Title: What are the legal repercussions of overstaying a travel visa by only a few days? [FL]

Question:
I’m a UK citizen married to an American. We got married a while ago but lived in separate countries, but two months ago I moved in with her. My tourist visa expires in a few weeks, and she and I are worried I’m going to be deported.

We are in the process of applying for a spousal visa, but the application has not yet been submitted. We need a co-sponsor, and our rabbi said a few people at our synagogue have said they’d consider helping us out, but we don’t have a definite sponsor lined up yet. I’m afraid my tourist visa is going to expire before the application is submitted. I know that if you are illegally in the country for 180 days, you are barred for 3 years, but what is the penalty if you overstay by just a few weeks? Will they know I’ve overstayed, and will it prevent us from getting the visa? I am not making any attempt to earn money or work illegally, if that makes a difference.

My wife and I are concerned that a few days after my visa expires, ICE is going to come looking for me and I’m at risk of being deported. Is this something we should be concerned about? Does the government know if I still in the country, and if so, are they going to be actively looking for me within days of my visa expiring? And could my wife be arrested for allowing me to live with her?

We do not live in a “sanctuary city” if that makes a difference.

TL;DR: There might be a period of a few weeks between my tourist visa expiring and submitting my application for a green card. Should I be concerned about deportation?

Answer:
 If you overstay it’ll massively complicate your immigration situation, making you temporarily or permanently ineligible for a green card. Retain an immigration attorney and do it the right way.Answer #2: No one is going to come looking for you, but if you have an interaction with the police they will be able to determine your immigration status and they may hand you over to ICE for deportation proceedings.

You should leave before your visa expires. Being able to show that you respect the law and are willing to follow comply with the immigration process is a good thing for your visa application. Getting caught overstaying is definitely a mark against you.


Title: [Canada] Hit by car while crossing an intersection with a Walk signal 3 years ago

Question:
About 3 years ago I was hit by a car while crossing the street at an intersection during a Walk signal (it turned right after I already began crossing).

There was no physical damage aside from a bruise that I got checked out at a hospital (free since Canadian) and a damaged fingernail that eventually fell off (grew back shortly after, although looks slightly wonky).

Police came and determined the driver was at fault but since there as no long-lasting physical or emotional damages I didn't think there was any reason to sue.

Not too long after I often started feeling nervous while crossing the street, often feeling overly cautious since I have lost a lot of trust in drivers (maybe a good thing?) but don't really think of it as a huge deal.  Today however, while crossing the street to return to work after lunch during another walk signal I saw a car approaching ready to turn so I increased my pace a bit, taking a more aggressive line to get out of the way in case the car didn't stop.  Lo and behold the car didn't stop and barely missed me, subsequently honking at me.

Obviously there's nothing to be done about what happened today, but I'm now feeling anxiety from the previous accident (obviously since I'm posting this 3 years later) and was wondering if I should or even could do anything about it.  I would say the accident has a slightly negative effect on my life but maybe not so much that it's worth doing anything about.

Thanks.

Answer:
 You have no injuries, and now are rightfully afraid of random people driving 2000 lb death machines.

What would you like to happen?


Title: [Hypothetical] Suing rapist for child support

Question:
For the purposes of the bot, I'm in Colorado, though I'm interested in laws for any jurisdiction.

I was futzing around on Facebook this morning. One of my friends had shared a meme stating that rapists cannot be sued for child support in any state, but they can sue for custody/visitation in like 30+ states. This seems suspicious so I thought I'd check with folks here. Four possible scenarios:

1. Can a female victim sue a male rapist for child support?

2. Can a male rapist sue his female victim for visitation or custody rights with his child?

3. Can a male rape victim sue his female rapist for visitation or custody rights with his child?

4. Can a female rapist sue her male rape victim for child support?

I assume that for laws regarding a rapist to take effect (for example, for a rapist to be denied visitation rights), the rapist would have to have  been found guilty of sexual assault for that law to become relevant. Which is a whole nother discussion. But unless someone has legally been found to have committed rape, a dispute for custody/child support is a dispute for custody/child support and the nature of the child's conception is not at issue. Yes?

Thanks.

Answer:
 1. Yes.

2. Yes.

3. Yes.

4. Yes.

Can someone grade me and let me know how I did? Thanks.


Title: Car splattered with concrete slurry while sitting in my driveway

Question:
TL/DR: concrete company is being shady about insurance but has offered to pay to have my car cleaned.

Hi reddit. My car was splattered with concrete slurry while it was sitting in my driveway. I didn’t see it happen but I sure noticed the nickel sized splatters of dried concrete all over the side, hood, and glass of my car. There is a house being built next door. The houses in my neighborhood are pretty close together and my driveway directly abuts the property line. The general contractor passed the blame and the buck to one of two concrete companies that was working on the project. When I called the concrete guy, he said that there’s no way that I could file a claim with his insurance because there are no witnesses. He did offer to pay for my car to be cleaned and detailed inside and out. What I’m nervous about is potential damage to the paint and clear coat from the concrete slurry spray. I live in a cold weather climate where the roads are salted almost 5 months of the year. Three of four detail shops that I called said they wouldn’t touch this job because of the concrete situation. Do I really need a witness to file a claim with this guy’s insurance? Should I just get the car detailed and move on?

Answer: Don't ever take legal advice from the other party. You may or may not be able to recover from an insurance claim, but the insurance company makes that decision, not the concrete company. You can pursue this with the general contractor and let them hash it out with the concrete company. Get the insurance information from the general contractor and explain that the concrete company isn't willing to take responsibility. That may get the general contractor moving.


Title: Getting banned from a family and friends event

Question:
California
Can I be banned from a family and friends event being hosted at a university? The story is high schools are having a leadership camp at this university and they all go to perform a talent show. But I was kicked this year so I can't attend, yet I still wish to come to support my family and friends. However the advisor of my school is saying I'm not allowed to due to being kicked. Is this allowed since I've been invited and he isn't in charge of the talent show, only an advisor for the school performing?

Answer:
 The university can ban you from their property, regardless of who is hosting the event.Answer #2: Yes it is allowed.

Think about it this way.

You tell some guy never to step on your property.

You invite some chick to a BBQ.

She invites the guy.

Would you really believe he has a right to be on your property now?


Title: Do I have to show ID to police who come to my door for a noise complaint? (VA)

Question:
Basically the title. Years ago in college, I had a few noise complaints where the cops were called (usually parties). It was never a big deal, they'd tell us to quiet down, check my license as someone who lived at the house and then be on their way, saying there would be hell to pay if they had to come back out.

Owing to the recent thread about never, ever talking to the police, I'm wondering if I could have refused contact on principle.

Thoughts?

Answer: You don't necessarily need to show ID but you need to provide identifying information if the police have probable cause to write you a citation.Answer #2: Yes. They are investigating a complaint of which you are involved. You have to cooperate at least that far.


Title: Closing on a house in 4 days and agent called us with bad news today!!!

Question:
We live in Colorado, are closing on a house on Friday, and our real estate agent called us today with some bad news. The listing agent informed him that the solar panels, that we've been told several times over the past month were paid off, are not paid off and seller owes $6000! To top it off the listing agent wants us to handle the situation "under the table" and not tell the title company.  How stupid is that? I don't understand why they lied to us about owing this debt and why their listing agent is being shady.  We've asked that they get in writing from the solar panel company that we are in no way liable for debt owned, that the company can't repo the panels if seller defaults, and that the company won't put a lien on the house if seller defaults.  We've also asked that they pay for any legal fees that arise and to get in writing between us and the sellers that we are not liable for the debt.  We are still waiting on their response. So my questions are 1. Are our demands even possible to be met by the solar company? 2. Do I need to get a lawyer involved beyond writing up a contract? 3. Why is the listing agent being so shady about the situation and is there something I'm missing?  Obviously we won't be doing anything "under the table" and our agent is going to inform the title company with will probably mess things up and push closing date back even further! Grrr! Any help is greatly appreciated!
Topic:
Real Estate law

Answer:
 Have a second inspection done!
ASAP you can't trust these people your making a long term commitment with a mortgage. You never know if they lied about other things. The solar company could get a lien on your property because you'd be benefiting from the panels.


Title: Issue with Professor. (PA)

Question:
Hello, this is one of my first post so don't judge, but I'm currently in college in my final semester and I've had a difficult professor. I have crohn's disease so it's not uncalled for me to have a day spent in the bathroom feeling awful. I missed 2 different class one in particular had a quiz that day. I emailed my teacher 3 hours in advance letting him know I was unable to attend, and I did not hear anything back that day. So the following day I felt better and did confront him with the issue of making up the assignment, I also found out a classmate of mine slept in and missed it as well but got to make it up later that day. The professor seemed unwilling to help he said it's a far cry of an excuse to miss and would not let me the make it up. Furthering his point he told me I had no doctors excuse either. I read the syllabus up and down (it only being 3 pages) no one did it state to make up missed work you had to have a doctor's excuse.

Just on here really looking for advice and some possible suggestions!

Answer:
 If the syllabus doesn't spell out the requirements to make-up an assignment, usually it's up to the professors discretion.

Without a valid doctors note, he isn't required to allow you to make up any work.


Title: Third time getting a minor in consumption charge what to expect?

Question: This is my 3rd time getting a minor in consumption charge, all 3 times i got charged after cops raided parties i was at what should i expect? Will i go to jail since its my 3rd charge or what? Will it be a felony? I just wanna know if i can get away with a good lawyer

Answer:
 Going by your post history, I'm assuming you're in Texas. For your third MIC conviction you can pay up to $2000 and spend up to 180 days in jail, and lose your license for six months.

Get a lawyer, stop getting caught drinking underage, and you should probably stop selling weed, too.


