texts:
First off I’d like to say this is just a hypothetical question that I thought of today.

This following scenario is to be taking place in Canada. Let’s say a guy is at his house on his private property. He’s downstairs on the main floor when someone tries to break into his house. The guy kicks down the door and has a knife in his hand. The owner of the house carries around with him an illegal hand gun which he uses to shoot which kills the person who broke into his house.

My understanding is that because it’s on his private property and because he felt in danger for his life that it wouldn’t have been using excessive force and it would be self defence. Very quickly the police would realize that the firearm he used to shoot and kill person was illegal in Canada.

Would the man end up not getting charged with anything, or because it was with an illegal weapon would it become murder or something similar. I’m also assuming he’d get charged with a crime for having the illegal gun. Is that correct or wrong??

Thanks in advance


texts: Are "pig toilets" or their produce illegal anywhere in the USA?

texts:
I am interested in history and living off the land, and when I watched a documentary about ancient toilets, I learned about something called "pig toilets". Essentially, they're a toilet stall built over a pig pen so your excrement drops through a hole inside where the pigs eat it. Remote rural areas in Africa and Asia sometimes have them, and allegedly it makes the meat taste very good.

To be clear, I am not asking because I have plans to do this, but I am morbidly interested regardless. Obviously there are issues concerning whether this is humane or sanitary, but I'm curious whether this would be illegal anywhere whether because of some strange law specifically covering feeding animals feces, or if the FDA might ban meat products from animals having been fed feces.

Is it illegal anywhere in the USA to feed pigs human feces or sell their meat afterwards? Are there any other reasons why a pig toilet might be illegal?


texts: To what extent can the Australian government deport people on temporary visas for breaking lockdown restrictions?

texts:
From Immigration Minister Alex Hawke vows to deport temporary visa holders who breach COVID rules

The Minister said he had “asked the Department of Home Affairs to work
closely with NSW agencies and officials to identify anybody who has
been causing trouble of disobeying public health orders.”
“If they’re a temporary visa holder, we will cancel their visa.”
“This far into the pandemic, there is no excuse at this point,” he
said.
“Australians are tired of it and people want to make sure that
everyone is doing the right things.”

The Labor opposition has criticised the announcement, but the criticism was on the grounds that there were logistical problems with deportation, rather than on legal grounds. From Australian immigration minister's threat to deport partying backpackers dismissed as 'empty threat'

“Alex Hawke may have only been in the job for a few days, but he
should at least be aware that his government has had enough trouble
deporting a few convicted criminals, let alone hundreds of
backpackers,” Keneally told Guardian Australia.
“It’s hard to see how Mr Hawke could actually carry out his threat
given Department of Home Affairs bureaucrats are already overwhelmed
with 300,000 people on bridging visas, 100,000 waiting for partner
visas and 150,000 waiting for their citizenship application to be
processed.”

Given current legislation, can the federal government deport someone for breaking lockdown restrictions, and can it be done solely based on a decision by the Department of Home Affairs, or do they need to be found guilty of a criminal offence?


texts: Could anyone translate crystal clearly an American radio's copyright department's e-mail?

texts:
This is the continuation of the prior question.

I had confessed prior to receiving their ( NPR ( kindly see the above question. )), very specifically, having had revealed our homepage and the their materials that had been posted before, such as like in this e-mail.

  Message: I am a director of a company, in English, "In Home Teaching Agency XXX." I've been listening to your Yokosuka navy base station ( I assume it would be so. ) since around 1997 and I enjoyed yours and since I always heard "support for NPR..." and you've been saying you are a "public radio". Granted, so that with that reason above, and after having read your "material" chapter, I was not able to comprehend for 100% sure if I had breached your copyright. We already uploaded used your products such as here http://www.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
  without your permission, so if I had breached your copyright, just kindly let me know and I will delete them. This is a blog, but I am almost 95% sure I had infringed your copyright. However, can' we "compensate" for the possible breach by paying certain amount of due? And also, we would like to ask your permission to use your products even with certain amount of payment.

  Sincerely

And their copyright department replied,

  Unfortunately NPR does not allow other websites to post our content, nor do we allow our material to be translated. You are welcome to link to NPR content from your page, along with a description of the report, if you would like.

  Here are the rules for linking:

  (from NPR's Terms of Use page at NPR.org)

  NPR encourages and permits links to content on the NPR Services. However, NPR is an organization committed to the highest journalistic ethics and standards and to independent, noncommercial journalism, both in fact and in appearance. Therefore, the linking should not (a) suggest that NPR promotes or endorses any third party's causes, ideas, web sites, products or services, or (b) use NPR content for inappropriate commercial purposes or in any way that is unlawful or harmful to any other person or entity. We reserve the right to withdraw permission for any link.

