Legal Advice - 2019 Best of BoLA |
- 2019 Best of BoLA
- Shot my stalker in the chest 5 years ago in self defense. He immediately started harassing me again a few days after being released from parole supervision.
- My mother's house has been stolen.
- Chase Bank ATM ate a $2,000 cash deposit. Now Chase has denied my claim.
- A debt collector just sent me 100% doctored "evidence" that I owe a debt..
- Old Home Owner Keeps Threatening Legal Action of Theft That Never Occurred
- Apartment changed name on Google to ditch negative reviews. TX
- [CA] Signed apartment lease but never moved in. Trying to find new tenant, just discovered landlord has been letting his workers live there
- My dad tightens my braces himself, and refuses to go to the orthodontist. What should I do?
- Botched epidural failed during c-section, experienced anesthesia awareness, separated from my baby for days- now I’m traumatized
- [United States] My former university suspended me over a false rape allegation and the Department of Education is investigating them over it. DOE recently offered to mediate a solution between myself and the university and I want to be fully prepared.
- My boyfriend just beat me up. How do I make sure he says the hell away from me?
- I was a victim of a cult and so were my friends. (Crimes below listed.) Questions are below.
- Can I get in trouble for taking my neighbor’s 7 year old daughter to school after she was left home alone?
- Update: I gave my friend POA and now I want it back but he’s making it difficult
- Ex girlfriend broke into my apartment and took my laptop / unauthorized access to my Facebook / mail without my permission. I have stopped all communication with her / friends.
- I Was Fired for Having a Second Child
- My company partner copyrighted a project I was working on without my consent. Now he's forcing me to share revenue or else be taken to court
- Failed a drug test due to amphetamines, I have a prescription. How long are prescriptions valid after you get them filled?
- Previous landlord charged/ took rent out of my bank account, I do not have a current lease with the property
- Am I allowed to peacefully protest on the public sidewalk/street outside someones house?
- Got bit by a rat and admitted to hospital a day later. I can literally watch the infection spread and I have received nothing but questionable and atrocious service. The streaking has now reached my chest and I have not been given IV antibiotics for several hours.
- Grandma died, executor/trustee being a jerk
- Can I be evicted for coughing?
- City accidentally destroyed my lawn, turned off my water, and cut my cable line with no explanation or warning.
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 01:00 PM PST Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to the Third Annual Best of Best of Legal Advice Awards. I will be your host, because well, no one else was willing to do it and this is way to important to trust to the rooks! It's been another great year for both BoLA and LegalAdvice. When I wrote last years introduction we had 324,582 subscribers, today that number is 405,372. We have also added a number of new moderators. LegalAdvice has also continued to grow, starting the year with around 670k subscribers and just recently hitting the 1 million subscriber mark. Now that I have that out of the way, onto the nominations:. This year we will again have 10 categories that need nominations. Each category will have its own post for nominations in r/BoBoLA. The nomination posts will contain additional information about what we are seeking in each post. To make it to the final ballot all nominations will require a second, to second a nomination simply post a comment on the top level nomination saying "second" or whatever other cute language you clever devils come up with, just make sure we know you are really supporting the nomination. You are welcome to nominate your own content and so long as you get a second you will get to the final ballots. The nomination posts will remain open until 10PM Eastern December 21st, shortly thereafter we will put up the voting polls and run those through December 29th at 10PM. We reserve the right to hand out flair or whatever other cool awards we come up with for the winners and the folks who nominate the winners. Also, with regards to the winners, let us know if you want us to try and do something fun and somehow live broadcast the winners, I'm not saying we will, I'm just saying we might if you nerds ask. Without further ado, our categories: Prima BoLArina - The best BoLA poster Understudy Prima BoLArina - The best BoLA commenter The Tenebralupo Memorial Award - For the best BoLA title The Special Delivery Award - For the best update of the year The Vinny Van Gogh Award - For the best MS Paint drawing The Trickle Truth Award - For when OP really buried the lede Gold Fringe Award - For the craziest/strangest/most delusional REAL LAOP (note, in an effort to cut down on trolls we have been getting more aggressive about cutting off suspected trolls, so even if we didn't kill the post before, we reserve the right to void nominations if we think its a troll) All Star Parents - For the actual best parent (either an OP or parent discussed by an OP) [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 06:01 AM PST Throwaway because the stalker comments on pretty much every post I make on my main account. I even got flagged for karma manipulation for having a "friend" comment on my post. He's not my friend. Anyway, 5 years ago I was stalked for six months by a guy I knew less than a month as an actual person. We dated very briefly, I broke things off and things seemed amicable until he started showing up outside my house and demanding I be with him or else. He had decided that he was a good man and he deserved a chance. He threatened that if he didn't get a chance, he'd kill me or hopefully Id kill myself. After 6 months of daily threats, 10+ police reports, multiple restraining order attempts, moving, getting rid of all social media, he found me and kicked my door in at midnight. I ended up shooting him, after a lot of games on his part(refusing to come to court, self imposed starvation) he was finally sentenced and went to jail for 5 years. I guess he was on parole for about 4 months after his release because I immediately started receiving messages and comments from him, he just picked right back up where he left off. I contacted the parole board and they said he was released from supervision a few days before. I have contacted the police, was approved for a restraining order but of course they haven't been able to serve it. They said they can't prove the messages are from him despite him using his name, posting his pictures and literally commenting my name and talking about the shooting in comment replies. The detective is waiting for a subpoena from reddit to prove it's him. I am documenting every bit of harassment of course..but I am just...exhausted. I am so incredibly frustrated with the lack of help available and closed doors there are for people being stalked. Is there anything else I can do in the mean time? [link] [comments] |