Title: How to afford a lawyer?

Question: Hi, I got cited over 6 months ago for DUI drugs, possession marijuana under one ounce, stop sign, and failure to maintain lane in the state of GA. Went to prison, bailed myself out. I’m 19 (18 at time of arrest) and currently on probation for another charge of possession of marijuana. Haven’t received court date yet either. I’ve been clean, I have a job, I paid all my probation fees, and have straight As in college. My parents refuse to help pay for a lawyer. I could get a public defense attorney but I heard it’s much better to get a lawyer and a lawyer can probably do much more for me. Also, another downside is that even though all my charges are misdemeanors, my case is supposed to be held in superior court. I’m wondering if there’s any way to afford a lawyer? Is it worth it? And if I do pay for a lawyer, how does that paying work? This is very stressful for me and taking a huge toll on my life. I know I messed up and made the mistake and I need to fix it myself but any advice would be really appreciated.

Answer:
 You keep acting like court appointed lawyers are different from private practice lawyers. They aren't. Frankly, in many cases, they may be much more experienced in handling cases like yours. They also tend to knownhe prosecutors and judges in the jurisdiction very well and know what sort of plea deal they are willing to offer and have amicable relationships with them to help ascertain you are getting the best possible outcome. You're not being tried for capital murder where your defense counsel needs to spend hundreds of hours reviewing evidence. They just need to look at the circumstances in which you were arrested and see if any procedural errors may affect the outcome, then negotiate a plea arrangement.

If you wish to try to hire a private attorney, you will almost certainly need to find a way to pay them upfront. You are unlikely to be creditworthy as a college student with historical issues with substance abuse. It is also worth mentioning if you could afford private counsel, you're unlikely to qualify for free representation.


Title: I have evidence of a Utility billing company over-billing potentially thousands of people across the country

Question:
I'm renting an apartment which outsources it's water utility billing to a third-party company, and lately we've been seeing some crazy water/sewer bill increases (400% in six months) despite the city not raising the utility costs. I contacted the city and they were nice enough to inform me of the exact details of the total community consumption and total bill for said consumption. Needless to say I did the math and realized we're being over-billed by about 20%. I contacted their customer service line where I spoke with a manager who agreed with my math, but then tried to make some ambiguous excuses and throw out some intentionally misleading facts their own accounting standards.

She freaked out when I sent over the spreadsheet which I made with the exact numbers and total community breakdown using their own accounting method. She panicked and demanded that I tell her how I was privy to the city billing.

This company (mis)manages utility billing for over 600 multi-family properties across the country, and they are without a doubt committing fraud.

What do I do now?

Edit: bot told me to include location - company is head-quarted in TN

Answer: You are in lawyer territory.  I am thinking class action.  This may even be criminal.  I would assume this would be a contingency case meaning no money from you.Answer #2: Your first step should always be your local Public  Utilities Commission. Don't worry about the company's HQ, because laws and rules vary state-to-state. Wherever you live, contact your PUC, file the complaint, and they'll have someone look at your bills, the rules and rates the utility is held to, and make a decision about whether or not the utility has violated anything.


Title: NJ Earned Sick Leave: Employer calling vacation time “PTO” and saying we can’t earn sick leave because everyone already has 5+ days of “PTO” each year

Question:
From Employer:

“By definition, PTO time includes earned vacation time, paid holidays and funeral leave. Since our company PTO policy exceeds the requirement of the law, all of our full-time employees are receiving more than the law requires”

Does this sound correct? It was my understanding that vacation time IS NOT sick leave and we aren’t supposed to have to use “vacation” time for medical purposes.

I don’t want to challenge my employer without knowing all the information I need to know.

More info: Everyone gets 5 days of vacation time “PTO” the first year of employment and then receives 1 additional day per year up to 15 days.

Answer: As long as you have leave that can be used for sickness, medical appointments, etc at the required amount then the law is satisfied. It doesn't matter what they call it.


Title: Can an Attorney Prevent Their Client From Testifying?

Question:
I've been trying to figure this out all day. I'm just curious about how a defense attorney must act or what kind of actions a defense attorney could take if, hypothetically, they have a client who wants to testify and risk admitting to wrongdoing or a crime and they (the defense attorney) wants to prevent that.

This is for research for a screenplay, not for personal legal advice. If anyone even has a term they think I could google to get more info, I would be happy to hear it!

Answer:
 In the US justice systems, the accused has a constitutional right to testify in their own defence, even against the advice of their lawyer. Doing so will often cause a lawyer to seek leave to withdraw (so that they can fire their client), and if the lawyer reasonably knows the client is going to commit perjury, they need to have no part in it whatsoever, while _also_ maintaining confidentiality with their client. It's a complicated position to be in - and one which many public defenders are intimately familiar with, as indigent clients are also the least likely to have the time and background to fully understand their part in the proceedings or the role of the courts.

The Illinois Bar published a [surprisingly comprehensive](https://www.isba.org/sections/trafficlaw/newsletter/2012/03/youthinkyourclientisgoingtolieonthe) article on the subject of what to do when you know your client is going to lie, but a lot of the advice is similar when you know your client will damage their own case.


Title: [Divorce/Business in FL] Wife going nuts, falsifying signature to take me out of business, refusing to pay my salary

Question:
 **BACKGROUND INFO**

\- Married in FL in 2010

\- Started a business (LLC) in 2014. I was naive enough to put it in my wife's name because she was a US resident and I was just on a student visa at the time. I have put in around 95 % of the work compared to her 5 % over the years.

\- Business has grown exponentially and made around $100,000 in net profit on $2.5m revenue in 2017

\- After 9 years together, I separated from my soon to be ex wife in November last year and filed for divorce in December
\- We signed and notarized a business operating agreement in January this year, adding me as a 50/50 partner. It also states that both members should have access to all business accounts and have to agree on important issues such as hiring/firing and taking out new loans
\- Despite countless mediation sessions, depositions and case management hearings, there is no progress in the divorce case.

&#x200B;

**THE PROBLEM**
\- She is using the business against me to either 1) make me go back to her (Dec-May), or 2) make my life miserable (May-present)
\- In December, she fired me and three employees that I had hired. She later reinstated me per our business operating agreement.
\- After signing the agreement, she has constantly changed the business passwords and locked me out of the company credit cards, violating the agreement
\- She took about $1,000/mo on average out of the business to cover personal expenses, refusing to explain the charges (trampolines, diapers, night clubs, etc)
\- In March, I registered a new company to have as a Plan B if she kept messing with our livelihood. I had no activity on this company until last week.
\- She found out about the company, and started questioning my hours worked in the business (minimum 20 hours/week to get paid monthly). I suggested that we use T-Sheets to clock in and out, but she refused.
\- In May, she hired several family members without my consent, violating the agreement
\- In June, she requested a new business loan worth $249,000 without consulting, violating the agreement yet again
\- In July, she falsified my signature on an Amendment to Sunbiz in Tallahassee to take me out of the business. I filed a police report, but they have not done anything about it.
\- In August, she invented a lot of lies to get a temporary domestic violence injunction against me, to keep me out of the office. This happened after I had tried to fire the family members that were not hires approved by me.
\- My divorce lawyer, who also practices domestic violence law, recommended that we voluntarily agree to extend the injunction. Even though I have evidence to refute all her claims (7 pages long!), my lawyer said that judges in civil court normally grant the permanent injunctions just to be on the safe side. Now it is extended until December and we are set to have mediation in the end of the month.
\- I have not got paid or been able to work since August. I have about 2 months left of living expenses until all my credit cards are maxed out.
\- I started working on my own company last week, and had my very first few sales
\- My lawyer recommends to involve a business lawyer that he knows to make a lawsuit against my wife, and also to get a handwriting expert involved. This will cost me $6,500 in retainers, money that I simply don't have, not even on credit cards.
The worst part of this is that I used to be everything in the company until she started working and messing with it. We made a net profit every month even after paying ourselves a salary. Now, the company is sinking like Titanic, recording losses of an estimated $10-15k a month.
WTF do I do? Is there such thing as free/sliding scale legal help in this country? I know this is mostly my fault for being extremely naive and stupid. I trusted her, and then the signed agreement.
She is abusing me left and right in everything else as well. She has sold/concealed the two cars that we used to drive, and frequently changes the locks on our co-owned apartment where I live (she lives in a 3 bedroom rental paid by the business).
I could not handle it anymore and left the US until the mediation in the end of the month. I don't expect her to be reasonable there. The problem is that if we don't agree on all issues, then I can't keep paying lawyer fees.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

TLDR:
I'm a naive idiot
Soon to be ex wife is screwing me over in the business which is a marital asset
She falsified my signature to remove me as a partner
I don't have money to start a lawsuit

Answer:
 Get that money for the business lawyer ASAP, borrow and beg if you have to. If your wife is using company money for personal purchases and not recording it as Drawings (which I'm guessing she's not if she won't explain them) then this is pretty serious accounts fraud. Get that lawyer and get it down that you aren't involved in it, otherwise you might end up in jail for this, not just loosing the company. Answer #2: >Now, the company is sinking like Titanic, recording losses of an estimated $10-15k a month.

Jump off?  At this point, you're talking about a money losing business that's being run into the ground.  It's not worth spending a bunch of money litigating over.

Same thing with the divorce.  You're a year in and your wife is fighting dirty.  Getting screwed in the settlement and starting your new life is better than burning a bunch of money on lawyers.


Title: [CA] My car was towed from an apt complex but I couldn't get a pass from the apt office bc it was closed. Can they still tow it after hours?

