the version of events presented above is almost certainly not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.Answer #2: > He gets up to go use the restroom and as he is walking back.to a friend, the cops grab him, drag him out of the bar, and 4 officers proceed to hit him and beat him up, then arrest him and take him to jail.

Were you at the bar, or is this his interpretation of what happened?

>he told me that he had been asking for medical attention at the hospital because he was knocked unconscious

I'm confused, the police took him to the hospital but the hospital refused? Or did he just not get the medical attention he wanted

>The newspaper and judge did say he has a second degree assault charge, but when I was looking at his ticket with the charges, it only listed "Harassment, Resisting arrest, and Interfering with Government Operations". Assault is not listed anywhere on the ticket.

Did he possibly have a warrant out for an assault case? Maybe the resisting/obstructing charges were just for that night, and the assault case was filed separately.


Title: Does a gradfather have a legal right to see his grandson (MA)?

Question:
Good day r/legaladvice. Big fan.

Don't think any background is necessary, but, per the title, does a grandfather have any legal right in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to see his grandchild?

If so, what steps need to be taken to interdict?

Sláinte and happy 4th, and thanks for any pertinent advice?

Answer:
 Welp, background is necessary.

Are the parents married and living together?  If so, grandparent will have no visitation rights.  If the parents are divorced, married living separately, in process of divorce, one parent is dead, one parent is incarcerated, etc. then a grandparent could petition the court for visitation, but would still have to show it would be in the best interests of the child.


Title: Please advice for unintentionally incident

Question:
Hi experts,
Am asking this for one of my relatives which shes really concerned.
There is a donation shop near her place which she goes there and leaves hers and kids unwanted cloth etc.
One day she dropped something but picked up something else from there which she liked, she wasn't going to "steal" as she had her car parked with plates just next to the cameras and shop she assumed it was OK to leave her unwanted stuff and get something else as return as we would when someone leaves their stuff on the street.

This isn't a shop or anytjing just a place where people donate their stuff, now she's getting into trouble for stealing and having a court also they have CV camera pics of her and other people recently sticked on the wall!

She has a court and she asked if they can remove the pictures atelast but police said it's their right to have the pictures etc.

What options shes got now? Is that true they own the pics and can do whatever with it? Will this be on her record?

Please assist as she's very concerned and depressed, this her first time going to court

Answer:
 Yes, it's true. If she doesn't want photos of her stealing being posted in places, she shouldn't steal.Answer #2: We have a “Free store” in my area where its recommended that you donate something before you take another. However, those are during business hours.

You don’t get to drop things off after hours here but I wouldn’t imagine rummaging through the donation afterhours if we could. She stole. Picture stays.

If appearance is what she is really worried about I guess she could make a statement anywhere her pictures posted. Maybe make a donation to shop? Volunteer somewhere?


Title: Pregnant with my Teacher’s child...?

Question:
[removed]
Topic:
School Related Issues

Answer:
 The age of consent in South Carolina is 16. HOWEVER, it is still illegal (felony) to for teachers to sleep with their students. It doesn't matter that the sex occurred off school grounds.

If you tell people who the father is, he is going to jail.


Title: Plastic in/around lunchmeat

Question: I purchased pepperoni from WalMart a few days ago, and ate a peice. I started choking. After I managed to hack up the pepperoni I saw that they had clear plastic around the edges, and possibly throughout. I tried contacting WalMart, and have yet to receive a response. Seeing as the plastic was basically invisible, and pepperoni is not commonly wraped, is this worth anything from a legal standpoint?

Answer:
 > is this worth anything from a legal standpoint?

It might be worth a refund, but that's about it.


Title: [New York] I have a recruiter, on tape, telling me a company decided not to hire me solely on the basis of gender. Is there anything I can do?

Question:
Backstory: I'm in corporate sales, but I've been out of work for about 6 months. For the past month or so I've been working with a recruiter who has put me up for a couple different positions. One was at a tech company in New York City. I had a phone interview, and they were eager to bring me in. I came in and interviewed with several different people and it went well; one or two even told me point blank that I "had their vote." I was given a sales presentation to memorize and present verbatim (about one page single-spaced) a few days later... I memorized it and nailed the presentation with zero mistakes, interviewed with a few more people, and everything continued to be going seemingly well.

Additional backstory: I'm a dude.

Today I got a call from my recruiter. In his words:

> It came down to you and a girl from a different recruiter... they went with the girl, not because she was any better, just because it's a girl in sales. So it's one of those kinds of things where they feel they have to diversify in that aspect.

This seems pretty bluntly to me like gender discrimination, and I'm wondering if it's at all worthwhile for me to examine my legal options, if I have any. The reason I know his exact words is because, after the call, I remembered I use an app that records all my conversations. Now I know phone conversations where both parties are not notified aren't always admissible in court, but even without presenting it as evidence, is the fact that he bluntly told me this significant?

If so, what can I actually do? It's not like I'd want to sue them for the ability to work there, then have to work for the company I just sued. Am I just SOL? The other thing is that the recruiter was the one telling it to me, so does that absolve the company itself of any liability? Could they just say "The recruiter lied to you, we actually made our decision based on x,y,z?" Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Answer:
 Nothing really here.  The recruiter didn't say "Company told me (and I have written proof) that they went with the other candidate because she was female."

Recruiter said "sorry dude, they went with the girl because ya know, girl in sales."

That's the equivalent of you having nothing to go on here. Answer #2: Yes, they could just say "your recruiter lied to you," and if you sued them for gender discrimination, I believe that is what they do.  You know, isn't it possible your recruiter doesn't want to tell you that you got beat fair and square for the position?


Title: AK - I got a stripper pregnant but I don't even remember doing it (serious, I swear)

Question: I fucking swear I don't remember. I was there at the strip club but I was drunk. She said I was the father and I took the test to prove her wrong but I am the father. I was drunk and I don't remember anything. My wife is military and we only live here because of her. She kicked me out and filed for divorce on the grounds of alcoholism and adultery. She somehow found out about me and the stripper and she decided on divorce after the stripper told me she wanted the test and I took it. I have some questions, I want to know if I can get child support lessened or waived because of the circumstances of me not remembering or being drunk? And how will all this work in the divorce because I'm the dependant spouse? We have been married for 2 years and together for 2 before that. We don't have kids but we were trying for one. I can't even afford a lawyer and the stripper keeps asking me for money.

Answer: Why have you remained unemployed?


Title: My Fiances marital status in the USA, Can we legally get married

Question:
Hello, I will try to make this as quick as possible. My Fiance has been in the USA for 4 years, before she lived in Vietnam
My Fiancee and I met a 2 years ago, At that time she was a permanent resident in the USA (she is holding a green card) and was sponsored to come live in the USA by her Grandfather.  About 3 years back she had a ex-boyfriend in Vietnam and wanted to sponsor him to come here as here as well.  She hired an immigration lawyer to help with the process and in turn he advised her to marry him in Vietnam in order to make the process to have him come here easier.  She went back and married him, but found out a few months later that he was cheating on her and also stealing her money in Vietnam.  She canceled the immigration process and the lawyer went ahead and canceled paperwork with the immigration authority as well.

I met My fiance 2 year after this as all happen.  We both live in the USA, I am a citizen and she is Green card holder with her family.  We are looking to get married soon.  However she is afraid that since she did processed the immigration to sponsor her "Husband" (and also married in Vietnam) this will this affect us if we decide to get married.  Will she have to file for divorce in Vietnam to have a Single Marital Status in the USA???  Is her Marital Status "Married" since she filed immigration paper work for her Ex?

Answer:
 1.  If she married him and never divorced him then she is married.

2.  You cannot be married to multiple people at the same time.

3.  She needs to divorce him (in Vietnam or US), in order to be married again.


Title: I am statless and I need help understanding naturalization in the USA

Question:
As the title says guys, I am stateless.

I was born and raised in Kuwait but I am considered "Bidoon", and the only good thing about this little story is that my mother is Kuwaiti.

I hold a passport that's issued for statless people in Kuwait, it's not a Kuwaiti passport but a form for statless people to travel.

Anyhow, I have been dating a girl from the US for the past 4 years, and we have recently been moving forward to get engaged and get married hopefully.

She knows my situation and all that, and she offered to file a form to get me a green card and hopefully on the path to citizenship.

I have no bad records in Kuwait, meaning I've been an upstanding citizen through my whole life.

I do not know exactly how this will be handled and how big the chance I have to get out of here and try and get a citizenship so I can live my life normally.

