Title: [CT] 18 years old, parents took my crazy expensive, important PC setup, equiptment all gone..

Question:
So I refused to go work with my Dad, because I believe in achieving one's self dreams rather work for another person's, and out of rage he took my dual monitor, entire PC, mouse, recording mic ( used to make videos ), webcam ( used to make videos ), expensive $180 keyboard, all my wires and expensive headset ( used to edit professional audio ), all in his car. Just now, to sneak it back into my room, the stuff he ROBBED from me, it's not in his car.

Now, not only do I need it for my work, but that's also straight up stealing my only prized posession. I don't even have a phone, nothing. **I paid for all of the equiptment, 100% mine**.

Do I seriously have to take this to court? What can I do?! *I understand I will be kicked out after this procedure.*

Answer:
 Call the police. They can handle it.

Plan on not being welcome to live with them, eat their food, drive their cars, or use their insurance.


Title: Undisclosed asbestos in basement of rental property in NJ

Question:
I'm one month into a 12 month lease of a house when my neighbor  tells me that the previous tenant had figured out there was asbestos pipe insulation in the basement, something my landlord told me nothing about.

I don a respirator and check it out and confirm that I'm pretty sure it's asbestos, and there are definitely areas (around the pipe supports, etc.) where the outer casing is not in great shape and it may be getting airborne. A section of the piping is wrapped in a plastic wrap of some sort where someone attempted to seal it in at some point.

Considering what my next move should be. My landlord is a cheapskate and I know his initial response will be to either say "it's not a big deal, it's not airborne", or to attempt to repair it himself, which all of my research says will only make things worse and kick up more fibers into the air.

I've done basic homework and know that if fibers are present in the air, this is a violation of the implied warranty of habitability.

Do I start by asking nicely, but insisting he not attempt repairs himself? Do I get a $400 air test so that I have proof that it's airborne in hazardous amounts? Is hazardous asbestos exposure something the local municipal building inspector is qualified to assess?

I'm worried he'll retaliate if I push too hard. Does he have any legal basis to evict us in response? We'd really like to stay in the property if possible, I just don't want to have to don a respirator (and worry about the seals) every time I need to fill the steam boiler.

Answer:
 Isn't NJ made pretty much entirely out of asbestos?

I'm not being silly here for once; I thought it was a very common thing to find in buildings in that state. I'd expect a municipal building inspector to be eminently qualified to assess its safety.


Title: Pulled over, tickets written, advice for someone young?

Question: Hello, I am 19. I got pulled over in Scurry County doing alleged 105 in a 75 and also got cited for possession of drug paraphernalia. I called and I am able to get one deferred, my question is which should I choose to get deferred and why? The speeding ticket is $300, the paraphernalia is $350. Whichever one I get deferred I have to pay $500 for and go to a class. I am interested in advice as I know my insurance will go up, and I am also facing the paraphernalia charge on my record as well. I pay about $260/mo in insurance already. Thanks!

Answer:
 Get a lawyer. Listen to your lawyer.

Stop speeding. Especially stop speeding with bongs in your car.


Title: Is my boss doing something illegal or is it just sketchy?

Question:
I'm not sure if this is where I should post but whatever.

I work for a small vending company in Massachusetts  and we fill vending machines across multiple states. Every week for quite some time my boss asks me to stay late on the day our CocaCola order comes in and has me load pallets of soda onto an unmarked truck after hours for another company in New York. He has asked me multiple times to keep it on the down low and to make sure CocaCola doesn't find out. The whole thing seems sketchy to me. We send about $26000 worth of soda every week and I feel like this is illegal in some way. It might just be that Coke would be pissed because a company in New York should buy it from a Coke Distributer in New York but it all seems weird. I overheard my boss makes about $4000 every time we send a shipment and its hard for me to believe its cheaper for the New York company to get soda from us and we still make a profit.

Any insight into this situation would be appreciated.

Answer:
 I'd be wary of any interstate coke traffickingAnswer #2: He's stepping on the NY distributor's toes. Dick move, perhaps, and one that will probably result in all of you losing your jobs if Coke ever finds out (you've included way too many identifying details here, BTW) and pulls your agreement, but not illegal. Answer #3: Sometimes businesses do things like this to burn through more volume to meet volume discounts they wouldn't otherwise qualify for.  They sell some outside of the distribution channels/agreements at some price desirable to that market.  It's probably unethical and against some agreement with Coke, but not really your problem or business.  You should probably find someone else to work for at your earliest convenience.Answer #4: Well. If you report it and coke stop supplying you then you need to find a new job.Answer #5: NY in general or NYC?

This sounds to me like someone is paying to get around the "sugar/sugary drink tax" many large cities are now using.

I'm not in NY but I know the area I work out of we pay a sugar tax of $0.015 per OZ on bottled drinks which adds up surprisingly fast.

IANAL but I believe that equates to some form of tax evasion/fraud.

Edit:
U/seraphrose directly above me did a nice job of explaining where the benefit in this comes from.

Edit2:
Also a quick Google and apparently the proposed soda tax in NYC did NOT pass, making this possibly irrelevant.


Title: Can people who are not able to/afraid to immediatley pull over for police just call 911 and tell them they are driving to a safer spot and tell the cop that so the police dont think they are trying to run or a threat and try to ram them off the road or kill them for not immediately pulling over

Question:
&#x200B;

We have seen for example the Arkansas state trooper who flipped the pregnant womans car over because she was afraid of stopping on the highway so she slowed down, put her hazard lights on and was going to get off on the next exit to safely park for the cop and they still tried killing her and claimed he didnt know her intention, just call 911 tell them to radio the cop that your just driving to a safer spot.

And even if the cops still try to kill you or run you off the road you have the 911 recording to help prove your intentions and win any lawsuit.

Answer: what that lady did was fine. officer was just mentally deficient.Answer #2: Idk about everywhere, but where I am I was always taught to call 911 and tell them I was gonna drive to somewhere it was safe to pull over.


Title: [NY] A friend of mine was accused of rape after having consensual sex

Question:
I'd like to start off by saying while this isn't me that is involved, it is a very close friend and the best I can do is assume the side of the story I'm being told is the full truth. I'm looking for advice to give him. Using a throwaway because friends know my username and we're trying to keep this private.

I have a friend who is a Junior in college that was recently accused of rape by a girl who came on to him and invited him back to her dorm. He isn't the type to outwardly go after girls and the other day he had told us (our group of friends) that this girl randomly came up to him somewhere on campus (public) and after a conversation invited him back to her dorm. They proceeded to have sex, protected, and now a few days later he's come to me saying that she went to the police accusing him of raping her. She told them that there was no protection, which he explicitly told me she gave to him, and that she was never consenting to anything.

Assuming everything I've been told is correct, what is the best course of action here? When he had initially told us, it seemed a little fishy that she'd just go up to him and then immediately want to have sex in the middle of the day but now it's starting to seem that her intentions were to do this all along. There is a 0% chance that he has any connection with the girl because he is a transfer student and this is his first week at the college.

Any advice would be appreciated so I can pass it on to him. I told him he may want to consider speaking with a lawyer but I don't want him to jump to any expensive conclusions just yet.

Answer:
 stop any contact to the girl/her friends/family or whoever else could speak on her behalf. same goes for the police. should they come and question him, he should stay quiet until he talked to a laywer. even something like admitting to having sex with her could make his case much harder down the line.

contact a criminal defense lawyer immediately and let them handle this. even if no charges are pressed currently, a lawyer will brief your friend on what could happen and worst case a few hundred bucks are well spent for future reference.Answer #2: Don't talk to the police without a lawyer. At all. About anything. He's being accused of a felony while he is in his first week of college. It's about to get violently expensive. Call the state/local bar for a referral. It goes without saying that texting/e-mailing/facebook messaging/etc about this would be a horrendously bad decision.


Title: No contact over 10 years, still legally married, she just now contacted me.

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Holy shit, are you serious? You realize that she's got a claim to everything you've been earning for a decade, right?  File the papers ASAP and be prepared to surrender a good chunk of any wealth you may have / accept a portion of her debt.


Title: If I train a gorilla to go on a raping rampage, what crime have I committed?

Answer:
 Well you've already committed felony shitposting in the first degree. Answer #2: Unlawful possession of an exotic animal, animal abuse, and bestiality if you're in a jurisdiction with a law about it. And that's just the "training" part. You are also responsible for the injuries caused by your pet gorilla and can be sued for medical and counselling expenses. Finally, your gorilla would likely be destroyed by animal control.

A creative prosecutor may find further things to charge you with.


Title: Is it illegal to lie about qualifications on a resume if your employer takes your word for it and never asks for proof of said qualifications?

Question:
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer: It may be illegal, depending on exactly what you lie about. It *is* grounds to not hire you or to dismiss you later. What the employer does to follow-up doesn't change your responsibility for your own actions.


Title: partners parents taking partner and daughter without permission.

Question:
My Partners parents on several occasions have taken my partner and my 5 week old daughter out "shopping" or "for a meal" as her parents claim, But end up taking my partner and daughter out of town back to there own home without letting me or my partner know in advance. Many occasions i have been home waiting for my partner and daughter to get home to only get a message from my partner saying "My mums done it again, taken me back to her house and not bringing me back till late tomorrow"

I am wondering if there is any action i could take to prevent them doing this without asking in advance and getting my and my partners permission.

Answer:
 Why does your partner keep getting in the car? Partner can walk away at any point and call to be picked up. But the real solution is not to go with these people and have no contact. Answer #2: Your partner could try saying no for starters? I mean there's obviously a point where he/she knows they're not getting taken home. It's not like a car never stops, there's stop signs and red lights where he/she could get out and call a taxi. Then the next time the mom wants to take them shopping a simple "no because of the shit you tried pulling last time" should suffice. Don't allow her to see her granddaughter until you two think she's gotten it through her head.

