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Alchenar posted:Do you have anything quite as good as this though? "Lord Rodger" lmao rodgering snipe
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Sep 17, 2010 21:58
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Loopyface posted:Whose house is it? Actually, I'm not sure. I would assume both of their names are on the mortgage? They purchased it after they were married.
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Sep 17, 2010 22:03
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Our landlords are being foreclosed on for the condo that we rent from them (Chicago area). We found this out today when a man dropped off some paperwork to serve notice ("Mortgage Foreclosure Alias Summons"). We looked through the papers and lo and behold, our landlords haven't paid rent on this place since December 2009. We moved in January 2010 and had no idea they were not paying their bills. They have an outstanding principal of over $215,000  on this property. We have a lease signed with them until the end of December of this year. We plan to call the bank that holds the mortgage and the sheriff's department to find out where we stand in this situation. Is there anything else we should do? Nether Postlude fucked around with this message at 02:16 on Sep 19, 2010 |
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Sep 19, 2010 02:04
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Nether Postlude posted:Our landlords are being foreclosed on for the condo that we rent from them (Chicago area). We found this out today when a man dropped off some paperwork to serve notice ("Mortgage Foreclosure Alias Summons"). We looked through the papers and lo and behold, our landlords haven't paid rent on this place since December 2009. We moved in January 2010 and had no idea they were not paying their bills. They have an outstanding principal of over $215,000 You should read up on the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009, a federal law that protects bona fide tenants when the landlord defaults on his mortgage. It was originally set to expire in 2012 but Congress recently extended it until 2014. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for banks and their attorneys to send ambiguously worded notices to vacate that mislead tenants into giving up their rights to stay (and allowing the banks to sell the property quicker).
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Sep 19, 2010 03:32
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So I had a two-week interim crap-job that I found on craigslist and was promptly fired from for a bs reason. I was never paid and I suspect that the employer has a habit of using the combo of craigslist and the downtrodden unemployed masses to staff his business for two-week stretches and then not pay said employees. The "Unpaid Worker's Statute" in my state says he had 15 days from the date of termination to pay up, so I sent him a demand letter cert'd mail on the 15th day which I've received the return receipt. I gave him 30 days to pay, cited the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the aforementioned unpaid worker's statute. It was basically amicable demand and the guy is still blowing me off. I'm poor and can't afford to sue in federal court, but I want to because gently caress this guy and his socio-economically lovely payroll practices. The really crazy part about this is that he has my resume which clearly shows that I've worked for a COLLECTIONS LAW FIRM for 3 years. On the other hand, I've never had to go at it pro se (I want that deference that I hated going up against) and rarely did I see federal court. My questions now are these: 1) I understand that I need to move for a determination of indigency to proceed in forma pauperis ("IFP"), but how poor is "pauperis" poor? I've got a fairly tight case against this guy, but I just got a duh-duh-duh, law job. How much of an increase in income will knock me out of the range? 2) If he's a dick and traverses the determination of indigency, what are some anecdotal numbers that people have gotten away with? 3) Can I put the motion to proceed IFP or without pre-paying costs in the petition or am I gonna have to foot the bill on that and then make the motion?
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Sep 19, 2010 04:42
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I have a purely hypothetical question I'm curious about. I work in food service, and am often assigned to shifts where I'm scheduled for noon - "rush" or noon - "phase". What this means, in practical terms, is that if the store is slow enough that they do not need as many employees as were originally scheduled, management can send the rush/phase employees home. However, sometimes after a phase/rush person leaves, it gets busy again, and sometimes management will call to ask the person to come back in. My question is, if the employee couldn't/wouldn't come back in, would the employer have grounds for termination? This isn't anything that's ever happened, but I am curious.
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Sep 19, 2010 07:20
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haruspex posted:My question is, if the employee couldn't/wouldn't come back in, would the employer have grounds for termination? This isn't anything that's ever happened, but I am curious. Depending on the state, an employer can fire someone for almost any reason or no reason at all, barring the obvious race, religion, whatever else protected class.