| My mother's house has been stolen. Posted: 09 Dec 2019 06:33 AM PST My elderly mother owns a house and lives in TX. The property has been paid off with no mortgage, the title is in her name free and clear. The taxes were just paid last month and have never been behind. Saturday she got a letter in the mail from the county clerk's office to notify her that this property has been sold to another person. The property was never for sale to begin with. How does this even happen? She received no money. I am going to the county clerk's office today to try and clear this up. I am also going to move into the house in case this fraudulent owner attempts to move in and I al going to get an attorney. Has anyone ever heard of this happening and what are some of the other steps I can take to help my mother get her house back. Her name is in the deed so I have no idea how a house can even be sold without that. [link] [comments] |
| Chase Bank ATM ate a $2,000 cash deposit. Now Chase has denied my claim. Posted: 09 Dec 2019 12:32 PM PST [edit: almost resolved - leaving post up as a lesson not to deposit cash into an ATM] Against my better judgement, I made a $2,000 cash deposit at a Chase branch ATM on Friday. The ATM got stuck and spit out a receipt that said 'call this number to make sure your deposit went through' and then shut itself off saying it was 'out of service'. I immediately went into the branch and spoke with a rep who said all I could do is file a claim with the number on the receipt. I brought her over to the ATM to show her that you could in fact see a portion of the bills stuck under the door, and that they were still in there. She acknowledged that she could also see a portion of a bill. I expressed concern that someone might try to grab a corner of the bill and pull it out and she said 'not to worry about it'. I filed a claim immediately after that on Friday, and today I called to follow up and they said the claim has been denied and they are not going to credit me the funds. They requested a faxed copy of the receipt (which I had provided all the info on it to them over the phone) and said that the next steps might be to contact the police. If they were to review security footage they would see all of this on camera, possibly including whoever serviced the ATM pulling 2k out of the deposit area. I'm worried if this draws out too long that security footage might not be available. Should I go to the police now, or should I try to continue to resolve this through Chase? Edit: location bot reminded me to include location, which is California. Double edit: After 6 calls to the bank I was able to get through to the agent who helped me on Friday. She said they found $1980 stuck in the ATM later that day and that one of the bills had 'wrinkled' which caused it to jam. So now my claim is just for the $20 that the ATM decided to eat. Pfew. [link] [comments] |
| A debt collector just sent me 100% doctored "evidence" that I owe a debt.. Posted: 09 Dec 2019 05:39 PM PST In 2015, someone opened a card fraudulently in my name. I disputed it several times and it was removed.. then a new company bought the debt and I most recently disputed again with a police report. The debt collectors response was to send me a doctored credit card statement going to an address that I didn't live at at the time, nor did the credit company even have on file.. because it was a previous address. The original credit card company says the account was opened in February of 2015, and the debt collectors paperwork says the account was opened in October of 2014.. I have tons of evidence that I did not live at the address the debt collectors are claiming I did at the time of the statement.. what steps should I take from here? Do I file in court? Contact the credit companies? I am in New Mexico. [link] [comments] |
| Old Home Owner Keeps Threatening Legal Action of Theft That Never Occurred Posted: 09 Dec 2019 11:07 AM PST We purchased a home a few months ago from the most irritating people I've ever dealt with. For whatever reason they've still been getting their mail forwarded to us to this day. Situation: They claim to have had packages sent over to our house (by mistake) and have recipes that show the package was delivered to our house. Doesn't show the address though. They are threatening legal action through our realtors (theirs communicating with ours) They started by sending the neighbor over to get packages. Then had their realtor call our realtor and threatened us with legal action. We've never received this package they're looking for. I've received several of their mail and one other package (not the one they're looking for). This package could have been stolen or delivered to the wrong house (which is possible as I already got one of my own packages sent to the wrong house in the few months I've lived here.) How do I get him to leave us alone and stop threatening us? If I eventually do get this package, how is this not going to make me throw it in the garbage lol? Does he have any legal ground? Do I have legal ground to tell him to leave me alone? He's claiming the neighbors visually saw us take our package in. Which is a weird bluff since we get packages sent to us all the time. Its holiday season and we only shop on amazon like true Americans /s. EDIT: Thank you all for your replies and help. I am truly grateful for it. Taking time to offer your advise and thoughts mean a lot to me. [link] [comments] |