There is a slight chance that with the recent changes to the kuwaiti passport, they might not give me another passport and I'd have to live with the fact that I'm without a passport for a visa.

Any help or information will be much appreciated.
Topic:
Immigration

Answer: You are going to need to consult an immigration attorney in the United States experienced with these issues to have any understanding of how your unique circumstances will affect your application for a fiance visa and prospects of immigration to the United States.


Title: Attractive Nuisance

Question: Why can police put out bait vehicles with the keys in the ignition and catch minors "stealing it" but if I have a trampoline in my backyard I can be held liable?

Answer:
 Because those are two totally and completely separate matters.

"Attractive nuisance" is a civil doctrine.  In short, it requires you to put some effort into protecting certain items, as to prevent children(who are unable to understand risks) from injuring themselves.

"Attractive nuisance" does not exist in criminal law.


Title: Florida, USA - We found a small surveillance camera our rented room

Question:
We're on vacation in Miami for a weekend. I'm not sure if I can say who we booked our room through, but it is a very popular booking website.

Last night while adjusting the curtains we found a small surveillance camera (about the size of standard BIC lighter) facing the living room where there's a sofabed. We did some research on the camera and found that it can be remotely accessed. The switch was turned to "On" when we discovered it but there's no telling how long it had been there prior to our arrival.

We slept there Thursday night but discovered it on Friday night before bed.

While we understand that the owners of this place MIGHT have the camera to simply look over their place, we feel violated and grossed out by this.

How can we proceed?

Answer:
 It could have been a previous guest, a weirdo employee, or a dumb hotel manager. None of which are acceptable and it’s illegal to film guests inside their rooms.

I would contact management first just to tell them what is going on and that you’re calling the police to let them handle it.

If I’m taking wild guesses in saying it’s a previous guest that gets off on watching others. If it was the hotel you’d likely never find it. Also, the hotel would be opening themselves up to a shit storm of lawsuits, negative press, and loss of many jobs.

Sorry about your invasion of privacy. I can only imagine how it would feel. Hope it works out for you. Answer #2: Take pictures and call the police, also contact the booking site, if it’s something like Air BnB, I’m pretty sure they have procedures for things like this. Answer #3: After talking to the police, get a copy of the police report and complaint to the popular booking website, which should at least result in the homeowner being banned from listing his place on that website and you getting your money refunded for the rental.

If they don't refund you, I'd dispute the charge on my credit card, telling the card company,  "I paid for a private room, and they didn't give me that, they gave me a room with a hidden camera in it, I should get my money back."

You could also hire a lawyer and sue the homeowner for invasion of privacy and emotional distress and try to get a judgment against him and then foreclose on his house to collect your money damages.


Title: Don't even know where to start. Custody issue of a nephew in the state of MS.

Question:
I'm a little flabbergasted right now and I'm unsure of what to do. I'm hoping one of you kind folks can clue me in.

I'm a 31 year old man with a wife the same age. We have 3 children and are lower middle class in MS. We stay out of trouble and I reckon that's why I'm unsure how to proceed.

The problem:

My wife's sister(age 28 or 29) has just been arrested for drug problems. She screwed up bad and endangered her 3 children. She's going away (for the second time) for a while. Probably 10+ years. Her two youngest children are going to their dads. Her oldest is coming to stay with my wife. He is 7.

We took care of this child from the day he was born because my wifes sister was in prison at the time. She got out and got him at 2.5 years old.  The boy has problems and at around 5 she got him on some kind of disability(i'm not sure, she actually avoided us after she got him back).

Needless to say the boy is currently on a 2 hour drive to my house right now and I don't know what to do from here.

I'm done putting up with my wife's sisters crap. I want us to take custody of the boy for good. Which shouldn't be a problem because she is mostlikely going to prison till after hes 18.

How do we get full custody?

How do I sign him up for school as it started this week for my children?

What government agencies do I need to inform that we have the boy?

I don't know. I honestly just don't know where to start this. If any of you have been through it before... a very simple checklist would work wonders... or just a starting point. Anything.

Thanks for reading the rant and even more thanks for any help you can give. This was all sprung on us out of the blue at 3am this morning and my heads spinning. I'm sure you folks get this quite a lot.

Answer:
 First, take a deep breath.

This isn't a legal answer, but a practical one. In most situations, you don't need anything except confidence.

You would not believe the things we have done for my nephew and my wife's step-son over the years with no legal right whatsoever. If you act like you should be able to do something, people will let you.

On school, just walk in and tell the school secretary you need to get him registered. If he's living in their district they have to accept him.

It's the wrong time of day to get much truly legal advice, but over the next 18 hours or so, the lawyers will chime in. I just wanted to tell you to relax, don't worry, it'll be OK.Answer #2: First step is a guardianship. At this point, since mom is away, you could probably file for an ex-parte guardianship which would at least give you temporary, emergency guardianship the day that you file. Once you have that, you can register the kid for school and get all his insurance info. Is the child's dad in the picture at all?


Title: Hypothetical - I've been sentenced to 4 years in prison PLUS 5 years probation. If I only spend 2.5 years behind bars, how much probation will I owe? 5 years or 6.5 years?

Answer:
 That will depend on the probation documents.

It could be only five, or you could owe 1.5 years of parole time, plus 1.5 of probation.

Essentially, those could be served either concurrently or consecutively.


Title: Worried my Roommate is getting scammed.

Question: My roommate and I both work in Film in NYC. Recently, he has been put in contact with some guy off the internet from a jobs forum, who is asking him to accept a large amount of money and transfer a portion of it to some AIDS charity. Is my friend getting scammed? He tried to use some other sort of money transfer thing, but now he is planning to have the guy wire the money directly to his account. Advice?

Answer:
 This is without a doubt a scam. Unfortunately his idiocy will be your problem if his account is drained and can't pay rent.Answer #2: Yes, scam.

Does your roommate want to become part of a money laundering scheme?Answer #3: Tell your roommate to call the cops and for fucks sake don't send or accept any moneyAnswer #4: Scam.Answer #5: Advice? Yeah, get his half of the rent *now.*Answer #6: This is a very classic, very well known scam.


Title: [UK] Fiance's Mother gave her a default.

Question:
When my Fiance was fourteen years old her Mother took her to open a bank account for her father to pay child maintenance in to, she has never had access to the account and had forgotten all about it.

A few months ago she started to receive letters from a debt collection agency, after some inquiries we figured out that these were from a nonpayment to Severn Trent, a water company from her previous address, when my girlfriend lived at that address she was 16, after showing the company proof of this they dropped the debt and it was impossible for it to be my Fiance's.

After all of this happened we decided it would be best to check her credit, we discovered that it had plummeted, the reason was a default from HSBC, we went in to the bank and tried to figure this out, we thought it must have been fraud and so got it investigated. This investigation turned up all sorts of results, multiple direct debits from her mothers house and an overdraft, i say again that my Fiance has not had this card for seven years.

After speaking to her mother we got her to admit that she had been using the card, paying her bills from it for the last seven years and had taken it in to overdraft and then not paid it off so the card had defaulted.

We have taken this to the Ombudsman but they have told us that it appears to be my Fiance that was using the card and they won't really help up any further.

We have bank statements now showing that while my Fiance was 14 there were multiple direct debits for utility companies coming out of the account all the way up until she was 19.. These had ultimately caused the account to go in to overdraft.

So Legaladvice, is there anything we can do now?

Thank you for your help.

Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer: Really the quickest and easiest way to get it fixed, CALL THE POLICE and report identify theft.  If you don't report her you will be liable for the costs incurred.


Title: Girlfriend left her wallet at work, was driving there and got ticketed for no license [NJ]

Question:
So she fucked up, left her wallet at work by accident, whatever. She unknowingly backed into someone (drives a giant 90’s Van) and got called from campus police telling her to come back, she does and as such has no license because it’s at Work. She got ticketed with careless driving and no license.  She recognizes she fucked up but can she fight the no license ticket since she has a license it just wasn’t there? Not sure how she should progress.

Thanks.

Answer:
 In New Jersey, many "driving without a license" tickets can be dismissed/reduced by showing up to court and proving that, indeed, they did have a license, just not on them at the time of the incident.

She should call the court and inquire about what she would need to bring to prove this and what the procedure would be.


