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Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

ibntumart posted:

You're not supposed to on the BART either (Bay Area Rapid Transit, where Bay Area refers to San Francisco Bay Area), though I can't recall ever seeing anyone get in trouble for doing so.

Unless you're a minority in Oakland, in which case you get tasered and/or shot.

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Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

camels posted:

Recently I brought my car in to a local garage to get an oil change and an inspection. I am in Texas. The mechanic I spoke to told me that my transmission fluid was low and offered to fill it for $140 or so. I had no problems with my transmission before that time. While driving it home the transmission was shaking v. noticeably. Checked it when I got home and it was almost empty. I'm pretty sure that the mechanic had drained out almost all of the remaining fluid. I went to Pep Boys and bought some transmission fluid to top it off. I think the guy at Pep Boys recommended me the wrong type of fluid as well. My car is being worked on and it looks like it will run me $1000 or more to get it repaired.

Do I have any recourse with the garage that drained the tranmission fluid? I can't prove that they did it, so would it make sense to sue them in small claims court? Or write to the state attorney general's office and any other govt offices? While I can't prove it, I'm pretty sure that the 1st garage I went to drained it out. Thanks for any info

Res ipsa?

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

woozle wuzzle posted:

I think it's rebutted by the Pep Boys fix. Even he admits that the pep boys guy may have told him the wrong thing.

Yeah. I misread it and thought it was serviced at the Pep Boys

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

LLJKSiLk posted:

Alabama.

Someone stole some Xbox games from my house and traded them for cash.

I do not wish to press charges provided the games are recovered and returned to me.

However, would GameStop cooperate with me if the person is going to show up and confess to them or do I need to involve the police?

It's your ex wife/current psycho girlfriend again, isn't it?

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

Ralphis posted:

I have a question about ethics. Let's use this "example" scenario:

On August 12th, 2010, driver "Tom" along with passengers "Jack" and "Beth" got into an accident with an out-of-jurisdiction police cruiser who, allegedly, ran a red light without his sirens on. Regardless of what truly happened here, the police and insurance found Tom to be at no fault.

Tom sustained injuries but left the scene that night and didn't report to a hospital the next day, where he was issued pain killers. He then sought out a potential law suit against the municipality that the cruiser was from. Tom went to a lawyer who consulted with him and began to take care of dealing with his insurance company and sent him to a doctor. Unfortunately, Tom did not meet all of the requirements of PA political tort, along with having limited tort on his auto insurance, to sue the municipality. In September 2010, Tom received a letter from the lawyer stating that they were going to close the case and no longer be on retainer.

Here is the important part. While at the lawyer's office, the lawyer asked for the contact information of fellow passengers Jack and Beth. He contacted Beth and the firm began to represent her over the same accident. She eventually received a large sum of money from dealing with the insurance companies. Fast forward to now.

23 months after the accident (one month before the statute of limitations in PA), Tom has just received notification that Beth is planning to sue him and the police station. What's worse is that they are using the son of Tom's former lawyer on the case, part of the same firm, to come after him for "negligence". Full details are not available yet as the letter hasn't arrived in the mail officially.

Can the law firm that represented Tom on this exact same case file a suit against him on behalf of one of his passengers AFTER representing him first? This seems highly unethical if not illegal. Any insight would be appreciated.

IANAL, but pretty sure they can't - it's the same firm, representing a former client on the same matter, or a matter that is largely related to the one in which they represented the former client. I am pretty certain that the conflict of interest is imputed to the whole firm in this case and they'd be disqualified from representing her against him.

He should definitely run his case by another lawyer, like now, and at least get it looked at again. I have no idea what's going on with his passenger, but the circumstances seem fishy, his former lawyers may be doing something that could get the bar angry at them, and PA is a comparative negligence state from what my brief internet look-see shows. You'd think that at least the police officer himself might have been personably liable since he was off duty.

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

LLJKSiLk posted:

GameStop manager agreed in principle, but needs corporate approval.

Technically they bought stolen property and know about it...

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

Alchenar posted:

Christ, you don't need a lawyer, you need a financial adviser. Stop making terrible decisions with your money.

Stop... just let this happen

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

Jaytan posted:

Not a legal question, but related to legal process. I have a pretrial hearing for a misdemeanor offense coming up and have already retained a lawyer.

Since the lawyer I hired does this on a fixed fee basis and I've already paid I am thinking it could be helpful to bring some sort of gift to butter the lawyer and his office staff up a little bit, but I've got no idea what to bring since I don't know them particularly well.

