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    Home Unlabelled Legal Advice UPDATE: I won my case against former employer, without a lawyer. It's been almost 3 years. I want to thank the community for the direction/advice.

    Legal Advice UPDATE: I won my case against former employer, without a lawyer. It's been almost 3 years. I want to thank the community for the direction/advice.

    March 08, 2018

    Legal Advice UPDATE: I won my case against former employer, without a lawyer. It's been almost 3 years. I want to thank the community for the direction/advice.

    UPDATE: I won my case against former employer, without a lawyer. It's been almost 3 years. I want to thank the community for the direction/advice.

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 05:41 AM PST

    Update: in May 2015 I resigned from a 13 year job, due to harassment caused by a new employee, cousin of the business owner. Former employer realized he didn't have a non-compete and in hoping to keep me away, filed a frivolous lawsuit, fueled by his cousin's lies about me. I initially hired a lawyer, and after the first month's legal costs of over $6k, I realized I could not afford a lawyer and defended Pro Se. I made mistakes, but in the end I survived the almost 3 years since this shitstorm started, and finally got the case dismissed. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted. I'm bruised and broke, but you should see the other guy (I know he spent over $150k in legal fees alone).

    Edit: Case was in Federal Court, Louisiana.

    Edit 2: since the update threads are locked by default, I'm going to add here my advice for others in similar situations, since it appears to be a common question in the PMs I'm getting.

    First: look really hard into getting a lawyer, even if only for initial settlement negotiations. A lawyer MAY get your case dismissed in the incipient phase. The initial month I used a lawyer gave me the general direction I followed after. It helped me discover some of the tools I needed to use later. Unfortunately, my former employer got stubborn and it became a pissing contest.

    Things I've learned and I recommend: Read (download) the Rules of civil procedure, and the local court rules. Do not let deadlines pass! Better file something incorrectly than not file, when an answer or action is expected of you. You will have the chance to fix errors later. Have a witness(es) willing to write a declaration stating that your version is correct. Use affidavits/declarations to get your evidence admitted. Also - read the Rules of evidence!

    Submit subpoenas, and take depositions! This is what ultimately helped me!

    Good luck, all!

    submitted by /u/lifeguy
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    GTR towed 4 months ago. Final update.

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 06:59 AM PST

    First things first : Original post https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/77e6l9/car_improperly_towed_huge_repair_bill_california/

    update 1 https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/79okl4/gtr_was_towed_things_have_taken_an_interesting/

    Thanks to everyone who commented and sent me advice - I have a final update!

    There was an election held and the old members of the HOA were voted out and things had calmed down a fair bit. More on that later. The harassment and all that has stopped, thankfully.

    The car ended up needing a transmission among other things. Rather than get it repaired, I sold it to a guy who wanted to tear it down, turbo the hell out of it and use it for drag racing. I ended up using the funds to put a downpayment on a 911 so that turned out alright.

    As for things calming down, I recently got married! The wife and I went to the Caribbean for our honeymoon and while we were gone, the guy who owned the tow truck company and his son broke into my house and trashed the place.

    Thankfully, we have security cameras that caught them breaking in and they've been arrested and are awaiting trial so....that got way out of hand.

    Anyway, I felt I owed the community a final update as you guys have been so helpful and the dust on this carnage has finally settled.

    Edit : Location California

    submitted by /u/towingthrowaway123
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    Uncle passed, left me 28k life insurance, family trying to get me to sign money over, withholding insurance info so I cannot claim

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 02:06 AM PST

    I am writing to /r/legaladvice because I have no ideas on how to move forward in this situation. I tried very hard to be easy going and passive about this. I love my family, but the stress from this is making my whole life miserable. This is a LONG post, and I apologize. I don't know how to make it shorter, but I did include a concise TL;DR at the end for those who just want the gist. Thank you in advance for anyone willing to take a look into this issue with me.

    My uncle passed away from cancer last December, and he had two brothers, a handful of step sisters, his mother, and many nieces of nephews. I am one of the older nephews and grew up pretty close with him (my father and my uncle were close). He did not have a wife or any kids.

    A few years ago he moved in with my aunt, and my grandmother to help them out financially. He bought the house from my grandma, paid off the rest of the mortgage, and has been paying all the bills the last couple years. My grandmother is quite old and has small old age pension, and my aunt has crohn's disease and has some disability income.

    When my uncle passed he left the house and all of his possessions to my aunt. His primary life insurance policy was left to his oldest brother, my other uncle (not my dad), which was about 40k. The uncle who was beneficiary to this money signed it over to my grandma because they needed some money to live off in addition to their pension and disability. It is also worth noting that my oldest uncle is semi retired and his wife makes a good income.

