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Cowslips Warren posted:This happened in Arizona. I dont know AZ law specifically, but I am hesitant to believe there is a hitless hit and run statute. That seems to tend more to negligence, and becomes problematic from a proof point of view.
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Jun 5, 2013 01:35
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Location: Los Angeles Main issues: Illegal boarding house situation, a landlord that concealed foreclosure and impending sale, plus possible health damages due to concealed mold problems and gas leaks. What I want: Myself and my roommates to be compensated some of the ~70k in rent the owner illegally gained on our backs. In addition, some compensation for my year of breathing problems, sinus surgeries, and dizziness due to deceptions about the living conditions. What I need here: Information on what kind of lawyer will be suitable for the above. Also how to go about searching for one, and getting one to see enough potential in it to offer their services in exchange for only a cut of the winnings. Due to the mold thing I'm tempted to look for a personal injury lawyer, but since that's a much weaker part of the case and since it's mainly about tenant protection, I'm thinking more of an unspecialized lawyer (tenant protection ones are rare). So I have no idea how to find a proper attorney and convince them to get on board. Help! The situation itself is ridiculous; I might post more about it later because I may have caught our landlord in a hell of a fraudulent scheme involving huge profits. Happy Thread fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Jun 5, 2013 |
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Jun 5, 2013 01:44
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Windfall posted:Location: Los Angeles At best, your portion of the 70k in rent is going to be offset by the value of the housing you got (the value of which will be hotly and maybe expensively contested). Assuming you can prove in court that your health issues were caused by the living conditions (it will be very difficult), there may be an offset for your contribution to your health issues by remaining there. If your landlord got foreclosed on, he/she may not be able to pay any judgement you do get. Unless CA or LA has a law that allows triple damages or full recovery of all rent ever paid and/or attorneys fees, the rent side of your case isn't going to go very far. If the rent issue is, as you said, the much stronger portion of your case, the PI side probably isn't going very far either. You probably want a personal injury attorney because if he/she is willing to take the case, he/she will work on contingency (you don't pay anything, he/she takes 30-50% of what you get, depending on that stage the case is at when it's resolved) [Not an LA attorney, not a CA attorney, not a PI attorney, not your attorney]
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Jun 5, 2013 02:24
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joat mon posted:At best, your portion of the 70k in rent is going to be offset by the value of the housing you got (the value of which will be hotly and maybe expensively contested). We initially realized we might have a case when all of our cars got flyered with warnings from the city, stating that the street was zoned for single family residence and that if we were in technical boarding houses or worse, then our landlords were slumlords and we could be due "100% reimbursement" for all rent ever paid. Whether or not there is legal precedent for that is a different story, but that's what the flyer claimed. I think the foreclosure is perhaps not indicative of the landlord's true finances. He gave us a sob story about the rental house being his nest egg and his only financial venture, but his resume online lists executive positions at several companies. There's also the fact that the math adds up to him making a lot of money off the place. Could still be losing or wasting it all elsewhere, but it looks like he's plenty capable of paying. Like I said, possible fraudulent scheme. I suspect his business model might be as extreme as what follows:
My dad said he knew someone in the real estate business with a very similar business model, from the time right when he was getting started, to when he became a multi-millionaire off of it, raping rental property after property essentially. As if all that including having a house sold out from under us wasn't enough reason for us to be due a refund, he also failed to keep the place habitable. Some of it, like the unmitigated mice, was noticeable but the gas leak, sewage leak, and rampant mold we didn't find out about until the end, and thus had no opportunity to leave because of it. I had no idea about the mold problem because he physically covered it up and gave an explanation that we later disproved. Serious negligence on his part caused it in the first place. So in light of all that, would a personal injury lawyer be the way to go? Are they the main ones that work on contingency alone? The other tenants aren't seeking personal injury since they weren't in the section with mold, so it would mostly be a tenant protection case, though I understand that a personal injury lawyer might be fine with that sort of case as well. So far I've been just looking at yelp for nearby attorneys and finding mainly PI ones, and planning to show up in person to ask one, but other than that I have no idea what I'm doing. Happy Thread fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Jun 5, 2013 |
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Jun 5, 2013 03:53
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You want a lawyer in your city; they don't need to be within a few blocks. Call your state bar and ask for their referral service, and that's not a terrible place to start looking for a lawyer. Most pure-PI attorneys won't be super familiar with the housing end of things, so you might want to consult two separate attorneys, or just go for a full-service firm. Realize that this might be expensive if you can't get someone on a contingency fee basis.