Any suggestions on what an appropriate gift to bring with me would be?

That's not really necessary. Do it if you want, but it's not something they expect, especially since you haven't gone to court yet.

I guess if you're really intent on doing this and genuinely grateful, you could send like a cookie basket over to the office- office workers love snacks. But, really, you've paid and he's doing you a service you've paid for.

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

Alchenar posted:

Things might be different in Freedomland but in the UK it would basically be a career ending ethical violation to accept a gift from a client.

Your lawyer should be doing a professional job for you by default. If you are concerned then you should talk to him.

You're allowed to take gifts under the model rules, just not substantial ones, and you're not allowed to solicit gifts from current clients. But if you're giving your clients the impression that they need to give you a gift in addition to your fee in order to get good service from you, you're doing something wrong.

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

euphronius posted:

As was mentioned paying in advance is probably the greatest gift you can give to an attorney.

Also not suing for malpractice

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

Redfont posted:

Hey I've got another question, kind of a general question about the law I guess. It's for Illinois.

Long story short, my mother lives in rural Illinois, someone just burned down her barn shortly after holding a knife to some dude's throat in the house. As of right now he's being convicted of aggravated assault and nothing else as far as I know. I have a feeling that the lazy police in my town aren't going to do anything about the barn that's been burned down. It was filled with mostly odds and ends and was uninsured, if that's relevant, but it didn't have any fire hazards that I can think of.

Does anyone have experience with criminal law and know how my mother might go about pressuring the police into actually doing something about this situation? As of right now her plan is "gently caress tha police" and she's going to try to ask the guy to pay for the barn herself since his parents are apparently wealthy. I guess this could be a much worse idea but I don't like the idea of this rear end in a top hat putting a torch to the place and then walking, especially if he decides "nope I don't feel like paying for it." Especially since this wouldn't be the first time the police have sat on their hands.

Bit long-winded but there you go, just hoping I can get some advice from anyone who knows.

Tried calling the fire marshal?

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

Redfont posted:

Apparently straight talk doesn't keep their text messages on any sort of server, only call times. I'm having her forward all the messages to me so that I can either screenshot them all off of my phone and put them on a flash drive or get those forwarded versions from Verizon to send to the police.

She's going to be calling the DA tomorrow, she said she's already been talking with a state attorney but at your advice I told her she needs to start talking with the DA as soon as possible. I've never really handled a legal situation before, so I don't know what she's supposed to ask him as opposed to someone else.

Assuming everything goes smoothly and she gets the ball rolling on this case, what sort of charges are we looking at here? Obviously arson and assault with a deadly weapon. Restitution would be nice, replacing the barn would be 100% great, and I wouldn't have any qualms about stacking on charges for all the other damage the fire did (she didn't have water or electricity for about a month), emotional distress, etc.

From what I hear, even if he gets jail-time he's just going to post bail, so even though I want this jerk to rot in a cell I think the best way to win in this situation is make sure the money gets to the right place.

Does she have insurance on the barn?

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

firehurts posted:

I'm in Orange County CA. I'm in some bad legal trouble and need advice. Someone I know brought up false assault charges against me. I spent 3 days in jail and the DA refused to prosecute. The other person got an emergency restraining order against me when they made the charges.

Now they are trying to get a permanent order against me. If it goes through it would mess up all kinds of stuff for me. I'm going to file a restraining order against them for harassment. Because at this point it is.

What else can I do to protect myself. Can I get them in criminal trouble for filing false charges? I want to state right now that I am 100 percent completely innocent. This has already been a heavy burden on me physically and emotionally. I'm going to try to talk to a lawyer but I really don't have any funds to hire one.

Are there any groups for someone like me? Any lawyers out there that might help someone who is broke but wrongfully accused? What the other person did was not right and I really don't know what to do. What other criminal and civil avenues can I peruse against them?

Get a damned lawyer. You could try calling LegalAid and seeing if they have a recommendation for you.

E: Try here: http://www.legal-aid.com/Home/LRS You may not meet income requirements, but they might be able to make a lawyer referral for you who might be able to do a free consult or give you an idea what it would cost to represent you

Incredulous Red fucked around with this message at 15:16 on Jul 26, 2012

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

Dolphin posted:

Michigan.

I've been doing this, everyone in my area is asking for copies of credit reports except housing in the worst (dangerous) areas in town. All of the major apartment complexes just run your credit and all the private people want a copy of a credit report. There's a maximum security deposit by law here so I can't just say that I'll pay a higher security deposit because they can't take it.

