Legal Advice - Landlord thinks my house is his |
- Landlord thinks my house is his
- [UPDATE] Michigan treelaw case
- Is it legal for the unit above me to be dropping large amounts of water onto my balcony daily?
- Am I liable for a car my ex bought using my name and social security from FIFTEEN years ago?!
- Workplace retaliation over my service dog?
- I’m being threatened with a sexual video of myself that I didn’t even know was taken
- Is it legal to tell employees they can’t discuss salary?
- I was given a gun by my father, and then he suddenly died. Months later, my step mother has a law firm contact me asking for it back for auction
- Landlord is withholding deposit because my girlfriend spent the night at my house
- Sold a car, buyer wants to pursue MA Lemon Law
- 12y/o (f) filmed in the shower on omegle app by another 12y/o (f) without her consent. What kind of charges can she pursue as they are both minors.
- (Alabama) My landlord is trying to kick me out before my lease ends
- Grandfather hit by 18-year-old driver while walking niece to school. He's sustained injuries and insurance doesn't want to cover hospital/therapy expenses.
- My ex-girlfriend and her mother are calling my job, speaking to HR and making false claims about me.
- Landlord trying to kill me and my partner
- Ex Boyfriend abusing daughter but maintains custody after going to family court?
- My (Spanish speaking) maid had her apt. broken into. The door frame is broken open and the landlord is saying it may take them 3 weeks to get around to fixing it. Can they do this?
- Taxes being withheld by mysterious debt
- My Ex Filed for Chapter 7, Didn't List the Debt She Owes Me, and After it's Been Discharged Her Lawyer Sent Me a Letter
- I received a letter from the US Treasury telling me why they took my federal tax refund; Social Security overpayment. I've never received Social Security.
- Can my landlord do this (California) Prohibiting all guests and asking us not to shower in the evening?
- Bought a Car with Odometer Rolled Back
- I run a small website with two other people. One is not pulling his weight but is threatening to sue if we lock him out.
| Landlord thinks my house is his Posted: 06 Mar 2020 12:57 PM PST Y'all. I'm so annoyed. we've been living in our new place for less than a full week and our landlord has popped up over here and tried to just walk in with his key three times. Today I drove up just as he was unlocking our door to walk in and I'm just like "what are you doing here?" The first time I walked out of my bedroom up to see him just standing in my living room looking at my thermostat. Literally didn't even acknowledge the fact that he was in the unit like by saying "anyone home" or anything. I was about to pepper spray the fuck out of him because his back was to me and I was home alone. Today he said he needed to do maintenance on the a/c and proceeded to crane his neck to look in every room with a door open and rummage through my cabinets in my kitchen. I really don't wanna be THAT tenant but I can't do this for a year. It's always just him telling me some small shit that could have been said over the phone. The anxiety of thinking someone is in my house when I'm not home is too much. I've rented since I was 18 and never had a landlord who just pops up at all hours of the day. [link] [comments] |
| [UPDATE] Michigan treelaw case Posted: 06 Mar 2020 06:04 AM PST This is an update to this post. tl;dr: The case is over. My brother accepted a settlement of $89,000. Full update: Yes, friends, I'm back with an update after many long months. I did not forget about you. The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they do turn. As I said, my brother accepted a settlement. This was reached through an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process called Case Evaluation that is apparently used here in Michigan. You can read more about this process here (PDF warning), but essentially both sides provide a max 20 page summary and a 15 minute oral presentation to a panel of three lawyers. No witnesses or evidence per se, although attachments (documents) are allowed. The panel then comes up with a dollar amount that they think the case is worth. Both sides then have the option to accept, or reject the settlement and go to trial. I was hoping to be able to watch an actual treelaw trial, but alas it was not to be. There is a possibility of significant penalties if you reject the settlement and then don't beat it by at least 10% in court, so I understand my brothers reasoning in accepting the settlement. It turns out, not unexpectedly, that the settlement will be coming from the contractors insurance company, so hopefully collection will not be an issue. Another outcome of this case is that my brother, who is not a redditor, is now using the phrase "pound sand" in casual conversation. We did it Reddit! Links: The tree, RIP, now established to be a historic Bebb oak, in excess of 200 years old. Approx. 60 inches Breast Heigth Diameter (BHD). There was also a second tree, not as large. Shitty MSPaint of rather bizarre property line situation. Slightly less shitty MSPaint of the property. Note that the trees, and my brothers property, are actually in a different city than the adjacent property belonging to the contractor. earlier BoLA thread with some more information Edit: I started a thread in r/treelaw if anyone has any questions or just wants to share some popcorn. [link] [comments] |