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Jun 5, 2013 05:19
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Bit of a dumb little question: if I got a parking ticket (SF bay area) but the license plate number they put down is not mine, what happens if I don't pay it? I went online to pay another ticket a while back and this citation wasn't listed; I figured they had just not yet uploaded it or something so I ignored it for a while. Found the paper citation again today, and looked at it closely and one of the license plate digits is wrong. I checked that plate online, whoever it belongs to, and the citation is open. Still nothing on my plate. I feel like a bit of a weenie asking this, but the ticket was given to me under extreme weenie circumstances; we have an busybody rear end in a top hat on our street who likes to call the police on people who park too close to "his" street parking space, if he thinks he can get them a ticket. The citation in question is for something that at least half the cars on the street are doing at any one time and I've never seen a ticket on any of their windshields. So I feel resistant to paying it if there's an easy way to get it dismissed. Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 06:50 on Jun 5, 2013 |
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Jun 5, 2013 06:48
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You might want to contact the State Attorney General's Office, too, and/or the City/County Attorney for Los Angeles.
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Jun 5, 2013 06:49
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Thanatosian posted:You might want to contact the State Attorney General's Office, too, and/or the City/County Attorney for Los Angeles. Woah, those sound pretty serious, and that reminds me of suggestions I've seen that the DA prosecutes cheating landlords in some jurisdictions as well. I'm not familiar with any of these offices, nor the state BAR referral office for that matter. What's the difference / what are they each likely to do for my roommates and I? This sounds really promising, I didn't think there were really tenant advocates since more money is in landlord vs. bank stuff.
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Jun 5, 2013 07:03
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Sagebrush posted:Bit of a dumb little question: if I got a parking ticket (SF bay area) but the license plate number they put down is not mine, what happens if I don't pay it? I went online to pay another ticket a while back and this citation wasn't listed; I figured they had just not yet uploaded it or something so I ignored it for a while. Found the paper citation again today, and looked at it closely and one of the license plate digits is wrong. I checked that plate online, whoever it belongs to, and the citation is open. Still nothing on my plate. Call your local courthouse that handles traffic court. Ask them about whatever agency handles traffic tickets before they are plead not guilty to. For my area, this agency is called the Centralized Infractions Bureau. They may be able to help you out.
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Jun 5, 2013 13:27
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KillHour posted:As someone who does a lot of surveillance builds, I often have customers ask me to design a system involving audio recording. I generally tell these customers to refer to a lawyer, as I cover many states and jurisdictions, and I know wiretapping laws can vary wildly. For my own knowledge, though, could someone explain in a little more detail what you can and can't do, at least under federal guidelines, and in my jurisdiction? (Buffalo, NY) Quoting this from earlier since I didn't get a response. Not sure if it got looked over, or if there just aren't any lawyers in the thread that specialize in privacy rights. I'm sure the answer varies wildly between jurisdictions, but most of my clients ignore my advice to get a lawyer and some general guidance would help.
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Jun 5, 2013 13:52
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Emo Rodeo posted:Call your local courthouse that handles traffic court. Ask them about whatever agency handles traffic tickets before they are plead not guilty to. For my area, this agency is called the Centralized Infractions Bureau. They may be able to help you out. If you call them you might mention that maybe someone else took the ticket off their car and put it on yours. You didn't actually deserve that ticket, did you?
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Jun 5, 2013 14:38
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To the privacy guy: That's a pretty specific question. Since this sounds like a business you run/work for, it would be worth paying an attorney in your jurisdiction to advise you and be sure you avoid any future liability.
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Jun 5, 2013 14:39
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the milk machine posted:To the privacy guy: That's a pretty specific question. Since this sounds like a business you run/work for, it would be worth paying an attorney in your jurisdiction to advise you and be sure you avoid any future liability. It's a (Fortune 100) business I work for, and they don't care enough to check with lawyers, since it's up to the person buying it to cover their asses. We don't do installs, so it's not on us to set it up properly. That being said, some rough guidelines on what is and isn't allowed would be hugely helpful when making recommendations. Edit: We sell worldwide, so jurisdiction is a bit tricky. I'm mostly interested in US law, though.
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Jun 5, 2013 15:07
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I would not answer those questions because if you tell them the wrong thing they could potentially sue your company if they get in trouble.
