Title: Dad was picked up for warrant. Mostly looking for understanding of what's happening. MT.

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Wow, a 3rd DUI is never going to simply be over with just a few classes.

Get your dad a lawyer, if you want, so that he can find out what is going on with the jail transfer.  In my state, originating jurisdictions have a set amount of time to come and pick up a suspect for a warrant out of their agency.

And even then, there is a time limit on when he has to go before a judge.  A lawyer should help y'all sort that out.Answer #2: It's not the jail's fault. It's your dad's fault for:

1.  Driving DUI

2.  Getting caught **3** times

3.  Not fulfilling his court ordered obligations.


Title: [Federal] Is the "do not consume if seal is broken" warning legally required on drink containers?

Question: I've recently opened two containers (one of coconut milk, one of chocolate almond milk) and on both the seal under the cap was broken. I'm off to the supermarket to let them know, but, just out of curiosity I looked for the standard "do not consume if seal is broken" warning, and didn't see it on either one. Not like I'm planning to sue anyone (unless I get sick from the one I drank a bit of before I noticed, I suppose: but it was a few days ago, so fortunately that seems unlikely), but I'm just wondering, is that warning not required? I always assumed it was.

Answer: It is not required.


Title: In reality, how much trouble do you get in for not showing up to court? [CO] [USA]

Question:
I had my final divorce hearing on May 14th. We worked out an agreement and read it for the record. But my ex was not happy about what we agreed to so we had to order the transcripts to show her we were right.

All of this takes time, and the magistrate ordered both attorneys to either submit a final order, or show up in court and explain why there was no final orders. So my attorney submitted a motion to accept our version of the orders. Her attorney didn’t. Nor did he show up and explain why he didn’t. So the court ordered our version of the orders.

Now the court has ordered him to appear and explain why.

From what I have learned about divorce court so far is that it is nothing like you expect. I’m just wondering what REALLY happens when you don’t show up for court. We have all seen a TV judge toss someone in jail for contempt, but TV is far from reality. And can her attorney somehow say, “I’m such a bad attorney, my client should have had a better one, reopen this divorce.”

From what I understand this argument is sometimes use in death penalty cases.
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer: When my mom chose not to show up for her hearing, the judge immediately ruled in my dad's favor. Completely abolishing her alimony. Served her right.


Title: Chicago.IL Love and light of my life died last night unexpectedly. need 100% legal clarity and options.

Question:
Facts I know:
1) have been primary caretaker for 14 years. 2) she has been my fiancee for 12 years 3) parent are dead, no children, aunts are dead, no other relatives that i know of 4) she was afraid to write a will because she had come back so many times she was afraid she would die if she wrote it all out. it made me mad but now i have more compassion for it. 5) has 60K in equity in condo 95 k note,
6) some joint stocks but they were all in her name. 7) just starting to look for a will, papers are a mess. 8) we both intended to leave each other everything but never wrote a will at least together and never got married cause she wanted to dance at her wedding but never got better to get out of wheel chair.
thats all i know so far. thanks for the answers, what documents do i need, and what kind of Att do i need to talk to Please.  Always seemed like there would be more time....

Answer:
 First, I am sorry for your loss.

The fact that you were unmarried but engaged, and that you suspect she may not have a will, are going to be significant complications for you receiving anything from your partner's estate. Talk to an estate attorney about your options, but there's a significant chance that you're at the mercy of her family to receive any of her assets.


Title: Person kicked my laptop, snapping it.

Question:
I was walking down a ramp minding my own business, when 2 girls came up to me and accused me of liking her. I dont and said just that, when they said I want to have her babies i said no and made fun of her small eyes. Then the big islander girl kicked my bag which contains my laptop, I told her my laptops in there and she said "I dont give a fuck" the next day i saw a small black line in it and in the corner was green and blue, didnt think much of it until the next day it I realised it was completely snapped and the screen was completely broken now.

Does she have to pay for it? Im in queensland australia
Topic:
Non-US

Answer: How old are all of you?Answer #2: Report it to the school administration and let the adults handle it.  They should be notified of it anyway.Answer #3: So you made racist comments and are mad that she reacted to that? Got it.


Title: Sugar daddy problem

Question:
So I’m a dumbass and got a sugar daddy that said he only wanted to talk to me. He asked me to buy a card and got upset when I didn’t buy one. I already used some of his money to pay for my college bills.

Now he’s saying that he’ll report me and get me for bank fraud. I have texts of him giving me the card info but we never talked about what I was going to be paying for. Can I get into trouble?

Answer:
 You don’t have a sugar daddy. You have someone who was trying to scam you with fake bank transfers.

Expect any money you were given to go away.


Title: Montreal : Accused of plagiarism

Question:
I've recently been informed that my school is accusing me of plagiarism. I had no idea what they were talking about until they showed me what I "copied". Turns out it was MY OWN ESSAY that I posted it ONLINE so that other people can give their opinions on it and maybe some few tips. But since the definition of plagiarism is
 * the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.
Am I in risk of getting expelled? I'm in Canada by the way

Topic:
Intellectual Property

Answer:
 They probably just don't realize that you're the one who originally posted it. If you can show that you're the one that posted the essay, you should be okay. It'll also help if you compile all the research notes, library transactions, downloaded articles, etc. you used to prepare the paper.

If you're at a public university, the will no doubt be some formal procedure you can go through to contest the accusation.


Title: Should I contact a lawfirm about a possible malpractice case? (Arizona)

Question:
Hello

(Maricopa, Arizona) I had a laproscopic cholecystectomy 8 months ago. Since the surgery I've been in horrific pain. I've seen multiple GI doctors, cardiologist, my PCP, pain specialist, etc. Most of them say they can't see anything wrong and kind of just shrug me off. A few of them say it sounds like something went wrong during the surgery, but they are not an expert in that field, so they can't really recommend anything.

I'm a young male that was active at the gym 3-5 times weekly before surgery. Now I can't even sit up in a chair for more than an hour at a time. I have a feeling that a lot of these doctors are referring me to someone else or saying to find someone else because they do not want to get involved in what they know to be a possible malpractice case. I never tell the doctors that's what I think it probably is...

With no real medical evidence from a doctor besides the agonizing pain I'm in on a daily basis, I'm unsure of whether I should contact a law firm or not. Right now I'm trying physical therapy, but it just seems to be making the pain worse. The only abnormal thing is that the therapist said that I have an "unusual amount of internal abdominal scarring", that is usually only found in patients with thyroid problems (my thyroid is fine), when she was doing her evaluation of my abdomen.

Should I contact a lawyer? Do I really have anything here? I had to quit my job at Amazon Warehouse that I started post-op because I'm not recovering and I had to do a medical withdrawal from the semester because I'm in so much pain and my driving is limited.
Topic:
Medicine and Malpractice

Answer:
 Plaintiffs attorneys are fishermen (and women). Their job is literally to listen to potential client cases and advise whether it is worthwhile to pursue legal action.

Medical malpractice can be labor intensive for attorneys so it's best to get started asap. When you call around, lead with the date of your surgery, the statue of limitations may start becoming an issue very soon if AZ is a short statute state.

Talk to an attorney soon. As in start making calls tomorrow.


Title: "Abandoned" vehicle on our property

Question:
We live in California. Some guy (I believe he's my sister's old ex-boyfriend?) has had an old WWII era Willy's jeep down in the back of our property for upwards of a decade. It's been there as long as I can remember. Originally he asked if he could leave it there for some time to which we initially agreed, but then he broke up with my sister and moved out of state. My dad has on numerous occasions asked if he wanted to take the jeep back, to which he replied no, he doesn't have anywhere to keep it himself and/or can't afford transport to AZ or wherever. We've also asked if he would like us to sell it for him to which he replied no, it has sentimental value and he wants to keep it, plus he payed $15k for it which it is definitely not worth any more. It doesn't start, it's got bugs and leaves and shit all over and inside it, the seats are moldy, and it's just in bad shape.

We're now wondering what to do with it, or whether we can claim it as our own after so long. I've looked into adverse possession but apparently that only applies to real estate and not motor vehicles. Is there any recourse apart from declaring it abandoned and having it hauled off to an impound lot? Could we bill him for long-term storage? Could we repair it and use it, or would that be akin to theft? If we did and he then tried to reclaim it, could we bill him for said repairs or place some kind of lien on it? It seems a shame to simply dispose of it since it's such a cool little car and looks like it might be a fun project, but I really have no idea what to do with it at this point.

Answer: Send him a certified letter saying he has 30 days to come pick up his property or you are going to dispose of it. Answer #2: Follow the process for claiming an abandoned vehicle in your state.   It really isn't too hard.


Title: If a foreigner has American ancestry... are they entitled to residency/citizenship?

Question:
MEXICO

Hello, I'm just curious whether if someone had American ancestors... great grandparents... whether this grants them the option for residency or citizenship?

Answer:
 Generally, no. Some countries, like Ireland, allow people to claim citizenship if they had one citizen grandparent, regardless of what happened in the interim.

The US is not one of those countries. The be-all and end-all of US citizenship is being born in the US. There are some allowances made for children of diplomats, servicemembers, travelers abroad, etc. But basically to be a US citizen you either need to be born within the borders or go through the naturalization process.

If you think your particular case has a lot of wiggle room, your best bet is to consult with an experienced immigration attorney. But at the great-grandparent level, do not expect much.

It should be stated that regardless of citizenship, if you believe you've inherited property rights, those remain. You can own land and property within the US without being a citizen. But if that's your issue, also consult a lawyer.


Title: My neighbors are putting their trashcans in front of my house.

Question: I just bought a house in Louisiana and my elderly neighbors have been living in the house next door for quite sometime now. It is the first week since we moved in and they have left their trashcans on what I assume is clearly our side of the property line. I politely told them what I thought but I have been ignored. I was just wondering where I should go from here?

