Title: [California] I was filmed in the bathroom

Question:
A month ago, I (female) stayed at a friend of a friend's cabin. There were 8 of us who stayed the night: it was 5 guys and 3 girls.

Apparently, without my knowledge, a coworker (let's call him Mark) filmed two of us when we were using the only bathroom in the cabin.

I got a phone call from the police a few days ago that Mark admitted to filming us and that we can press charges (we will definitely be pressing charges.)

I have been trying to research the Invasion of Privacy Law (penal code 647) to figure out what kind of a sentence he will get and anything else that I can do about this. The law states that a second offense will result in more jail time and a bigger fine.

My question is: if this is his first time doing something like this, can he still get charged with a second offense since two of us were filmed and will be pressing charges?

I know Mark isn't rich, but is it worth pursuing a civil case as well? I'm just so freaking pissed off and I just want to hurt him in any way that I can.

If I do decide to pursue a civil case, how much would that cost me?

Sorry for the long post and any weird formatting.

Answer: Just as a layperson, I would expect that the details of how the criminal case is prosecuted would be entirely out of your control anyway, so there's probably not much point in spending energy on that. With respect to a civil case, I'm interested to hear what someone who isn't talking out of their ass (ahem) has to say about it.Answer #2: Any number of things could happen to affect sentencing, all of which are outside your control. If he is admitting to it its definitely possible that he is taking a plea deal for a significantly lesser sentencing than the max.


Title: The girlfriend of the father of our child is physically abusive

Question:
We’re all located in Texas.
So, my kid’s father showed up one day with scratches all over his arms. He confided in me that his gf is abusive, and that she’s also paranoid about him and I. I gave him as much good advice as I could about how important it is to have this documented by police and all, but he’s not about it. He refuses to do that because he feels ashamed or even obligated to her because she’s been financially controlling him, even guarding his activity through their joint mobile phone account.

So, he confided in me in person that she pulled a gun on him. He then told me he’s cut her off already and is getting his own phone that she won’t be watching.
A few days ago he texted me from a new phone saying:
“This is my new number. You can say what you’d like here. Now I only have responsibilities to my family, nobody else.”

Our child support order states that we cannot introduce an SO to our child until we are all in agreement to have this happen, including our child’s therapist (our kid is special needs). He hasn’t brought her around our kid, and I’m confident in this because our child is very vocal with everyone’s names. He would have mentioned her name.

Yesterday he texted me from the old number asking me where to pick up our kid tomorrow. I was suspicious, thinking maybe it was his gf texting me (she had done this before). I ask him to call me and he did. It was him.
Confused, I told him I thought that phone wasn’t to be trusted, and he brushed me off and avoided answering me, just demanded to know where to pick up the next day.
I was upset and told him I needed a trustworthy number to list him as an emergency contact.

He has a history of being a compulsive liar and he’s already a difficult person to deal with. He’s sketchy, dodgy, and doesn’t keep his word.

ALL I’m worried about here is this female potentially harming my child.

Any advice is much appreciated. Thank you.

Answer: If you think the child is in danger due to the custodial situation then file a motion to modify custody.  If you think the child is in immediate danger call 911.  That said, while I sympathize with your concern for your kid all you have right now is speculation, which probably won't look like anything but you not liking your ex (I'm not saying that's the case, I'm just saying that it might look that way).  Your best bet would be to speak with an attorney before you file to change custody and to be ready to call 911 if you ever get evidence that the kid is in immediate danger.  In the interim only speak to your ex via phone so that you know you are talking to him if you are that worried about his current GF impersonating him via text.


Title: My lawyer did not listen to my intentions and now my car will probably be repossessed

Question:
I filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy and will be appearing in court in a couple days for the hearing. Before we began the process I clearly told my lawyer that my checking account and my auto loan are from the same bank but **I only intend to put the checking account  which has a negative balance into bankruptcy, not the auto loan**.

I look at my credit report today and my auto loan showed that my balance dropped to $0 along with other creditors I put into bankruptcy. So he filed the checking account **and** the auto loan. Now my car is going to be repossessed.

I've been making all of my auto loan payments on time and have full intentions of keeping the vehicle.

What should I do here?

Answer:
 First you can't pick and choose whether or not to include a debt in your case. ALL debts must be listed.

Second, just keep making your payments on the car and you will be fine. You may have to mail a check or pay in person while your case is open. You may have to sign a reaffirmation agreement for your car loan. Your lawyer will explain that if it is necessary.


Title: Unpaid Signed Loan Contract -- Statute of Limitations - Am I Off the Hook?

Question:
I am located in New York.

Long story short, about 9 years ago I ended up damaging someone's property (twice!) as a result of two farming equipment accidents. As a result of it, I agreed to pay them $15K to settle their civil cases against me. We signed and notarized the repayment agreement, in which I was supposed to pay a certain amount per month.  A variety of family problems were present and I really didn't have the money, so the person specifically put into the contract that they could grant me reprieves from the agreed upon payment schedule if necessary, but that they had the right to rescind those reprieves at any time for any reason and have me continue upon the normal payment schedule. Basically, if I didn't have money to pay them in August, they could say don't worry about it pay me in September or something like that. After signing the agreement, I had a variety of unforeseen things happen to me, and the person told me don't worry about paying it back right now. I basically never brought it up to them again, moved and hadn't heard about it since. About two months ago, I received a certified letter in the mail from an attorney stating that "any reprieve in payment is hereby revoked" and that payment would be expected the following month at the law firm's address, as well as a copy of the signed contract. Having consulted online resources, I determined that the statute of limitations in New York is 6 years and that the contract was well over its effective time and ignored the letter. I just got a second letter from him stating that I was now in default of the agreement and they were prepared to "file an action" against me in county court and that according to the agreement and that I was responsible for attorney's fees, etc. unless I immediately corrected the default. I still have not responded.
Am I right that the statute of limitations in New York is 6 years and thus their agreement is worthless?

Answer:
 SOL aside, it sounds as though you damaged someone's property to the tune of $15,000, and are now trying to get the debt thrown out because *they were kind to you in a time of hardship.*

You may be able to get out of this based on SOL, but...sheesh.  Answer #2: By your own description, they gave you a reprieve, the reprieve was not discussed again until two months ago at which time it was revoked, and you then failed to make a payment.  I think they've got a pretty solid argument that the breach occurred a month ago.  Answer #3: Was the settlement approved by a court? If so then it is a judgment and the SOL does not apply. You need to find that out. If this is just a contract then the SOL would apply. Answer #4: When was the last time you discussed payment (or your need for a deferral to your payment schedule) with the person you were supposed to pay?


Title: California. Could I make a real, legal business which specializes in building indoor growrooms for marijuana?

Question:
Topic:
Business Law

Answer:
 Hydroponics are legal, soil-based indoor growing is legal. Growing marijuana is legal, although sometimes restricted by zoning and plant count, etc, but farmers with medical recommendations can often grow with looser restrictions.

You'd want to help your client's check that their planned operation complies with local regulations so they don't have issues later on, but at the end of the day you don't really need to care if they decide to grow cannabis or tomatoes.

My biggest concern would be promising someone a setup that can accommodate X plants, and then they later find out that they can only grow Y plants due to their counties zoning. It would ultimately be the farmer, not the builder/consultant's issue, but I can imagine they might try to sue you or request a refund, but I'm not sure what their argument would be.

If they know they are only allowed 16 plants, but they insist on a 100 plant setup, and you build it, I don't believe you would be liable if regulators eventually start harassing the farmer.Answer #2: It is untrue that your money will not be accepted by the bank. You would not be a cannabis worker, you'd be a contractor. Are you a licensed California contractor? One of the biggest issues with starting a cannabiz in Cali (anywhere) is compliance. If you're a licensed contractor that knows compliance, and building codes then you're gonna be fine. You can do it unlicensed, of course. If this is the case, then you better know the regulations, compliance laws, and building codes, because you're gonna run into trouble if you're not meeting the compliance standard.

Source: in the middle of licensing two properties in Norcal


Title: SAHM separating from boyfriend? [KS]

Question:
Some backstory: I'm a SAHM. I'm in debt. My credit is piss poor due to some poor choices I made a few years ago. I don't have a car. I haven't worked in almost a year now. My boyfriend works. He rents. He has a car. He makes decent money for his age.

That being said, I don't know if we're going to be able to make this work or not. I'm willing to give it another chance, but he has made some very gross statements about how he expects our life to go (nothing abusive, just... not what I want for my daughter) and I don't know if I will want to stay after we have another conversation about it.

That being said, I obviously would want to take my daughter. I don't want to have sole custody or anything like that. I would be going to stay with my sister who lives in MO if I left. Would I be able to take my daughter? I honestly can't really leave her here, as he just got promoted and will likely be working 60-70 hours a week and I highly doubt that he will have the money for child care. Like I said, he makes decent money, but not enough to cover the outrageous prices of daycare here.

I don't want to do anything stupid is the point. I'm unsure of how he will react if we do decide to split, so I just want to make sure all ground is covered. I obviously don't have the money for a lawyer, but if I need one I am sure my sister will be willing to help.

For the record, my sister lives about 45 minutes from where we do. There's just a border involved. As far as I'm aware, if she lived in KS, there wouldn't be an issue with me taking her over there.