Is it really fraud? I thought credit fraud was only a criminal issue if you falsify information for a loan or a credit line.

Sometimes landlords will just run credit reports so that they have an idea if you can actually pay, and so they can have an idea where you might run to if you skip out on a lease. A bad credit score in and of itself won't necessarily bar you from leasing, so you should legitimately just apply for housing anyway, especially if you have demonstrable income (i.e., a job or student loan income) and make them reject you.

Around me at least, landlords usually don't make you provide a copy of your own credit report, they usually just ask for a release from you allowing them to run your credit history.

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

nm posted:

Get a lawyer you fool.

This needs to be the new thread title

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

Karb posted:

I'm not totally sure this is the right thread for this, but it's the closest thing I could find. If any of you guys can help me out I would be eternally grateful.

I'm in kind of a weird situation: I was arrested at the school I currently attend, but it was before I went here. They banned me, I went to court, and the charges were dismissed. I was eventually un-banned after applying for admission and being accepted. So now, 4 years later, I'm applying to graduate schools and they're asking me about being subject to disciplinary action at any post-secondary institution. Some of them have wording I can get around (e.g. "that you were attending at the time") but I'm not sure how to handle them asking about any discipline. I'm doing my state's free self-background check and I'm going to check my student record on Monday. If both are clean, is it worth lying about it? Is there any way they could possibly find out if it's not on my criminal record or my student conduct record?

I'm from a public school and I'm applying to top programs, so I already have a non-traditional application. I worry that if they see I checked the "yes" box, they'll toss the app without even reading the attached form explaining the charge. As far as I know it's just for underage drinking, which I assume no one cares about but what if they don't bother reading the attachment? Pretty conflicted here. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Disciplinary action usually means academic disciplinary action- they don't want cheaters. That said, a lot of grad schools want to know if you've been arrested, and the general consensus is that if they ask, you should err on the side of disclosure.

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

SkunkDuster posted:

If I were to sell a used vehicle in Minnesota (private party sale) that has non-functional emergency brake and rusty rear end brake lines that are on the verge of failing, would a disclaimer like this be good enough to release me from any liability in the event that the buyer drives the vehicle and mows down a busload of children due to a brake failure:

The buyer (NAME) understands that this vehicle (YEAR/MAKE/MODEL/VIN) does not have a working emergency brake and the brake lines are in terrible condition and may fail at any time resulting in the complete loss of all braking ability. The seller strongly recommends that the vehicle not be driven until the emergency brake is fixed and the brake lines are inspected/replaced by a qualified technician. (BUYERS SIGNATURE/DATE).

You might be better off getting an indemnity agreement from them (this assumes that the person who is buying your lovely, no brake car will have money to indemnify you). Or, just fixing the brakes before you sell it.

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

SkunkDuster posted:

If I were to sell a used vehicle in Minnesota (private party sale) that has non-functional emergency brake and rusty rear end brake lines that are on the verge of failing, would a disclaimer like this be good enough to release me from any liability in the event that the buyer drives the vehicle and mows down a busload of children due to a brake failure:

The buyer (NAME) understands that this vehicle (YEAR/MAKE/MODEL/VIN) does not have a working emergency brake and the brake lines are in terrible condition and may fail at any time resulting in the complete loss of all braking ability. The seller strongly recommends that the vehicle not be driven until the emergency brake is fixed and the brake lines are inspected/replaced by a qualified technician. (BUYERS SIGNATURE/DATE).

Green Crayons posted:

Maybe. Depends upon the state. Also, depending upon the parties involved, there may be a duty to affirmatively inform about certain things, e.g., an inherently defective condition -- so that a waiver of liability clause ("as is") is inoperative as to those defects. But that, too, varies by state.

e: oh, and sometimes a seller makes an implied warranty in their contract. Whether this happens as a matter of course or through the seller's conduct, and the effect (if any) of an "as is" clause is also a matter of state law.

Minnesota seems to allow "as is" disclaimers, but that may apply only to used car dealers and some cars with over 75K miles, other conditions, are exempt from their used car law. The best course of action here would probably be to fix the brakes before sale.