Answer: IANAL and this is not legal advice. Is this the way you want to start out your life in this neighborhood, telling elderly neighbors "what you think"? Move the cans to what you think is their side of the line.


Title: (Maine)Got served complaint for foreclosure for an owner financed house. One of the lenders died, so only one is listed on the complaint. Can I use this to delay the process?

Question: My credit is crap from a divorce.  I owner financed, making payments for 5 years before a final balloon payment was owed.  My cosigner (mom) bailed, and went back on a promise to help me get into a regular mortgage (because my credit score is still horrible).  I have made all payments besides this.  How can I keep the house or at least extend my stay?  One lender died and I have no proof that the surviving lender got the deceased lender's stake in the promissory note.

Answer:
 No. Even if both of the lenders died, their estate would be able to come after you for not living up to the terms of the agreement.

Have you tried getting a loan for the ballon payment? If that's not an option, I would tell you to move.


Title: Being Sued for neighborhood association fees on a foreclosed home. Next step?

Question:
In a nutshell, I left the property several years ago in the care of my estranged wife. She abandoned it several months later and moved out of state with her boyfriend. The property was listed with a realtor, and numerous offers of short sale were presented to the bank over a period of two years or more - all of which the bank refused. After this length of time, the bank had racked up over $50,000 in delinquent payments and legal fees, which pretty much ate up the equity that we had in the house. I have no idea what the bank finally sold the property for (at a foreclosure auction).

Foreclosure sale was recently completed (about two months ago), but neither of us have had any communication from the bank (Bank of America) since. It was our understanding that the foreclosure sale would pay off any liens on the property (like the homeowner's association dues), but neither of us have anything in writing to that effect.

I'm now being served with a lawsuit over two years of delinquent homeowner's association fees, with about double that in additional legal fees, totaling over $3,000.

Neither of us currently reside in the state that the property is in (Texas).

What should my next step be in dealing with this?

Answer: If you've been served with a lawsuit, you need to respond or they may obtain a default judgement against you. Speak to attorneys in the area the lawsuit has been filed in; they may be able to stand in your place or have the suit dismissed if it isn't a valid debt.


Title: Voicemail from Police Officer

Question:
My family member was accused of stealing money at her job (a large retailer) about 4 days ago. They said they have surveillance video of her taking money multiple times. She was fired on the spot but they did not attempt to have her arrested.

&#x200B;

Today she received a voicemail from a police officer asking her to contact them. We do not have sufficient funds for a defense lawyer at this point. What is the best course of option? Will she be placed under arrest if she contacts the police? I should note that we have young children and are trying to avoid them seeing a cop come to the house and place her under arrest.

Answer: They are calling her because they want her to confess.  They are pros at this.  Your sister should not talk to them under any circumstances.


Title: Does a parent automatically have power of attorney over a child? (Missouri)

Question:
My friend is in a awkward position.  She is divorced with a 16 year old child.  She and her ex-husband are negotiating to buy a car for their daughter.  The ex-husband has already purchased a car and is wanting my friend to pay him for half the acquisition cost.  However the title is in his name so she feels uncomfortable giving him a large sum of money without signing a contract and with no guarantees what he will do with the car that is in his name.

Now, under normal circumstances if both his name and his daughter's name are on the title (connected by AND) then both signatures would be required to sell the car, giving my friend and her daughter some security.

So my question is: Will 2 signatures be required to sell the car if one of the owners is a parent and the other is their child who is a minor?  Or will he be able to use his legal power as a parent to sign for the child and sell the car regardless?

Answer:
 Best way to deal with this is with an agreement between her and her ex:

"We are jointly purchasing a car for our child.  We agree that the car will be used exclusively by the child.  When the car is sold, we will either (a) evenly split proceeds from the sale or (b) roll the entirety of such proceeds into a replacement car for the child."
Answer #2: Your friend can tell the ex 'if you want money for half, add me to the title'. He can either agree and everybody is happy or disagree and pay for the whole car.


Title: This is petty and unimportant, but I’m curious

Question:
Backstory: I’m 19 and my partner is 21, we went to Walmart and he was buying alcohol at the self checkout. The self service assistant came over to check his id, but then required that I also give her my id just because I was in his party despite not being the one buying alcohol.

How does the legality of this situation work? Selling alcohol to anyone under 21 is illegal, but she had to check that I was over 18, even though I wouldn’t be able to buy it anyway. I know selling to minors is illegal, but it’s also illegal to sell to anyone under 21, so why would not being a minor really matter. If there’s a parent with minors who is buying alcohol can the store refuse service because the accompanying members are under 18? What legal right does a store have to refuse service if someone not buying alcohol does not show their id? I hope my question makes sense, I can explain more if it’s confusing.
Topic:
Alcohol Related Other than DUI

Answer:
 General answer to all of your questions.  Cause they want to.

The store has the right to refuse service to anyone they want to, as long as it's not due to a protected class, etc.  A lot of stores have that policy, where if anyone in the party is under 21, no alcohol will be sold.  Answer #2: >What legal right does a store have to refuse service if someone not buying alcohol does not show their id?

Flip this around: if a store thinks that it's a straw sale (21 year old is buying to hand to a minor) and they go ahead with the sale \- then they are absolutely liable.

So yes \- when they train cashiers on alcohol/cigarette sales, they train them to deny a sale if it looks likely that they'll hand it to minors (eg, at an event, a 21 year old and 2 19 year olds walk up, and 21 year old buys 3 drinks \- that was one of the scenarios they used for my training), or if they're already drunk, for example.

The fact it's a 21 year old and a 19 year old together is probably enough to justify their actions.


Title: Illegal to own a fake ID

Question:
Basically, I’m on the bad side of a major city quite a lot. Having been mugged once, it’s a constant worry of mine. I was simply demanded to hand over my phone and wallet, which I did. Now I always carry a cheap android phone in another pocket on the off chance it happens again.

I’m curious if it is illegal to simple process a fake ID to put in a phony wallet with a made up address for security purposes.
I’m well over 21 so it obviously would never be used to get around purchasing anything

Answer: I don't even understand what you think that would do for you. The mugger is not going to look in your wallet and say, "his ID is in here, so I know he doesn't have a secret spare with the real goodies."


Title: Being "volun-told" to work longer than regular 12 hour shift?

Question:
(Canada, ab) Our regular shift is 12 hrs, 7x7 days/ nights. 10% of the crew's shift is an hour later (come an hour later, leave an hour later) so that those 10% people continue working and the machines don't have to stop during shiftchange until the next crew arrives to relieve them. This 10% crew is selected by the supervisor before the week of work begins. Lately, the supervisor on our crew has been occasionally asking one or two people to stay late and work an extra hour (13 hours total) and go home the same time as the 10% to make up for a shortage of people (they could have added a person to the 10% shift at the start of the week to prevent it), or to avoid having to move people around to put the 10% people where they need to be working during shiftchange (supervisor laziness). Sometimes the supervisor will ask someone to work 13 hour shifts for the rest of the week, instead of just telling them to start coming in in an hour later and join the 10% crew for the rest of the week like they used to do. Sometimes it's because one of the 10%-ers for the week will go home sick during the shift and need to be replaced, but it is almost always avoidable and due to laziness and poor planning by the supervisor that is responsible for co-ordinating the 10% shift crossover crew. It started out as an emergency, last resort, "just this one time" "really huge favour" to the supervisor for someone to agree to stay an extra hour and work through shiftchange, but more and more they have been counting on people to do this and it is becoming less voluntary and more an expectation.

We are salaried, non-emergency workers, and our job is safety sensitive where being fit for duty is extremely important. The people are paid 1hr overtime for doing the extra hour. I have not been asked yet to work a 13 hour shift but I plan on refusing the extra hour when they eventually do ask me. Nobody has ever said no to them yet so the consequences for refusing are unknown. (Off-the-record punishments are common here) Are they allowed to force us to work longer than our scheduled 12 hour shifts?

I may also add that it's becoming more common for us to be made to work for 8, 10, or sometimes 13 hours non-stop with no break because there are rarely spare workers available due to short staffing or, again, laziness and poor planning from the supervisor who doesn't want to have to figure out a way to get people switched out for their breaks. There have been a lot of layoffs and "belt tightening" in the company the last couple years and people are afraid to say no and ask to be switched out for a break.

Answer:
 Unless you are a farm worker:
http://www.afl.org/your_rights#coverage-anchor

12 hours is the limit. It appears the wording here means you cannot agree to work more in a day.

No breaks is illegal. You must have 30 minutes of break per 5 hours in a shift.

There are restrictions on days in a row worked.

Also, you must be paid overtime for any hours more than 8 in a day. You should all be receiving 4 hours at overtime pay per day.
Answer #2: Section 16(1) of the Alberta [Employment Standards Code](http://www.qp.alberta.ca/1266.cfm?page=e09.cfm&leg_type=Acts&isbncln=9780779783366&display=html) confines hours of work to 12 consecutive hours in any one day unless there's a one-off extenuating circumstance (e.g. an accident) or the employer has gotten a permit from the Director of Employment Standards.

It doesn't sound like you're in a federally regulated industry (e.g. transportation, banking, some natural resources), so the ESC probably applies.  However, section 2 of the [regulations](http://www.qp.alberta.ca/1266.cfm?page=1997_014.cfm&leg_type=Regs&isbncln=9780779788095&display=html) under the ESC do further exempt a number of people from (among other things) the hour limitation in section 16(1).  These include all supervisors/managers, some salespeople, some construction, camp counselors, film extras, and most regulated professionals (e.g. engineers, lawyers, doctors, real estate brokers...).  If you don't find your job on the full list in the link (be careful, it goes the heading "Hours of work, overtime and records" all the way down to "General holidays and general holiday pay exemptions"), your employer is probably in violation.