I don't really know if I'm missing any important information that you guys would need. I just want to know what happens with our daughter if we split and how I can go about making sure it goes smoothly?
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer:
 If you take her out of state without his agreement, he can file a motion to return her and you would have to comply.

It would be better for you to move somewhere temporary that is still in the county, and try to reach an agreement that allows you to move out of state.


Title: [TX]Diminished Value - Insurance companies don't agree about who is at fault

Question:
I was in a car accident where no fault was assigned by the police officers and the insurance companies involved cannot agree on who is at fault.  My company assigned fault 100% to the other party and they covered my deductible and repairs.  Her company assigned fault 100% to me.   The repairs are all done with but my car is a brand new Tesla, and the diminished value of the car is $17,500 (according to a report I had done since the accident).

The incident was a side swipe, so according to the insurance reps, it's he-said/she-said.  No witnesses.  Cops didn't assign fault since they were not at the scene.  The other party fled the scene after the accident and I called 911 and reported the incident and got the cops involved.  An hour later, she turned herself in so she didn't get charged with a hit and run but it is noted in the police report that she left the scene.  When statements were taken, she lied about what had happened and said that I had made a left turn into her car.  The accident occurred on a divided road, had she not fled it would have been easy to disprove her statement since there would have been no place to turn left from (concrete barrier).  My statement is that she was in the right lane and merged over into me from behind.  I assumed she was texting or drunk since she did not stop after my repeated attempts to get her to do so.  I called 911 and they took the plate info and they had me pull over to wait for the cops after getting the info from me.    She turned herself in to the cops an hour later.  They gave me her info which included insurance and a drivers license that was expired 6 years.   She claims to have been afraid and had fled to get her daughter to come help her with translation since her English was limited.  I'd wonder whether or not she is here legally, but I don't have any way of knowing.

Repairs on my car were $5000 which was all cosmetic, thankfully.  I don't know about hers, she was driving a very damaged beater of a car.  My USAA insurance handled my repairs and a month later called me to tell me they'd assigned fault 100% to her and refunded my deductible.  They also told me that her insurance Allstate had found me 100% at fault.

Since her insurance is who I would need to file the diminished value claim with and they've found me at fault somehow, I cannot.  What are my options?

Answer:
 Your only option is to sue the driver for the diminished value and let a court decide. You will need to get a lawyer for this and the other driver sound like a turnip you won't be able to draw blood from.

However, your insurer will also be suing the other driver (a process called subrogation) to recover the money they spent to repair your car. So you may not be able to also sue for the diminished value - ask your insurance agent.

One last note, get a good dashcam. A high quality cam that's hardwired in and practically invisible will run you less than $350 all in. It will provide irrefutable evidence should this ever happen again. It's cheap insurance.


Title: What happens if I show up to my DWI court date without a lawyer, in the state of Texas?

Answer:
 There are two basic choices you can make and here's how they play out;

A) "Your honor, I should have retained counsel much more promptly, but I have not done so. I would like to request some more time to retain an attorney to represent me." In all likelihood it gets granted with little annoyance unless you've had that same back and forth before.

B) "Your honor I wish to represent myself in this matter." In all likelihood they set a trail date, you do your best to prepare, then get steamrolled at trial by the professional attorney that is the DA.

Please pick A.Answer #2: Driving under the influence was a really, really bad decision. Representing yourself in court is probably just as bad.Answer #3: You ask for a continuance to get an attorneyAnswer #4: You're gonna have a bad time. Answer #5: http://www.dmv.org/tx-texas/automotive-law/dui.php

>Up to a $2,000 fine.

>Jail time between 3 days and 180 days.

>License suspension for up to 2 years.

>Annual surcharge up to $2,000 for 3 years to keep your license.

>DWI intervention or education program

>Possible ignition interlock device

Plus your insurance will go up.  The whole thing very quickly be over a $10,000 loss to your finances and a permanent conviction on your record.


Title: (MD) Wife being represented by attorney whose retainer I paid in unrelated custody case

Question: Several years ago, my wife and I were battling my stepdaughter's father over custody concerns. I sold a number of my possessions and emptied my savings to pay the retainer for "our" lawyer (though I was not a party in the case), and interacted with him on at least one occasion. We are now on shaky ground and I have learned that she is seeking to have him represent her against me for divorce. Does this pose an ethical conflict for him?

Answer:
 >Does this pose an ethical conflict for him?

Very unlikely, unless you told him something at the time that could be used against you now.


Title: Intellectual Property Question - Can my film show a character working at a chain restaurant without permission from them?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 > I could see Moe's saying "this makes it look like working at Moe's is a bad thing" and sending a cease and desist.

Sure. This is why most of the time filmmakers either get permission or they make up a fake brand.

You also might have a problem with Disney, because, you, know, "a Star Wars Jedi character as a modern-day Millennial." (Now if the Star Wars character was an 18th century Millennial...)Answer #2: Does your budget account for the fact that Disney may seek to block your film from even being released in the first place? Do you have money for what could be a protracted court battle where even if you "win" the right to show your film you don't recoup your lawyers' fees? Disney is super invested in Star Wars right now.

Even if your depiction ended up being defensible as a parody or whatever it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to get that court ruling. And you don't ever get that money back.


Title: Little sister is being targeted by GM(PA, Radnor)

Question: So she doesn't know I'm posting this. She reported her GM to the owners for sexual harassment. Now he seems to be cutting her cover count when she is at the job. She's a server. She can't find a job in the city without taking an initial big pay cut and we live together and can't afford either of us to make less money atm. Is there anything I can do to out the GM? My sister doesn't deserve this at all. She's put up with enough shit from the men around her and I want to be able to help her as her older brother. All I want to do is punch him in the face for hurting my sister. Forgot to mention the man is a sleaze, but talks his way out of everything.

Answer:
 You can't do anything.  You have no standing.

If your sister believes she's being retaliated against, she should first run that complaint up her chain, and if not handled satisfactorily, she should talk to the EEOC or Pennsylvania's state agency.


Title: [FL] Currently on probation and my brother is getting married in Jamaica, do I need a lawyer to talk to my judge?

Question:
I don't want to go into too much detail, but my older brother is getting married out of country and my probation officer said I need to talk to my judge to see if I can go.

Would it be a good idea to get a lawyer to speak to my judge or can I do it myself?
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer: Yes, have an attorney ask the judge. If permission is granted, expect to be drug tested pretty quickly upon your return home.


Title: My landlord is holding one-months rent as security deposit. Can i not pay last months rent and instead have them deduct it from the security deposit ?

Answer:
 Generally no.

A security deposit is to cover the landlord in case you just leave without paying rent owed AND/OR if you have damages to the unit.  If you do not pay your last month's rent, your landlord could move to evict you.  If there are damages to the unit, you could be sued for any damage not covered by your now (lack of) security deposit.  Many leases also specifically state that the security deposit cannot be used in lieu of last month's rent.


Title: Please help, relative was detained at the Jackson Atlanta International Airport and will be deported tomorrow.

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Not much you can do here at all. Since she said she was here to work that's grounds for automatic refusal of entry and deportation. The better idea would be to call CBP at the airport and talk to them since the airport probably has no information.


Title: [St. Paul, MN] My boss admitted to faking cancer to get gifts off me and fellow co-workers. What do we do legally?

Question:
OK, this is a throwaway, and I've changed names, but this is needed for privacy.

I work in marketing for a start-up company here in St. Paul; handle PR, public relations and social media.
Our boss Danielle, 33, told us she had cancer, we all contributed towards a fund, and donated items for a charity auction etc.
This was in early August 2015.

As of yesterday, she told me and my co-worker Bella (a manager in another department) in private that she'd faked the cancer for attention to get over her husband running off with a 21-year-old lapdancer from Las Vegas only 3 weeks into the marriage.

I estimate we got around $30k's worth of gifts for her since last August.

Now I feel like it was my TIFU moment, believing she had cancer, she admitted to us it was all one big hoax, a joke to get herself some publicity on CNBC and CNN.

What the hell should me and Bella do before this gets even worse?

Answer:
 It's fraud, and ~~almost certainly~~ *is* a felony. Call the police. If convicted, restitution can be made a part of her punishment. Otherwise, you will have to sue her for the money you gave her.

It's a not uncommon scam. [This](http://abcnews.go.com/Health/woman-arrested-allegedly-faking-cancer-raise-funds/story?id=36530772) was just the top response of several listed on a Google search.


Title: Friend is being mentally abused and is on the verge of suicide due to parents.

Question:
I am in TN. I have a friend(male 20yo) who is currently dealing with severe depression. He is having crisis level issues every one or two weeks. The cause of his depression is his mentally abusive mother. She is extremely controlling and abusive. A few of the things that she has done include not letting him work, controlling all if his personal info(ssn card, birth certificate, insurance, etc), and not letting him manage his money. She controls nearly every part of his life. The few times he has worked his parents don't let him keep his money. They take 40% for themselves,10 for their church, and 50% goes in a savings account he cannot access. He has no money and they pay for his housing. He does not live at home, but he has to return home every weekend. At home he is not allowed to close any doors even when showering. If he takes to long in the shower she goes in and turns it off. He is not allowed to be alone at either unless he is going to bed. This has been going on his entire life and he is terrified of his mother. He claims that she has people throughout the city watching him. She says she will follow him if he moves.