Title: City refusing to remove dumpsters from my property, have no idea what to do

Question:
California

Hi there, this may be a weird question but I manage a parking lot in Los Angeles and last week we had a food truck night and we filled up 3 dumpsters. Typically how this works is we order them, they get dropped off the day of the food truck festival, and then the city garbage company picks them up in the morning and hauls them away.

However they've now been there for a week and despite repeated calls to the trash company they just keep saying "they'll be there" and then never show up.

Is there something I can do to get them to speed it up like call the police or something? I'm losing money every day because of the space these dumpsters are taking up.

Thanks

Answer:
 INAL but my first thought is to let them know that since they are taking up parking spaces and are no longer there at your request that you will be assessing them daily parking fees for all the spaces being used by them. Take pictures of them taking up the spots in the lot every day with a time stamp and when they refuse to pay the final bill, send it to collections.

Maybe someone more knowledgeable will chime in as to why that is illegal or a bad idea.


Title: [NYC] How can a fellowship specify that only those from "under represented racial groups" are eligible?

Question:
I'm not trying to troll or weigh the merits of or against, I'm just curious how this can be specified without being open to claims of discrimination.

My hunch is either a) it's a "fellowship", not a job and/or b) white is not a protected class.

Text from their FAQ:

>Xyz fellowship is an effort to identify and increase the presence of underrepresented voices in media writing. For this specific purpose, underrepresented groups are those who identify as any of the following: Asian, Pacific Islander, Black, Hispanic, Native American, Middle Eastern, or multiracial (two or more races, which may include white).

Answer:
 > white is not a protected class.

 Yes it is.


Title: Firearm Background Check coming back as a denial, lot of information inside.

Question:
North Carolina

Let me start by saying that I have never even had a traffic ticket, let alone an arrest/charge. I have had no mental issues at all.

I bought a .22 rifle online and it went to my local Gander Mountain. I go to pick it up and my background check comes back with a denial. I immediately filed the NICS appeal and got my letter on Saturday. The record is held in a Court in my state of a city I have never even visited. I called the court to clear up the mistake, they told me that the record was sealed and I could not access it even to clear up this case of mistaken identity. I talked to everyone in the office until the Supervisor finally told me the same thing. They said I would have to hire a lawyer to clear it up.

Now I really cannot justify having to potentially shell out thousands to fix an issue I have nothing to do with. I found the person who did the crimes with the similar name to me. His name is only one letter in the middle name off mine. His birthday is one month exactly after mine. The person and I are very similar name and Bday wise, but evidently I cannot fight this myself. I also called the FBI and DOJ and they told me I would have to deal with the state court on this.

Is there anyway I can handle this myself? Could a local legislator help me? Would a firearm advocating group run with this story and shame the court into fixing the issue? Any advice is appreciated.

Answer:
 You might be missing the bigger picture here. This could easily show up on a background for other things like jobs or security clearances. You need to get it resolved not only so you can own firearms, but also to prevent future employment chances from being lost.Answer #2: To add another layer onto this issue, [the FBI has stopped processing NICS denial appeals](https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2016/01/robert-farago/feds-stop-processing-nics-denials/) so at this time, even if you get your name cleared, your appeal won't be processed.

[A lawsuit has been filed stating that by not processing or allowing appeals, it it grossly unconstitutional based upon the lack of due-process.](http://www.plainsite.org/dockets/2ynurx5uw/district-of-columbia-district-court/ledet-v-united-states--of-america/)

You (OP) may want to contact the lawyers who are currently part of this lawsuit.


Title: Received large sum of money that was not mine, what do I do/ what type of lawyer or attorney can I contact to protect myself?

Question:
Long story short, someone unknown to me started making payments (not spending my money... but paying the bill) to my credit card last October. They would make payments once, or twice a month for varying amounts. I called the credit card company several times to inform them that I did not make those payments... but they kept coming, until about Februrary. They over paid my bill by ~20k, and in April, the credit card company mailed me a refund check for that amount (without my asking). I put it in a savings account I opened just for that money, and expected the bank (or the person paying) would realize such a large mistake but they never did.

I have straight-out informed customer service people that the 17k is not mine, but they say they cannot access any information on who made those payments except for that it was mailed in by check. They have put notes on my account mentioning that I have inquired about this money, but they insist that it couldn't be a system error, and that if someone had been paying the wrong account they obviously hadn't complained. Ultimately, they said "Merry Christmas, you won the lottery".

I am wondering what I should do next, to ensure I am not committing any crime. I am out of ideas on how to discover whose money this is, and I don't know how to get it back to them. I'm in California, if that helps.

Help, reddit!!!!

Answer:
 Save the money and be prepared to return it when the mess is eventually untangled. Answer #2: You need to speak to someone higher up in the credit card company. Of course they can tell where the checks are coming from. That is the point of checks. Answer #3: You've done everything right thus far.

The only other thing I'd recommend doing is making sure you chat/email a CS rep and keep the correspondence.


Title: HELP! My uncle and aunt have recently both gone off their rockers, both are using drugs with proof of that through lengthy text messages, 7 children are now at home with their father who has severe mental issues.

Question: Hey to whoever is reading this. My whole family is in a bit of a pickle right now. My uncle and aunt have both gone completely crazy. She was first, about 2 years ago, we found out she was prostituting herself for meth. So now fast forward to now, and he comes out to my cousin that HE is now using meth and he writes absolutely insane messages that are pages long to her how he’s “god” and he’s feeling the best he’s ever felt, and so much more to the point where I am worried he might kill the children, and possibly my family members because of his induced schizophrenia. I want to call CPS and the police, but I am worried that if we take the kids away then he will legitimately come to my parents house and kill my family. My grandparents have given him money, and we have all tried to talk to him, but like I said if he would go to a doctor I am sure they would diagnose him with schizophrenia. I am also not just freaking out because they’re on meth, I am not naive when it comes to drug issues, but this one is completely out of hand. Now my mother calls me tells me that she just saw him and they have no food, no power and she doesn’t know what to do. She has children of her own that she’s taking care of and cannot take care of more, let alone if she did take them he would harm her. I forgot to add, he has gone on psychotic rampages before and its not uncommon for him to speak of the devil coming for my mother, etc. Anyways, I would very much appreciate any tips on what step to take next. Thank you.

Answer: Call child protective services.Answer #2: If you believe the children are in immediate danger, call the police. If they are simply at risk of neglect call CPS.


Title: Employer asking me to return (refund) a paycheck. Arizona.

Question:
I worked for a restaurant. They closed down for good. Usually, I would be the one to do our time sheets and print out the employee checks. However, for this last one, one of the partners did the time sheet on our accountant's website.

He did them, asked me to print them out and handed them to the employees.

When I printed them out, I saw there's a check for me (minus social, medical, federal & state tax). I figured this was a bonus for me (I had talked to this specific partner the day before). I didn't think much of it at the time. So I just cashed in the check and deposited it into my back account.

Now, A few days later, they're saying this particular partner or someone at the accounting firm fucked up the time sheet and told me I shouldn't have been issued a check for this period since I was already paid for the last day I worked. They only gave me half of my daily salary since I only worked "half a day" according to them.

They told me they wouldn't give me a bonus despite that that was the agreement when I took the job (verbally). If the monthly sales are over XXXX amount, they would give me a bonus ranging from $200 - $500. But now the restaurant is closed, they told me they're not gonna give me a bonus despite for the whole 5 months I worked there. Each month, the sales exceeded the XXXXX amount.

I guess my questions

can they legally ask me to refund a check that's already been issued to me?

The bonus, can they legally refuse to honor our (verbal, not written) agreement about the monthly bonus?

PS: I was a salaried employee, if that matters.

EDIT
I probably should have given more details. (sorry english is not my first language)

I received my check for Period (March 16 - March 29).

March 30 was our last operation day. I got paid for Mar 30th. (my montly salary is 3000, before taxes and I worked 6 days a week. So they gave me $115 for my work on Mar 30th). But I still worked on March 31 and April 1 (handing out checks and paperworks).

 I worked half a day (about 5 hours) for both days. and they paid me $115 for both days. and I assumed they did this because the money that I thought was my bonus. Now that I know it's not. Is it legal for them to pay me daily and half a day salary for the last 2 days I worked?

Answer:
 If you are salaried you get your full day's salary regardless of how little or how much you work.

Did the extra money you get correspond to the amount that was agreed-upon as your bonus?  Was it a lot of money?


Title: [TX] Hiring a divorce lawyer when husband restricts access to funds

Question:
Posting for a friend. This is for the Austins

My friend's husband served her divorce papers after locking down the marital assets. He essentially gives her just enough for groceries and medicine, while she stays in their old house.