Question: I went to visit my friends and got there at 6:15 and didn't know the office closed at 6pm so I couldn't get a visitor pass. My car was observed at 6:55pm and authorized at 7:30pm. The neighbors of my friends told me they see a truck towing my car so I ran after him and told him that its my car and that I can't get a pass bc the office is closed, but he leaves bc one of my friends start yelling at him (I know, I tried to stop my friend but the damage was done and the truck driver drove off). So I went and got my car at 9pm and paid $368. Is there anything I can do to get back my money from the apt complex? Bc it was after hrs so I can't get a pass but yet someone is working after hours finding cars without passes and reporting them? It seems sketchy to me.

Answer:
 >Is there anything I can do to get back my money from the apt complex?

No. A pass is required. You didnt have one. You were towed. Case closed.

The complex is neither obligated to offer passes at all hours, nor precluded from towing cars without a pass simply becaise they're closed.


Title: [IN] Daughter reported veiled "gun threat" to police, now person accused has her name

Question:
About 2 months ago, my step daughter's school was cancelled due to a gun threat.  Suspect was picked up by police for issuing specific threats about bringing a loaded weapon to school that morning.

That weekened another kid posted an instagram picture of himself in a skull ski-mask, stating "Don't come to school on Monday".  It didn't specifically state a gun would be involved, but she brought it to her mom.  After talking about it, we both agreed the right thing to do would be to report it.

Neighbor is a cop for the city next to the town we live in.  We showed him and he recommended reporting it to the non emergency line.

Wife and daughter call non emergency.  Cop comes to take a statement and records what they saw.  I wasn't around when this bit happened, but that seemed the end of it.

So today the kid who posted the threat comes to school, with a copy of the police report.  My step daughters name is on it.  Kid is essentially trying to cause her as much grief as possible, we've allowed my step daughter to come home sick for the day.  She was able to text us and let us know what is going on.

I'm concerned about how lax the police were in releasing the name of a minor to anyone - let alone someone who (in agreeably a vague way) issued a gun threat to a school.

Looking for legal advice guys!

Answer: If he was charged, he has a right to the police report.


Title: [AZ] Bought a house as an unwed couple, all in his name though I pay half the mortage

Question:
Okay, this is more of a hypothetical based on a real situation. I was living with my boyfriend for a years when he decided to buy a house. He/his parents provided all of the down payment, I pitched in nothing. The house is entirely in his name, but I've been living in it for as long as him. We have a joint bank account that we both put equal amounts of money in (with a full paper trail) that is used to pay the mortgage and home insurance. We agreed informally and verbally that I would essentially be an unofficial tenet and not get any right to the house despite paying for half the mortgage. As I mentioned, we are in Arizona which AFAIK has no form of common law marriage.

Now, I have no interest in trying to legally get the house. I'm happy with the arrangement and wouldn't want to go back on our agreement. But I've had some people say that because we are in a long term relationship and I pay half the mortgage I could sue for half the house, or at least the equity I put into it. For the sake of settling the argument, how true is that?

Answer: It's perfectly legal for your boyfriend to charge you **rent** in the amount of half of the mortgage payment.


Title: I am being framed for something I didn't do

Question: [NY] I will try to be concise.  I became an acquaintance with a much younger girl/woman through a mutual friend.  She is over 18 and is involved in a relationship.  Over time, she made it obvious she was interested in being more than friends.  A group of us usually get together at one of our homes, drink, eat, play games, have fun etc.  Often times, someone takes the responsible approach of sleeping on someone else's sofa/chair instead of driving under the influence.  One night, I was sleeping on a recliner chair and was woken up by the younger woman proceeding to straddle me, kiss me, etc.  I didn't immediately push her away, but it didn't progress further.  She began to talk to me about her relationship problems, in the middle of the night, and how she is planning to leave her boyfriend, and the challenges she faces doing so.  Since then, she began texting me, repeatedly inviting me to meet her privately.  I never did.  Our text conversations were mostly about her problems, sometimes mine and I never suggested I was interested in a romantic relationship with her.  I would give her generic advice about her situation and keep myself out of it.  Subsequently, there were two more incidents that were almost identical to the first - while asleep, she makes her move.  I kept quiet about it all because I didn't want to escalate matters nor cause any trouble between friends.  Recently, her boyfriend discovered some text messages between this woman and her friends that suggest that her and I were involved.  This lead to a massive inquiry and discovery which resulted in the woman "confessing" what happened.  However, she stated that I was the initiator and pursued her and that we had sex once.  As the story further unfolds, she was apparently obsessed (according to a mutual friend) with me, breaking into friends' phone to view conversations with me, chatting with her friends about me as if we were planning something long-term together, the list goes on.  As I said, she is much younger, while I have a job, home, etc.  Apparently, her hope was that once she left her boyfriend, I would invite her into my home and we would live happily ever after.  As that plan did not come to fruition by the time she was caught, she simply blamed everything on me and now her boyfriend, and everyone else that knows about this, believe her story that I was the initiator and that we had sex.  Her boyfriend is forgiving her and giving her another chance, despite the lies, including that we had sex.  No matter what she says, what detail she gives, it is believed.  Obviously, I am worried about what other details she will concoct to further her position.  Please advise.

Answer: Stop associating with these people. Answer #2: You're not being accused of a crime, so this isn't a legal problem.  It's an inter-personal problem.  Try /r/relationships.


Title: Landlord won't pay water bill

Question: Looking for some advice.  My landlord is refusing to pay a past due water bill and my water is being shut off.  It is stated in my lease that he is responsible for the water bill.  I contacted the City but they said there is nothing they can do until the past due amount is paid.  What are my rights?  I live in MI.

Answer: that's constructive eviction most likely, look into a local tenants right group and find out how to proceed once that occurs.


Title: I renovated my cousin's house without a contract, now he's refusing to pay me. Can I do anything?

Question:
I'm a contractor running my own business, and I recently renovated my second cousin's house. Halfway through the planned renovations (which he paid me a sizable portion for up front) we discovered the basement wall was slowly collapsing, and I had to shore it up, resulting in a couple thousands dollars' worth of unplanned repairs, which I paid for out of my own pocket. Upon nearing completion of the project, he stopped paying me and now six months later, he's gone from making excuses to outright refusing to pay, noting we don't have a written, signed contract. I'm an idiot and didn't make him sign one, because he's family and he paid me up front for everything we'd planned to do, minus the surprise collapsing wall, as previously noted.

**More details:** His plan was to refinance the house after the renovation, under the assumption my work would raise the value and he'd pay me the balance of what I'm owed. Toward the end of the project, he said he'd made a mistake with his automatically withdrawn mortgage payment, overdrew his account and subsequently dropped his credit score, rendering him unable to refinance. That's presumably why he can't pay me the balance. This was six months ago. Unable to verify if the story is true, or if he has since tried to refinance, but from what I've since learned about him, and what other family members have told me, I doubt he's made an effort (turns out he's kind of a lazy bum -- we didn't know each other very well before the project).

Long story short: I'm a contractor and I renovated my cousin's house without making him sign a contract, and now he's stiffing me on the bill. Are there any legal avenues I can pursue? Thanks.

Answer: Pennsylvania allows contractors who have improved property to file a mechanics lien on the property.


Title: My boss is ordering me to work off the clock. I'm ignorant of these things and could use some advice.

Question:
Thank you in advance for your consideration.

I am the only warehouse employee for a company in Illinois. I ship out orders all over the world, mostly through UPS and FedEx. Every day UPS and FEDEX stop by in the afternoon between 3pm-4:00pm to pick up the outgoing packages. But on Fridays in the summer we close at 1pm, meaning UPS and FEDEX can't pick up the packages on those days.

My boss told me I have to take all of the packages on Fridays and load them into my personal vehicle and drive them 15 minutes out of my way to UPS and drop them off. I have to do this after 1pm when I am off the clock. Basically, I'm being ordered to load hundreds of pounds of boxes into my sedan and drive them around on my personal insurance while I am off the clock.

I am very ignorant of these things so if I'm wrong, I accept that, but it seems like this can't be legal, can it? I feel like I'm putting wear and tear on my personal vehicle and taking all the liability while also working for free.

Reasoning with my boss is impossible. She is extremely petty and unreasonable. She once fired someone for bringing up serious concerns about some red flags regarding the financials of the company. Basically, discussing my concerns with her will get me nowhere. Her only boss is the president of the company who is barely ever around and he always just sides with her on things because he doesn't want to deal with it.

I've worked here for almost a year and it is painfully obvious that my boss does not like me, even though I receive high praise from everyone else at the company. I'm afraid if I speak up she'll fire me. What should I do?

Answer:
 Speak up, file a wage complaint, get fired collect unemployment and find a new job.  You don't want to work for someone like that anyway.Answer #2: She can't order you to work off the clock.  Time you are doing work for the company is paid work.

I personally wouldn't use my private vehicle to do corporate work as that gets messy with insurance.

Sounds like you should look for a new job.  You can make a complaint about unpaid wages with the state labor agency, for any time you worked but weren't paid.  Keep good records of your exact working times from now on.

You may be fired.  If you're fired for refusing to do unpaid work, hey, at least you'll qualify for unemployment.

Answer #3: To add to all the advice here: if your boss is doing this to you, **they have done or will do this to someone else.** A DoL complaint may be the only way to get it through the owner's head that the boss is a liability.

If she fires you for this, you will be eligible for unemployment. If you are denied, appeal.Answer #4: Yo. Have you been doing this every Friday for a year? If so you need to get all of your documentation in line, including EVERY email in which you were instructed to work off the clock, and the mileage in which it takes to get from your work place to UPS/Postal. Once you have this you need to look for a new job where they respect you. Once you do this, file a wage claim and get retropay for those hours and miles.


Title: Someone in college stole my work and uploaded as his own

Question:
I'm on a Computing course which is 100% coursework based and I'm in my last couple of weeks of college and have found out recently that someone has uploaded a piece of work which is literally identical to mine, even my spelling and grammatical mistakes, now this guys already had a similar incident where one of his friends sent him there work and he just straight up uploaded it as his even though it had his friends name on it.