    The issue is with a second life insurance policy that was taken out and I was named beneficiary to this policy. I was made aware of this by my fathers wife who was helping my aunt initially with some of the executor work. This policy is in the amount of 28k. I was very surprised to find out at first that I was the beneficiary, and in the beginning it sounded like everyone was on the same page, and there wouldn't be any problems. My fathers wife told me that she would get me the forms and once signed and submitted it would just be a matter of time before a cheque is sent out. I worried for a long time about what this means and what I am supposed to do with the money and both my aunt and fathers wife told me it is mine to do with as I will. After thinking long and hard about it I decided I would pay off my debt of 14k and give the rest to my grandma to help her out a little bit as well. My uncle and my grandmother were close, especially at the end of his life and he was always the most supportive and giving person. I think he would like knowing that some of the money was used to help those he cared for.

    Fast forward a couple weeks and nothing has been happening. I asked my fathers wife if she sent the forms, and she told me that my aunt is taking care of everything now and she bowed out of their affairs. Shortly after I got a text from my aunt saying I might get some papers from a lawyer soon. Another couple weeks go by and still nothing. I get another text from my aunt and she is now relaying some information from my grandma to me. I don't have my phone beside me at the moment, but if it is helpful I can update the post with the verbatim text. It said that I was the beneficiary for a reason, and it was because I was the oldest niece/nephew at the time and my uncle needed to put a name down. The policy was forgotten for a long time but recently my uncle confided with his mother that he wanted to change the policy to name every niece and nephew. They ask that I keep that wish alive and gift the money to my grandmother.

    This is where alarms start going off. First off, I am not the oldest cousin, not by far, I have three older cousins. Secondly, my uncle updated his will one year prior, and has been battling with his cancer for many years. Most of the family didn't find out about the cancer until near the end and I certainly don't know first hand the state of his affairs over the last few years, but my father and his wife were visiting him very frequently and he was of sound mind right up until the end. The only time he wasn't was when he was doped up in the hospital.

    I told my aunt that I want all of us to be as open about everything as possible, and that I was happy they were taking to time to make me aware. I explained I had plans on how I thought the money should be spent, and that it likely wasn't going to be in line with their wishes. I said I would take them into consideration, and that I hope if I don't comply with those wishes that it won't damage our relationship. My aunt replied that they would always love me no matter what choice I make (aww).

    Soon after a celebration for my uncle was held at my grandmothers and aunties house. Family and friends came by and it was a wonderful affair. My grandma has been devastated by the loss of her son, and she was very upset that day, rightly so. She was very distant. The whole celebration was a success, and everyone that was there had a good time and enjoyed seeing friends and family of my uncle.

    Days after I had gotten back home I get a call from my father and almost right out of the gate I start getting blasted from him about why I am not giving my grandma the money. I had tried to talk to my dad about this in the past but he avoids the subject and quite literally hangs up the phone sometimes. He told me that at the celebration his mom pulled him aside and she told him that the money is not mine and that I have to give it back to her. My dad immediately sides with his mother, and over the phone is telling me that if I don't give her the money that I am immoral and I am a bad person. I have had recent panic attacks about the stress of dealing with work, finances, and trying to deal with this insurance stuff. He told me I should do it for my health, just get rid of the money and if my grandma decides to write me a small cheque then so be it. He repeated many times that the money is not mine and never was despite legally being in my name. It was not a nice call.

    That is kind of where things left off. I am devastated that my father would act this way towards me. He is so black and white about this situation which is the most frustrating. I never had ill intentions with this money, I have wanted to share it from the beginning. I have had this debt from an early financial mistake in my life for about 10 years, and having he opportunity to get ahead should be my right I feel like. What hurts the most is that I feel like I was put on this policy because my uncle and I had a pretty good connection when I was young. There was a time when my father and I lived with my uncle for a couple years after my dad broke up with my step mother at the time. He did not take it well and my uncle was more of a father during that time than my own dad. When I found out I was the beneficiary this was the first memory that came to me. The way my dad tells it is that my uncle needed placeholder that would "make the right decision" with the money. I would have been like 12 at the time (if it is the time I am thinking of). Who puts a 12 year old as a beneficiary for all these years because they fully believe they will "do the right thing", which is what btw? Here I am father, aunt, and grandma against me when I was trying to split the money with her from the beginning. I was honestly really trying hard to be passive and never wanted money to get in the way of anything.

    I got some advice and was told to not stress out currently since there isn't even any money yet. They advised to continue with the claim, get the money and ignore my family while they are acting this way. I can decide what to do with the money later. I tried calling the insurance company that I was told the policy was with and they cannot find a policy with my uncles name and birthdate in any department. I can't tell if they are giving me the run around or if I have the wrong company. My aunt is the executor and it is very unlikely she will give me any details.

    If you read the above then I greatly appreciate your patience and your time. Thank you very much.

    TL;DR

    • Uncle passed away last December and left me 28k in side insurance policy

    • Grandmother, aunt, and father all told me to not stress about the money and to do what I want with it. I didn't want to do anything selfish with the money so I decided I would pay off my debt of 14k and give the rest to my grandma.