I don't understand why you're looking for legal advice when your partner is just allowing her to do this.Answer #3: Why on earth are you taking a 5 week old baby ANYWHERE?

Also, 'no' is a complete sentence. Your partner needs to grow up and tell her parents no. They've apparently tricked her multiple times, why does she keep going with them?Answer #4: How old is your partner?  If he/she is 18+, they can just tell parents no.  Sounds like your partner is agreeing to this once he/she gets in mum's car.  If that's the case, there's nothing to be done.


Title: [TX] Do lawyers and attorneys hire other lawyers or attorneys to represent them? Or do they just do themselves?

Question:
I thought about asking on /r/askreddit, but I didn't know how accurate their answers would be.

Also, I don't really know if this is a question of legality, since it is mostly referring to how lawyers go about a situation where they are personally involved in a crime or a claim.
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer:
 Of course, it depends on the situation.  I would say that generally, yes, lawyers do find other lawyers to represent them in most matters.

Case in which a lawyer may represent themselves would be a traffic ticket or writing a will.

Cases in which a lawyer would not represent themselves would be malpractice claims or criminal matters.


Title: Is my gym legally keeping my money

Question: I am part of a BJJ gym that is telling me that i will no longer be welcomed there if I join another gym. I am paid up for another 6 months but i am not able to attend classes there anymore, except on Saturdays. It is very hard on my family trying to get my son to his class as well so he has not been able to attend in over a month. When i told them, out of respect, that i was going to join an additional gym so i could train during the week they told me that i would no longer be welcomed there, no refunds. Nothing in their contract says that i can not join another gym, in fact i have been paying extra money (mat fees) to this other gym for months now with the original gyms knowledge and they dont seem to mind. A membership at the second gym will save me a lot of money instead of paying mat fees all the time. On top of that, them telling me that we would not be welcomed in the gym makes me believe my son is not longer welcomed there (6) because he would be moving to the other gym as well. However, they still want to months of pay afterwards for services not rendered. I really wish this was not going down but we are talking close to $1000. I love the gym, but is what they are doing legal? Can they charge me for services not rendered if the contract in no way shape or form tells me that i cannot join another gym. For the BJJ fans out there i know it is something that is disliked in the community, it took me months of stress and long discussions with my wife to make this decision. This is not a question of mortality though it is a legal question for close to $1000. i hope they change their mind and allow me to come and visit when i can. Thank you in advance for any advice that you can provide.

Answer:
 A business can ban anyone they like, but they don't also get to keep charging you on top of that (unless the contract states something like that).

> Nothing in their contract says that i can not join another gym

Since this is the case, you should ask them under what grounds they think they can ban you from coming (terminate your contract),  and yet still charge you the fees for that contract? This is one of those "you don't get to have your cake and eat it too" scenarios.


Title: [Ontario] My friend was charged with careless use of a firearm.

Question: He is a first time offender with a clean legal record, he has his firearms license and is gainfully employed. He was charged after a video surfaced of him firing a shotgun (legally owned and stored) up in to the air in a very rural, wooded area and subsequently sent to Crime Stoppers. I've been reading up on the charges and am unable to find what a minimum sentence would be for a charge such as this.  I see mitigating factors are entering a guilty plea, youthfulness and clean criminal record. He is currently on the fence about hiring a lawyer or not, I'm leaning towards it being a better idea for him to just enter a guilty plea and hope to be sentenced leniently. Is it possible he could get off with just having his firearms license taken away and a fine? Or is some sort of jail sentence mandatory for a crime such as this? Thank you very much for your time and advice.

Answer: He should get a lawyer, it will maximize the chance of a positive outcome. Most crimes in Canada do not have mandatory minimum sentences. Depending on how it was charged the maximum sentence is two years assuming it's a first offense.


Title: Divorce in TX help needed

Question:
Have a friend going through a divorce in TX. The other party has a family lawyer that is "helping" them through a non contested divorce.

The issue is the lawyer keeps trying to slide in little back door things to help their family member out. I know that TX is a no fault state but they are trying to get my friend to cover half of the other individuals rent, electricity and any other bills they have had since the day of separation, but said they arent covering any of my friends bills and there was no lease agreements made or any electricity bills in either parties name.

Also the other party dropped them from insurance and my friend got hurt and cant go back to work until they are medically cleared to do so. In order for this to happen they are going to have to get surgery and now they are losing income due to this. I also know that in TX during a divorce one party can not remove the other from insurance. So now my friend is not able to work, can not get medical insurance until open enrollment and also can not file a claim for a pre existing injury. Any help?
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer:
 > The other party has a family lawyer that is "helping" them through a non contested divorce.

When one party has no attorney and the other party does, it's like bringing a toothpick to a sword fight.

Your friend need an attorney.


Title: Job suspension after customer said racial slur

Question:
In Hawaii. I work in a building that hosts events. A customer was upset that I couldnt serve him food even though we already stopped serving food before he entered the building. He was noticably agitated, very close to me and getting more aggressive as time went on. He started to swear at me then started raising his voice. Then said a racial slur and started full on yelling at me.

Until the racial slur I had apologized repeatedly and was polite. After the slur I swore at him. I had asked a coworker to call a manager twice. Only after the second time one of them showed up. The manager gave the guy a refund on his entrance ticket and he left. The manager disnt ask anyone what had happened. At the end of the night me and another worker were asked to talk to the manager. I was told that i was getting a write up for the incident. I tried to explain what happened saying, " he threatened me and swore-". I was told to never swear at customers for any reason. I was handed the write up and i asked if that would be the only paper. Was there going to be something describing the incident? I was told "If you want, i guess you can write a statement".
I wrote the statement and went home.

 That night i emailed my main boss about the incident saying that i wanted to talk about this in person. I was upset about the way it was handled, i didnt get why no one was even questioned especially since I felt phyaically unsafe. I'm a kinda small girl, 5'3 and the guy was between 5'8 and 6'0. There were multiple coworkers in the general vicinity who caught the end and there was one or 2 people within 10ft of me.

The next time I clocked in, I was called into the office. To talk to the my boss and the manager who have me the write up. We talkes about the incident, boss says that he understands i was upset but that hes also had things like this happen and said to him and that i cant react like that. Then he says im going to be on a 2 week unpaid suspension while they investigate what happened. And that because I was around mostly newer workers that they now might think this is normal behavior??? So basically theyre both investigating the incident and deciding if they'll let me continue to work there. I also found out that my supervisor was in the area the entire time while the incident occurred and did nothing.

Of course I know to never talk like that to a customer. But its completely different talking about a hypothetical vs a guy withing a foot of you yelling in your face while hes almost a foot taller.

To shorten things: A customer was being aggressive from the get go because i couldn't serve him certain items. He then said a racial slur, started to yell and get in my face. I swore at him and now I'm suspened. Possibly being fired.

I looked on the eeoc website. Apparently if someone is intimidating a worker, making a big scene or says something racist, it's considered an illegal act. Especially it its dirrectly causing an offensive work environment or an unsafe one. If someone can clarify any of this or go into more detail itd be much appreciated. Or if anyone thinks i should let the EEOC know. There are cameras and a few witnesses, but the witnesses only seemed to hear the end.
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer: You are going to be fired or disciplined for swearing at a customer, not because he used a slur.  It is not illegal in the U.S. for a customer to call you a slur.  It makes him a terrible person, but he broke no laws.


Title: I took in a cat whose owner went to jail and 1 yr later he wants the cat back..

Question: About a year ago, my sister had a boyfriend staying with her, and his cat as well. He went to jail for the better part of a year. Shortly after he went to jail, my sister had to move to a place where no pets were allowed, and since her boyfriend's mother was in jail also, the cat had nowhere to go. We agreed to take her with the stipulation that we wouldn't be willing to give the cat back once we took her in, since we knew our kids would love her, etc. My sister claimed that her boyfriend agreed, from jail. We have taken good care of her, regular vet visits and everything, for a year. Now the boyfriend is out of jail and contacting us that he wants his cat back and that my sister did not have his permission to give her to us. He said he will be taking us to court. Any idea if we are legal owners of the cat at this point after a year, or what could happen here? We are in Pennsylvania if it matters.

Answer:
 Dog Law specialist here.

Pawsesssion is *not* 9/10ths of the law, but at this point you haven't purrloined the thing, either.


Title: Car was very badly damaged in employer's parking lot

Question: In upstate NY, today when I was leaving work, while pulling out of the spot I had parked in my car scraped along a low pole that was in the middle of the parking lot, it is maybe 3 feet tall.  I could not see it from inside of my vehicle.  I don't want to go through insurance and pay my $500 deductible, I want the lot owners to pay for the damage, but I don't know how likely that is.  The damage is $2500-$3000 at least.  The pole is to the left side of a "no parking" spot, which has cross hatches in it.  It was about 1 foot away from the spot I parked in.  There was nobody anywhere near my car so I started pulling out and heard a noise that sounded like I had driven over something.  When I got out to look I saw major damage to both right side doors and front quarter panel and rear panel.  I am very angry that there was no flag or other warning put on the pole.  What can or should I do?  The parking lot is owned by the landlords of the building, not by my employer, as it also houses several other companies on the premises.

Answer:
 > I want the lot owners to pay for the damage, but I don't know how likely that is.

Extremely unlikely.  You hit a permanently mounted, non-moving object.  That's on you.