We have been able to get him into free counciling and get him on medication behind his mother's back. She does not believe in mental health issues. His sister tried to deal with mental health issues in the past, and she was beaten and verbally berated. We have a plan to take him to the hospital or crisis stabilization unit in our city if he has another night of self harm or a sucide attempt, but he is too scared of his mother to willingly go. I know that he can legally cut all ties with his mother and family and can call the police if she comes after him, but he is too scared to do this. He also has no anger or anamocity towards her despite hating how she treats him. My question is, is there a way that we can admit him somewhere involuntarily or get the police involved. He us basically brainwashed and is too scared to do it himself. There is also the bigger issue or how to pay for it. Is there a way to force his parents to pay for it since he is under their health insurance? Is his mother doing anything illegal as a parent even though he is no longer a minor?

Thanks for any responses!

Answer:
 > He claims that she has people throughout the city watching him.

This statement is alarming.

How are you aware of your friend's relationship with his mother...exclusively through your friend's statements?


Title: Lawyer is threatening to withdraw from representing friend

Question:
BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA - My friend is in the middle of a divorce. Found out her husband was living a double life the whole time and yada yada. The husband moved out and they're in the process of selling the home. My friend opened a piece of his mail from his lawyer that was sent to the house, stating that he's not representing him anymore because he (husband) keeps missing their meetings. My friend told her lawyer about this and now her lawyer is saying she can't represent her because what she did is illegal and that there's a risk for criminal liability and the only way to not expose her to that risk is to withdraw from counsel.
What my friend did is illegal yes and she shouldn't have opened his mail (If he did to me, what he has done to her, I would've had him beaten to death. Never mind a piece of mail) but they spent 5 years living together where opening each other's mail wasn't an issue and after finding out he's been cheating on her the whole time and using drugs behind her back, she's a little spiteful. That's besides the point but can anyone clarify for us why my friends lawyer "has" to withdraw? I thought a big part of a lawyers job was to defend their clients actions whether those actions were legal or not.

Answer:
 I don't blame either lawyer.  They both sound like a handful, and it's so beyond any sense of reasonableness to open an opposing party's mail from their attorney that I fully support the lawyer trying to get out.

If the friend doesn't let the lawyer leave the case, the lawyer will have to ask the court for permission to withdraw.  Confidentiality and privilege aside, if push comes to shove, the lawyer may have to disclose that your client opened her to-be-ex husbands mail, which you don't want a judge hearing.

It's best for your friend to let the lawyer leave.  She doesn't want a lawyer who doesn't want to represent her, and it looks bad on her if the lawyer has to file a motion to leave.


Title: Father being harrassed by mentally unstable neighbor.

Question:
My parents live in upstate New York and share a common driveway with several neighbors. My dad maintains it even though it isn't anyone's property specifically. There is a man who lives off the driveway part time. He goes to his house during hunting season on weekends and over the summer on weekends.

Starting last year he has been accusing my dad of throwing things on his property (he doesn't) he has verbally threatened my dad saying he is "going to bash his head in" and even going as far as punching him in the chest.

This year he has started piling branches and rocks in the driveway blocking all traffic. When my dad moves them the man comes out and yells at him threatening him etc. My parents have called the police, and just yesterday called the state troopers. We have a family friend who is a trooper (which is important because he can and will vouch for my dad's word and character) The trooper told my dad that the police were called on my dad a few months ago by this guy saying my dad was following his kids and throwing things on his property. (not true)

My parents ultimately want a protective order placed on this guy because he is clearly unstable and has a cabin of guns right down the road from my parents. He has this vendetta against my dad for no reason and I'm scared he will take action.

What can my parents do to protect themselves if anything?

Answer: Get security cameras and call the police any time you are threatened, hurt or your property is destroyed.Answer #2: You need to document everything and provided recorded evidence of any issues. Without that any judge will be hard pressed to provide any kind of order.


Title: job wants me to work 40 hours for 24 hours of pay. Ohio.

Question:
Long story. I work in a facility ran by a militia (not really, they're just mean), and they change rules around and constantly micromanage everyone and everything. recently, thanksgiving has passed and this week employees received holiday pay for both that Thursday and the following Friday.

here is where it gets hairy

in our employee handbook, written in a 12 point font sans serif text, the only stipulations to receiving the holiday pay provided is that the employee must be at work both the day before the holiday, and the day after we get back from the break. never been changed, never been altered or anything until this week when my boss noticed and opportunity to save a little cash i can only assume. next to the time cards was a letter claiming that from now on employees had to be there the entire week before and week after the holiday. BS right?

well today, unfortunately mistakes happen and i was 12 minutes late to work.....this now means im unable to receive two days of this holiday pay.....wait for it....i have direct deposit though and received my paper check stub today with 16 hours of holiday pay on it.

this following week though(12/8/2014-12/12/2014), my boss expects me to come into work a full 40 hours and only receive pay for 24 hours. what the hell do i do? been with the company for about 3 1/2 years, and really don't mind doing my job. pay is decent too but i dont work for free and the fact that there was no meeting or official changing of the rule in the handbook (which stated in the handbook says that if they want to amend anything, they give you a tiny memo that staples into the back of that handbook). is this legal to do to me? work for free? and if this is in the wrong subreddit, or you believe it may be useful in another subreddit, please dont hesitate to tell me!

ANY IDEAS?

any feedback is appreciated. thank you for reading <3

Answer:
 Your title is misleading. You're not being asked to work 40 hours for 24 hours worth of work.

You were paid wages that you didn't qualify for, and thus didn't earn. You owe your employer that money. They can sue you for it, or with your permission, deduct it from your paycheck.

You don't have to give them permission. You can return the money. You can also refuse both options, and be fired and sued.


Title: Insane cleaners

Question:
Before I contact a lawyer, wanted to get your guys' take on this. My wife went through Amazon Home Services and secured a deep clean of our house and got assigned a local business (who did not show up the first time - excuse was "death in the family"). I was on ED nights, so sleeping upstairs and she waited all day and these cleaners never showed up - despite her calling and texting a few times.

So she contacts Amazon and their reply is "the cleaners came, took pictures of roaches in the drawers and stated they couldn't clean this squalor and left" - which is such an insane proposition that I couldn't stop laughing. We are a two physician household, no kids, no pets, live in a nice part of our city, in a house that is >3000 sqft for the two of us (long story, couldn't find a smaller house with a two car garage), so we need some help cleaning it once every few months.

Of course she is upset and tries contacting the business with no avail. Finally leaves a google review where the business owner is doubling down stating that she has pictures of the drawers with roaches, etc.

We can debate the merits of leaving a review that public but my wife is obviously distressed; she wants to start a practice when she finishes fellowship and doesn't want this nonsense online.

The insane part about all this is, we have nest cameras set up outside and inside and no one ever came - so who's house do you have pictures of, lady?!

I'm going to call the business owner in the morning to try to smooth things out (if she picks up) and obviously her reply to the review has to be taken down but if there's a different course of action I should be taking, I'm all ears.

(Thanks for reading wall of text)

Location - Missouri, USA

Answer:
 These cleaners have already gone beyond "talking to them in the morning".

If their reply is to your Google review, won't it go away if you remove your review?

Otherwise, get a lawyer to write them a letter to take it down or you will go after them for provable slander.

Make sure you backup that day's Nest video.Answer #2: I have used Amazon a lot, and had to contact their customer service a few times. They've been really good. I would call them and make a huge deal about this. Escalate, and don't let them take this business's side. Explain you have cameras and texts from trying to contact them, and they never showed. They are making huge amounts of money by facilitating these services, and they need to make sure people are getting what they advertise.

I'm always polite, but for an entity like Amazon I won't accept any bullshit at all. They should fix this.Answer #3: I would take this up with Amazon.  Their customer service is actually top notch.  You might not get anywhere with the cleaners but at least you will get your money back and probably an additional credit to your account


Title: [Florida] My fiance’s Name is on the title of our home. We purchased the home with cash. She contributed no money. It was all from my own money. Is she immediately entitled to half the home or is it considered a premarital asset since it was all my money alone that purchased it?

Question:
[deleted]
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer: Florida is an equitable distribution state. That means when you get divorced, all marital assets will be equitably distributed. Equitably doesn't always mean equal, but it often does. She is on the title, so she owns the house, too. It's almost certainly marital property. You may could argue she shouldn't get half the equity if y'all get divorced right away. It may work. It may not. If you're that worried, get a pre nup


Title: Parents are not co-signing for me and I need to go to college

Question:
They are blackmailing me. I have no one else that would co-sign for me so I’m pretty much screwed. Who else could I get to co-sign? Could I pay someone an extra fee to co-sign for me?
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 They have no obligation to you if you’re an adult. That includes co-signing loans or other financial guarantees.

Just about anyone can co-sign such a document with you if they want to be on the hook for the lease/loan. Answer #2: You might have to find a cheaper school, or find some other form of financial aid. Your parents do not have an obligation to co-sign your student loans or to finance your higher education, and it's _very_ unlikely you will find anyone else to take on that obligation, given the risks involved.Answer #3: Once you are an adult your parents have no obligation to support you.  It’s not blackmail to ask for something in exchange for something they have no legal obligation to do.


Title: Our Electric Bill is absurdly high for no reason this past month, also my bedroom heater was out of control last night

Question:
Our bill was normally around $150 ish with the heat going, it spiked up the past month to $270 when it was really cold for those few weeks(we live in New England) However our current one is saying we ow $360 and there is no way in hell I am going to pay that, we are 3 people living in a tiny apartment that hardly use any appliances.