  I hope this meets your needs.

  Thanks,

Actually, their message didn't "meet" my requirement.

I wanted an answer such as "Yes you can, or No, you can not."

Or

Such as "You can use our content should you pay XXX dollars per the product."

Could anyone guide me about their e-mail please?

Thank you in advance.


texts: In the UK can a job search be limited to women only

texts: As a spin off from this question on Academia.SE, under the Equality Act of 2010 can a UK employer limit a job to only women? That question has additional aspects that are not relevant to my question. Specifically, I am interested in faculty position at a university and not edge conditions like female sports players. For comparison, in Australia there have been women-only faculty positions.


texts: Can one reasonably respond to a bogus employer demand letter without a lawyer?

texts:
A strange situation has came to me recently. Me and my former employer have not parted on the best of terms, and a few months later, I have received a letter from an attorney representing my former employer, which demands payment for damages, and the listed reason is a complete non sequitur and feels bogus, for example done as spite to waste my time and/or money.

Is there any resource for individuals to respond to this type of demand letter, before a lawyer is contacted, perhaps to request clarification, or must all interaction be through a lawyer after receiving the first letter?

Location is USA


texts: When can my wife apply for US passport (she has a green card)?

texts:
My wife is a citizen of Ukraine.  She came over on a K-1 visa and we married.  She had a 2 year green card and now has a 10 year green card.  The question is this, how soon can she apply to become a US citizen?

I heard that it was 2 years, but have not found any documentation on this (at least nothing that is specific to this case and on a government website.)


texts: Is it extortion if someone says they're going to compete with someone in business?

texts: Say someone mows lawns for a lawn care company they tell the owner they feel like they deserve a raise and if they don't get one they will quit and start their own competing lawn care company. Is that extortion?


texts: Neighbour has extended over the boundary of a potential house I was looking to buy

texts:
So having initially looked at a house I found that everything was in good order and the seller seem genuine in respect everything being able to answer my question and to provide the relevant documents if requested.

Having gone back home and reviewed the listing, I noticed that the neighbours extended wall comes past the boundary and covers the potential house's side entrance (back end leading to the garden). So essentially...when you look at the side entrance from the front of the house, it doesn't reach the back entrance of the garden... You just see the neighbours brick wall... So the side entrance only to leads to a side door only (which the seller has currently blocked - 'as they don't use the side entrance').

I've been told that boundary lines stated on the land registry website (UK) doesn't specially specify boundaries but I fully suspect that either the neighbour has built on the other side after making a payment or they've just built it and risked it... Current sellers have been in the property for 12 years.

Any advice please?


texts: Should I sign apartment condition form before inspecting apartment?

texts:
I am in the process of signing a lease on an apartment. Included in the lease documents is the standard Boston, MA, USA apartment condition form.

https://www.lrgboston.com/pdfs/Apartment%20Condition%20Statement%20Form.pdf

The form says we have 15 days after move in to return the form, completed and signed. Our move in date isn't for a few months, and we haven't had time to fully inspect the apartment, so I don't want to sign the condition statement yet (plus, the condition could change!).

The landlord wants us to sign it now along with the lease because "there have been issues where the tenants do not sign [the condition form on time] and claim they didn't know the form had to be returned within 15 days." We have in an email from the realtor that when we move in we will be allowed to fill out the form.

Should I sign this? My thinking is that I should not sign, because modifying a signed document after the signing date seems like forgery, but should ask if I can initial the page next to the opening paragraph to show that I have read and understand it must be returned within 15 days of move-in.

Would this work?


texts: Letter of notice for seizure of car in UK

texts:
I have 2 friends in the UK.

Friend A has a valid driving license, Car, Mot and insurance

Friend B has no driving license

Friend A let friend B drive his car whilst friend A sat in the passenger seat and they got pulled over by the police. They where both drunk and Friend B got arrested for driving without insurance and a valid driving license and also driving whilst drunk.

Friend A's car got seized by the police as he was unable to drive it home, The only documentation the police gave to friend A when the car was seized is a business card for the company that seized it.

To my understanding the police have to issue you a notice of seizure (when you are present) that they have taken your car, how and where to pick it up and also that there is an appeal process. The police did none of these things and friend A had to spend an entire day calling several different numbers (police and company who seized the car) to try and piece together the process of retrieving his car.

Has friend A got any chance of disputing the cost of the seizure as the police didn't issue the notification?

Also what consequences could Friend A face for knowingly allowing friend B to drive his (Friend A's) car whilst he was drunk and didn't hold a valid license or insurance?


texts: How can I safely provide a free online service?

texts:
I am developing a website for secure sharing credentials. Similar to https://www.cloak.sh/ .