| Is it legal for the unit above me to be dropping large amounts of water onto my balcony daily? Posted: 06 Mar 2020 06:06 AM PST Hi, I'm in Phoenix, AZ. For three months now it has been a daily occurrence that a large amount of water (perhaps a couple gallons each time) flows down from the balcony above me onto my balcony. If the water is pure, this is just incredibly annoying. If it isn't, this could be a health hazard. I have engaged my apartment building's office three times over the months. They have always seemed very helpful, but the incidents never stop. Yesterday I finally knocked on the offending unit's door and the occupant lied, saying the water was coming from the unit above him. In fact, the occupant claimed to be in the apartment alone at the time... as another person was standing in plain sight within the apartment. Furthermore, with how the water flows, it isn't debatable that it is coming from the unit above mine. I have plenty of video proof. I don't want to escalate anything and thus, I will never engage my upstairs neighbor again. However, if my office proves ineffective, must I simply accept this as legal? [link] [comments] |
| Am I liable for a car my ex bought using my name and social security from FIFTEEN years ago?! Posted: 06 Mar 2020 04:20 PM PST I got a call today from a law firm stating that I owed $11,000 on a car I NEVER purchased. In 2005, my ex husband and I were divorcing and had already separated. He needed a new car, so I gave him $500 as a down payment on a Ford Taurus. I never signed any paperwork that pertained to the purchase of this vehicle. The attorney stated (today) that it didn't matter. We were married at the time and he was allowed to use my name and information to buy whatever he wants. He defaulted on the car and it went to SEVERAL different collection agencies. And today, after FIFTEEN years, I get a nasty call and told I have zero options but to pay. The law firm states that I'm the ONLY person liable for the balance on this car and that, if I dont pay $5,820 'RIGHT NOW' the case will go to litigation and I will have to pay the full amount PLUS court costs. The attorney said they took the case in November of 2019 and sent me correspondence, but I've never recieved anything. He told me that it was on my credit report. I checked immediately and don't see anything! I've been blindsided and don't know what to do. I didn't buy this car! This wouldn't be the first time my ex-husband stole my identity, either! In 2012, right after I got back from a deployment to Kuwait, I was contacted by a clothing store credit card representative. He had opened the card in MY name and racked up hundreds of dollars! They had his address (not current) and I had never once shopped at this store. Am I really liable for this car?! The attorney threatened to have my wages garnished and my credit ruined! He also told me that this would "go to court" in a week and, if I dont show up, I will probably be considered default on payment and have to pay for everything. Please, anyone, help! (This happened in Alabama but I live in Maryland now. The case of identity theft happened in Florida.) [link] [comments] |
| Workplace retaliation over my service dog? Posted: 06 Mar 2020 11:00 AM PST I work at a state agency and I have an accommodation that I can bring my service dog with me to work on days I am unwell from my disability. It took me seven months to get my accommodation approved and what we agreed on is that: I can take him to work with me on bad days. I can split my two 15 minute breaks into smaller breaks to take him to relieve himself. I must clean up after he's here (I vacuum and sweep and mop our work areas and bathroom and break room). Ever since the beginning of trying to get my accommodation, I've had to deal with a lot of nasty attitudes from co-workers and my boss's boss over it. It was finally approved around January. During the wait, they also had to have the human affairs commission come do a training on ADA for everyone because of how I was being treated. The reason I ask about retaliation is recently, my boss's boss told me that I have to sit at a specific desk which is far away from everyone else, in a position where I can't view security cameras (which is a small part of our job but part of it nonetheless) and I can't communicate appropriately with my team without feeling like I have to yell