Either way, the safest thing to do is to call the Alberta Employment Standards Contact Centre at 1‑877‑427‑3731.  They should be able to offer the most authoritative and up-to-date information, as well as explain your options moving forwards.


Title: License suspended for 20 years

Question:
So I have a friend moving out here (Fl.) from GA and I really want to help her get back on her feet. The first issue is her suspended license. She is 35 years old now and had her license suspended in the state of GA when she was 15. At the time she had no learner's permit or driver's license. According to her she was a passenger in a car that got caught up in a marijuana bust. She was NOT driving but she took the blame and ended up getting her license suspended. Here's the thing. She never took the required defensive driving? course and she never paid towards her license. Seeing as how she has had one other suspension in GA for the same thing thrown out already, now she only has this one lingering suspension. She contacted the clerk of records and they sent her a transcript of the court proceedings but nothing that says what she has to do to reinstate her license at this time. How long can her license be suspended for misdemeanor marijuana possession?
Should she try to take the driving test when she gets here anyway?
Topic:
Drug Possession

Answer: The license is suspended until she fufills the requirements for reinstatement that the state has set up.


Title: In PA can a police officer legally use the only public entrance to a parking lot for apartments for a speed trap?

Question:
I've been working from home today and I've noticed the same officer has been parked directly in the entrance all day.

I thought he left but my girlfriend said when she came home he was still blocking the entrance and wouldn't reverse to let her through. It's a rural town, so it's a decent walk to get anywhere else to park and it's next to a shady bar so I'd rather not leave one of our cars there for a prolonged period of time?

Is this legal? If I just wait at the entrance for him to let me through, is this going to cause me any issues? I've heard they aren't supposed to be able to operate on private property without consent but I'm not even sure if that was given and my landlord probably doesn't care.

He basically sits there and chases people when they speed through there, leaving him to be gone for may 5-20 minutes max.

EDIT:

So, our parking lot has one entrance to get into it. For roughly half the day an officer has been parked directly in the entrance and refusing to move to let people in, I haven't tried to leave yet today (I'm going to the gym shortly though, so I'll know at that point if I can get out).

Sounds like calling the non-emergency line is the best course of action and I'll probably ask to remain anonymous.

Answer: You can call the non-emergency number and tell them one of their officers is parking in the entranceway to your parking lot and blocking traffic flow to the property.  See what they say.


Title: [MI] Delivery vehicle hit my parked car

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Make a claim with your insurance. They will go after his insurance.


Title: WALLET LOST WITH FAKE ID PLS HELP

Question: I’m from New Jersey and I left my wallet at a fast food restaurant today and it has all my cards, my real ID, cash, and a bunch of gift cards, it also contained 2 of my fake IDs. I was just wondering should I file a police report even though it has my fake IDs in it or will I get in trouble if it’s found with my IDs in it? And if it is found should I claim it or leave it be? Will I get in trouble for having. Them? Also how bad will a penalty be for it?

Answer: Could you get in trouble for having a fake ID in your lost wallet if the police found it or found out: Yes


Title: Selling father-in-law’s house and title company put the check under his name and refuse to change it. What can be done?

Question:
Background info: This is in Arkansas. My father-in-law is currently in Georgia in prison. My sister-in-law is power of attorney. Abbreviating Father-in-law to FIL & sister-in-law to SIL.

We (me, my wife and her sister)  have been maintaining my FIL’s property since he has been in prison for the last year. He has told us that we could sell his property and keep the money from it since he does not plan on living there when he gets back and wants his kids to have the money. So we listed the property and closed on it last week. When signing the papers, the title company asked for power of attorney documentation from my SIL which she gave to them for proof. The title company gave her a check last Friday with my FIL’s name on it. Since Monday was Memorial Day we waited until Tuesday to ask them about it.

SIL returned to have the name changed on the check, but the title company told her they could not put it in her name since she was not the owner of the property and that the check had to be put in his name. Is there a way we can get this changed or are there any alternative ways for us to be able to cash the check or are we up a creek without a paddle?
Topic:
Real Estate law

Answer: If she has poa she should be able to sign check over to herself and disburse money.


Title: I need some advice on these minor drug charges.

Question:
I got caught driving with less than 1 gram of marijuana and a bong. Each of these tickets are 700 dollars. First time offenses, never been arrested or anything like that. I think I should be getting an attorney or what should I do?

I just feel like this is really unfair situation I am in and that I am being taken advantage of. Also worth mentioning this is in Nevada.

Answer:
 > I just feel like this is really unfair situation I am in and that I am being taken advantage of.

 How so? Did they plant these things on you? It sounds like you were caught breaking the law and charged accordingly. Hire an attorney


Title: My homophobic Aunt disowned her gay son. Now she is sick and offered to leave my cousin an inheritance if he signs a document stipulating that he will burn in hell for homosexuality. Is this enforceable and could he inherit the money if he does not sign it? In PA

Answer:
 <sniff, sniff ... smells like troll>

> Is this enforceable

i'm absolutely certain the probate judge will be happy to send the kid to hell when he dies.

> could he inherit the money if he does not sign it?

depends on her will.


Title: Apartment complex suddenly changed owners and is now trying to charge a ridiculous late fee.

Question: Tucson,AZ.  So, last Friday I got a notice that my complex was under new ownership. The note stated that we could pay our rent on the 5th because of the holiday and they were closed. The pay location also changed to dropping off rent at their office across town during their office hours. I worked on the 5th so I wouldn't have been able to bring them the payment. Tried to call them, no answer. A neighbor informed me that for this last month we could still use the drop box. However due to bad luck, and having no car, the places I normally got my rent money order from were closed or their machines weren't working, I got the MO the next day for my rent plus 1 day late fee in the amount on my lease, $6 fee. Today I got a note on my door stating my rent was late, it had over $100 in fees. As well, they got my rent amount wrong. It was lower than my actual rent but it proves they didn't even review my lease. My lease is a 1 year lease starting on June 1st 2017. They never reviewed any possible fees nor have I signed any  agreement with them yet for any of their policies.  So what am I looking at, am I liable to pay the fees, or are they essentially violating my lease agreement?

Answer: You owe whatever late penalty is in your lease. And you shouldn't be in the habit of paying your rent literally at the last minute.


Title: Ex Stole My Cats...[TX]

Question:
So my ex and I broke up this week and I told him he could clear his stuff out while I was gone one night. He took the cats without my consent.

The two people we adopted them from have both signed statements stating they adopted the cats to me personally, and not to him. I have receipts and records showing I have paid thousands of dollars for the cats.

If I take it to small claims court, is there any chance I could win my cats back?

Answer:
 >The two people *we* adopted them from

When you adopted the cats were the meant to be family pets shared between you? Or were they always specifically your cats?


Title: Pulled over and cited for subjective law

Question:
Hello,

I was just pulled over in Ohio for “failure to move over or slow down”.  It’s Labor Day weekend and traffic was heavy.  I was pulling a 26 ft trailer.  This was a 2 lane highway and I had cars on my left.  I could not safely change lanes.  There were 2 police cars on my right.  Officers were in their cars.  I hit the brakes and slowed from about 70 to ~58 and slid as far left as I safely could.

The officer pulled me over and suggested I didn’t slow down enough.  I felt that I was safely doing as much as I could.  Slamming on the brakes wasn’t a good option and I couldn’t get over.  Slow enough seems very subjective.

I quickly realized that the officer was not going to back down.  I told him that I had 2 cars to my right and that I moved left and slowed down.  I also apologized to him for making him feel unsafe, as I was making what I believed to be appropriate efforts to look out for his safety.

http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/4511.213

I have zero traffic violations on my record, or anything else for the past 15 years.  Do I have a chance at winning this battle, or should I just pay up?

Thanks in advance!

Answer:
 [Ohio Move Over Law](http://www.dot.state.oh.us/moveover/Pages/default.aspx)

From what I found you must attempt to move over and if unable slow to a reasonably safe speed. In FL it is 20 under the posted limit.


Title: Friend took macair and destroyed it. What can I do?

Question:
I had a 2013 MacAir. A "friend" was drunk and took it apart and destroyed it. Is there any legal recourse? He did this without my permission, against my will. He has the means to replace it, but isn't taking responsibility. What can I do?

Edit: I'm in Maine us

Answer: You can sue in small claims for the value of a used macair.


Title: Would confessions, evidence, etc. obtained by Batman (or a similar figure, real or fictional) be admissible in the court of law?

Answer: Law and the Multiverse does a lot of comics and the law stuff.  They actually addressed this [here](http://lawandthemultiverse.com/2010/11/30/is-batman-a-state-actor/)Answer #2: Only if Batman appeared to testify about what he heard-otherwise it would be inadmissible hearsay. Also, it would be unlikely that the judge would allow him to do so in a mask, and even if it were allowed, it would open up all kinds of opportunities for challenge under the 6th Amendment's confrontation clause. So if Batman wanted to make himself known to be Bruce Wayne, perhaps...


Title: ATM glitch lead to me losing 400 dollars

Question:
I was using a capital one ATM and tried to withdraw 400, and it said that I was rejected. So I tried 200 and it went through. I called my bank and found out that the 400 dollars was taken from my account even though the ATM said it was rejected. Now both banks are giving me the run around, saying that I should call the other bank, and back and forth. Security footage will show that I’m telling the truth. Also, I was stupid and didn’t ask for a receipt.

What can I do?

Answer: When did this all occur? Sometimes you have to give it a business day or two to settle.


Title: [Florida] Dropped Felony Charges Still Show Up on Background Check. Preventing Employment.

Question: My mother was charged with a few non-violent felonies about three years ago. She paid a lawyer nearly $10,000 to ensure that all of the felony charges were dropped or reduced to lesser charges. For the following two years she could not find work anywhere. Finally frustrated and at a complete loss, she asked the manager of a shoe store why she could not get a job as minimum wage cashier even though she has a bachelors and a masters degree.... He showed her a copy of her background check. All of the felony charges still show up. How can this be? What was the point of spending all of that money on a lawyer to have the charges lowered or dropped if they all still show up on a background check? Is there nothing we can do to remove them to better her chances at landing a job? Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated...