How can I protect myself and hopefully eliminate all my liability, while still providing a service "without warranty"?

No user data would be sold or anything like that. A truly free service as long as the costs are low. I would put all best efforts into make the most secure solution, etc. However, I can't discount the possibility of there being a bug, or getting hacked, or something that otherwise compromises the data users have uploaded.

My concern is I could see a scenario where an employee unbeknownst to their company shares sensitive information using my website. My website is then compromised, or the company find out some other way, and attempts to go after me for damages or something.

Basically, I want to run this website and provide this service as a free best-effort offering, without the possibility of it affecting my life negatively. Is this even possible? Is this a reasonable concern?

My only steps so far have been to register an LLC and all work would be done under the LLC to shield my personal life from any issues.


texts: Texas, USA - Is it illegal to have an applicant do work for your company as a "Test?"

texts:
I've got a college grad I am mentoring and he just drove for 2 days, to apply for a job. The person he met with wanted him to take a programming test, and instructed him to create a website to show his skills. He spent 3 or 4 days doing so, submitted it, and then was told, that they actually wanted him to update their company website as part of their "hiring test"
I suggested he look into small claims court for compensation.
I believe it would be illegal to get a prospective candidate to do actual company work, that hiring party uses commercially, for free, as a hiring "test." Am I wrong?
I don't know where to look to find state law on such a matter. Any relevant code?
We are in TX USA. So is the employer.


texts: Suspicious Demand Letter - Can I Request Proof of Representation?

texts:
I am the trustee for a a special needs trust set up on behalf of a family member.

Historically, other family members have used deception or manipulation to get the beneficiary of the trust to release the assets of the trust for their own gain, potentially in breach of relevant law.

I have received a demand letter from a lawyer requesting information, claiming to be working on behalf of the beneficiary. However due to the previous actions of the other family members, I am suspicious of whether this lawyer truly does represent the beneficiary.

May I request a copy of an engagement letter, or some other document, proving to me this lawyer is working on behalf of the beneficiary and not the other family members?


texts: Dental Billing Insurance for 3 times the amount for a crown than quoted to the patient, Legal or not?

texts:
The patient is given a quote for a crown total of $900.00.
The patient paid the deductible and her quoted portion of $450.00 up front.  When the patient received an EOB from the insurance $1600.00 had been charged to the insurance for the same crown. When questioning the amount, the office manager stated that he can charge any amount he wants to the insurance company.  The doctor stated that the billing is out of her hands.  The insurance company states that the patient should not have gone out of network and it is out of their hands. IS THIS LEGAL?  OR THIS INSURANCE FRAUD?
Not only was the bill to insurance excessive but it also used up $700.00 more of the patients yearly maximum than originally quoted which means she will not be able to complete other dental treatment needed.


texts: What is a court order? How is it different than a settlement?

texts:
I had brought a case against my ex-landlord. One of the claims was he wouldn't return some property of mine. In the settlement agreement, he said he would make available for pickup my property. He did not, and has been stringing me along ever since.

The settlement was neither reached by ourselves, or through small claims court. It was reached through the Civil Resolution Tribunal which is something new. CRT doesn't enforce orders and leaves it up to the Provincial Court. However I'm not sure if this is applicable in my case because a settlement was reached and there was no order. The settlement was reached in the "Facilitated Phase" and the case manager drew up the contract.

I asked them what happens next and their reply was " there was no order issued you would need to refile". What is meant by this? What's an order? How's it different than a settlement agreement? When I "refile" can I make new claims (such as cost for starting a new action, time spent trying to pickup belongings)?

In this previous question I asked, there was talk about how settlements are different if they are reached in or out of court. I do not get what difference this makes?


texts: Does The "Right To Be Forgotten" Include Sent Emails?

texts:
Say that you maintain an email service, and person A, sends an email to person B  who is also on your email service. If person A deletes their account would that mean that person B no longer can view the email sent by person A?
It being an email means that the information of who the message was meant to will always be part of the email's metadata. From a naive understand of GDPR, it looks like the only recourse would be delete the email from person B's inbox, but that doesn't sound right either.
From the perspective of person B, the email in their inbox, is an email "they own", it's addressed to them so their personal information is on it too.
What exactly are you supposed to do in this situation?


texts: Appying for positions on the federal bench?

texts:
In the U.S.A. when a federal judgeship is vacant, do candidates apply to the president for it, or must they simply wait for him to ask them? Does that include vacancies on the Supreme Court?