| Apartment changed name on Google to ditch negative reviews. TX Posted: 09 Dec 2019 02:30 PM PST Posting for a relative. TX. My relative lives in an apartment with her two toddlers. A couple of days ago apartment management tried to enter her apartment while she was home with her children, with no warning or no knock. They have a large window beside the door and the TV which is beside the door was on so it was apparently obvious to anybody at the door that people were home. Since looking online, she's discovered that the complex originally had a Google review listing with a 2 star rating and a lot of bad comments. The apartment seemingly changed the name on the listing to something generic ('Texas Drive'), before making a new, fresh account under the complex's name which now has only 1, good review, which was also posted on the 'Texas Drive' listing (posted by someone who turned out to be a leasing agent, unsure if that could be relevant somehow). The negative reviews under 'Texas Drive' state the apartment complex by name, which is proof that this listing was originally under the apartment's name. My relative was hoping to break her lease over the attempted entry into her apartment, but apartment management are not cooperating with that request and are refusing to speak with her. Is the fact that the complex intentionally hid reviews, meaning my relative never knew of these poor reviews and moved in under false pretenses of it being a good place to live, any kind of ground for breaking the lease? Thanks. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 09:48 AM PST I rented an apartment in California, but shortly after signing the lease and paying a deposit my situation changed, and I unfortunately had to move elsewhere. I hadn't moved anything in by this point (it was a couple of days after I had signed), so I notified the landlord. He stated that I would have to find someone to take over the lease (ok fine, that's California law and I had already signed it, regardless of the fact I hadn't moved in). He reposted it on a few sites, and so did I. Unfortunately, while there were many applicants around the time I was looking, it seemed that now nobody was interested (this was at the beginning of October). I kept reposting it and sending traffic his way (I gave him one set of keys and gave him permission to go in to show people around as necessary), occasionally asking him for updates, but still no takers. It's now December and I've been paying rent without living in this place for over two months now. I understand fewer people will be moving around the holidays, but...this is where things to a bit of a turn. This weekend I reposted it, adding my details, and someone reached out wanting to take a look. I was in the area and still had keys, so decided to show them around myself. I arrived a few minutes beforehand, and when I went inside I was sure that I was somehow in the wrong apartment. The place was absolutely spotless when I last saw it (beginning of October) - it had been cleaned ready for move in, and I had gone over it myself pretty thoroughly. Now, it was full of work tools, random trash, personal items, food, etc, and it was pretty clear that people had been sleeping there: an air bed in each room, dirty laundry, expired food in the fridge, dirty plates/cutlery, water stains in the shower, diarrhea/piss/pubes in the toilets, and more. Somehow I was able to quickly regain my composure before the potential tenant arrived, and did my best to explain away the situation as "the landlord coming in to do extra work, but it will be deep cleaned before you move in", but I could tell she was put off by it. Given the state it was in when I arrived, I can honestly say that it would have put me off renting if I were viewing it for the first time. I have no idea when all this happened, but it always struck me as strange that so many people were interested before I moved in (he apparently had three applicants the day I saw it - I spotted at least one couple arrive right when I left), but as soon as it came to finding new tenants suddenly nobody was interested (2-3 times when I asked for updates on viewings he said that someone came round to look at it, but didn't apply). When I first had to move I was disappointed but understood that he didn't have to void the lease, and initially thought he was being accommodating enough by posting it back online. However over the past few weeks he has been less responsive to my emails, and having seen the state of the place today I can't help but feel like he's taking advantage of the situation - bringing in thousands each month for an empty place, while also using it to store a bunch of crap and let his workers live there. I guess I just want to get an outsider's perspective on this because I have no idea what to do next - should I confront my landlord about it, consult a lawyer, demand he clean it, or just try to stay on his good side and keep trying to find a replacement tenant to get rid of this money pit ASAP? [link] [comments] |
| My dad tightens my braces himself, and refuses to go to the orthodontist. What should I do? Posted: 09 Dec 2019 09:03 PM PST State is Washington. I am 13. My dad read one book on orthodontics and thinks he's an orthodontist now. So he's been tightening my braces himself and refusing to go to the orthodontist to save money. He tightens then extra-hard because he thinks I'll be done with treatment faster that way. As a result, my braces always hurt. A lot. And my teeth are probably moving in the wrong direction, prolonging treatment and making everything worse. What should I do? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 08:31 PM PST Okay. 7 months ago, in Oregon, I gave birth to my son. I was diagnosed with preeclampsia and therefore was induced at 37 weeks. When I received my epidural, the technician seemed like he didn't know wtf he was doing. He put it in incorrectly, and a more experienced person had to come in and redo it. I didn't think much of it, but shortly after while I was laying there, I felt a weird feeling in my upper spine area near my neck. I mentioned this to my nurses multiple times, and they didn't seem to think it was an issue. I had never given birth before, so I just assumed it was part of the experience. Fast forward a bit. It's 2 am, I'm about two days into my induction and I'm slowly starting to dilate. I'm feeling okay and confident with everything. I'm having contractions fairly close together. I'm hooked up to medication that is helping regulate my blood pressure, and I'm starting to fall asleep. Then suddenly a new doctor comes on and tells me I need to immediately have a c-section...but specifically stated it wasn't an emergency? But that I NEEDED to sign this paper immediately. I don't even really have a chance to look it over much but I signed it and within like 