She's called around for divorce lawyers, and they all want retainers upwards of $5K, which obviously she doesn't have.

What's the best way of finding a divorce lawyer that can work on contingency and work on burying him from keeping marital assets out of reach to pay for her lawyer?

Answer:
 Contingency fee agreements in TX for divorce are okay as long as the total fee is reasonable.

However, she should just keep calling. Eventually she can probably find a lawyer for this. The lawyer can file a motion requesting immediate access to joint funds, temporary atty fees, etc. If a lawyer knows he or she will get paid very soon, that's different than a nebulous "some day." She needs to be clear in her consults that she has the momey, is just being temporarily blocked from access. It may also be time for her to get a credit card for the retainer if that doesn't work.

Courts HATE it when one party hoards all the assets. That was a dumb move on his party.

Edit because I got the contingent fee issue wrong. My bad. Answer #2: Has she bothered to explain this situation to the lawyers?  She just needs to say "well, we had $20,000 in a shared account, but my soon-to-be ex moved all of that out.  Can you help?"  Because you should expect a divorce attorney to want to jump all over this case, because the court is going to view the husband very unfavorably (big point in her favor) when they do go to court.


Title: [NYC] Boss at My New Dream Job Triggered My Dormant PTSD, then Fired Me for Experiencing Symptoms of It

Question:
\[NYC\]  This is a long post, I'm sorry, but I am desperate for guidance, and grateful for the opportunity to get it all off my chest. If anyone reaches The End with advice for my situation, it would be eagerly welcomed. Also, I hope this is the appropriate place to post this.

A bit of background - I’ve had a diverse but somewhat successful 20 year career, crossing television and event production, project management for big tech firms, and operations management with start-ups, but I broke my leg 2.5 years ago and my career momentum came to a halt. When I returned to work following my injury a year later, I found myself unable to get an interview anywhere, so was stuck doing temporary admin work until a hedge fund offered me an Office Manager / Executive Assistant position. It was a boring gig, but it paid well, the benefits were great, and we ended our days at 5.00pm on the dot, so there were a few positives.

Six months into the job, I was approached by a prestigious international organisation who had seen my resume posted online. They were looking for a Membership Coordinator and Executive Assistant, with emphasis on the Membership, as the Executive Director “didn’t need much assistance”. The role felt like it was made for me, it was back in an industry I enjoyed, running the membership department - outside of my career, I created and have been running a 200+ members only group for sports fans for the past six years - so you can see why I was enthused by the opportunity - they wanted to pay me to do what I like to do for fun!

While the ED (Executive Director) wasn’t my primary contact during the interview process, we did meet and they came across as warm and friendly both during the meeting, and in the follow-up emails and calls. I mentioned my previously broken leg during the interview process, as there were questions about the gap(s) in my employment (this is important to remember later!), and I was offered the job. It was a 50% pay cut from what I was earning at the hedge fund, but it was a wonderful , longterm opportunity involving international travel, so I felt like I could manage financially with a few minor tweaks to my lifestyle. It would be worth it,

I was SO excited and proud of myself on my first day, until I met the Executive Director’s real personality. We were a small team of 11 people running a huge and infamous organisation, and the ED had created a climate of fear in the tiny office we occupy. There is yelling and hostility, scolding and belittling on a daily basis. The team are wonderful, but seem so beaten down by the ED they operated as robotic Stepford Wives. Several of them told me privately that they stay to have the company name on their resume, but the environment was not a longterm option for them.

The first time the ED spoke down to me was a little jarring - I’m an (almost) 40 year old professional woman, and I hadn’t been expecting to be belittled in such a way at work, so I was mentally unprepared for it, and it opened a long buried can of worms.

Twelve years ago I was married to a man who would emotionally and physically abuse me. I left after three years, and suffered with PTSD and mental trauma for the few years following. I was a shell of my former self after my marriage, beaten down, lacking in any self-esteem or confidence, but built myself back up to become “normal” again. I seldom had panic attacks anymore and if I did, they were explainable and easily controllable.

Back to my new (dream) job. The Executive Director began exhibiting similar behaviours to my ex-husband at the beginning of our marriage - behaviour modification through intimidation, public shushing, belittling quips, comments about the (suitable) attire choices I had made, being asked for opinions then scolded for giving them, trying to create suspicion among the people close to us - in the case of work, our colleagues - telling me things were apparently being said behind my back, when they weren’t. I've never experienced this in the workplace before.

An extraordinary example of the manipulative behaviour happened at the offsite office of our President a few weeks ago. I had travelled to the office with the ED to help set up the video conference call with the AV team at the President’s office. Between me and two tech guys, we couldn’t make the call work, so they ended up hosting the conference via the ED’s mobile phone. During the set-up attempt, I had expressed a quiet panic regarding the failure to the external AV team. Back in our office later that afternoon, I was summoned to the ED’s office and chastised "for being rude to the AV team". I pled my innocence, but was brushed off and instructed not to do it again. Days later, I ran into the President’s assistant, and apologising for the offence I'd caused her AV colleagues, when she stopped me to tell me SHE had taken the call from the AV guys, and it was the ED who had been rude to them, not me! The assistant had told the President it was the ED, NOT ME!

I started this job at the end of August 2018. The daily stress, and the similarities between the ED’s behaviour with that of my ex-husband, have triggered my dormant PTSD, and after only a few months I began experiencing real problems. I went from a happy, professional woman to a nervous wreck, losing both my confidence and my joy at being asked to work there. When the ED would scold me, I'd experience panic attacks - heavy breathing, trying to escape the room - which was being interpreted as having a bad attitude, and only exacerbated the problem. I was in such a state of permanent panic when I was around the ED, I was exhausted by the end of the day and can’t wait to get out of the door at close of business, which of course was frowned on.

I tried to change my demeanour, becoming quiet and withdrawn hoping the ED would prefer this version of myself, to be told that my “mood swings had been noted”. I protested that I was just trying to adopt the general style my co-workers displayed and the ED seemed to prefer, but apparently this was not what was expected of me. I was confused, I didn’t know how to behave to keep myself safe from criticism.

The weekend before Thanksgiving, things got worse really quickly. Every year, the organisation hosts a glamorous three-and-a-half day event for our Members from around the world to attend. Having only been in the job for 80 DAYS at the time of this year’s event, I was not given a specific role per se, but told I’d be assisting and shadowing the ED, and getting to meet the Members. Remember, I am supposed to be both the Membership Coordinator and the ED’s Executive Assistant. The event would consist of really long days, and I was concerned about the affect the extra activity would have on my recently healed broken leg, not to mention the strain on my mental health being tied to the ED for extended periods of time. I had previously tried to discuss personal issues and been shot down, so I didn’t mention these current concerns to the ED, and so the event began…

The first day-and-a-half went well I think, even if I was confused about my role in the beginning, it soon became apparent I was there in my Assistant capacity, rather than the Membership one. When mingling with guests from overseas, where English may not be their first language, it’s important to pay proper attention to the conversation to ensure there is a good understanding. In doing so, I’d be obliged to take my eyes off the ED, which I’d been specifically instructed not to do and which got me scolded a few times. So I fell back from meeting the Members in order to be a subordinate assistant and avoid any unnecessary aggression.

The second full day went badly - I was reprimanded for not been on hand with the ED’s business cards after being sent to set up another venue - I'm great, but I can't be in two places at once - then I created a situation when, at 9pm, after being on my feet for 13 hours, I was instructed to “change this paperwork before the last day begins tomorrow”, and instead of answering “yes”, I answered “I’ll try”. My step count had tripled over the past few days and my ex-broken leg was throbbing, I was mentally exhausted from being around the ED for days, and I lost my patience for a moment. I told the ED I was tired and mentioned my leg, which the ED claimed to have no prior knowledge of, but I argued my case, bringing up the interview question and my prior attempts to talk to about my personal situation. I was panicking as I spoke, staring at the exit and breathing heavily, which was interpreted as having a “ bad attitude” again. I really thought the ED was going to fire me on the spot for my perceived insolence.

The final day of the event was perhaps the worst. I had fixed the paperwork as requested late the previous evening, and still managed to get to the last venue by 7am. Once the morning session had finished, we moved into some minor side events, followed by a glamorous finale some 8-9 hours later. Members had been chatting with me, the morning had gone well, but during the breakaway sessions, the ED sent me to the basement to help the team of seasonal helpers brought in to stuff (900) gift bags for the guests. And I remained there, in the basement, until midnight, after all of the events had finished, kept away from the Members I should have been getting to know. Stuffing gift bags is physical work too, especially 900, of the f\*\*kers - my leg was a mess but I hauled boxes for hours, grateful to be away from the ED for the day!

