Title: Happening right now. Boss took my SO's phone. Without her knowing, we don't know what he's doing with it. (EU/DE)

Question:
Please help reddit, asap. Long story short, my girlfriend and I work at the same place, and one our our team leaders is not really a friendly kind of fellow. Plus he hates us, because he had a crush on her, but she is with me, so he tries to make our lives a living hell in every way possible.

Today, my gf had her phone on her desk, and while she was serving a customer (tourist office at the airport), she noticed he reached out to her desk, but didn't care because she was working, right. Five minutes later, she notices she doesn't have her phone, and a coworker says "well the boss took it, I thought you know."

He's nowhere to be found, we don't what if he's breaching her privacy, reading our texts, he can really do anything. Is it justifiable to call the local cops, or will they hang up on me?

Just so it's clear, our workplace has no rules about phones, he just jerks his ego and keeps coming up with new bullshit each and every day just to ruin our lives. He screamed made her cry like an hour ago in his office.

Sorry for being rude, but I am seriously angry now. What should we do? If it was up to me, I would smash his head against the wall, but I just want to get her damn phone and go home.

Answer:
 If you can't find the boss, notify building security. When they don't help, call the police and file a report.Answer #2: >Is it justifiable to call the local cops, or will they hang up on me?

First of all, ask him for the phone back. That is the first thing you should do.

If he refuses to give the phone back then you can call the non emergency number of the police or go down to the police station to report a theft.

>If it was up to me, I would smash his head against the wall

You should work on your anger issues, this won't help at all. It would be way more efficiënt to go over your boss his head to his manager when he refuses to give up the phone ASAP and inform him/her that your gf's manager stole her phone and refuses to give it back and that you would like to inform him before going to the police.Answer #3: Can she use Find my Iphone or something similar to locate it and lock it down?Answer #4: And post an update too. I am curious what his excuse will be.Answer #5: Arguably it's a part of a pattern of sexual harassment, and your girlfriend could file a complaint with whatever governmental agency handles sexual harassment claims in Germany. I'm an American lawyer, and even under the U.S.'s (pretty terrible) employee protections, the boss's actions could be considered sexual harassment of a "hostile work environment" type.Answer #6: /u/frisian2, your services are needed.

And OP, jesus, you need to chill before you make things worse.


Title: [Los Angeles, CA] Abusive ex got a restraining order against me and continually contacts me. Lawyer is asking for retainer with no movement.

Question:
Hello everyone,

Sorry this is lengthy but had to give background - It’s embarrassing and shameful but I’m hoping someone can kind of help guide me.

Messy background: I met my ex summer 2017. He started showing some signs of erratic behaviour - smashed all the furniture in his family home, became abusive, physically and mentally. He confessed he was physical with his last girlfriend, and I got the audio - in fear that nobody would believe me. This should have made me bolt, I know, but the cycle of abuse is hard when you’re in it and he’d go from charming to terrifying.

**November 2017:** He got particularly violent - I had to call the cops and gave an emotional statement. Played the recording of him admitting abuse. They promised me “he would be arrested and charged” in their words.
The next day nothing happened.
The next week nothing happened.

Nobody did anything, and more abuse ensued, and I had to call police again.
The next day nothing happened.
The next week nothing happened.

**January 2018:** Cycle of abuse...  I said if he wouldn’t change, he’d have to do counselling, do something, or I’d have to press charges so he’d change.
This is where he lost it: he’d tell me he’d ruin my life, I better not mess with his acting career, threaten me to be silent. One afternoon he came home from work and told me he “now had a split shift”, he grabbed his laptop and all of my things...? I was so confused questioning this, asking why he had my stuff!? He slammed the door and left without answering. I thought it was bizarre, but I ignored him and left the apartment.  When I returned later in the evening, everything changed: he locked me out of his house, took my clothes, blocked me on everything.

As I’m knocking on the door, an officer comes up and informs me I am “trespassing” my ex claims I “broke into the building” and “he barely knows who I am”.  This is obviously false. Thankfully I hired a lawyer, and got video of him letting me into the building multiple times, the landlord admitting  we went to the rental interview together. I very much lived there. I hired a lawyer and got proof and video of all of this. Essentially: he felt threatened that I one day would press charges, so he took everything I owned and locked me out.

**After all this chaos and drama he caused I changed cities, changed jobs, moved on.  Since, he has called me around 20 times asking if I was okay, and I have recorded/screenshotted/documented each time. Each time I tell him to leave me alone. He does not. I changed my number. He created Instagram accounts to contact me. I want this to stop and want to live my life.**

Now November 2018. I am curious why charges were never pressed and if I can get a restraining order against him. My questions are what are my options from here? How is his restraining order against me valid,  when he contacts me regularly? Can I get one against him? Is it too late to press charges? Why didn’t the police do anything? I recognize I can’t get my belongings back, which is upsetting. My lawyer is asking for another retainer,  with no movement on this...? I have sent him all my screenshots, we have video,  and nothing has happened. But I’m obviously new to this.

**TLDR; how can an ex keep a restraining order against you when they continually contact you?! How do I protect myself?!**

Sorry for this being so long. Any help or even advice is so greatly appreciated.

Answer:
 >How is his restraining order against me valid, when he contacts me regularly?

What? It sounds like there are parts of your story missing. You jump from getting locked out of your apartment, to moving out of state, to him having a restraining order against you? Were you served the order, or did you attend a court hearing? What did your attorney say about a restraining order?

>How do I protect myself?!

A restraining order is valid until the court declares otherwise. Do not contact your ex in any way.

You are not responsible for your ex contacting you, but to protect yourself you should keep screenshots and notes when your ex contacts you as you already say you are, because those will help your defense if you are ever accused of violating the order.

Block and ignore your ex. Do not respond to his messages, but take a screenshot and make a note of the date and time and method of contact every time it happens.

If you believe you are being harassed by your ex, you can ask a court for a restraining order of your own against your ex. If your ex violates that order and you report it, the police can take action.


Title: I think my husband's ex is fraudulently collecting child support on his almost 20 year old child

Question:
Hi Reddit. Im hoping someone can shed some light on this mess we're dealing with.

My husband has an almost 20 year old daughter with his ex. We reside in a state in the US where child support does not end at 18, as long as the child (now adult) is attending college full time. He has paid every penny he owes her up until this point (over 500 a month).

About 6 months ago he asked his ex to provide him with her transcripts. He wanted to see how many classes she was taking and her grades. This angered her like nothing I've ever seen. He hired a lawyer who also sent her a letter requesting the records. She has skirted around the issue since then and WILL NOT forward the transcripts.

This is currently the end of her second year. We know for a fact that she dropped out the end of her freshman year fall semester and did not attend that spring. The only thing she provided us was her fall registration of sophomore year and nothing for this current spring semester. To us, the registration does not prove she attended, took or passed any of those classes...only that she signed up. She could have registered and then dropped classes the next day.

His lawyer told him that if she were to file a motion to bring her to court, A. It will cost 5K and B. There is a possibility he would wind up owing her more because his salary is substantially higher then when the child support order was put into place (she never filed for an increase).

When he tries to reach out to his daughter who now lives hours away from us he gets one word answers. How is school going? Fine. How are your grades? Good.

I feel as though if they were within the law they would have willingly let him see her transcripts. If she fraudulently collected child support for 2 years will she end up owing us money? We really don't have 5,000 to fight this. Where do we go from here?

Answer:
 Unless the daughter decides to release the transcript to her father he will not get them. He will have to spend the money to have the court order the transcripts. However, even if she is failing all of her classes he will still have to pay child support until she is dismissed from the school.Answer #2: Keep in mind that ex would owe support back from the point daughter dropped out, which would help offset the 5K eventually.

Is the support enforced by the state? If so, contact the state's department for child support and ask them to investigate.


Title: [US/Jamaica] What happens if I overstay a visitation visa by a few days to finish up a job?

Question:
My employer sent me to Jamaica for about a month to do some consulting work for a major Jamaican company here. After being here for about 3 weeks it seems like the job will take a little longer than expected. However, my company cut corners and instead of having me apply for a work-visa they used a visitation visa. It looks like my job is going to require an extra 3-5 days for me to finish based on how these last few weeks have played out.

My visa is good for 30 days, I am not *supposed* to be working here in Jamaica *at all* according to what I was told. In fact, I was told to tell Jamaican immigration that I was coming here for some business meeting, some training, and some personal days.

My ticket is already booked for the last possible day I'm "legally" allowed to be here. If I change my return date it'll be obvious that I'm willingly breaking the law.

What options do I have so I can stay a few extra days here legally? What could happen if I stay illegally? Would anyone realistically notice? I love my job and my company but I'm not willing to face fines, be detained, and possibly have something on my record just for a one-time project. My "last day" is coming up soon any my company's management seems to be putting off researching this.

Any help/feedback is appreciated, thank you.

Answer: Visa and immigration status are not subjects to take lightly. Run afoul of them, and you can end up deported, banned from entering the country, or worse. If you're there on a visitor visa, you should not be working. Go home.


Title: My company pays us salary, but reduces pay for sick days, and doesn't pay overtime. Is this legal in Missouri?

Question:
I work for a company in Missouri. They pay us salary, and we're paid weekly.

We don't get paid overtime for going over 40 hours per week. However, if we take a sick day, we either have to use PTO or they'll reduce our paycheck for that day we missed.

Do I not understand salary correctly? I didnt think they could do that. It sounds like we get the worst parts of salary and the worst parts of hourly.

I make $50k a year if that makes a difference.

Answer:
 Totally legal. You are paid to be there on certain days, and if you are not there, you are not paid that portion of your salary.