The second best course of action might be to pay to have a mechanic inspect the car and put together a report on what's wrong with the car, and attach it to any sale contract to your private buyer. I'd still kinda be worried about some of the worst case scenarios, cuz it sounds like the car isn't safe to drive at all, so unless your buyer is coming by with a flatbed, you may be putting him in a position where he has to drive the car to take delivery, after telling him it's not in a safe condition to drive. I think some states might make you liable for any defect in a car you've owned then sold, but I'm not as fresh on products liability stuff as I could be. I'd also worry about the buyer getting into an accident shortly after purchase, but before he has taken it in to get it repaired- might make you liable to third parties who are injured as a result of a brake failure (hence my previous suggestion about an indemnity agreement. You'd also probably want to make sure he's insured)

Or maybe you could just sell the car to a used car dealer, or donate it to charity and take a tax write-off, and save yourself some potential headaches.

This is kinda stream of consciousness, I'm not a Minnesota lawyer, I'm not your lawyer, I'm not a lawyer, I'm still kinda hungover, take it with a grain of salt.

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

entris posted:

Re: selling a car with defects

I would include:

1. An affirmative disclosure of the known defects.
2. A release by the buyer of liability for unknown defects.
3. Indemnification by the buyer against claims brought by 3rd parties harmed by the buyer while driving the car.

#1 and #2 protect the seller against the buyer, but these are contract terms that won't shield the seller from tort claims brought by people who are 3rd parties to the contract. #3 is the provision that protects the seller against claims from 3rd parties.

#3 isn't really an effective shield if the guy buying the car has no assets, right?

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

nern posted:

hahah, i know its not ideal. but it is actually an improvement from the previous track i was on which was to attend an unranked PhD program in philosophy without funding which would have meant 4-6 years of taking out more student loans (i already have debt from getting an MA in philosophy) to get a phd in philosophy which would pretty much guarantee that i could never get employed. at least this way i am going into a profession that actually has a job market, however lovely it is, and will be attending the top law school in my region.

Same trap, different face. No jobs, die alone

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

nern posted:

University of Pittsburgh

Even though I did quite well on the LSAT, my undergraduate grades restricted my options, despite having a 4.0 in graduate school. Law school is actually my backup plan for PhD, which I did not want to pursue unfunded with such a slim likelihood of employment. I might see how I can do if I go that way again since it is truly my passion, maybe not. We selected Pittsburgh even though it was not the best law school I was admitted to because it worked best for both of us. My spouse is starting at Carnegie Mellon getting her MA in English. We're humanities/liberal arts people. That itself is evidence enough that we have terrible thinking, we don't do what's practical or responsible. But we are happy. That's what counts most, right?

Is this a troll?

entris posted:

Your backup plan is to proceed with a PH.D. philosophy program? Are you kidding me? You are saying that if your risky law school plan doesn't pan out, you'll just move on to an even riskier graduate school plan? And incur more debt?

You are making a terrible mistake - not because law school is certain doom, but because you have exhibited terrible, terrible thinking, and if you use similar thinking in law school, you are going to ruin your life.

No, just let this happen. We can chronicle it and add it to the Megathread OP as it progresses.

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

nern posted:

Look, I have tried to make very clear that I understand the risks associated with my choice and am not deluded at all in thinking that I will just be handed a job. When I was in my master's program for philosophy, it wasn't controversial or an interesting topic of discussion to point out how stupid it is to go to graduate school in the humanities. I am honestly a little blown away at the radically different attitude of many of you in law who seem to act like it is supposed to be a surprise or something that going to school and spending alot of money is a gamble. The best decision would have been to just snagged a job out of high school and earned whatever I could have that way. I recently heard that the lifetime spending power of a plumber without any education after high school is greater than a university professor or similarly educated individual. I know this, but I chose a different life. Is this so hard to grasp? If it were only about what is the smartest move or most responsible choice financially, no one should go to college. But were not robots and this isn't merely a matter of calculating risk and finances, etc. Is this really so complicated to understand?

edit: and that Megathread was one of the wonderful resources that helped me see all the risks and dangers associated with my choice.

nern posted:

Okay, so I am looking to file an uncontested divorce. We have a 9 year old daughter and have been split up for something like 8 years. I live in Rhode Island, my daughter lives with my mom in NY, and she lives in Kentucky. All the custody stuff has been determined in NY Family Court and we have no joint assets to divide. My question has to do with residency requirements. In Rhode Island, to file for a divorce you must have been a resident of the state for a year, I just moved here from 45 minutes away in MA 4 months ago. So, I guess I cannot file for a divorce in RI. Now, it seems like only one party need fulfill the residency requirements to file for a divorce in Kentucky, but I am not sure how I would go about filing the divorce from afar. Surely its not possible to be in a situation where I simply COULDN'T file for a divorce. I am just not sure how to go about filing. It will be uncontested and all the big stuff is already decided or already established, but I am just not sure about the venue.