I'm pretty sure il be able to prove it as our intranet keeps track off login sessions and they track the time, date and ip of each sessions, however as a student I can only see today's sessions I'm hoping the admins will be able to retrieve older sessions.

Now I know him doing this breaking a few acts as it comes under hacking, is it worth suing him? Sorry if this a stupid question and a stupid reason to sue someone for.

We have to wear a lanyard at this college which has our username and password on it for the intranet the default one anyway and as I didn't change my default password it would have been easy for him to find my details.

Answer: You don't have damages to sue for. Inform the school and let them handle it. You can file a police report if you want


Title: Denied warranty claims due to cosmetic damage despite my mobile device malfunction

Question:
I have a plan with a telco company that is akin to mobile device insurance. I get to replace my defective set for a new/refurbished set with a small out-of-pocket charge ($130). The device that I would receive is covered under a 6 months warranty.

5 months in the warranty, said device started malfunctioning. I tried to exercise the warranty but it was out rightly denied on the basis that there is cosmetic damage on the device (small dent).

I disputed this on the basis that no where on the service terms and conditions did it explicitly state that cosmetic damage voids this 6-months warranty.

The warranty clause is as such:

Warranty – You are entitled to a 6 month warranty for each Like Mobile Device against manufacturer malfunctions and defects that starts from the date of delivery of Like Mobile Device. }

They claim that my cosmetic damage is "against manufacturer malfunctions" hence my warranty is void. So far I have spoken to two senior managers who have given me the same reasoning.

How should I reply them? Can what they mean be interpreted from that clause?

Located in Singapore!

Answer:
 Hey OP.

I am not a lawyer, but I do repair phones for a living.

At my shop, we would absolutely refuse to warranty a phone we had previously worked on, if it had gotten a "small cosmetic dent". (And we like to be **really** liberal with our warranty!)

The dent implies that something traumatic has happened to the device. That trauma could have knocked something loose inside the motherboard. If the motherboard has been affected, you never know what kind of problems might manifest.

Additionally, if the phone has apparently been through one traumatic event that dented it, how many times did it get knocked around/dropped/thrown and NOT have a visible dent?


Title: My wife-to-be told me she was recorded while taking her pants off to change to a new pair

Question:
So my wife-to-be is in Indonesia, she works in a pastry company and she's stationed in the Central Kitchen as part of the Pastry Division. She's been telling me about how her coworkers sexually harass her and the other women in that workplace. Recently, she told me she was recorded with her jeans off (she has shorts on the inside) and that video was shared out by the man who recorded it. To me, that is sexual harassment. I am looking to report this incident, I have proof of the video and I asked her to try and find out the name of this guy then bringing it up to their HRD.

However I've read that an Indonesian woman was jailed for reporting a documented sexual harassment. So now I'm a bit worried on what should I do.

Any advice from people who live in Indonesia or have experience of handling this kind of thing is very helpful. I'm not going to stop until I find a way to convict this guy for sexually harassing her.

Answer:
 Am I right to assume, you're a Mat Salleh living outside of Indonesia?   Indonesia can be sketchy AF, and the article you're referring to is:  [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/15/indonesia-jails-teacher-who-documented-sexual-harassment](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/15/indonesia-jails-teacher-who-documented-sexual-harassment)

&#x200B;

I live next door to Indonesia, so I may have some perspective on this.   She should go lodge a police report against her co-workers.   I know that bringing it up with HRD might seem like the proper thing to do, but HRD's in Asian companies seem to only be interested in CYA and saving face of the bosses.

Another point to consider is that the woman in the article got in trouble because she recorded the harassment.  This recording was then used against her, as insane as that sounds.   If your wife-to-be doesn't record anything (but she should keep notes), and she mentions that the staff have been recording her, it might go better.   In a larger city, like Jakarta, it's probably easier to report.

&#x200B;

Frankly, it's probably less hassle for her to change jobs, because most likely, after the police report, there's a high chance she will get fired.  Therefore, she should already have another job lined up, so she can quit right after filing the police report.  I speak from experience, as I myself was railroaded and fired for filing an HRD complaint.  But my eyes were open, and I knew what was coming.

&#x200B;

There are other avenues to explore, which you would probably be aware of, if you were living there.  Since you're not, my final suggestion is to take your girl, and get out of there.  Go to Malaysia, or Singapore.


Title: The CEO of my company told my mother about a suicide attempt. What are my options?

Question:
August of last year I was in a bad place mentally. I almost committed suicide, but decided to call the mental health help line on the back of my insurance card. Long story short, police came in fully armed, handcuffed me, dropped me off at the ER, and left.

I have been working on my mental health. I began taking an antidepressant early December, and went to detox last week for opiates and alcohol. I can honestly say that I haven't had suicidal thoughts since I was on the antidepressant, but I still had substance abuse issues which I am addressing now (8 days sober currently).

There was another situation in October that I woke up really sick and tried to send an email to my company that I wasn't going to be there (it was early in the morning, nobody to answer the call). Due to some phone issues, the email didn't go through, and my employer was worried about me until I woke up (around 2:30PM) and called them.

I spoke to my mother today, and she let me know that it was something she was thinking about for a long time, and that the CEO of my company had called her that day asking where I was. My employer knew about the attempt, because I had to come clean to keep my job. My mom started crying, and the CEO told her everything about what happened in August.

I am really frustrated, as my mother told the rest of my family, and I am now unable to talk to my family about my mental health on my own terms and in my own time now. She took that away from me. I feel that all she was entitled to do was call my emergency contact, ask her if she had heard from me, and then say say if she did hear from me to let them know.

A bit of back-story; the CEO of my company is the mother of a guy I went to elementary school with, played baseball/basketball with, etc. However, my mother and the CEO were never friends. She hadn't talked to my mother before I got this job (3 years ago) since elementary school, so it isn't like she was coming to her as a friend. She was acting as CEO of the company.

What are my options here?

Answer: There is nothing illegal about the CEO telling your mother about your suicide attempt.  You have no options.


Title: Public sector: I went around my supervisor and our dept HR person directly to HR about a compensation question. HR cc'ed my boss and dept HR to the email. Isn't there some degree of confidentiality? Can I be awarded damages for HR not taking my confidentiality into account?

Answer:
 Unless you have a contract that says otherwise somehow, then they can cc anyone they want on your emails.

I don't see a cause of action here...Answer #2: There is nothing wrong with you going directly to HR with a question. Likewise there is nothing wrong with them including your boss in their reply.


Title: Apartment feels too hot.

Question:
I live in Denton, Texas.

Summer is just starting and temperatures are starting to hit 90F. It won't be too long until it's over 100F outside. Right now, my thermostat is set at 72F, but it's already showing that it's 80F inside. I had this problem last year as well, but my girlfriend and I managed. This year, we don't want to go through with it again.

I keep all of my lights off, try to keep my larger, hotter electronics off (like my TV and PC), but my apartment just generates a crap ton of heat. We have two huge windows facing East that have black-out curtains and multiple fans in our apartment.

Last year, when they checked out our A/C, they said it was working properly. The air coming out of the A/C unit was around 60F, but I think that our apartment has terrible isolation. There is visible space between our front doors and the door frames and there seems to be random hot spots in our apartment.

I was wondering if there is anything we can do. We're just trying to keep us and our pets cool.

Thank you.

EDIT: Well, judging from the messages I'm getting, it looks like there isn't really a legal means to help me, but a lot of users have been giving me some helpful, practical advice to keep the heat out. I appreciate all of the tips, stay cool.

Answer:
 Not legal advice, but I live in AZ so know about the heat and bad AC's.

Ask the landlord to check the front door where you say there is a gap and apply new insulation/weather stripping. Do the windows as well. You can also get foam insulation panels from a home improvement store to place in the windows to absorb some of the heat.

Make sure the filter in the AC is getting changed routinely, and you can ask about having the vents cleaned. Good luck!


Title: Death threat?

Question:
“If it was you who “ratted” tonight,

Well here’s another death threat.

See ya soon if I find out it was you”.

Police said it’s not a threat and I can’t press charges

Canada

Answer: Go into the station tomorrow and ask to speak to a supervisor.


Title: Can I call the cops if my computer is taken away & get it back legally at 18?

Question:
Regardless of what my parents think, I'm planning on moving out very soon. I have a lot of important documents & overall is my PC, that is taken away. Can I call police to obtain my stuff back? I paid 100% for all this, I am 18. State: CT

( Sorry I don't want to sound like a spoiled brat, but I seriously need this. )

Answer: I suggest emailing yourself any important documents or putting them onto a Google drive, so if worst comes to worst, you still have your documents.


Title: I wrote a bad (but truthful) review for my DJ and now he’s threatening legal action if I don’t remove it [OR]

Question:
I’m located in Oregon. I had an awful DJ for my wedding back in the summer. He would constantly not answer my calls that we had scheduled and wouldn’t get back to me for weeks at a time. It came down to 2 weeks before my wedding and he had bailed on 3 calls for various excuses so I decided to cancel. I had found several reviews saying he didn’t show up so I didn’t want to have to worry about my DJ not showing up on my wedding day.

I told him I wanted my money back and the only reason I canceled it because he was unreliable. I was very nice about it but he was just rude. It took me 2 months until after the wedding to get all my money back. He sent it in two parts, half money gram and the other half cashiers check. He was going to give me the 2nd half but I was very persistent about calling him. He just kept lying and ignoring me, but ultimately I did get my money back.