Answer:
 Charges can still show up.  The report will say they did not end up in convictions.

OJ was charged with murder, but he was not convicted.  On a background check, they could see the arrest, the charge and the not guilty verdict.

>What was the point of spending all of that money on a lawyer to have the charges lowered or dropped if they all still show up on a background check?

Because if you did not have the lawyer, they could have ended up with convictions and jail time.


Title: [WA] Reason to believe I was not hired because of gender.

Question: About a year ago I applied for a job as survey tech for a small local firm. I had previous experience working outdoors and working with GPS. They also listed math aptitude as a requirement for the position [I was a STEM major in college]. Position went to a friend of mine who later told me they explicitly said in front of him that they don't hire women anymore because they 'can't do the work'. The friend lacked several of the listed qualifications on the job postings as well. What other kinds of evidence would I need for an employment discrimination claim?

Answer:
 That's pretty solid evidence right there -- definitely enough for a consult with an attorney.Answer #2: >Position went to a friend of mine who later told me they explicitly said in front of him that they don't hire women anymore because they 'can't do the work'. The friend lacked several of the listed qualifications on the job postings as well.

You have enough to talk to an employment attorney and ask them whether you have a case.

From here, it looks like you might, but it depends of a lot of extra details you should only share with your legal counsel.Answer #3: How many employees do they have?Answer #4: Among other things, this will depend whether or not your friend wants to alienate themselves at their job and possibly within the field, in order for you to file a lawsuit that may not be successful.


Title: Can I press charges if I tell someone to stop following me around in public, but they keep following me? I'm in Seattle WA

Question: This didn't actually happen to me, but I come across a lot of youtube videos where people are followed around like that and recorded. I don't want that to ever happen to me, so I want to be prepared.

Answer:
 No, for the simple reason that the phrase "press charges" is a colloquialism that hides the fact that you have no way to initiate a criminal proceeding yourself.

You can make a police report. The police can take it from there: they can do nothing but keep the report on file, give the follower a polite caution about stalking and harassment, or recommend charges to a prosecutor, as appropriate.


Title: What's the law surrounding the Christian Erikson coverage?

Question:
I was just curious about what law there is about how sensitive/intrusive situations are broadcasted around the world and what potential charges could be taken against the broadcaster(s).

For those who don't know the context, in a football (soccer) match in the Euros, Erikson collapsed suddenly on the pitch during play. He had CPR and other treatments for about 15 minutes before being stretchered off. He was unconscious for some of that time. Some coverage zoomed in on him after he fell, showing his lifeless face, and put the camera on his wife who was at the match.

Any thoughts?

Answer: This is legal in any country with laws allowing a free press.


Title: [KY] Large hole in kitchen floor, landlord is aware but hasn’t done anything about it.

Question:
I’ve got a hole in my kitchen floor right underneath the back door that leads all the way down to the foundation. My landlord was made aware of this 30 days ago and she said she would get someone out here to make repairs but I have not heard from her since then. What are my options? I’m still on a lease until the end of October.
Topic:
Real Estate law

Answer: How did this hole get there?  Because while this is obviously a habitability problem, the landlord is not under any obligation to repair it for you if you caused it.


Title: What is the right legal action to take against a company that requires me to work multiple hours off the clock?

Question:
I work at a Florida Dunkin Donuts for about 30 scheduled hours a week, but more often than not I work the closing shift. While I am usually scheduled until 11:30pm my supervisor will clock me out around midnight and require me to work off the clock, often for multiple hours.

I haven't had this job long and need the steady employment to pay my tuition. I understand that what my supervisor is doing is illegal, and plan to take action, but how do I do so without getting fired?

Should I be keeping a written record of the amount of extra hours worked? I have mentioned that I am uncomfortable with this practice to my manager and she said it was all part of the job.

Can I wait until I decide to switch jobs before meeting with an attorney?

Thank you for your help, this situation is immensely frustrating.

Answer:
 If you are clocked out, just go home. If fired, file for unemployment and look for a new job.

> Should I be keeping a written record of the amount of extra hours worked?

Yes

> And she said it was all part of the job.

She's full of shit.

Florida has no Dept of labor so you would either need to file a complaint with the US Dept of Labor or see a local attorney.

> Can I wait until I decide to switch jobs before meeting with an attorney?

Are you planning on staying there a few years? If not you may run into limits to sue for. But if it's just a few weeks or months that's fine to wait.Answer #2: IANAL-----I would talk to someone higher on the food chain than your supervisor before considering legal action.  I'm sure this is not a Dunkin Donuts "policy."  I would bet that someone will call your supervisor's BS and make it right.


Title: Friend thinks she might be going to jail. Need help.

Question:
So look. I have a friend. We shall call her, Becky. She has a friend as well. We shall call her, Victoria. Here is their story.

Victoria needed a phone. Becky said she could add Victoria and her boyfriend, Rob, onto her plan as long as Victoria promised to pay the bill on time.

For three months, Victoria was on Becky's plan. Not once did Victoria pay on time. Finally Becky tells Victoria she wants them to pay to get off the plan and she is cutting the phones off. Makes sense. She can't keep having Victoria fuck with that bread.

Victoria starts getting pissy. And Rob as well. Fuck Rob.

Anyway, finally Victoria tells Becky that she is going to give Becky her debit card to put on the account only to be used to pay for her, Victoria's, part of the phone bill. And that she could disconnect the phone as well. Good work Victoria. You are learning.

So, when it came time, Becky used the card to pay for the disconnection fee and the last of the bill. She didn't expressly tell Victoria that she was going to do this. But she didn't use the card for anything that Victoria wasn't supposed to be paying off.

Well. Victoria is a bitch. She calls the phone company and starts complaining and now is threatening to press charges. Does she have any case whatsoever?

EDIT: And this is in Georgia, USA.

Answer:
 For a start Victoria can't press charges, it will be up to the DA. And I suspect that what will happen is that at most she'll be told she can attempt to sue in small claims. Victoria handed her debit card details over to Becky so she can hardly claim that the card was stolen.

I can't see how Becky will be going to jail if everything you have said is accurate. Maybe looking at a small claims case, but that's it.


Title: My husband and I are having an issue because someone hit his parked car a couple weeks ago and we just received a letter that their insurance isn’t covering the damage. What should we do next?

Question:
TL;DR is basically the title.  [Here](https://imgur.com/gallery/NxVpgLD) are pictures of the letter we received, as well as the damage.

Background on my husband’s car.  It’s a 2005 but has only 28,000 miles on it.  His grandmother’s health is declining and she no longer needs the car, so my husband inherited it.  It just got put in his name a month ago.

Onto the story...  A couple weeks ago we got a knock at our door and it was the neighbor from across the street.  She said they’d just gotten food delivered and she saw and heard the delivery driver hit my husband’s parked car.  We park on the street so this isn’t the first time this has happened.  The delivery driver was going to drive off but our neighbor called him out on it and he got out and left a note.  The note said’ “Sorry I hit scraped your car last night.  Call me for information.” He didn’t even sign his name.

We went out to look and it’s just cosmetic, but it’s a decent size dent.  My husband is pretty upset because he just got it and it’s like the last thing he will get from his grandma.  I’m sure the guy who hit his car was probably in shock because he was on the clock too.  I have empathy for the guy, I just hate that he probably wouldn’t have left a note if no one had seen.

We called the number he left but got no answer, probably because he was working.  So my husband called his own insurance (USAA) make them aware and see what we should do.  I thought we should file a police report.  The USAA rep said that if they had insurance, there was no need to call the police (which makes to sense to me). They gave my man a claim number and we waited.

After a bit, we heard back from the kid who hit my husband’s car.  He is under his parents’ insurance (Progressive).  So we called them and try to figure things out.  Progressive was horrible.  They suggested that my husband insurance to get it fixed, which is a $300 deductible.

We did end up going to make a police report because Progressive was fighting it so much.  They even spoke with our neighbor since she was a witness.  Today we received a letter from Progressive, stating that they wouldn’t cover anything.  We don’t want to go through our insurance because it doesn’t seem right that we would have to pay $300 when we did nothing wrong.  Plus it would make our premiums go up.  Is there anything else we can do?  It’s so frustrating!

Thanks in advance!

Answer:
 Delivery drivers are generally required to purchase special commercial properties for when they use their vehicle on the clock.  It doesn't sound like the kid did this, which is why his insurance is washing their hands of it.

Practically speaking, your best option is probably to fix your car out of pocket and sue the kid in small claims court.Answer #2: You will have sue the driver of the car. I suspect progressive denied it because he didn’t have coverage for Commercial use.Answer #3: There's a chance that the delivery driver was covered by his employer's insurance. You could try making a claim there before you pay out of pocket.


Title: [CA] Could I get in trouble for my roommate growing weed?

Question: My roommate is growing two weed plants in our living room. I don’t really mind at all, but I was just wondering if it’s something I should be concerned about legally. We’re all under 21, but my roommate has a medicinal marijuana card. Should we be hiding this if there’s ever a police officer (breaking up a party or something) or our landlord in the apartment?

Answer:
 Even with a card, I believe you need to be over 21 to cultivate. So yeah, it’s a bad idea.

Also it’s possible your lease prohibits it which means your landlord could evict you.

There’s also the other neat consequence of keeping your drugs out in the open: people who do drugs, know you have drugs. That’s how you get your apartment broken into, dummy.


Title: I just found out I'm being paid less than starting wage

Question:
I live in Arizona and have been in my current position for two years now. When I first started, the starting wage was $10.50/hour. After a year, I got a $.37 raise and now make $10.87/hour. About 6 months ago, they were discussing raising the starting wage to $11.50/hour because they couldn't find anybody to hire that was willing to take the $10.50/hour. As far as I knew it was just a discussion. Shortly after the hired somebody new and that was the end of that.