Title: UPDATE: I cashed in a stolen check without knowing

Question:
Hi it’s me again just posting an update about my original post (California) here is the link: https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/6tk360/i_cashed_a_forged_check_without_knowing_and_a/

I have refused to speak with the detective thus far and have tried finding an attorney but sadly I can’t afford one and there is no low cost or free legal help near me. The detective called me today I ignored his call and he left a voice mail saying: “Hey it’s me detective (blank) I just wanted to ask if you had retained an attorney if not don’t worry about it don’t waste your money I’ve spoken to (the woman who stole the check) and she said you weren’t involved so don’t worry but if you can call me back I’d like to update you about some over things she had said and I was hoping you could answer one quick question for me over the phone and I’m hoping she could pay back the money or something, I’ve cleared you just so you know so just call me back at this number (blank)”

My question is should I call him back? Or his he lying to me to get me to self incriminate myself. It’s true I wasn’t involved in the whole stealing checkbook thing maybe that’s what they were investigating all along and not the check I cashed in. Should I keep ignoring his calls?

Answer:
 When the police officer says, "Hey, remember how you mentioned getting an attorney?  Well, what if instead you didn't do that and you just called me back to answer some questions about this criminal investigation?  What d'ya say, old pal?"  You should not respond without an attorney.

>My question is should I call him back? Or his he lying to me to get me to self incriminate myself.

His job is to investigate crimes and make arrests.  He is allowed to lie to you in order to accomplish those things.

*Edit: I am not sure if someone linked it for you in the original post or not, but [here](https://lawhelpca.org/) is the low cost legal aid service listed on the CA State Bar website.  Maybe they can help out if something more come from all this.


Title: [NYC, NY] Got a ticket for walking between subway cars. What now?

Question:
New York, NY.

I got a $75 ticket for walking between subway cars. I genuinely didn't know it was a crime, but I'm aware that's not a defense. I'm planning on paying it since the officers that ticketed me definitely saw me do it, but I was wondering what the consequences of that are (other than being out $75).

Is this ticket more like a criminal fine? Or is it more like a parking ticket?

When I apply for jobs/housing, will it come up on a criminal background check?

Here is the MTA page about this kind of ticket: http://web.mta.info/nyct/rules/TransitAdjudicationBureau/rules.htm

Here is a Gothamist article about it: http://gothamist.com/2014/06/12/reminder_youll_get_a_75_ticket_if_y.php

Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer:
 It's an infraction. If you pay the fine, there are no further consequences. It will not appear on your criminal record, because it was not a criminal act. You do not have to answer "yes" when asked if you have committed a crime or if you have been arrested.

A sufficiently-detailed search of police and county records may turn it up, so you might have to explain yourself if you ever seek security clearance, but the correct answer there was "I was an idiot, I walked between cars, and I paid the fine." Clearance interviews are about finding out whether you'll lie when you don't have to, not about whether you broke the law.


Title: I'm a nurse in America and my company wants to discharge a Pt because they don't "make enoughn money" off of the patient. Is this legal?

Question:
I'm a home health nurse and for a while my boss has been wanting to discharge one of my patients because they aren't making money off of the patient.
The type of insurance my patient has, my company has to supply the supplies for the wound and for a while my boss has made comments about getting rid of him because of the price of his supplies. For example one small box of his supplies costs around $600. And my boss says he is not worth keeping as a patient because they have to spend too much money on him and they aren't making any money off of him.
She told me that at the start of the year she was going to work hard to get rid of him. I don't think this is right at all and am thinking of recording her the next time I go to get some of my patients supplies just in case.
Is this legal for them to do? What can I or the patient do if they actually discharge him because of this?

Answer:
 This is a lot more complicated than the other comments imply. Home healthcare licensing in Texas requires conformity to federal home health regulations, specifically  [42 CFR § 484](https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=26a7f4d445ef7a3d99ca4da856edabfc&mc=true&node=pt42.5.484&rgn=div5#se42.5.484_150), which limits when a patient may be discharged. "Unable to pay for services" is a valid reason but "not profitable enough" is not. This is outside my wheelhouse so I can't say exactly where that line is drawn, but it's worth passing it to the experts for a looskie.

I'd reckon your best bet would be Texas Health and Human Services' complaint office. Not sure if they take complaints anonymously.Answer #2: I would file a complaint with Texas Health & Human Services at their hotline 1-800-458-9858. You can submit the complaint anonymously if you want to. I'd also recommend contacting your local Ombudsman's office as they can assist you as well with filing a complaint if you want another layer of anonymity. This is against regulations related to discharging residents. Please make sure however you submit the complaint that you provide as many details of time/day/location/resident's name as you can because the more specific you are, the better it can be investigated, although be prepared that they may not be able to act unless or until your boss actually discharges the man.Answer #3: The real issue is the insurance not compensating enough. The insurance companies control so much and they’ll take advantage of smaller entities.

While it may seem like your boss is being unethical or flat out not caring, he or she may just want to be able to continue taking care of the patients that they can make money on and therefore continue providing services to.


Title: Can I self incriminate myself admitting to drinking on an unrelated matter when on probation.

Question:
I have an upcoming court case for a custody hearing. I am currently on probation for alcohol which prevents drinking.(I have drank in moderation since) I am curious if I can self incriminate myself admitting to drinking during the custody hearing or have it used to violate my probation.

Thanks for any help I’m aware I shouldn’t have put myself in this situation to begin with.

Answer: Of course sworn testimony can be used against you.  Do you have an attorney?  If not you need one who can help with this.  You should also stop violating the terms of your probation.


Title: [CA] I nicked a car while doing a u-turn, left my information, and now the other person (who didn't want to involve insurance) is claiming some hidden engine damage and threatening to involve insurance. Can anyone explain the motives and my next step?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Oh don't settle this outside of insurance. You have insurance, go through them.Because I think they are trying to scam you and your insurance company is much more experienced with dealing with this sort of shake down, which is what it is.

I've accepted payment for this sort of thing (and you're correct, a waiver of claims is what you are looking at) but I haven't been dealing with someone who is already clearly trying to scam me. At the first whiff of that: insurance company.


Title: Can I sue over a rape? Is there anything left for me to do? (CA) (also potential trigger warning?)

Question:
When I was 15 I went to a hotel to hang out with a guy. It was 7 am, not a weird night time or anything so I trusted what he said.  I asked him why he was in a hotel and said I would rather meet somewhere else, but he lied to me and told me that he was only in a hotel for the day because he was doing stuff downtown and that we would meet there and go do stuff in the city, and not to worry about him trying to make advances and that it would just be a normal thing getting to know each other. He promised the hotel didn't have to do with anything else. I agreed and met up. We met from a dating site you have to be 18 for, but I made it clear I was looking for DATING and not SEX. He knew that when he messaged me and that he was messaging an underage girl. It was really obvious. I'm homeschooled and don't know how to meet people, and made a bad judgement trusting a stranger. I'm also diagnosed with autism and am terrible at sensing social cues and knowing how people work. When I got there we even talked about my age, but we didn't on the dating site so I wouldn't get banned. He was like 25 or something.

&#x200B;

Almost as soon as I got there he convinced me to take drugs and I felt very confused and disoriented. I did hesitantly agree to take drugs, but he coerced me into taking way way too much on purpose. From that point I was super out of it and he forced himself on me even though I said NO to anything intimate. During sex he randomly asked if he could take off the condom. I said no, if you're not gonna listen about me saying no then at least don't take off the condom. He took off the condom anyway, kept having sex with me and said  "I'll give you 2000 dollars for this don't worry". He even turned the bath tub on so people couldn't hear. Afterward, and still very confused, he directed me to text my venmo to him. I did text it to him because that's what he told me to do, and I didn't see it as something that could make it worse.  I didn't even expect him to send anything obviously, I just didn't know how to say no to him when he said to do it now. After that he said we were going to keep hanging out and I just went with it because he was my only way to get home so I thought I had to be nice or I would get stuck in the city. Then he changed his mind and said he had an emergency and had to meet his friend for 30 minutes and couldn't bring me for whatever excuse he made, so he left me at a coffee shop. He said he would come back to take me home.  I was super confused, on a lot of drugs, and just sat at the coffee shop for a long time. He never came back obviously. The series of events obviously was so confusing, but I was so out of it I just nodded my head at everything he said. I think he made it confusing on purpose so that whoever he did this to would not know what to do at all. He picked a girl who he knew couldn't drive so that I would have to keep staying with him to make it seem like I was fine and wanted to hang out even after having sex, then added the aspect of venmo into it for bad reasons.

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As soon as I did get home I told my mom what had happened and how he forced himself on me. I was still really out of it and clearly on a lot of drugs. We went to the police and made a report. They found who it was within 24 hours, and then the rape test kit also came back verifying it was him. During my victim interview, since I was so confused, did a lot of stuff that didn't make sense, they said "what did you think was gonna happen at a hotel then?", why would you still hang out with him afterward if it was rape, etc. they said I was a liar, and further, a prostitute since I texted him my venmo. They dropped the drug and rape charges completely and it never went to court. I 100% know that it was a rape.  It really seems like he planned out how to frame a girl as a prostitute in order to rape them.. Looking back it's obvious to me that he knew he was going to rape a younger girl who clearly wouldn't see the warning signs that day, got a hotel for that, and then somehow brought the element of money into it so that he couldn't get in trouble. I even got an STD from him.

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What in the world can I do? Am I out of luck? It's been about a year since this by the way, but it's still hurting me every day. They said they wouldn't be able to prove he knew my age since I signed up for a dating site which is a contract binding that you're 18 so there's no reason, and they said he had great lawyers and they didn't even want to try. But isn't it still illegal to give someone drugs then rape them even if I were a grown up? He knew I didn't wanna have sex and we talked about my age for like 30 minutes before he did that. I feel like the world is unfair that he could get off even with DNA and I've been scared ever since. My question is can I sue over this or do anything else to make him get held accountable? I heard that for a lawsuit it only needs beyond reasonable doubt or something different than criminal conviction? I don't remember. I wish he had just gone to jail, but the police really didn't like or believe me and just called me a prostitute.