2 minutes I'm on an operating table. For supposedly not being an emergency, they sure made it feel that way by saying it was dangerous for my baby not to ...they didn't give me time or information to make a truly informed decision. They start the procedure and obviously I'm awake, as is standard for c-sections. I feel the normal tugging sensation which is uncomfortable and anxiety inducing but no pain...and then suddenly I start to feel pain. I'm screaming and freaking out. They decide to put me under to finish the procedure. Except I didn't completely go under. I went under for long enough for them to put the tube in my throat, but next thing I know I am completely aware of what is happening and worse, I cannot breathe. I spent the entire rest of my procedure fully aware, paralyzed, feeling and hearing everything while in the dark, and I literally thought I was suffocating to death and couldn't tell anyone around me. I was absolutely sure I was dying and leaving my new son without a mom. As soon as I was coherent I was absolutely hysterical. The staff was extremely uncomfortable and absolutely refused to speak to me about what had happened to me. They told me that I just needed to be in the recovery area for a short period of time and then they'd take me to my baby. They told me that I should try to sleep so the time would go faster...more and more time past the original point I was supposed to seen my son was going by. Finally 3 agonizing HOURS past the time I was supposed to see my son, they tell me I won't be seeing him because he is in the NICU due to labored breathing. To make a long story shorter - I went nearly 3 days without seeing my baby. I was an emotional mess the entire time. Couldn't eat, sleep, still dealing with the trauma of my anesthesia awareness...they told me they had a camera they would hook up to him so I could see him to ease my emotional pain and severe anxiety - that NEVER happened. I only saw him as soon as I did because multiple nurses finally came to my aid and made it happen. When I finally was put into a wheelchair and taken to the NICU THREE. DAYS. after giving birth, I was told by multiple nurses that they were really upset with my situation. The reason they kept me from my son for that many days was actually because they didn't want to wheel me up the steep incline it took to get from the maternity ward to the NICU. Literally laziness. They also told me my c-section was unnecessary. I was put through this to make my room available... Now I am struggling with PTSD. I have reoccurring night terrors, I struggle with suicidal ideation, extreme anger and sadness. I have severe separation anxiety from my son. I'm lucky to have a job where he can come with me at the moment, but that won't last forever and barely gets me by financially. I lost a fairly well paying job and my stability because of this. I don't know how I will ever work a normal job and have him in daycare unless I get help I desperately need, by someone who specializes in this kind of trauma. I don't really know where to go from here. I feel like someone is responsible for this, but I don't know if I have any sort of legal standing. I really just want them to take responsibility to at least get me some help. I am at my breaking point and feel like the only way I can really resolve this is to find everything out that I can. I just don't know where to start. I'm sorry if there is holes in this as it is really difficult for me to get it all written out. I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 11:49 AM PST I am not disclosing my specific location because I don't think it's necessary and it may put me at risk of exposing my identity. I would like to remain anonymous. I will edit with a more specific location if asked to do so, but since I am dealing with the United States federal government and their laws--which I believe would be applied the same no matter what state I am in--I don't think a state location is necessary. The accusation happened three years ago and the suspension was handed down two years ago after a lengthy Title IX investigation and a conduct hearing. I transferred to a different university and am about to finish my undergraduate studies. The US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation against my former university about a year ago at my request over the handling of my case. The remedies I sought were as follows:
I am torn about whether to go into mediation because I don't know what I can realistically ask for. However, I suspect both of the above demands wouldn't do much good at this point because
So I guess I'm making this post because I want to know what I could realistically expect from this process. I am allowed to decline any offers and terminate the mediation process whenever I would like. However, I can't afford a lawyer, and my former university has a massive legal team that I'm sure knows the law regarding this stuff inside and out. I just don't want to get screwed out of getting the remedies I seek. Could I, for example, have the university write a letter to the graduate programs I'm applying to saying that I've been cleared of wrongdoing and my disciplinary record is clean? Could I implore them to hire additional Title IX personnel and make other improvements to the process? What are they likely to ask of me? I'm not sure I expect anyone on this sub to know, but I figured I would ask. The few free legal clinics in my area seem to center mostly on local and state matters, not federal ones. TLDR: what does the US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights' mediation process for complaints look like and what can I realistically ask for as a complainant? [link] [comments] |
| My boyfriend just beat me up. How do I make sure he says the hell away from me? Posted: 09 Dec 2019 12:54 AM PST My boyfriend punched me in the face when I tried to break up with him. Now I'm in urgent care getting looked at. How do i make sure he keeps the fuck away from me because I am fucking done with him. *Edit:Am from Alabama. i am done with this shit. [link] [comments] |
| I was a victim of a cult and so were my friends. (Crimes below listed.) Questions are below. Posted: 09 Dec 2019 07:26 PM PST Me and my friends are survivors of a small cult. The leader has committed many crimes both online and in person. He has:
The physical crimes took place in Georgia, however many of the online crimes had victims placed all over the US and even other continents. The current evidence we have isn't much. We have photo evidence that him and the woman met in real life. She has his address, social media, and we know his full legal name and age. I told my therapist the whole story, and he filed a CPS report against him to authorities in Georgia. He also gave me papers on lawyers I could call. What is the reccomended course of action? He's been reported to authorities. My therapist said that law enforcement may contact me to get a testimony, and that I could remain anonymous. Is there anything else we should do in the mean time? Can he get arrested? If so, what is the likely hood of him getting imprisoned? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 08:12 AM PST This morning I ran out to my car and saw my neighbor in the parking lot with her 8 year old son in the back seat. She waved to me like all was normal, heading to school, but I did notice her daughter wasn't with them. I got back inside and I hear my neighbor's daughter, a 7 year old in 2nd grade, screaming crying to the point of hyperventilating. I heard her scream "Don't leave me!" Maybe 10 mins later I hear a slight knock followed by aggressive pounding on my door. I open the door to find the little girl fighting to breath through her tears. I asked her what happened and she told me "I was whining and crying so my mom left me." I didn't know what to do, so I asked "Do you need a ride to school?" She said yes, so I took her to school. I didn't know what else to do. I grabbed a paper towel and a marker and left a note that said "Took (daughter's name) to school. - (My name) next door". When I got back, the note was gone, but the mother hasn't been back since. I did knock on her door twice, but no answer. I told my sister what happened and she said I could get in trouble for taking the girl school. I want to report the mother, but I don't want to end up in trouble myself either with like a kidnapping charge or something. Two things to note: 1. I just met the mother for the first time in the hallway on Thanksgiving. We chatted for about 10 min. I've never met the kids before. I waved to the little girl once from across the parking lot, last Friday, and told her I was her neighbor. It was our first and only interaction. She doesn't know me at all. I'm a complete stranger. Not someone she does/should feel safe to knock on their door.
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| Update: I gave my friend POA and now I want it back but he’s making it difficult Posted: 09 Dec 2019 12:38 PM PST I was hanging out with my friend at a party this weekend where he was talking about his law school applications and I remembered this post and thought I should do an update. About a week after my original post I talked with my friend and said I appreciated all his help but it was getting to be a hassle and I'd prefer to manage my own stuff from here on out. He was disappointed but understood. All in all it was a mixed experience. There were some positives: he was more aggressive negotiating with the mechanic than I would have liked but in the end the mechanic knocked $200 off the bill. Also, I've come around to like the credit card he opened for me. I'm going to be able to use the points to get a free flight home next semester. There were some negatives too. He discovered that two of the classes I needed to graduate were being offered at the near by community college this semester so he signed me up to try and save me some money. But when he requested that my current school send transcripts to the community college, that almost made me lose a scholarship with my actual school. I had to basically beg and plead with the financial aid office but in the end it all worked out. Also, that girl I liked who found out I'm on anti-depressants tried to cause some drama in our friend group about me. But I'm over it now. People were pretty critical in the previous post and kept saying I was being scammed but that's not at all what happened. He just needed some experience to put on his applications. Also, lots of people said this wouldn't help with law schools but I'm not pre-law so I don't know one way or another. I signed a letter of reference for him because I'm not going to stand in the way of his dreams and on the whole, he helped by being my power of attorney. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 11:27 AM PST I am from Texas, my ex girlfriend drove me to the airport on December 6 3amish, and insisted on just giving her my apartment keys (front door and room, since I share with 3 other people) to hold on to. Later that night she entered my apartment and took my laptop from my room. She said at first she did not take it and admitted it over phone later on she also went into my Facebook and bumble. She did this because she was jealous of assuming I was talking to girls / nosy. Since I am still out of the country till December 15 I cant do much till I get back. She ended up returning it to my apartment leasing office since I have video proof, email proof, and Text proof of her saying she took it. I told her I was going to press charges since she blocked me. I want to report and press charges for this, i know I made a mistake but we are all human. I never gave her permission to enter and steal my laptop My question is there:
TDLR: ex drove me to airport, she held on to my apartment keys since I'm going out of the country. She went into my apartment and took my laptop without my permission / hacked my computer. What can to press charges or can i? [link] [comments] |