So does he have any legal rights against a bad review? He said he has been finically and emotionally hurt by my remarks and “has proof”. He said he will have to take “severe legal action that will cost me a great deal finically”. Is this a threat? Should I remove the posts? I honestly want to warn other brides because I’ve been in contact with people who’ve been through the same thing. Help me please!!

Answer:
 Don’t take it down. He’s just trying to scare you. You’ll be okayAnswer #2: His emotional or financial hurt is inconsequential if your review is accurate and factual (and can be evidenced). That is the point of reviews, unless they are baseless, lies or inflammatory.

If he does take any legal action against you, seek formal counsel.


Title: Do you think I should sue dentist that had me on braces for 10+ years?

Question:
I'm not sure this is the right sub, I dont want professional advice obviously just want to know the opinions of people who regularly read about legal matters.

Story: I was under the "care" of a dentist who put me on orthodontics from age 10 to 20, and then retired "mid treatment" so I had to find someone new and my teeth still had a lot of details to work on, resulting in a total of 12 years of braces.

My case wasn't extreme, crowded teeth with an impacted tooth. From reading online this should have taken 2 to 4 years, anything more would be unwarranted.

Due to having them for 3-4 times as much, during a growth period, the force of the braces caused immense pressure on my jaw, I suffered terrible pain and dissociation. I couldn't eat right, couldn't talk properly, my whole face was fucked.

2 years ago I started trauma therapy and I found out that wearing braces for too long can cause severe trauma, and after years of therapy focused ob relaxing my jaw I still feel pain every day for which I'm medicated. I feel like my face is burning all the time, its unberable.

Not to mention that I spent all my youth on braces, couldnt even kiss properly (severe pain regarding the mouth), and retractive braces are known to make you less attractive, since they flatten your face.

I've been on meds and therapy for close to a decade, but only after getting them off could I finally pinpoint the problem and start healing, which is hell 24/7.

However I last saw her 5 years ago, and only started correlating my issues to braces 2 years ago because I was dissociated from my mouth until months after I got them off by a different dentist.

Would you personally consult a lawyer or do you think it's a lost case? This has consumed my youth

Answer: Definitely go talk to a medical malpractice lawyer, they can tell you if you have a case. There's a good chance this would be a viable case but it depends on your local laws.Answer #2: Don't sleep on this.  No clue how your statute of limitations works, but the clock is running.  Also, huh?  Where were your parents, friends, etc?  No one noticed you had braces for a dozen years and said "wait a sec?"


Title: In states with Death with Dignity statutes on the books can you write a will asking to be euthanized instead of having your feeding tube removed if you fall into a coma?

Question:
In Washington, for example, the [death with dignity act](https://www.doh.wa.gov/YouandYourFamily/IllnessandDisease/DeathwithDignityAct) allows residents with less than six months to live to request lethal doses of medicine for physicians.

I'd like to know whether this can be codified in a will in the case of a coma/legal brain death. I know that you can request to have your feeding tube removed, but the idea of some small spark of my consciousness hanging out in my body while it starves to death/dies of thirst sounds kind of horrible. I would think that the removal of the feeding tube would meet the conditions for less than six months to live. Could I request that my feeding tube be removed, and then have a lethal dose administered?

Answer:
 Wills aren't effective until your dead.

Whether you can use some kind of other document to request assisted suicide (as opposed to withholding treatment, which can be done through a living will or medical power of attorney) depends on the assisted suicide law in that particular jurisdiction.  If it requires a psych eval, or verbal requests, then no, you won't be able to do it.


Title: Could this be a possible defense businesses could use to discriminate against homosexual customers?

Answer:
 Nothing about Obergefell created a private right of action mandating private parties to provide services to the LGBT community. Absent enabling legislation by the Federal or state government in which you live, that baker can decline to bake the cake.Answer #2: >In this case, they are only refusing to make a certain product and not refusing to serve homosexuals in general

States with public accommodation statutes that protect homosexuals as a class universally bar discriminatory treatment by any business in the provision of any good or service.  Because in your scenario, homosexuals would be denied the right to be treated the same as any other capable buyer, they'd run afoul the law.


Title: UPDATE: This morning I rear-ended someone and I don't have insurance, lady I hit has been texting me asking for license plate info, what do I do now?

Question:
[deleted]
Topic:
Insurance

Answer: The decent thing to do would be to pay her deductible, if not pay for all her repairs. And don't drive again until you have insurance.


Title: If a US immigration officer was to ask me if I was a citizen of another country eventhough I present another passport am I obliged to answer that question?

Question:
I have a friend who is a UK citizen (Canadian PR) but is also an Iranian Citizen. He currently lives in BC Canada. He plans to cross the US border at some point.

Now he plans to cross the border with his UK passport. Beyond his visits to Iran, there is no legal proof he is an Iranian citizen beyond his Iranian passport.

So if he just left his Iran passport at home and only brought his UK passport, what proof does US immigration has that he is an Iranian citizen. If the immigration officer ask him is he is an Iranian citizen, can he legally decline to answer it?

Another related question, if the immigration officer was to ask if his religion was Islam, can he also decline to answer?

Answer:
 He's free to decline and the immigration officer will deny entry into the country. This isn't a traffic stop.

ETA this seems like a great way to get barred for life. Best to wait a few months till things deescalate.Answer #2: He can decline to answer and the Immigration officer can deny him entry.


Title: Can I send a letter to all my neighbors blaming my next door neighbor for a new ordinance?

Question:
Long Story, my neighbor and I got into a dispute and the neighbor turned to the code enforcement of our little Alabama town.  However the code enforcement told him there was no specific code violation of what I was doing.  So being a good old boy he went to his buddy on the city council and they promptly changed the code.  However in changing the code and to ensure I never ever did it again they basically re-wrote a part of the ordinance involving work vehicles and self employment.

I have decided to turn in every one of the 90 plus neighbors who store work vehicles on their property or equipment for their businesses.  These neighbors happen to represent the wealthiest cut of folks in the small town.   The question is can I send them a letter, letting them know that they should go thank X neighbor for ram this stupid new ordinance down our throats or could my neighbor sue me for defamation?

Answer: The rules for defamation are that factual statements and genuine opinions cannot be sued for. For example: "X is a child molester" is not fine, but "X is a giant poopyhead" is fine. "I would not be surprised if X were arrested for molesting children" is also fine.Answer #2: Ordinances don't just become law all willy nilly. It seems like the better waste of resources would be to lead the charge in getting it overturned by first determining if it was done correctly, and then having a coordinated effort to get it changed.


Title: When is it okay to seek an attorney when dealing with a company that does not provide water to their maintenance guys often enough?

Question:
I am an apartment maintenance guy in Houston, TX. Im sitting in my shop right now after almost having a heat stroke. I started becoming dizzy, nauseous, i stopped sweating, and a nurse that lives here told me that my skin felt like it had been in the ac (even though i had not been inside most of the afternoon after moving a bunch of old appliances. This isnt the first time this has happened to me either. I go through 12-13 bottles of water a day. We run out very quickly and are not replenished for 3 or 4 days at a time. I dont want to die because of something so preventable. Is there anything i can do?

Edit: thanks y'all for the advice. It just sounds like i was ignorant and really fucking stupid.

Answer:
 http://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=25&pt=1&ch=295&rl=165

Here is the texas statute on drinking water. Are there no faucets or water coolers in your office, only bottles?


Title: Dog put down without consent.

Question:
My friend who had a three year old dog had to move back into her parents house.  They have two dogs, and while playing my friends dog hurt one of theirs.  Not bad, but her parents flipped out and said she had to find somewhere else or get rid of the dog.

She had a friend lined up to house the dog until she got back on her feet, but she was on vacation and couldn't take her for another week.

While my friend was at work, her parents took her dog and had it put down.  Is there anything she can do in this situation?

Answer: She can sue her parents for the value of the dog. She should probably be prepared to get evicted if she does, though.


Title: Relinquished dog being demanded back by original owner, help! (PA)

Question:
A little over a year ago an old friend of mine called me to tell me that his father was moving and couldn't take his elderly dog, and that if he (my friend) couldn't find someone to take her (the dog), the dog would be going to a shelter.

My boyfriend and I agreed to adopt the dog. We've had her now for over a year and we've assumed all financial responsibility for her care (vet, grooming, life necessities, etc).

Now we hear from said friend that his father wants the dog back. We don't want to give her back because in addition to the fact that she's become part of our family, we suspect she wasn't treated very well by her original owner. Nothing so far as abuse, but she had some behaviors when we assumed care that indicated to me that she didn't get much attention or exercise, and we've been able to work on those. What does the law have to say about issues like this? There was never any formal contract or anything like that, just my friend dropping her off with us and that being that.

Answer: It's your dog. It was given to you, and you've assumed responsibility for quite awhile now. You can cut contact with them. If you are sued, respond, but otherwise, ignore them.


Title: [Oklahoma] Brand new apartment complex was to be ready before school started. Three weeks into semester, they still aren’t ready and they terminate EVERY lease. More details inside.

Question:
I’m assuming there’s nothing I can do here but I’d like to run it by some legal minds before giving up.

I’m a college student returning to Oklahoma State this fall. Over the summer I found housing at this brand new, very close to campus apartment complex. I chose them mostly because of the location. Move in date was supposed to be the Thursday or Friday before classes started.

The Tuesday before move in day, they send out an email stating that the complex won’t be ready in time, as they don’t have a certificate of occupancy yet. They give us three options:

1 - break the lease with no penalty,

2 - stay in their prearranged hotel until the complex is ready, with $100 a day for incidentals. Or

3 - make our own arrangements and receive $200 a day for housing and incidentals.

I chose option 3 and booked a hotel close to campus, not really in walking distance, but significantly closer than their provided hotel.

In the three weeks since there have been numerous wordy but uninformative emails about how they still weren’t passing inspection and sorry but they should be done ASAP, they promise.