    • Weeks/months later all three of them are now asking me to give the money to my grandma. My aunt sent me a text with lies trying to get me to sign the money over, and my dad called me and told me to do it for my health (suffering atm from panic attacks likely from stress from various aspects of life :P) and finally told me I am immoral and a bad person if I don't

    • I tried calling Manulife who was suspected of being the insurance company this policy is with and no one in any department can find a policy with my uncles name / birthdate

    The big question.

    What do I do now? I have no information about the insurance policy, I know I am the beneficiary, and I am not going to get help from my family or executor. They have purposefully been withholding info and trying to get me to sign the money over.

    What can I do? Is there anyway for me to find out information about the life insurance policy? Should I just give them the money and be done with it? Am I wrong in my decision, am I actually doing the wrong thing?

    Edit 1

    I had to go to sleep last night and just woke up to a lot of comments. I haven't had a chance to read all of them but I will as soon as possible. I am thankful to everyone who has taken time to leave some advice!

    Edit 2

    I completely forgot I had a separate post a few weeks ago asking for help after I my aunt sent me an alarming text. The thread can be viewed here. Here is what I did after posting this to fill in some of the details. Thank you /u/CarmenFandango for reminding me I made this post.

    Thank you for asking. The situation is more complicated now than it was before. I should have addressed this in my post but where I am now in my life and this situation feels different than it did then, and I did not make the connection during my writing.

    I confronted my aunt, and my father about how I felt I should be spending the money. When I texted my aunt back I explained that I had thoughts on how I would use the money, and that they likely wouldn't be in line with their wishes that they conveyed to me. I told them I hope if I decide to make my own decision with what to do that they won't hold it against me. She replied and said that they would never hold such things against me :P, and invited me to the celebration at their house for my uncle.

    At the same time I called my father and talked to him about it. At the time he was most worried about my grandmas financial situation and wanted me to give her all the money because he wanted her taken care of. We tried to talk about it and he hung up on me. Later that evening he called me back, likely after talking with his wife who is much more reasonable and sides with my decision, and explained that if he was in my position he would give it to his mother, but he can appreciate how I plan to use the money and said he supported my decision.

    I felt very relived after talking with both my aunt and my father. I felt supported for the first time since learning about this money and things were good for the next couple weeks.

    A few days after the celebration I got a call from my dad that I described in this post, which was very in my face about this situation. He did a 180 and said that he never should have told me he supported my decision because it was the wrong move. He fully believes that I have no claim to the money and that 100% of it should go to my grandma. I tried hard to break free from this black and white perception he has on this money but we just ended up arguing with each other for 15 minutes until he told me "not to worry, don't have a panic attack" and hung up. I had a severe panic attack (didn't know that at the time, first one) which I was sent tot he hospital for a couple weeks earlier in ambulance.

    I will put this in an edit for others to see. I am sorry I did not conclude the earlier post. Ever since that panic attack I had I have been living in fear and on edge which is a whole different story all together, but I have not been on top of everything.

    submitted by /u/crispyfrybits
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    [PA] Cemetery refused to bury grandma in plot she owns unless we paid $25,0000

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 10:41 AM PST

    Grandma purchased 5 plots in the 1930s at a large cemetery that is owned by the local Catholic diocese. We still have the original deeds to each plot. Two of her children that died young were buried there in the 1940s.

    Grandma planned her whole life to be buried here, but when she took a turn for the worst and burial planning begun, the cemetery informed us that these plots were no longer valid. The reason being, "incomplete recordkeeping" on their part which didn't identify which plot the children were buried in (A, B, C, D, or E), but rather just that they were two burials in the family plot ("child burials were a dime a dozen in those days" according to the cemetery manager). The cemetery stated the only solution to reclaim the plots would be a ground penetrating radar survey of each plot, at a cost of $5,000 each (paid for by us) to identify which plots were used in the child burials. This was not resolved before grandma died, and she was buried in another plot in this cemetery, with the eventual plan being to work something out with the cemetery to get her moved to the site she purchased.

    Now, two years later, the cemetery has not budged at all and has cut off communication unless we agree to pay for the radar survey. Before making a deposit on a lawyer, I was hoping to find out if we have any legal standing to make the cemetery pay for the survey, since it was due to their poor recordkeeping that the plots became unusable.

    submitted by /u/oliveturtle
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    [UPDATE] Sister refused re-entry after spending time in Europe for a medical operation and rest

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 12:10 AM PST

    original thread : https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/82mwqo/sister_refused_reentry_after_spending_time_in/dvd4npr/?context=3

    Hello,

    Just an update for those of you who were kind enough to provide some help.

    As it turns out, the school hadn't renewed the student visa in time, even though they send numerous email saying they were eager to have my sister back this month. That didn't suffice for Border Control (which is logical) so she was sent to the deportation cells and was awaiting for a flight out of L.A. to Switzerland.

    Yes, the airline company should have checked the validity of her visa, because that would have been on their own dime to bring her back to Europe. But they didn't check that validity and send her on her merry way.

    When she landed in L.A. she had but 10 minutes before she was searched and everything before being sent to wait on a chair with a blanket for 12 hours.

