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MJP posted:My question: can I sue in small claims court for failure to uphold the warranty for the purchase value of the laptop? Or do warranty matters have to be handled by a regular civil court? Small claims court is more a matter of how much value you are alleging you have been harmed. Typically the issue is the company is not honoring the warranty, you have to go to a third party to fix the issue and that work will cost you x dollars. If the company is honoring the warranty, and continuing to fix the problem, I don't know what your economic harm is. Granted you have been denied use of the laptop but that is more an inconveience unless you can articulate how that inconveince has harmed you monetarily. The alternative is looking into if your state has lemon laws and if they apply to computers.
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Aug 30, 2012 16:55
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Dogen posted:The mutiple very similar works angle is interesting and I haven't run across it before, the closest thing I know anything about is derivative works. Yeah these are not derived works, but they all come out of the same bit of code, with slightly difference configuration and data. If I were to concatenate all the videos into a single one I could register that right? then all variations would fall under the same registration. I literally have a new version coming out of the cooker in the next few days.
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Aug 30, 2012 19:04
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ROCKET SCIENCE
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Property law related thing for an apartment in TX run by a management company. When I moved in to this place I was handed a packet with some info. One of these things is about maintenance issues and lists a lot of quick fixes with the note that if you call maintenance for anything that can be fixed by doing something on that list, they will charge you $40. My actual lease, which I read every last word of, does not mention anything along these lines. This piece of paper wasn't signed by anyone. I've dealt with lovely companies before and assume that they'll try to spin as much as possible as falling under the fixes that'll get them $. If they try to do so, can I go tell them to screw off and that I never signed anything? This is just a preemptive question; I just filed a maintenance request and want to make sure I know what to do in the worst case.
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Aug 30, 2012 19:07
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I think if the lease is silent they are only responsible for keeping the fit and habitable, so depending on what it is you might be out of luck. If they're using a TAA standard lease though, there is usually something in there that says something like they'll maintain the property in good order and pay for repairs, so you can get them to fix poo poo that does not rise to being habitability threatening. If the lease is dead silent on repair you're likely out of luck if it's their policy to charge for maintenance. illectro posted:Yeah these are not derived works, but they all come out of the same bit of code, with slightly difference configuration and data. If I were to concatenate all the This question is really out of my depth unfortunately, I did take advanced copyright in law school but we never talked about this sort of thing. I would look into talking to a lawyer who is an expert in the rights of artists, surely such people are around. On the surface, your idea makes sense to me. Dogen fucked around with this message at 20:14 on Aug 30, 2012 |
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Aug 30, 2012 20:11
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muscat_gummy posted:Property law related thing for an apartment in TX run by a management company. When I moved in to this place I was handed a packet with some info. One of these things is about maintenance issues and lists a lot of quick fixes with the note that if you call maintenance for anything that can be fixed by doing something on that list, they will charge you $40. My actual lease, which I read every last word of, does not mention anything along these lines. This piece of paper wasn't signed by anyone. I've dealt with lovely companies before and assume that they'll try to spin as much as possible as falling under the fixes that'll get them $. If they try to do so, can I go tell them to screw off and that I never signed anything? If your lease has any sections regarding attached rules and the complex being allowed to change them at any time, they can make it stick. If the lease states that the company is responsible for maintaining the apartment, then they are giving you something in writing that contradicts the lease, and usually the lease trumps it. If not, you can just plan to fight them, if you have more time than money and don't mind going to court, and you don't live in a place with a kangaroo housing court, it can be fun. If you want to get out of your lease, this would be a good way to do it. Send a registered letter to the leasing office, saying you did not consent to this stipulation in your lease, you will not comply, and if they want to amicably end the lease then you are open to negotiations.
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Aug 30, 2012 20:30
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I assume I'm just screwed here, but I figured I'd ask anyway. My lease is up at the end of August on my current apartment. I live with three other guys, two who are close friends and one who is a Craigslist person. The Craigslist guy moved out a week early on a day when he knew none of the other roommates would be around. He did so without paying me the $150 dollars he owes me for the cable and internet bill, which I pay monthly and the other roommates reimburse me for. It had never been a problem in our previous apartment, but there I was only living with the two friends. I entirely admit it was really stupid of me to trust this random guy to pay for part the bill without making him sign some sort of contract. Lesson learned, I guess. He has ignored two text messages and a voicemail, and has de-friended the rest of us roommates on Facebook, which makes it pretty clear that he is intentionally ignoring me. Also, he took an inflatable mattress when he left that belonged to the other roommates and I. Because there is no way to prove that he ever agreed to pay 1/4 of the bill besides the testimony of the other two roommates and myself, and the same is true for the mattress, I assume there is no legal way to deal with this. Small claims court wouldn't consider the word of three guys against one proof, would it?
