Ask DrewDevil your legal questions

[DrewDevil]

[ QUOTE ]
If I belt the living daylights out of OP because he is the biggest wanker on OOT, will my defence of "he is a douche" stand up in my local court? If not, then I need a new lawyer, because he told me this is true (the douche part, not whether or not it will hold up)

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No, but if you kill me in Texas, try the "son of a bitch needed killing" defense.

[DrewDevil]

[ QUOTE ]
Dear Mr. DrewDevil,

My GF and I own a salon. We have a disgruntled former employee who filed a bogus complaint to the Better Business Bureau stating we didn't get her authorization to take her uniform money out of her paycheck (we did). She wants her $75 back since she quit before she ever wore them. We need to respond to this complaint by next Monday. On principle, we refuse to give her this money back because (a) she authorized it (b) she stole money from the cash register on more than one occasion (c) stole a $200 hair dryer and (d) is a skanky ho. My question is, how should we respond to this? What happens once we respond? Does the complaint get 'removed' from public record, or is our response posted? And is there any issue in stating that she stole from us?

Thanks in advance!

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A complaint with the BBB is not a "public record" AFAIK. I really don't know much about their internal procedures, etc. If you were to call your former employee a thief and she sued you for slander/libel, she'd have to prove that what you said was untrue. If you have decent evidence of the theft, there's nothing to worry about, and even if you don't, the changes of her suing are pretty remote, I'd guess.

[DrewDevil]

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Prepaid legal services; pyramid scam? Or useful?

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If you're talking about Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc., I believe that company is a MLM marketing company first and a provider of legal services second. As I mentioned earlier, I don't see how charging someone $26 per month for a raft of legal services can possibly be profitable, so I suspect the money is in the MLM plan.

Then again, if anyone wants to pay me $100 per month...

[CheckCheckFold]

Drew,

I parked my car next to a curb on a regular street parking spot (all day every day parking available spot). A couple of days later, I went to use my car and I couldn't find it. I didn't really thought much about it because I thought my girlfriend might have took the car and parked it at another spot. I didn't need the car for like 3 weeeks. The I asked my girlfriend and we both started to look for the car but still couldnt find the car. So I started to think it was stolen. I called the police and found out that they towed my car three weeks before because the registration expired (and no other reason).

I went to the police station to pay the fees. Got some paperwork and then went to the towing place- my bill at the towing place was $1550!! (rate was like $40+/day for around 30 days plus some initial fees)

Am I legally bound to pay this fee? When I didn't even know my car was towed for like a month. I feel like I got butt-@#@@ hard here. I did not receive a call or a letter from the police or the towing co. stating that my car was towed - and then I got a bill for $1500+.

I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this.

[DrewDevil]

[ QUOTE ]
When I went out to lunch today at my favorite local Chinese hole, the owner, who is a naturalized citizen, asked me to look at her lease for her.

Basically, the lease states that the tenant has the right to place one sign on the exterior wall, subject to approval by the owner, and at the tenant's own expense. They did this when they first moved into the space.

However, a few months ago the owner of the shopping center did some exterior renovations, and took down their signage and has not returned it. It wouldn't go with the remodel. (The last sentence is my opinion.)

When she called the owner of the shopping center, he told her that she had to get a new sign and to call the sign company and that per her lease, it is at her expense. The sign company wants 5000 dollars for the new sign.

While she understood that she had to pay for the original sign, the owner initiated and desired the remodel (probably to help fill some vacant locations) and removed her sign that she was completely satisfied to keep. She doesn't think she should have to pay for the new sign.

Does she have any legal ground to require them to pay for some/all of her new sign costs?

[/ QUOTE ]

Based on what you wrote, it sounds like the tenant has the option but not the duty to install a sign. Unless the lease requires the tenant to provide signage at the tenant's expense, then I don't see how the tenant has to pay for the new sign.

Also, where's the old sign? Tenant gets that back.

[DrewDevil]

[ QUOTE ]
I may have explained this badly, but the sign she had was mounted to the face of the building and had to be removed for the remodel. It definitely would not flatter the remodel that has been done, and I think the landlord is exercising his "right to approve the sign".

I also think he's trying to take advantage of her, however.

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The LL's right to approve the sign does not mean he gets to pick a sign and then T has to pay for it (unless that's what the lease says). All he can do is say no when T presents the old sign to be re-mounted. I agree he's trying to take advantage of her.

[DrewDevil]

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Drew,
1) Do you need a retainer to answer my question?

2) Is NT!'s back-to-back banning of quickfetus anti-Semitism?

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1) Yes, $3,000 should work.

2) No comment; we will reserve our testimony for the hearing.

[DrewDevil]

[ QUOTE ]
Drew,

I parked my car next to a curb on a regular street parking spot (all day every day parking available spot). A couple of days later, I went to use my car and I couldn't find it. I didn't really thought much about it because I thought my girlfriend might have took the car and parked it at another spot. I didn't need the car for like 3 weeeks. The I asked my girlfriend and we both started to look for the car but still couldnt find the car. So I started to think it was stolen. I called the police and found out that they towed my car three weeks before because the registration expired (and no other reason).

I went to the police station to pay the fees. Got some paperwork and then went to the towing place- my bill at the towing place was $1550!! (rate was like $40+/day for around 30 days plus some initial fees)

Am I legally bound to pay this fee? When I didn't even know my car was towed for like a month. I feel like I got butt-@#@@ hard here. I did not receive a call or a letter from the police or the towing co. stating that my car was towed - and then I got a bill for $1500+.

I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this.

[/ QUOTE ]

The Texas Occupations Code says this:

§ 2303.151. NOTICE TO VEHICLE OWNER OR LIENHOLDER.
(a) The operator of a vehicle storage facility who receives a vehicle that is registered in this state and that is towed to the facility for storage shall send a written notice to the registered owner and the primary lienholder of the vehicle not later than the fifth day after the date but not earlier than 24 hours after the date the operator receives the vehicle.

There may be a similar statute in your state. If you received no notice at all of the towing from anyone, you may be able to get out of some of the fees.

[J.A.K.]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Drew,
1) Do you need a retainer to answer my question?

2) Is NT!'s back-to-back banning of quickfetus anti-Semitism?

[/ QUOTE ]

1) Yes, $3,000 should work.

2) No comment; we will reserve our testimony for the hearing.

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LOL. In regards to #1, I did not know if you saw my question earlier in the thread or if it was simply unanswerable in a general sense. I googled some stuff but it was still somewhat murky. If you missed it, I welcome your thoughts, but if it's overly broad in scope I understand.

[sethypooh21]

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Drew,

Good thread thanks for doing this.

My grandfather died without a will and the property was/is in his name. My grandmother is now in hospice and has been in nursing home for ~8 years. She is of sound mind but she is fading fast. Is there a legal maneuver to retroactively get the property transferred into the childrens' names as this was my grandfather's (and grandmother's) intent? Does it automatically go to my grandmother once he died? I don't think anything has been legally done since my GF's death.

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Well you could get your G-ma to agree to give someone else power of attorney privilege (which might be a good idea anyway, given your description). Any distribution of property could be contested, I suppose, but I don't know by whom (depending on what other heirs G-ma might have either in intestate succession or an actual will).

PoA is a pretty simple document actually, probably cost you <$500 to have drafted, notarized and filed with the appropriate agency.

Of course, this assumes that G-ma is amenable to the proposed distribution of property. If it's an adverse proceeding, you'd probably have to either get her declared incompetent (ick) or challenge the distribution of the estate in probate. The resolution of that is WELL beyond my area of expertise, so I won't even speculate.