This morning I woke up sweating to death as my bedroom heater was out of control, it was set to 60 but felt like it was over 80 degrees in there.  I want to request a thermostat calibration and possibly an energy audit from my landlord, also I am not going to pay that electric bill, what are my options?

edit: I guess my main question is if we've done nothing different and something faulty in the apartment is causing the spike in our electric bill, can I have the landlord pay it or is it still my responsibility, second question can thermostats be calibrated?

Answer:
 > I am not going to pay that electric bill, what are my options?

Make plans for living without electricity once it is warm enough this spring for the electric company to turn off service for non-payment.


Title: (California) My landlord enters my house in the middle of the day when no one is home, with no warning

Question: I have a very old Asian couple that own the house that I pay rent for. Last week, my roommate told me that he was home alone in the middle of the day (he is the only one without a car so all of the cars were gone and they didn't know he was there) and the landlords husband is walking around downstairs surveying the house. I don't think they have stolen anything but it doesn't seem like the first time they have done this. I don't believe there is a clause in the contract that states they can enter without informing us. They have done this before when we had a party and they came in to kick everyone out although none of us said anything because we were in the wrong to hold a party I guess. What should I do?

Answer:
 [Here's](http://housing.ucsc.edu/cro/pdf/CCC_privacy.pdf) a good link that at the top spells out CA Civil Code 1954 which advises the landlord needs to give 'reasonable' notice before entering. Your LL clearly gave no notice which is in violation of that.

If you think it's happening frequently, you should have a polite conversation to ask your LL to not enter your unit without advance notice. I'd suggest you avoid citing the code if possible the first time you bring it up.Answer #2: What your landlord is doing is wrong.  He is only allowed to enter the unit without giving you notice in cases of emergency.  Otherwise, he must give you notice that he would like to enter the home.

Here is California's Tenant Guidebook: http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/catenant.pdf    Show it yo your landlord and ask him for 24 hours notice next time he wants to come over.


Title: If police have enough evidence to charge you with just one thing, can they do that while they carry out more evidence?

Question:
Hi,

So if police have evidence on you, can they charge you while you’re still on bail and continue to still gather evidence?

Or are they only allowed to charge you once they have all the evidence they need.

Would love to know.

Thanks.

Answer: Yes, they can gather more evidence after you are charged.


Title: 8 months Pregnant and falsely Accused of Shoplifting at Biglots!

Question:
Last week I walked into Biglots (NewMexico)
was greeted buy the front cashier associate. I politely replied back.  Im browsing through the aisles Looking at things picking them up, putting them back.  Walked down the makeup aisle, a short guy walks by me says nothing . I dropped a box of q tips,(me being 8 months pregnant ) it takes me a little longer to bend down , pick it up  and stand back up.
he quickly turns around looks at me and continues walking.
Now let me say this, I am 25 yrs old 8 months pregnant, tired hair thrown up, not dressed at my best, honest I look ghetto.  I am from the ghetto, I had a big purse , sweats on, fat, tired, hoop earrings .
 But one thing is I do not steal.
I was in the store about 15 min. I knew they were watching me , every aisle I walked down there was 1 of the 2 LP watching me. I didnt care. I wasn’t doing anything.
As I continue to browse, The Short LP Stops me in the middle of the store and asks to see my purse.
I said why? She said we been watching you I need to look into your purse. I said,”I don’t steal, I don’t have anything that I haven’t paid for in my purse”.
He demands to look in my purse .
Honestly his tone scared me so I open my purse.
As he can clearly see, nothing was in there
He said mam I apologize and walked away.
I put my Oreos down and walked away.
I felt so humiliated. I know I’m not the best dressed not up to par. I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t

Answer: Your post history is mostly you talking about how you shoplift and asking questions about getting away with it.Answer #2: What’s your legal question?


Title: Officer blamed an accident on my mom fasting?

Question:
She was driving and got off the highway and pulled up at the light. The light is two lanes turning right and one turning left. She was in the left lane to turn right. This guy comes driving off the highway and the light changes before he stops but he continues to go and side swiped her car. He immediately starts taking pictures (I mention this because it seemed too immediate but that could just be me). The officer arrives sees my mom in a head cover and says SHE hit HIM because she's incoherent and fasting when that's not the case. I'm looking it at as us vs the cops word and that won't mean shit if the cop says the opposite of what we say. Im asking if we should take it to court or say fuck it. I know nothing about this so any help is appreciated.

Forgot to add location: Florida

Answer: Let your insurance company deal with it. Police reports are not always right an can be challenged.  You're almost certainly not ending up in court over a minor accident.


Title: Is my roommate lying?

Question:
My roommate is telling me that his DUI and hit and run charge is going to be dropped. He’s been really discreet about this whole process saying how nothing is going to happen. This happened in September and he somehow got his court date moved till after he’s 21 in April.

He blew a .18 2 hours after he stopped drinking and his hit and run is where he hit an ambulance.

Basically what I want to know is how hard is it to get out of a DUI and hit and run given the circumstances. This also happened in Athens, GA

Answer:
 How should we know? Every case is different. Something may have happened that his lawyer can get it dropped. Answer #2: The answer to this is "we have no way of knowing if he is lying or not."

Maybe there are serious problems with the case that his lawyer used to get it dropped.

Maybe he had a bunch of info about someone selling drugs and he offered the information in exchange.

Maybe he's the prosecutor's nephew.

We have no way to know without knowing all the details which we don't have because YOU don't have them.


Title: Can Louisiana Public Schools Search Students Phones?

Question:
   At my previous High-School, under a new principle and vice principles, students have been subjected to phone searches. Today, my cousin had his phone searched after getting caught selling an E-Cig (yes, I know he's wrong for this) The  threatened to have law enforcement involved if he did not give his password. I have  heard the same type  of story from others. I know for police to search your phone they need a warrant, but how about the school staff?

Handbook: http://www.stpsb.org/DisciplineHandbook/DisciplineHandbook.htm

EDIT: He was suspend for 3 days and put on drug watch for having a marijuana leaf for his homescreen

Answer: IANAL but I work in education. They need to have a justifiable reason and the search must be limited in scope. If he was caught selling ecigs, they probably felt justified in looking for evidence related to illicit sales. He might have had more rights if he refused to give his password and the police did get involved, because school official standards for search are lower.


Title: My parents are divorced. Can I sue my dad to pay for my college tuition?

Question:
So my parents divorced when I was 7. My dad left and there was never a custody agreement or anything to determine his contribution to our family bc he was just out of the picture. Even now, the state he lives in has to forcibly take money from him to pay his child support as he won't do it willingly. I am now a high school senior who has been accepted to college but can't afford it. My mom works hard but barely makes enough to cover our living expenses so paying for college is just not possible. Is there any way for me to sue my dad to pay for college?

Edit: I live in California. His last known residence was in Iowa but we think he's in Louisiana now.

Answer:
 > Is there any way for me to sue my dad to pay for college?

Unless there's an agreement to do so, no.

You can sue, you probably won't win.  Your parents are not obligated to pay for your higher education.

Your location is important, though.  I'm assuming you're in the USA.


Title: Trying to claim money

Question:
So when I was very young I got into a car accident and my older brother and I got money from the accident. However we couldn't claim it since we were minors. Now that I turned 18, where can I go to claim the money from the car accident? I live in the Houston area in Texas.

Update: I was able to get this resolved with the help of my older brother. Thank you all that helped!

Answer: Why were you unable to claim the money because you were minors? Nothing was paid out at all at the time? It wasn't even put into an account in trust?


Title: relative victim of money laundering scam

Question:
So basically my relatives 'friend' gave her 20,000 euros, and was supposed to transfer that 20,000 to another account, which my relative did. Two days later the bank called and asked what happened. My relative found out it was a scam and she was used to money launder or something and talked to the bank about it. The bank believed her story and everything.

However they are forced by law to report it to the police, and now my relative is meeting the police in a week to talk about it. The bank knew for like 2 or 3 weeks and we only got the paper like a week ago saying she has to go to the police in a week on monday.   She has proof of the conversations and everything via screen shots and everything that she printed it and all the bank details of what happened and such. But could she still get in trouble? Because she technically money laundered but it was obvious she did not know and was just incredibly naive and stupid.

It's giving us a lot of stress aqnd we have no idea what will happen, could she go to jail or be forced to pay the 20,000?

This is in Austria.

Answer: Get a lawyer and have any communication to the police go through him/her


Title: Hotels Evicting People For Non-Payment

Question:
A bit of a different post this time, but I've been dealing with this since the start of the COVID pandemic, and it has me really concerned.

As I'm sure you all know, there is a moratorium against evictions right now, intended to protect people who have lost their jobs from the global shut down from also loosing their homes. While it doesn't really affect me personalty considering I'm an essential worker, get to work from home, and have so much available work that the company really can't afford to cut hours in my department, I'm still really grateful that this is in place for everyone else who isn't so lucky.

Unfortunately, this whole thing has me really conflicted with how the hotel chain I work for is handling it. I say work for, but really my employer is the call center, and the hotel chain contracts us. Still though, I'm really unsure about how they're handling this.