You may, however, not be considered an exempt employee for overtime purposes depending on your exact job function, which would at least entitle you to overtime for hours worked beyond 40. Again, this heavily depends on your exact job and duties.Answer #2: >we either have to use PTO or they'll reduce our paycheck for that day we missed.

The whole reason for the term "PTO" (paid time off) is to lump vacation and sick days into the same system.  As far as they are concerned paid time off is paid time off, regardless of the reason.  Most employers give you a few free PTO days each year on top of the vacation you earn to account for sick days, but I can't speak to yours.

Either way this is common practice with salaried employees.  Answer #3: The Department of Labor [seems to support](https://www.dol.gov/whd/opinion/FLSA/2005/2005_01_07_7_FLSA_PaidTimeOff.htm) the actions of the company.


Title: I stayed at a hotel for a week a month ago. They've charged me 5 times for that. Is what they're doing fraud and what can I do about it?

Question:
[Texas]
I've recently moved cities and, without a place to stay between houses, my brother told me that there's a hotel that charges about $300 for a week.  I checked in on Sunday night.  On Tuesday, I saw that they had repeated this transaction two additional times, wiping out my bank account.  The people at the front desk said they saw no record of those transactions, and my bank was able to stop them from going through, so I got my money back.  Right after the money hit my account, I got it out from an ATM and cancelled the card.

A couple days ago, that hotel charged me that same amount again.  I called my bank, they said that the hotel was using some kind of rollover program with Visa so that they could backdoor their way from my old card and still use it to make transactions.  I went to the hotel, they said that their crediting vendor was pushing the transaction through again because the one from last month hadn't gone through.  When I showed them my bank statement and that it had gone through and they had charged me twice, she said that my best bet was to get my bank to chargeback my account, otherwise it would be 5 to 10 business days until I got my money back.  I spoke to the bank, they said they couldn't do that, but that this case should be treated as fraud instead of just a dispute.  My bank said they'd completely cut off the card and refund me my money over the next 48 hours.

When I woke up this morning, the hotel had charged me again last night, and now my account is in the red.  The lady with the bank said that they were using different authorization codes for each transaction, so someone at the hotel was probably complicit with whatever was going on.  She said she'd been working there for 10 years and never seen a company try to force through so many authorizations and be so blatant.  She also told me that they could keep doing this for the next 6 months.  At this point, I'm in the red with checking, and I just need my money back so I can close my account.

This week is spring break for my kids.  I was supposed to pick them up today for a long weekend, and I was gonna use what money I had in order to get us a hotel.  Now, I'm not sure if I'll even be able to get them this weekend.  My ex will be pissed because she can't work, and that's gonna cause friction.  The only food I'll get is what my friends will give me.

Are there any legal repercussions I can bring against this hotel?

Answer: It would not hurt to file a report with the Texas Attorney General Consumer Protection Division. Complaint form is [here](https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/cpd/consumer-protection). Nothing like a call from a state investigator to get the hotel to stop fraudulently charging you. Plus, this might start an investigation into whether this is common for them to do and, if so, there could be serious consequences for the hotel.Answer #2: Are you currently in the same city as this hotel? Go there and ask them in person what the hell they are doing. In the meantime, continue to file chargeback requests on the amounts being charged.


Title: Would this be considered trespassing is there isnt a sign explicitly stating no trespassing?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 California cop here. Wheelies are reckless and it's a misdemeanor citation and a 30 day impound on your  bike. Trespassing is the least of your concern

Edit: oh the total cost is in the 3-5k range in fines and freesAnswer #2: [Here are signage laws of the 50 states.](http://www.signs.com/blog/state-by-state-guide-to-no-trespassing-laws-signage/) And [Here](http://law.onecle.com/california/penal/602.8.html) is the actual California law.

You're right, it has no details about *what wording* the signs must have, besides "forbidding trespass." But signs which say "**not for public use**" would mean the same thing. **You** are the "public" it's referring to.

I personally doubt you'd get fined for being on the property. Maybe yelled at. Maybe given a stern talking-to by the police. A fine for a first offense is only $75, so you *could* risk it, though I would never advise you to do that.Answer #3: >private property, not for public use

What exactly do you think those signs mean?


Title: [CO ]Did not receive security deposit within 60 days of moving out, and had to contact them over the course of 8 days to find out that I actually owe money

Question:
I moved out of my apartment on August 1, 2017. On October 2, after the 60 day deadline I my apartment to let them know I had not received anything. They told me to wait until the end of the week. At the end of the week I contacted them, and no reply. 3 days later, I contacted them again, and finally I got some information. According to them I owed them $150 because of damages in the apartment. They said this bill was past due, yet I have received nothing in the mail or via email about this bill until now.

I asked for proof that they actually sent my security deposit/bill to the address I provided them when I moved out, and they said they did not have any. They also said they have not heard of using certified mail, which I thought was standard with sending bills and documents like security deposits.
I am planning on giving them 7 days to refund my security deposit in full due to their inability to follow Colorado law. Am I just in doing this?

Additionally, should I pay the bill to avoid it going to the collection agencies and hurting my credit until we can sort everything out?(they are threatening to send it to collections even though today is the first time I've seen the bill)

Answer:
 You send them a demand for your entire security deposit under

38-12-103. Return of security deposit.

http://www.tenant.net/Other_Areas/Colorado/crs/103.html

They forfeited their right to collect any damages under 38-12-103(2).  Indicate this in your demand.

Wait 7 days and sue them in small claims court.

It is up to you whether you want to pay the 150 to avoid the temporary credit ding, but I would dispute the charge until the small claims is worked out.


Title: Suspended license from 1977 now active again

Question:
In 1977 I was convicted of a DUI in Illinois. Between the time I was arrested and the time of the conviction, I moved to Kansas and got a Kansas drivers license. I went back to Illinois and pled guilty to the DUI charge, but never got my Illinois DL back, as I now had one issued in Kansas.

Recently, I took a test (in Wisconsin) to get a CDL, and they told me that my DL was suspended. Now my DL is suspended nationwide, but until I took the CDL test my DL was valid (in Utah).

I have had a DL in Kansas, Colorado, California, and Utah.

In order to get my status resolved in Illinois, I must jump through some (expensive) hoops, that I just cannot afford as I am currently homeless (but for the grace of a brother where I am staying).

My question is: How can Illinois have the right to deny my right to have a DL in any other state, since a have had one for over 25 years, and do I have any legal recourse?

Answer:
 To have your suspended or revoked Illinois driver’s license reinstated, you will have to participate in an informal hearing with a Secretary of State hearing officer, and likely pay a fee ($250 I believe).

The reason this didn't come up until now is because many states didn't join the DLC until the 80's and early 90's.


Title: City wrongfully towed my car...next steps? (Seattle, WA)

Question:
I parked next to one of those temporary "no parking" boards in Seattle, but there was CLEARLY a paper attached to it that said "parking is OK on Saturday" (I have pictures of this - and yes, it all occurred on Saturday 1/31/15).

I came back to the area a few hours later and my car had been towed.  It took me and a friend two hours to get it back, plus impound fees; this is on top of the citation from the SPD parking enforcement.

I'm furious at the wasted time it spent to get my car back, not to mention the fact that I'm already out $200 for the impound fees.  What do I do?  Should I just request a hearing or is there a better way to approach this?  And do I need to request two hearings, one for the citation and one to get the impound fees refunded - or can all of this be handled through the same hearing for the citation?

If it matters, this was also in a 'zone permit' parking zone.  However, my friend lives in the area and I clearly had a guest zone permit on display.  The citation does not make any mention of a zone violation.

Thank you in advance for your help.  I'm happy to provide more information if needed.
Topic:
Traffic and Parking

Answer:
 >"parking is OK on Saturday"

Something gives me the feeling that this was just something someone put up on the sign without authorization. In that case, you'd probably lose any sort of appeal.


Title: How did LeBron James open up a public school?

Question: What exactly is defined as a public school in Akron? How does enrollment, insurance, curriculum and whatnot work? How does an individual get approved to open up their own public school?

Answer: I assume it is a [charter school](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_schools_in_the_United_States) (which are called "community shools" in Ohio).


Title: I grow toxic plants, roommate’s dog ate one and got sick. Am I liable?

Question:
I live in Texas.

I grow a variety of plants out on the balcony of my apartment, some of which are extremely poisonous if ingested. I just got a new roommate a few weeks ago who has a small dog, and I told her that she needs to keep the dog off our terrace or watch him very carefully as he could get sick and die if he ate the leaves or flowers of the plants.

She said that was fine, that she would be careful. Well fast forward to today and her dog is experiencing partial paralysis and problems breathing, and it is at the vet. I came home and noticed that one of the plants (D. metel) has been knocked over and had a few leaves torn off.

I haven’t told her that I think the dog poisoned itself, and she has no idea what is happening to her dog. I know morally I should take responsibility, but honestly I don’t have the cash right now to deal with a vet bill or doggy funeral.

Am I legally required to tell her? If so, do I have to cover the costs of care? Couldn’t she be responsible because I warned her ahead of time?

Answer:
 Note that telling her so she can tell the vet may allow the vet to give the correct care, and thus save the life of the dog. This could help prevent a worst case scenario where you’re liable for the vet bill for a *dead* dog.Answer #2: Tell her immediately so the vet can take life saving measures.Answer #3: The vet needs to know what the dog ingested or is suspected to have ingested.

&#x200B;

Now not later.