across the room. I normally sit back here on days I have my service dog with me because there's more legroom, but when he's not with me I sit with everyone else. There is nobody on my shift who is allergic to dogs or has dog allergies, either. A few days ago, my boss's boss told me I now have to sit here whether I have my service animal with me or not. Nobody else on any shift has a seating assignment, just me, and I've already been asked why by several other employees as to why I'm made to sit here. Everytime I try to talk to my boss's boss about it she is either dismissive or ignores me. She has also been removing our HR lead anytime I cc her on a conversation so she isn't seeing her replies until I re-add her to our emails. I know it seems small, but I feel like she's doing this on purpose because she's been very vocal about not wanting my service dog here. Would something like this be considered retaliation or hostile work environment? Thank you for your time! I appreciate any advice. [link] [comments] |
| I’m being threatened with a sexual video of myself that I didn’t even know was taken Posted: 06 Mar 2020 01:24 AM PST I'm trying not to make this post too long, because it's a very messed up and sickening road that requires some background info. However, in the past couple years, my "father" has spiraled into a drug induced delusion. He is dangerous, reckless, paranoid, and lives in a reality that is just not true. He thinks that people are conspiring against him, hacking into his bank/social media accounts, placing hidden cameras in his house to watch him, and tracking all of his movements. He believes I'm one of the people who are doing this to him. I became pregnant early 2019, moved out of his house and into my boyfriend's apartment. Through out my whole pregnancy, my father tortured me, accused me of doing unspeakable things to him, and being a part of this conspiracy against him. It got so bad that I cut off all contact with him in August of 2019, and we haven't spoken since. However, a few days ago, he texted my boyfriend a long rant about how I "stabbed him in the back" etc., and within this rant he said he has videos of me being "raped/f*cked" (HIS WORDS) and "can show my boyfriend if he wants." I am embarrassed and completely disgusted by this. My dad did have security cameras in the house when I was still living with him, but got rid of them once he started to believe people were hacking the feed and watching him. However, they were only placed in the living areas, and not in my bedroom as far as I know. I was never intimate with anyone in the common areas. I had actually only been intimate ONE TIME in my bedroom within the year that I lived there with my ex boyfriend before my current boyfriend and I got together. However, one of the ways my dad tortured me during my pregnancy, was accusing me of sleeping with one of his drug addict friends that was always over at our house. When I denied it, he said that this man may have "snuck into my room at night to rape me," when I had too much to drink one night. That did not happen, but he has manipulated me so much that I even believed it at one point. This is extremely embarrassing for me to talk about. To my knowledge the video that he's threatening with doesn't exist, and it's just a ploy to try to sabotage my life. Although, I can not be positive due to the fact that I'm not sure if he had a security camera in my room during the time he still owned them. Obviously, I am very disturbed and upset about this. My father verbally, mentally, and sometimes physically abused me my whole life. He is very manipulative, and just simply a disgusting person who only got worse once he started doing large amounts of drugs daily during the last two years. I want to know if there is legal action I can take against him for this, and more about what to expect when I do. I live in New York if that makes a difference. I'm apologizing beforehand for any grammatical mistakes, typos, weird layout, or if this post is just overall inappropriate for this subreddit. I'm just very shaken up about this, and I want justice against someone who abused me my whole life, and is now threatening to expose a sexual video of me that I wasn't even aware of. Thank you. [link] [comments] |
| Is it legal to tell employees they can’t discuss salary? Posted: 06 Mar 2020 07:29 PM PST Hi all, Not really a huge back story here but recently at my company some people got raises and some people didn't. As coworkers we were sharing amongst ourselves if we did get raises or not. There was one employee who did not get a raise at all because they are leaving the company in a couple months. Anyway, she found out other people got raises and complained to management. Since then, management came around to every other employee telling them it's not okay to discuss salary or raises and that it will not be tolerated. They stated it was in our employee handbook. I'm not looking for any trouble or anything, I do love my job. I'm just wondering if this is legally allowed. Edit: Colorado [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 06 Mar 2020 05:03 PM PST Am I able to ignore these request? It was a gift but she is saying it belongs to his estate. How can I possibly prove it's not? It's not worth much, but it's special to me. [link] [comments] |