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Sep 19, 2010 07:22
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Loopyface posted:Depending on the state, an employer can fire someone for almost any reason or no reason at all, barring the obvious race, religion, whatever else protected class. The state is NC, if that changes anything. For at least one of the places I've worked that had this policy, the employment contract was "at will", which I think means you can get fired for just about anything?
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Sep 19, 2010 08:24
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It means there is no contract, and yes, you can be fired at will for basically anything.
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Sep 19, 2010 17:57
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franzkafka posted:1) I understand that I need to move for a determination of indigency to proceed in forma pauperis ("IFP"), but how poor is "pauperis" poor? I've got a fairly tight case against this guy, but I just got a duh-duh-duh, law job. How much of an increase in income will knock me out of the range? I wouldn't bother trying IFP. The court will not be impressed that you're trying this if you just got a decent job. To qualify, you need to be "unable to pay" the filing fees. You can file without paying and include the motion for IFP and appropriate affidavits. It would be self-defeating if they made you pay up before you could claim that you couldn't pay. The IFP statute is here: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/28/1915.html State courts have general jurisdiction, so you could sue in state court if you prefer, even if you're suing under a federal statute. and the claw won! fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Sep 19, 2010 |
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Sep 19, 2010 19:59
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Here's a question about employment law. A friend of mine just got fired with questionable reasons given in the paperwork, some of which are actually demostrably false. She's not real psyched about working for the company again so the question is what kind of compensation could be possible from fighting this termination other than getting the job back? Are damages possible? Also would an employment lawyer require a retainer and fee for a wrongful termination suit or is there the possibility of working on contingency (obviously only possible if there are damages in the first place)? I actually don't expect this will go anywhere unless they decide to fight her UI compensation, but I figured it's better to get a vague idea of the options first before fully deciding on a course of action. I assume the link in the first post would be a good place to get a referral to an appropriate attorney.
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Sep 20, 2010 23:38
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Legal Questions Mega-O-Wamma XIV: Tell us what jurisdiction you are in!
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Sep 21, 2010 00:28
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MonkeyBot posted:I actually don't expect this will go anywhere This absolutely will go nowhere unless you can tell us which state you're in
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Sep 21, 2010 00:54
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Talibananas posted:State courts have general jurisdiction, so you could sue in state court if you prefer, even if you're suing under a federal statute. I don't practice, but I'm pretty sure that's not how it works.
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Sep 21, 2010 08:03
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Incredulous Red posted:This absolutely will go nowhere unless you can tell us which state you're in Holy poo poo I suck. This is in Minnesota.
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Sep 21, 2010 15:29
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e: nvm
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Sep 21, 2010 15:34
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MonkeyBot posted:Holy poo poo I suck. This is in Minnesota.
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Sep 21, 2010 16:52
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I live in Dallas, our apartment complex switched ownership sometime in the last year and the new company has conveniently lost our lease addendum that specifies we can get out of the remainder of our two year lease at any time with 2 months notice, provided it's after one year. We've been here 18 months now and filed a two month notice, and now the apartment is claiming we'll owe them $13k if we leave. We can't find our copy of the original paperwork either. Is this going to require a real consultation? Not really sure where to go from here but I'm pretty sure verbal contracts carry some weight in Tejas. Thanks!
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Sep 21, 2010 21:07
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I live in Virginia but this took place in DC. I lost my ipod on the metro system and some guy emailed me to let me know he turned it in, which I also confirmed with the station manager that he turned it in to. Then it somehow disappeared within their lost and found system. They're looking in to how this happened, but if they tell me that they have no idea where it is (I'm guessing that means someone within Metro lost and found stole it or something) do I have any recourse? Are they liable for items within their lost and found system? Can I ask them for the cost of my ipod?