    So here is the best part, while she was in the cell, the Director of the College, who was obviously aware of the situation, called Border Control and spent about 40 minutes on the phone with them and told them he was going to apply immediately for a new visa if that could help her getting out and avoid deportation. It worked.

    We are so glad we don't have to worry about waiting an extra month at least for her new visa. We are grateful to this community for providing help and also to the people at Border Control who clearly saw that the school messed up. They were very understanding, and we can't blame them for following the law.

    TL;DR All is good, Director renewed visa and sister was allowed on U.S soil. Hallelujah!

    submitted by /u/a_shootin_star
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    [CA] Husband got notice in mail for late rent, but hasn't lived with his parents for 8 years.

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 07:13 AM PST

    I'm on mobile, so I hope I can get this all out right.

    When my husband was 18 or so he was still with his parents and they moved into a townhome. He had to sign on because he was 18 even though he had no income or anything at the time.

    He moved out when he was 19 and hasn't lived there since. It's been eight years and his parents haven't been paying rent the last few months. My husband's brother got a notice in the mail for the both of them saying that rent is late.

    My husband is in the military and currently deployed, so he can't deal with this. I have to and I have his PoA. I've yet to call the company because they're in a different time zone and aren't open.

    I don't know what I'm doing. I just need help. Should I can the complex and explain my husband hasn't been there since he was 19? Should I email so that the communication is saved or should I just call? Should I go to Legal/JAG for advice? I can't even go immediately, because I would need to arrange childcare.

    I don't know what to do. How fucked do you guys think we are over this?

    Also, no I have not contacted his parents. They are toxic and JustNOs.

    submitted by /u/Hopnawr
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    [IL] who has to pay for the broken door?

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 08:51 AM PST

    Yesterday morning at around 8am, I woke up to the sound of several men entering my apartment. My roommate has been out of town for the week so I knew she wasn't letting them in. I locked my door and called 911. One of the men tried to open my bedroom door and pushed so hard that he cracked it. The cops showed up quickly, but broke the front door between the apartment building and the street in order to get to me.

    It turns out that the men in my apartment were a rental agent and prospective tenants. Management had not informed me or my roommate that they would be showing the apartment.

    For background, all the units in our building are identical, so the landlords have been showing ours as a model apartment because it is the cleanest. We were having tours every day, sometimes multiple times a day and sometimes with less than an hour's notice. We told our rental agency that they must give us 24 hours notice, as outlined by our lease, and that they cannot show our apartment outside of business hours. I guess they just decided to respond by not notifying us at all.

    The rental agency has agreed to pay for my broken bedroom door, but is insisting that I need to pay for the door to the building that the police broke. They are also threatening to evict us for "improper use of police resources" if I do not pay. We can't afford to be evicted; it is the middle of the school year and this rental agency owns almost all the affordable buildings in town.

    Tl;dr My landlord was showing my apartment without notice. I called the police because I thought someone had broken into my home. Who pays for the door that the police broke?

    submitted by /u/peachykeen5552
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    Pennsylvania – I am a land lord, a house I own suffered substantial damage due to the windstorm last week. I am set to move the family to a hotel or another house I own, all at my (my insurance’s) expense. Tenants are refusing to leave the property, and are demanding $5,000 for the "inconvenience."

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 01:08 PM PST

    Hey,

    I was told by my son that you all could help. He typed this out for me. I am in Pennsylvania. I am sitting next to him to answer questions.

    I am going to skip a lot of the details here, but suffice it to say that the home is almost uninhabitable, more than ¾ of the roof is gone (exposed wood at this point), almost all the vinyl siding is gone, the insulating foam and home wrapping is gone, and the deck and a few windows, and a sliding glass door was taken out by a large tree (owned by the HOA).

    There are weeks if not a couple of months of work required to get this place back to normal, and having occupants in there is just going to make it difficult.

    I informed my tenants on Monday that they had two options:

    1. I was going to make arrangements for them to stay at hotel for a short time so that I can get another house I own move-in ready. The house will be ready to move into on Tuesday next week. They can live out the life of their lease; I will pay their moving expenses. This house is about 400 sqft larger than the current house, and is nicer (upgraded appliances, granite counter tops, brand new carpet as of tomorrow)

    2. They can get out of their lease if they want to. We can mutually dissolve it right now. I will pay moving expenses too.

    They are refusing to make a decision, as in they have told me that they are under no circumstances leaving the house, and that because the house is now not as well insulated due to roofing, siding, and window damage I will be expected to cover the cost difference in the heating bill. They are staying put for the remaining 16 months on their lease. They then demanded through a text that they will consider moving if I also pay them $5,000. Not really sure where that number came from.

    I'm not sure how to proceed here. I've been a land lord for a number of years, this is my primary income and have never encountered this level of crazy before. I have contemplated calling the town code enforcement and making a complaint against myself as a way to get them out, but I am not sure if that will work.

    Do I really have to go through a full eviction process here?

    Help! I have a general contractor standing by to start work as soon as I snap my fingers.