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Jun 5, 2013 15:11
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KillHour posted:That being said, some rough guidelines on what is and isn't allowed would be hugely helpful when making recommendations. You should not make any recommendations to clients regarding the legality of what they intend to do, and I hope your employer has told you as much. You or your employer (or both!) could get roped into an expensive lawsuit pretty easily.
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Jun 5, 2013 15:23
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KillHour posted:It's a (Fortune 100) business I work for, and they don't care enough to check with lawyers, since it's up to the person buying it to cover their asses. We don't do installs, so it's not on us to set it up properly. You work for a big company, use the resources that are available. Write down all your concerns and questions and mail it to the legal department (there is a legal department, even if not everything is checked) and let them sort it out. Or just ask for guidelines regarding situations like you stated in NY. They have as much a stake in this as you do, even if you only do recommendations to customers. If they tell you to piss of, take it to your supervisor if you really want answers. If even that fails, gently caress 'em, time to start looking for a new job because that company is a timebomb. Draadnagel fucked around with this message at 15:26 on Jun 5, 2013 |
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Jun 5, 2013 15:24
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If it is a fortune 100 the law depart should be pretty robust.
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Jun 5, 2013 15:25
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Windfall posted:We initially realized we might have a case when all of our cars got flyered with warnings from the city, stating that the street was zoned for single family residence and that if we were in technical boarding houses or worse, then our landlords were slumlords and we could be due "100% reimbursement" for all rent ever paid. Whether or not there is legal precedent for that is a different story, but that's what the flyer claimed. Please post a picture of the flyer.
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Jun 5, 2013 15:43
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Windfall posted:Woah, those sound pretty serious, and that reminds me of suggestions I've seen that the DA prosecutes cheating landlords in some jurisdictions as well. I'm not familiar with any of these offices, nor the state BAR referral office for that matter. What's the difference / what are they each likely to do for my roommates and I? This sounds really promising, I didn't think there were really tenant advocates since more money is in landlord vs. bank stuff. It's certainly not any sort of magic bullet, but is probably worth at least looking into.
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Jun 5, 2013 17:46
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joat mon posted:Please post a picture of the flyer.  Here it is. Basically, - The stamp shows LA DBS (Department of Building and Safety) - It cites LAMC 12.03 for the definitions of the categories: http://www.amlegal.com/nxt/gateway....al:lapz_ca$anc= - Its suggestion to renters in this situation is literally "lmgtfy" I tried showing up to the LA DBS and there wasn't a lot they personally could do for enforcement (or even record retrieval unless I went downtown). They said turnaround time for online violation reporting is 400 business days. Are there any obvious differences between the DA, the AG, the BAR office, and county attorney office in my context ? Happy Thread fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Jun 5, 2013 |
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Jun 5, 2013 19:12
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Windfall posted:Are there any obvious differences between the DA, the AG, the BAR office, and county attorney office in my context ? Yes. And their advice (Google Legal Aid) is our advice. There are basically two categories of people you can go to for help: attorneys who will help you sue the landlord, and regulators who will go after the landlord. The DA, AG, County Attorney's Office, and LA DBS are all regulators/enforcement agencies. They try to make sure people are complying with the law and can fine people/bring criminal suits against them/generally do their own thing. If you go to one of these agencies, they may then go after the landlord on their own. This might shut down the apartment complex, it might result in a fine for the landlord, who knows. You might be called to testify, but you're not going to be paying them anything. But you will not get any money back yourself - the agencies are not acting on your behalf, they're acting on the public's behalf. An attorney that you hire to sue the landlord, on the other hand, will try to get you cash. You can find that attorney via the CA bar, Legal Aid, friends who know attorneys, however. You probably want a landlord/tenant attorney, possibly someone who does PI work (as stated in earlier posts). This is likely to be expensive, unless you can get someone on a contingency basis, in which case they'll take a big chunk of the recovery. Does that make more sense? Basically, report them to the regulators if you want to be spiteful but don't want to put much effort in, and hire an attorney if you want to try and sue them, but realize it's going to be super expensive and painful and will take forever and the slumlord will just keep slumlording.