I woke up the following day in complete agony. I could barely walk from all of the physical activity, and I was expected to be in the office, so I emailed the ED and the Office Manager to say I was sick. I received a kind response from the ED (keeping the Office Manager in cc) in the AM telling me to feel better, and then a follow-up sent directly to me later that afternoon instructing me not to come back until after the Thanksgiving Holidays, to stay home, get rest, and “think about what happened”, with the ominous expectation that we will discuss the situation at the beginning of next week. I did not respond to the mail.

I went to the office after the Thanksgiving holidays as instructed, and was fired on the spot.  I was told I had been underperforming, and it wasn't going to work out.  I'm really not sure what I did wrong other than react to her treatment,  I'd been there busting my ass stuffing gift bags in pain?!  so I told her how it had been a difficult environment to adapt to, and that my PTSD had resurfaced because of it.  Despite this, she continued to tell me how much my co-workers disliked me and when I responded that they had sent wonderfully supportive messages over Thanksgiving, she tried to claim they had been fake(?), trying to crush me further as I sat there in fear.  I recorded that conversation.

I guess my question is, do I have any legal options here?  I realise this is an employment-at-will state, but I left a good job for a hostile environment that's made me ill, then they fired me because of it.  It all seems a bit unfair.  I do feel like she was intentionally out to cause emotional distress, and I was put in a no-win situation.  I have screenshots of posts made by previous employees that confirm this is the ED's modus operandi, and supportive texts from my ex-co-workers.

Also have an awesome audio recording of the President being racist which I imagine would be quite scandalous.  Just throwing that out there.

&#x200B;

Thank you for reading, and for any advice you may have.  Honestly, just getting it out in the open is really helpful.

&#x200B;

TLDR: the boss at my new dream job triggered my dormant PTSD, then fired me for experiencing symptoms of it.

Answer:
 Very few people are going to read your entire post, if possible I'd break it down into at most 6-8 paragraphs. Based on your TLDR, my main question would be if you made your employer aware of your PTSD, if it was formally diagnosed, if you made them aware that you were experiencing symptoms as a result of your work environment, and if they made any attempts to accommodate for that.Answer #2: 90+% of what is written here is not relevant and you should consider condensing this to a few short paragraphs. You also did not include the only relevant information; have you been officially diagnosed by a psychologist or psychiatrist? Did you ask your place of employment for a reasonable accommodation of some kind that was then not accommodated? Did you ever speak to HR about anything? Answer #3: Find a new job and talk to a psychologist. Answer #4: You don't have an argument about your PTSD because you never documented it and asked for any kind of accommodation.  You also never asked for an accommodation for your leg.

Someone being generally hostile and mean to you is not actionable.  "Hostile work environment" is a legal term of art and is limited to certain types of harassment.  Even if you could make such an argument, your tenure there was so short that you probably don't have sufficient damages to interest a lawyer in taking the case.  You can try, if you wish.

Your best options here are most likely to seek counseling and find a job better suited to your needs.Answer #5: File for unemployment and find a new job


Title: [FL] Is this gender based pay discrimination?

Question:
Background: Cook at a restaurant for around 12 months (male) while a female coworker has worked their for five. I was there since the day the store opened, applying with multiple years of experience. She had no experience but made 25 cents more than me. Put in my two weeks notice when I found out and left for around two months, came back recently when offered management training, I then made 25 cents more than her (Was skipped on a raise multiple times during my initial employment there). We have received evals over the weekend, my fourth and her first, I was passed up again on a raise while she received one, now making 50 cents more than me. Multiple employees, some part of management have told me she gets the special treatment due to her gender and child, their is no work reason for her pay increases over mine. Another male employee works the same station at us, has been there since the start and still makes 75 cents less as well. If it helps, the GM and AM are both female. Do I contact HR about this or do I have nothing?

Can provide more details if asked.

Answer:
 You mean instead of shitting on the woman and child, they shit on the guy? Maybe?
On the word of someone saying it’s because of the female co-worker’s situation instead of them saying she deserved it, or she works harder, she catches on quickly, she has better personal skills, anything that amounts to they just prefer her... People will say what makes them most comfortable with letting people down.  It absolutely has to be because she’s a woman? No other possible reason?

If it is as you say, my condolences, but that pendulum goes both ways. It just happens to be in your rare direction. But my spidey senses  say there is more here, not disclosed.

Or, what I’m getting, is some woman power. Is the balance of power fickle? Yes. Can people be swayed to look out for a sister because, in their experience, it’s typically been the brothers looking out for another brothers.

Whatever the scenario, proving your claims will be very difficult, and you may loose the respect of your coworkers when it gets out.


Title: My acquaintance and I share Wifi and split the bill. We recently had a falling out and while away for the holidays she remotely canceled my internet without warning. Do I have any ground to stand on?

Question:
In general it isn't a lot of money but I would still like to know. Here are the details: The bill is 50 dollars, at the end of every month I write her a check for $25. I offered to switch this so I was paying her at the start of the month but she said it was alright this way. This has been going on for 4 months now. I have text messages to prove that this was the agreement if that matters. We live in apartments right next to each other. I had to buy a 50 dollar Wifi extender to make the setup work which I payed for alone. If you're interested in what the falling out was here it is:

&#x200B;

We're both grad students in the same program, about a week ago we were working on a problem together with a couple other people. She had made some progress and was showing it to us, I went home to work on it more and upon realizing I didn't remember texted her to see if she could remind me of her work. She never responded and instead left to go home for the holidays. No problem, she's busy. Then a few days later she texted me saying there was a package at her door and asking if I could pick it up and bring it into my house until she returns. I responded saying yes, however if she was going to ask favors of me she needs to respond to my texts, even if its the next day and even if its only to say she's busy and can't help. She says she was busy and never mind, she'll get someone else to pickup the package. That was the first incident. Then the second: I've been meeting with other students and a professor to work more on problems over the last week. Being away from school my neighbor has been texting the group chat asking if she could skype with someone in order to sit in on the meetings. Feeling friction between us I didn't respond, however as I said  these were not messages directly to me but into a group chat. However nobody else responded either, they forgot or didn't care and she missed the first meeting yesterday. This apparently infuriated her and when I got home that day my wifi had been cut. She didn't initially respond when I texted her, then eventually said she was mad at me, felt like I wasn't respecting her, and she didn't want to share her wifi with me anymore. She also said some rather mean and out of line things I don't care to repeat here.

&#x200B;

So that's the situation. I already called spectrum and set up service with them. My new router comes on Thursday. However looking at this situation it feels wrong. I see it as the wifi is just as much mine as it is hers, we pay for it in equal amounts. What right does she have to cut it off while hundreds of miles away with no prior warning?

Answer:
 What right does she have to cancel a service she's paying for?

Pretty much every right.


Title: [georgia] Found out through mail spam that im being sued for debt. Its been weeks and i do not have any summons.

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 One, get an attorney, but do NOT miss any of the court dates.  If they did not properly serve you, you can at least buy some time.  You MAY be able to push it back if they "served" you at the wrong address or a place you have not lived at for a while.

You'll probably wind up settling if you owe it, but it's harder at this point.

FWIW, from a collector's perspective, I've seen plenty of times people be properly served and communicated with and not be aware of it.


Title: [Wisconsin] Considering backing out of a lease.

Question:
Location: Wisconsin
Hi, so a few days ago my roommates and I agreed to sign a lease at an apartment. I agreed to signing it because I was in a rush to get back home and did not have the time to fully process whether or not I would want to live at that apartment. My roommates set a meeting with the landlord to have the lease signed today. I signed the lease with my other roommate, but the other roommate did not come in to sign because she was busy. Now I am considering backing out because it is not in a good location, I feel like I was strong armed into signing in the lease, and my roommates have been really inconsiderate about my requirements for the apartment. Since one roommate and I signed the lease (the landlord made a copy) and submitted a portion of the security deposit, would it still be possible to leave the lease without any penalty because one person still has not signed and submitted the security deposit?

Answer: If you signed it, you can be held to it.


Title: Does Chick fil A have illegal guidelines?