    EDIT: Formatting

    submitted by /u/PaLandLord
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    [IN] My spouse had an affair, then left me with our two children and moved 1,500 miles away to start a new life. This was 6mo ago. Could I reasonably get full custody?

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 12:47 AM PST

    She has visited, and video chats about twice a week. She doesn't have a job or a car and lives in the other person's house. I provide everything for the kids and they live with me. We are still married, but I now have the money to file for divorce so that is forthcoming.

    She wants to take them for several weeks, but I am concerned that she does not provide them adequate care. She did not when she lived here (+16hrs in their bedroom, unchanged diapers, etc) I am also concerned that her neglect has lead to a potential delay in developement in my 3yo, who barely speaks any words. Is full custody a realistic option for me?

    edit: I feel that her choosing to leave a 14mo and a 2yo behind for a new lover is a clear indicator of where her priorities lie.

    edit 2: Thanks for the responses, everyone. My oldest has a pediatrician visit tomorrow, so we'll see what she has to say and whether he needs a specialist. He is very intelligent, loves building toys and watching videos on his tablet so it really is just the communication skills that seem to be behind. He's made decent progress with the work we've been doing with flashcards and books, but just isn't where he should be.

    I'm going to try and meet with an attorney next week for a consultation, I don't want to risk any more failure due to inaction on my part. I have a lot of guilt over the level of neglect they received in my absence. I was working 60-70 hours a week to support the family and erroneously assumed we were both doing our part. I work less now and spend every available moment with them now, hopefully it's not too late.

    I honestly don't want to completely shut her out of their lives, as she is at least technically their mother, but I can't risk their wellbeing simply on her word alone. I need something more concrete. Hopefully this approach is what's best for everyone and doesn't backfire on me.

    submitted by /u/derovh
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    My girlfriend's employer is claiming they haven't employed her for months.

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 05:47 AM PST

    Since last November, my girlfriend's employer, a restaurant, has been refusing to give her many hours - but what they would do, like clockwork, is call her up late at night to make her drive across town to lock a door. It would take her maybe a half an hour, all told. Per state law in our state (this is in America), she couldn't be paid for less than 2 hours of work, but they'd pay her less anyway - she was making minimum wage, which is $10.10 an hour, but they'd simply pay her $20 each time. The entire time, they were not giving her pay stubs, which is also illegal.

    Come tax season, we tried to insist on tax stubs, and still nothing, so we turned to our state department of labor. When the department demanded the employer hand over the stubs, the employer insisted she hadn't worked for them since November, so there were no stubs to provide. Now, the department of labor is insisting there's nothing they can do, and the employer will get away with both the lack of stubs and the lack of pay, even though her phone records will show a phone call from the employer 1-3 times a week every week since she was allegedly fired.

    Is there anything feasible we can do that isn't a lossy proposition? I'd love to get the relatively small amount of money her employer owes her, and the sweet, sweet revenge of making them face consequences, but I don't want to spend several times the amount of money we'd recover in the attempt.

    EDIT: Connecticut is the state.

    submitted by /u/quindraco
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    Landlord restricting all access to water/power meters; DWP charging max amount (Los Angeles, CA)

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 09:14 AM PST

    Hi all,

    I live in a multi-unit apartment complex in LA, and the landlord has padlocked access to the basement - which contains the water and power master meters. Because DWP can't check the meter, it's been charging myself and other households over $200 more than our typical bill. DWP also said that they would cut off water and electricity if it happened again - what are my rights here to force the landlord to remove the padlock/recover the cost overages?

    submitted by /u/hausinthehouse
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    I am the beneficiary of a 529 account. I have been accepted to my college of choice. I worry that my manipulative mother may threaten to or commit to taking my money for frivolous items. What can I do?

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 07:39 AM PST

    (NJ) Neighbor wants to purposely wake us up as revenge. What do?

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 10:21 AM PST

    Hi everyone, I live in a 2 bedroom condo with a roommate. My neighbors above have been having problems with my roommates dog barking late at night. I personally never have been woken up from them, and my roommmate said only a couple times he's been woken up from the dogs but no issues for months.

    I have contacted the property manager and she said we're fine because "dogs will be dogs". I have gone to the police and they also said there is a noise ordinance from 11pm to 7am but it doesn't apply to dogs and as long as they aren't barking for a consecutive 30 mins it's fine.

    Neighbor talked to me very calm and polite today and said he's gonna knock on our door every day at 5:30am to get them to bark and see "how we like it". This doesn't seem legal and not sure how to proceed.

    submitted by /u/magirific
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    [DC] My dog peed on his dog walker's shoe. If she decides to pursue it, will I be on the hook for paying for her shoes?

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 10:58 AM PST

    The Background

    I'm a grad student in Washington, DC, and I have a 9 month-old puppy. He's an 8lb toy poodle. During the day while I am in class (I'm gone from around 9:30am-3:30pm), I hired a woman who lives in my apartment building and works from home to come and play fetch with him for 1/2 hour each day (he hates walks, hence this alternative), and also to take him outside to pee. When I hired her, I asked her to play fetch with him for 25 minutes to give him a good workout, and take him outside to pee for 5 minutes.