Wait, you just got divorced in November and now you're making decisions with life altering consequences based on where a new person wants to live? Or where your old theoretical ex with a restraining order against you wants to live?

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

Choadmaster posted:

So an old lady ran into me last month. It was very obviously her fault but she refused to admit it even on the scene and was quite snooty about it, even (dammit, didn't I see her blinker was on when she pulled out in front of me??).

So basically the old lady refused to admit liability and you've been trying to solo your damages with her insurance company?

Old lady is way smarter than you man

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

DrakoDWyvrex posted:

I have a question for you all.

Last Friday my friend was raped by a guy and then pushed out of a car in the middle of nowhere. She walked to a police department because her cell phone was damaged and reported the incident. On New Years he was arrested for robbery (he robbed the store he worked at taking money and a gun). She went to the ER and they did a rape kit on her.

She is wanting to press charges on him, but the police seem to be jerking her around. She doesn't have a record of any sort (not even a parking ticket) and they have been questioning her like she was the rapist. Like questioning her about the fact she was at the police department in March (because her credit card was stolen and she was filing a report for the credit card company). Or "How one guy could hold her and rape her" (She's 5'4 and he was a Marine..oh and there was a second guy there). She mainly just wants to know what she needs to do to stop getting hosed with by the police and get charges filed against the guy.



Maybe get an attorney. Funny how quickly they'll start taking her seriously after that, and the attorney might be able to talk to someone in the DA's office and get the ball rolling. The attorney would also be able to help her get a restraining order against the guy.

There might be a local women's advocacy group that would do it, or a lawyer who'd do it pro-bono. Several posters in this thread are prosecutors or public defenders and might be able to give you more direction than that.

quote:

She lives in Georgia if that makes any difference.

Well, if you read some of the stuff coming out of Missouri lately...

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

Alchenar posted:

I'm not sure any non-compete could possibly survive when someone is being employed on a freelance basis.

Unless it's not really freelance employment

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

Lord Gaga posted:

If an engineering research student is doing research on projects that will likely lead to patents, grant money and/or published papers for the school but is unpaid, is their lack of being paid minimum wage illegal?

Is doing research part of their educational curriculum?

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

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?

Sorry, I'm freaking out a little.

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.

Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

reyalsnogard posted:

Yes. A bit more eloquent than my initial statement but you've captured the idea.

I surmise most accidental tenant damage -- beyond neglect -- stems from moving in and out. If the checklist was returned after moving in (and after a month-and-a-half of occupancy) what impact can/does a belated checklist have in muting any tenant claim to "pre-existing damage" prior to their occupancy?

edit: where the disputed "pre-existing damage" was, for the sake of argument, caused by the tenant (either via moving in, settling, or neglect) during those 45 days.

wait, so you're trying to argue that damage you caused moving in was preexisting damage?

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Incredulous Red
Mar 25, 2008

bigpolar posted:

I'm not a lawyer, but as a Louisiana resident I can assure you that as a practical matter this will stick. They won't hunt him or monitor him, but if he is arrested in your town for anything else, he'll be jailed and fined for contempt in addition to whatever else he gets tagged for. Unless he has enough money to hire enough political clout to fight that judge, I would tell him to keep out of trouble if he ever comes back.

Louisiana isn't like the rest of the country, the law means nothing if you have political connections. Someone in that casino either donated money to some organization important to the judge (like his reelection fund, or his office football pool) or they comp him a lot at the casino, or (not surprising here) they outright bribe him.

Your friend should have played the game: If the management didn't want him to press charges, you say "ok, but this rear end in a top hat rear end in a top hat ruined my night, (or my suit or whatever), what about that?" And you give them the chance to make you happy. New clothes, medical care, free chips,etc. would most likely have been offered instead of a trespassing charge. The manager wouldn't have objected if he didn't have a reason to protect the other guy. He was expecting you to play along and you fought the system. You can't do that in Louisiana unless you have at least some juice.

Unless you can get national attention, a simple "good lawyer" won't be able to help. You need a crooked, connected lawyer who will spread money around on his behalf. The legal system here really likes to fleece anyone from out of state. Good luck.

One more thing, I'll bet you that within 2 weeks any charges against the guy who assaulted your friend will be dropped. Keep checking his case and see. This can be a crappy place to visit if you don't know the rules.

So... how much money would take for a yankee to buy his way into the Louisiana elite?

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