On the evening of Wednesday of week 3, after most leasing offices have closed, they email us all again and essentially they aren’t done, they don’t know when they will be done, sorry dudes. They are terminating EVERYONE’s leases, you’re now on your own for housing, and they will only pay for up to Thursday’s hotel, you’ve got to check out by Friday.

Of course, since it’s after school started, there are no apartments near campus. There’s some stuff a mile or more away, but in the Oklahoma heat, with our shit/nonexistent sidewalks, it’s impractical to walk. Personally, I went to on campus housing and got a dorm room. I’m less then pleased, but hey, I can walk to class.

My question is do they have any kind of obligation to find us housing or compensate us for just terminating our leases like that? Three weeks into the semester, when finding a place to stay is a nightmare, they just say ‘too bad guys, find somewhere else.’ I realize them offering us the money they did was more than reasonable as a temporary measure. But there’s no actual compensation for just terminating our leases like that. Am I (and everyone else) just SOL?

Answer:
 Hoo boy. Whatever answer you get, I'm sorry you have to deal with that. Sounds like a nightmare.

What does your lease say about them being unable to deliver possession?Answer #2: IANAL, but the first thing I’d do is refer to the lease you signed.

Does it have any clauses that you agreed to in signing regarding termination of the lease by the owner for convenience etc?

Answer #3: It depends on the terms of your lease.  For starters, is it yearly, monthly, quarterly, or something else?

&#x200B;

On another note, did you pay a deposit/first month's rent yet?  Did they charge you anything at all before moving in?Answer #4: Not a lawyer.

It's going to depend on your lease. Absent any weird clauses you probably have a case for any increased cost of housing due to them breaking the contract after the start of semester.


Title: [WA] Not sure if I should call CPS

Question:
My daughter recently befriended a neighbor who is her same age(6). This girl seemed like a normal kid the first few times she came over to play with my daughter. Recently, however, she has been talking about strange things, like how her mom tells her to "go play" and not come back until 9pm. She is always hungry when she comes over, and yesterday she told me about how she lied to a judge about being burnt with a cigarette because she didn't want her dad to get in trouble.

I've never spoken with the mother, but she occasionally texts my wife to tell her she's going to the store when her kid is over at my house, which has very quickly gone from once every few evenings after school to every day before AND after school. Her mom seems either unable or unwilling to properly care for her. Should I talk with the mom about all this stuff or should I contact CPS? What would the ramifications be if I did?

Answer:
 Contact CPS if you have legitimate concerns. They can vet them.

It sucks, but once you start talking about cigarette burns this is more of a CPS issue.Answer #2: >mom tells her to "go play" and not come back until 9pm

After reading this I was ready to brush off your post, because this isn't automatically a bad thing. But then:

>She is always hungry when she comes over, and yesterday she told me about how she lied to a judge about being burnt with a cigarette

Please call CPS. Don't accuse her of child abuse; state that you have concerns about a child's well-being. All you're doing is giving the facts to CPS. They'll conduct an investigation and make a decision. Discussing this with the mother is unlikely to help, and may result in the girl being punished.

Washington state has immunity for good-faith reports of child abuse. You can read more about this here: https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/immunity.pdfAnswer #3: When you're not sure whether or not to call, you should call. If they decide that what you've reported isn't enough to investigate, then that's that.

In this case, the cigarette burns alone make this something that you definitely should report.Answer #4: Holy shit, yes. Please call & get that child some help.

Edited to say: If it helps, I'm a 34 year old non-alarmist, "free-range" (don't even get me started on that term), & if I were in your shoes, I'd call. Answer #5: 1-800-END-HARM is the hotline for reporting in Washington State. If you are not a mandatory reporter, you can report it anonymously. If you have a good rapport with the child, and feel you can handle it, you could also consider volunteering as a foster placement for her. They will walk you through the process.


Title: My coworker just got promoted to boss and lives with 2 employees and hired his best friend, now I feel like i'm being singled out.

Question:
TEXAS

Hey guys,

So my boss, who used to be my coworker, wrote me up out of no where. There was no talk, no nudge, just a write up.  He "recently" hired his best friend and even moved him down from another state, his friend is completely under qualified btw. My boss lives with 2 coworkers, one of which is one of his best friends of about 15 years and his land lord. On my shift, I work with his landlord, his best friend he just hired, and basically his left hand man. If anything goes wrong he is QUICK to run to me and shake his finger, but will never go to the others. My question to you is, is this legal if he lives with 2 coworkers especially if one of them is his landlord? I should also mention HR and his director doesn't know about this either as far as I know.

Answer: Nothing in your post is illegal.


Title: I want to run an online casino with virtual currency

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Is it possible to convert this virtual currency into real currency? If so, it's no different, and would likely run afoul of gambling laws. If it's for entertainment only, and the plays can't "cash out" the chips, through your site or a third party, then there's nothing wrong with it.


Title: Caught pest control not treating house

Question: Recently got cheap streaming camera that has motion detection. Today I got notification of Motion so when and checked out clip that is recoded when motion is set off. It was pest control tech pulling in driveway. So I logged into my camera and started recording. Tech sat in truck for about 8 min, got out and placed bill on back door got back in his truck and left. Total time on that clip is about 10 min. I have called the company and am sending videos. If they deny it and say he did treatment and the camera just didn’t catch it I don’t think I will push because I wouldn’t say in court that the video is 100% proof. But it is pretty damming and I will be looking for now pest control company. Now if the tech confesses that he did not do the treatment, what corse should I follow. We have been using this company for as long as we have lived in this house which is close to 10 years. I would defiantly not be paying this bill but should I demand to be refunded for prior treatments not know how long this has been going on? Located in Nashville Tn.

Answer:
 I’ve actually had this exact situation happen to me.  Pest control people had no idea I worked from home and did the same ‘drop the bill and leave’ routine.  This was before we got our cameras.

I immediately called the company and told them what happened, that I had deep concerns about potential termite infestation, and demanded my contract be terminated immediately and the bill voided.

Perhaps my legal language and confident tone made an impression (law school graduate, don’t currently practice), because they did exactly as I asked.  I had an inspection done ASAP to make sure we didn’t have any insect damage - like you, my concern was how many treatments had we missed.

Thankfully we had no damage and I got a contract with another, more reputable company.

If this has happened to you, I guarantee you aren’t the only person complaining.  Be firm, don’t let them convince you to take some free service as a compensation, have an inspection done on your house and hire a new company.

We never even got to the threatening demand letter phase, so with some well chosen words, like ‘I have video evidence from my home surveillance system’, they should just want to be rid of you and terminate your contract without billing you anything.

Good luck!

Edited to add: unless an inspection finds proof of insect damage in your home, you’re likely not going to get anywhere with asking for a refund of past services.


Title: Implied contract or gift? A student's contributions to a student film.

Question:
FL Jurisdiction.

Okay, so I'm a law student trying to help out a buddy with a problematic team member from her film class. So, this girl has been a pain in the butt asking for film credits after the project's been completed and where there was never any explicit agreement that she would receive those credits. While on that front, we were able to conclude that she had no claim based on previous conversations with the team, she's now sending my friend and her co-producer an invoice for all of the financial "contributions" she made to the film. Some these things include Starbucks charges, the price of a trampoline (which she kept and converted to her own private use after the production concluded), a parking ticket (she would most likely say was received during the production), some wigs, and assorted pharmacy and grocery store purchases.

Like a good, budding lawyer friend, I told her not to confirm that she owed her anything until developing a strategy for dealing with this. So far, there's been no communication between them saying that she would be compensated for her purchases so I'm thinking it's leaning more towards a gift than anything, especially considering the nature of student films as a pretty low to no budget endeavor.

All this girl did was send a .pdf with the invoice, no description, no assertions attached. I'm trying to raid WestLaw for answers, but I'm not sure in what sections to look to find them. So, fellow lawblaws, any advice/direction I should search in?

Answer: Uhh that does not at all sound like a gift to me. It sounds like she did prop acquisition and crew support and y'all wanna slap her in the face by not giving her the credit *or* paying her! Pay the woman (minus the cost of trampoline) and give her the credit.


Title: I’m starting an advice column on Instagram on love, sex, and relationships. I may crosspost these posts to my Tumblr account. How can I protect myself, legally, from any lawsuits, etc.?

Question:
I’m a minor but I’d like to practice my writing skills by starting an advice column. I’d like to write under a pseudonym, due to the nature of the themes I’ll be discussing on my advice column. Do I need to reveal that I am writing under a pseudonym for legal purposes? I won’t have a custom domain. Do I need one to be considered a “business” or something? I might offer paid promotions on my Instagram account. Do I need to report this income to the IRS? It might be a few bucks per promotion. Thank you! 💖
Topic:
Computer and Internet

Answer: My advice is to practice writing on something you actually have experience or knowledge about.


Title: A real dilemma

Question:
Okay, so before my wife and I were married and moved in together. She and her ex-boyfriend took out a mortgage to buy the house that we’re currently staying in. Long story, short; he moved out over a year ago. We have been up-to-date on the mortgage and all bills and have had to make repairs on the home. Since his leaving, he has not paid a dime toward the mortgage, or anything for that matter, and even legally changes his address. Now, he is threatening to force a sale of the house. Even though we are doing what we can to keep it. What can we do? Can he legally force the sale of the property he abandoned?
Topic:
Real Estate law

Answer: You can buy him out of the property. He didn't abandon anything, he just no longer lives in his house.


Title: House will be willed in the future to three siblings

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 If the house is yours on title it doesn't matter what the will says.

That said, clarifying wills and the rest is a good idea.

From a title background, try to avoid all 3 siblings taking title as hard as you can. That's almost always a nightmare later for one reason or another, and can be difficult to extricate yourself from.