| Landlord is withholding deposit because my girlfriend spent the night at my house Posted: 06 Mar 2020 07:16 AM PST I live in Virginia and my landlord is withholding my rent deposit after I have already moved out. He is stating that he will not return it because my girlfriend was spending the night on weekends and not paying rent to be there. There was never a rental agreement signed and it was all verbal. [link] [comments] |
| Sold a car, buyer wants to pursue MA Lemon Law Posted: 06 Mar 2020 03:13 AM PST Recently I sold a car privately in the state of Massachusetts. Buyer wanted a PPI so I accepted and took it to a shop neutral to the both of us. He picks it up a day after and the deal is done. A week later he calls me saying his shop found 5000$ worth of parts and labor needed to keep the car on the road, specifically an axle, motor mounts, and steering rack. He wants me to pay half or he's going to lemon law me. I had no idea the car had these issues and if I did do you think I still would have gone to the PPI? What defense do I have in my situation. If he successfully lemon laws me I'm fucked because the money from the sale is gone. Car is 2007 Volvo S80. 130k miles, 2800 selling price. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 06 Mar 2020 07:44 PM PST My sister is 12y/o and was at her friends house having a shower when the girl who she was staying with (also 12) came in on the omegle app and filmed her without her consent. A cop has asked my sister what she wants to happen, and my sister has asked me for advice, but I dont feel comfortable googling criminal charges for this and hoping reddit can help. In British Columbia - Canada. Edit to add: I am 28 y/o and have gotten our parents involved. My mom does not know where to go with this either. [link] [comments] |
| (Alabama) My landlord is trying to kick me out before my lease ends Posted: 06 Mar 2020 06:57 PM PST My landlord notified me today that because we have had on and off issues with our plumbing (nothing serious) that my roommates and I will have to move out of our house in May instead of August, when the lease is scheduled to end. They said they are not terminating our lease but we will have to move out for the last three months of our lease. This does not seem legal as these are not emergency repairs. Any advice on how to handle the situation would be appreciated! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 06 Mar 2020 04:30 PM PST My grandfather who lives in California was hit by a young driver (who actually admits fault) and as a result ended up in the hospital with non-threating life injuries. He was, however, injured pretty bad (broken leg and shoulder) and can't walk. He's no longer in the hospital but needs physical therapy. The problem lies in the fact that the driver's old insurance is not willing to cover all expenses. They've stated that the driver had not made payments to his policy and thus was not covered during the accident. Aside from a civil lawsuit, are there any options here? Thank you in advance. [link] [comments] |
| My ex-girlfriend and her mother are calling my job, speaking to HR and making false claims about me. Posted: 06 Mar 2020 06:43 AM PST It's pretty much like the title states. I ended things with my ex and she went insane. She threatened to release nudes, call my job, and black mail me for money. This was 5 months ago and the situation had some what calmed down. She recently found out I've been speaking to another woman and has lost her mind. Her and her mother have been calling my place of employment, making false claims about me. Now they are contacting my girlfriends place of employment. She works on commissions and has a clientele base. They are contacting her clients, telling them insane things. This could potentially affect my girlfriends paychecks. I live in Michigan and so does my ex. My current girlfriend lives in North Carolina. Please help me stop their harassment. [link] [comments] |