Title: Advice: Three Car Accident: No Insurance at time of accident

Question:
Got into a car accident a couple months back.  What essentially happened is the car in front tried to run a crosswalk but slammed their brakes to avoid hitting some pedestrians.  The car behind them hit them [little to no damage] and I rear ended the second car.  At the time I just got off my parent's insurance to get my own so I didn't have any.

The driver I hit had almost no damage and they were more pissed at the driver in front who tried to run the crosswalk.

No police report was filed and I took photos of the cars involved.  The driver in the front stated they were fine and had no physical injury.

The second car that I hit, that situation got settled, nobody owed anything -- I didn't damage their car essentially.

Now recently I got this letter from the FIRST driver's insurance company.
http://imgur.com/LimXTT7

This is the car of the driver making the claim immediately after the accident.
http://imgur.com/1WY4zGW

Once again, no police report, driver stated they were physically okay, and "damages" shown can be easily disputed to not even be close to the ~$5,000 claim they are making -- scratches on bottom of bumper were pre-existing.

Also on the letterhead, the amount they stated is still pending which is confusing, cause if they already paid that amount, how can it still be pending?

I feel like the person in front is committing insurance fraud and filing a false claim.

What can I do from here on out?

I plan on emailing the agent in a day or two before the 7-day response time runs up.  What should I say?  Obviously I'm going to keep it short and simple but still need help!

Thank you!

Answer:
 I once rear-ended a 7-year-old BMW at about 15mph after sliding on snow going downhill. There was only a small dent visible to me but my insurance (because I'm not a moron who drives around without insurance) paid just over $7,000 in repairs because not all damage is visible. Apparently the rear axle was pretty screwed up and the car was not driveable.

This is a very expensive lesson for you in learning to not drive without insurance and to not follow too closely. Answer #2: Are you a mechanic that inspected the car? Because not all damages are visible.

>the amount they stated is still pending which is confusing,

They are leaving themselves open if something else comes up

Ask for the paperwork from there mechanic. That's about all you can do. If they sue you, you will likely be paying attorney fees.


Title: Popped a tire in a pothole

Question:
Hello. I am new to Reddit and this is my first post so please forgive me if there are any errors.

I am a high school student who drives to and from school on a regular basis. The route I take from home to school has recently been getting very worn down and there are multiple potholes developing in the asphalt. Keep in mind, this my town's main road, there are many other people driving this route.

This morning, when I was on my way to school, I was put in a situation where I had to either hit a pedestrian walking on the side of the road, hit oncoming traffic that was edging it's way into my lane to avoid hitting a pothole in their lane, or go over a large pothole that was in my lane.

I tried to stop my car to avoid hitting the pothole at a high speed, but it was too close and I hit the pothole extremely hard. I instantly felt that something was wrong with the wheel and upon arriving at the school, I found that I had popped a tire.

Not only had I popped the tire beyond repair, but my custom rim had also been slightly chipped. I had bought that set of all season tires new about three months back.

I have a 2008 Impreza, and the 4x4 can not be turned off. As some of you may know, a 4x4 can not have just one tire changed out for a new one, all tires must have the same tread.

That means that my new tires that I had just bought had to all be changed out for new ones. I am looking at spending about $700 from my calculations.

I currently only have about $300 in my bank account, but I have a weekend job snow plowing that pays about $400 dollars a month at the rate I can work.

What I want to know, is if there is any way I could get the county to help with the expenses, as it is their job, as the government, to fix the roads and maintain safety in the town.

I will write a letter with my future bills enclosed to the county if that is what it takes to achieve this goal of financial aid, and I am even willing to take legal action against the county if that is what it takes.

If any of you on here know what the steps to take from here would be, or if it would be a wise decision to take legal action against the county, please let me know so that I can get to work on it.

Btw, I live in the high rockies of Colorado.

Answer:
 1) You can buy a new tire and have it shaved to match.  If your tires are new enough you don't even need to shave them.

2) Pay attention to the road and adjust your speed for road conditions next time.  You were driving too fast if you had to panic brake.

3) You will not get any money to pay for this.


Title: Should I be cautious of testifying as a witness to this court case? (PA)

Question:
Hey everyone,

I hope I'm posting on the correct subreddit. I really don't know much about the court system, trials, etc.

So for the backstory:
I'm a 19 year old female. I work at a state park over the summer and this park has a public pool that I lifeguard at. This specific park is very popular to people from neighboring cities like Philadelphia. Some of the people here can be very rough, I've noticed gang tattoos, rowdy behavior, drinking and smoking weed, etc. I've never had a problem with anyone becoming violent with me because I'm a very level headed person. Basically, some people from Philadelphia thought that the lifeguards stole their bag. We persistently told them we didn't see it. By this time they were yelling at us insisting that we had it. The park ranger was at the pool at the time so he was trying to deescalate the situation. I looked around to find it I shortly found the bag that they were looking for(the lifeguards were not hiding the bag in anyway, it was just a miscommunication). When I brought it out to them, 2 girls started screaming in my face and lunged to punch me. I literally blacked out and didn't know what to do. The park ranger grabbed them and around 15 people in their group started to jump him. Basically, he was able to get away and pull his gun to arrest them. All of the people involved were arrested.

So I was called by a lawyer(?) and she let me know that they want me to testify at one of the trials as a witness. I looked up the article for the people arrested and one of them was from Kensington, which is a very drug and gang related part of Philadelphia. Should I not testify for my own safety? I guess I'm worried that if I testify that someone will try to seek revenge against me? I really don't know. I want to testify just to see these people at least go to prison. They assaulted an officer and the whole situation effected me. Any advice would be really appreciated.

Answer:
 You watch too much TV.

If they really want your testimony they can subpeona you. Failure to comply could very well end with you in jail.


Title: If a child is conceived in the state of the non-custodial parent, but is born and lives in the state of the custodial (and childbearing) parent, which state has jurisdiction over the child support amount?

Question: Say a child is conceived in Wisconsin, but the custodial parent (who also births the child) ends up moving to Washington to give birth, and then proceeds to raise that child in Washington.  Does Wisconsin or Washington have jurisdiction over the child support amount in this case?

Answer: Place of conception has never had any legal value, especially since its impossible to prove.Answer #2: IANAL but I'm pretty sure the state of conception is irrelevant.  If the baby is born in WA and resides in WA, then WA has jurisdiction.


Title: Rabbit almost died due to negligence of pet sitter

Question: [deleted]

Answer: If that's the condensed version I don't even want to imagine how big and full of useless information the unabridged version is. If she had a duty to do something and she didn't and you suffered damages then you can sue her.


Title: Can I get in trouble for working for 89 days in Europe?

Question: I am an American citizen but my friend has offered me an opportunity to work for as long as I want in Ibiza during the summer. I would like to work for up to 89 days to avoid legality issues and then come home. Do I run any risk of getting in trouble doing this?

Answer: I assume you mean you want to enter on a tourist visa and work? This is illegal, you are not allowed to be employed without a visa specifically allowing it. You can be deported and barred from re-entry for a really long time


Title: Accused of theft during an event and expelled without a refund.

Question: San Diego, CA- So today I was attending a craft beer festival.  After an hour we were approached by a woman who asked if we stole a beer tap from one of the stands.  One of the people in my party picked it up to look at it and then put it back down.  It went missing and because we were the only people she recognized she approached us.  Keep in mind that all booths had mugs, beer taps, and other various schawg on their tables; so its not unusual for someone to pick up an item on a table.  After denying that we took anything she left and then we were approached by the event producer once again asking us if we stole the beer tap.  Once again we said we did not, yet he still kept harassing us.  At that point I asked for his name and contact info as well as the info for the woman that originally approached us.  One of the members in my group became frustrated about being accused repeatedly of theft and became irate at which point the event producer went toe to toe with him, screamed at him, then grabbed and threw away his glass and told us to get out.  We were escorted out by security and police with no event staff following us to discuss this off property.  The police did not file a report therefore I feel they didn't think we were drunk, violent, or belligerent.  We each paid 60 dollars to attend this event and were only there for an hour before being ejected.  Is this something to take to small claims court or file with the county consumer protections office?

Answer: Nope, private event, they can decide who stays and who goes as long as they don't say anything like "no darkies."


Title: [NY] If I'm the third person to carry my name, does having a middle name change my lineage?

Question:
I'll use false names for privacy reasons. If I'm the third person to carry my name, does carrying a middle name that my predecessors don't carry change whether or not I'm truly a third? For example, I'm James William Smith III. My father is James Smith Jr. My grandfather is James Smith.

According to the [Social Security Administration](https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0110212001), your middle name isn't considered a part of your legal name. However, I'm currently trying to fix my last name which is spelled wrong on my birth certificate. Upon doing this, we've realized my middle name might complicate things. My father is convinced that I'm officially not part of the family if I have a middle name and says I should remove it. I believe it doesn't matter since the SSA says it doesn't matter. The people who make your SS and the people who make your birth certificate are two different things.

So, what is the right opinion here? I'm indifferent to having a middle name. I don't like the fact that I'm a third and I don't like my name at all but I feel it would be disrespectful to completely change my name. Especially since my father's name has some weight to it.
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer:
 Your name can be (almost) whatever the hell you want it to, it has no bearing on who your family is. If you want to be Princess Consuela Bananahammock XVI, go right ahead.Answer #2: I don't think your name has any effect on the legal status of your child-parent relationship.  You can do whatever you want with your name.  If for whatever reason you need to prove your relationship with your father, your name is not going to be significant evidence either way.Answer #3: What?

Having a middle name doesn't change the fact that he is your legal father. You could be named Warren Peakerhead Smith and still be the child of James Smith Jr. I have no clue what you are trying to say. Answer #4: Your name has no legal impact on whether you are in a family or not, and anyone can use "Jr" or "III" after their name.  You're legally your parents' child even if you change your name to Jones.