Edit: To clarify, by your husband being on title I mean ONLY him, not husband and grandfather. Otherwise when he passes and the will is executed you have 66 and 2/3s percent of a house, and the same possible set of awful situations you get with three owners as initially described in the will.


Title: [MO] Seeking civil recourse against the person who broke into my house.

Question: In early December my house was burglarized. I had suspected it was my brothers ex-girlfriend who did it at the time and immediately pointed the police in her direction. The police were able to arrest her on a couple outstanding warrants and during her time in jail she was questioned regarding the break in. She has admitted on video that she planned the break in and lead several other people to the house to break in. **She does not admit to being in the house.** Additionally, the police were able to lift her fingerprint off an item that was dropped outside my house. Unfortunately, the prosecutor does not plan on prosecuting her for my break in for some reason. I am wanting to know if I would have a reasonable case against her in civil court to seek compensation for my $1000 insurance deductible.

Answer: If you can get your hands on a copy of that video, it would be pretty damn good evidence in your favor in any civil case.


Title: (SD) Hit and Run

Question:
Unfortunately i surance was way toouch so i decided id go without. My power steering pump was out and i was half awake and accidently scraped a camper trailer. I just left not thinking much of the little scrape. Get pulled over and supposedly its now a bog dent and scrape and after presure i confesse i hit it a tad. Ticked for hit and run, improper backing up, and no insurance. What to do now?

I cant afford to get insurance so i can get my car out, i have another vehicle with rims but all 4 tires have holes. Can i trades rims and tires? The tow place says i cant strip it down when i took my cb radio put of it. The tires belong to me not the lienholder.
Topic:
Traffic and Parking

Answer:
 I don't see a legal question here.

Quit driving without insurance.Answer #2: Well, you're going to be on the hook for the cost of the repairs for the vehicle you hit. You're also going to end up on the hook for the tow, the storage (it goes up each day), and whatever else. You mentioned a lienholder, so I assume you owe money on the vehicle. You're going to be on the hook for that too. Then there's also the tickets.

You made a stupid decision that is quickly cascading into a lot of problems for you. Why don't you stop and do something right for once?


Title: Mother is having issues with elementary school my brother goes to. [AZ]

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 They are right to be cautious. Why is she concerned that the teacher be male?

It sounds like she's making wicked unreasonable demands and they are worried about the child.


Title: Mail lady won't deliver the mail to us, but she delivers to everyone else. Anything we can do?

Question: Are mail lady has done this many times in the past, she will get out of her car to go see dogs at the window but she won't get out to deliver our mail which has many shipments are live animals and plants. She doesn't even want to go to our mail box which is right next to the driveway.

Answer:
 Complaining to your local postmaster would be step one.Answer #2: Seconding postmaster.

Also call the 800 number (1-800-275-8777) if the postmaster route doesn't help. My husband and I were having trouble with package delivery with our mail lady for a while that the postmaster didn't seem be able to help with after multiple complaints. When we called that number, they gave us a case number that we could use in case of future complaints (if we had any further complaints, it would have gone up to the regional level). Nearly three months later, no problems.Answer #3: Online complaint form.

https://emailus.usps.com/emailUs/iq/usps/request.do?forward=emailUs


Title: Suitemate most likely lost expensive dress shirt and I can't prove it.

Question:
For starters, I'm a freshman at a Virginia university, so I live in a dorm. A few months ago, my suitemate said that he wanted to borrow my
casual dress shirts since I have a relatively large number (17) and variety of them. So I drew up a contract, which I'm pretty sure holds up under the law, and he signed it. [Here's the contract.](http://imgur.com/6orVmxr)

He's borrowed shirts maybe three or so times. Once without even notifying me, but there was no penalty for doing that. Two days ago, he tells me that the day before he had taken one of my shirts and I wasn't phased. However, today I checked my closet and the shirt still wasn't there. Then I asked his roommate if he knew where my shirt was, to which he said no, and we looked throughout the entire room and couldn't find it.

This morning he had implied that he put the shirt back in the closet, but I'm still missing a hanger. If he lies, I don't have any proof other than the fact that I'm missing one hanger. The hangers came in a pack of 20 and there are only 19. **I can't remember the color or the pattern of the shirt** (which I realize is my fault) or show proof of purchase of the shirt since I bought it (with my own money, so it's important to me) in the first half of 2013 and the receipt's either at my house or ashes in a landfill. The contract states that he must pay me a sum at my discretion if it is lost, but I'm pretty sure he'll just lie and say that he didn't lose it.

What should I do?

Answer:
 > What should I do?

Loosen up a bit.

You sound like a real fun person to be around. I bet you're a hit at parties.Answer #2: You drew up a contract so someone could borrow your shirts?


Title: These people want 640$ to fix their bumper on a car I hit, but didnt scratch 2 weeks ago.

Question:
Basically, 2 weeks ago I had rear-ended a car because they broke really hard in front of me, but I had reacted quick enough that it was just a light tap and both cars were unaffected. So we pull over and trade info and take pictures and all, but no police report or anything. They were quiet for 2 weeks until they contacted us last night saying they got a bid to have it fixed at 640$ and expect us to pay. We have photo proof that their bumper is fine, and if there were scratches, basically impossible to see. They can't make us pay it, right? I know I'm in fault for hitting them, but a whole new bumper is too unreasonable. Me and the girl I hit are both under 18, so are parents are fighting it out, but can they really make us pay all of that considering the wait time, no police report, and perfectly fine bumper?
Topic:
Douche

Answer: Bumpers are designed to absorb impact and break internally. Even a low speed impact can require the replacement of chunks of the bumper without externally visible damage. So it's not impossible the damage is real.


Title: Topless pictures from Pride march: CP or not?

Question: Doing this from a throwaway because the internet is a terrible, horrible place. Many moons ago, when I was 16 years old, I marched topless in a Pride parade in Ontario. This was after the Gwen Jacobs court decision made it legal for women to be topless in public. A local publication published a photo of me that clearly showed my breasts. I was (and still am) fairly amused by the whole thing, but I'm wondering if the magazine could strictly speaking be guilty of distributing child pornography. The pictures were not really sexual in nature, despite the boobs.

Answer: Not CP. That is why places can get away with pictures of underage nudists. The picture has to be sexually explicit. Answer #2: No, it has to sexually explicit.


Title: On a ride that broke down at six flags in Maryland

Question:
Hey just wondering if this is anything. Went on a ride that fully broke down at the top of the hill during a non thunder storm. We waited while a guy who worked at the park talked to us from the catwalk for 2.5 hours until finally the park safety manager decided it would be safest if got out and walked down. This was a hanging ride and I'm pretty terrified of heights so I voiced my concern about getting off the ride without my shoes or glasses and they said it was the only way down. 30 minutes later they started installing plastic emergency exit floor panels beneath one row at a time. Unfortunately I was in the back row and the guy installing it audibly said he didn't know how to put it in to a co-worker. I said I didn't feel comfortable standing on the platform and he proceeded to stomp on the platform and his foot dislocated a corner and went though. He repositioned the platform and said he would hold it in place with his body. I got up and tried to find a handhold but grabbed the harness for the seat next to me by mistake and it compressed and I fell forward onto the catwalk. At this point I was like fuck this and I just wanted to go. TOO BAD I had to wait for a teenager to bring up an armful of shoes and wait for him to find mine as I couldn't see. I gave them my name and number at the bottom but didn't sign anything.

I know this could have been worse but I feel like the people working there were extremely unprepared for something like this (even though it's happened to me at the park in the past) and to compensate the riders they made us go to this little room and tried to pressure us into taking diamond elite season passes in exchange for our signature on a document stating we had been reimbursed for our trouble  which my friends and I weren't interested in.

Not trying to make a million but is this worth pursuing?

Answer: What are your damages?


Title: What are the laws regarding military spouses and marijuana in states where recreational marijuana is legal?

Question:
Someone I know is marrying a Navy sailor and moving to Washington state. I would assume that she’s not able to possess or smoke on base and we know he isn’t allowed to smoke but are there any laws about her smoking? Like if she came to my apartment and smoked and then was dropped off on base could she like get in trouble for being high if she didn’t have any weed or paraphernalia on her?
Topic:
Drug Possession

Answer:
 NAL: You can't possess it on base, and the service member shouldn't be around it, but if the spouse possess it and uses it off base, they are civilians. If they are on base and high? Dumb idea on average, I wouldn't risk her getting picked up by the master at arms, because if that happens they will find something to charge her with.Answer #2: It is still illegal on federal property.  The base is federal property if she gets busted she will be in trouble and they can test her for marijuana.  Game wardens have to ticket people in the national forest (legal in the state but national forest is federal land) near where I live if they are caught with marijuana or if they smell it.  If they smell it on her they can ticket her.Answer #3: Its federally illegal. All military housing, on or off base, enforce federal laws regarding use and posession, even if it's considered medical use.

That to say, aside from getting caught by MPs at the gate, if they live on base, they could lose their right to military housing *and* this would follow them to their next duty station and make them ineligible for housing there also.


Title: Pawn shop sold my stolen property

Question:
This happened in Illinois.

Back in December of 2016 my house was broken into and about $1500 worth of merchandise was stolen. No renters insurance at the time so I was SOL, except for the only thing I had a serial number for - my Epiphone Les Paul.

On Valentine's day 2017, I walked into the pawn shop and saw it hanging on the wall. Told the employees and called the cops, would put it on police hold (they said I could either pay for it to get it out or wait until the people who stole it we're found and sued) and they found the name of the woman who sold it. They found her and she said the guitar was given to her by her ex hunsband and his friend, so nothing was done. Shouldn't the police at least have taken her in because she's the one who received money for stolen property? Especially with how recently it occurred and the excuse "well I didn't do it, these guys did!"? Anyway, I digress.