Question:
So it says here in the employee handbook that employees can be terminated for discussing pay.

http://documents.tempe.gov/sirepub/cache/1207/un5fb43e2yejbgfwezhxiu2q/164297760413201704585842.PDF

But it says in here that it is also illegal to do such a thing, as it is protected by the NLRB

Location is the United states, Delaware.
https://www.classaction.org/blog/can-i-be-fired-for-discussing-wages-at-work

Can a lawsuit be put against them? There is no way it does *not* fall under the NLRB. Thoughts?

Answer:
 [Source](https://www.govdocs.com/can-employees-discuss-pay-salaries/)

NLRA Allows Employees to Engage in Pay Discussion

Companies covered by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) cannot limit employees’ concerted activities for the purpose of “collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection” according to Section 7 of the NLRA. Although the phrase concerted activities may seem broad or unclear, the NLRB has made very clear interpretations over the years, resoundingly on the side of employees’ rights to discuss salary and wages.


Title: Legality of Shocking Wallets

Question:
My friend just had an idea to make a wallet out of a conductive fabric (i.e. silver plated nylon), rig a 9-volt battery to it, and to close the circuit with a wireless push-button switch. How legal is this? I live in Canada.

Edit: Yes, I know that it is a stupid idea that wouldn't work. I was just wondering if the general concept of shocking a theif was legal or not.

Answer:
 I think your more general question is: "Can I injure someone who is trying to steal my wallet?"

Creating a trap is legal. Injuring someone can leave you civilly liable for any injuries.Answer #2: Why would this be illegal?

Also it wouldn't shock anything.Answer #3: My state, MA, bans all "electric weapons" which this would likely be classed as. So consider that in addition to all the issues with it possibly being a trap.Answer #4: Booby-trapping is illegal.


Title: A man took pictures of me through my window and is distributing them. Is there anything I can do?

Question:
I got back after a long day and the first thing I wanted to do was take my bra off.

I was already in the middle of changing out of my work clothes by the time I realized my roommate left the shades open. I immediately went over and closed them.

Two days later a friend of mine contacted me to say a friend of his sent him and a few others pictures of me undressed that looked like they'd been taken from outside my apartment.

I did some checking around and learned this creep lives in the building next door to me, and considering the pictures, likely has a view directly into my place.

Now the photo has been passed around a considerable amount, two other people have contacted me to warn me it was sent to them and check if I knew the photos had been taken.

I'm mortified and feel violated. I haven't confronted the guy who took the original pictures. I asked the people who knew him (none of my friends knew him that well) and they all said he's a douche bag, a bit of a misogynist, but they'd never known him to be dangerous or anything like that.

I'm not sure what to do but I'd like to be able to do something. Taking the pictures of me without my knowledge is bad enough, but sending them around(?!) that must cross some legal line, right? (Texas, USA).

Answer:
 [It is illegal](http://www.ndaa.org/pdf/voyeurism_statutes_mar_09.pdf):

>TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 21.15 (2008). Improper Photography or
Visual Recording
(a) In this section, "promote" has the meaning assigned by Section 43.21.
(b) A person commits an offense if the person:
 (1) photographs or by videotape or other electronic means records, broadcasts, or
transmits a visual image of another at a location that is not a bathroom or private dressing
room:
 (A) without the other person's consent; and
 (B) with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person;

Also:

>(c) An offense under this section is a state jail felony.

I would contact the police ASAP.Answer #2: So your friends know this guy?


Title: FedEx Delivery - Do I have a case?

Question:
I'm currently on vacation in Mexico, upon flying in I realized that I had left my green card back in the United States. OK, no biggie. I had a relative ship it over via two day priority. The FedEx employee guaranteed and reassured us that the card would arrive on time (before Friday which is when I would leave).

It was shipped Tuesday morning, tracking information detailed the proper delivery date and everything was dandy. Fast forward one day (Wednesday) I log in to check the status of my package via tracking and the delivery date miraculously changed from August 27th/28th to September 7th. As soon as I saw this I had my relatives call up FedEx and after going through many customer service reps we get escalated to someone who could help us. They opened up an investigation and it seems someone in Mexico changed our package to some two week delivery service (which is not what we paid for and is an error on their part).

As a result my package has been stuck in one of their sorting facilities 20 hours away, over the next two days (Thursday and Friday) the package moved from cuautitlan izcalli, to Mexico city and then back to cuautitlan izcalli (are they just sending my package back and forth for fun)?

Fast forwarding a little, I was supposed to leave on Friday and unfortunately I cannot enter the United States without my green card so I am forced to stay in Mexico at this resort and pay an extra premium because I have no where to go.

Can I hold FedEx liable for my hotel expenses and airfare change charges? I'm not looking to collect random damages, I simply want to get appropriately compensated for an issue that originated from their end.

I typed this up via my phone so i apologize in advance if anything sounds a little funky and if you need any details please feel free. Thank you in advance.

Answer: FedEx's terms of services pretty explicitly bar them from that type of financial responsibility.  I'm not personally familiar with anyone having any luck with such a suit, and would be very surprised if you could.  Normally you can only recover for the value of a lost or damaged package.


Title: A lot of money lost. What can we do?

Question:
Hi, Quora is a social network about questions and answers. I had an account for many years there and I’ve been chosen to become a partnership program member. Basically they pay us for doing questions, and these are valued based on views, number of answers and so on (Quora don’t want to release such accurate info).

Basically on the first month I made $3,000.
I have many social network profile and I passed 14 hours a day making and “spamming” questions.

I wan mainly active on Quora Italy because I’m italian and after the first payment they revoked to me and other people the partnership. We contacted them and after a check they restored it to us. This happened on November 6th.

This month I was doing very well and when I reached $2,500 I got again my partner revoked. I know and contacted other Italian partners that for their partnership revoked too. They said we are generating fraudulent views on our questions, it’s the same thing they said the first time and they checked everything and restored it but this time it’s a week we don’t get any answer from the support team. They say contact this department and they don’t answer. And we didn’t lose only the partnership, they blocked us from editing. This means that we can’t do anything on Quora beside of literally watching it. Obviously our money vanished.

I did nothing wrong and nothing that doesn’t respect their policy, in fact the first time when they checked they immediately restored me. But this time they just stopped answering to the emails.

What we can do? We are talking about hundreds of hours invested in Quora and not getting paid for them.

Do you know where can I report this?

If facebook did the same of Quora now it would be on first page on newspaper, and in these days they are revoking partnership to all partners that go over $1,000.

I’m searching for a job currently and Quora was my only source of income.
Topic:
Computer and Internet

Answer:
 > I have many social network profile and I passed 14 hours a day making and “spamming” questions.

> I did nothing wrong and nothing that doesn’t respect their policy,

I'm going to guess that you violated a Terms of Service by artificially inflating things to earn more money.


Title: Roommate madness

Question: Hi, next year I will be living off campus from my college in Grand Rapids MI. I am not a partier, but I don't know some of my roommates that well yet. Just in case I'm asking if when I go back home to Chicago for a weekend and they decide to throw a party that gets busted will I get into trouble? My name would be on the lease and they most likely wouldn't tell me about the party. Am I liable for any criminal charges? Civil?

Answer: Make sure to get renters insurance as well!


Title: [NY] If a person gets into a car accident due to reading a billboard, does the billboard company have any liability?

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Perhaps if the billboard had a strobe that displayed blinding flashes of light at a sharp curve or something, there might be a claim.  But, a driver's inattention to the road is his own fault.


Title: The City of Detroit refuses to turn on my water, even though I owe them no money.

Question:
This might be a long one. So I bought a house in Detroit (I am a construction worker) that had been completely scrapped. No pipes, no wires, no windows. I started fixing it up and living in it, but I have yet to get the water turned on. When I bought the house, there were no back taxes owed, no water bills unpaid, nothing but me and a $1000 (shell of a) house.

Trying to get the water turned on has been an absolute nightmare.  First I get all of the plumbing in the house ready to go, so I call to get the water turned on, and they send a guy out. No water. He can't get it to turn. So he orders the stop box to be dug up and a few days later, some more guys with a back hoe dig up my front yard and replace the box. They crush the slip filling the hole and have to come back, dig up my yard again, and fill the hole.

try again, the guy turns the key, but no water. Can't figure out what's going on, tells me I need to replace my main service line (which is made of lead- that is very common in Detroit, if you thought lead was gone,) with modern plastic or pex. This is a bit of a bummer because this is a very big job, expensive, time consuming, but lead is bad anyhow, so...