Unless your family has some eccentric will or trust stipulations somewhere that require children to have a certain name, I can't think of a single legal consequence of having one name versus another.


Title: Phone got stolen from a restaurant employee.. Is restaurant at fault? Need Advice :(

Question:
Let me start off by saying I am in Mexico City in a very safe area. I'm in a very wealthy area (Condesa) where many Americans come to travel and stay in airbnbs.

Also, please, I know Mexico isn't the safest place in the world but if you knew anything about the neighborhood I'm visiting you'd know there is not crime and no reason to feel unsafe. Another thing to point out is that my cousin is best friends with the owner of this restaurant. So please do not tell me I am naive (I know I could have been more precautious but there is not much to do about that now).

So..

Today I was at a restaurant eating breakfast with some friends. We had 3 waiters come up to us to greet us. 2 were in the same restaurant uniform, and the other 1 was wearing all black. We all pretty much assumed he was the manager because he was watching over the other servers as they asked for our order. During the first few minutes of being at the restaurant, the waiter with the black shirt (who has the other 2 behind him) asks if we want anything to drink, and then asks if we need our phones charged. Nothing out of the ordinary for me, as I feel safe in the restaurant. None of the other waiters seem to think this is odd, and go along with it. I needed a bit of a charge so I let him take my phone to the back to charge it.

Cut to an hour later when we are done eating and have asked for the check. I ask to get my phone back but the guy in the black shirt is gone. Apparently it was his first day on the job. He was training. He stole my phone! The owner of the restaurant came by to try to fix the situation and see if there was anything we could do before going to the police (who don't do much for things like stolen phones :( ). We ended up finding that the robber left HIS phone back at the restaurant and had tons of photos of stolen phones, and different contacts including his wife who we ended up calling and talking to..

We also found out that this robber gave the owner of the restaurant a fake name and NO identification. So she hired someone and had him training there on the first day with no ID.

I've filed a report with the police who will hopefully investigate this whole thing, but I am wondering if there is a responsibility of the owner to help me pay for my 3 day old $1,500 phone. It was stolen by one of her "employees".. Shouldn't I have the right to feel safe at her restaurant?

If he hadn't have gotten lucky with my phone, he could have very well ran off with money in their cash register later.

It seems very irresponsible for the owner to have hired a man with no identification.

I just don't want to be unreasonable by asking.

Thank you for your advice.

Answer:
 > asks if we want anything to drink, and then asks if we need our phones charged. Nothing out of the ordinary for me, as I feel safe in the restaurant. None of the other waiters seem to think this is odd, and go along with it. I needed a bit of a charge so I let him take my phone to the back to charge it.

I have never heard of this in my life and I've been to dozens of restaurants in more than 30 countries, including Mexico. At least you locked it with a passcode/fingerprint.

> We also found out that this robber gave the owner of the restaurant a fake name and NO identification. So she hired someone and had him training there on the first day with no ID.

No idea if this is legal in Mexico or not, but that's probably not relevant.

> Shouldn't I have the right to feel safe at her restaurant?

How safe someone "feels" is pretty subjective. And a "feeling" per se isn't a right.

> he could have very well ran off with money in their cash register later

Perhaps. That's their problem.

> It seems very irresponsible for the owner to have hired a man with no identification.

Again, you don't even know if that's true, if true if it's illegal, and generally speaking it's their business who they hire.

Also generally speaking, the person who commits a crime against you is responsible for committing the crime, not their employer, their relatives, their nanny, etc.


Title: [GA] post office delivered my package to the wrong person

Question:
I ordered some supplements from a supplement company, which I've ordered from several times and have had no issue getting my packages. I live in an apartment complex where packages go in a parcel locker and the locker key goes in your normal mailbox.

Package tracking says delivered, but there's no parcel locker key in my mailbox. After a week of back and forths between me, the apartment manager, and the post office, it was determined that it was delivered to the correct address, but to the wrong person.

The manager sent an email asking if someone received it to please return it, but no one has come forward.

I hate to chalk this up to a loss since it was an expensive package. Is there anything I can do besides hope whoever got it is a good samaritan? The post office has not been helpful at all and it's been really frustrating.

Answer: Contact who you purchased the product. It's their responsibility to get there product to your hands.  You might have to file a police report and include any information you have that it was misdelivered


Title: Got a DUI while sleeping in the car.... Seattle, WA

Question:
I was trying to sleep off some alcohol in my car and the police arrested me for dui.  They took me back to the station and I then blew a .09.

I did get in trouble 5 years ago for refusal of breath test and I got it reduced to a reckless driving.

Do I have any options or am I totally screwed?

Answer:
 Whether the prosecutor can proceed on this or not will depend on the laws in your state, so contact a good [DUI attorney](http://www.missiontrafficlawyers.com/mission_kansas_dui_lawyers) pronto.

What is usually relevant is whether the car was on, where you were sleeping (driver seat/passenger seat/back seat), whether the keys were in the ignition, etc.

It is also important to know where they found you.  If you were stopped at a traffic light, that hurts.  If you were outside of a bar, meaning you likely didn't drive anywhere, than that helps.


Title: AL - Installed a spy app on my mother in laws phone.

Question: My mother in law is a drug addict and I put a spy app on her phone to show husband how addicted she really is. If I were to get caught what would be the legal implications involved?

Answer:
 Why? Why would you do that? How is this any of your business? And as /u/Reddisaurusrekts points out, the fact that you accessed her phone could mean you actually planted the messages.

Does your wife know that you did this?Answer #2: Bad. Very bad.

Also it defeats the purpose of what you're doing, because if you have unauthorised access to her phone to install malware, who's to say you didn't also send whatever texts you're saying shows she's a drug addict?


Title: Friend lost my belongings. How much would he owe?

Question:
A few friends and I went kayaking a few days ago. During our journey we stopped at a sand beach. I wanted to take a dip in the water so I took of my glasses, shirt, and other belongings and out them in my kayak. While wading in the water, one of my friends who had been heavily drinking, thought it would be funny to push my kayak into the water where he flipped it over seemingly not realizing the consequences of what he was doing. Everything was recovered except for my glasses.

He told me he would pay for them. How much should he owe? The glasses cost near $400 but because of insurance I only paid around $75. I also could just buy a cheap pair since insurance won't cover new ones now, I guess, and charge him for that. I was hoping these glasses would last a long time but I only had them slightly less than a year.

New jersey

Answer: Sounds like you left your items somewhere a reasonable person wouldn't expect that they were safe from damage. I think the glasses are on you.


Title: Do police have the right to enter my home if the door is open?

Question: My family left the house, I was on the computer with headphones. Apparently someone left the door open and let out my dog. Does this give them the right to enter my house without a warrant?

Answer: Yeah. Its concerning when someone's door is wide open with seemingly no one home. They are allowed to do a wellness check at that point.Answer #2: Yes, they could easily have been checking on the house.  Door left wide open looks like a crime occurred.


Title: [WI] scheduling therapy for my daughter

Question:
I have 50/50 legal and physical with my ex. My daughter has recently asked to see a therapist. I think it is a great idea for her and generally support her choice. She has adhd and is navigating teen years in a divorce situation where each parent has re-married, etc., etc. According to the divorce decree, all medical choices (except emergency) have to be agreed by both parents.

DD and I  brought this issue up to my ex over 30 days ago and she generally "doesn't believe in therapy" and certainly doesn't think DD "needs" it. DD located a therapist in our area that she would like to see and sent both parents a link approximately 14 days ago. I reviewed the therapist and agree it would be a great fit for her. I have asked ex to please confirm DD's choice so I can make an appointment. She has not been responding to such requests by either me or DD. Finally I stated "please reply in 48hrs. If I do not receive a reply in that time I will assume you are in favor and schedule an appointment" to attempt to compel her to make a timely review. She responded and said she has not had time to review and to not schedule. I asked her for a timeline for her review and she has not responded. This was also 48hrs ago.

I believe she is stonewalling and delaying because she simply does not agree with DD seeing a therapist. What, if any, recourse do I have to at least compel her to say yes or no in a timely manner and not continue to delay? If I just go ahead and schedule the appointment so my DD can start to get the treatment she feels she needs, would I be legally justified in doing so since ex has had ample time to review and will not provide a concrete window to make such a review should she actually want to?
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer:
 Does your parenting plan articulate a dispute resolution process?

It would be short sighted to have a parenting plan that says that the parents have to agree without giving a process in case they do not agree.Answer #2: How old is your daughter?  As a teenager, she might be able to consent for her own treatment.  I'd ask the counselor what the age is.  I had some trouble finding it in WI.


Title: [WA] No hot water in unit for 1 week, management claims I'm lying about it

Question:
My apartment hasn't had hot water for over a week. It started a month ago when I noticed that I had to turn the shower knob more and more to the left each day to get hot water to come into my apartment. My attempts to reach out to other residents to see if this was a community issue were suppressed by the staff of the building who told me to submit a maintenance request. I submitted one and they said, "Sometimes it just takes longer to heat up." I've lived in this building for 5 years and *never* had issue with hot water being scarce before this.

As of a week ago though it turned into hot water being unavailable throughout my apartment. I can run the shower for 10-20 minutes and the water is ice cold. I can run the sinks for 10-20 minutes and they're ice cold. Every day I have to boil a large quantity of water and mix it in with colder water in the tub to be able to wash my hair. This is unreasonable and barbaric.

I've complained *daily* to the apartment staff about this problem using a combination of phone calls, emails, and maintenance requests made through both an online portal and phone. I've got a combination of all of these going and they insist that they send out a technician to my unit in response to each request who says that there is hot water in all my taps.

