Legal Questions: do not communicate with the demon at all except through your genie

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Legal Questions: do not communicate with the demon at all except through your genie

Offrampmotel: Mar 18, 2006; Guitar God

Incredulous Red posted:

Here's what's going to happen:

3) You show up in court and lose anyway. And you might have to pay court costs on top of your original fine.

It sucks...in Pennsylvania you have to pay court costs whether or not you go to court

# ¿ Apr 21, 2010 01:04

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 15:39

Offrampmotel: Mar 18, 2006; Guitar God

sterster posted:

So I have recently been watching some video on the 'know your rights stuff' and came across a question that isn't touched on.

If I'm pulled over by a police office, and the office ask me to step out of my vehicle, do I have to comply ?

Can I simply ask if he is detaining me or if I'm free to go?
At this point if he is detaining me I would obviously have to get out, right?
But without reason I he can't detained so what is reason and the only way for me to know if he has reason is to go back to asking if I'm being detained?

Thanks in advanced!

If you are pulled over by police, you are being detained and are not free to go.

And yes, courts have ruled that it's perfectly acceptable for an officer to ask you to step out of your car.

edit: If the officer has not reason to detain you he has no reason to pull you over.

# ¿ May 14, 2010 20:51

Offrampmotel: Mar 18, 2006; Guitar God

Alaemon posted:

The point of asking "am I free to go" is not to discover if you are free to go. It's to force the officer to commit one way or the other.

I think that once those flashing lights come on and you're pulled over you're not going to trick the officer into saying, "Oh...never mind."

# ¿ May 15, 2010 02:30

Offrampmotel: Mar 18, 2006; Guitar God

e: nevermind

Offrampmotel fucked around with this message at 03:27 on May 15, 2010

# ¿ May 15, 2010 03:10

Offrampmotel: Mar 18, 2006; Guitar God

joat mon posted:

"Am I free to go?" has more to do with defining and limiting the the end point of the encounter / seizure of your person when you've been pulled over.

"Am I free to go?" will have no impact on the officer running your license and giving you a ticket. Where it comes into play is when the officer has given you your ticket and is handing your license to you and asks, "Now, you don't have anything illegal in your car, do you?" If you say, "no," the next question is, "well then, you don't mind if I search your car then, do you?"

Or you could always refuse the search, in which case you don't give up any of your 4th Amendment rights.

# ¿ May 15, 2010 13:49

Offrampmotel: Mar 18, 2006; Guitar God

The point I was trying to make is that the police cannot pull you over on a whim. If he has reasonable suspicion to stop you, then he is justified in detaining you, unless a lot has changed since I left law enforcement, which I doubt.

# ¿ May 15, 2010 16:34

Offrampmotel: Mar 18, 2006; Guitar God

joat mon posted:

The only change I can think of is Whren v. US, where the Supremes said (basically) "we don't care if it's a whim or not, if the cop can articulate any violation of the law the stop is justified."

Well, to be fair, in PA at least, the vehicle code is so broad that if I really wanted to I could find a violation on 99% of the cars on the road. The easiest one was always something hanging from the rear view mirror.

And we both know that if a cop REALLY wants to stop you, he'll find an excuse. I've never stopped someone for a bullshit reason (e.g. DWB) but I have to admit it does happen.

# ¿ May 15, 2010 19:03

Offrampmotel: Mar 18, 2006; Guitar God

I had a friend with a similar problem with his lawyer. It took the lawyer a year and a half to file his bankruptcy. All he could really do was file a complaint with the bar association. Didn't get him his money back though.

# ¿ May 17, 2010 02:30

Offrampmotel: Mar 18, 2006; Guitar God

Silver String posted:

I'm not sure if this is the right thread for this question. I'm in Colorado. I have a friend who works in a doctor's office, getting paid under the table. She does this because the doctor was at one time her boyfriend so he set up this deal with her. Now that they don't date, they continue to work together but he withholds her illegally earned money whenever he thinks he is being slighted, etc. Who knows how many of the other people in his office he is loving around with.

My question is, can I report this to anyone since I'm not directly involved in any way? And if so, who? I would hate to put my friend out of money, but to be honest she'd likely be better off picking cans out of the garbage. Knowing this doctor, he probably has a lot more shady practices going on. Is there a way to get him audited or something? Thanks law goons.

I'd be careful with this, because the doctor can easily gently caress your friend by giving her a 1099 for all of her wages (basically making her an independent contractor) which would require her to pay taxes and all of the social security taxes on her earnings (what you normally have deducted for FICA is half of the tax, the employer pays the other half). I learned this the hard way when I had a job working under the table and my boss did this. Since I obviously didn't claim it on my taxes I got hit with a shitton of interest and penalties, and eventually a $600/month wage garnishment from the IRS.

# ¿ Jun 11, 2010 20:51

Offrampmotel: Mar 18, 2006; Guitar God

joat mon posted:

It's unlikely she is or you were an independent contractor. Biggest giveaway: an independent contractor doesn't have a 'boss.'

The IRS's page on the subject

The IRS's old test for employee/independent contractor I think this one is more informative; the new test gives a little more wiggle room, but the basics are unchanged.

The first (and only) private firm I worked for tried to pull this crap on me; one of many reasons I'm overjoyed not to be there anymore.

I wish I would have known that back then. It would have saved me about $10,000

# ¿ Jun 13, 2010 01:18

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 15:39

Offrampmotel: Mar 18, 2006; Guitar God

Tostito posted:

Should I send a Debt Validation letter, Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested, to a creditor who sent me a summons to court without any warning at all? I can't even really tell if the summons is legitimate as there is no printed court date, nor do they give me the address of the court, only the address of the creditor. I looked up "Mel S. Harris and Associates, LLC" and supposedly this guy is the most hardballin no bullshit bottom of the barrel lawyer in the history of lawyers. They're cracking down on debt after some big financial thing that happened on June 22nd, from what I understand.

A lot of sleazeball collection agencies will send fake court notices to try to get you to call them back, which is a FDCPA violation.

Also, is it the original creditor, or a collection agency? It makes a difference because in most states the FDCPA does not apply to the original creditor and they are not required to validate your debt.

Anyways, you may have better luck asking in this thread:

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3234974

# ¿ Jun 28, 2010 06:59

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Legal Questions: do not communicate with the demon at all except through your genie