While the hotel chain HAS made quite a few exceptions to their policy because of COVID, the one thing that hasn't changed is the payment policy. If you lost your job, and are suddenly unable to pay rent, they will still kick you out. They won't accept government assistance either, and I get that they have no way to accept checks (no check reader at the front desk), but it honestly breaks my heart that so many people are loosing their homes because of this. Some of these people have lived at the hotel for years, get their mail delivered, list the hotel as their home address, and even have kids.

I know I'm at least covered, since I can't get in trouble for enforcing a policy I had no hand in creating, but this is one time were I'm really uncomfortable with following orders.

I've even had calls where people contacted their local government, and were told from the source that the hotel can't do this. I know not every person who call us is 100% honest with us, but I still can't help but want to side with the guests.

Can the hotel legally force these people to leave, even with the government telling them they can't?

Answer: generally hotels are treated differently than apartments.  people are getting evicted, as they are not tenants under the law.  so, hotels generally can kick people out who don't pay, but that may vary by location


Title: Work forcing biometrics. I will probably refuse.

Question:
My work will soon be switching over to a new time keeping system. Currently, as we have done since the place opened 12 years ago, and since i started there over 5 years ago, we use photo ids with rfid chips in them. They let us thru the various doors in the facility and also use to clock in and out thru our time clock/keeping system, Kronos.

They are switching over to biometrics and expect everyone to just give up their fingerprints.

Im wildly uncomfortable with this idea. Just dont want to do it.

Assuming when the time comes, and i refuse, what can i expect? I wont "quit", or walk out, or even sign anything saying i refuse. I just wont do it. Will they fire me for refusing? Will i be able to get unemployment? This is in Illinois if that makes a difference.

Answer: Barring an employment contract stating otherwise, you can be fired for not following company policy yes.


Title: Previous employer calling all new employers about criminal history

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Jesus H. Christ, this thread is a fucking cesspool.

A person runs afoul of the blacklisting statute when he "conspires or contrives by correspondence or any other manner to prevent an employee discharged by a corporation, company, or individual from procuring employment." [Texas Labor Code s52.031(b)(2)](http://codes.findlaw.com/tx/labor-code/lab-sect-52-031.html), but "This section may not be held to prohibit a corporation, company, or individual from giving, **on application from a discharged employee or a person desiring to employ the employee**, a written truthful statement of the reason for the discharge." Id. s52.031(d).

From the sound of things, /u/Ead0002, your wife's former employer is calling the prospective employers without their solicitation. If so, there's a strong argument that they are falling afoul of the statute. I can't be more certain, though, because there's literally no case law on the question. The statute has been involved in litigation only a few times that I can find, and the claim has always been dismissed for procedural reasons. Chief among them is the fact that the law probably doesn't create a right of private action (i.e. you probably can't sue them for this; the State would have to prosecute).

So, yeah, you can brandish the law at them because they're probably falling afoul of it, and maybe there's some underfunded department in Austin that might conceivably press a claim like this, but I doubt you'll have any luck.


Title: Small fender bender where I rear ended someone, and other person is claiming injuries [NM]

Question:
Context: I live in the state of NM. Yesterday I rear ended a car while waiting to merger at a right hand turn at a stop light.

&#x200B;

Accident: I was stopped behind a vehicle as we were both waiting for a break in traffic to merge on to the intersecting road. I was looking back over my left shoulder in order to gauge the traffic to know when I could make my move. There was a break, and out of the corner of my right eye, the vehicle in front of me began to go. They then stopped and I did not realize this. I took my foot off the brake and began to creep forward and I hit the person in front of me. The damage left was a small dent in my front bumper and a small dent in their trunk.

&#x200B;

Post accident: We pull over. I ask if everyone is ok. They both say yes. We exchange insurance and contact info. We are back on our way in 5 minutes. No police involved.

&#x200B;

Claim: The people I hit are now claiming they are injured.

&#x200B;

**What is my best plan of action to fight this?**

&#x200B;

Thank you!

Answer:
 Inform your insurance and let them handle it.

This is what you pay them for.


Question:
Why US government doesn't shut down jihadist/ ISIS propaganda websites hosted on servers located in the USA or by US companies but hosted on servers hosted abroad ?
Is it because of some crazy interpretation of the first amendment/ free speech or what?

EDIT:
So calling people to join ISIS and encouraging people to perform terrorist attacks is perfectly within free speech?

Answer:
 Crazy man, just crazy.  Who needs free speech anyway.  Let's let the government decide what can and can't be said on the internet.Answer #2: I think you may be confusing /r/legaladvice with /r/eli5Answer #3: It's not "crazy".  It's a fundamental rule of how we agree to live together as a nation.

Where US intelligence has information about sites/servers being used for specific terror-related communication, that's different.  I'm sure that's going on regularly, though we typically won't hear about it.


Title: Can Facebook comments get me fired? (CA)

Question:
On my lunch break today I was on a rental group on Facebook. A lady made a post searching for a room for herself and her three children. I commented on the post saying: “I’m not trying to be a Debbie Downer but I don’t think it is legal for you to have one adult and three children all in the same room.” A lot of people piled the hate  on to me saying I shouldn’t judge her and one guy asked me what I think she should do. I responded with: “Whatever it takes to make a better situation for her children.” Later I went on to say something along the lines of: “I get that times are hard but she should be making sure that her children have a better way of living and all of them piled into one room isn’t that.” I also responded to someone telling me I was judgmental and that they hoped I would never be in her situation by saying: “Actually I was homeless for five months and did everything I could to get a better job and worked my ass off to find a place.”

Later in the day, a lady from the post found out where I worked and emailed my job telling them that I was an unkind person and she can’t believe that I work at my job which is a five-star hotel in the Napa Valley. My marketing manager called me and asked me the situation. I showed him the post. He advised me to delete my comment which deleted the entire comment thread and to make my profile private so that no one could see where I work.

What I would like to know is can I be fired for this? As a sidenote, my employer has never given me an employee handbook on anything much less posting on social media.

Thank you.

Answer:
 >	What I would like to know is can I be fired for this?

The answer to that question is almost always "yes." The only thing they *can't* fire you for are the very few specifically protected classes, like race, age, or sex.

They can fire you for Facebook posts. They can fire you for no reason at all. They can fire you because they don't like your haircut.

I once got fired because I wore the wrong sports logo to work. That team had just beaten the one the boss liked, and he was a superfan with no sense of humor. This was stupid and frustrating, but absolutely legal, and my only recourse was to find a different job where the boss was less of an ass. Answer #2: Yes you can be fired. And I would suggest you need a bit of sensitivity training: equating your situation of being homeless (without I assume dependents) with a woman trying to house herself and three children rather makes you sound like an ass. Because being piled into one room is distinctly better that not being piled into any room and you should understand that with your history.

But general advice: don't post anything on social media that you wouldn't want your boss to see. Because it WILL come back to bite you. Answer #3: Yes.


Title: Hospital repeatedly attempting to bill me directly without going through my insurance.

Question:
I'm in the USA.  I don't know what my recourse is at this point. I'm beyond frustrated. I had an emergency surgery last year in April. Since then I've been inundated with bills from the hospital since they parse out the fees by doctor, room, meds, anesthesia, etc. I get statements from my insurance that inform me of what has been billed through them, and what they paid and what I owe. If the bills I get from the hospital do not match these statements, I have to call the billing department to demand that they run the bills through my insurance first. For the fifth time or so, I just got a bill for thousands of dollars that they did not run through my insurance at all.

Beyond cussing them out on the phone for the umpteenth time, what is my recourse? Can I report the hospital to someone for these shady billing practices?

Note: they ran some of the bills through my insurance after me calling a few times to demand they do so, so I had those consolidated to one account and have been making monthly payments on that since August last year. They just keep attempting to bill me full charge for other things (btw they don't itemize what they're billing for) without running through my insurance despite my having called them out in it repeatedly.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm at my wit's end. Thank you.
Topic:
Healthcare Law including HIPAA

Answer: As someone who works in the heath insurance industry I see this far too often. If you have an HMO insurance and the hospital is in network then contact your insurance and they will deal with the hospital. If you have a PPO plan and the hospital is not contracted with the insurance company then they have no obligation to bill your insurance.


Title: I Found Drug Paraphernalia In My House From My Husband, How Do I Get Rid Of It?

Question:
I live in Michigan and went into the basement today and found bongs and pipes and butane tanks, obviously to make marijuana wax (because he's told me he's done it before), and I want to get rid of it. Is there a way that I can legally get rid of it by turning it into the police without getting my house listed as a drug lab or on any watch? Or can I just drop it somewhere? I have no idea what I am suppose to do, I just want it away from me and my kids. I'm in the process of talking to a divorce lawyer but any help for me to get this out of my house either the most legal or anonymous way is appreciated. Thanks.
Topic:
Drug Possession

Answer: If you want to get rid of it, the easiest thing to do is throw them in the trash.  The cops aren't going to be digging through your garbage.  If you want to be *extra* anonymous, toss them in a public trashcan somewhere.  And don't throw out the torch, that's dangerous if there's still fuel.  It's also perfectly legal to own one.  If you want to dispose of the butane tank, find a local hardware store that handles them.  Most major chains refill or recycle fuel tanks.


Title: Husband's self-maintained rare car totaled in accident that wasn't his fault, can we recoup the true value of it?

Question:
My husband was in an accident a few days ago in which a truck pulled out in front of him from a side street and totaled his car(Scion XB RS 1.0 limited edition 5 speed in Hot Lava Orange).  Police report states the other driver is completely at fault.  He loved his car and did most all of the work on it himself so he is quite upset that this has happened, especially since it was through no fault of his own.