    To put it lightly, my dog "walker" has been a nightmare:

    First, she charges me $18 for 1/2 hour of work. She insists that I pay her at the beginning of the week. Since she works from home, and since I'm a student, we talked about the fact that sometimes our schedules fluctuate. She might have to suddenly have a meeting, and one of my professors might cancel class out of the blue. Or either of us could get sick. Despite this understanding, when I need to cancel and don't give her enough notice, she insists that I still pay her.

    Second, she does not actually do her job. I have a dog camera (which I told her I would have and check in periodically, so no issues of consent), and every single day since I hired her, I have watched her. Most of the time, she comes, sits on my couch, looks at her phone 25 minutes, does not throw a toy for Strudel even ONCE, and then in the last 5 minutes takes him out to pee. This amounts to me paying her $18 for 5 minutes of work.

    Third, she comes at inconsistent times. When I hired her, in writing we agreed that she would come between 12:30 and 1pm every day. She does not. I would say maybe 60% of the time she comes at 1:30pm. 30% of the time she comes at 2pm. And 10% of the time she comes at 2:30pm. Since she only takes him out to pee in the last 5 minutes, this means that she is essentially worthless. As I said, I come home around 3:30 anyways, so if she's not taking him out to pee until 2:55, I really don't need her. I'm paying her for nothing.

    The point of all this background info is that I want to fire her. I have plans to fire her at the end of this week (since I already paid her for the full week).

    The Main Issue

    Yesterday when she came to "play" with Strudel, she came at 11am instead of 12:30 without first informing me or asking me. Strudel, per usual, was very excited to see her. She did not spend 1/2 hour with him like she was supposed to because she had to go to a business meeting.

    That afternoon, she sent me the following message:

    "Strudel peed on my shoe. I've noticed he's been peeing a little every time he jumps up on me when I come in. But this time he full on peed on my shoe, and I had a meeting after that, which was a bit uncomfy, so I tried to clean them as best as I could."

    Now, I know for a fact that he doesn't pee on her every time she comes in. First, he is equally excited every time I come in, and he has never, EVER done that to me or my roommate. Second, I watch her on my dog cam religiously, and she has never ever grabbed a paper towel to clean anything up, so I'm calling bullshit on that.

    However, I'm not denying that it's possible that he peed on her shoe this time. Since she came so early without telling me, I was not actually watching the dog camera at the time, and I cannot say either way whether something happened. All I know is that he's never done it to me or ANYONE else, but I acknowledge that there is a first time for everything.

    I'm concerned that, if I fire her, she will get upset and try to ask me for the cost of the shoes.

    Why am I so concerned about paying for a single pair of shoes? I know that she buys and owns very expensive designer shoes. We have an email listserv for our apartment building, and a few weeks ago she sent out several emails to the whole building trying to sell several pairs of designer heels. She also was trying to sell a pair of one-of-a-kind heels that some great-aunt actress of hers wore on the red carpet at some point, and selling such a sentimental thing indicates to me that she might be short on cash.

    So, my question is, if she decides to ask me for money for the shoes that Strudel peed on, am I legally obligated to do so? In DC, are owners responsible for any and all damage caused by their dog? Are there any exceptions for "normal" types of damages done to someone working as a dog carer (e.g. she took a job caring for a puppy, knowing that puppies pee uncontrollably sometimes, so she had notice that it might happen to her). Does it matter that she probably has contributed to my dog's pee problems by not coming consistently at the same time every day, like I hired her to do? (it is well proven that dogs thrive on consistency, and the best way to train a puppy is to take them out at specific intervals and not leave them too long without peeing)

    submitted by /u/dlv9
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    Mass, Landlord has given us a week to move out, no compensation, Is this legal?

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 05:46 AM PST

    On Tuesday, Feb 27, there was a small fire in our apartment building (no fault of our own, somebody living in the upstairs apartment left a cigarette burning), there was no injury by anybody in my apartment and not much of our property was damaged but there was damage to the ceiling in my bedroom. The landlord kept telling us that the place needed to dry out and we couldn't stay there for a week but didn't give us any information about repairs or anything.

    He told us we could move back in Monday, March 5, then on Wednesday, March 7 around 8am he burst through our door yelling at us that that rooms need to be cleared out and within a few minutes (it seemed like an on the spot decision) said we have a week to move out for good, no compensation of any type or help to find a new place, we are hoping to get our deposit back but we're not even sure of that anymore?

    Is any of this legal? I feel like there has to be some kind of tenet rights situation to prevent this from happening

    submitted by /u/caroline0
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    Can I get a restraining order against my dad?

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 09:14 AM PST

    A little back story: my step brother molested me when I was 11 and my father said I made it up because I "had a crush on him and he didn't like me back." He also is an addict, was not there for my sister and I and then let my sister get assaulted by the other son. He was never a good father, but he was my father. I have done EMDR, therapy, etc. and thought I moved on and attempted to repair my relationship with my father. It did not go well so I asked him to please leave me alone. He could not do this so I blocked his number and do not ever answer all the calls I get from the area he lives in.