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Sep 21, 2010 21:16
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Time Trial posted:I live in Virginia but this took place in DC. I lost my ipod on the metro system and some guy emailed me to let me know he turned it in, which I also confirmed with the station manager that he turned it in to. Then it somehow disappeared within their lost and found system. They're looking in to how this happened, but if they tell me that they have no idea where it is (I'm guessing that means someone within Metro lost and found stole it or something) do I have any recourse? Are they liable for items within their lost and found system? Can I ask them for the cost of my ipod? First you need to go here: http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/lost_found/ And officially report your item. It helps if you have the serial number for the iPod and any other identifying information (is it laser engraved?). Once you have a case number, you can harass them to your heart's content. Just having the station manager admit it was turned in is not enough, but you should probably include that info in your report. If you become convinced that they lost (stole) it, you could try submitting a complaint to the Inspector General: code:
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Sep 22, 2010 15:13
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About seven months ago I posted about my car accident and asked about getting a lawyer (here's a link to my posts). But basically, the accident was the other guy's fault but I had some injuries and my shoulder was in ongoing pain. So I went and got a personal injury lawyer. On our first meeting I brought him every receipt and important document including the 4 weeks worth of pictures I'd taken of my injury and the $1500 or so of expenses I personally spent AFTER my insurance paid for most of my doctor's vists (but not $1000 of the $3000+ for a CT scan of my shoulder, co-pays on doctors visits, new glasses, medicine etc.) He seemed really happy and impressed and said "Don't worry, you'll get a lot." but he wouldn't give me a dollar amount. He also sent me to another physical therapy place. My original physical therapy was pretty normal stretching and excercising and it was okay, my but my shoulder still hurt. This new place did electric shock, massage and chiropractic adjustments and it helped. In the end though, I still can't do things like clean my house for more than an hour without it hurting pretty badly. Every time I talked to my lawyer, he said not to worry, things are going fine, and kept saying we'll get "a lot" of money, and would never give me an estimate of what that might be. On Friday he called and told me "Good news! You're getting a check for $1500!" This wasn't good news AT ALL because I'd spent more than $1500 out of pocket. After hanging up, still shellshocked that he thought that was good news, I called back a few minutes later and tried over and over to get him to explain how I was only getting $1500 back. I saw at one point a settlement offer from them for $6500. He said he'd submitted over $8500 in medical expenses. And he said that he was generous and "gave" me $200 more than what I should have gotten out of his part of the deal. I asked what if we actually sued instead of settled and he said at best, in a year, I'd get maybe $900 more after fees back. Then he also told me that right after we hung up the first time he'd faxed in the acceptance of the settlement offer so it was too late anyway. Does this sound right to you? Did he just totally screw me or should I have never expected to be compensated for my time, energy, and the fact that my shoulder is probably permanently hosed for the rest of my life? (No, it doesn't bother me every single day but again, it limits me doing things in the long term. I can't hold my nephew with that arm more than a couple of minutes, can't clean the house for more than an hour at a time etc.) My dad thinks he's taking money under the table from insurance companies. Do I have a dirty / incompetent lawyer and if so do I have ANY recourse at this point, or were my expectations too high?
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Sep 22, 2010 21:28
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Based on what you've posted, no, it does not sound right to me.
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Sep 22, 2010 21:44
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eviljelly posted:Based on what you've posted, no, it does not sound right to me.
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Sep 22, 2010 21:47
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Annakie posted:About seven months ago I posted about my car accident and asked about getting a lawyer (here's a link to my posts). But basically, the accident was the other guy's fault but I had some injuries and my shoulder was in ongoing pain. The decision to settle is yours, not your lawyer's. If you didn't authorize him to settle, then you (and your lawyer) have a big problem.
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Sep 22, 2010 21:50
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Annakie posted:.... None of this sounds right. As others have said you have to approve of the settlement to begin with. He wouldn't even tell you what the amount of the settlement offer is? He sounds as slimy as they come. IANAL but it sounds like this guy may be a very good candidate for malpractice. I'm not telling you what to do but I know I would make it clear and document it (via whatever is legal in my state) that I do not accept the settlement offer and I want to know the full amount of the offer and not what the net proceeds are for any future offers. He is supposed to be arguing on your behalf not his.