| I Was Fired for Having a Second Child Posted: 09 Dec 2019 02:40 PM PST It was a good job, and most of the time I was damn good at it. Travelling enterprise-style sales. Things had slowed down for me when I reached the end of my pregnancy and in the weeks after my son was born, but when I was able to start hitting the trails again I began doing it full blast to make up for lost time. When I was fired it was sudden and without warning and while I suspected that it was because my second child made them worried for my future abilities I had no proof. Until now. Two years have passed and my coworker in the corporate circle no longer works for the company. She said she was afraid of losing her job, but now she has no job to lose and told me that before I was fired she'd received an email from my boss where he said that they were looking to replace me because having a second kid made them concerned I wouldn't be able to travel as much. She recognized that as wrong and escalated it to her boss to no avail. In the end the owner of the company had an exit interview with me and personally told me that the decision was irreversible. Do I have a case? How do I find a lawyer? I have little money (never recovered from the loss of this job) what can I do to get justice? Seattle, WA (Company based out of Denver, CO and I worked remotely) [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 05:21 AM PST This is a case of copyright theft. Please help me in assessing the situation. TLDR; My partner is threatening me to go to court, because I wanted to end our partnership and continue developing the project I started. He tells me I no longer own it; the company we established does. But I never agreed to give away my ownership of the project.Update #1: He's now planning to continue developing the game without me. What can I do about it? I'm an indie game dev. Around 2 years ago, my brother and I decided to form our own studio. Our first project was going to be a game I've been working on for 5 years. Months later, I go to one programmer I know and ask him to help me finish my game. I tell him it's a paid job, he tells me it's not necessary. We verbally agreed he's in. We both trust each other. We both knew I should compensate him -later on- for his time and effort. Yet nothing is written down. Fast forward, the programmer tells me he should either be just an employee ("My salary will cost you a lot". He said), or become a studio partner, in which case I won't have to compensate him until the game is out. I chose Option No. 2 because I'm broke and wanted help (I still am). He then tells me we should form a company in Canada (he lives there. I don't). I tell him no, we should focus on the game. He insists, tells me about how beneficial it is. I insist back, and tell him it's not the time for it ("Even if we decided to, it's not gonna be in Canada." - I said). We were exchanging arguments back and forth. I wasn't sure if I wanted this. One moment I tell myself he's right, the next I say heck no, I don't want to get myself into this. I knew nothing of how companies function. Fast forward again, I receive a call telling me the company is formed and it's in Canada. I convince myself it's for the best and tells the programmer how thankful and excited I am (a classic case of stupid younger self). The company (having the same name as the studio I made) has 4 directors: - Myself (promised, but not officially registered). I'm told I'm the largest shareholder. - The Programmer. He's the largest capital investor (no idea what it means) - My brother (promised, but not officially registered). - A Canadian guy (friends with Programmer) whom I've never known before now. Programmer tells me he's a Corporate Officer. Programmer tells me the reason both my brother and I are not registered directors is because the Canadian government wouldn't prefer to have a startup consisting 50% of foreigners within months from its inception. Now what about the game? In a state of hibernation. The programmer promised to do everything and delivered nothing. Constant delays and failed promises. He does things I have not requested, and procrastinate on things I desperately need ("Sorry but I can get easily distracted." - He kept on saying). He would regularly send me voice notes apologizing for his neglect. One day he came rushing to me. Someone made a Twitter account with the game's title. I told him it's nothing, we shouldn't worry about it. The next minute he comes back to me with a screenshot: The game is copyrighted and the company is the owner, with both of us as authors. I asked: "What does author mean? "Author doesn't matter. Owner is the important thing." He answered. I was too ignorant to understand what all of this meant. Oftentimes, he would (with confidence) tell me a tool he made is complete and then turns out it's either incomplete or he would simply not send it (because he needs to setup all base systems at once - something I didn't request). To be fair, he recently shared a video of what seems to be a working version of a tool I requested. Almost two years and the game folder I have contains nothing but the assets, code, art, audio and systems that I've created. It's like as if no one joined the team. And when I mention this fact to him, he says he has his own folder as well, a folder that contains all of his work. I decide enough is enough. I quit. I care for no company (I'm still not an official director anyways), I'll continue developing the game myself. I told Programmer I'll pay him all the money he lost on the game + I'll compensate him for all the work he's done upon my request (subject to completion). To evaluate his work value, we will present the tools to 4 programmers and have them estimate the cost, I'll then pay him the average of that. I also told him he'll have no revenue share from the game, because it's my game and I'm out with it. He says I can quit if I want, but I can't take the game with me, since the "company" owns it. Turns out, as I explained earlier, Programmer copyrighted the game and made the company as the owner. I told him he has no right to do this. I did not accept (neither verbally nor by writing) to give away my ownership of the game to the company. He told me if I want him out, I should give him 30% of gross revenue, and pay him back every dollar he spent on anything related to the game. I obviously rejected his offer. Now he's threatening me to take it to court. Two days ago, he offered to buy me out of development. He wants to pay me money to discontinue working on the game. I haven't replied yet. How serious do you think the situation is? Am I unfair to him? Does the company have rights to the game? Can I continue working on it? Is my silent reaction to the copyright paper considered consent? He keeps on stressing I'm being unfair to him. He says he did so much for the game, but honestly I'm not seeing anything of actual worth. I apologize for the wall of text. It's important to me and I basically don't know where to go. Please help. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 08:35 PM PST I applied for a job and after two interviews I was given for and agreed to an offer letter, had a start date. The only remaining variable was a drug test, which I prepared myself for by bringing all my prescriptions with me. I take Adderall, my doctor prescribes me for 3 pills a day, insurance pays for only two a day so that's what I get. 2 pills a day for 30 days. However, I don't need adderall everyday, so I only take it as needed. My psychiatrist knows this and is okay with it. I don't take it everyday so my prescription can last me months, depending on circumstances. Of course, I happen to take a drug test for a possible new job the day after taking an adderall at work. No big deal, I have a prescription and it's never been a big deal in the past. Except this time it was. According to the doctor who administrated the test, my prescription was too old. How old was it, I was prescribed in June and filled the prescription on July 8th, 2019. I still have about a third of a bottle, I take adderall twice a week on average. This doctor flipped out. Not only did she refuse to inspect my prescription bottle when I talked to her in person, she demanded my medical records for all the prescriptions I take. Both of my doctors complied and when I talked to her on the phone to follow up, her exact words were "You're prescription is too old, where are you getting it from." This pushed back my start date from a definite start to "wait and see" as I was still having my doctors trying to appease the drug test doctor. I politely tried to explain that I don't take my adderall everyday because I don't need to and she would no listen. So once again, I had my psychiatrist send another letter explaining in more detail. So, in Texas, when is a schedule II drug no longer considered valid? TL;DR Doctor said my prescription was too old and I must be getting amphetamines from an illegal source. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 08:09 AM PST I moved out and was off the lease in October, come to find out the landlord took the cost of rent out of my account for December. I deleted my card and bank information from their payment website ( in October). They deleted my account from their website, and carried my bank information and credit card information to the new tenants account. Is there anything I can do? They have been a pain to deal with and won't give me an answer as to what has happened. They would not refund the money immediately so I filed a dispute with my bank and a stop so there will not be any future transactions. My real problem is that my bank account info and credit card info were carried to the new tenants account and that the company pulled rent out of that account. Edit: location is Missouri [link] [comments] |
| Am I allowed to peacefully protest on the public sidewalk/street outside someones house? Posted: 09 Dec 2019 09:03 PM PST I want to protest my rapists status as a (private) University employee. He happens to live in my neighborhood and the cops wont do anything about it, and yes I have filed a police report. This is Oregon btw. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 08:44 AM PST Location is NY I was bitten, actually more like scraped by the teeth of, a friends pet rat on my right pointer finger. The following day (December 7th) I went to work as normal and had no notable issues. The night of the 7th I awoke to pins and needles in my hand, bad joint and muscle pain, and swelling in the finger. The morning of the 8th I had to call out of work and arrived at the hospital around noon with streaking up my hand from the site of the bite. They took one look and said I needed IV antibiotics and sent me to Fast Track. There, they gave me an oral dose of Doxy and explained that there was no research to support that one IV dose of Doxy was any more effective. They outlined the streaking and sent me home with a prescription; told me to monitor the streaking and that the Doxy should stop it, and to come back if it spread. I took a nap at home and awoke to the streaking having spread to my elbow. I went back to the hospital And explained my situation. They sent me to a room in the ER where they drew blood and put me on an IV antibiotic. This was around 9 or 10 pm. I'll try to have some brevity with this while being concise as possible: They explain that I will be admitted. In a span of about 6 hours I had met, only once per person, about 6 NPs who I had to re-explain my situation to every time, while also getting vitals and a physical every time. I understand shift changes but this seemed excessive. Once I was asked about my psych medication, I felt I was being sort of profiled, for lack of a better word. One NP asked my list of daily meds (adderall 3x a day, trileptil 2x a day, welbutrin 2x a day, flovent, albuterol) and when adderall was mentioned (20 mg) they asked me twice to verify the dose. They then left and 2 more different NPs entered the room 20 minutes later. Same round of questioning only this time they had a printed list in front of them sent by my psychiatrist and told me they had it afterwards. They left, and about an hour later another NP came in to tell me my new room was being prepared. She read off my list of meds to verify and then questioned me about my items. I had a jacket, wallet, t-shirt, and a backpack my boyfriend brought. He was out smoking a cigarette when she started questioning me about his backpack. There was a slight communication issue because of her accent but she kept repeating to me that I was responsible for the backpack. I asked her if they planned to search it or something, to which I also mentioned they would need my BF permission. She said no, but then kept repeating that she would have to list the backpack with the other items. I asked why that is a problem and she sighed and just wrote it down with a huff. This same nurse came back 20 minutes later to take vitals with that band that wraps around your arm and the thing they clip on your finger. This had to be really late in the night at this point. She set up antibiotic and saline iv as well and explained that my room was ready. Then, without a word, she left the room with all of the equipment hooked up to me, and every 5 minutes it would tighten again which was rather annoying. Also my hand with the IV was freezing cold and the arm was throbbing with pain. Another individual came in about 30 to 45 minutes later, took one look at the IV bag and exclaimed, "whoa that is going way too fast!" The bag was already empty. He unplugged the equipment and left. It wasn't until maybe 3 am that I was rolled to the new room. I did not receive iv antibiotics again until maybe 8 this morning. In that 5 hours the streaking has spread and spidered up my arm to my chest. When I took the first pill yesterday morning I was told the spreading would stop. Today they are trying