Today, July 3, 2018, my mother went in to get the guitar out of there as a birthday surprise. They told her they sold it. They said the police hold had expired, they hadn't heard anything from the sherriffs department that had it on hold and said  that they didn't contact me because  they didn't have my information on file (they did, I've taken out loans there, received calls and text messages from them, and had previously contacted them on Facebook).

What can I do?

Sorry if there's any typos. I'm kind of heated right now and not in the right frame of mind.

Answer:
 You can sue the shop for the value of the guitar. You could argue here that they failed to make reasonable effort to return it since they were aware it was reported stolen and had contact information from prior business with you.

No idea if you'd win. The shop could try to argue that it wasn't actually stolen based on the criminal process (police bought the thief's story and didn't charge her).


Title: Unemployment is trying to take back money because my job is lieing and saying I've worked for them longer than I have.

Question:
California, Sacramento. On mobile so editing may be wonky.

I began my current job on Sept 17th, after about 3 months of the hiring process taking forever. During this time, I did not have the job so continued to file for unemployment that I was on because I was terminated without cause from my last job. I stopped putting in for unemployment the week before I officially started this job, just because it goes in 2 week increments and I didn't feel like filling out the last week, the 9th-16th. So go forward to 2 weeks ago, I receive a notice from the EDD saying I owe them money because the school I'm working for claims that they paid me during the weeks that ended on the 1st and the 8th. I did not work for them at that time, and I sent a letter to the EDD stating as much, including timestamps to when I was officially told I was hired, being the 14th. Now it's today, and they send me another notice, saying that they asked the school and the school said they paid me during those weeks, that I did not work and was not even on the campus at any time. I'm going to appeal, because this is extremely shady of them.

I told my boss about it and he's actually fairly pissed. He already hates that they take so long to hire people, and he is disgusted they're doing this to a new hire. So we got a copy of my timecard for the entire month of September, showing I didn't work those weeks, as well as my paystub that shows I worked the exact amount of days that are showed on my timecard. He says he will also find the email he received on the 14th saying he could offer me the job officially and start work and I will be attaching that to the appeal as well.

I'm worried that it says something about a judge on it, and I really don't want to have to attend a court hearing since I work graveyard shift. Is there anything else I should add to the appeal letter, and what are the chance I'm going to have to waste a day of my life going to court over this?

Answer: Get a copy of the paystub and bank statements indicating they did not pay you for those days. That should clear up everything.


Title: (AK) My father has been wrongly arrested.

Question: [deleted]

Answer: I don't know why you think there was a wrongful arrest. You called because you couldn't deal with an out of control drunk person, and the police hauled off an out of control drunk person. Hire him a criminal defense attorney.


Title: [AZ/KY]I left some stuff behind in a storage unit when I moved. Payed monthly via money order for the unit for 4 years. Finally made a plan to go back to get my stuff... and found out the place shut down months ago. What next?

Question:
TL;DR - I've been sending $60 a month to pay for a storage unit in Kentucky. The storage units apparently shut down last August, but the owner did not inform me, and I'm assuming he has still been cashing the money orders. What can I do?

I moved from Kentucky to Arizona about four years ago. I was in a pretty bad place financially, and couldn't afford to move a lot of my stuff out here with me. I left everything I couldn't take in a storage unit. I told the owner I was moving, and he said it was no problem, that I could just mail him a money order every month.

So, every month since late 2014, I've sent him a money order for $60. This year, I finally got into a position that would allow me to go back to Kentucky and move the rest of my stuff over here. I was planning on driving over and renting a trailer to bring my stuff back.

I tried getting in contact with the owner earlier this week and was unable to. I asked around on some local Facebook groups and found out that the storage units shut down around August of last year. A couple of people with units there said the owner contacted them and told to empty out their storage units, or their stuff would be sold or thrown away.

I never received a letter, phone call, or e-mail informing me of this. Every month that I sent a payment, I also included a letter containing my contact information, so the owner would always know how to reach me. He called me last December (4 months after the closure) to tell me that I was a week behind on that month's payment.

I've sent $700+ in money orders to this guy since the storage units closed down. I'm assuming he just kept cashing the money orders.

I know I have handled this kind of poorly. I should have had someone there checking on my unit and keeping me updated, but I didnt.

What should me next step be?

Answer:
 The owner was obligated to reach out to you. They did not. Do you have an itemized tally of the goods in there? If not you need to sit down and document what you can as specifically as possible (e.g., don't say "bed," say queen-sized IKEA brown Hemnes 2-drawer bedframe, bought in 2014 from IKEA, queen-sized Serta PerfectSleeper mattress).

You can draft a letter demanding the return of the payments from August 2017 and an accounting of where your possessions are. If he doesn't respond in a favourable way, consider the adjusted value of your belongings and suing him for their value. Answer #2: OP- You don't actually say this in your narrative, but do you know for a *fact* all of your possessions are gone? As in have you tried to visit the storage facility to see for yourself?Answer #3: You can find out from the bank if the money orders have been cashed. (hope you kept some of the receipts)    If they have file a police report, if they haven't you can get your money back (there may be a time limit) It is a bit of an ordeal, but for $700, might be worth it. Answer #4: First, check what's there now. Generally those transfer ownership, or if containers, shift locations, but don't disappear entirely. if they changed names or owners, ask the new owners if they retained the contracts and the storage units.

If there are no signs of your belongings, then you have no choice but to sue the "former" storage place for "theft" and "fraud" for continuing to cash your money orders. Answer #5: Does this constitute a criminal level of fraud?


Title: Family friend confided that she's been lying to the government for 6 years, what's the appropriate action to take?

Question:
First off mods pleases delete if this isn't appropriate for the subreddit, I looked at the rules but wasn't sure if this was allowed. If it is allowed, I appreciate any advice.

The dilemma is that recently this family friend told me (after a few drinks) that she's been claiming to be single since her son was born. He is 6 years old, and for the entire time his mom (family friend) has lived with the father. Dad uses his parents address as his home address. She fills out all documents as being single with a dependent. She told me this has worked out great for them because she gets significantly more for the child tax benefit and on her tax returns. This doesn't sit well with me because these programs are in place to help people, and they are abusing the system when they are both financially stable. Legally I'm not sure how serious doing something like this is, if its something I should report, how I'd report it, or if such a report would be anonymous. Hence I'm reaching out for advice on what to do in this situation, if anything. They are located in British Columbia.

Answer: Why are you getting involved at all? It's honestly none of your business. She's not abusing her child, you can file taxes separately, I'm not sure why you would have any reason to insert yourself into this situation. Answer #2: Is your friend married to the father or just living with him?


Title: Lawsuit settled out of court, plaintiff refuses to dismiss suit

Question:
My wife and I were sued early last month (September). We reached an agreement with the plaintiff and settled out of court. This is all in writing and easily substantiated. They refused to file the dismissal until after the response date, so we filed a response with the court stating it was settled and we provided a copy of the settlement agreement and cleared check. They still haven't filed a dismissal and the case is listed as "Active - pending". I called them today and they said not to worry about it, they don't need to file a dismissal and it'll just go away. I insisted they file and they hung up on me. Subsequent calls to them were ignored. Ugh.

&#x200B;

How should I handle this?

Answer: **Never take legal advice from the opposition.**  You make damn sure you show up to court even if they tell you "don't worry about it" because that's a hell of an easy way for them to get the default judgement against you.Answer #2: I'm not a lawyer but I would show up to court when you're supposed to and let them know what's going on. The last thing you want is for them to lie to you and try getting a default judgement that you then have to unwind.


Title: Landlord banning "assault weapons" from building (FL)

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 You can't just sign a lease addendum and then ignore it, no.

It appears based on a quick search that a landlord can prohibit you from having weapons on premises.  It sounds like this is a "I won't renew your month-to-month rental" situation, not an eviction, so I don't think it's problematic.

However, oddly, Florida cannot prohibit you storing your weapon in your car.


Title: Went to court for poss. of marijuana was supposed to take class, didn't take it and have court soon, whats the worst that can happen? In NY am 19 no previous offenses

Question: Title basically, thanks a lot in advance!

Answer: They revoke whatever deal you were offered.


Title: [Canada, ON] My employer reduced the way of an employee because they got a DUI - Is this legal?

Question:
I was under the impression that an employer cannot reduce the wage of an employee. However, this employee is no longer able to drive (and therefore cannot complete his work duties as hired) and has suffered a $2 reduction to their pay.

Is this legal?

Answer:
 Unless he signed an employment contract, not an agreement, and that reduction does not make them fall below minimum wage this is legal. That employee is no longer able to perform some of the duties they were hired to perform. Answer #2: https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/pubs/brochures/br_protecting.php

https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41?_ga=1.177733863.378271234.1471528494

Here is some information.  I haven't read the whole law, but I would guess there were some circumstances that would allow reduction of wage.


Title: What are the limitations or rules to coupons?

Question:
I was at a street fair and got buddy buddy with a guy giving out free pizza coupons and after 30 minutes of talking about bikes and life in general he said here man, and handed me a bundle of free pizza coupons for a designated location.

 Suffice to say that I've been coming into the same place enjoying free pizza slices for the past 10 days. I always make sure biti clean up after myself and don't leave a mess considering I don't pay anything but the employees are beginning to be a bit snotty and I'm wondering if they can legally reject me service?

California Palm Desert

TL;DR Can a Pizza place reject my free pizza coupons considering I've been coming in for 10 days straight and have 20+ more coupons?

Answer:
 They can refuse service even if you're paying in full each time. Heck yes they can refuse service if you're paying only in coupons.

Spread that out a bit. Tip well. The staff will appreciate it and might back off on you a bit.