(Things have changed since 1791, but I don't know whether that's one of them. If I'm not mistaken, I read that Nathaniel Chipman applied to George Washington for the position of judge of the newly created federal court in Vermont.)


texts: Are employers required to report intellectual property theft to the owner of the IP?

texts:
Let’s say company A hires an employee from company B. Unbeknownst to company A, the employee steals IP when they leave company B and incorporates it in their work for company A. If later company A becomes aware of the actions of the employee and that some of their own IP is based off of company B’s IP, are they required to inform company B of the employee’s actions?
Ex: An employee brings a design model from their previous employer and includes it in work for their new employer. A coworker discovers the true origin of the cad model and informs a supervisor. At this point the stolen cad model has been used to build off of and the employer has profited from the stolen IP. What is the new employer required to do if anything?


texts: Refusal to terminate tenancy with months notice

texts:
I am renting property in UK and today tried to give my months notice, however letting agency refused to accept it claiming that they can only accept it on 25th - day when agreement started, and that this is in my contract. What this means that I would have to pay for period of 15 extra days while not living in a property...

EDIT: as per comment

  The tenant may terminate the tenancy by giving 1 months notice in writing to the agent on the 25th day to vacate 1 month later on the 24th day of the month

Another thing I just realized that 25 of Dec is Christmas and I don't think they work on 25th! Can they really do this?

EDIT2:
My tenancy originally was 6 months and this period has passed, I didn't sigh anything after does this change anything?

Are there any regulations around this? Does months notice means month+ or is it actually a month?


texts: If Linked-In loses the web scraping lawsuit to hiQ, will that mean that other companies like Google will also be open for public webscraping?

texts: To my understanding, the lawsuit against hiQ from Linked-In is about being able to scrape publicly available information from sites. Would that generalize so that if Linked-In loses the web scraping lawsuit to hiQ, other companies like Google will also be open for public webscraping since they have public facing results and data?


texts: Being charged with driving while impaired, in the state of Minnesota? While prescribed desoxyn

texts: Or while being prescribed desoxyn by a doctor,  Is there a limit of methamphetamine in one's system that can allow  one to drive and not be charged with driving while impaired, in the state of Minnesota?  Kind of like .08 for alcohol. And or if it is not impairing judgment .


texts: Court referring to resources barely available to the general public

texts:
As a pro se litigant I have come across a judge referring in their minutes to a resource which is barely available to the general public. It is a loose leaf written by lawyers for lawyers on peculiarities of civil procedure which is constantly updated.

The cheapest option to get access to it is to pay $2k yearly subscription to the publisher. This price itself is not even publicly available. The publisher's website states "POA" (price on application), and I had to submit two POA requests plus a support request to finally get the offer.

I also tried public libraries. Some have that resource but outdated, and they no longer subscribe to it.

It is understandable that:

Pro se litigation is not very common; and
Lawyers are all subscribed to those kind of resources.

Still, representing yourself in court is a right, as is the right of natural justice. Does this not mean that there should be a right of access to whatever resources the judicial decisions that affect you refer to? Or would that $2k subscription fall into the category of litigation costs that I would be able to claim if I win?

Alternatively, could I perhaps seek that, instead of referring to a high-paywall resource, the judge refers to whatever underlying cases/laws the referenced provision is based on?

Answers for any English-centric jurisdiction are welcome, though specifically interested in New Zealand.


texts: Can I legally trap someone on my property that has committed a crime?

texts:
Let's say that someone comes onto your property with the intent to commit a crime. Not only that; let's say that you suspected this person would come to commit a crime, and you created a one-way door that traps them in a room when entered. You essentially set up a non lethal "booby trap".

Is this legal? Perhaps you didn't force them into the trap, but they wondered into it by themselves.


texts: Does ICE have the legal authority to arrest illegal immigrants who came into hospitals due to COVID-19?

texts:
I am wondering if ICE has the legal authority to immediately arrest illegal immigrants after they have received medical care at U.S. hospitals for COVID-19. I am referring to people who voluntarily came into U.S. hospitals to receive this medical treatment.

Moreover, if ICE does have the legal authority to do this, do the mayors of sanctuary cities currently have a legal right to intervene to stop ICE from arresting these particular illegal immigrants? I am thinking in particular about the mayors of cities throughout the state of California.


texts: How much easier is it to win "out of pocket" damages than "opportunity" damages in a tort case?

texts:
Plaintiff is an athlete that was drafted out of college (or even high school) by a major league ball team. He has just finished working his way through the "minors" and was promoted to the major league roster (but has not played a major league game) when he is injured by the defendant, and is hospitalized. It takes $100,000 more to bring the plaintiff back to "normal" than his insurance will cover. Worse, "normal" does not mean restoring his former athletic ability (e.g. a pitcher whose fastball was formerly 100 mph now tops at 70 mph).