This is an outright lie. There is no hot water in my apartment from any taps between 7:30 - 8:30 am. There is no hot water in my taps when I return home and check periodically between the hours of 6:30 pm - 12:30 am. I don't expect that they have hot water between business hours of 9 am - 6 pm when I've *never* experienced even lukewarm water in my apartment during all other hours, and if 9-6 is the only operational hot water, what kind of scam is that and how is it legal??

Management says there's "nothing they can do" if I'm lying and their technicians have done "all they can" to fix a "non-existent" problem.

If other units are having the same issues, they are being suppressed by the management through online communications.

Who do I talk to get actual repairs and action and get hot water back into my unit? What legal action can I take? I have rent due at the end of the month, can I withhold or put into escrow until I have hot water.

Answer: File a complaint with your county's building code enforcement and housing code enforcement. They will investigate.


Title: Ex-GF and her family holding my belongings hostage. What can I do to get them back?

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Call the police. What else do you do when someone steals your things?


Title: [Ontario, Canada] Found the car that hit me in parking lot; police say there's not enough evidence

Question:
A week ago, I was parked on campus and came back to find my car dented and scraped. I was parked next to a handicap spot, but no one was parked there when I came back from class. No cameras. I filed a police report.
A few days ago, I found the car that hit me. It was parked in a handicap spot, had matching scrapes on the front bumper and some of my paint. I took a picture of the scrapes and the license plate and called police to let them know.
Now the police have talked to the owner of the car, and the wife denies hitting me. So they say they have not enough evidence.
What legal options do I have to pursue this?
TLDR; Got hit in parking lot, found the car, police say not enough evidence. What can I do?

Answer: Report all the information you have to your insurance company.


Title: Father recently passed away. His bank won't allow me to pay his mortgage. House could go into foreclosure.

Question:
My father recently passed away and has an estate in tennessee.  I am an only child.  My mother passed away in 2007.

I called and spoke with his bank and told them I would like to make payments on his mortgage.  They said because he died without a will and the estate isn't in probate court yet that they cannot accept payments.  His mortgage is around $700 behind.  I asked them how long I had until they pursued foreclosure.  They said I had a little bit of time and wouldn't specify to me how long.  I have a meeting with my lawyer on 17 October to start the probate process.  Is there any way in the meantime that I can catch the mortgage payment back up?  Is it legal for them to be allowed to deny my payment to catch the mortgage up so that I am not at risk of foreclosure?

Answer:
 Is there any chance you might be able to get physical access to his mortgage documents? In my experence, if you have the loan/account number, most institutions will allow you to use their automated pay-by-phone system to make a payment.

Other than that- the bank is totally within their right to deny you access to the account until you can provide them documentation that identifies you as the executor of your late father's estate.Answer #2: The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau requires the lender to inform you of the documents that the lender needs to confirm that you are a Successor in Interest.  In this case, it is probably going to be the Administration docs that will be filed in the Probate Court.  Your attorney should be able to get those done pretty quickly after that October 17 meeting.

Most banks don't refer a loan to foreclosure until it is 3-6 months behind.  In cases where the borrower has passed away, it is more likely to fall on the 6 month end of that scale than the 3.  So you should be fine timewise.Answer #3: Unless you’re trying to make a payment from his bank account to the mortgage, you can still make a house payment from your own, personal account until the estate goes into probate and you get an estate account and have his money moved over to that. Unless you plan on keeping the house, don’t sign anything saying you’re taking over the mortgage. Just make the payment. That’s what we did with my dad’s until we got an estate account started up. Answer #4: Who is currently on title of the house?

Short answer is you need to have yourself declared as the executor/inheritor of the property ASAP so you can make payments


Title: When I purchase a Franchise like "Starbucks Coffee" do I need to register a new business name like "JTP's Starbucks Coffee" and use this business name? Or do I just use a numbered business? Any referred readings appreciated.

Question:
I am planning to open a franchise in Toronto Ontario, Seattle and San Francisco - but because they are relatively new to franchising they aren't too sure either. We will be seeking legal counsel eom, but I thought I'd ask here first.
Topic:
Business Law

Answer:
 You'd be "123456789 Ontario Ltd. Operating as Starbucks #1234". Answer #2: You can operate a franchise as a sole proprietorship under your own name, but it's not the best idea in most cases.  Typically you'd create some kind of official entity, and name and register it. You could name it "Business #15545463054" if you wanted to, or name it after it's Tax ID number.

As far as I know, many franchise agreements include some guidance on how to set up your corporate structureAnswer #3: You can use any name you want.

My local McDonald's is owned by something similar to "SJP Enterprises". You'd probably have file a "Doing Business As" but I'm pretty sure you can name it whatever you want within reason.Answer #4: You can name the business entity whatever you want. You’ll probably want to get a different legal business entity for each franchise. They are usually set up as LLC’s, and one for each restaurant. It makes it easier to sell if you only want to sell one down the road


Title: [CA]I have to do a short stint in jail in January, and my daughter who I have legal custody over (I'm legally "single") Will be with her other parent (my girlfriend). Should I have legal documents saying I grant custody to her drawn up?

Question:
I'll try to explain briefly, but it's a little complicated.  So, I've lived with my girlfriend since a little before my daughter was born. I consider her my daughter's other mother, so does my daughter as that's all she knows. Anything a parent would do, she does (financially too).  However, we have never gone through any adoption process for a number of reasons.

I unfortunately will have to do a month in jail in January. For reference, any custody or issues regarding my daughter being taken away for any reason have not happened, and have never been a problem or questioned.
So I just want to know if there are legal documents of any kind I should look into to show that I grant custody to my girlfriend for the time I am gone, including control over medical, etc. ? If any, I know I need them notarized . I just don't even know where to start or where I should look.

I appreciate any advice or answers and thank you for your time.

Answer:
 You need to give your girlfriend [Power of Attorney for a Minor Child](http://www.courts.ca.gov/1210.htm) but not custody.

The only issue is that if the other biological parent has interest in obtaining custody during this time, they would likely have a stronger claim than your girlfriend.

Answer #2: If I can ask, where is the child's biological mother?

I ask because you will need to get her permission before any documents are drafted up.Answer #3: *Edit: I'm my daughter's biological mother. As for the other biological parent, there is 0% chance of them even being named (long, whole other story)


Title: Do witnesses have the right to remain silent? If someone witnesses a crime can they take the 5th and not say anything.

Answer: Only insofar as their statement might incriminate them for a crime that they committed.  And the prosecution can "cure" that by giving them immunity for those crimes in order to get their testimony.


Title: Wife is drinking a lot and driving, how can i protect my assets?

Question: Wife  is back on the bottle, and she drives around drunk. She already ran  into a car a month ago, and i have called the police on her repeatedly  and took her off my insurance. I own a house that is solely in my name  and im afraid if my wife smashes into someone that i will be sued and  lose my house. What can i do to protect my asset ?

Answer: There are steering wheel locking mechanisms that require a person to blow into a breathalyzer before it will allow the car to unlock and be cranked up. If you can’t just take her keys or convince her to just use Uber/Lyft this is your only option honestly.


Title: [US] My mom got a cease and desist letter, any advice would be appreciated

Question:
My mom snagged an image off the internet to use as the cover to a series of e-books she sold on Amazon, published in August of 2014. She just received a cease and desist letter and is being asked to provide $4,000 in damages compensation for the past 3 years of use and a current license.

She has since taken down the offending e-books and has a list of when each was published and how much each e-book has made. I also have screenshots of each e-book's information on their amazon page, including the published date.

Over the 3 years since the e-books were published, she has made less than $300 total. I've been researching and came upon the discovery law, which the sueing party has missed by about 3 months.

I understand that she needs to contact a lawyer, but she has since moved to Hawaii (she published the books while in another state) and I'm not sure which state to choose for this post/when looking for a pro-bono lawyer. This, as well as any other advice, would be greatly appreciated.

Answer: It is extremely unlikely you will find a pro bono lawyer for a business matter.Answer #2: She is definitely guilty of copyright infringement, but there are tons of scammy IP lawyer companies that send out these types of notices in bulk, hoping that people are to scared and will pay up. Stock photo sites are actually set up to encourage this kind of thing. There is no way they can get 4K in damages, and it is probably safe to ignore the letter until you actually get served with a lawsuit. If you google around there are a bunch of stories like this.Answer #3: You likely won’t find a pro bono IP lawyer, which is what she needs.


Title: Fine for outside food or drink

Question: I recently went to a karaoke Bar and they had a sign posted stating that any visitors bringing outside food or drink can be fined 100$. I understand that if a customer brings in outside food or drink they can be asked to dispose of it or leave, but can they enforce a 100$ fine?

Answer: Fines are levied by the government,  was the karaoke bar actually a police station with very lax rules for drinking on the job?


Title: POA for elderly coherent parents, can I prepay without them present burial expenses?

Question: Elderly coherent parents, mild dementia from Connecticut. I want to prepay all the funeral expenses just in case one or both need to go into convalescent care just in case the 5 year lookback will exhaust their small savings. Do they need to be present to do this as I know all their wishes? (cremation, small mass) It will only confuse them having a face to face with the funeral home reps. I have full Power of Attorney. Thank you .

Answer: Pre-paying burial expenses is an approved Medicaid spend-down expense, so doing so during the 5 year look-back period doesn't jeopardize their ability to qualify for Medicaid.


Title: Is there somewhere else to complain if Better Business Bureau list my case as unresolved?