About a week ago, this new employee let it slip that she makes $11.50/hour while I'm still only making $10.87/hour. Another coworker (who started the same time I did) and I went to our manager and she seemed surprised that we weren't being paid the $11.50/hour and claims that should've been taken care of a long time ago. She had us fill out a personell form to get our wage changed to the $11.50/hour, but she didn't seem too urgent about it. I am having a hard time believing she didn't already know we were being underpaid and just hoped the company could slide by without us knowing.

My question is, if I put in my two weeks notice before the wage correction is made is she still required to file that paperwork? And should I be receiving back pay to compensate for the 6 month I "should" have been making at least $11.50/hour?

Answer: No, you should have only been making at a minimum $10/hour. Anything over that is the companies discretion so you have no damages here.


Title: How are companies able to pay a person a combination of salary and hourly?

Question:
I recently got a job and was hired as salary/hourly. It was kind of unclear what the deal was. I would be paid 37k salary but they track my hours and deduct pay when I'm under 40 hours. However, if I go over 40hrs I'm told to not log the overtime but to take "comp time" equal to the overtime the following week or pay period. I make enough and probably won't have to work overtime to often, but I'm curious, how is that legit?
I am an "IT guy" with a little bit of network admin responsibility in Illinois.

Answer: They can't not pay you overtime for time worked over 40 hours in a week and also deduct from your weekly pay if you perform *any* work that week, except in cases where you have full day absences for qualified reasons per the FLSA. It sounds like they are trying to eat their cake and have it to.  They either need to decide you are non-exempt and pay you actual hours worked (including OT if you work more than 40 hours in a work week) or not deduct from your weekly salary in any week in which you perform work except for full day absences for a qualifying reason.


Title: UPDATE: (FL)Husbands ex-wife keeps claiming to live at our address.

Question:
https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/47iovj/fl_husbands_exwife_keeps_claiming_to_live_at_our/

She has been arrested for credit card fraud,unrelated to the address issue. The reason she was using ours was an attempt to hide from debt collectors.

Answer:
 [Thanks for the update. We will take a moment to reflect on the sad, unfortunate truth that this person has made terrible decisions that have resulted in their arrest. Of course, we would never wish bad things on other people, and we hope that the end result of their tribulations is nothing but sunshine and the opportunity to achieve a better life. God bless.](https://media.giphy.com/media/9MFsKQ8A6HCN2/giphy.gif)Answer #2: Thanks for the update!Answer #3: This is the kind of update we *live* for.

Thanks for the update!


Title: Neighbor kicked the mirrors off my legally parked car

Question: Hey! I came outside this morning to find my drunk neighbor kicking the mirrors off my car. It was legally parked on the street, but in front of his house. He is a cranky old guy, I guess he likes the spot in front of his house clear. Any ideas on what my options for recourse are? I am in Richmond CA.

Answer:
 >Any ideas on what my options for recourse are?

Call the police right away and file a report. Take photos of the damage and contact your insurance company.Answer #2: It doesn't matter if it's legally parked or not, it's still vandalism. You can't just go apeshit on a wrongly parked car.


Title: [VA] Arrested for shoplifting. First time offender, Class 1 petit larceny. How can I get this off my record?

Question: Hey guys, first of let me just say that I deeply regret my choices. I could’ve paid for the items instead of doing something so stupid. Anyway, I am a first time offender, and have no prior criminal record. I believe I was caught in the cameras, so there is evidence. What must I do to have it be dismissed?

Answer: The entire premise of your question in that you think there is a magic button to have this dismissed is ridiculous and makes me think that either you watch too much TV or think that there should not be consequences of your actions or both. If you were caught red handed there is no reason that this would or could be dismissed. What you to is hire  a lawyer (or a PD if you cannot afford one) and attempt to mitigate the damages. But there will consequences to poor decisions.


Title: How do some restaurants/bars allow pet dogs in their dining areas when the state Dept of Health specifically forbids it? (WA)

Answer:
 The penalties are mild, so the restaurants and bars simply choose to disobey [that specific regulation](http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=246-215-06570).

Norm's in Fremont (Seattle) is probably the most notorious offender;  it is, after all, named after a Labrador Retriever, whose portrait is their trademark.

When a citizen makes a report to the King County Health Department, they schedule an inspector and if they find dogs, they add 5 points to the inspection score.   It takes 35 points to incur the smallest penalty, which is itself just a mandatory re-inspection.    So Norm's is scrupulous with the rest of their sanitation.

Fortunately for allergy sufferers or dog-phobics, this practice is very limited to a small number of restaurants and it functionally doesn't limit their restaurant choices.


Title: Have to speak to DCF today about a patient complaint

Question: So I'm currently a mental health technician in the state of florida and I've been working at my hospital for 4 years. For the first time, I've had a patient file an abuse claim against me saying I stomped on her toe and broke her foot... her foot isn't broken and I didn't stomp on her foot. Yesterday, the DCF investigator called me at work and was asking me a few normal questions. Then he asks me for my social security number, I told him I wasn't comfortable giving that info out over a phone call, especially when I can't verify who he is. He got very obviously annoyed and told me I needed to come into his office yesterday. I told him I was at work and I would have to speak to my boss about leaving. My boss calls him up and the investigator says that I'm impeding an investigation by not giving my social (I said I wouldn't give that out over the phone) and that if I was a nurse that my license could be revoked or suspended for not giving that information. My question is is that actually true, if a situation like this came up as a nurse and I refused to give my social, would that be grounds for revocation or suspension. And how far do I have to comply with this, I don't like handing out my social out if I don't have to.

Answer: You likely have to give your social, but I don't think it's unreasonable to not want to give it out over the phone if you can't confirm the identity of the person you're speaking with on the phone. Just be cooperative with giving it in an alternative way. DCF/CPS/DSS employees can be hit or miss. Some are really nice, compassionate, capable people who don't get paid enough and others can be incompetent assholes who don't deserve the government benefits given to them much less two rusty nickels. It's just the nature of the beast with such a large agency that doesn't pay good workers enough to keep them and high turnover rates for those entry level and mid level positions. Answer #2: DCF has no control over the nursing licensing board. The most DCF could do is report to the nursing board that you were not fully cooperating with their investigation. Then the nursing board would either ignore the complaint or investigate and determine that you were acting reasonably. IF DCF determines you abused a patient, they could also report that to the nursing board and you would stand a decent chance of losing your license. But the nursing board is an independent organization that would conduct their own investigation into the fact of the case before making a determination about what do to.  Answer #3: I would think HR and Legal from your organisation need to be contacted to help facilitate this discussion. It seems to me you have the right to representation during an investigation, as well.


Title: I was asked to stop writing with chalk on a sidewalk outside of a shopping centre. I was under the impression this is protected free speech (BC, Canada)

Question:
When the police approached, I’d finished one word, “environmentalists.” The officer told me I’m not allowed to deface property that doesn’t belong to me. We agreed that it belonged to the city, and she didn’t agree that as a member of the public city property is in some way partly mine.  I may be incorrect about this assumption, though I was certain the chalking isn't illegal, having been stopped once by the police and him allowing me to finish writing the message before I left the area, and wishing me good luck that it wouldn't rain right away and wash the words away.

I was told this time to get a permit at the city, though by this point in the day the person who issued the permits and who I wanted to discuss the situation with had gone home.

I thought this form of freedom of expression is protected under the charter of rights and freedoms, ie. encouraging education involving democratic and social reform.  (The brand of chalk I use is fully washable with water).

Thank you!

(originally posted to r/legaladvicecanada, though no responses were given)

Answer: You're vandalizing property that doesn't belong to you. Much like graffiti on walls. Doesn't matter that it's not permanent and can be washed.  If you want to express your free speech, make a sign and carry it around.


Title: How old do I have to be to sell a cannabis-infused product online?

Question: Hello, I have done some research and the only things that I can find are about age are for possessing and buying marijuana, not selling. Thanks

Answer:
 In the US, selling MJ is illegal under federal law no matter how old you are.Answer #2: This would be illegal in the states. Even the states that have recreation Marijuana and THC products cannot sell items online.

Edit: spelliingzz hawrd


Title: Could this be school negligence?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Why didn't you involve the police?

Intrusion upon seclusion and distribution of private facts apply here. You had more than enough evidence for a subpoena.

I don't understand why people's first instinct is to go to the school and not the cops when bad things happen. The school is only looking out for themselves not the students best interests.


Title: (NJ) Parents died with no will. What are we obligated to do?

Question: The youngest child is living in their home and paying the bills (utility and taxes). Is it ok to leave everything as "status quo" for the time being? Other siblings have too much on their plate and no money for a lawyer to settle everything. Is allowing the sibling to stay there implying that they will be the sole heir to the property?

Answer: Dying without a will means you died intestate, which would be covered under your state's intestate laws. [Here](https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/intestate-succession-new-jersey.html) is an introduction to NJ intestate laws. Generally, you and your siblings will receive an equal share of all the assets. I don't think you need to worry about your one sibling becoming the sole heir because they're living in the house.Answer #2: I'm sorry for your loss. There's no problem letting the younger sibling stay there for a few months until things are sorted.  That doesn't create a presumption that he or she is the sole heir. But talk to a lawyer about sorting out the ownership issues.


Title: Can I be sued for copyright infringement for using the names of bands/artists in a book?

Question: So I’m writing a novel and I’m naming my characters after real world musicians. Could I potentially get sued for doing this?