We had a consultation with a lawyer but my husband said the girl only wanted to focus on personal injury and not the value of the car.  He avoided serious injury, thankfully, and so doesn't feel it's right to sue on those grounds.

However, since there were only 504 of this particular Scion ever made there is almost no chance that he will be able to replace it and he would like to be compensated based on the rarity of the vehicle.  Personally I think that's reasonable but what do I know.  The insurance company has indicated that they will not be taking rarity or labor into consideration although they will take receipts for parts.

Would it be worth our time to consult with another attorney to go forward with a suit based on the value of the car, and all the labor he's put into it, and not personal injury?  What do people with rare cars(restored classics, concept cars, etc.) do in this situation?

Answer: Generally speaking, he's entitled to the fair market value, which is what he could have sold it for today if the accident never happened. Answer #2: Just because something is rare doesn't make it automatically more valuable. Is the fmv of this car actually more than a similar model that isn't so special? By your post title I though it would be a classic car not a scion.


Title: Was gifted money, person is trying to recant their gift and get it back.

Question:
Live in Texas.

Facts:
1. Insurance check for the crashed car was written to my mom, whom the policy is under.
2. Money in the value of 10,800$ was withheld over 2 years despite fulfilling obligations of the Memorandum of understanding which is between the trustees of the estate, whom consist of my two uncles and a estate attorney.
3. The insurance money from the totaled out car plus additional 4 grand was given by my mother. That car was paid off and traded to purchase a Range Rover.
4. One of the trustees whom is one of my uncles is stating that she signed the original agreement between myself and the trustees. I have the original, that is not true. My moms cousin lives with her and witnessed her saying she did not sign the original document.

Topic:
Wills Trusts and Estates

Answer: I think you might want to rewrite your post because it really makes no sense whatsoever in its current form.


Title: Department of Human Services lied on court documents

Question:
I am in Arapahoe County in Colorado

I need some legal advice on how handle this situation.
This is a convoluted case with many factors. I have been rounds with the department of human services before. In the end all alligations where false and all caseworkers (until this most recent one) have found that the children are being manipulated and coached by thier father (my ex husband) to say things about me and my house. For a few years he kept trying to take the kids from me in domestic relations court but every time he was denined. He has since then been calling soical services, having his family call, and getting the kids to make false statements regarding me and my house. It has been very heavily documented by previous case workers that my children are being manipulated and coached and that My ex husband is using the department of human services as a tool to gain full custody.

This time I ended up with all new caseworkers, new caseworker Supervisors and they refused to review old case information claiming it wasn't helpful to do so. And she has gone the extra mile to remove my kids from my care. This is wear I need help, I have a court appointed attorney who has basically blown me off, won't review my documents, won't call me back and won't return my emails.
Back on Aug 28th I received a phone call from a caseworker telling me there were alligations of abuse from me to my oldest son, I'm thinking great here we go again. At that time I asked her to review the old cases because she would find this is not the first time this has happened and that it is all BS and wrong. I attempted to call her back several times over the next month and my calls went ignored, on Sept 25th (almost a month later) she contacted me again telling me she needed to meet with me, I told her I'd like to meet her near the DMV and have her bring a request to them for information on when my son (the one i am accused of abuseing) was issued his permit, because he was taken to the DMV by his father shortly after making this alligations as a reward given his permit after I had told him no.
She didn't respond to my request to do that, on the sept 27th I got a very disturbing call from the caseworker Supervisor saying she knows I hit my kids, she knows people like me ect ect
I attempted to contact the case worker again on the 28th, she did not respond
I contacted her again on Friday Sept 29th, she told me if I didn't meet with her that day they (ACDHS) would file in court. Within a few hours of that threat I met with her, in this meeting she told me if I didn't sign a safety plan ACDHS would file in court, so I signed the safety plan.
The fallow Monday Oct 2nd the caseworker told me they had made the decision to file in court and that my case was set for Oct 6th at 8:30am, and but that it was only to provide me and my family with general support and that custody between my ex and I would remain the same.
Over this next week I did not receive any documents regarding the case nor was I contacted again from the caseworker.

As if all of that isn't rediculas enough it gets worse

At 8:20am on October 6th I was handed the petition and a family services plan. And ushered into court by a court appointed attorney. Much to my dismay ACDHS requested my visition be limited to at the department of human services building and my children remain soley in the care of my husband.
In the days fallowing that court hearing I poured over the petition and the family services plan both signed and dated October 5th by the caseworker Supervisor,  now you would think considering they both were signed off on and by the same person on the same day they would say the same thing. Well they did NOT.
-The petition said I had refused to meet with a caseworker, that I had refused to address their concerns and that they were requesting that the children remain soley in the care of their father because I had made it impossible to complete an assessment. There where numarus other facts falsified or in accurately documented in the petition.
-The family services plan that was issued on the same day by the same individual with the Department of Human Services stated that I had met with a caseworker that I had signed a safety plan and that should I violate the safety plan they would file in court mind you they had already made the decision to file in court prior to typing up this document.
At that time the judge ordered that my children temporary stay in the care of my ex-husband and that the department complete an assessment immediately and set up my visitation promptly.
A links meeting was set for Oct 23rd. From October 6th until October 23rd I attempted to meet with someone with the department but hit road blocks because I was not yet assigned a permanent caseworker. I was not assigned a caseworker until the 23rd during that meeting. In that meeting I attempted to address the facts from the old files, I attempted to address the fact the petition had said something completely different than the family services plan but the intake caseworker Supervisor ( the very same person who filed the inaccurate documents) continued to shut me down and ignore what I was saying. I found out during this meeting no one had contacted the proper people to schedule or set up any visitations, and that the GAL, nor the new caseworker had even met my children to complete an assessment.
The GAL has refused to contact me back, the current caseworker has stated she cant meet with me until November 7th ( a week before we are due back in court)
And Thursday November 7th I received a statement from the department of human services signed by the intake caseworker and her Supervisor ran on October 27th ( 4 days after they should have been removed from my case beings how there were replaced on the 23rd by a permanent case worker) saying they have completed an assessment and found the alligations of abuse to be true and back dated it to October 2nd ... If your fallowing along Oct 2nd is 3 days prior to the statements made by the caseworker to the judge that an assessment was impossible to complete.

I know all of this is a lot of information, at this point I feel do the gross negligence, falsified statements,  inaccuracy that which the documents have been filed , the caseworker lying to me and to the courts their refusal to set up my visitation and refusal to meet with me regarding this case that I should be filing some sort of motion to have the entire case dismissed and if the department wishes to continue to pursue this case that they have to start over with new case workers a new gal and refile accurate documents in court. But I do not know how to go about that I do not know which documents should be filed, I do not know considering the time that has gone by while I reviewed everything and attempted to cooperate with the Department of Human Services if it's too late to file for dismissal. I feel as if I have a strong case against the abuse allegations considering I have multiple documents that have been heavily noted by several case workers that the children are being coached and manipulated to do this by their father as a way for him to pursue full custody. But I also feel like at this point anyone who touches this case will be tainted by the inaccurate information submitted by the caseworker supervisor and be given. Information regarding the situation by that former caseworker supervisor. So I feel the best bet would be for me to try to get this entire case thrown out based off of the ACDHS committing perjury under oath, falsifying documents and handling this case with gross negligence.

What documents do I need? where do I get them? how do I file them?

Answer: Holy shit...... you really need to trim this down to the key points. This is just way too much to expect anyone to read. Answer #2: If you feel that there were falsified documents then you need an attorney to make that case and get the case thrown out. That is your only route


Title: Need help dealing with psycho sister, felon, drug addict, child abuser.

Question:
I have to get her put in prison again.  She abuses everyone in the family, beats up my mom, and steals anything that isn't glued down.  I am staying with my mom while she goes through chemo, and have never seen the type of abuse she gives to the entire family.  My sister smokes crack.

I cannot reason with her, and for the sake of her children, she needs to be locked up.  The kids are staying with me and my mom, but we do not feel safe.  She has broken my Moms ribs and tried to push her down a flight of stairs.  She has also kicked in the garage door to steal an air compresser and tools.  Drug dealers have come by my Mom's home, threatening her.  Mom is not scared of them, but I am.

How can I get my sister back in prison where she belongs, without anyone knowing it was me who snitched?  The last time any of us had a good night's sleep was when she was in prison.  I love her, but I can't handle this.

Answer:
 > How can I get my sister back in prison where she belongs

When she commits crimes, you report her to the police and/or her probation/parole officer.

> without anyone knowing it was me who snitched?

That's going to be difficult or impossible.  If you tell the police who you are, it ends up in the report, which is discoverable and usually public knowledge.  If you don't tell them, your report may very well be useless.

Realistically, if it's not important enough for you to put your name on, it's not that important.


Title: [MI] What are the legal requirements for children's sleeping arrangements?

Question:
Hi all, I've been living out the summer on a lease with a subletter that one of my housemates found.  Turns out that he hasn't been paying rent for the past month+, so she has started eviction proceedings and he has made himself scarce around here, although all of his belongings are still here.  (This all could honestly take up its own post, and it's not why I'm here today!)  I'm more worried about the two kids that showed up halfway through July and have been staying with him for most nights since.  From what I can tell, he has a baby who is 4-6 months old and a toddler who is about a year and a half old.  Cute, right?  Wrong, since our house definitely isn't equipped for children!  His room, specifically, has a mattress lying on the floor as a bed; no crib, no bassinet, nothing suitable for little kids.  I'm really worried about the safety of these kids, especially since he seems to have left his car seats and stroller here. (He may have multiples, and the mother may have a set, but they seemed to be sharing the ones currently sitting at the house.)