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Aug 30, 2012 20:53
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Oral contracts can be enforced with some exceptions.
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Aug 30, 2012 20:55
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And yes, your word against his is admissible and considerable in court, especially if there is nothing in writing. It's not conclusive, but if the judge believes you over him, you can probably win.
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Aug 30, 2012 21:14
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A heavy dose of common sense gets applied though. He would have to work very hard to persuade the Judge that there wasn't a 4-way split on utilities going on.
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Aug 30, 2012 21:15
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Sure, sure. I had just assumed utilities were being split four ways, and $150 was this fellow's unpaid balance from a few months.
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Aug 30, 2012 21:19
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Can someone tell me why in NE, someone might choose regular civil court instead of small claims over roughly $600? It seems to me it's just a way to get more billable hours to stick the defendant with at the end. Is there something I'm missing?
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Aug 30, 2012 22:05
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Mostly billables, but sometimes full civil cases scare defendants a bit more (this is a common reason defendants sometimes move small claims actions to trial courts), plus you get access to legit discovery, which is another way to burden the defendant. Alternatively, maybe they're looking for nonmonetary damages in addition to the $600?
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Aug 30, 2012 22:32
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Dogen posted:I think if the lease is silent they are only responsible for keeping the fit and habitable, so depending on what it is you might be out of luck. If they're using a TAA standard lease though, there is usually something in there that says something like they'll maintain the property in good order and pay for repairs, so you can get them to fix poo poo that does not rise to being habitability threatening. Thanks! there's stuff about maintenance in the lease just no mention of cost. The only thing they don't cover are bedbugs. That's why I thought this memo was kind of sketchy, particularly because there's definitely not anything in the lease about them being able to make changes as they please.
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Aug 30, 2012 23:26
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Arcturas posted:Mostly billables, but sometimes full civil cases scare defendants a bit more (this is a common reason defendants sometimes move small claims actions to trial courts), plus you get access to legit discovery, which is another way to burden the defendant. Alternatively, maybe they're looking for nonmonetary damages in addition to the $600? It puts the other side at a disadvantage in other ways, just following court rules and the law instead of the lax atmosphere of small claims is burdensome on laypeople. I have had one small claims case so far ridiculously decided against me by a JP, then had someone else appeal it to county court and walk away with an easy victory using the same material I prepared for small claims.
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Aug 31, 2012 00:06
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Thanks for the input. How does a lay person get a case moved to a court that doesn't burden him so much with discovery and court rules etc? As far as I know, the only damages are money. If a defendant doesn't answer the summons within 30 days due to a stupid mistake like writing down the wrong day in the calendar, is there any recourse to get it taken care of?
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Aug 31, 2012 00:17
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NancyPants posted:Thanks for the input. How does a lay person get a case moved to a court that doesn't burden him so much with discovery and court rules etc? As far as I know, the only damages are money. If a defendant doesn't answer the summons within 30 days due to a stupid mistake like writing down the wrong day in the calendar, is there any recourse to get it taken care of? Most places will have some form of recourse on retrying a default judgment. In VA they have 21 days (? I'm too lazy to look it up but everything is 21) to motion for a retrial on a default judgment, and many judges will grant it for any decent excuse. So in most cases, plaintiffs wait until that time period for your state expires before popping the champagne.
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Aug 31, 2012 01:06
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I've never heard of someone removing TO small claims court. Mostly what I remember about removal is that it's the defendant's election, and goes upwards, so long as the court has jurisdiction (state to federal using federal question or something, small claims to county court so long as amount in controversy is high enough, etc.) Someone else who knows more about civpro might have a better answer, but I think the answer is that there is no going down to small claims.
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Aug 31, 2012 01:11
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All the copyright talk has got me thinking, if I'm planning to do a large number of art to subsequently publish into a book, do I register each piece individually THEN the book once it's published, or just register the book itself once everything is finished?