Answer:
 >*Renjun and Mick Jagger were sitting naked in a hot tub, drinking mimosas. Renjun looked a Mick through the steam coming off the violently bubbling water and was about to speak, but didn't. Mick knew what he wanted to say. Mick always knew. He wanted them to become cops. To fight crime. To right wrongs. But the crime fighting duo was so... cliché. They would be a crime fighting trio.*
>
>*With his powers of telepathy, Renjun knew what Mick was thinking and he slowly nodded. But who would be their third? Bruce Lee was dead, Bruce Willis was hard to work with. Maybe... and then both said it out loud. "Kanye!"*
>
>*"Jinx, you owe me a Coke!" blurted out Jagger, before Renjun could.*

So this is not a good idea. Not copyright, but right of publicity/identity (765 ILCS 1075/1 et seq) and perhaps trademark. And not just Illinois law would apply, assuming you plan on distributing the book. If you have a good attorney, and can argue satire, you might be able to win in court, but that's a big maybe.


Title: My daughter's twitter account has been unfairly suspended *Florida*

Question:
Background information: My daughter loves the band 1 Direction. I mean she is crazy about them like how most teenager girls get. She got some new 1 Direction merchandise for her birthday and she posted pictures all over social media, as teenage girls are apt to do. Her twitter account has been suspended because she posted the same picture over and over and they claimed my daughter was posting spam.

My question: My daughter is distraught at the loss of her twitter account, not just because she has friends there, but because someone from the band once liked one of her tweets and now that is gone. I have never seen her so happy before when that happened. She wasn't posting spam, she is just a teenager who got carried away. I would like to resolve this and get her account back without getting lawyers involved. I have contacted twitter but they refuse to engage. What should I do next?

Location: state of Florida

Answer:
 Don't you think this is healthy?

If she's so twitterpated that she's posting the same photo over and over and "distraught" over losing access to the account, perhaps being forced to get off twitter for a while is the best thing that could have happened to her.Answer #2: With all due respect, what the hell did I just read? Answer #3: Oh for the love of jeezbus, please tell me you don't actually think a lawyer should be called for this. Go to r/parenting You have absolutely no case. They can not only suspend your daughters account, they can delete it. Answer #4: Are you seriously even implying that your assuming minor child is so distraught over her twitter getting suspended that you would actual think you have a legal case against twitter?

OMG - I seriously weep for the future. Answer #5: >she posted the same picture over and over

>spam

That seems like the correct term for it and besides that, twitter can ban any account for any reason they want or none at all.  Likely unless she was mass reported for sending it directly at people she didnt know it was done by automation so theres a chance at getting it overturned if you contact whoever it says to contact on the ban screen but they likely don't care muchAnswer #6: Daughter was spamming.

Got suspended for spam.

Who do I sue?

Seriously?  It's just a twitter account.  And if your daughter cannot possibly live without twitter (which is an issue all its own) then just open a new stupid account.

But, I kinda do hope you go and get lawyers involved.  Because that will be really really really funny.


Title: Divorce decree and non-paying EX

Question:
Hello Reddit. My fiancée has been divorced for 7yrs, she has two kids. She has been paying for both kids tutoring and medical for the last 7 yrs even though her decree says both parties are 50/50. One of her kids, now 11 is a diabetic and autistic. Her bills are 900.00 a month for insurance, plus out of pocket for education outside of their regular schooling. She has been bullied since her divorce and decided to do it herself because her ex would become intimidating.

She is now confidant and is done being bullied. What can we do to get him to start paying for half of his share in education and health? He says he pays for clothing and sports and he will take her to court, and put the kids on his insurance, and make her pay. The divorce decree says the mother is in charge of the insurance, and of course the father will pay 50%. We buy just as many clothes, food, and misc. items that normal parents buy their kids.

She sent an email in april to her ex explaining that he was to pay half starting at the end of May. She noted all the bills for that month and calculated the his cost. He became hostile towards her over the phone, threatening her and myself. This is in the state of Kansas.

What should we do?

Answer: You go through the courts, not by asking your ex nicely.


Title: Someguy doesnt want to move out of my aunts apartment

Question:
This takes place in marocco,
My aunt owns two houses in marocco, she lives in one and rents out another,
She rented the app to this guy and after 5 years he refused to pay.
So obviously my aunt made this a case and the court ordered him to leave the apartment but he still doesn't want to leave.
What can my aunt legally do to let him move out.

Answer: I very much doubt we have anyone here who is knowledgeable to advise you on Moroccan landlord/tenant law.


Title: [Wisconsin] Highschool yearbook photo was refused because there is a guitar prop in it

Question: [deleted]

Answer: If the school (who is publishing the book, so it is their speech, not your brother's) wants to have certain uniformity in their photos, then they can.  There is no 1st Am. issue here.


Title: Can I legally request Ex return DD to usual stop for parenting xchange? demanding i drive to city for pickup. Argument below. He moved without notice, exchanges at the Starbucks near my current/his former home since. no court ordered other than I pick up/ he picks up. Illinois.

Question:
I am going to stress that we follow the parenting agreement.
  Your move has placed a significant impact on our daughter by increasing her commute time to and from school, sitting in significant traffic.
  The move was not made to benefit our child.
The move significantly impacts my ability to pick up our daughter- given the nature and locations/ lack of flexibility of my job.
 This is not "being unreasonable".
Our order states that I pick her up. That order was written with the understanding that you were living less than 10 minutes away. That order also states that I needed to remain in said location, which you moved 40 miles away from, through 2020. I complied.

 A precedent was set that exchanges happen at the Starbucks RRoad. It prevents you from having to drive to PG and keeps you right off the expressway, in a safe and comfortable location.
I will expect daughter to be brought to the R--- Road location at 6 pm tomorrow night.

Alternate option:
 we can choose the G--PD or PG---- PD location to be "in place" of your former address, and work under the order as written/intended. PG has already been notified that this may be a possibility.  If you prefer G---- police.  I can contact them instead.  ( but their lot is smaller)
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer:
 I swear I'm going to propose a new rule at the next /r/Legaladvice Mod Retreat in Vegas to ban all dumb acronyms and initialisms.  Makes posts nearly unreadable.

*grumbles while shaking fist angrily at bright fireworks outside*


Title: Nj cat has neurological damage due to tick product

Question:
I love my cat more than almost anything in the world. Recently she started exibiting signs of neurological damage, we brought her to the vet who confirmed this. I am almost certain that tick products from Frontline are responsable. Is there any legal action i can take?
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer: The biggest problem, which the others seemed to have glanced over, is that a cat is considered property. And even if you could prove that it was this product that caused the damage to your cat, your damages would be relatively small. Cats don't inherently have much value, unless it's one of those crazy expensive breeds. Even then you could only receive an amount equal to the cost to replace it.


Title: Parents refusing to mail me a ring that was given to me as a baby

Question:
I hope this doesn't sound silly. I realize I'm emotional about this due to past offenses and my judgement is likely clouded.

I live in MO and my parents are in NJ. We are Korean and I went no contact with them due to my mother having BPD and severe alcoholism. In Korea, on one's first birthday, relatives and friends gift the baby a solid gold ring; many babies end up with several of them and they are supposed to provide funds in the event of financial hardship in one's adult life.

I have a daughter whose 1st birthday is coming up and I wanted to pass down my ring to her. My brother asked my father to mail me my ring on my behalf, to which my father replied that he wouldn't send it since his daughter does not exist.

IMO, the ring belongs to me as it was gifted to me by someone outside of our immediate family. The value of the ring isn't much -- maybe $300-$400. Regardless of my non-existent relationship with my parents, they are in possession of a belonging that is mine. I was removed from my home as a teenager by the state and I never had an opportunity to bring it with me when I left.

Do I have any recourse to obtain my ring or am I SOL?  The monetary value of the ring isn't significant to me. The first birthday in Korea is a highly important event and on par with weddings. It has a lot of sentimental and cultural values to me. If I should just forget about it and move on, fine. However, if I do have any legal means to get my ring, I will take it even if the legal costs exceed the monetary value of the ring.

Thanks in advance.

TL;DR: parents won't mail me something that was given to me as a gift as a baby. Can anything be done?

Answer: Sounds like you already got legal advice. Culturally speaking, your father's keeping that ring as a trump card to get you to "apologize" for whatever he thinks you wronged him. If you don't want to play his game, then the best thing you can do is simply start over with a new $400 ring for your baby. He only has power over you because he correctly thinks you deem that ring important. If it was a gift by someone outside of your family, then the only important thing is that you are on good terms with that someone. Then suddenly your dad just becomes a little pebble in the way between the two of you. It may be best to cut off contact with someone so petty, especially if you had reasons to have the state remove you from him. In the end he will regret playing hardball more than you do.


Title: [Vermont, USA] I work 40-45 hours a week for a large corporation, and receive no benefits because according to my timesheets I'm a 'part time worker'. Is this legal?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 don't listen to the other guy. it's absolutely illegal:
https://obamacare.net/obamacare-employer-mandate/

above 30 hours a week and you must be offered health insurance.


Title: Evicting My Cheating Girlfriend

Question:
North Carolina resident here.

I'm trying to evict someone and there's a dispute over how much notice I'm legally required to give them.

It's a verbal, month-to-month lease agreement. I've read that in that situation I only have to give 7 days notice, which can be verbal or written. Can anyone confirm that?

Answer: To be clear, you're the landlord and not a roommate? How long has she been living there?


Title: [New York, NY] Batshit crazy mother and brother in law threaten to hire hitman to kill my sister during her travel to a different country later this year.

Question:
Sorry for formatting and spelling/grammar mistake, this happened recently, on mobile, and and extremely worried for my sisters well-being.

The title already sounds crazy enough, but my family really is this batshit crazy.

My sister and her husband have been having some marriage problems for 3+ years. They have already decided to divorce and lawyer up later this year. My family is divided into two, my parents on his side and me and my other sister on her side. Holy shit he is the craziest man I have ever seen in my life, I almost find it unbelievable seeing it from my own eyes.