I replace the line with the highest quality plastic line I can find. Now the city worker who came out is telling me that he cannot have the plastic line hooked up. It needs to be copper.

This is bad. I am expected to redo a job that would generally cost around $3000 to hire someone to do, and I've already done this once. Practically speaking, in order to turn the water on, an apprentice could finish the job at this point, but the water company refuses to do so.

Questions: Do I have any recourse after being told by a city worker to install a plastic line?

Now I am being told to do it over again but with copper. This is a very expensive job that involves digging, plumbing, masonry, and a lot of time.

2) Do I have recourse against the city for not allowing me to have water?
This whole process has taken over 4 months and dozens, maybe even hundreds of my hours, 9 appointments with inspectors and city workers, countless phone calls mostly spent on hold. The whole time, I am living in a home I purchased (from the city) with no water (except for what I collect off of my roof, not kidding- again this is not terribly uncommon in Detroit).

3) Every month, I am charged around $110 for water. They send me a bill, estimating that I've used around 7000 gallons (ten units) of water every single month, even though they know full well I don't have water service. I have emails proving that they know this, and still send me a bill. If I refuse to pay, they say they won't send any more inspectors or meter men out. They use that as a reason not to turn my water on. I have paid them over $300 so far, and in 3 weeks, I will owe them more money. How do I get this to stop??

Help!? I need water service. I mean, I don't NEED it, but damn, when it's like 85 degrees out, and it hasn't rained in weeks, the barrel is empty, and I have to go to someone else's house just to shower or live with my stank. Getting the power turned on was a breeze compared to this. What should I do?

Answer:
 I'd be surprised if you could go after a city worker for giving you bad advice, since you're supposed to be following the city's building code, not the advice of city employees. It's not against the law to be wrong, for the most part, and it's your responsibility when you do work to make sure it meets code, not the city's to advise you on how to do the work. Check [the relevant codes](http://www.detroitmi.gov/How-Do-I/View-Publications-and-Newsletters/Construction-Codes), then build to code and get it inspected.

You can probably request that Detroit Water do a meter reading on your next bill, but they may not make much of a priority out of it. Talking to your city councillor about it might help.Answer #2: What does code say about plastic? Because if it says it must be copper, it must be copper.Answer #3: Can you just get a plastic to copper connector so that the city can just connect to that?  I know they make what is called a shark bite that will do this.Answer #4: Does anyone at least know how I can get them to stop billing me? I definitely don't need this expense. If I don't pay it, it may even effect my credit.Answer #5: You almost certainly need a permit for this work- check out this list of FAQs: http://www.detroitmi.gov/How-Do-I/Apply-for-Permits/Plumbing-Permit-FAQs
It does say that you are supposed to have a permit before work is started.


Title: [USA] Fired for being sick?

Question: I was working at a fast food place but my hand somehow became infected. Swelled up and became a hassle but I worked a full day and the next day the manager told me to go home because it was impacting my work, it's my dominant hand. Then to find someone to cover my shift for the next day while I also need a medical note. The doctor actually made a note and told me to not work for the next week because it could be something that doesn't need to be around food. Gave the manager the note but he said that it's great to have but when I get back there might not be a position for me. So now that I'm better (the same week as the note was delivered) I called to let them know I'm all good he said he wasn't going to schedule me anymore because he hired someone else but I could use him as a reference for future work since I was a great employees. Is this legal?

Answer:
 How long had you worked there?

File for unemployment.


Title: Girlfriend wants to move out of her apartment in which a lease was not signed, can she be sued? United States, California

Question:
I apologize if this is too long or if the formatting is terrible. I am mostly a lurker and rarely post/comment. My girlfriend is not on Reddit so I am posting this on her behalf.

So my girlfriend recently graduated from university and is living with her friend in an apartment. She has come to the realization that living with her friend is no longer feasible and is keeping her stagnant in life. We will call her friend Lisa. My girlfriend is planning on moving back with her parents so she can save money by April 1st and continue to move forward with her future goals.

She has been living at the apartment since the beginning of July 2015 and paying part of the total rent directly to her friend. She is not planning on leaving her without trying to find a replacement and has a few candidates already lined up. The thing is, Lisa is kind of a snobby person and may not approve of the candidates. If Lisa does not approve of the candidates, its safe to assume that the she expects my girlfriend to stay until June. My girlfriend plans on leaving in April regardless of whether or not the candidates are given a green light by Lisa. In our opinion we are going to try to find the best replacement and if she does not approve, then Lisa is going to have to deal with the remaining rent and finding a replacement herself.

My girlfriend never signed any sort of lease and is only listed as "roommate" on the lease. My girlfriend has never even physically seen the lease, the only ones to sign were Lisa and her parents. Everything is through verbal agreement and honor system. Initially my girlfriend let her friend know she would potentially be leaving in January, so they moved together in with that in mind. When December rolled around, she told Lisa that she wasn't leaving after all (never stating that she would indefinitely stay until the end of the lease). When My girlfriend let her friend know she couldn't do it any more (Beginning of February) and was going to look for a replacement her friend responded with "when you decided to not leave in January you decided to stay here until the end of the lease so my parents and I both agreed we expect payment until June."

Now Lisa and her parents are very wealthy people and grew up with a sense of entitlement so we are worried that they may come around and try to sue my girlfriend for leaving before the end of the lease.

My girlfriend plans on writing letters to both Lisa and her parents to let them know she is leaving officially on the above stated date. This is to provide proof if there is any doubt whether or not my girlfriend gave them a 30 day notice.

So My question is, can my girlfriend be sued or forced to live in that apartment until the end of the lease?

Answer:
 Without a lease she is a month-to-month tenant and must provide 30 days written notice of her intent to move out.

She has no obligation to pay beyond that 30 day notice (unless she agreed to do so.)


Title: [Arkansas] What is a "reasonable amount of heat"?

Question:
My grandparents are in a rental and heating unit isn't functioning well.  They can't get their home to get any warmer than 66 degrees and it's going to get down to 2 degrees on Sunday.  From searching this sub I've found that landlords are  required to provide a reasonable amount of heat, but I can't find an exact definition of "reasonable."   I've tried researching tenant advocacy groups but it looks like there any local groups.
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 It's usually above 55F inside temp.

66 is definitely reasonable.


Title: (CA, USA) Gym won't allow my underage cousin to workout without a parent's signature. My aunt is disabled and cannot provide one.

Question: Thank you to anyone reading this. I want to take my 15 year old cousin to the gym as a guest under my membership but they require a parent to sign a liability form. Her mom is disabled and cannot come inside to sign and they won't email the form to be signed because "they need to make sure a parent is signing it." Aditionally, I cannot take the form to the car for her to sign because it is all electronic. Is this legal? What should I do?

Answer: This isn't a legal issue. It's a matter of the gym's policies.


Title: Facebook refuses to remove harmful accusation from ex wife.

Question:
I'm in Ohio.
My ex wife posted on her public profile that I am a pedophile and that I like little girls. She posted it in the comments to an unrelated post. She also used my full name. I tried several times to get Facebook to remove this comment but they keep telling me it does not go against community standards. I am at a loss for what to do next.
The accusations are completely false and not something people take lightly. I do not want to get my ass kicked or worse over untrue serious accusations.

Answer:
 You can stop wasting your time contacting Facebook. You can get an attorney to write her to letter to remove the comment or face a lawsuit. Answer #2: You may have a viable defamation suit. Speak to an attorney if you feel she went beyond her opinion and stated false accusations.

"So and so likes little girls" - opinion

"I saw so and so touch a girl inappropriately" - possibly defamation.


Title: Michigan: Friend of mine paid for a residence. Landlord wont let them move in. Can they do that?

Question:
A friend of mine is upset because at work today the new apartment they paid for will not let her move in.

She was set to move in on Saterday, and the apartment company told her they previous tennents will not be moving out and they wont be evicting them. She paid first and last month, the cashiers check was cashed. She broke her lease at her old place and can not restart it since she gave them an end date.

So she wanted to know her options or what she could do. She said that the apartment company do not have any residence til mid Feb.

** update **

So, she didn't sign a lease. But her old place allowed her to pay a prorated rate til she moves. Thats the good news.

Heres the bad news: the apartment that didn't let her move in said she can get the deposit back - after 50 days.

Are they allowed to hold her security deposit and not give it back for that long especially since she isn't going to be getting an apartment with them? She is already applying to other apartment communities and could really use that money.