There are two types of damages. The first is out of pocket damages, which can be proved by the hospital bills, netted against the insurance payments, or what I call "hard" evidence. The second is the "opportunity" loss of what could have been a lucrative athletic career. Proving the latter might involve taking the comparing the athlete's "pedigree" to that of other, comparable players historically at a similar stage of development, and following their careers forward. In any event, it would involve all kinds of expert testimony and a few speculations, or what I call "soft" evidence.

Assume that there are no evidentiary issues regarding the defendant as the cause of the injury itself, only the value of the injury caused.

I would guess that the "out of pocket" damages would be (relatively) "easy" to prove in court, while the "opportunity loss" of an athletic career would be much harder. To what extent is this true?


texts: Is it legal to view a site's directories/files/bare index that contain sensitive information?

texts:
I've been getting into cyber security and learned there are certain sites that have their directory browsing enabled, like a URL that contains the files/folders of a site that contain content, which means you can go back a few directories and possibly see stuff like photos of content that you would have had to pay for browsing the site normally or even sensitive information like photos of user's ID's.
Is it even legal to view those files (U.S), since anyone with a browser and the right URL can access them?


texts: Illinois Standard Marital Interrogatories

texts:
Illinois Supreme Court allows for up to 30 questions to be asked in Interrogatories. However it's not clear what constitutes a question.

The Standard form appears to have 27 questions, but there seems to be confusion around if the subpart questions are considered standalone questions or not.

I've been unable to find any information on the production of the Standard form and anything else related to how to interpret if a question is a discrete subpart or not.

It seems odd to me that the Standard form would be typeset with 27 enumerated questions, if that didn't mean that the subparts are not discrete, thus allowed within the enumerated question.


texts: Is this opinion by the Wage & Hour Division, disallowing fines/salary deductions for lost & damaged property, generally applicable to US employers?

texts:
FLSA2006-7 is a letter from the Wage & Hour Division (WHD) to an unnamed employer, published on the Department of Labor's website. It is an opinion on the employer's proposed policy "to impose a fine on its exempt employees who damage equipment they use in performing their jobs, such as cellular telephones and laptop computers." The opinion is pretty unequivocal that this is not permissible (emphasis added):

  [A]ny employer policy that requires deductions from the salaries of its exempt employees to pay for the cost of lost or damaged tools or equipment issued to them would violate the salary basis requirement, thereby necessitating an evaluation under 29 C.F.R. § 541.603 to determine the effect of the improper deduction.  It would not matter whether an employer implements such a policy by making periodic deductions from employee salaries, or by requiring employees to make out-of-pocket reimbursements from compensation already received.  Either approach would result in employees not receiving their predetermined salaries when due on a “guaranteed” basis or “free and clear” and would produce impermissible reductions in compensation because of the quality of the work performed under the terms of the employer’s policies, contrary to 29 C.F.R. § 541.602(a).

(It also notes that such policies may be impermissible for non-exempt employees, if the deduction would drop pay below minimum wage or overtime floors.)

However, it seems that employers are still instituting policies such as these. For example, in a question from 2015 on The Workplace.SE the asker (from Utah) states that they had just been required to sign a new contract:

  The contract states, among other things, that if the employee loses their key, they will have to pay the whole cost of re-keying each door which the lost key worked on. The cost per door is estimated at $100.

This kind of deduction for lost property seems to be exactly the kind forbidden in the WHD opinion, but none of the answers to that question mention it or state that the policy is legally problematic—the accepted answer specifically states that the policy is legal. So I'm wondering whether the opinion is not actually binding (other than, presumably, on the employer to whom the letter was originally directed), or if it is not applicable in this specific type of case for some reason (assuming that the OP was salaried). Or, of course, if it is "the law" but just not well known.

On the second possibility, if Utah law explicitly allowed for this kind of deduction, would that trump the federal regulation? I know that minimum wage laws are generally interpreted in the employee's favor when there is a state/federal difference, but is that true for this kind of employment regulation?


texts: Can a private individual issue receipts?

texts:
In certain jurisdictions such as Singapore, sole proprietorships must be registered. In these jurisdictions, can a private individual issue receipts?

Perhaps a more specific legal question is: where does the authority to issue receipts come from? Does it rest exclusively with the recipient? If governmental authorities are permitted, by law, to regulate (1) the form and substance of receipts, (2) who is authorized to issue receipts - to what extent may they do so?

All this is assuming the individual makes a sufficiently low turnover that we can ignore VAT/GST.


texts: Landlord's responsibility (or lack thereof) for mould growth

texts:
In short, my question is: Are tenants liable for any mould damage to the house?

The reason I ask is because I am currently renting (along with six others) student accommodation, and the letting agency have send a number of emails recently to warn us about mould and to tell us about the way to reduce it - fair enough, no one wants mould!