Just an example demonstrating how insane he really is... My sister has been seeing and dating a few new guys since they aren’t in love anymore and are getting divorced. Well somehow he finds out about it and his phone number and he claims he is black (he is hispanic btw, and EXTREMELY racist towards black people) and in a gang, going to get his “homies” to find and kill him. He also was about to say he was part of I.S.I.S. awell, but we had to yell at him that he is about to bring a swat team to our house. Yup... I wish I was lying about this.

He has also said some concerning threats, such as “there is going to be a massarce” and that he is going to buy a gun for “safety reasons”.

But the most concerning thing he said is that she is going to end up dead in country she is traveling to, (she is going there this July). Him and my also insane mother apparently have been discussing this for a little bit. They wanted to hire a hitman to go to said country and kill her. My mother said with a smile on her face “You are going to die when you visit said country”. I don’t know if this is another empty threat or what, but this has crossed the line for me. I have severed all ties with her but unfortunately I have to live with her for about another year since I am underaged. I have had enough with their bullshit and I need to know what I can do to help.

Answer:
 Call the police and file a report right now before this whole train wreck loses its trajectory and hurts innocent people.Answer #2: OP, you need to consider your own future as well and how to protect yourself. Do you have other family you can stay with? It sounds like you're living in a very dangerous home and you need to be kept safe as well.Answer #3: If this is serious, it needs to be reported Answer #4: Call the police and tell them everything, even if it brings a swat team to your house. Yes, that includes the ISIS part. Not necessarily to get him in trouble. Especially, tell them the gun part. They need to immediately block him from getting a gun.Answer #5: Aside from the stuff others have mentioned (reporting to the police which should be done ASAP). Keep in mind your own safety, if she knows you're a collaborator, your own life might be at risk.

Incase there's similar behaviour towards you, contacting the CPS might be helpful (since you mention you're underage)


Title: GameStop didn't delete my personal information off my ps4 like they told us they did in store. I just got a Facebook message from a complete stranger asking for my login information.

Question: Is this legit? Should I give it to them? They live in a city that is about 100 miles from me. But they say they are basically locked out of the system.

Answer:
 Tell them they need to take it back to Gamestop. Don't give them your login info. Answer #2: Don't give out your login info.  If there's a problem, they need to take it up with the people who sold them the system - GameStop.  They can ask GameStop for a replacement or a refund.

Furthermore, you should change your password and make sure it's a strong one just in case.  Next time, clear your system of everything before trying to sell it to anyone.Answer #3: > But they say they are basically locked out of the system.

Bullshit. They can easily wipe and re-install the PS4 OS and start fresh. They may not know this, or they may be trying to scam you. In any case, DO NOT give them your password. Go online and change it to something very tough NOW. Then as others said tell them to call Gamestop, this is not your problem (other than you shouldn't have given a PS4 to Gamestop without wiping it, but that ship sailed).


Title: Employer took away my raise without telling me

Question:
JAX Florida

Hello there!

My employer promoted me a few months ago and about three weeks ago I received a small raise from my manager.

My paycheck before last reflected this raise but the last did not however.

I looked into this and my work place profile  confirmed it had been taken away. A call to our HR line gave me the reason that our DM had done this.

I worked three weeks without being notified of this change.

Im being paid less than new hires!

Is there anything that can be done?

Thank you!

Answer:
 Yes! They cannot retroactively change your pay.

You need to be made aware before the pay period starts. HR is probably in a mad scramble waiting for you to realize this. Call them back, advise them that you'd like the rest of your paycheck as you were never made aware your wage was changing.

You may also want to send an email so you have the request in writing.

Moving forward, they can pay you less than a New hire as long as it's over minimum wage. Answer #2: It always astounds how many companies p*ss away talent then complain about trouble finding qualified workers.

I would tell both your HR rep and DM that you are well aware what they did is illegal and expect them to compensate you for the difference or you will file a wage claim. No sane employer likes a wage claim with the DOL. Answer #3: Needless to say, start job hunting.


Title: Landlord sold my apartment building, prepping for a fight

Question:
Howdy. I signed a year lease for my apartment in April, at which time the building was (unbeknownst to me) on the market. Within a month it had been sold to a private owner, who's now letting a management company run the place. I'm in Baltimore.

I have no major problems yet, but I want to be ready for when my lease comes up for renewal. I'm worried that they're going to 1) raise the rent exorbitantly in an effort to get me to leave and 2) claim damages to keep me from getting my deposit back.

The unit was never inspected by the landlord and there's no record of previous damages or condition (aside from some timestamped photos I have from the day I moved in). I know the new owner is looking to remodel the entire building and up the unit prices. I'm under the impression that there's a standard rental increase, something like 5-9%, but haven't been able to verify with research.

I'm getting a great deal on an old apartment with a lot of character and I want to stay here as long as I can afford it. How can I keep this private owner/rental company from taking advantage of me?

Answer:
 There is no rent control in Baltimore, or anywhere in Maryland. When your lease come up for renewal they can raise or lower (ha) the rent however much they want. They could double, triple, quadruple your rent.

As for the deposit, document, document, document and have a final walkthrough.


Title: Massachusetts subletting situation. Owner's wife rented a room to me without Owner's consent.

Question:
Two weeks ago I found a nice room in a house on craigslist to rent out for a month and went to the location to check it out. The lady was nice and offered me a good deal in a nice house in a nice neighborhood.

I have been living at this new place for a week and I found out yesterday that she was renting his husband's place and apparently they were fighting and not on good terms at all. I was woken up near midnight last night as the owner (the husband) came in and told me to get out immediately (his wife was gone for the weekend). He eased up after I explained my situation and realized it wasn't my fault at all and said I could perhaps stay until I find another place to live. He also said that he is willing to pay me back the remainder of my rent if I don't end up staying there.

I was wondering if I have to leave the house, or could I stay given that I have already paid rent to his wife? What are my rights in this situation??
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer: I'd find another place and let him give you back the money you paid. You're there illegally. Granted you didn't know this, but that doesn't matter in terms of the owner. He can evict you without giving you the money back. You would have to go after the wife to get your money. It could end up a long and drawn out process. If they're having fights, you don't want to be at the mercy of whatever the owner if he's feeling pissed off. You could try to negotiate with him to get a formal lease, but it sounds like he doesn't want you around.Answer #2: Generally speaking, barring a clause in the lease otherwise prohibiting it, a tenant (the owner's wife) with a lease is allowed to sublet. However the wife very likely doesn't have a lease and is a tenant at will. That said, you should probably start looking for a different place to stay because the situation there is likely to turn uncomfortable quickly.


Title: [NJ, USA] Father is an unemployed drunk, how do I buy his house from him?

Question:
Trying to take over a mortgage.  Don't know where to start, please help!

* Mother has legal separation papers.
* Father is an unemployed drunkard, breaks doors, punches walls.
* Mother is on the mortgage, but not the deed to the house (lawyer oversight).
* I would like to buy the house so my little sister and mother don't have to move.  Is there a legal way to force my Father out? I'm worried Mom can't legally sell it to me since she is not on the deed.

If any more detail would be useful, just ask!  Thanks in advance.

Answer: You can't legally force someone to sell you  something they own.


Title: TX - Man purchased a gun from me with a check that later bounced. Refuses to contact me and even threatened me with it.

Question:
I sold an old shotgun of mine to a friend of the family to 450. Its a competition shotgun that holds 8 in the tube that has been modified for 3 gun competition.

I was hesitant to accept a check from the guy but he told me the check was good but asked me if I could wait till the friday of that week to cash it.

I told him that was unacceptable and that if he wanted me to wait till friday then he could wait till friday to receive the gun. He reluctantly agreed and I almost backed out of the sale then and there.

He wanted to do the sale at his house, even texted me his address, but I told him we were going to do the sale in the walmart parking lot like everyone else.

Sale happens and I deposit the check which seems to clear fine. Two weeks later however the money was withdrawn from my account and my bank told me that the funds did not clear.

I called him twice with the first time him telling me he was busy and he would call me back. Never got a return call. I have his address from his previous text messages so I showed up at his house.

He claimed that the money was withdrawn from his account and that I was tying to double up on him. He then grabbed the shotgun, not pointing it at me mind you, and threatened me with it saying something like. "Well I have it now."

I leave and call the police but they seem to think it is a civil problem.

I got confirmation from the bank that what had happened was a stop payment was put on the check before it actually cleared my bank. Since the bank puts the money immediately in your account I assumed the check cleared.

I tried going back to the police and showing them how he defrauded me and stole a firearm. They still say its a civil matter and to contact an attorney.

I am sorry I thought that stealing a firearm was an automatic felony in Texas. Not to mention the check fraud. What can I do here, besides hiring a lawyer, and who do I contact to make the police give a damn.

Answer:
 >but asked me if I could wait till the friday of that week to cash it.

Red flag. You should have cancelled the transaction right there.

>I leave and call the police but they seem to think it is a civil problem.

The police are wrong. Issuance of a bad check is a Class B misdemeanor. Call them back and ask to speak with a sergeant or a lieutenant.

>I tried going back to the police and showing them how he defrauded me and stole a firearm. They still say its a civil matter and to contact an attorney.

It's a criminal and civil matter. If you have the guy's name and address, sue him in small claims court. You don't need a lawyer for this. And keep pestering the police so they will at least take a report.


Title: [Canada] I have a fan page that post other people comments anonymously, I have a legal problem.

Question:
Hello,

The current problem is that there is a problem in my city with some people being under a strike, they aren't working since 1 year and some people think they are ridiculous, we posted 1 message from someone that said they were idiots and a guy contacted me because of that post.

He said to me :

"If you don't want your fan page to be closed and get sued, remove the posts about us"

I denied to remove the posts since I think their claim to their bosses is idiotic, they are located on the main street and there is like 3-4 shop there and they all sit outside, they are car dealers so you see them posting hate message against their boss and all this stuff ...