I've been looking online and I haven't found any specific CPS guidelines, but I'm really worried about the safety of these kids, especially now that they're God knows where.  Should I contact CPS?  Would they be able to do anything, even a welfare check? Does the pending eviction throw any of this into hazy territory?

Any insight is greatly appreciated, thank you.

EDIT:  After reading all the responses here and talking it over with a friend who has experience both with abuse and CPS in the state, I've decided to call and let them decide whether it's worth checking into.  (I've also signed a contract to start a job where I'll be a mandatory reporter starting in mid-August, and I'd rather play it safe as I'm not sure when that policy comes into effect.)  Thank you all for your thoughtful responses!

Answer: If you're concerned about the kids, call CPS. Let THEM make the call about how to handle it rather than trying to guess what they might do. Answer #2: Call CPS.


Title: Old landlord sent me to collections when I did nothing wrong.

Question: So about 5 years ago I was living in an independently owned apartment. The person next door to us had bed bugs ridiculously bad, and in return, all of his neighbors got them. They were literally coming out of the walls. So bad that when you went to bed, you could lift your pillow and there would be a group waiting for you. So our landlord basically refused to treat them (which here in Florida they legally have to). After a week he finally sent a guy out to literally just spray. Did absolutely nothing and the next day they were back with a vengeance. He reluctantly hires someone to come out and actually treat them. The guy said it was the worst case of bedbugs he had seen in a long time. He did what the landlord would pay him to do, but told me upfront my landlord was cheap and didn't want to pay for it to actually be done with and wanted to go the cheap route. Fast forward a few days and they're back. I finally tell the landlord I've had enough. My son was covered in bites, we were all covered and our furniture was ruined and useless. I had one month left of my lease and legally he let me go because the apartment was deemed unlivable at the moment. He gave me a paper saying we were being let out of our lease and we were on our way. Never though anything about it for the last 5 years til now, when applying for a new apartment, and under my credit report, this guy randomly pops up saying I owe him the last month of rent, so he put it into collections. Now I'm getting denied everywhere and no one wants to listen to what really happened. What can I do?

Answer:
 Like Napalmenator said: the first step is disputing it with the credit agencies. Find that piece of paper he gave you saying that you were let out of the lease, find any documentation you had about the place being uninhabitable.

*edited for spelling


Title: Do I have any cause to take action against my insurance provider?

Question:
Early this year I had a lapse of insurance due to not fulfilling all of my obligations I needed to to stay on my standard insurance plan. I was unaware that I had not fulfilled all of these obligations and was not notified by my employer. The first of the year came and I received my insurance card for the standard insurance and I went about the first 4 months of the year as if I had the insurance that I thought I signed up for.

I have psoriasis and in March I ordered a filling of Enbrel. When I ordered it over the phone the person I ordered it from asked me if I had a payment plan (without insurance Enbrel runs $2500 per filling) to pay for the medication. I responded that no I do not as my insurance requires a $100 copay. Again he asked, and I responded the same. After the second time he said that he did see that it was a $100 copay. I asked how he wanted me to pay for it (I usually just pay for it over the phone) and he said that they would bill me.

The medication came and I used the months supply and when I went to refill the medication again I was told I owed them $2500 and that I could not get the medication until I paid them $2500 in full. Shortly after this in April I find out that I got bumped down to a lower insurance plan that has a $2500 deductible.

I have been back and forth with the pharmacy for months at this point and they will not budge. My stance is that they told me over the phone that I would owe them a $100 copay and then after I have used the medication they turn around and say I owe them $2500. I feel I owe them $100 and that once paid they need to fill my prescription. I am from Worcester MA.

My question to the legal advice community is should I consult a lawyer on this. I believe I have a definite case here but I don't know nor do I know the type of lawyer I need to consult. Any help would be appreciated.
Topic:
Medicine and Malpractice

Answer:
 Before you think about taking legal action against your insurance provider, you'll want to actually talk to them. (The fact that you waited seven months to do this is going to make your life very difficult.)

I really don't understand what you want the pharmacy to do. They don't seem to have told you that you owed *only* a $100 copay.


Title: Car was towed, they won't let me retrieve it

Question:
(Anchorage AK)

Yesterday evening my car was towed from a private lot because I was in the wrong space. Last night the towing dispatcher said I needed to wait to hear from the owner before I picked up my car.

Today I called again, same response. She (a different woman) said she would remind him, but he calls people at his convenience.

Can they legally keep my car without letting me pick it up?

Answer:
 You were ready to pick it up yesterday, don't pay any more than you would have paid then.

Go to the yard and demand your vehicle, if they continue with this bullshit you call the police in front of them and ask for a civil standby to assist in recovering your property.


Title: Former employer (nanny position) refusing to pay final hours due

Question:
I quit my position as a nanny with a family that would not allow me to go out with the baby beyond a 10 minute walk to the closest park and with a micromanaging WAHM. I couldn't take being cooped up with an infant, the lack of trust, and being told I cannot put him down for a nap no matter how badly he needed it and that if mom was on a call I had to wait for her, which could be upwards of two hours at times (and meant I had a crying, fussy baby).

The straw that broke the camels back was that the family was supposed to return on a certain date from traveling and texted me the night before that they wouldn't be back for another 72 hours but would pay me because they gave me 6 hours heads up (I woke up for work to the message). Keep that in mind, I have in writing that they would pay me.

While they were gone I had been interviewing at different positions. At end of business day the night before they were to return, I received a job offer and took the position. It will give me experience in what I want to do and has an amazing benefits package. The start date would have not allowed me to give two weeks notice and I would have had to cancel several plans I have had in place since February. So I emailed my NF an immediate resignation so that I could get in the things I needed before the new position began.

I understand it may have inconvenienced them but the husband was on a two month paid sabbatical from work at a major corporation and they had told me ahead of time that I'd only be working a few hours a day anyways so he could spend time with his son. So when it came down to it, they weren't without childcare.

My contract states that if either party terminates the contract, save for neglect, that a two weeks notice is requested. However, it says nothing that hours due won't be paid out due to a lack of a two week notice being given.

At this point, I have worked enough side jobs that I'm almost set for my bills for the month. However, with their refusal to pay out the last week plus two days that I was worked (or was scheduled and they cancelled no notice) it is enough of an inconvenience that I don't know what to do.

I've written them an email and requested that it be paid by this next Friday at the latest but they are not responding to my communications. They owe me a couple hundred before taxes. With my contract not stating that pay may be withheld if there is no two weeks, is it appropriate to send a final notice on Friday stating that I will file in small claims if they do not pay me?

This has all around just not been a great family to work for and I am just torn as I know I didn't hold up my end on the two weeks piece but in the same breath, they put me in a bind when they gave me a week's notice that they would be gone for a month this summer with no pay and I had to do what would be best for me financially.

Edit: location is Oregon

Answer:
 Assuming you are in the US, you can file a wage claim with your state's labor department, assuming your state has one. Some don't. This is one of the reasons your location is requested.

If you do send them a letter, say something to the effect that if they don't pay you in X days, that you will seek any avaialble legal remedies, and send it certified with return receipt. Keep the receipt when you get it back (with a copy of the letter). Then file with your state's labor dept.


Title: Girlfriend had butt slapped by a company department director during a work event

Question:
This comment has been overwritten by an open source script to protect this user&apos;s privacy.  It was created to help protect users from doxing, stalking, harassment, and profiling for the purposes of censorship.

   If you would also like to protect yourself, add the Chrome extension [TamperMonkey](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tampermonkey/dhdgffkkebhmkfjojejmpbldmpobfkfo), or the Firefox extension [GreaseMonkey](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/) and add [this open source script](https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/10380-reddit-overwrite).

 Then simply click on your username on Reddit, go to the comments tab, scroll down as far as possible (hint:use [RES](http://www.redditenhancementsuite.com/)), and hit the new OVERWRITE button at the top.

Answer: your girlfriend, without you pressuring her in any direction, should decide what she wants to do. If she objects to this its sexual harassment and she can go multiple routes, if she doesn't want to that's her right and you'll need to back off.


Title: Help. I stole cable from the old guy next door. I know it was a bad thing and even tho I offered to pay back the $700 the cops say if I don't come to the station there will be a warrant for my arrest. IDK what to do and am freaking the hell out

Question: Kentucky

Answer: You need to contact a lawyer. Do not talk to the cops if questioned. If apprehended request a lawyerAnswer #2: It's lawyer time friend as in lawyer this very instant. If you're about to say you can't afford one, Im going to counter with "you can't afford not to have one" because I assure you that you'll incur a worse financial result without one.


Title: [TX] Privately owned parking lot issued fine because the attendant was unable to read receipt left on dash

Question:
I parked in a privately owned parking lot. Paid for parking for the entire day via credit card at the parking kiosk. Left receipt on the dash as instructed. When I come back to my vehicle I had a notice on my windshield with a printout stating the attendant could not read the receipt and directions of how to pay the $75 fine before they issued to a debt collector. The notice also provided contact info so the fine could be contested.