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Aug 31, 2012 02:51
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Hello internet thread - I am posting this on behalf of my dad, who doesn't know how forums work. He has worked as an HVAC tech for most of his life - 25 years or so. He's good at his job and made a lot of money doing it (~65,000-70,000 gross). About a year ago he started having neck pain and arm weakness. A bunch of doctors finally determined this was due to a pinched nerve in his neck. He went down to part time for a while out of necessity (too much pain to do his job, but felt obligated to do as much as he could) before going on short term disability and having surgery to fuse his C3-C4 bones in his neck. This helped him regain the strength and feeling in his hands and arms, but the neck pain remained, just as bad as before. They took another look at all of the MRIs and it looks like it was actually the C1-C2 junction that was causing the pain...the C3-C4 was causing the arm numbness. C1-C2 fusion is a much more intensive and serious surgery - it has a 5-6 month recovery time. He went to apply for long term disability through the insurance he had at his job and found that he didn't qualify due to going down to part time before applying for short term disability. The contract required him to be at full time during the last whatever period before he stopped working. Obviously, this is super frustrating. He's worked 40+ hour weeks for years and years - but the nature of the job he does is that the amount of hours you get per week fluctuates wildly depending on the time of year. During the summer or beginning of winter, 60+ hr weeks are not uncommon, but if it's mid fall or something they sometimes only work 30 hours or so, as full time staff. This fluctuation combined with him going down to part time before leaving on short term disability seem to be a one-two punch as far as the insurance company sees it - if he wasn't working 40 hrs a week during the period they were judging from, he wasn't considered a full time employee and wasn't eligible. I have not looked at a copy of the policy (am trying to get my mother to forward a pdf...like pulling teeth, I swear) and don't even know what company the insurance is through. I just feel like this is bullshit, but I might be a little biased and unfortunately my feelings don't dictate insurance law. Should I be advising my father to lawyer up and try to get the long term disability (it's somewhere around 70% of his previous yearly salary) or is this a lost cause and we should be looking into different avenues? Is there a way he could work full time for a period of time to become eligible? I don't even know if that would be physically possible for him at this point. I live far away from my parents, so am trying to be helpful from a long distance. Any advice would really be appreciated. TL;DR - My dad is trying to get long term disability, but did not work full time hours in the period the insurance company is looking at. What is his next step? Is there any way to challenge the insurance company, and is this something he should get a lawyer for? He's a good guy and he works hard - it just kills me to see him in this much pain. This is in Wisconsin, if that matters. marchantia fucked around with this message at 05:16 on Aug 31, 2012 |
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Aug 31, 2012 04:53
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marchantia posted:TL;DR - My dad is trying to get long term disability, but did not work full time hours in the period the insurance company is looking at. What is his next step? Is there any way to challenge the insurance company, and is this something he should get a lawyer for? He's a good guy and he works hard - it just kills me to see him in this much pain. This is in Wisconsin, if that matters. Is this through Worker's Compensation or through a private insurance policy your dad has? This sounds like something that should be done through the Worker's Comp process.
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Aug 31, 2012 05:37
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joat mon posted:Is this through Worker's Compensation or through a private insurance policy your dad has? This sounds like something that should be done through the Worker's Comp process. We're talking about a private insurance policy. I don't think they have looked into workers comp - it wasn't caused directly from any specific incident at work, but 20+ years of bending and twisting in tiny spaces is probably what caused it, over time. I don't know if worker's comp handles that type of stuff? I'll definitely look into it though! Thanks! marchantia fucked around with this message at 06:41 on Aug 31, 2012 |
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Aug 31, 2012 06:28
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I'm really not sure if anyone here can answer this question but I thought I'd try because I don't know what else to do. I'm from Brazil, and when I moved to the US (yes, I'm here legally) I left behind some debt. I called all of my creditors before I left and tried my best to negotiate with them but they would not accept my offers (I'm poor as poo poo and all I could do was like $50/mo on a $2500 debt). Now a letter has arrived at my old address in Brazil from a collection agency claiming that they are going to sue me if I don't pay them. I cannot pay the amount that they're asking for or anywhere near that amount and they will not accept a smaller payment plan. My mother is freaking out because she thinks they're going to come after me here in the US. Can they do that? Can a Brazilian collection agency or creditor actually sue me in the United States? What can I do to keep that from happening? I'd pay these people if I could, I'm more than willing to get on a payment plan but the amount that they're asking for is too high and I can't afford it. Help. 