However, in these emails they say that we will be held responsible for any damage from mould and will subsequently have funds removed from our deposit.

I have two issues. Firstly, I am unsure that tenants are legally responsible for mould, since it is fundamentally down to the house and the lack of ventilation systems (I know for a fact that for little over £1000 systems can be installed in the loft that will near enough guarantee mould prevention throughout the house - my uncle works in the industry). So can someone let me know this, citing any government statements if possible.

Secondly, and quite an off-topic issue, are landlords even allowed to take money from the deposit without the tenants permission?


texts: Cancel accounts someone else created using my email address

texts:
I have somebody that uses my email address to sign up for many services.

Often I get an order confirmation email with this person's actual street address, or other more private pieces of information, which is really scary.

Is there any legal problem with me logging in to the 3rd party services and canceling the accounts? When online services are concerned it seems that the email address is the more certain way to uniquely identify users, but I fear that some of these services, especially those that have this other person's credit card information, could actually consider this a "hack" into account access.

I have no intention to maliciously login as them and make additional purchases or to steal their personal information (even though I know much more than I want to know about this person already thanks to the frequent emails).

Would I be within my legal right to close down these accounts?


texts: Can a company safely rely on a government agency announcement that a law will not be enforced?

texts:
Intermittently, a government agency, possibly in response to an executive order, will officially announce that some law or policy won't be enforced during some time period.  Some such announcements seem to actually encourage/praise such lawbreaking (e.g., see FDA hand sanitizer example below).
Suppose I operate a business and violate such a law.  If the agency later announced, "We are rescinding our non-enforcement policy.  Further, we intend to prosecute violations which occurred while the non-enforcement policy was in effect."
Would a business have any protection from such enforcement?
Examples:
https://www.fda.gov/media/136289/download

FDA does not intend to take action against firms that prepare alcohol-based hand sanitizers for consumer use and for use as health care personnel hand rubs for the duration of the public health emergency [...]

https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/01/19/ocr-announces-notification-enforcement-discretion-use-online-web-based-scheduling-applications-scheduling-covid-19-vaccination-appointments.html

Today, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it will exercise its enforcement discretion and will not impose penalties for violations of the HIPAA Rules [...]


texts: I want to publish a book using a brand name in the title

texts:
I want to write a book called  Confessions of a Lyft Driver.
This book will be about that drivers sex life as he picks up women during his normal course of his Lyft driving.  Would this be a violation of lyft  which also has the trademark to that name?
Or would be perfectly acceptable.

Or would I be better using a different title?

I am in the USA


texts: What is my responsibility related to GDPR as a Freelance developer

texts:
I'm a Software Engineer, and I've just taken my first "side gig" job in hopes of becoming Freelance one day. I'm based in the UK. My Client told me exactly what they want, and i've built it. However, I am now growing concerned about the accountability I have under the GDPR. I believe my Client is unaware of how strict GDPR is (personally I was until I started my research today).
So, it seams that to be GDPR compliant, i'd need to add several features to the software. The problem is, these are of course features the Client has not asked me for. I will highlight it to them, but if they say no (As, it might sound like me just asking to write more code for more money), what can I do? If I am liable, then I'm let with no choice but to cancel the job.
The software is a CRM for B2B email and telephone marketing, but it holds the information of persons who work at the target businesses. I have an "unsubscribe" feature for the emails, but that's all.
I hope someone can help, or point me towards it.
Thanks


texts: Is there a country that legally requires parents to donate blood to their children?

texts:
The question is, as indicated in the title, whether there's a law anywhere in the world that would require parents - explicitly or implicitly - to donate blood (or even organs) to their children if

They are compatible donors,
The child's life is in critical danger, and
The parent will, with reasonable likelihood, not suffer any damage

I would be surprised if there was an explicit law on that. If it could be proved, however, that such a procedure (e.g. drawing blood) would not place any undue burden on the parents, I wonder whether it would fall under some form of an obligation to care for your child.

I also doubt that there's a lot of court cases out there where the parents outright refused and got sued, but I don't know whether there is something out there.

We are of course operating under the assumption that the child is a minor so that the parents are legally obliged to ensure their well-being.

Even if there is no definite answer out there, substantiated opinions are appreciated.


texts: What does limited or unlimited mean in a license? For example how is a limited license to use a program or specific source code, different than an unlimited one?


texts:
An advance payment is unearned per se, they didn't work for it, they were just given it. Why reiterate that is is unearned?

The way I understand it is that somebody is given an advance payment but did nothing to earn it afterwards, for example it says here

  "...for failure to promptly return unearned advance payments of fees after Hammond did not take reasonable steps to advance Mrs. McBratney's case."