Question: Hi, my husband recently Had his truck repaired at a dealership in Ga. He told the dealership that it was the thermostat. The dealership called and said it was the entire coolant system and it needed to be replace because it was leaking. He explained that he parks his truck in the garage and never saw a leak. He went on with it bc they’re the professionals and they assured him that’s the issue.  He paid $1200.  The next day, the truck did the same thing, and he took it back.  They called and said it was the thermostat. They said it would be $300 to repair but they’d give him a military discount of $20 to help out. He voiced that he shouldn’t have to pay and it’s ridiculous. They apologized and went on. He spoke with the manager. Nothing happened. He submitted a complaint with the BBB and they listed the problem as unresolved. What steps can he take at this point if any?

Answer:
 The BBB is not a legal entity and has no bearing or standing to do anything.

He should escalate with the dealership to see if they will pay for the cost of the repair.


Title: (California) Landlord trying to charge too much for flooring prior to move out inspection

Answer:
 You have no obligation to front him money for this.

He can use your security deposit, after you move out, to replace flooring that needs replacing.

If your deposit covers this, great.  otherwise he can try to bill you/sue you for the rest.  Your ideas on wear and tear are correct.

But to repeat, **you have no obligation to front him the money for this**.


Title: [TX] I think my ISP might be scamming me. Is there any legal recourse?

Question:
BACKGROUND

Some background first. I live just outside of a medium sized college town in a small community with 12 or so houses on my street. Besides that its mostly rural land out here. When we moved here we signed up for internet service with a local WISP here in town. The service wasn't perfect, but it was all that was offered in the area. They were usually very good about dealing with any issues that we were having, and I always felt like they were actually doing their best to meet the service standards that they agreed to.

After about 2 years with this service one day my internet goes down. I call them and nobody answers. Turns out they had been bought by a large national WISP (Jab Wireless) and had been rolled into a new umbrella subsidiary called "Rise Broadband." I was without internet for about 2 weeks during this unexpected transition period. They fired almost everyone in the local office here in town and shut the doors on that location. I was finally able to get service restored. I contacted their billing department and was reimbursed for the time that we didn't have access.

I was ready to let is slide since they made good on the service interruption. In the 6 months since the acquisition of my old provider, there have been a few other outages that have not been handled in a timely manner, and they have also credited my account for those outages. However, the quality of service has gone down tremendously during this time. I am a business customer on a 5/2 plan (5mb down, 2mb up). It has gotten to the point that in the evenings especially, I have to quit doing work (as a web developer) because I cannot maintain my vpn connection long enough to upload code changes. Streaming media, which was never a real problem before, will consistently stutter and eventually fail in the evenings. I have contacted them about this and they have said that everything looks good on their end from the tests that they perform on the equipment.

END OF BACKGROUND

Today I received an email from a customer service rep from Rise Broadband saying that they now offer "fully guaranteed services." "This means if you sign up for a 5*5 you get 5*5." This is not included with my current service and would be an add-on feature. This feels to me like a scam. Slow degradation of agreed upon services and then they ask for more money to "guarantee" the service I'm already paying for? Is this a common scam for service providers? Is there anything illegal with this? The contract that I had with the old ISP was guaranteed on a "best-effort" level. It doesn't seem to me that Rise is maintaining this level that I had agreed to. When Rise bought the old ISP there was no additional paperwork for me to sign and no renegotiation of any contracts. Is it safe to assume that since they bought out my old ISP and their accounts that they would need to notify me of changes to my service, including the best-effort guarantee that I had?

tl;dr - Internet service has gone down the toilet since acquisition and now the new company is offering me "guaranteed service" as an add-on to what I'm already paying. Is this a scam?
Topic:
Contracts

Answer: Guaranteed service is not necessarily a scam. I can almost guarantee that your original and current agreement is phrased as "Up to 5 MB down, up to 2 MB up". Guaranteed service means that they'll guarantee your speed. Most businesses spring for the guaranteed speed and reliability as it's a necessity. It typically also ensures they'll respond much faster to outages or issues.


Title: My Boston apartment is 44 degrees, heat wont work, and the property mgmt's emergency line wont answer. What kind of compensation do I deserve?

Question:
I'm an undergrad currently residing in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston. I signed a year long lease, starting in September, and have been having ongoing problems with the heating system since winter started. It's an old house and the insulation is poor, but there have been incidents, like now, where the heat completely shuts off.

Almost a week ago, some plumbers came by to fix an apparent leak coming from the floor above us. To "fix" this leak they cut a sizeable hole in the wall, letting all the heat out. It is 1 degree outside and the hole is practically an open window. They have yet to come back and it caused the heat to drop from 70 to 58, and now with the heat not working at all, 44 degrees. Mass state law requires residential homes to be at least 68 during the day and 64 at night. What should I do?

Answer:
 Don't listen to /u/DoYouLikeOurOwl.  Legally they wouldn't have to pay for the hotel room.

Contact the Boston Housing Authority and also send a certified letter to your landlord about the repairs needing to be made.  This will help you if you do have to resort to either withholding rent or repaid and deduct.  But for you to do either of those you will need to be able to show you contacted your landlord about the situation and the housing authority has said it violates the health code laws.

http://www.cityofboston.gov/isd/housing/

The above link has info about the Bostin housing division with contact info. Answer #2: Document it however you can. Go to a hotel and give your landlord the bill.


Title: [IL]What are rules on gun ownership with one brief involuntary commitment as youth

Question:
When I was 14, I was seeking attention and pretended to be suicidal to mess with my parents. Things quickly got out of hand and over my parents' protest I was involuntarily committed to a youth mental health unit for five days. I'm on low dose Prozac to treat anxiety, but I've been fine ever since with no further episodes. You can say I've learned my lesson and truly regret putting my parents through that - they were fantastic and I probably don't deserve them.

If I want to get an Illinois FOID card when I'm 21, is this incident going to be a problem? What are the rules for reporting for minors? Will it disappear after a while?

Answer: We're you involuntarily committed by a legal authority? Federal law says that you wouldn't be able to purchase a firearm if that was the case. Law currently does not make a distinction between commitments as a minor.


Title: [pa] second underage. What will my charges most likely be?

Question: I'm in college and got my second underage this weekend. I was just wondering what the verdict can most likely be

Answer:
 Well, your "charge" appears to be an "underage." Your "verdict" will be either guilty or not guilty, depending on a number of factors. The most important factor would be your defense.

Do you have a defense?


Title: Sellers did not disclose failing retaining wall - Iowa

Question: My wife and I bought our first home in Iowa almost two years ago. We recently learned that our 70 ft retaining wall holding up the backyard is failing and needs to be replaced within a year before it collapses. The bids I've got for this job are 15k minimum. The seller did not put this in the official disclosure document. Did they violate the law by not disclosing this property defect?

Answer: Well it took you 2 years to learn about it, so what makes you so sure they did? And how do you know this isn't a recent problem. 2 years is a long time. I highly doubt you have any case here against the sellers.


Title: Legality of the NPS shutting down the National Parks during government shut downs?

Question:
* How is this legal?

Particularly them literally blocking entrances etc, and yet somehow still staffing them to give tickets/tell people that they are closed?

* The national parks are open 24/7 365. How can they be closed simply because the staff aren't being paid?

The staff are charged with(paid/hired) to protect the park and ensure regulations are followed. If the government shuts down, then that means they are out of a job and their services(protecting the land) is no longer needed. That should not mean the parks get shut down and closed to the public, the public which happens to be  the owners of the land.

* what is your take?

* If one were to get arrested for trespassing and/or sue the federal government/NPS how successful would they be? How high in the court system would it go?

* Would a group pick up a case like pro bono?

...

(EDIT) location: USA/colorado
Topic:
Constitution

Answer: Locked but leaving visible. Please move to /r/legaladviceofftopic for theory questions


Title: I suspect people are entering my Florida apartment unauthorized

Question: I suspect maintenance staff enters my apartment to use the bathroom and change the thermostat temperature. Every once in a while I find hair I don’t think is mine which makes me suspect. What should I do?

Answer: Well, first I'd confirm that suspicion. Any electronics store or amazon can get you a motion sensing webcam for $40-50. Get them on video invading your privacy, then you can confront building management etc.


Title: Ok here's my dilemma.

Question:
Ex wife and new bf wants me out of the picture for good. Now she is accusing me of domestic violence. I have trial in about a week. I could have tooken a plea bargain of a fine and 6 months probation but i was afraid that she will accuse me again and violate the probation and rack up another charge on top of the first.  So i went  with not guilty thus the trial. If i lose this i stand to lose allot. I lose the divorce, children and of course freedom along with belongings. I have no lawyer as of yet. I have little money so almost all good lawyers wont even look twice at what im going through. I am innocent but theres no way to prove it. What questions should i ask or what should i begin to do if i can?

North texas.

Answer:
 This is a criminal charge?  You must get an attorney.  If you cannot afford a lawyer then you must contact the court and tell them you can't afford a lawyer, and that you need a public defender.
Answer #2: > I have no lawyer as of yet.

You need to rectify that _immediately_.  There's no other way to put it. You are screwed if you don't get a lawyer.

> I have little money so almost all good lawyers wont even look twice at what im going through.

Did you apply for a court appointed attorney (also called a public defender)?  If you didn't, you need to immediately.  If you did, and you were denied, then you need to suck it up and hire an attorney.  You say you can't afford it, but you're thinking of it all backwards.  How much is it worth to you to get a good outcome in your divorce, retain some custody of your kids, and retain your freedom?  It should be worth every single dime you can possibly scrape together, beg for, or borrow.   Do whatever you can - if you really do need to get a good outcome in your case, you need a lawyer.  It's as simple as that.Answer #3: This is not a dilemma.  This is a huge problem.  You are being charged with a crime.  Get an attorney immediately.  Start making phone calls now.