What should I do ?

Answer: Do nothing.


Title: Can a tenant who lives above me decide where I put things in the backyard?!? HELP!

Question:
Location: MASSACHUSETTS

Okay, first off, let me clarify that we have lived in a two family home for the past 4 years, on the first floor. There is a very large backyard, which we were told was "shared", as is the basement. We have our own entry on one side of the house, and the people upstairs have their own entry on the other side. That being said, there's an obvious "split" in the yard because of the driveways being on separate sides of the house. There is nothing in our lease stating that we have use of only one side of the yard, and in fact, was advertised as having a "large shared back yard" which was a huge selling point, as we live on a busy street.
Three years ago, we installed a beautiful fire-pit, which happened to be on the opposite side of the yard where our door is. It's in the very back of the yard, and we were given permission by the landlord for it to be there, since the tenants upstairs who had moved out, no longer used it as a garden. Two years ago, new tenants moved upstairs, and we have been nothing but civil to them. Made it a point to tell us to confront us if they had any issues with us, and told them to feel free to use the fire pit whenever they'd like.

They have a dog, that they leave outside in the morning, inconveniently right next to our bedroom window. With it getting warmer outside, I understand that the dogs should be able to be out, we have a dog too. But, at 6am when it's outside our window barking to come in and they can't hear him from upstairs, he stays out there for 10 minutes at a time.
We left a note on the door to a shared hallway, that basically said to please remember there was a bedroom on the other side of the door. We didn't think that was rude in any way, just a gentle reminder.

WELL.
  They came home at 2 am, as drunk as can be, and stood in the hallway yelling up a storm. I'm not a nice a person when I get woken up like that, so I did in fact yell we were trying to sleep and they were being rude. Literally this was all I said.
They then went outside where they went on for an entire hour talking crap about is, daring us to say something, etc. We just slept in the living room and ignored it, they were drunk and belligerent, and yes we should have called the cops, but we chalked it up to them being drunk.

 The next morning, we find out entire fireplace dismantled, all over the back yard, the trim to the whole patio area we had built, the wooden separators where we plant flowers, everything.

 I again, wrote another note, explaining we're not sure why they did this, but we would like them to restore it back. I then received a very threatening message about how the tenants would no longer be nice, and because we called them rude, they'll now show us how rude they can be. He refused to put the fire-pit back together, and actually decided that it needed to move, and would move all the materials to a different spot in the yard and leave us to deal with it.

When contacting the Landlord, he called this a domestic dispute and could do nothing about it. We do not live with them, it's two separate apartments, this is not domestic. This is a tenant to tenant problem, in which case the Landlord should do something. After contacting the police, they told me the same thing. (We're waiting to see what the Landlord does, till we decide if we want to press property damage charges.)

   Basically the Landlord said the only thing he can do, is change the lease to state that the yard will be split evenly to maintain the peace. Okay....So what about the dismantled fire-pit, that we built, that is thrown all over the yard!?

Any insight would be appreciated.

Answer:
 > This is a tenant to tenant problem

Exactly. It's between you and the other tenants. Your landlord is not your personal mediator. Call the police if they threaten you or destroy your property. Otherwise, learn to get along with your neighbors. Answer #2: Small claims court against them for the value of the damaged property.

Everything else, while unfortunate, isn't really legally actionable. Maybe tell the landlord that if he doesn't solve his crazy tenants, you'll be moving out at the end of your lease. Answer #3: Get a cheap camera and start filming your neighbors when the get aggressive and abusive and store it somewhere on the net.  What they did was vandalism of property and can be taken to small claims court or even have charges pressed against them.  At this point it looks like it will not get any better and to best protect yourself is to document this with video and audio as much as possible.


Title: Can my boss require me to wear a bikini to work? (California)

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 The first thing I would do is check with the Department of Health and see if that's an acceptable way of serving food.

Requiring a female to wear a bikini while allowing males to wear anything they want may be sex discrimination.  The practical question is do you want to keep your job?  If you take any action on this, you'll be poisoning your relationship with your employer.  If you want to do that, you can start with the EEOC or DFEH office in your area.  Eventually, you will need a lawyer.


Title: [Michigan] Mother's ex is a cop and we have proof he's been recording his superiors without their permission and now he's after us...

Question:
Background:
Mother met younger (29) man and "fell in love" built a house together and 4 years later he's ready for a new woman....
Well he hated his leiutenant and would record him to try to get him on tape saying something incriminating.... Well when he first "moved out" he left his laptop with us for about a month and on his laptop he had the recording so I put them on a USB stick. Well after awhile he served us with papers saying we had things we could use as blackmail and that he wanted them back.... well it's been almost 2 months and the things have been sitting at our lawyers office and he NEVER came and got them.... Now we have some man trying to serve us with papers and we don't know what they're for because we won't answer the door. (Yes I know, just answer it because he can just mail them but the dude was scary as hell.... two women in a little condo in a new city... not the ideael situation to answering doors to strangers)

The reason I bring up the USB is that he keeps doing everything he can to break us down. My mothers car was in his name and despite her making payments he took it from her and gave it to his new girlfriends bestfriend, he canceled my brothers car insurance without telling him, he took some of our chairs, won't give us my cats, and even reported my mothers phone stolen so we had to get a new one for her. We work in the city hes an officer for and theres always a cop following us and I even have pictures of cop SUV's parked outside my work...

Sidenote: This ex (we'll call him Sam) owns his own security company that my mother helped run for 3 years and he never paid her.... her name is on everything... she was even the one to sign the pay checks to their employees but there isn't a shred of evidence saying she ever got paid... he always told her she didn't earn her pay... that us living in his house was pay enough.... Is there anything we can do about that? I mean, knowing this wouldn't he be hesitant to serve us with anything? We left the house and have checks proving that not only did my mother pay for EVERYTHING in the house, including the lot it was built on, but we have proof that Sam was signing to get almost $1000 out of my mothers bank account every month to pay his employee's....

I'm a 21 year old girl with her heartbroken 46 year old mother... we just need to know we'll be okay if we make the right move.

Answer:
 >the things have been sitting at our lawyers office

It sounds as if you are represented by an attorney. Any communications from a court, or the other party (you mom's ex) should go to him. All you should reply if contacted in person or via letter is "My attorney is Lorena "Rabid Dog" Bobbit, esq., of Dewey Reamum and Howe, LLC, at 123 Main Street. His phone is 123-555-1212. Kindly please address all communications to her." You may omit the "Kindly" if you wish. Otherwise, keep your mouth shut and DO NOT GIVE INFORMATION to your mom's ex, or anyone else for that matter.


Title: Drink spilled on laptop in a bar

Question: Sad lady from michigan, usa checking in. A couple of days ago, I was in a bar doing work on my laptop (I'm a student). When I picked up my freshly delivered drink, the bottom of the glass fell off entirely and it spilled all over my computer (a 2014 macbook air). The manager came over and told me this is not the first time a glass has broken like that and that it happens when they put cold drinks in hot glasses after they get out of the dishwasher. The manager gave me her card and told me to call if I couldn't get my computer working again. I'm still waiting on it to dry out before I know whether it is salvagable, but I'm wondering if anyone has legal advice about the situation? Is the bar at all liable for giving me a shitty glass? If they are liable, how much could I reasonably expect to get if my computer is toast? Any advice is much appreciated!

Answer: Before trying to sue, give the bar a chance to make the problem ok (paying to replace or fix the laptop). Consider this a lesson not to use your laptop where there is a higher chance of getting liquids spilled on it.


Title: NYC noise from a bar that's blocks away

Question:
Hey Reddit,

Native NYer here. Moved into a great apartment uptown last year. Love my apartment, but I don't love the nearby bar(?) that blasts music. My apartment is at the back of the building, facing other buildings. Every Friday night when the weather gets warm, what I believe to be a bar nearby BLASTS music until at least 2-3am. I'm not sure exactly where it's coming from, as I have not ventured out several blocks away at 2am.

I'm all for people having a good time - I live in a very ethnic neighborhood, and so it's parties 24/7. I'm just not okay with the music being so loud that I can hear it from blocks away. I can tell the general direction it's coming from, and it's definitely at least 3-4 blocks away, but the music is so loud that it may as well be coming from my neighbor's window 20 feet away. I, unfortunately, work early on Saturdays, and it's agonizing every single week to have to listen to music this loud. I can't imagine how loud it must be INSIDE wherever it's coming from.

I'm looking into noise-reducing curtains, as I have been known to sleep through alarm clocks and earplugs/noise cancelling headphones simply are not an option. I was wondering though if I would have any legal standpoint for the place to receive a citation, ticket, etc. - if so, I'd for SURE venture out at 2am to see exactly where the noise is coming from. All I want is a REASONABLE volume! There will always be city noise - I can always hear people fighting outside my window, cats fighting, ambulance and police sirens, but the constant extra loud music that late is ridiculous.

I have submitted 311 complaints in the past - the 311 email updates have told me that nothing was found from my complaint, which I know is a lie. I've heard the music get shut down, only to have it be turned right back up 20 minutes later. I didn't know that this would be a problem when I moved in, since I'm not above the bar, next to it, or even on the same block (based on the sounds - definitely coming from further away), but it's unbearable when I need to get up early on a Saturday and can't get to sleep until at least 2-3am.

I can obviously keep submitting 311 complaints, but I'm looking into more permanent solutions and figured someone on Reddit might be able to help me out!

EDIT: Just looked at the 311 service request map, and there were 4 complaints submitted tonight for loud music/party, all 4-5 blocks away from me, concentrated in one area, so it seems like I estimated pretty well on how far away the music comes from. Seems like those several complaints shut down the music for tonight around 2:15am.

Answer:
 > I live in a very ethnic neighborhood, and so it's parties 24/7

Wait, what?