I emailed them with scans of the fine notice, and the parking receipt attached for their review and reference. I believed this to be easy enough to resolve with them. The receipt is in the form a small rectangular printout the obvious comes off of a receipt roll based on the curve of the paper. I can’t help but wonder how frequent the receipt would roll over (especially in a hot car in the middle of summer), as I believe happened in my case. The receipt clearly shows the date and time of payment, and the time expiration for parking.

The company denied to dismiss the fine.

I understand that if a scenario where the receipt is unable to be identified and for that reason a fine was presented. What I struggle with is the fact that I’ve provided the information they needed to see that proves parking was paid for and I feel being taken advantage of. Do I have any reasonable options to contest this further?

Thank you.

Answer: NAL: See if there is a physical office you can pay a visit to make your plea that your ticket was legit.


Title: [CA] Paying women more than men

Question:
I work in a field that has a hard time recruiting and retaining women. This has a number of bad effects, including making the field's leadership overwhelmingly male. Is it legal for us to offer women higher salaries than men in equivalent positions (either at the entry level or higher) in order to recruit and retain more women?
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer:
 Welp. Glad I did all my research before commenting.

No. It isn't legal. The Equal Pay Act's broadening explicitly prohibits wage differences based solely on the sex of the employee. And paying women more to entice more women to work for your company is a difference based solely on sex.


Title: [CA] Traffic Accident - Rear Ended While at a Complete Stop and Car was Totaled

Question:
Hello,

As the title briefly summarizes, my wife was rear-ended last Wednesday 10/11 while sitting at a red light. She was struck at an estimated 30-40mph which caused severe damage to the rear of her vehicle. No police report was filed, but both insurance companies were contacted immediately and many pictures were taken. The other driver appeared to be around the age of 18-20 and most of the communication on the day of the accident was between his mother and I, as the insurance is in her name.

My wife was sore, but appeared unharmed physically and she confirmed that the soreness seemed to be the only issue. Following the accident, I picked up my wife to take her to work to sign workers comp paperwork. My wife was in her personal vehicle during the accident, but travelling to a business meeting with a client while on the clock during normal working hours.

While on the way to her work she developed a severe headache and became very nauseated. She nearly vomited and I thought she may have a concussion, so I took her straight to the emergency room. An xray and CT scan showed she had only minor soft tissue damage and she was prescribed pain medication and muscle relaxers. To this day, everything seems to be healing normally. Medical costs were covered by her worker's comp.

We spoke to the other party's insurance company on the day of the accident and they confirmed their client was 100% at fault and they would provide a rental vehicle for us. They also stated the appraisal of damages would begin shortly and we would have an estimated repair cost at the beginning of the following week. Today, which is 7 days after the accident, we receive a call from the other party's insurance company at 1pm. They stated the damages were estimated at ~$9,000 and the vehicle was appraised at $6,220 and would therefore be totaled. They stated they would pay storage fees at the repair shop until tomorrow and needed us to release the vehicle to them ASAP, so they can tow it. If we did not release the vehicle to them by tomorrow, we would then be required to cover the body shop storage fees at $80/day.

The entire situation makes me feel uncomfortable. We hear nothing for nearly 7 days and then we are expected to make an immediate decision to clear our items out of the vehicle and release it to them, or begin to take over storage fees. We paid the car off 2 months ago and will now be forced to finance a new (to us) vehicle and take on a new payment. I understand life isn't fair and the insurance company can't be expected to pay the value we paid off on the vehicle, when the current value is significantly less. Now because some kid may have been texting or looking at the stereo, we are screwed out of a reliable, very well-maintained vehicle and back into some payments. He gets a slap on the wrist and some premium increases. It just doesn't seem right.

Do we have any form of recourse for additional funds? Are we stuck with the vehicle appraisal provided by his mother's insurance company? Is his mother's insurance required to give us any number of days to figure this out - and pay storage during that time?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Edit: Got the answers I needed. Thank you everyone for taking the time to review and respond.

Answer:
 I would look up other similar vehicles and counter off on the payout. It probably should be totalled (I can't imagine they're 3k off on their estimate) but you may be able to squeeze out a bit more. You don't have to take it or leave it, there's usually some room for negotiation. Especially if you can show comps that are SELLING for more than their offer. Answer #2: Do you have collision?  If so, your insurance company can help.

Make sure when you settle the property damage you don't waive any personal injury claim.Answer #3: It isn't about profiting or punishing the person that made a mistake.  It is solely about being made financially whole.  If your car is worth $X on the open market, then you are owed $X.

You can finance a different vehicle or not, but nothing is stopping you from re-purchasing the exact same make/model/mileage vehicle and being right where you were prior to the accident.  You just need to research the value of your totaled vehicle and compare it to their offer.

The vehicle is worth what the market says it is.  Look up some comparable vehicles and research what they are selling for (not just what the asking price is).  If those values are different from the settlement offered, then you can negotiate the price.  If the prices are in line, then you can feel comfortable settling.

Make sure the medical stuff is finished before releasing them of that obligation, and make sure they are paying for the care.


Title: What do I need to do to make sure I don't have a funeral/burial that's the wrong religion someday? (California)

Question:
I converted to Judaism a while back. I only have a couple living relatives and they are Christians that are hostile to that choice.

I'm young, in good health, and have no reason to suspect I'd fall ill tomorrow. But what kind of paperwork/language in a will or whatever do I need to make sure if something happened to me, my relatives won't instantly gain the right to give me the wrong funeral/burial? Can I name, for example, my rabbi as the person in charge of such arrangements? I have friends, of course, but I don't think any of them would want to be burdened with such a duty as making my funeral arrangements.

Answer:
 For those suggesting a will, I was under the impression that you're buried pretty darn quickly, but a reading of the will doesn't occur for months in many cases during probate.

I think the best answer is to prepay for the funeral.  Still not a guarantee against next of kin overriding things, but its probably as good as you'll get.


Title: I work in EMS and my employer recently has been scheduling us to work 4 12hr shifts back to back in a station with no sleeping quarters. Is this legal? Do we have any recourse other than quitting? My state is WV if that is pertinant.

Answer:
 Cursory research didn't turn up any statutory maximums that would apply. State-employed firefighters do have a maximum, but I didn't find anything applicable to EMS workers. I suspect that if your employer were willing to pay the overtime, they could schedule for 168 hours a week.

This is the sort of thing that used to cause workers to band together and unionize.Answer #2: So you work 12 hours, off 12, on 12, etc...Or are you working 48 hours straight?


Title: [PA] Didn't stop during pledge of allegiance in School

Question:
Hello

17 year old senior from Pennsylvania, USA. I received punishment from the school for not stopping during the pledge of allegiance.

I was in the hallway with a ton of other people 1 minute before first period rang, in order to get to my class faster I didn't participate in the pledge (I don't hate America, lol, I'm actually joining Army ROTC after High School). Everyone was walking and then the teacher in the hallway started yelling telling everyone to stop. I kept walking and she told me to stop, to which I ignored her telling her I didn't want to participate.

She has since refereed me to administration who have given me 4 detentions for my actions.

Is this lawful? I thought you don't have to participate in the pledge if you don't want to...

Answer: IANAL - 24 P.S. §7-771 governs this. Basically the school is required to display the flag in every classroom and provide for the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and/or the National Anthem at the start of each school day. Students may decline to recite the Pledge and may refrain from saluting the flag on the basis of religious conviction or personal belief. The supervising officer of a school subject to the requirements under the subsection shall provide written notification to the parents or guardian of any student who declines to recite the Pledge of Allegiance or who refrains from saluting the flag.


Title: Landlord gave me an N12 to move out; I went and found a new place but in my search I realized they have posted the same apartment for rent on the market. (Ontario, Canada)

Question:
My landlord gave me an N12 because he said he was planning to move back into the house.

I started searching for a new place and have found that he's lied to me; the place I'm renting is back on the market for rent.

I'm sure this goes against the tenant act and it seems really shady of him.

Are there any ramifications or steps I could take?

Thanks.

Answer:
 _Save a copy of that ad._

The N12 notice itself spells out how to contest it:

1. Refuse to vacate.
2. When your landlord files to evict you, present your argument that your landlord gave you notice in bad faith to the Landlord and Tenant Board at your hearing.

An ad to let out the unit you're already living in makes it pretty clear that the identified family member does not, in fact, intend to occupy the unit. If you can corroborate your story - and having a copy of the ad handy will help _immensely_ - then the Board will deny his application to end your tenancy. You can also file a complaint (form [T5](http://www.sjto.gov.on.ca/documents/ltb/Tenant%20Applications%20&%20Instructions/T5.pdf)), which will be heard at the same time; while the Board often won't fine your landlord spontaneously, a T5 can lead to the landlord being fined if your landlord is operating in transparent bad faith.Answer #2: Have a friend respond to the ad and attempt to rent the house.  Document how the landlord responds.Answer #3: Contact the [Landlord Tenant Board](http://www.sjto.gov.on.ca/ltb/contact/)Answer #4: Case law.

https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onltb/doc/2017/2017canlii28525/2017canlii28525.html?searchUrlHash=AAAAAQADbjEyAAAAAAE&resultIndex=2

https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onltb/doc/2016/2016canlii71210/2016canlii71210.html?searchUrlHash=AAAAAQADbjEyAAAAAAE&resultIndex=6