Movant v. Maxwell Lee HAMMOND

Otherwise it is a fine example of tautology.


texts:
Can a website photo be an "other assignee duty" for an employee?  I have a vendor who is coming to take photos of us using their software, they will share their photos with us for our website as well.  It's a good opportunity to have professional photography on our website.  It would be during the normal workday while everyone is "on the clock"

Can an employee say that they cannot be asked to participate in photos.  Can they decline with legal protection just like they can decline to contribute to my political cause or they can decline to participate in the company picnic (unpaid) after hours?

I have had people say that because of google images, a victim of domestic violence could be located at my office so I cannot require participation or appearance in a website photo like I can assign them an additional task directly related to their regular.

Whether you SHOULD compel someone to participate in the photo are two different things.  The question is whether you CAN assign someone to have their photo taken for promotional materials including a website is the question.

THanks Andrew


texts: How would I be able to find city ordinances online for: Millbrook, AL 36054, USA ?


texts:
How can I submit a list of forbidden words and paying for it to make it officially forbidden for anyone to talk about it to me directly?

This could help people suffering from an injury.


texts: Could a wealthy person legally pay an elected official to resign?

texts:
Aside from morals and civic duty, what's stopping wealthy people from paying elected officials they do not like to resign?

Would doing so be illegal in the United States?

To a certain extent this already happens, no? A company could offer an official a sufficiently hefty salary to resign office and take employment.


texts: Could the Swedish government require a VPN to start logging user activity?

texts:
This question is basically the same as this question, but for Sweden instead of the United States

Could the US government force a VPN provider to start logging?

If the government asked a VPN that was operating in Sweden to start logging user data, would the VPN operator be obligated to do so?


texts: Can I do a small claims suit against someone that moved out of the country

texts:
We had both agreed that the defendant would sell me a car on a given date. He then contacted me 4 days before the date to tell me that he was going to be unable to give me the car on the set date, and whether I could wait two weeks.

I then proceeded to tel him that we had a legal arrangement on the date and that I already had been renting a car until said date, and that I wouldn't even consider changing the date.

He then told me that he didn't like my attitude and lack of flexibility and that he would not sell me the car at all.

I've decided to settle it in a small claims, but I found out that he doesn't work here anymore and he moved overseas.

Is it worth my time to look for him?

Thank you


texts: Can a road dedicated to public use be un-dedicated?

texts:
I live in a neighborhood with private roads (USA, NC).  The roads were "dedicated" to the public use so that police, fire, trash, mail, etc. services could use them as needed.
Since the roads are private, the homeowners pay to maintain them. We have a couple of cul-de-sac's where future expansion was anticipated, but never happened and the way property has developed in the 30 years since this was all planned, they could not be used for expansion any more.
For these unused, but "dedicated" roads, can they be destroyed?  That is, could we dig up the asphalt and just let nature take it over?  And if we did that, would we have to "un-dedicate" the road first?
Also, if we wanted to make the roads fully private so we could restrict all traffic except homeowners and enumerated 3rd parties, that is, keep the general public out, but still allow utility and emergency services, can we un-dedicate the roads thus revoking the "dedicated for public use" clause?
The document is titled "Statement of Dedication of Streets and Roads for Public Use by an Individual" and was originally signed by the developer when the subdivision was cut.
The meat of the document (less signatures, notary space, etc.) is:

Transcription:

That we freely offer, grant, and dedicate to those who may purchase said property or any part thereof and to the general public, the use of the streets and roads shown on said plat of property for public use. That we freely offer, grant, and dedicate to those who may rent or purchase said property or any part thereof, and to their invitees or guests and to all government service vehicles and general service vehicles, such as fire, police, garbage, mail, etc. the use of the private drives as shown on said plat of property. That we shall be responsible for maintenance of the private drives as shown on said plat unless we require by recorded covenant running with the land the subsequent owners to be responsible.


texts:
I have developed a program that scans your media folder, finds the lyrics of each song online and saves them.

To do this, my program manages to find the website where the lyrics is posted (I use several websites),extracts it and saves it. In a particular case it happened that (after too many fast requests) one website banned me for about 6 months.

Now my question is: is the program illegal? I know that websites have "Terms of Service" written in such a way that they can ban anyone for pretty much any reason, so if they don't want me to do that they could probably ban me. But from a legal point of view, is it illegal?

Some more information:

Lyrics are not taken from the original website of the author of the song, hence
it's not clear that this websites can claim copyright on the material
The lyrics are only saved locally and not
published anywhere else
Right now the program is still only on my pc
and no one else used it.
Some of these sites are located in the US,
I'm from Europe

What do you think?


texts: What license pertains to the commit history of a open source repository?

texts:
Asking since some people on Stack Overflow recommended this is a more appropriate area.