Title: Does not pay child support but living in giant house

Question:
My wife's ex-husband only sporadically pays child support and it's perpetually over a year behind.  Recently we have come to know that he's going to be living in a house in an expensive area valued at over 3million.

Going to give this info to our lawyer, but not sure it will help. New house is not in his name.  He does not keep good company and has had numerous run ins with the law.
As far as we can tell the new house he will live in is still owned by some one being investigated for taking 10s of millions from their prior company.

Is there any way we can use this info against him in court. He seems good at hiding money. Recently found he signed over some property from him to his new spouse as well.

This is in. Los Angeles, CA area.

Answer:
 > He seems good at hiding money. Recently found he signed over some property from him to his new spouse as well.

I hope your wife's lawyer knows this because that might actually be way more interesting then the fact that he is going to live in an expensive house.Answer #2: We have no idea how useful this would be.  Your attorney will, though.Answer #3: Hmmm.  Doesn't CA take into account new spouse when calculating child support?


Title: How do I sue a shady Family Lawyer/Windsor ON Canada.

Question:
I had legal custody of the children of our marriage, 2 teen girls, and as the younger of the two became unmanageable. The school counselors and health professionals involved suggested that I arrange to have her sent back to live with her Mother. At the opening negotiation with the Mother she was $3700 in arrears of child support. She demanded that I voluntarily waive these arrears or she would not accommodate me. I agreed and met with the mother's lawyer 20 min before the case conference. I clearly stated to this Lawyer that I would only agree to waive the outstanding accumulated arrears if she would bring an order to the Court Justice that I would only be responsible for regular ongoing support payments made to the Mother/FRO and if I were to fall into arrears for whatever reason the FRO would not garnish my income at 50%. The Lawyer agreed and said she'd speak to the Justice about it before the Case Conference. I saw the Lawyer speaking with the Justice when we enter the court and the Lawyer looked at me and nodded so I assumed everything was in place. Following up with the paperwork at this Lawyers office I did not read anything regarding our agreement. The Lawyer evaded my questions about it so I said I refuse to sign the documents. She said if we had to go back to court on this matter then she would be seeking costs against me which could total in the thousands of dollars. I was self represented. All too common position of not being able to afford a lawyer yet my income was to high to qualify for Legal Assistance. I signed the documents and became overwhelmed with stress at the prospect of having my wages garnished at 50%. It took almost 8 months before the Lawyer forwarded the Final Court Order to the FRO which put me over $3700 in arrears and my income was garnished 50% the following month. I've asked a few knowledgeable people if I can sue the Lawyer and they said I'd be better off just to cut my losses and drop the matter. This doesn't sit well with me and I want to have this situation addressed. If I have a viable claim how do I successfully sue a Family Law Lawyer. No offense, but I don't trust Lawyers any more.
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer:
 You created your own issue by not reading the papers you signed. I'm not sure you have any legal recourse. What exactly would you sue for?

You can take the lawyer to small claims court if you want. That doesnr mean youll win. Good luck winning in court against a lawyer without your own lawyer.


Title: I need to obtain dash cam footage and footage from a bar as evidence

Question: I was arrested on Tuesday for fighting in public. There is video footage of the fight from the bar that will show that I was attacked by a group of men and defended myself, and then removed myself from the situation. When the police arrived I was already walking out the door and quite clearly not fighting while they ran past me to stop the guys that attacked me and my friends from fighting. The arresting officers affidavit says he walked in and saw me, my two friends, and the group that attacked us fighting in the bar. I know I should get an attorney to figure this out but I can't really afford one and was turned down for a public defender by the judge. If I can get that footage I believe they'll have to drop the charges on me.

Answer: You need to subpoena the footage... so you really need an attorney


Title: [Hawaii] Landlord keeps saying I owe her back rent. Wants to see my bank statements to prove payments was processed.

Question:
I had a very tough spot where I fell terribly behind on my rent last year while I waited to my disability decision. Things went in my favor, got a bunch of backpay, rent got caught up.

However, I keep getting notices every other month from my landlord saying she is missing X payment from X month. I send her the receipt to show that month was payed. She still insist that I am missing a payment but can't correctly identify what month this happened and I am not 100% sure if I didn't mess up somewhere.

She says that she has been keeping up with rent using a tally system (not actually tracking and reconciling rents received on a monthly basis). She's a nice lady. I've rented from her for years and all but I'm getting tired of this. Her financials have been  messed up since the old landlord retired and she started managing the properties herself. If she can't tell me what month the mistake may have happened, what do I do? I'm all for paying up if I did in fact make a mistake I just want to put an end to this endless loop of me paying and her claiming I'm still a month behind.

I have emailed her my copy of every receipt she has asked for but now she is claiming she wants to review my bank statements as well? Need halp!

**Edit: Thanks for the suggestions. I'm gonna go ask specifically for her to identify the month that she is missing payment, if she can't, then oh wells, if she can, get documentation from bank (making sure she gives a refund in rent from the request), prove balance owed, not owed. Profit?**
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer: You are not your landlord's accountant. You are under no obligation to do her book keeping for her. If she insists you're missing a payment then she should be able to tell you which month you're missing. Her lack of organization isn't your responsibility.


Title: My electric is 3x what it should be and its killing me.

Question: For the past few months my electric has been rising to the point where my kilowatt readings are now 3x what they were at the same time last year. My bill is now over 400 in one month. I have no new electronics and I have checked for leaks and shorts as well as I can. I also called the electric company who tell me there is nothing they can do and have spoken with my apartment management who say whatever it is they have no control and nothing to do with this. They also refuse to check the major appliances(air conditioning, heater, stove, fridge) because my bill is not their problem. There has to be something that can be done but i don't know what I can do since both seem to expect me to just watch my electric use continue to rise until I can no longer pay. I live in Florida and electric any advice as to something i can do would be very welcome.

Answer: You have your own meter? I'd turn everything off (and I mean everything) and hopefully your power pull will be zero. Then you ad one appliance at a time to see which one makes your meter spike. There are some online tools that tell you approximately how much power a specific appliance should pull. Compare the numbers.


Title: Walking around looking into back yards legality?

Question:
Hi. So, when I was growing up my parents took my brother and I to my father's coworker's house for a Memorial Day party for a few consecutive years. They had a swimming pool, and diving board and outhouse in the yard. I was young probably 9-12, and this is where I first started to watch Star Trek too when I got bored. Anyway, I had a connection to this house and the family who lived there, so I wanted to go visit and find the house. My dad doesn't remember the address, but I got the street name, township and I think I found the correct address. So, during lunch at work, I went to see if I could find the house, which is close to my new job. I parked my car and started to walk around the street trying to see into the backyards to see if I could recognize anything familiar. I did walk up on another persons driveway whose house looked empty to see if I could see into the other house's backyard and see the pool and other things. I couldn't see so I kept walking around the public sidewalk to see if I could see in the yard. I really couldn't, but finally a neighbor was walking around, asked me if I needed help. I was going to give a rude answer but I said "No...I'm just looking for someone that lives here." He said "Who?" I gave him the full name of the man whose house it was but he said he didn't know it. He then said " I don't like you walking around here, we've had problems recently." I said I understood, and left. I was done looking anyway, and the vibe I got from him was definitely confrontational. I was wearing blue slacks, brown shoes, and grey tshirt and had my Audi parked on the street which I was getting into when he confronted me.

My question is, did he have a right to tell me to leave and not to walk around? Is it illegal for me to look into people's back yards? Or try to? I understand walking up someone's driveway probably is illegal, and these are all ranchers with driveways into the street. I don't think he saw me do that though because that was around the corner. Also, could he have called the cops on me or accosted me in some way and be in a legal right? I  deescalated the situation quickly, but I kind of wanted to tell the guy to fuck off I used to come here as a kid and don't remember what house it is, only by looking in the back. All the homes have fences around them. I'm not sure if he was lying he didn't know who I was talking about, and I understand It looks odd, but it was at noon on a weekday.

Thanks for any input. I felt kind of weird after doing it, like I did something majorly wrong.

This took place in New Jersey.

Answer:
 He can warn you that he'd call the cops if you didn't leave.  It's perfectly legitimate to call the cops on suspicious activity.  This would count.Answer #2: He has the right to tell you anything he wants, including that the sky is purple. His words didn't create a legal duty for you to leave.

It's illegal for you to trespass onto someone else's property to look into backyards. If you can do it from the street you are, legally, in the clear.

He could have called the cops about a suspicious person and they would have been justified talking to you, maybe even detaining you for a bit, because you looked like you were casing houses.

He couldn't, technically speaking, have legally accosted you physically but look how well that turned out for Trayvon Martin...

Finally, most break-ins occur during the day and burglars don't tend to actually wear all black with masks.

You were definitely being sketchy, but mostly not doing anything illegal.


Title: [Florida] Homeowner's Association and Emotional Support Animal

Question:
I was recently diagnosed with a medical condition and my doctor felt it was okay for me to try to get an emotional support animal. She has written a note on a prescription explaining that I would benefit from an ESA based on my medical condition.

I am planning to get a dog, that while not specifically trained like a service animal (I will not need to take this animal into public places or need assistance outside of my home), is well behaved, small and fairly quiet. I own a town home in a condominium association that does not allow dogs. I will be getting a dog and am just wondering if there anything specific I should do in terms of notifying the association (they're notoriously hard to reach, with emails and voicemails rarely being responded to) or should I just keep the note on hand until the association contacts me? My doctor said she is willing to fill out any specific forms in case more information needs to be disclosed, but I can't find any information about whether that is necessary.