Answer:
 Sure, you can sue. You still face the same proof issues that made the police drop the investigation, but in a civil suit, the burden of proof is lower.

You can speak with an attorney to get a better sense of whether it's worth pursuing.


Title: [CA] Question about FMLA during summer months

Question:
Hey and thanks for your opinions and advice on this question.

My wife and I are expecting our second child, she works as a SLP for an agency that staffs schools, hence she doesn't work under the schools but for an agency. Our baby is due sometime in the summer (end of June) and her work ends in the first week of June. Currently she is our primary income and we expected to take Fanily medical leave and California disability during the time before and after the delivery depending on how much time she needs to recover.

My question is this: can she qualify for FMLA during the period of time she is usually not working (during the summer)? Our health insurance covers us year round and so I figured the disability would as well. Since it is based on income and she has summer off  since schools are not in session would she still be able to get it based on her previous income?

Anyway I was curious to see if we need to really budget for the time she is out. Thank you
Topic:
Disability Issues

Answer: Why do you think she should get paid for no loss of income?


Title: Are convicts with sealed records a protected group?

Question: This might just be a matter of semantics. If you have been convicted and your record sealed or expunged are you considered a protected group under fair housing / EEO laws.

Answer: no


Title: [CA] Contractor hired by Landlord dusted my apartment with Asbestos

Question:
I'll try to keep this as brief as possible.
I live in a small 5 unit apartment building in the Bay Area built in the 1910's. My landlord, who is a nice guy, is a tenant/owner, and lives in another building he owns on the other side of town. Recently he notified me and the tenants of my building that he was having fire sprinklers installed in all the units. All good so far. Work began this week and after coming home from work my apartment was dusted in plaster dust from the contractors cutting wholes in my ceiling. These "pros" couldn't be bothered to put down anything to catch or contain the inevitable dust. I take pictures of the debris which mostly lands on  my carpet and wood floor, but I'm mostly pissed at the hole directly above my bed, completely dusting my comforter, pillows, sheets etc. My landlord offers to knock a 100.00 bucks off April's rent and promises me that they will mask off the apartment the next day. Okay fine, my landlord has earned a lot of nice guy credit with me so I wash my sheets and clean up. The thought this could be asbestos was in the back of my mind and I did mention it to the landlord and as long as they take proper precautions the next go around, I'll deal with it.

The next day of work, yesterday, I come home and EVEN MORE debris and dust was coating my belongings and apartment, including my freshly washed sheets and comforter. I am genuinely pissed at my landlord at this point and send him more pics of The Debris Part II. He shoots back that they weren't even working in my apartment today, they were in the attic! I point out that my unit is directly below the attic and the workers were knocking dust and plaster through those nice fresh cut holes in my ceiling that they neglected to mask off.

I should mention that I am a construction manager and this is absolute bush league work by the installer and contractor. My landlord knows I work in the field and I let him know in the text that not masking and containing debris in occupied space is a big no no. I ask him for the name and number of the contractor so I can get on them about their guys terrible work. He provides me there number and the I plan on calling them today as this all took place around 7:00 PM yesterday.

So we hit today. I come home an hour ago and an 8 sq ft. chunk of ceiling plaster has broken off the ceiling an landed on all my laundry and clothing plus shoe rack. Huge chunks of plaster are everywhere. The plaster looks a little funny though, I've scene this before...After taking a closer look, this stuff is riddled with Asbestos. Asbestos fibers are EVERYWHERE. I realize now that since the beginning of the week I have had asbestos dust raining on every single item I own in the apartment and have been breathing this shit in the entire time.

So now I am beyond pissed. I know enough about Asbestos that when locked up in wall board or tiles its harmless. When cut and exposed though... And now my furniture, my linens, virtually all my clothes (they cut a hole in my closet), shit even the keyboard I'm typing on are dusted with asbestos fiber.

I know my landlord did not have Asbestos testing done - I had to explain to him what it was and how to do it via text. I know for sure the contractor didn't do it or there would be no way in hell this job would have gone down this way.

My landlord offered to put me up in a hotel for the night which I will take him up on but I'd like to know what options I have. I snagged and double bagged a piece of the plaster to have tested on my own dime to document that this is actually asbestos (I'm 100% sure, only one has little hairs that look like this in plaster when broken open). I read online that I can't really go after personal injury stuff because I would need to actually be sick which can take 20 years. Really what I am concerned about are my belongings. I don't think it's really possible to clean my stuff. I don't want to wash my clothes and risk contaminating whoever uses the washer next with asbestos. My couch, my bed, everything is contaminated.

So the question: Can I go after my landlord or the contractor to cover the cost of replacing my Asbestos contaminated belongings? I read up about "habitable dwelling" laws but basically what can I do to get an Asbestos free life and get my contaminated belongings replaced?

TL;DR Landlord hired idiot contractor who coated my entire apartment and belongings with Asbestos dust. Want to know what I can do legally to replace my things and get some Asbestos free living conditions.

Answer:
 Looks a lot like horsehair plaster. Grab a sample and send it in for testing.Answer #2: Yeah, that's horsehair.

Your house was built in 1910. In 1910, plaster was mixed with horsehair to prevent cracking, and the plaster was applied over lath. What you've got is the original plaster applied to the lath (you can see that because of the ridges--that's the gaps in the lath). Then you can see where sheetrock was added over the top of the plaster sometime later.

Asbestos wasn't used in plaster until 1920 at the earliest, and didn't become popular until the 1950s. Even then, it was mostly used in commercial buildings to provide a fire resistant wall. Where you see it in the interior of residential homes is when it was used to provide texture in finishes, like the popcorn ceilings that were popular in the 70s.


Title: Does someone who is named on a birth certificate as a parent but who is not biologically related to the child have any legal rights to that child?

Question: My lesbian friend put her spouse’s name on her child’s birth certificate as a parent but obviously the spouse who is female is not a biological parent. Now they are getting divorced. Does the non-biological parent have any legal rights to the child by virtue of being named on the birth certificate of that child?  The spouse never legally adopted the child so my hunch is “no”. Can someone shed some light on this quandary?

Answer:
 If they are on the birth certificate, they are a legal parent.  She wouldn’t need to adopt the child because she was established as a legal parent at birth.   Furthermore, anyone child born into a marriage is assumed to be the child of both spouses.

Yes, absolutely your friends spouse has all the legal rights of a biological parent.


Title: Girlfriend withdraw all the money in joint account

Question:
Hi,
I just broke up with my girlfriend and she took the money that we had in our joint account (~$3000) out. Is there anyway that I can get half of that back in small claims or am I screwed? I'm in georgia.

Answer:
 From [Georgia Code 7-1-812](http://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2014/title-7/chapter-1/article-8/section-7-1-812/):

>(a) A joint account belongs, during the lifetime of all parties, to the parties in proportion to the net contributions by each to the sums on deposit, unless there is clear and convincing evidence of a different intent.

Absent a showing that you intended to make a gift of your portion of the funds, she wasn't entitled to clean out the account.

At this point, you can file a theft report with the police or sue her civilly for your portion of the funds.


Title: The NY state police have stolen my intellectual property by drawing my blood without a warrant or my consent

Question: [removed]

Answer: Well this is certainly a unique situation.... Your post sounds absurd and not grounded in reality/law. If you'd like to pursue this, be prepared with quite a bit of money and speak to a few attorneys until you find one that will take it. I will warn you now, I would put a significant amount of money on you losing in court.


Title: Amazon cannot replace my brokenly shipped TVs

Question:
Memphis, TN

So about a month ago it was prime day, and I got a really good deal on a LG 65" smart TV for only $600. A week and a half later I received it, but it was in horrible condition with the screen broken in 3 different places. I scheduled a replacement, and it came in this past Saturday, delivered by the same shipping company. Lo and behold it too was broken with a huge crack in the middle of the screen. So I called Amazon today to recieve another replacement, and they told me that they do not have it in stock anymore from the supplier and I can either wait until they get restocked in the replacement window of 24 days and call back when they are stocked, or get a refund. Now obviously I do not want a refund because the same TV goes for around $1000 on other websites. If Amazon is not restocked within the time period would it be advisable to pursue legal action against the shipping company, or request something from Amazon as compensation? Someone please help.

Answer: They owe you either a working TV or a refund. If they have no inventory, a refund will meet their obligation to you.


Title: If I sign a legally binding contract in 2018 with someone, then we travel back in time to 2017, is that contract legally enforceable?

Question:
1) is it legally enforceable in 2017, provided we can prove we are time time travellers and a contract was signed from our perspective?

2) if no, does it become enforceable on the date we would have originally signed it? (Ignoring the new contract our past selves will now be signing)

3) Is the new contract our past selves are now signing in 2018 (assuming we don't interrupt them) applicable to both time traveller me and past me, or just past me?

The contract would be something non time specific, like granting Party A access to property of Party B (they they still owned in 2017). Party B upheld their end of the agreement, a payment, the moment the contract was signed

Answer:
 Nobody knows.

I'm not being trite. These sorts of questions are unanswerable, as the law does not generally deal in hypotheticals and as there is absolutely no precedent to fall back on. Any answer is, at best, a guess, and acausal situations violate most kinds of logic as we recognize them, so formal reasoning likely isn't much use either.


Title: Is a curfew legal for a work event?