    Now, he is harassing my husband on facebook to get to me. Recently he is attempting to get my husbands mother fired from her job. His long time girlfriend (and mother of my assailant) is now calling my husbands step father attempting to get her floors redone (my husband and his step father own a floor refinishing business) and when they respond she harasses them and says "oh you probably don't want to do it because of who I am" and trash talks me.

    This is putting a strain on my marriage, my emotions and I am so paranoid he's going to find where I live or work.

    -I am not "legally married" we did a civil union. - harassment orders are $300 where I am and that's just to get the process started.

    Please, any advice is helpful. I also plan to go to my local law library today.

    Edit: live in Minnesota, don't want to include too much more for fear of retaliation.

    submitted by /u/jrabit22
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    Can a school terminate you for being sick?

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 01:04 PM PST

    I am in a training program, like a vocational school... can they legally terminate me for missing passed their quota? They don't accept doctors notes

    Edit: Pennsylvania

    submitted by /u/neathandle
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    Being harassed by county clerk, any recourse?

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 10:47 AM PST

    My girlfriend has recently received a class C misdemeanor which she pled guilty to and chose to pay the associated fine.

    The clerk at the court has been continually emailing her, however, constantly changing her story (trying to add community service among other bullshit regardless of having solved this over email and phone multiple times) and just making us overall anxious.

    I have tried to find out if this person has a supervisor to no avail. We have figured out our legal processes and are paying on time and this clerk is still emailing about bullshit.

    Do I have any recourse other than ignoring this clerk?

    Thanks for any help.

    submitted by /u/Jufilup
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    Should I be worried when a parking ticket has my address on it, but someone else’s name?

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 04:17 AM PST

    So I got two parking tickets from my city's office in the mail yesterday. It has my exact address but someone's name whom I do not recognize. I couldn't talk to anyone yesterday because of the snow storm, but I emailed them.

    My concern is my address..how can someone fool them into a fake address? Should I be worried about my identity ??

    [ PENNSYLVANIA, USA ]

    EDIT1: I've been at this house for over 9 years, I know the previous owners name. I did not open the mail because it doesn't have my name on it. I'm positive this person is not related to this address unless he was here ages before me and the last tenant.

    submitted by /u/PM_ME_UR_TURBO
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    [Arkansas] Office mate was using a webcam to spy on me

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 10:41 AM PST

    I shared a small office with a colleague. She installed a webcam. Come to find out, she had set it up to take pictures whenever it sensed motion. I don't know exactly what my office mate's intentions were. I spoke with my supervisor about it, who replied that he became aware of it earlier that day. My office mate was forced to move out of the office. HR got involved. Their initial response was "What are the genders of both employees?" I'm a male. My office mate is female. According to my supervisor, HR said something along the lines of "Thank god" with regard to genders as if it'd be worse if a male had been recording a female employee.

    My supervisor put the ball in my court by asking what I thought the appropriate outcome should be, and I told my supervisor that he (and whoever else deals with this) should do whatever is appropriate. Basically, I felt that it wasn't my place to determine anyone's punishment. Long story short, they placed a "strongly worded letter" in her file and said if anything else were to happen again, she'd be gone. Now, I'm sitting here feeling like all of this just got swept under the rug. Had the roles been reversed, I would've been gone immediately. When I asked, my supervisor implied it would've been the case.

    These events took place about a year ago. I haven't done anything about it up to now because I'm worried that my position in the company might be at risk if I tried to make it a bigger deal. Legally speaking, is there anything I can/should do?

    submitted by /u/stbillings
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    [LA] My driveway is blocked for an hour, twice a day, every day of the work week...

    Posted: 07 Mar 2018 07:20 PM PST

    I live in Lafayette Parish in Louisiana. My driveway is blocked for an hour twice every workday (Monday - Friday), from 7-8am and 3-4pm. I live with my fiance and our 2yo son. Her parents (I'll just call them in-laws) own the property we live on. The property is situated on the corner of 2 streets and directly across from the front of the house is a public middle school. The driveway is on the side street and leads behind the house. This side street is turned into a 2 lane one-way (usually it's a regular 2 lane road) during the times noted above, so that parents may line up to drop-off / pick-up their kids. The house was vacant when this decision was made and so no complaints were ever raised. We moved in summer of 2017 and were quite aggravated by this situation. Luckily it has not affected our day-to-day lives in any noticeable way, other than the general aggravation of having limited use of my driveway.

    My real complaint arises when recently the walking guard (a civilian and not a police officer) raised hell about my father-in-law leaving the property as the school line was starting to build up. We were setting up on Friday afternoon for a gathering the next day. One lane of traffic was starting to build, but the lane closest to our driveway only had one car. My father-in-law asked that car to move (to which they kindly obliged) and as he starts to pull out onto the main road, the walking guard starts yelling at him about how he can't make ppl move so he can leave, and how the guard doesn't care if he is the landowner or not, and yada yada. My father-in-law payed him no mind and drove off. Keep in mind, when school lets out, there is a police officer present, but he was not there at this time.