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Jun 5, 2013 19:27
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Ok. I was also thinking that action by regulators could, come lawsuit time, help show a lack of credibility on his part. Might as well include the IRS in on that since they seem to think it's still him living here. Our utilities even got shut off when the ownership transferred because no renter situation was on record. So would I stand to gain a lot more money if, given that this is winnable (big assumption), I ate the up-front expense of a lawyer rather than doing a contingency thing where they get a cut? I could stand to burn a couple grand but I'm guessing it wouldn't be worth it considering how small my likely winnings are. Happy Thread fucked around with this message at 19:51 on Jun 5, 2013 |
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Jun 5, 2013 19:46
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You really need to talk to an attorney in person - the questions you've got now are getting a little too specific to be easy to answer over the internet. As far as money goes, lawsuits are expensive. We're talking tens of thousands of dollars, not just a few. It's probably worth a few hundred to chat with a few attorneys you feel comfortable with to evaluate the case, then you can judge your chance of success against how much you'll get back. Contingency fees are commonly a third of the recovery, plus costs and fees, so if you go for a contingency attorney, keep that in mind.
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Jun 5, 2013 20:00
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I don't know, but this guy seems like the type that you'll have trouble collecting from if you do get a judgement. I'd talk to a lawyer, but they'll probably tell you the same thing.
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Jun 5, 2013 20:02
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Does that mean a third plus what it would have costed anyway to pay up front? So the third entirely pays for "insurance" against losing, and nothing else?
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Jun 5, 2013 20:03
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Windfall posted:Does that mean a third plus what it would have costed anyway to pay up front? So the third entirely pays for "insurance" against losing, and nothing else? No, it's a third plus court costs, filing fees, expert witness costs, that sort of thing. Basically you just sub the third for the actual hourly rate the attorney charges you. And different attorneys do it differently; some will include costs in their chunk, some won't, some take costs out of the principal before third'ing it (effectively they eat 1/3 of costs), etc etc. It's hard to say exactly how someone will structure it. Konstantin posted:I don't know, but this guy seems like the type that you'll have trouble collecting from if you do get a judgement. I'd talk to a lawyer, but they'll probably tell you the same thing. This is a really good point.
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Jun 5, 2013 20:06
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I bet one of the way too many law schools in socal have a housing clinic. They probably can't sue him for you (but you never know), but they can point you in the right direction.
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Jun 5, 2013 20:29
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I make my clients pay costs up front.
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Jun 5, 2013 20:33
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This case is at least related to what the flyer is referring. Contacting the plaintiff's attorneys (Kane Law Firm) would be a smart start. Not endorsing them, don't know them from Adam's housecat.
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Jun 5, 2013 21:24
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Sagebrush posted:Bit of a dumb little question: if I got a parking ticket (SF bay area) but the license plate number they put down is not mine, what happens if I don't pay it? I went online to pay another ticket a while back and this citation wasn't listed; I figured they had just not yet uploaded it or something so I ignored it for a while. Found the paper citation again today, and looked at it closely and one of the license plate digits is wrong. I checked that plate online, whoever it belongs to, and the citation is open. Still nothing on my plate. If they wrote down your license plate wrong, how are they going to find you?
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Jun 6, 2013 01:36
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Location: Alberta Concern: Ex-wife making claims after no-contest divorce has been finalized. Background: In February my no-contest divorce was finalized (documents filed, ex-had been served, waiting period had elapsed, second set of documents filed, judgment mailed out and waiting period elapsed again). When my ex and I were hashing out divorce details last year we agreed via email that I would pay her a non-trivial amount of money as an equalization settlement. A few months later we had a verbal agreement that she didn’t want any money but just wanted the thing to be over faster so she could marry her new boyfriend. So a few months after that I filled out the DIY package and left the part that would list a financial settlement blank and filed and she didn’t contest during the allotted period. Now that it is June (and she has upcoming wedding expenses??) she seems to have changed her mind and is saying she’s going to take me to court for her money and use the first set of emails as evidence. I’m torn. On one hand I feel safe because the divorce itself is finalized and nothing financial is listed in the judgment. On the other hand she does have documents (emails) of me clearly saying I would pay her X-amount of money on such-and-such a schedule. I’m planning on just waiting to hear from her lawyer in any case. How strong of a case would she have taking this to court/ sending collections after me/ whatever?
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Jun 6, 2013 02:29
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Windfall posted:
New federal laws protect "bona fide tenants" who's rental property is foreclosed on. May even prevent eviction through remaining term on the lease, and through statutory notice period.