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Sep 22, 2010 22:06
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I live in Michigan, I got screwed over by a former employer several months ago who never paid me about $600 in wages, I made a claim with the Department of Labor immediately after I quit the job, which I withdrew about a week ago because there wasn't enough proof (according to the guy handing my case) to make the employer pay me, and I was told my only recourse is to take the guy to small claims court and try to get the money that way. My question is, what kind of lawyer do I go to in this case? I want to talk to someone, tell them the situation, show them what proof I have that I worked for that former employer and find out if it's even worthwhile to take this to court (or if I should just accept I got screwed over and forget about it). I've never needed legal services so I don't really know where I go to find a lawyer and what I should be asking them for specifically. 100 HOGS AGREE fucked around with this message at 22:55 on Sep 22, 2010 |
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Sep 22, 2010 22:52
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That's what small claims court is for to avoid legal wrangling for small amounts and have the case judged quickly and fairly (for the most part). You shouldn't need legal advice for small claims and in most(all?) places lawyers aren't even allowed unless special permission is granted. You just show your evidence and state your claim. The defendant does the same and the judge rules on it just like judge Judy without the goofy antics.  If you do go that route just being prepared with concise relevant arguments that you can back up will take you a very long way. ChubbyEmoBabe fucked around with this message at 23:04 on Sep 22, 2010 |
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Sep 22, 2010 23:02
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Thanks eviljelly, nm, King of the Cows and ChubbyEmoBabe. I'll look for a malpractice lawyer tomorrow and see if I can get a consultation about having a case. Setting aside the issue of whether or not I gave consent, though, does "breaking even" sound like a fair settlement in a case where someone ends up with a permanent, though not totally disabling, injury?
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Sep 22, 2010 23:22
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Depending on the circumstance, it could make sense, though unlikely in your case from what little we know.
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Sep 22, 2010 23:26
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entris posted:First you need to go here: http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/lost_found/ Thanks, I filed a report already, I've been talking with them for over a month now, and its good to know about the inspector general to threaten them with, but I was really wondering if I could tell them they are liable (since this is the legal questions thread) because they took control of the property when it was turned in and force them to reimburse me. I really don't want a the hassle of a court case, but is it stupid to think of threatening one to get results?
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Sep 22, 2010 23:30
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Annakie posted:Setting aside the issue of whether or not I gave consent, though, does "breaking even" sound like a fair settlement in a case where someone ends up with a permanent, though not totally disabling, injury? From what you said it doesn't even sound like your lawyer was going for "breaking even" if all he submitted was the medical bills. What state are you in?
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Sep 22, 2010 23:35
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Texas
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Sep 22, 2010 23:45
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IANAL so maybe one of the lawyers in this thread can give the exact scenario that's allowed: But I would setup a recording device and call my lawyer and make it clear that I do not want the settlement (say my dad said not to take it or whatever, just not imply I am getting legal on him) and would like for him to negotiate for a higher value. Again, I am not saying that is perfectly legal or you should do it before you know the facts because I would hate to be wrong and have you end up in hot water over it. You can read more here (law is linked in the list): http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=13492 Aand here for an explanation: http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/texas/texas-recording-law
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Sep 22, 2010 23:52
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nm
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Sep 23, 2010 00:09
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ChubbyEmoBabe posted:That's what small claims court is for to avoid legal wrangling for small amounts and have the case judged quickly and fairly (for the most part). You shouldn't need legal advice for small claims and in most(all?) places lawyers aren't even allowed unless special permission is granted. You just show your evidence and state your claim. The defendant does the same and the judge rules on it just like judge Judy without the goofy antics. For a couple weeks I worked for this guy that ran these local newspapers, as a reporter. I found the job after being told about it while I was in a job training program, I took it, wrote several articles for his papers, and every payday he kept stalling on paying me until I got fed up, got another job offer, and jumped on it. According to the guy that was investigating my unpaid wages claim, and which I was unaware of, my former boss has claimed I was an independent contractor or something, and I stupidly didn't keep any copies of my timesheets or the tax forms I signed when I hired in. I later did some research after I quit and found the guy's done shady business practices like that before. All I have as proof that i ever worked for him are clippings of several of the articles I wrote, and I guess I could go out and talk to some of the people I interviewed and see if they'd like, write a statement saying that yes, I did come in to talk to them, though now it's been several months and I don't know if they'd remember. Do you think I can make a case at all? I feel like I don't really have enough proof that I worked for the guy. Also, how exactly does small claims court work? What would I do to initiate the process?
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Sep 23, 2010 01:25
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Do you have e-mails or anything?