Question: Can a company enforce a curfew for an off site work event? Background info: this is in the US, all employees are exempt, the event is mandatory and the employees are organizing/facilitating the event, they are staying at a hotel paid for by the company. The manager has decided to try and restrict employees to their rooms after a certain hour. This seems like a clear violation of their rights! Is this legal? How can they restrict the employees activities durning their time off?

Answer:
 > Can a company enforce a curfew for an off site work event?

Yes.

> The manager has decided to try and restrict employees to their rooms after a certain hour. This seems like a clear violation of their rights!

The manager cannot *physically* restrict employees to their rooms. That would be kidnapping. But the manager can absolutely discipline/terminate any employee who leaves their room after a certain time.

> Is this legal?

Yes.Answer #2: Others have said it's legal.  I'll tell you why they're doing it.  If a bunch of drunk, rowdy employees disturb guests, cause damage, or otherwise piss off the hotel, the company will have to pay a large fee.  Event contracts with the hotel almost always include a clause like this.  The manager is preventing even the possibility of this issue.Answer #3: Of course they can. Why would that possibly be “illegal”?


Title: Moving out of state with kids.. Ohio

Question:
So the first post ever here, I am the residential parent of my three kids (yes I am the father). I won’t go into how long and hard of a battle it was because the courts in Ohio still favor the mother over a dad. However, I have had a couple offers to move out of state and I wondered if anyone knows or has experience in this. Divorce decree only says I have to submit a residence change 60days prior but I know she can try to stop it. I guess I am trying to figure out what the road I’m going down might play out if she does fight it.
Currently, the two older kids do not and have not talked or seen her in a long time. My youngest(5) has standard visitation with her.
Any help would be great.

Answer:
 You must follow the directives of your custody order.  If it says you must submit a residence change 60 days prior, then that is what you must do.  No getting around that without digging yourself into a hole.

The rest will depend on particulars.  If your move is close enough that her access to her children will remain largely in tact OR facilitating visitation is still possible, it's less likely she will be able to block the move.  If your move would mean her presence in the children's lives would be drastically reduced, she would have more grounds to fight the removal of the children.

Your best bet would be to schedule a consultation with a local attorney who can look over your specific case and evaluate how strong your case is with an eye towards the local judges.


Title: [Mich.] I had my camera case and SD Cards taken from our yard. Cards contain risky pictures of my SO and myself. How liable are we if those SD Cards were viewed by under aged kids?

Question:
   I had accidentally left my camera case on the hedges outside our house when I went out to take some quick night pictures of our Christmas tree.

It wasn't until a couple weeks later (and after searching the inside of the house over) that I realized where the last place I had it was.

It's not there.

We have quite a few children who walk up and down our street to and from school and often during the weekends, so it's quite the possibility that one of them might have picked it up.

One of the SD cards contains risque pictures of my SO and myself, and I am worried what legal troubles I would be in if they were caught looking at those pictures.

I've made several online lost posts in hope that someone might have seen the case. (It's been three days and no such luck.)

We live in a fairly small town [~4000 people]. (Not sure if it's relevant, but thought I should add it in.)

Answer: You can't be held responsible for other children's actions.


Title: Landlady entered house with permission, then entered my locked room while I was inside without permission.

Question:
This is in NJ, Middlesex County

My landlady came to my house today to assist another tenant and gave two hours notice (may or may not be relevant).  I was in my room in a distressed state dealing with a family matter when I heard a knock on my door.  I was not in a proper mental state to talk to my landlady or anyone else that could have knocked.  I replied "Please go away" and she responded by pounding on the door and yelling about February's overdue rent.  I said  "Please go away" once more but she continued pounding until my french doors popped open.  Then she just walked into my room to continue yelling at me.

Were any of her actions illegal?

Edit: Location

Answer: If she gave notice to enter the entire property then she had a right to view the entire property. Next time answer the door when someone knocks.


Title: Lost eligibility while on WIC but still receiving assistance from them. Afraid I'm accidentally committing fraud.

Question:
This happened in Washington state.

I applied for WIC (women infants children) assistance to get formula for my baby.

In September they told me I did not qualify due to too high income (just barely above the limit) but since my son was on state insurance we automatically qualify. So since then we've been receiving food assistance.

In October the state wanted further income verification which I sent and was told all is well. At my next WIC appointment I mentioned that and they said that since he was on the insurance when I applied it shouldn't be a problem.

I just found out the insurance was revoked at the end of October (no one told me) and probably won't be reinstated because we already have another insurance through my husband's work.

I'm afraid to mention it to the WIC office and lose assistance or cause problems for myself. (We can't afford to buy formula.) But I'm also afraid they'll find out and make me pay back the assistance I've received.

What is going to happen here? They said I had assistance assured for a year because he had insurance when we started, but I'm afraid that person was wrong. Can anyone help me figure out what the best thing for me to do is?

Answer:
 You had the insurance at the time of your determination. That isn't fraud or a lie. Losing Medicaid also does not automatically disqualify you from WIC. You'll need to report the change and ask to speak to a human being regarding your situation.

Our state (Colorado) in certain cases allows for the "cliff effect" which guarantees eligibility for benefits up to one year even when income limits are surpassed.


Title: What law does this break?

Question:
Let's say I'm offering DDOS protection and I have a few clients. I charge them based of x per attack. I then go and attack these websites myself (AFTER they are a client) in order to rack their bill up. What kind of law is this breaking, my friends and I were trying to figure this out (not intending to do this). It's not extortion or racketeering correct? Let's assume ddos'ing is legal.

The bot wants me to put location so let's put USA (Michigan, United States).

Answer:
  Besides the obvious computer crimes you would be committing fraud. On the civil side there would also be a claim for breach of contract and a whole lot of other things.

Putting in USA doesn't satisfy the bot you need to identify your state as well.


Title: [US] If the US needed a constitutional amendment to ban alcohol, why are other substances controlled by congressional action?

Question:
If this is the wrong sub for this kind of question, or if my premise is flawed somehow I apologize and will gladly remove the post. This thought occurred to me yesterday evening and I am struggling to come up with an answer.

Did we *not need* an amendment for prohibition, but the prohibition movement just got so powerful that it was able to enshrine their bullshit into our constitution? That's the only reasonable explanation I can come up with.

Answer:
 Your second paragraph pretty much has it. An amendment wasn't needed, but support was high enough to pass a constitutional amendment. They preferred this as it would be harder to overturn later if public opinion changed. The same result could have been achieved through a normal law. Answer #2: You are right in your explanation. They wanted to lock up the booze and throw away the key. Laws can be changed by future congresses and they wanted to prevent that. It was an embarrassing spectacle for our country.Answer #3: Have you ever watched the Ken Burns documentary on Prohibition? I think you may find it interesting. Burns talks about the social climate and the temperance movement through out the first couple of episodes. Answer #4: I agree with your reasoning that we should need an amendment and probably the best answer is that the law changes.

We pretend it doesn't, but it does.  Look, for example, the expanding interpretation of the commerce clause (Wickard v. Filburn, 1942).  Or related, that state minimum wage was unconstitutional in Lochner (1895).  This is no longer the view.  Politics in early American had different values and a much weaker federal government than in the last century and the interpretation of the law shifted to fit this.

If you're interested, read the wikipedia entry on the history of the Commerce Clause or summaries of the two cases I cited above.  You'll see the meaning of the law shift before your eyes and why something like prohibition would require an amendment at one point, but wouldn't be needed as federal powers expanded.

Probably a better place to post would be (the sadly small subreddit) /r/jurisprudence or maybe /r/law .


Title: [California] Is it legal for my employer to hold my wages for this long?

Question:
Hello,

I recently(May 21, 2016) stopped working for a pool as a pool attendant. However, my employer has not paid me for my last period of work yet. This has been partly my fault, as I wasn't as active as I should have been in pursuing my pay, but when I began to make earnest talks about receiving my pay (from about June 22nd to now), my employer has been refusing to pay me.

The period in question is in the pool's off season, in which I come by every week or so to take in the trash bins and fill up the pool. Because I did not take in the trash bins on 3 occasions, my employer asked me to turn in a time log of my hours spent at the pool. They do not have a logging system of their own, and instead ask employees to log their own hours.

I submitted my log, and the employer has been avoiding paying me because the pay is "too much compared to the other employees". According to them, the average pay for the same job for the same period of time between the other 2 employees I share the off season job with is about 47 dollars, and they are willing to round up to 50. However, according to my time logs, I should be paid over 4 times that before taxes. I also turned in my pool keys(the only thing they gave me) on May 21st.

My employer is an HOA, and has instructed me to come to one of their monthly meetings to discuss the issue. However, I do not think there is an issue to be discussed, as I have clearly stated my hours logged, and other such issues. On the side, I am planning to file an SS8 along with a 1040X as they have misidentified me as an independent contractor.

Is there anything to discuss with the HOA? Should I take legal action at all? I know some 200 dollars is a paltry sum to most of you, but it matters a lot to a inbound college freshman.

Thank you!

Answer: File a wage claim with the DOL.


Title: Would it be possible to go after misleading U.S. bill names for "false advertising"?

Question:
I've been following the net neutrality story for a long while and probably one of the biggest parts of it right now is Trump's FCC pick's bill that he calls the "Restoring Internet Freedom Act".  People who are also following this story might understand that restoring internet freedom is one of the last things this bill would actually do.  The name is so misleading that it feels almost as if it was named that to mislead people and gain support from citizens who just judge a bill by its title.

This got me thinking.  Misleading, false, yet used to advertise something.  Would it be at all possible that a bill with a grotesquely misleading title like this in some sort of way violate false advertising laws?  Over the years I've seen a couple examples of bill that claim to do one thing by their name yet in reality do the complete opposite.  Such as the "Defense of Marriage Act" which in reality booed poorly for gay marriage.  Or the Patriots Act, which has a cool title, but in reality is a massive fourth amendment violation.