    So my question is, can they (meaning the police dept. who apparently made the decision to turn the road into a 2 lane one-way) legally block my driveway for 2 hours a day like this? And if so, what kind of remedies do I have in a situation where the walking guard (or anyone for that matter) is preventing me from leaving my house? I'm pretty sure they would assist me in an emergency situation, so more specifically, can they prevent me from leaving my house in a non-emergency situation?

    edit: grammar

    Edit2: I think I should clarify a couple things. First, I'm not necessarily looking for advice on a course of action, but more so just curious as to whether all this is legal. Second, the crossing guard in question did come apologize. He is not my concern and should be easily dealt with if it comes to that. He is just an old man who apparently realty gets a kick out of the little power he gets twice a day. I have included his story as an example of what we experience and bc it motivated me to find out if all this is legal or not. Third, the police department has made it clear they do not intend to change the current setup. So it is not in my interest to bug them about it or seek any kind of remedy from them.

    Admittedly, this has never happened before this week, but the school line is now affecting my utilities. My trash should have been picked up Monday. It is still sitting outside my house. Every house in the neighborhood had their trash picked up except the 4 houses that are affected by the school line. So I can only assume that is why my trash wasn't picked up

    submitted by /u/Nookie-_-Monster
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    My girlfriend has a dangerous stalking ex. I don't know what to do.

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 10:42 AM PST

    My girlfriends ex boyfriend was very abusive to her. They've been broken up for awhile but I learned that he stalks her and has even sexually assaulted her. He sends her threatening texts and stands around her car at work. When he sees she's home alone he harasses her and bangs on her door. She's terrified to go to the police because he threatened to kill her. Our relationship is long distant and i don't know what I can do from a state away. What can I tell her? What can we do to keep this guy away? Please help us.

    EDIT: I'm in Indiana and she's in Pennsylvania

    EDIT EDIT: She's agreed to go to the police but she's nervous it will backfire on her because he has pictures and videos of her she doesn't want people to see. And she's scared she won't have enough evidence for them to do anything. And she's scared if he finds out she went to them he'll hurt her.

    submitted by /u/YoungdaddyJ
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    Grandparents (my in-laws) have decided to sue their son and I for visitation with our children

    Posted: 08 Mar 2018 08:57 AM PST

    America: Ever since my baby was 1 year and 1 week, my spouse's parents swooped in and effectively broke us up by selling the place they provided for us during college when he graduated, kicking me out, taking me to court after his mom and him assaulted a 20 something week along pregnant me over trying to take my first born back with them 2 hours away all in the same day. I ignorantly fled and they filed all these false statements to the courts to get a tro and went to my parents house the next day to "legally" take our son with him as he was granted temporary custody after attacking me, I had no contact with my son for 3 weeks, until the court date. The judgment was joint custody, me being the custodial parent and him biweekly visitation. This visitation was inappropriate for an infant, and the father due to working left our child in the care of an uncle, his mother and father during these short visits, and he would come back lethargic and acting out, hitting his newborn brother and being aggressive, a complete 180 in his temperment. When I began to be included in the visitations since I realized I needed to be present, I realized where the aggressive behavior was coming from: an uncle (s/o half-bro) who is in his 30s would aggressively poke and tickle and rough house my baby regularly, until I put an obvious and unwelcome stop to that behavior. Also, After his parents went on their month long vacation a month later, we started seeing each other again, much to their dismay, and they threatened to call the police on us! We love each other but were literally ripped apart. We devised a plan to get back together, and we did. Ever since then, we have played nice with his parents and have seen them often, more often than we had preferred, and when we cancelled, all hell broke loose. Fast forward to last year, and some concerning behavior took place between my first born and the grandfather at a restaurant in which my son licked his arm and then the gf looked up at me sheepishly to see if I saw it and then when I said that it was inappropriate behavior, why look at me rather than correct the behavior, red flags went up, again. When they came back from vacation, on Labor Day, my spouse and I had a meeting and asked his mother to babysit. The gf also had a work thing scheduled but instead stayed at least an hour with the gm watching the kids. They always insist on them getting in the pool and if it's too cold, the hot tub. My son the next day told me his gf touched him when he was laying on the couch watching a certain t.v. program. I flipped out and confronted this person who was at work, and then all hell broke loose again. Because I asked him to get a lie detector test and until then no contact with my kids, they have been harassing us telling my spouse he is spineless to listen to my request, and to bring the kids over without my knowing. He's done this twice. Now they have filed a grandparents visitation order against us, and illegally served my spouse: his father handed him a copy of what they filed and a print out of how to respond...

    My question is, would it be appropriate to sue them before we get served on civil harassment and abuse of process? Do we go to the mediation and there work to deny the claim, even if this claim should be tossed out?

    submitted by /u/ZephyrStormbringer
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