Ask DrewDevil your legal questions

[DrewDevil]

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Is piracy insurance legal in the US?


I know its happened in Sweeden, but I havent heard of it happening in the US.

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I know nothing about this.

[NT!]

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Define semantics.

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Semantics is the art and science of implausibly arguing that Barry Bonds never used steroids.

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hahaha you do have a sense of humor after all

[XXXNoahXXX]

Drew,

I was on a callback at a NYC firm and a partner was bringing me to my next interview and we took the stairs, five flights up, in a suit. I asked him "So is this why they call it a sweatshop?" He just looked at me a little weird and half-laughed.

I haven't heard back yet. What are the odds this [censored] me?



Also, describe the optimum path out of law school to pay off debt, get well off (not rich, but not struggling), and be able to enjoy life a bit.

[DrewDevil]

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this is awesome of you to do Drew! I want to elaborate on the previous situation I asked about.

My house caught on fire. Mortgage company sold out before claim was paid. Went to court and got the ins. co. to issue check to me and my attornies, because a 6th! mortgage company in succession claimed an interest but had no legal proof. Check was placed in trust while mortgage co. appealed. Appellate court ruled that mortgage co. had until Nov. 22 to provide proof. House was sold in bankruptcy court on Nov. 3, mortgage co. received the money without ever proving line of succession.

I fired my lawyers, went to court pro se for a summary judgment. Fired lawyers slapped a lien on trust. Judge ruled that neither I nor the mortgage company proved sole ownership to check and there would have to be a trial.

This mortgage company has now sold out.

Do you see my issues? The Joe Blow mortgage company received proceeds to the house w/ out ever showing title. I have no idea how to proceed to get the money out of trust. There will obviously never be a trial because another mortgage co. will never expend the hundreds of thousands this case has already cost even if they could somehow come up with proof of title, something 5 prior mortgage companies failed to do.

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Why do you say there will be no trial?

This is a complicated fact pattern, for sure. Before it's all said and done, you may have to sue the old lawyers, the now-defunct mortgage companies, AND whoever released the funds improperly. You really need a good lawyer to take this on.

[DrewDevil]

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If I want to start an online service that also requires that people have an account on my site what are the legal issues I should be worried about and what kind of lawyer/people do I need to see?

Accounts may have more than $50k in them, we may have many users.

We may have many users and users would want to be able to deposit and withdraw easily.

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I would talk to a banking lawyer and an internet e-commerce lawyer... even if this is not a bank, you may be subject to banking laws regarding the holding of deposits, etc.

[ItalianFX]

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Are smoking ban violations considered crimes or infractions and how do we categorize them?

Help me to prove my professor wrong. Thanks.

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It depends on whether it's a violation of a city ordinance or of a criminal law that is codified in the state's criminal statutes. If it's not a criminal violation, then it's an infraction, or maybe a ticket.

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Is speeding a crime or an infraction? (serious question)

[DrewDevil]

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What do you think about federal jurisdiction-stripping statutes? Do you think there are any limits on their scope?

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I have only a vague concept of what these are and I'm really not qualified to comment.

[DrewDevil]

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What legal consequences could there be if I posted pictures of an ex-gf in a forum or somewhere on the Internet and she stumbled upon them? Some pictures were sent to me via e-mail by her and some are taken myself with my cell phone, if that matters.

I'm sure I know what everyone else's reply is going to be, but I'm interested in DrewDevil's reply. I always thought I could get in trouble for doing something like this, but maybe I'm an idiot?

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The law here is pretty murky and there will probably be some lawsuits about this in the future, but right now, generally speaking...

If you took the pictures, you own the copyright to them, so you can probably post them anywhere you want.

If she took the pics and sent them to you... eh, not sure. As long as you're not trying to use them to profit, you're probably still okay.

[DrewDevil]

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Drew,

I was on a callback at a NYC firm and a partner was bringing me to my next interview and we took the stairs, five flights up, in a suit. I asked him "So is this why they call it a sweatshop?" He just looked at me a little weird and half-laughed.

I haven't heard back yet. What are the odds this [censored] me?



Also, describe the optimum path out of law school to pay off debt, get well off (not rich, but not struggling), and be able to enjoy life a bit.

[/ QUOTE ]

From my law school class, the guys who seem to be doing the best and enjoying their practice the most are the ones who didn't get a job, so they just hung out their shingle and started doing criminal defense, DWIs, and divorces, slowly building up a reputation.

In the middle: lawyers who worked at a firm for awhile, then went in house somewhere. Still boring, but 8-5, baby.

The ones who are most miserable are the ones at the top of their class who went to BigLaw and are now ground into hamburger, but they have the golden handcuffs and are scared to leave.

Me, myself, I am trying to figure out how to generate residual income and not work by the hour! God that's the worst. So I'd say use your legal knowledge to buy real estate, or start a business, or write a book, or something something.

[DrewDevil]

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Are smoking ban violations considered crimes or infractions and how do we categorize them?

Help me to prove my professor wrong. Thanks.

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It depends on whether it's a violation of a city ordinance or of a criminal law that is codified in the state's criminal statutes. If it's not a criminal violation, then it's an infraction, or maybe a ticket.

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Is speeding a crime or an infraction? (serious question)

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Not a crime, at least in Texas. AFAIK you cannot get jail time for speeding unless it rises to the level of reckless driving. You can, of course, go to jail for failure to appear after receiving a ticket.