Any advice is appreciated.

Answer:
 Under FL law, you will need this animal classified as a service animal, not simply an emotional support animal. The HOA does not have to allow ESA animals but is mandated to allow service dogs.

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0400-0499/0413/Sections/0413.08.html


Title: Small claim against ex-wife, will I win?

Question:
My location = Tucson, AZ

Circumstances:

Ex-wife and I have joint IRS debt from when we were still married. After the divorce, custody arrangement of our daughter was essentially 50/50. In the parenting plan, I agreed to let her claim our daughter every other year although technically I'm entitled to claim her 3/4 years because I was paying 75% of her child support. In April 2017 DCS removed our daughter from her residence and took legal custody of her and gave me physical custody. At this time ex-wife stopped paying her half of the IRS debt and I've been paying on it myself. According to the parenting plan I agreed to during the divorce, 2017 was my ex-wife's year to claim our daughter, but since I had physical custody of her for 9 months of 2017 I claimed her. Ex-wife says since I claimed her in 2017 and it was her year to claim, the tax credit I got will be her paying me towards the IRS debt. I'm planning on paying off the IRS debt this year. Can I sue her for the half she didn't pay, or am I screwed because I claimed our daughter in 2017 when the parenting plan said it was her year to claim? I assumed that since DCS stepped in and took legal custody and I had her for 9 months during 2017 that I had the right to claim her and the parenting plan was basically void at that point. I want to sue her for her half, but I don't want to go through small claims if I won't win. TIA

Answer: I think you have a winning point here, but this is not small claims territory.   This is about enforcing your divorce decree.  You need to bring this up to the court that issue the divorce.


Title: Protecting a business idea?

Question:
I've had this great and unique idea for a business for a while, and i want to pursue it later in my life when i actually have the capital to do so. But right now i'm a broke intern, and i want to have some sort of protection on it. Is this possible at all?

Im located in Texas

Answer: You can't protect just abstract ideas in your head. You don't want anyone to know? Don't tell them. Need to tell them? Have them sign a nondisclosure agreement.


Title: Reimbursement for an Unaccepted Foreign Job Offer?

Question:
I am an international student currently attending university in Canada. Recently I have received a job offer (2 weeks ago) from a startup in the UK for a four month internship.They have emailed me the contract however I have yet to sign it and return it to the given company. As of today, I received an email notifying that I would not be able to work in the given term as the application of the VISA would take four months. Am I eligible for receiving company reimbursement for the tickets I purchased a day after being told of their hiring decision? And should I delay signing their revocation of offer? What would be the best course of action in my position as of right now?
Thank you!!

tldr: UK startup decides to hire me-> have yet to sign their hiring contract -> realized that I cannot get the VISA -> now they are telling me to revoke the offer

The Startup had also promised to reimburse half of the plane ticket cost when offering me the job.

Edit: That was what the hiring team tried to offer in negotiating for the job, they went to the CEO after telling me that they would push for plane ticket reimbursement

Edit: I have recieved a letter of employment and was explicitly told "we would like you to start as soon as possible"

Answer: I do not see any scenario under which the startup is responsible for your ticket.  It appears you did not actually accept the offer, you purchased the ticket without being told to do so and without being told that it would definitely be reimbursed, and they have now revoked the offer because you cannot legally do the work.  This is not their fault in any way, shape or form.


Title: Living in a house of pot [PA]

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Anything found in any common areas of the house you are in "constructive possession" of and can be charged (and possibly convicted) of as a result.

There is zero way to eliminate all possible criminal liability in this situation. Answer #2: There's very little chance that cops will raid the place because of pot smokers, but weirder things have happened. If you are bent on being 100 percent sure that you'd never be liable, don't move in with pot smokers.


Title: Abusive parents told me that they're seeking to become foster parents.

Question:
My parents, currently in Oregon, were abusive during my time as a child, and as such, I don't remember a great deal of my childhood up until about age ten or eleven. Without going into great detail of what they did, it was both mildly physical and a lot of verbal.

&nbsp;

I've now been moved out for close to three years, and currently living out of state. I never went to the authorities about it because while I was living there, I was scared for where I'd go since no family lived near by, and I was over seventeen. I still have good relations with the rest of my family, and my parents still assume that even though I don't talk to them almost at all, I still have a good relationship with them.

&nbsp;

Now, just today, they told me that they're going to become foster parents by the end of next month. I wanted to know if there's anyway I can give anonymous information to the fostercare system about what happened to me. I want to do it in a way that my family won't know it was me, since my parents made me out to be a liar at every turn to the rest of my family when I was young, and that impression has stayed with them. So I don't want to put those relationships in jeopardy. But I don't want some poor foster kids to go through what I did. Thanks.

Answer:
 You'll have to reach out to the foster placement program that your parents are working with to determine if they allow anonymous reporting. Answer #2: Well, theyll have a child abuse background check.  This is just an assumption, but I think that includes talking to former children. Answer #3: Please call the child welfare department in their area and let them know what happened to you. If they are getting licensed through an agency, call the foster family agency directly. For good measure, I would call all of the foster family agencies in the area. I've had crummy foster parents hop from one agency to another in California.

Thank you for speaking up.


Title: My father might have destroyed my financial feature and put me in debt

Question:
Throwaway
When I got my license, my father told me to put my address in a different address (a close relative's home) so he wouldn't have to pay extra on his insurance. The government thought that I was living there and some how one way or another, I owe the government 1.5k because of SNAP. On the letter, it says, "your household was overpaid SNAP benefits... you owe $1533.00" I didn't find about this until December 2015.

2 years ago, he divorced my mother, went back to Nigeria, stayed there for about a year or so and we were left to fend for ourselves. Before he divorced her, he paid for the rent, utilities, food (with the assistance of SNAP), etc. When he left, he made sure that me and my siblings would have pay for everything and he just left. He came back about a year ago and he's lived with us since. He hasn't paid for any of the utilities (except for the electricity), rent, food, etc.

I don't know what I can do at this point; I thought about going to court but my mother told me that we'll get evicted if I do that. I didn't know all this was going on until recently. As of now, I'm a college student living at home and honestly, I don't know what I can do.

Answer: How old are you?  $1,500 doesn't destroy your financial future.


Title: Was I legally onligated to give my (now ex) girlfriend a ride home? TN

Question: June 8-11 I went to Bonnaroo with my (now ex) girlfriend. For those that don't know, Bonnaroo is a 4 day music festival where you can camp out the entire weekend. Now, to the question: she ended up cheating on me during the festival so I kicked her out of my tent and told her to find a new way home (about an hour drive). Now she's threatening me with legal action saying that she's going to sue me and that she could have been killed, hurt, or whatever. I don't care. Was I legally obligated to give her a ride back?

Answer:
 Maybe. Her only damages would be the cost of the ride, though. Answer #2: Depends on if you previously agreed to give her a ride, although even if you did, a sympathetic judge might side with you.

Regardless, at worst, you'd only have to pay for her ride.


Title: Was proposed kind of a business deal. I don't know what to call it. I just want to be clear that I'm not breaking any law and what should I lookout for.

Question: So there is a guy who lives in an Asian country. He and I used to study but I moved to U.S and he's still there. A few days ago he asked me to give me my PayPal account to him because he is a freelancer and most of the clients are in EU/NA. He lost money because PayPal asked to him to prove his identity or something. He asked one of our friends who is on a study visa and scholarship here in U.S. he and a bunch of people he knew would send their money to his(Student visa friend) PayPal and then he would send the money to their country through WU or some other service. But after sometime he got a letter that if he sends/earns more money it will effect his scholarship, So that guy backed out. Now he wants me to send the money to him. He and his friends would earn money into a single PayPal account. Then he would send me the money into my PayPal. Then I'll have to transfer it to my bank and send it to him through WU or any other service. Is this feasible? He is offering me 4-5 cents per dollar the amount that I transfer to him.

Answer:
 Sounds like a scam. Answer #2: They will send you paypal. You will transfer the funds to your account and send them to him. It will likely work just fine the first several times to build up your trust.

Eventually, one of these payments will come from a stolen/compromised account. You'll withdraw the funds and send them to him as usual. Paypal will realize that the funds were no good and claw them back from your account, making your balance negative. You and you alone will owe Paypal this money. Your friend will suddenly become very difficult to get in touch with.


Title: Dr Malpractice results in patient death: what to do?

Question:
My MIL worked as a secretary at a family doctor. He asked her to do illegal things regarding patients files and she refused, and was fired. A year later she heard from a friend who still works there...

Basically, MIL was told that a patient, "B." who had been seeing this family doctor for years had recently switched to a naturopath. Patient B informed the fam doc of this change, and that he'd gone off the medication fam doc prescribed. The doctor flipped put screaming at B about how he should not have done this.

Naturopath does a blood / liver test on B and informs him that he has cancer. 2 weeks later B dies. Secretary asks fam doc for B's file and he grows agitated the angry, making excuses that she can't have the file. Secretary suspects that fam doc had to have known about the cancer of he'd been doing proper screenings, or else was so incompetent he didn't find it. Seems vee suspect. Secretary violates HIPA by telling my MIL this information since she was a former employee. My MIL is upset but doesn't know what to do next.
Topic:
Medicine and Malpractice

Answer:
 In all likelihood, your mother in law has no idea what is going on. And she isn't involved. She should let the family handle it.

If she wants to report the illegal activities she was asked to do, she can do so. If she was fired for refusing to break the law, she can speak to an attorney about wrongful termination.