| Landlord trying to kill me and my partner Posted: 06 Mar 2020 09:12 PM PST Okay, not exactly as the title suggests but the backstory is: the landlord and "handyman" have a knack for "forgetting" to let us know they'll need into our apartment, or our security gates will be out of order, water out, electricity out, etc. We often oblige and let them in or let it slide that we're not told until we ask...but it's been 10 months of this so as of late we've been denying entry unless 24 hours notice and making a point to let the landlord know we're displeased. My partner works from home so while she could easily let them in, it seriously disrupts her work day- as does no water or electricity as you could imagine. Today was particularly fun for her. The handyman painted the steps leading to our apartment. She happened to find out last night that it was happening because of running into a neighbor, but no other contact. She tried to be proactive and work from a cafe most of the day but as we both returned home from work, the entire apartment smells of fumes. The only slight reprieve is in the bedroom where the door had been shut all day and windows open. She's now getting very nauseous from the smell and we've had to book a hotel room for the night. Is there any basis for anything against our landlord? Even if we don't act on it, I feel like somehow we need to show this jerk landlord that he's in a wrong. Maybe this is an overreaction on my part, but Paying for a hotel wasn't part of our budget plan right now. I'm so angry I'm fuming (pun intended. I use humor to mask my vulnerability) Help. [link] [comments] |
| Ex Boyfriend abusing daughter but maintains custody after going to family court? Posted: 06 Mar 2020 05:22 PM PST Hi, hopefully this question isn't too complex that it's difficult to answer. I would like to know the steps that need to be taken in this situation. My cousin and her daughter's dad have joint custody. Recently (I don't know the exact time frame) he beat the daughter (10) to the point of knocking out a tooth and caused horrible bruising (because she told her mother about him beating up his live in girlfriend). They live in a middle of nowhere and they took the daughters cell phone so the daughter could not get any help. She told her mother about it, took her to the doctor so he could confirm that her injuries were from being beaten (with a metal object), and called CPS. The dad has a long history of domestic violence and has been arrested multiple times, but the police did nothing. CPS, from what I understand, acknowledged the risk of abuse, but that detail is unclear. My cousin went to family court two times to try to get full custody after this. There is only one judge in the family court for this area. The police, CPS, and other people testified that the daughter was being abused, but both times the judge said he would not take away the right for the father to have custody of his child. This judge had also been sued twice and there is a change.org petition against him for letting a known child molester keep custody of his kids although there was evidence of sexual abuse. I'm not sure how he's gotten away with that, but maybe it's just a horrible local government. Is there anything else my cousin can do? The daughter is terrified to go to her father's house. I don't know what quality lawyer she has, but it's a small town in the south and I know there are few good lawyers where she lives. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 06 Mar 2020 04:17 PM PST She is staying in my house as her home is unsafe. She is frantic and scared and has very poor English. She has handled things with the police (who provided a freedom of info act request?), but the landlord is the immediate issue. She has indicated it may have been so one on their staff (idk if it's founded or just speculation in her shock and anger). What can be done to push them a bit? She does not have any way of recording a phone call with them or recording in general. Thanks! *Edit: This happened in central Illinois. From the 3rd or 4th take, it sounds like the front panel of the door frame was so loose that one could pull it forward and stick their hand through to open the doorknob from the inside. She believed it was maintenance/management as she had installed 2 locks on her bedroom door which were broken, the front door locks were not. I encouraged her to not openly blame maintenance as it sounds like someone who lives in the complex may have known this and just broken the inside locks out of panic. [link] [comments] |
| Taxes being withheld by mysterious debt Posted: 06 Mar 2020 03:23 AM PST The state is Ohio. My Ohio tax returns are being withheld because of an alleged debt owed to a college I graduated from. This happened last year also and during that time I was contacted by an attorney who walked me through getting my loans consolidated. He confirmed that my debt is gone and the school sent me a letter saying my debt is paid in full last year, which I still have. After receiving notice last month that my state income tax refund is being withheld I called the state office to find out why and was redirected to a debt collection agency. They told me to call the school to figure out what I owe them, granted I've been out of school for 8 years. The school didn't know so I called the debt collectors back and demanded that they send me proof of debt. I haven't heard from them or received the proof and it's been weeks. I still do not have my state refund. What are my options? Thanks in advanced. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 06 Mar 2020 08:12 PM PST We were together for 7 years and during that time I allowed her to use my credit cards since she had poor credit due to excessive spending habits. Yes, I know I should have realized that this would just exacerbate the problem, but she promised to pay me back. Fast forward to our break up and she has spent over $30k on my credit. I'm understandably worried about this debt (I have great credit, just not that much money) so I had her sign a loan agreement for the amount, with a monthly installment plan. I thought, "wow, I dodged a bullet!" And she made monthly payments. Little did I know, a month after she signed this agreement with me , she filed for Chapter 7 no asset bankruptcy in July 2019. My debt was never listed, I was not notified. The bankruptcy was discharged in November and she was making payments to me throughout. I had no idea until I got a letter from her bankruptcy lawyer this week saying that all debt is forgiven, including debt not listed. Since this is a no asset case, and my debt is unsecured, she can walk away with no consequences. I'm completely in shock and very stressed over this whole thing as I'm sure you can understand. She emailed me and told me that she needs a clean slate to start fresh. At my expense! It will take me years to pay this off. I talked about this with a few friends to listen to their advice and I guess it got back to her because I got an email from her lawyer stating that I'm harassing her by talking about it to my friends. Can she just walk away from this? Did she have to list me in the filing? What should I do? I live in Los Angeles. Any help is greatly appreciated! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 06 Mar 2020 02:11 PM PST According to this and the letter I received from the SSA, I currently have an overpayment balance of $4,838. The only time I received checks in my name was after I turned eighteen and my biological dad was paying child support until I was finished with high school and it never amounted to anything close to that much. Currently waiting for a callback to figure this all out, but have the thoughts of identity theft bouncing around in my head and to be honest and am rather anxious about it all so I'm coming to you all, the non-bureaucrats, for direction. What do I do if the SSA refuses to do anything and their fraud department seems this my responsibility, because it's not. Location - Central Kentucky [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 06 Mar 2020 01:31 PM PST I don't know how to start this because it's my first time ever making a reddit post but my family needs some help. We live in an apartment with 4 units, 2 on the floor and 2 on top. We have been living here for about 20 years. Recently our landlord lives in the unit below us for a couple months out of the year since the previous tenants of the unit moved out. Since then they have been making noise complaints to us but not the usual kind. We're fairly quite tenants i would like to think and I know everyone says that but we never throw parties or have family over during holidays because we don't want to make noise, we rarely have guests, my parents are usually in bed at 8/9, we only do laundry during the day, we don't play music, we watch tv really low or use headsets just to prevent noise because we don't want any complaints/ confrontations. But that is not enough I suppose. We all get home in the evening/ afternoon and like to shower after work. I sometimes get home from work at 12-1am and can't control that. This is where our landlords only noise complaint lies, that the shower makes too much noise and is too loud. I've gone out of my way to try to shower earlier when I can because I understand it's a nuisance but can the landlord fully tell us we are not allowed to shower after a certain time? I have been doing research into California civil code and found the quiet enjoyment section but no specifics as to what falls under quiet enjoyment. I assume that showering would be included in that because we live here and that's the intended purpose we can't not shower and it's not our fault that the shower is loud. This is what our landlord has been throwing at us lately saying that it's unacceptable and yelling at us as well as blaming us for the previous tenant leaving citing our shower being too loud as the reason. But again is it our fault, we can't control how loud the shower sounds, and we also can't not shower? In 2017 they had us sign house rules which states quite hours start at 10pm but again could that prohibit us from evening showers? How can we protect ourselves and what laws/codes can I look at to try to counter their claims? We never have guests or visitors over but recently we advised them that my mother's brother would be staying for a few days (less