Poorly named deceptive bills can be very devastating as they occasionally rally people to fight without knowing the full story.  I'm willing to bet that even in this case there are several people who support the "Restoring Internet Freedom Act" just because it has "internet" and "freedom" in its title.  That seems borderline illegal, and the kind of thing begging for a lawsuit if you ask me.

Could Trump's FCC pick or other individuals aggressively pushing this bill be held liable under the same laws that prevent companies from flat-out lying in advertising?  Would this be a class action thing, or something more complicated.  Some might saw that they would be exempt for being the government.  It might even be difficult since false advertising is punished by the FTC, which has very close ties to the FCC.  Then again, our government is occasionally run like a business.  Especially with a notorious businessman in the White House now.

Answer: No. False advertising laws don't purport to regulate the names of proposed pieces of legislation. If they do, they would probably be unconstitutional under the speech and debate clause.


Title: Psychedelic drug book?

Question: I have quite an interesting question to ask. I'm a budding author (no published works at this current time). I plan to eventually write a guidebook on psychedelics--being how to safely use them, what to expect in a trip, precautions to take, comparisons between different drugs, and the part I've come here to ask about--instructions on how to make psychedelic drugs yourself. Would that be legal? Would it be protected by the US Constitution? I want to make sure what I'm doing us legal before I begin to write it. I know the Anarchist Cookbook is protected by the 1st amendment, and it's nothing but instructions for things that are highly illegal.

Answer:
 There's the question of if it's legal or not.

There's also the question of if you have the resources to defend that position in court if needed.


Title: I'm 19, mom using my saving bonds to pay her bills. Is that legal?

Question: I'm fairly pissed of at the moment. She took me to the bank with her when we cashed out the bonds. Roughly $1,100.00.

Answer: So you went to the bank. You signed the the bonds, but you let her keep the entire amount even though she was only to get $350? No way the bank handed all of your money to her unless you agreed to it. I am sorry but as a 19 year old that was a very dumb move. You were conned by your mother at most. I would ask her for your money and if you really want to press it send her a certified letter asking return of your money. Answer #2: Look on the bright side, it only cost you $750 to find out that you can't trust your mother in regards to money and that she is willing to screw you. And you found out relatively early on in your life. You can go to /r/personalfinance and see many stories of people who lost way more money at much more critical points in life to unscrupulous family members. Take it as a lesson, I guess.


Title: I have developed an immunity to poison X by slowly increasing the dosage that I ingest over several years. I now add this poison to my toiletries, my food, etc. My roommate, who I've repeatedly told not to use my things, uses some of my mouthwash & swallows just enough to off himself.

Answer: This is basically a booby trap and definitely illegal.  Answer #2: Like iocane powder, perhaps?


Title: [Colorado] Need help understanding how alibi's work.

Question:
Okay I had an interview with a detective, who said the victim of a car theft *knew* I was the one who stole his car. The detective told me I needed to provide an alibi by next Wednesday or he'll issue a warrant for me.

So my big question is what do i need in an alibi to make it sufficient? I don't know where to start at all, feel free to ask any questions you think would help.

Answer:
 If a detective has threatened to arrest you,  you should talk to a lawyer.  You're taking serious chances handling this by yourself.

Sufficient is an interesting term.  Sufficient to have the detective stop investigating you?  An account of your activities and location that is true, provable, and that demonstrates you couldn't possibly have committed the crime.


Title: Got punched for being white

Question:
Oh yeah, here I go again. (Ontario, Canada)

&#x200B;

This happened near Spadina Stn, Toronto.

&#x200B;

So this is what went down in the short span of 10 seconds.

I start crossing the street, then this guy looks dirty at me. I knew it was trouble and tried to avoid him, just to be safe. Then out of nowhere this same guy just lunges at me, clenching his fists he goes for a punch wich did hit me with full force in the jaw, while coming after me this dude just screams: "You are fucking white get the fuck out of here", keep in mind that this happened in the middle of a busy street and there were a lot of witnesses. Then out of nowhere a cop car just shines it's lights like it's a freaking miracle and the guy who just punched me knew that he made a mistake.

&#x200B;

I want to press charges since it was clearly racial discrimination, and now I have to go to a dentist to check on my wisdom teeth because it hurts like hell now and have to go to walk-in clinic to have my previous staples taken care of. The police has everything on camera and they talked to me already, but I have the option to press charges or not.

&#x200B;

So what should I do is this situation, regarding pressing charges, any advice or help is very welcome.
Topic:
Personal Injury

Answer: You get into a lot of fights. How’s the leg?


Title: Verizon May Cost us Our First Home

Question:
In September 2019 my husband and I started an account with Verizon Wireless. Somehow, during the process of creating our accounts, a duplicate account was created under my name without our knowledge. We were not made aware of this duplicate account until we received a bill for the account in the mail.

In January 2020, we called Verizon customer service to have the duplicate account removed and we were assured by Verizon's Customer Service that they had removed the account and that we would no longer receive bills in the mail for the duplicate account.

In April 2020, in the midst of buying our first home, we were made aware by our mortgage lender that the duplicate account had not only NOT been removed, but that my husband and I were still being billed and my credit score had dropped 90 points because Verizon Wireless reported our "late" payments.

We called Verizon Wireless again to have the duplicate account removed and provide evidence via an official document stating that the duplicate account was created in error by Verizon Wireless and that they  have removed the account out of collections.

Our first phone call with them lasted from 9:18am to 6:22pm and was constantly interrupted by "disconnections". The customer service reps refused multiple times to allow us to speak to a manager and when we finally were connected with a manager in the final hour of the phone call, the information provided to us was not sufficient enough to resolve the issue with our lender.

We were told the next day that we would receive an email from their collections team before 5pm, but no one called. So, that evening we had to call them back only to be informed that the manager was no longer in the office as it was past business hours.

On the third day, in the morning, we received a letter (with the information we required but not in the form of an official Verizon document (i.e. Verizon Letterhead, PDF). The day before this, we had received an inconvenience credit in the sum of $50 to go towards our next cell phone bill, but as of today the issue is still unresolved.

We have been told that the customer service reps, along with their supervisors are not authorized to send us an official pdf, only emails, but they can’t seem to figure out who to connect us to to get us the document we need.

If we don’t get this resolved by tomorrow, we risk not meeting the qualifications for our contract which means we can’t get our house and we are out $3,500 (deposit).

What can we do??

Tl:dr we have been going back and forth with Verizon Wireless for 3 days, need official document to show credit bureau
Topic:
Small Claims Procedure

Answer:
 First, I believe it's unreasonable of your lender to expect a credit screwup to be completely resolved in three or four days.  So if I were you, I would be talking with the mortgage lender to see if they can allow you a little more time, based on the progress (such as it is) that you have made so far.

Second, you have probably been talking only with customer-service people in their offshore facilities in Uselessistan.  You probably need to connect with someone in their home offices at One Verizon Way, Basking Ridge, NJ.  There is a "Dispute Resolution Manager" at that location, with the authority to resolve your problem, but they won't get it done quickly.

Good luck.


Title: Bacterial infection from state park lake. I almost died.

Question: I went swimming in a public beach in a state park in Pennsylvania. I later found out that while open to swimmers at the time, it was closed a couple weeks earlier due to high bacterial content. A week after swimming I developed a serious bacterial infection requiring emergency surgery, 2.5 months of recovery and over $50,000 in medical bills. Is compensation something I could ask for having got sick from a lake that apparently wasn't yet safe to swim in but reopened anyway?

Answer: This will definitely be out of the scope of this subreddit. You need to look into a personal injury attorney. Try your best to find a reputable one (there are many, many "ambulance chasers" out there) and they will have a free consultation with you to discuss the veracity of your claims.


Title: is there a situation in which a minor can legally buy alcohol?

Question:
I'm from Texas, I have a friend (18) who claims he can buy wine from a liquor store legally because it's for his church. Apparently, they use it for some kind of religious ceremony thus making it legal.

So it got me wondering a few things:

1) can a minor buy alcohol, legally, for religious purposes?

2) are there any other reasons that would allow a minor to buy alcohol?
Topic:
Alcohol Related Other than DUI

Answer: A minor can't legally buy alcohol, even for church functions.  The owner of the church, the Archdiocese in my experience, has always sent the sacramental wine and wafers to the local churches and the priest has been responsible for safekeeping and distribution during Mass.  I can't think of any organized religion that would make the religious leader go out and buy the wine themselves, but it's cracking me up thinking about a priest having to go down to the local Wal-Mart and buy a few cases of Franzia or 2 Buck Chuck because last week's donations were skimpy.


Title: Someone is working in a mlm scam, she has a lot of hope and I want to tell her the truth. Will I get in any legal trouble for doing that?

Question:
I work in retail stores and one of the people I see is a young lady working in a mlm scam. We had a conversation and I realized they promised her with a lot of things (like getting her own office and becoming regional manager). I have read about her company and it's all a scam, they keep changing their names and doing all kind of manipulations.
I want to tell her the truth about her company and that she's not getting anywhere with them, but I don't know if by doing that I would get in any legal trouble if she quits because of me.
What should I do? Should I tell her or just let her find out by herself?
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer: There's nothing illegal about telling someone they're working for a bad business.


Title: Is it illegal/legal for a bus driver to honk as a means of "GTFO out of the way"? (Lake County, Indiana)

Question:
I apologize for the no spacing between paragraphs, this was typed from a mobile device

Alright, so I was dropping off some food for my younger sibiling before a sporting event of his. As usual and expected, the parking lot was sorta packed, though not Hellishly packed that cars couldn't move. It's the same parking lot I normally pick him up from. When I pick him up at this spot, it goes by with no problems. There's no markings or signs anywhere to indicate any "prohibition".