to comfort me in saying the antibiotics take more than a day to work and that's why it's still spreading. They never offered me breakfast even though the cafeteria worker had done her rounds and I had to ask three times for my scheduled psych meds, which I received 2 hours late and was suffering severe anxiety and agitation. The streaking is still spreading, the swelling increased, my finger is purple, I have pins and needles, joint pain, dull pain in chest. I keep telling them im concerned every time they come in and all they could tell me was they may give me a rabies shot, that they reported the bite to the health department, that the specialist from infectious disease won't arrive until later today. They did not take a culture. They placed me in a room with another patient knowing I may have an infectious disease. I have not had another IV since 8 and it's almost noon. My doses have been very inconsistent. There is only one nurse pressing for a specialist on my behalf and sees the infection may need drained. I have begun sweating. Dull ache in chest. Feel hot to touch but my hands are cold. It's exhausting to stand. My bf is freaking the fuck out that they are not seeming to take this seriously. Says I have rights and wants me to speak to supervisor or legal rep. Do I even have a case? I feel like I'm on limited time and no one here cares. [link] [comments] |
| Grandma died, executor/trustee being a jerk Posted: 09 Dec 2019 04:18 PM PST My step-grandma died the first week of November, just five days from her 104th birthday. The family knew that she'd invested heavily in the stock market but no one knew that she was apparently worth a lot of money. Neither my two sisters nor I had any expectation of receiving any inheritance so it came as a shock two weeks ago when my uncle (the executor) called my sister to tell her we were in the will and trust. Both of our parents are dead, so dad's share went to mom after he died, and now it comes to us. There are codicils indicating as such. Last week, we were asked for our children's dates of birth and addresses. I figured this was some beneficiary thing so didn't think twice about it. My middle sister is handling all of the communication with that side of the family and she asked why they needed that info. She was told that the attorney handling the estate (who is a complete stranger to both the will and trust -- she's in the state where the executor lives and all of the legal documents were drawn up in Florida) thinks that our shares of the inheritance should also be further divided to include our children. This would mean that our 1/7 of the estate would be spread out from the three of us to eight people, three of whom aren't over the age of 18. Further complicating matters, I have one child and my sisters each have two, which means that they stand to inherit more as a family than I would. They both agree this is wrong, so we're cool there. We did some research and know we have the right as beneficiaries to view the trust and the will. So sister called Uncle Executor this morning to request (not demand) that he share copies so we can review the language about our specific situation. This is potentially life-changing information for us, so we can't just have them randomly sending our kids checks without us knowing what's going on. HE. LOST. HIS. SHIT. He screamed at my sister that he will not provide the documents to us and that he will not even talk to his attorney about it because "that costs money." He read the specific section in question to her but, as you can imagine, she was in shock over his attitude change. She wrote down some of what he said but when she asked him to repeat it, he refused. This is what's in her notes: "It said one equal share to [our mom]... and then something about upon her death 'equally per stirpes to living descendants...under 21 years of age.' There is context that I didn't get regarding that." We're going to consult an attorney, of course, but I'd love to know if anyone has run into a similar situation. TL;DR: WHY ARE FAMILY? [link] [comments] |
| Can I be evicted for coughing? Posted: 09 Dec 2019 01:55 PM PST I live in NY (not NYC) and I live in the first floor of an apartment with super thin floors/ceilings. As a result, I can hear my neighbors really well and they can hear me as if there is no barrier between us. So if they talked upstairs for example it feels like they're talking in the same room as me. That being said, my neighbor upstairs is extremely quiet. On the other hand, I have a chronic cough and play video games late into the night, usually until 12:30-1am on weekdays and anywhere from 3am to 5am on weekends. I use a headset while playing and only a few times used my mic past 10pm. And in those cases, I usually whisper or talk at normal volume. I *think* my upstairs neighbor banged the floor a few times because of this but I'm not 100% certain. I also think that I may be disrupting them from sleeping because I can hear them moving at night but I'm not 100% certain about this either. They have never complained to me in person otherwise. Either way, I got an email today that was sent to everyone living in the apartment complex about consistent noise complaints, smoking complaints and visitor complaints. The email mentioned that they basically intend to evict everyone committing the offenses. The latter two definitely do not apply to me but I am worried about being the person in the first category. How long do I have to move out from being sent an eviction notice and can I really be evicted for coughing late into the night? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2019 11:30 AM PST Without any notification or even knocking on my door the city brought a bunch of trucks and dug up my front yard and turned my water off for 7 days. When they finally got my water back on after I called numerous times they destroyed the clearly marked cable line. Now my house has no cable and xfinity estimates it may take 3 weeks to dig into the street and place a new line. I still have no explanation from the city besides the entire thing being a mistake and after 7 days of having to bath with boiled bottled water I now have no TV or internet at my house for weeks and when I come home from work my only option is to literally stare at a wall every day. What should I do? Can I demand a hotel until my cable is fixed? Can I file a lawsuit against the city? [link] [comments] |
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