than a week) and they said it was fine because it's family, so he came and stayed with us for a few days. Their problem was not with him though. One of my other uncles came to visit him while he was here with his family which includes 1 toddler. He came by around 5pm well before quite hours. The toddler was playing and I guess too loudly so they came up to complain which is understandable he was too loud but then they started yelling at us while our guests were here telling us we are not allowed to have guests over at all which is not something they have told us before. I do know that they have asked this of our upstairs neighbor who recently moved in a few months ago and have prohibited even her family from visiting up front when they moved in, they told them they were not allowed visitors. Can they really prohibit us from having any guests at all? In researching I have not found anything but that does not sound right. Again where can I look to defend ourselves from what they're asking? I was looking at the house rules and it said our visitors behavior could be grounds for eviction. They set up a meeting with us to "address our noise and our guests behavior" and I'm assuming they made some sort of addendum because they want everyone who signed the original lease present so that they can sign. Will we HAVE to sign or can we counter argue their claims and what I think they want to ask of us in this new potential addendum? [link] [comments] |
| Bought a Car with Odometer Rolled Back Posted: 06 Mar 2020 06:03 AM PST So, I bought a car a couple weeks ago off Kijiji that was advertised as "no accidents." I took it to my mechanic and found out it's been in a significant front-end collision. I got them to quote all the damages, and it's $2500 total. I bought the car for $3200. After that, I checked the Carfax and found out that the odometer has been rolled back from 240000km to 145000km. He wrote "as is" on the bill of sale. What should I do? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 06 Mar 2020 10:06 AM PST I've run a website with two other individuals for the past 8-10 years as a hobby/passion project, we'll call them A and Z. During that time the site has grown substantially in the content that we produce as well the number of visitors we receive. To be clear, this is not a career for any of us. We all have full-time jobs that are in no way related to the site. The three of us are equal partners in ownership and we're supposed to be equal partners in the work that we contribute. But for more than half the time that we've been running the site together Z has failed to contribute their fair share to the workload that's required to successfully maintain the site and produce content. A and I have had numerous conversations with Z over the past several years about our unhappiness with Z's contributions. To put it plainly, A and I do far more work than Z does and Z refuses to acknowledge this even when presented with cold hard evidence that proves it. Z is also incredibly unreliable and we can't ask Z to do anything remotely important for fear that it won't get done, which makes being equal partners impossible. Z is a married adult with children and a home, yet possesses the maturity level of a high school student. Discussions where simple feedback is provided, no matter how minor the critique, are met with anger, insults, and extreme stubbornness. Z cannot handle criticism of any kind. It has reached the point where A and I want Z gone. We have a completely different vision for the site than Z does and we're tired of the toxicity, fighting, and inability to make major changes due to Z's refusal. We tried to discuss this with Z and were unsurprisingly met with extreme anger and a conversation that devolved into a nightmare. Everything plugged into the site is in either my or A's name. Technically speaking, we could lock Z out very easily and move on with our lives. The problem is that Z has heavily hinted at suing A and I if we do that. Z also asked us for 50k to buy out their ownership stake. The site has made money for a few years now, but didn't actually become profitable until two or so years ago. To be clear, this is not a lot of money. Over the lifetime of the site's existence (close to ten years) we've made less than 40k. Last year after paying for everything related to the site I pocketed maybe 2k. Z's buyout request is not only unreasonable but impossible. A and I don't want to flush away everything we've worked to build and we also don't want to get sued. I should also note that there's no legal entity (such as an LLC), company, or written contracts in place. Everything has always functioned as a handshake agreement. So I guess what I need to know is does Z have ground to stand on if we simply shut the door in their face and move on? (Edit - We're located in Massachusetts.) [link] [comments] |
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