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Aug 31, 2012 16:37
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They can, but it wouldn't be worth their while unless they could claim tens of thousands of dollars in debt and you had that amount of assets to go after. Litigation across national borders is insanely expensive and rarely done.
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Aug 31, 2012 17:19
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the kawaiiest posted:my old address Creditors can't sue you if they don't know where you are 
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Aug 31, 2012 17:25
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the kawaiiest posted:Can they do that? Can a Brazilian collection agency or creditor actually sue me in the United States? What can I do to keep that from happening? I'd pay these people if I could, I'm more than willing to get on a payment plan but the amount that they're asking for is too high and I can't afford it. They could but for a $2500 debt it's a giant pain in the rear end for them. This is what I tell people when they receive letters about potential lawsuits: If it isn't served by a process server, gently caress it.
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Aug 31, 2012 18:11
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What if they try to sue me by sending all the paperwork to my old address? My mother wants to call them and tell them that I no longer live in Brazil but they will demand an address from her. I'm so confused. You really don't think they'll come after me here? Sorry, I'm freaking out a little.
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Aug 31, 2012 18:18
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the kawaiiest posted:What if they try to sue me by sending all the paperwork to my old address? My mother wants to call them and tell them that I no longer live in Brazil but they will demand an address from her. I'm so confused. You really don't think they'll come after me here? I doubt it'd be worth their time. However, I don't know what Brazil's collection laws are, or if they're likely to hire some thugs to threaten your mother or something if you don't pay up.
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Aug 31, 2012 18:50
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Incredulous Red posted:I doubt it'd be worth their time. However, I don't know what Brazil's collection laws are, or if they're likely to hire some thugs to threaten your mother or something if you don't pay up. Nah they can't do anything like that, my mom isn't legally responsible for my debt. They can't like, put this on my credit report here or anything like that, can they?
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Aug 31, 2012 18:56
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Just looking at google, it's pretty unlikely that would happen.
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Aug 31, 2012 19:37
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the kawaiiest posted:Nah they can't do anything like that, my mom isn't legally responsible for my debt. PM Roger_Mudd, he's a consumer debt protection attorney here in Texas. And my little princess who I like sending referrals to
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Aug 31, 2012 20:12
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CaptainScraps posted:PM Roger_Mudd, he's a consumer debt protection attorney here in Texas. Thanks, I will.
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Aug 31, 2012 20:15
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the kawaiiest posted:Nah they can't do anything like that, my mom isn't legally responsible for my debt. If American credit reference agencies are anything like British ones, they'll probably not be interested in anything that isn't a judgment against you in the jurisdiction, and as people have said, it's unlikely they'll come after you in the US over that amount of money. I mean, think of all the extra costs involved in having to research whether everyone who ever has a credit check might have a judgment against them in any other country in the world. It would be prohibitive. Your Mum should probably just ignore the letter, assuming that the "heavy guys literally turn up at the door looking for money" scenario isn't likely.
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Aug 31, 2012 20:22
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CaptainScraps posted:PM Roger_Mudd, he's a consumer debt protection attorney here in Texas. I think Scraps is a pretty pretty man.
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Aug 31, 2012 21:21
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The following is entirely hypothetical and just a scenario cooked up in my brain that made me curious as to the answer: The setting: You have a thrift store that takes donations. Salvation army, goodwill, whatever. They have a back door where they accept said donations, with prominent signage to the effect of "Donations accepted only between 9 and 5, dumping prohibited per [city ordnance number]". Obviously, people give zero fucks and dump couches and stuff there. The ground where they leave it is an alley/parking lot shared between a few businesses, not just the one in question. The event: Person A dumps an object after hours. Something actually worth decent money. Person B sees this and hauls it off shortly thereafter. [*] Is this theft? [*] Can the store later go "no, we actually wanted that" and prosecute B for theft? [*] Does the signage affect this at all? [*] How about the alley being shared or city property? [*] Does the dumped item still become the store's property based on the intent of the dumper? Or the property of the city if the alley is theirs? All pretty much the same question, but eh.