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Sep 23, 2010 01:52
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:... gvibes is taking you down the right path. *any* evidence of your employment is good for your case. You need to look at it from the outside looking in: What would you need from me to convince you that I did work there even though the other party denies it? It doesn't have to be concrete evidence for like a regular trial (like gvibes said email exchanges would/could be good proof), but it does have to be actual evidence and not your buddy saying you worked there because you told him. Sit down and write up your dates of work, who you worked with...everything. Like I said concise yet detailed will work wonders even if the evidence is a bit shaky. For more reading: http://www.texasbar.com/Content/NavigationMenu/ForThePublic/FreeLegalInformation/OurLegalSystem/HowtoSueinSmallClaimsCourt.pdf Only you will know if it is worth it and if you have a good enough case. Good luck! E: Ohh and do read up stuff like the above but don't try to get all "lawyery" about it just stick to the facts and present your case well.
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Sep 23, 2010 02:44
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ChubbyEmoBabe posted:gvibes is taking you down the right path. *any* evidence of your employment is good for your case. You need to look at it from the outside looking in: What would you need from me to convince you that I did work there even though the other party denies it? It doesn't have to be concrete evidence for like a regular trial (like gvibes said email exchanges would/could be good proof), but it does have to be actual evidence and not your buddy saying you worked there because you told him. I'll do some more research and see what I can do. Is that link ok for general advice or should I be looking for something specific to michigan?
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Sep 23, 2010 03:00
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OOps I got you confused with the texas guy earlier. The general stuff in there is a good read but here is the more specific stuff for michigan: http://courts.michigan.gov/scao/selfhelp/smallclaims/sc_help.htm Your local courts probably have a lot more specific information on their website.
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Sep 23, 2010 03:18
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Virginia state. I'm a tenant. My landlord hasn't been paying her condo fees. I guess she has been simply pocketing the rent checks I've been sending her instead of paying condo fees. The condo association sends me a court order in an attempt to come after me for her outstanding debt. It turns out that it was in my lease. The condo can come after me to garnish my rent checks as payment towards my landlord's debt. I ask my landlord about this. She says to not worry about it and to continue paying her rent and that she would take care of the debt before the court date. I follow her instructions. A month or so later, I receive a 'show cause' court order. It turns out that the debt was never taken care of and my failure to show up in court made it look like I was in working alongside with my landlord in being a deadbeat. I show up in court and agree to send my rent checks to the condo association instead of to my landlord. The court order states that I am not to pay rent to my landlord and that is it to be garnished and given to the condo association. My landlord calls me and tells me that I am to pay her rent and that if I don't, I will be incurring late fees. I tell her I don't believe her and that I am simply following court orders not to pay her and will be sending it to the condo association instead. Before I send out my rent check to the condo association at the beginning of the next month, my landlord files for bankruptcy. Because of the bankruptcy, the condo association doesn't accept my rent checks because everything is to be put on hold. The condo association tell me to just hold on and wait. I don't know who to pay rent to so I continue to accumulate the rent in an account knowing that I am receiving unjust enrichment in all this and will have to pay someone or something sometime down the line. Things start breaking down in the apartment but the landlord won't fix it since I am not paying the rent she is expecting. The condo won't fix things because there are outstanding debts associated with the apartment. I end up using my own money to fix some things and have kept the receipts. A few months later, the bankruptcy goes through and my landlord's debts are discharged. Now my landlord is attempting to come after me for the rent money originally meant for the condo association even though the rent wasn't being accepted by the condo association. She also is tacking on late-fees from the time I first started withholding the rent. She says the late-fees are expected since I was supposed to have been sending rent checks to the condo association and the act of not sending it to the condo association (even though the condo association wasn't accepting my rent) means the late-fees are justified. Does she even have a case here? How much rent do I owe (ie: from time I stopped paying her to now, or from the time the debt has been discharged to now?) and to whom? tl,dr: Is my landlord entitled to back-rent that I have withheld from her under the instructions of a court order so that it could be garnished as payments towards my landlord's outstanding condo debt? However, said back-rent was never accepted by the condo association due to my landlord filing for bankruptcy before payment began?
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Sep 23, 2010 07:31
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