Answer:
 They are in violation of her lease, and thus owe her back her first and last and security deposit, if applicable.

If she has further damages, she can sue them.


Title: Parents house being foreclosed on, have 5 horses and many cats.

Question:
Hello friends! I am desperate need of help.

Recently my parents sold their small businesses, and had their house foreclosed on.

They are complete horders. They have a staggering amount of clothing, tons and tons of "collectables", you know, worthless bullshit like American girl dolls and such, and 4 businesses worth of furniture in their house.

They need to be out by the 2nd of January, and have adopted their usual strategy of pretending nothing is happening.

But, the clothing and the dolls and the furniture is small potatoes compared to their large feral cat colony and 5 horses.

Their thinking seems to be that they can leave a bunch of junk and feral cats in the house and not expect repercussions.

I'm currently helping them pack and find storage, but I'm at a loss of what to do with the creatures / if their "leave it" strategy is going to land them in jail

ANY advice / information that would be helpful would be tremendously appreciated!

Thanks a bunch!

Edit: I live in rural Illinois, United States.

Answer: call your local animal shelter. They can help you find someone to rescue the horses. and maybe the cats.


Title: My apartment complex took some electronics because I was behind on rent. I paid it off and received my PS3 back broken. What are my options?

Question: Its a small crack near the disc insert/removal slot. The disc doesnt want to eject all the time and Im afraid is straining the motor that pushes the disc out. They have said they are willing to do something. When they asked what they thought a new one was I told them 200 at Wal-Mart plus about 100 dollars in dlc Ive obtained. They didnt seem to like the idea of paying 300 dollars for the older ie non PS4 unit. Will I get stuck with a pawn shop version of what I have? If they buy a new PS3 can I still keep mine? What if I dont feel they are meeting what I feel are fair terms? Texas.

Answer:
 Back up.  Your apartment complex stole from you because you were behind on rent?  This is so illegal and weird.

Regarding your actual question, they only owe you the value of a used PS3, not a new one.Answer #2: I feel like the correct process here would be to get a quote for the repair. Sony should be willing to give you that, and an educated guess would put it at about $130. They may also offer you a refurbished unit at that price. If you get it in writing, they should be willing to cover it that way. Your DLC should redownload from the cloud when you link the replacement PS3 to your PSN account. I would hope your complex would cover that, and if they don't, you would have a small claims case with strong documentation supporting your cost.Answer #3: So my lease says that this is called a contractual lien.Answer #4: I just want to say thanks for all the good advice. This is the first time Ive used this forum and it has definitely helped.Answer #5: So I appreciate all the replies. Any suggestions on the broken PS3?


Title: I am set to inherit some money. The person whose money I am inheriting owes someone else money. When she dies, does this person have any claim over her estate?

Question:
My mom is making up a will so that I inherit money when she dies (hopefully distant future).  When she was going through a divorce from my dad, she racked up at $60,000(+monthly interest, so much more than $60,000) legal fee bill which she has not paid.  She says she pays $100/month to the guy she owes money to, and because he's in MO and she lives in TX, he can't do anything about how little she pays him.  This doesn't seem correct to me.

Anyway, she's making up a will to divide her assets when she dies.  As I'm her only child, she is leaving all her money to me.  I told her that I suspect that when she dies, this creep is going to lay a claim on her estate and I won't get anything, so it's a waste of time to make up a will.  She denies this and claims that because she lives in a different state, his claim has no grounds.  I told her she needs to get some legal advice and not go on what she thinks will happen, but she just gets mad at me for suggesting this....

Can you please bring some sense to this situation? Thanks

Answer:
 The decedent's outstanding debts must be settled, or taken on by another debtor, before any assets can be distributed from the estate. If that debt remains outstanding, then it has to be paid before you get anything.

Her estate attorney should be able to advise her on this. She _is_ talking to an attorney about her will, right?


Title: (GA) Local house being rented out for party's, noise is off the charts.

Question:
Their is a large local house with a large property around it that the owner is renting out for weddings, parties, events etc. The noise from it is just... something else. We live a good 3 miles down the road from them. Separated by mostly wooded lots and can still hear the music/noise at most of these events.

There is no noise ordinance for my area. It's mostly farming. We have tried calling the police but they just shrug it off and say it's an event. Last new year's people drunk drove home and crashed into one of our fences letting out our donkeys. It's getting worse each year and I'm kinda at a loss.

Is there anything else I can do? I know other people are upset about this too there's a smallish subdivision that is in another county that butts near it. Is there some way to pool us together and get them to do something?

Answer:
 The precise legal issue is whether the venue is creating a "nuisance". The aggrieved property owners may certainly band together and pay for an attorney if a civil abatement procedure is justified. The property owners could all join in as parties. This is not a small claims court matter. You would need an attorney.Answer #2: >  Is there some way to pool us together and get them to do something?

You can all go to the venue and bring the noise concerns to their attention. If that fails, are you in a township or something similar? If yes, gather local neighbors, go to the next township meeting and bring this up to your elected officials. If no, is there a county government you can speak to? New laws get passed all the time.

PS - I would also alert law enforcement about the drunk drivers.


Title: Letter from brother`s lawyer stating I am libelous

Question:
From B.C., Canada
A few weeks ago I sent an email to my brother`s company email stating some issues we have between us.  Everything I wrote is 100% true.  I just received a letter from his lawyer cc my brother stating I must stop sending false statements as they are libelous, etc.  Should she not have stated alleged false statements as she is assuming anything I wrote are false statements. Is not her letter libelous to me?  I am sure many people know about this letter.  Her words reflect I am a liar.  What should be the nest step.

Answer:
 Why are you e-mailing your relationship drama to your brother's employer? Stop it. You are definitely treading very close to the line doing that.

His lawyer telling you to stop doing possibly libelous things is not in any way itself libelous.Answer #2: > Is not her letter libelous to me?

No, it is not, for many reasons.

Stop stirring up drama.  Either handle this through the legal system or walk away.


Title: (MI) Divorcing wife: She's asking for compensation for us paying on my student loans

Question: I had student loans from an undergraduate degree which preceded our marriage. After marriage, we decided to pay some of them down. They have not been fully paid off yet, but we are now divorcing. The debt is clearly mine, but does she have the right to ask for compensation for payments to the loan during our marriage?

Answer: Legal right? No. Moral right? Try to think of what you see as fair rather than what you think you can get.


Title: [California] Neighbors dogs got out and attacked my dog. Want him to pay for vet bills.

Question:
Hey, guys. Last night I was walking my dog and my neighbors dogs got out and ganged up on my little guy (Cocker mix). The 2 pit bulls and collie bit my dog pretty bad on his back. I just took him to the vet and they estimated around $400 dollars for a clean up and pain medication/antibiotics since my dog wasn't feeling better this morning.

I want my neighbor to be held responsible to the damage since his unleashed dogs got out and injured mine. I also plan on submitting a complaint to animal control because he is older and has no way to control those dogs (he has at least 4).

How do I go about this?

Answer:
 First talk to your neighbor. Ask them to cover the medical costs. He may be willing to do it.

If he refuses you can sue him for the medical costs in small claims court.


Title: Ex husband took out a loan in my name

Question:
Looking over my credit report I see the loan for the leased car my ex drives. He asked if he could get the car under my name and I said no. I haven't signed for it , received a bill, or paid a bill.
I've reported it and now need to file an identify theft report with the precinct.
Two questions 1) has this happened to anyone ? What was the procedure? What was the outcome?
2) do I need to file the report with my local precinct or can I go to any police station?

Answer: Local precinct would be best in the event you need to come in again to talk to the police. Your ex-husband could be charged with identity fraud for doing that and could go to jail. But you have to file a report because if he slips on the lease it's your credit that's going to be ruined. Answer #2: This is identity theft/fraud, through and through. The first step for this is filing a police report ASAP. www.identifytheft.gov has excellent steps for how to pursue an identity theft claim as well as a handy checklist of things to manage. After you have the police report, you can go about amending your credit rating and challenging this.


Title: [VA] Caught roommate on camera stealing money from me. What's my legal recourse

Question: Title says it all. He took $40 from me and I got it all on camera. His mom (the landlord) is saying that I'll be paid back, but no other discipline is being taken against him as of now. What's the best legal recourse here?

Answer: There's a little known government agency in most communities that allows you to tell them about a crime that has happened, and they will look into it and enforce the law. I'm pretty sure they have this in Virginia. If you google the name of your city or county and the word "police", hopefully some contact info for this agency will come up.