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Sep 1, 2012 03:59
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Assuming the store has typical signage and placement like salvation army, I think the answers are theft, yes prosecute, signage helps but isn't 100% required, public property would make it harder to call theft. When the property is dropped off, it becomes the property of the store immediately. It's not whether the store wanted it or not, it's the store's property upon delivery. It's the same as a lawnmower sitting in front of a Home Depot but they forget to lock it up overnight. The fact that a passerby can easily grab it doesn't change the property rights. Like if you left your front door open, it's not legal to rob you. So the store owns the stuff, so the question becomes whether it's legal to take it. I think the key is if it's reasonable for a person to think it was abandoned property. Signage and placement would all be important to creating that. So a public space alleyway without signage: that'd be tough to call theft. But lit private parking lot with clear signage and a marked off dropoff area: pretty solid theft. If it's clear that this is the store's dropoff area, then it's clear the store owns that property.
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Sep 1, 2012 04:11
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So here's a sad depressing story of someone who started out a scared potential customer of my fiancee, and became a friend. Our friend, I will call her Susan, has two chows (the big fluffy dogs) in texas. She is pakistani ethnicity, born in pakistan and moved here young. While walking her dogs on leash one day, a neighbor had his dog outside, off leash. The neighbors dog, we will call him fido, charged Susan and her two chows. Chows being chows, they protected Susan and engaged in a fight with Fido, injuring him because chows are loving badass. The owner of fido, we will call him Frank, was furious and blamed her "aggressive dogs". Fear and worry came in, and she paid for the dogs medical bills, over $1,000. after exchanging emails, she asked how fido was doing, and frank emailed back he is doing well, and we do not need anymore money. Susan was glad and thought that would be the end of it. A few weeks later, susan received an email from Frank demanding an extra $500 for medical bills. Susan replied back that she would not pay any more to the expenses, and expected frank was now being greedy and trying to get money. Frank filed a suit against her, demanding more money. Susan came to my fiance, we will call her "Amy", who was reffered to her as a great dog trainer. Amy has been training dogs for over 15 years, and has AKC GCC or whatever its called certification. Susan asked amy to evaluate her two chows behavior. Amy met both dogs, and they both had very good temperment with people and other dogs, and within 6 weeks they had passed CGC exams. Amy offered to be a professional witness for Susans case as her dogs had no signs of aggression, and by texas leash laws, frank was at fault. Susan lawyered up after calling around. Susans lawyer spoke to frank and his lawyer. Susan and amy believed it to be a pretty open shut case, and by our understanding of laws, susan would even be entitled to counter sue to get the money she paid back from frank and then some. Susans lawyer came back, and instead told susan she should pay frank the money because susan "didn't pay [the lawyer] enough to deal with this". Susan found out the lawyer she hired was an aggie, as was her neighbor frank, as well as frank's lawyer. Susan's lawyer also told her she should move, as she wasn't the "right color for [town]", exact words. Is there anything susan can do? She paid frank the money because her lawyer was clearly not going to help, and seemed to have extreme bias in helping the OTHER side, frank.
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Sep 1, 2012 10:06
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She should at a minimum file a bar complaint against her attorney.
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Sep 1, 2012 11:36
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marchantia posted:We're talking about a private insurance policy. I don't think they have looked into workers comp - it wasn't caused directly from any specific incident at work, but 20+ years of bending and twisting in tiny spaces is probably what caused it, over time. I don't know if worker's comp handles that type of stuff? I'll definitely look into it though! Thanks! Workers Comp will cover repetitive motion injuries, but they can be a lot harder to get approved. As it is, unless the doctor is relating the cervical injuries to work and not to degenerative disc disease or something along those lines, it probably won't go through. AS long as it could be reasonably related to work, it really doesn't cost anything to report it and see where the comp carrier goes with it.
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Sep 1, 2012 13:22
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Diplomaticus posted:She should at a minimum file a bar complaint against her attorney. For Texas: http://www.texasbar.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=How_to_File_a_Complaint
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Sep 1, 2012 14:51
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Say an employee hurts themselves doing an activity they've been instructed not to do. Does employer/insurance/workmans comp have any liability? (Missouri if it makes a difference)
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Sep 1, 2012 22:17
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