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Jun 6, 2013 05:30
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Poldarn posted:I’m planning on just waiting to hear from her lawyer in any case. How strong of a case would she have taking this to court/ sending collections after me/ whatever? My state's law is probably different than Canadian Law, but a Judgement that is final is final. Further, most states in the U.S. have laws against submitting baseless claims to collections. You're probably fine, and don't spend money on your own lawyer until you find out that she has hired her own. There isn't a goon lawyer on this site that would take her case. blarzgh fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Jun 6, 2013 |
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Jun 6, 2013 05:34
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A rare case of "no matter who said what before, if it's not in the contract you're hosed" working in favor of the poster.
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Jun 6, 2013 05:35
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KillHour posted:Quoting this from earlier since I didn't get a response. Not sure if it got looked over, or if there just aren't any lawyers in the thread that specialize in privacy rights. I'm sure the answer varies wildly between jurisdictions, but most of my clients ignore my advice to get a lawyer and some general guidance would help. as an extremely general rule, the tort of "invasion of privacy" would be the civil recourse against an undisclosed recording. In my state, the tort requires that the invader "publish" the material, causing harm to the victim. further, the information gleaned would have to be private information, and speaking the information out loud, in a public setting or to another person destroys that privacy. generally. If I were you, I'd be more concerned with accessory liability for any criminal conduct. Its a tall order to ask for all criminal codes relevant to surreptitious recordings from all 50 jurisdictions + Canada on this message board, but if you're installing equipment to aid in the commission of a criminal offense, then you're generally culpable as well. "I didn't know it was illegal" is not a defense. Be careful. Talk to a local attorney.
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Jun 6, 2013 06:01
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Javid posted:A rare case of "no matter who said what before, if it's not in the contract you're hosed" working in favor of the poster. Hmmmm... there's always the court's opt-in in the interests of justice, and a divorce settlement conducted without legal advice that severely fucks over one side might tip that threshold. Poldarn there is a small but appreciable chance that if she lawyers up she may have a claim. Once that happens you should get legal advice, but I'm 99% sure that it'll cost you more to fight over than to reach a settlement. If that's the case then you could negotiate a reduction for her being an idiot. You just have to wait and see. What I'd say to you though is to think of it like this: the money she was entitled to ask for in the divorce but didn't is a windfall for you. If she now insists on getting it and can, well poo poo, but a year ago you were willing to part with the money.
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Jun 6, 2013 09:42
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Alchenar posted:Hmmmm... there's always the court's opt-in in the interests of justice, and a divorce settlement conducted without legal advice that severely fucks over one side might tip that threshold. I don't know about severely loving her over, it's a bit over $8k and she seems to be doing well enough to buy a house and plan a wedding without it. In any event I'm just going to wait until I get a court summons or whatever the process is, and then get a lawyer of my own. My workplace has an EAP which includes legal advice so I might be able to save some money there.
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Jun 6, 2013 13:00
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Another great example of where hiring a lawyer to do X would have been a good idea.
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Jun 6, 2013 13:44
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blarzgh posted:as an extremely general rule, the tort of "invasion of privacy" would be the civil recourse against an undisclosed recording. In my state, the tort requires that the invader "publish" the material, causing harm to the victim. further, the information gleaned would have to be private information, and speaking the information out loud, in a public setting or to another person destroys that privacy. generally. Thanks for this. I'm following up with legal (Well, trying to. It's a big freaking department; figuring out who to talk to is HARD), but we're a distributor, so I don't install anything. I sell products to a reseller/integrator who will then install or sell the product to the end user. Most times, the only way I find out if something actually worked well or not is if they try to return it. Every time the subject of audio or anything else remotely sketchy comes up, I only say "I recommend consulting with a lawyer regarding this opportunity" and leave it at that, but I just want to make sure that's enough. KillHour fucked around with this message at 13:56 on Jun 6, 2013 |
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Jun 6, 2013 13:53
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Poldarn posted:I don't know about severely loving her over, it's a bit over $8k and she seems to be doing well enough to buy a house and plan a wedding without it. In any event I'm just going to wait until I get a court summons or whatever the process is, and then get a lawyer of my own. My workplace has an EAP which includes legal advice so I might be able to save some money there. Really I'm just warning you against defaulting to a 'gently caress her, I'm fighting this' attitude. Take legal advice. It's a really heavy burden to re-open a divorce settlement but if she can do it then you will come out of this happiest if you keep in the forefront of your mind that this was money you were willing to part with last year.
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Jun 6, 2013 14:02
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