So anyway while waiting for him to come get his food, this bus comes up behind me, and he basically starts tailgaiting me. So that sorta drew up a red flag, and so I move forward after the other cars in front me, yes there were other cars, started to move, I assume because their children or sibiling already got whatever was dropped off for them.

Then, I hear somebody blasting their horns, at first I had no idea who it was. While some cars were still in front of me, the same person would begun honking at random intervals. Then as I got to the front, the same horn, and I had noticed it was coming behind me, the bus driver kept repeatedly honking at me. Then, it's followed by a bunch of angry soccer moms telling me I'm not supposed be there, because the bus needed to be there.

Obviously I left, partly because I was in that "tense" state of mind, where I wasn't really thinking about whose in the right or wrong, just "WTF".

There was no cones, no signs saying "space needed for bus transportation", just an angry bus driver honking his horns and a bunch of angry soccer moms. While not being allowed to park in the space for that designated time isn't what angers me, it's really more HOW I had to learn.

So anyway, is it illegal/legal to repeatedly honk as a means of saying, "GTFO outta here, you're not supposed to be here". There were no signs or cones.

While I'm obviously not going out of my way to "sue someone" or ant of that stuff (unless I was hit), I need to know whether I should complain to the town's educational department (aka the "school town "), which owns the buses. I got the bus number.

Or swallow my pride and let it go.

Answer:
 100% legal. Annoying, sure, but using a horn is one ofnthe few mechanisms vehicles have to communicate with the drivers of other vehicles, so I'm a bit confused why you might feel something like this would be written into legislation in a manner so specific that "using a horn to indicate someone is in the wrong place" would be prohibited by law.

Any complaint you might lodge to the school or other entity will almost assuredly will be ignored. Answer #2: it's perfectly legal for them to honk at you.Answer #3: It's unlikely that the bus driver illegally used his horn. It's even less likely that anyone in the educational department will care about this complaint.


Title: I received a parking ticket at the hospital.

Question: So I went to the hospital to get a CT scan on my head. I paid for 2 hour parking. I came out of the hospital 3 hours later. I wasn’t able to add more money into the machine due to the CT scan and my parking had expired. So I now have a $75 parking ticket from a third party company. Do I even have to pay this ? What’s the worst that can happen if I don’t. I also live in Canada so my options may be limited. Thanks !

Answer: You paid to park for 2 hours and parked for 3? Why wouldn’t you have to pay that citation?  What’s the argument you intend to raise?Answer #2: Just pay the ticket.


Title: RAM has canceled my vehicle warranty and the van is in pieces!

Question:
In April of 2014 I purchased a Ram Promaster in VA and registered it in DC where my business, a catering company, is located.  I was told that the van goes 5000 miles between oil changes.

The van was driven a total of 3700 miles in the first two years without an oil change as it had not gone 5000 miles.  It gets driven every weekend about 40 miles to and from events.

The van started acting strange, and then stopped running, and I towed it in for repairs at the dealer.  They spent 6 weeks working on it and said they had fixed it by replacing 'cam phasers' and giving it an oil change.

Within two months it was non-functioning again.  This time the dealer spent almost 7 weeks stripping down the engine and found thick, gritty, goop on the bottom of the oil pan under all the motor oil.  The head of service told me that in his 25 years of repairing cars he had never seen anything like this.  He flatly said that it was not because I hadn't changed the oil.

However, once the repair became RAM having to replace the entire engine they voided my warranty due to 'lack of proper maintenance'.

My van is now in pieces at the dealer who will charge me to reassemble it and makes no claim that it will work even if they do.

I know I should have changed the oil but this seems like a technicality RAM is using to not repair my van.

DC Lemon law applies for the first 2 years and we took it in at 2 years and 2 months.

Basically, do I have any recourse here to either force them to repair the van or refund my money or am I totally fucked?

Answer: What does your owners manual say about oil change interval? Is it XX miles OR XX amount of time whatever comes first?


Title: Caught with Adderall at school. Please help me.

Question:
Hey Reddit, I’m back again with some more bullshit.

17 Year old senior from Texas.

Today at school was a pretty average friday, we get out for winter break next week and I was having an ok day. All day drug dogs and people getting pulled out of class was going on while I was being cocky and thinking I was fine. So, during school I’d bring my vape in and just hit it in the stall in between classes like a ton of people do, and was almost finished with the day. I’m in my last period class, 30 minutes left and I’m finishing my presentation for english with my headphones in when the Assistant Principal is tapping on my shoulder and telling me to bring my stuff with me and follow her. At this point I know I’m fucked because I have my juice and vape on me.

So, she takes me to her office and asks me if I have anything, I tell her yeah my vape and some juice. She tells me to put it on the desk, and then she searches my bag. The thing I forgot about was the 2 pills of Adderall I got earlier in the day to finish that exact presentation. She pulls them out, and asks what are these?

At this point, my life is just crumbling before my eyes. So I tell her I have a prescription for it and I bring it in a little bag to take throughout the day. So she tells me she needs to see my prescription bottle on monday and I tell her yeah that’s fine.

So she gives me a 3 day suspension for vaping in school and takes all my shit (I’m a 17 year old senior). She tells me if I don’t have the bottle then she’s gonna have to send me to “JJ” or JJAEP. Which is like a step worse than alternative school. So I have no idea what to do. Please help me out guys I’m scared and this is my senior year in high school and now it’s probably fucked. Anyway, thanks for being here these past years you guys are like a family to me. Thank you.

Answer:
 I am assuming that you do not have a prescription bottle to bring in.

I think that you should get an attorney.  I also think based on your posting history that you should seek treatment for drug dependency.

You are young.  And, this doesn't have to be more than a speed bump.

But, if you continue doing the drugs with the intensity indicated by your posting history, things will go down hill REAL fast for you.


Title: [USA-Oregon] City put a curb between the sidewalk and half of my driveway

Question:
I didn't clarify the title well enough the first time.

I bought my house with the intent of parking a camper out back with access through the side fence. The driveway in front of my side fence was paved and went straight out to the street. For a time I had a camper, but at the moment I don’t, yet I do intend to get one again. Because there is no street parking, guests would use that part of my driveway to park rather than park down the street and around the corner.

The city has been putting in sidewalks on my street, which I appreciate, and because they’re lowering the terrain they’ve been repaving the driveways on the street to meet the sidewalks. My neighbors have all had their driveways paved up to their side fences. However, when they repaved my driveway they put in a curb between the sidewalk and the part of my driveway going up to the fence. I do at least have a driveway for two cars in front of my garage, which I’m told they have to do regardless. I think the part of land that they’ve placed the curb on is theirs. They’re putting these curbs in front of all the yards because of the difference in level, but they’re treating that part of my driveway like a yard, it seems.

The angle is too sharp to drive around it with a camper. It wouldn’t be impossible to drive over the curb assuming the bumper of any vehicle that’s going to drive through or park there isn’t too low. The curb has a right angle and it’s about 4” in height. I could get a temporary ramp for these situations, but the point I’m making is that I had a convenience when I bought the house that has been made less convenient.

I might not have bought the house if I had known. I’ve been trying to get through to the city, but I can’t seem to get a hold of anyone that wants to talk to me about it. I want them to have the opportunity to discuss it with me at least once before I do anything else.

To be honest, I don’t mind paying to repave that part of the driveway that they’ve cut away, I just don’t want the curb there if it’s on their land. If they won’t talk to me or if they refuse to grant me the ability to have it changed, do I have any kind of case? Is this too "first world" of a problem to do anything about? I have photos of the camper in the back, and Google even has a current satellite image of it being back there. A lot of my neighbors don’t even have a camper, but they’ve got the driveway.

Thanks for your time.

Answer:
 I would suggest talking with the City Engineer.  It's posslble that you are bumping up against an ordinance that limits the width of driveways but I kind of doubt it.  Was your third stall paved, or just gravel?  I could see the engineer following the paved driveway width rather than the graveled width.

Assuming they've only poured the curb so far (as long as its not breaking an ordinance), it'll be easier to fix this problem now before the sidewalk and asphalt go back down.  I'm sure the contractor will have a panel here or there so you may not even get dinged for extra costs.

Edit: forgot to mention that you could make a temporary ramp from plywood.  Just use full panels and rip them to decreasing widths and put the zig zag up.  Like this:

|-------|

|-------------|

|-------------------|

|-------------------------|Answer #2: It would help us if you provided a shitty MS Paint drawing of the situation.


Title: [NJ] Accused of a hit and run that didn't happen, no damage to my car

Question: I made a trip driving from PA to NJ and then back. All went smoothly. The next day (yesterday), I got a call from a NJ detective (who had my car's make, color, and tag #) saying he wanted to talk to me about a supposed hit and run in the area of NJ I was in. He told me I needed to come in (today) and let him look at my car. He said that if I didn't come I would 'get a bunch of tickets' and that this was my chance to tell my side of the story. There is absolutely no damage to my car (he said the lady claimed there was major damage to my front driver's side) aside from some minor damage to my bumper from the previous October, which I have documentation of. Am I legally required to go?

Answer:
 Do *not* go in without a lawyer. Contact your car insurance immediately to talk to them, and see what they can do.Answer #2: I'm thinking this is probably a scam.

Get the phone number for the PD that this detective works for (not the number he called from) and call asking to speak to him.  Very well could be someone impersonating them, and they have no clue about it.Answer #3: Bring your car to a mechanic asap to document by a third party professional that it is not damaged. And, of course, call an attorney.  Answer #4: Aside from the aforementioned lawyer and third party verification via mechanic inspection, do document your current state of the vehicle with a newspaper having the current date and take pictures of your car as well. This is your own personal backup of information that you should have redundant copies of (Email to a personal account) that you may also wish to have if/when you go WITH YOUR ATTORNEY.

IANAL but you can never cover your ass enough.


Title: stole from walmart?

Question:
Northern New Jersey, but the incident happened in New York State Rockland county.

A few months ago I tried to steal like a $20 candle from walmart. They were chill about it, bought me to the back ran my info and said I'd just be getting some sort of bill or something where I pay 3x the price for it and it stays off my record. This was late august, they said it would be sent within around 4-12 weeks, I still have not received anything. They said if I don't fill it out there is a warrant for my arrest, I believe. Should I contact them about this or could they have possibly forgotten? Is there a statute of limitations???? Will i randomly be at home and get arrested??

Answer:
 So 12 weeks could be about now.

Wal-mart cannot issue an arrest warrant. No matter how much they want to.

What they’ll do if you don’t sign is turn over their evidence, including your signed confession, to the cops. They will decide if they’re going to charge you with petty theft. Even if they do they’re not going to raid your house over it.

Calm down and check your mail. Not stealing shit anymore would also be a good idea. Answer #2: Not a lawyer, but I am a former asset protection associate at walmart. Unless the rules have changed in the last 4 years, walmart does not prosecute for shoplifting if the total amount lifted was under $25, AND its your first offense at any walmart store. The money they might be looking for is restitution for the goods. Unless they caled the cops when they stopped you, they won't get the cops involved, meaning no arrest warrant or criminal warrant will be issued from that store.

Google walmarts AP-09 policy, their policies and procedures for handling shoplifters and theft detail what they are and are not alowed to do in the event of a shoplifting or theft.

(Admittedly I'm in Virginia and not New York so things might potentially be different there.)


Title: [IL] I think Im getting sued and don't know what to do

Question:
Mailman just dropped off a envelope with a few sheets laying out a suit against me by "Glacier Films" based on my IP. ~~It gives me a time and place to be next month~~, Im located in Chicago burbs. It does not list the movie or tv show it's about. ~~It's says I need to show up here http://www.hsplegal.com/ next month, a legal firm~~. It provides a docket # and comcast file #. Im not in a position to hire a lawyer or pay some asinine fee. Im lost.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSGghWK9cDpeDU0YU1Vb2ZmZVE/view?usp=sharing

Im still lost as what all my options are.

Answer:
 > It gives me a time and place to be next month

No, that was an order to comcast where to send the IP address information.  You don't have to go there. They are suing John Does. Once comcast provides them who was assigned that IP address, then they will have names. Comcast is giving you a copy because your IP address was one they asked for. You haven't sued, yet. But you likely will receive a settlement demand.


Title: Chinese family seeks to recover shares in major US oil company

Question:
A family in China seeks to recover funds or successor shares from shares owned by the family in a legacy company of a major US oil company. In the 1920s or 1930s, a family member (an industrialist located in China) purchased shares in either Legacy Company #1 or Legacy Company #2 of the major US oil company. Many years ago Legacy Company #1 acquired Legacy Company #2, and Legacy Company #2 shareholders had 3 years to exchange their shares for Legacy Company #1 shares or the shares would presumably be remitted to the a state agency for uncollected property. The stock certificate had been destroyed in 1970s for fear of associating the family with external capitalism. The family is unable to provide documentation or further information including which year the shares were purchased, in what quantity, and through which brokerage and location of brokerage.

QUESTION 1: How do we get further information about the shares? I understand writing a request letter to the transfer agent of the major US oil company would likely be the first step. Are there other methods of gaining information besides writing to the transfer agent?

QUESTION 2: What would be the procedure for either recovering funds from the state unclaimed property agency if the shares had been remitted by the company or acquire shares from the successor company, the current major US oil company, from ownership of the shares in the legacy company?

Answer:
 If a company merges or gets bought out and you don't turn in your shares at the time they become worthless after the sale or merger.

You can buy stock certificates of shares on eBay of predecessors of major companies but they hold no value.

There's nothing to collect.


Title: My SO was fired after a week at her new job, and the company is trying to fuck her over

Question:
My SO started a position with a franchise location of a large retail company in British Columbia, Canada. During her interview, she agreed to work two 6 hour training shifts (referred to by her interviewer as a 'working interview'), but they said if hired she would be paid for these shifts after 60 days.

After her two shifts, the company decided to hire her and she worked for them for just over a week. She went in for one of her shifts, they immediately told her to wait in the back, after about an hour they came in and told her it wasn't working out and she no longer had any shifts with them. She doesn't believe they specifically said she was fired, but it was heavily implied, and she left her nametag behind.

Later that day, I helped her write them an email requesting all wages owed to be paid within 48 hours (as BC Labour Law states), and we made sure to mention the two training shifts as well.

The next day, she received a reply from them. I will paste it below:

> First allow me to say that we are quite saddened and shocked about your sudden departure. We do not feel that at any point were you making mistakes that could not have been fixed. When you left the store we assumed that you were simply feeling unwell and planned to rest until your next shift (as per your discussion with [redacted]

> We did not at any point state or imply that your position with us is terminated. We understand if there may have been some kind of misunderstanding,  and should you wish we would be happy to have you back. Myself or [redacted] would be happy to receive a call from you regarding this by no later then Monday October 13, 2014 end of business day at 4:00pm.

> If you choose not to pursue a position with us any longer I can consider this your letter of resignation. Should this be your decision, I will send up a follow-up email on Tuesday regarding the details of your departure. For now, we are unable to process any information until your reply.

I'm assuming they are trying to get out of paying her for her training shifts? What should we do? I am going to send an email to corporate, as I'm assuming they don't condone one of their franchisees breaking labour law with unpaid training shifts.

We are also most likely going to file a complaint with the labour board if they don't pay her in the next couple of days.
Topic:
Labor Law

Answer:
 I don't see on their email where they say they are not going to pay her for the training shifts.  If they haven't paid her wages within the 48 hours,  file the complaint like you said.  That's really about it here.

Also,  don't send an email to corporate.  This has nothing to do with you so you shouldn't burn professional bridges on behalf of your SO.


Title: Ex-Wife driving on suspended license

Question:
Found out my ex-wife is driving around on a suspended license. I told her not to take our kids anywhere and she refused. She left yesterday with them. Her license is suspended for not renewing her car registration or inspection. She claims to have over $300 in EZ pass bills so she can't afford to pay the fines and have her registration renewed. Since she won't listen to me about taking the kids on a suspended license, should I call the cops on her? I'd do my best to keep my kids out of it in any way possible, but this could be my only opportunity to prove to the court system that she is irresponsible and that I should have primary custody of my children.

Call the cops and have them handle it, or let her keep doing it until she gets caught?

edit: we are in Virginia.

Answer:
 You can call, but I doubt they're going to stake out her house, waiting for her to put her car in gear. She's wrong, but I wouldn't even necessarily say it's a safety issue, if her license was suspending for not renewing her registration.

Your best hope is that they noticed her expired registration and stop her for that.


Title: Dog custody

Question:
If a dog was given to me by someone and I have no proof of registration or ownership of this dog, can someone claim it back legally?!

I'm on mobile please bear with me.
Lets say "david" bought dog. Gave it to his mom. Mom couldn't handle it, she gave it to me. "David" wants dog back. Has vet bills to prove it was once his dog. But the dog has been in my ownership for 2 weeks now. "david" wants to come get dog as soon as TOMORROW, I'm scared on what to do because he owns a gun. I can't give dog back because my dad is attached already and we already owned this dog according to his mom. Please help

Edit: Charlotte NC

Answer:
 Dogs are property. If he permanently relinquished possession and control it's no longer his. Proof that it was his at one point doesn't change that. Once he gave it to his mom, the dog was hers to give you.

The issue with him posing a threat is completely separate from property law. Of course you can call the police if he shows up after being told not to come or told to leave. If he raises the issue with the dog, the police will tell him it's civil and that's not their job.


Title: What is stopping me from suing my representative for fraud?

Question:
If my representative runs on a platform of pro choice and then votes with pro life, I should be able to sue that representative in court for fraud or misrepresention of something, right?

Abortion was just an example that was binary for the purposes of the question.

Answer: Legislative privilege. You can't sue legislators for the way they vote, the bills they propose, or any other legislative act, as a matter of law. Your sole recourse against a rogue legislator is elective, unless you live in a jurisdiction with a recall process.


Title: San Luis Obispo,CA - I'm being denied access to stores with my large reusable grocery bag.

Question: I carry a large bag to go grocery and merchandise shopping. Five times at different stores I have been told I can not bring my bag in the store. The california bag law FAQ encourages bringing your own shopping bag, but these merchants are forcing me to buy there bags. I can not find anything about the CA bag law that would allow me to bring my own bag. If you know what the law is then please respond. Please No, "IANAL but you should just buy the bag" response is needed.

Answer:
 I expect the only reason your bags aren't allowed is their size, which could facilitate shoplifting.

Find bags you can fold or that stuff into a bag carrier thing.Answer #2: Is the bag empty when you enter the store? Have to tried just folding it up and carrying it in so that it doesn't appear to violate what I assume is a "no large bags or backpacks" rule?Answer #3: How large is the bag? and are you carrying it around the store putting stuff into it directly? What is on the bag picture/text wise? Have you asked what specifically about the bag is the problem?

I strongly doubt the stores are refusing you because you dont have their bags.


Title: Can I be evicted from an apartment because I am asking management to enforce the rules on a lease? I’m in CA.

Answer:
 Not unless you're doing so in such a way as to constitute some level of harassment.

But your tenancy can be legally non-renewed if the manager doesn't like you (in most cities, anyway).