  If someone scrapes the commit history of a repository, does this data have a license? Or does the repository license apply to every aspect?

For those not familiar with how open source projects work:

A repository is the main project with some license applied to it.

When a developer changes some code, they can submit their code, and if approved it will be added.

A commit is a small change of the codebase thats submitted.

The question here is if a company scrapes the timestamps of the commits, does the license of the codebase apply to this data?


texts: Are NFL athletes employees of their teams?

texts: Are NFL athletes employees of their teams, or are they contractors? Are their civil protections similar to a normal person working an office job?


texts: What are the implications of US LLC state and foreign entities?

texts:
Let's say I'm a confetti enthusiast. Confetti for parties, confetti for halloween decorations, confetti for everything. In this hypothetical example, I want to sell confetti online, and in person when I have the opportunity to make sales. My partners and I make the confetti in Texas, and we sell it online across the country and in person in, say, New Jersey and Connecticut.

If we were to incorporate Wonderful Confetti LLC in Delaware, and I did actually check it's available — for the sake of the question of course — could I manufacture my confetti in Texas, sell it in person and through local retailers in New Jersey and Connecticut, and online through platforms like Shopify across the country? Would I need to register as a foreign entity in the states of manufacture or sale, if all of us confetti enthusiasts are partial owners and not employees? Where's the line?


texts: Can an author of an app use logos that belong to auto manufacturers?

texts:
Consider a mobile app related to automobiles. In order to identify the make of a vehicle within the app (in list views, menus, and buttons, for example), the author might choose to use logos that belong to car manufacturers (Ford, Toyota, etc.)

Would this hypothetical use of logos scenario implicate trademark law? Would it be trademark infringement?


texts: Sister is living rent free in inherited property. Should she pay rent to other sibling?

texts:
My father died in Jan 2015.

My sister moved in with my mother Feb. 2015 to care for her.

In April, 2015 my sister sold her home. She was now mortgage free.

The following month, my mother added my sister on to the Title of her home, which she owned free and clear. Even though the will states that we have equal share of all assets, I live 3000 miles away so my mom thought it made the most sense to just add my sister on.

My mom died in Oct 2015.

My sister still lives there, mortgage-free and rent-free, and has no immediate plans to move out.

I'm ashamed to admit this, but until recently, it had never even occurred to me how much she has been benefiting financially all this time and how much I have been losing. For 2 years, she has not had to pay rent or a mortgage payment.

I believe she should be paying me an amount every month that is half of the fair market rent, which is $1950. And since she should have been paying that to me for the last 2 years, that total should be deducted from her share of the proceeds when the house is sold.

I need to know what the law says about this before I talk to her.


texts: Once a judge (NJ) has ruled for a change of venue (to FL) can you appeal? Or other?

texts: I worked remotely in NJ as a worker/independent contractor for a company based in FL. I filed a complaint in NJ (commissions owed). They filed a motion for dismissal and change of venue to FL. The change of venue was granted yesterday. Are there available options (hardship or other) to fight or appeal that granted motion?


texts: Conditions that denote as true (allowed) or false (not allowed) for a written law

texts:
What is the general rule law professors teach in law school for determining whether something is allowed or not allowed, based on written law?

When I read any piece of legislation, I sometimes wonder if the politicians understand logic.  I am a software engineer, not a lawyer.  Which is probably a good thing, otherwise I'd be confused out of my mind.  Law is definitely not a science, because there are so many conditions in written legislation that conflict with one another!  So if a software engineer tried to develop software to make a decision for any situation based on written law, the computer would start smoking from confusion.

Is it safer to assume something is not allowed until you find enough evidence that it's allowed?  Or is it safer to assume something is allowed until you find enough evidence that it's not allowed?

Or do you look at the beginning sentences of a given piece of written legislation, and use the rest of the written law as exceptions to the rule stated in the beginning?

Comparison:

In software, whatever condition is met first, that's the path chosen!  So you can think of an order of precedence happening.  Conditions/Laws at the top of the source code should be most specific, if they are identical conditions/laws found lower in the source code.  But the order in which you read written law probably doesn't work that way?

  condition 1: dog is black, dog is friendly ==> pet the dog

  condition 2: dog is black, dog is mean ==> don't pet the dog

  condition 3: dog is black, dog is friendly, dog is quiet ==> condition
  never met, because it's more specific than conditions above with same
  criteria, plus extra criteria

  condition 4: dog is black, dog it friendly, dog is quiet, dog has fluffy hair ==> condition never met


texts: Am I allowed to freely use content included in the D&D SRD?

texts:
Are there any restrictions on using content included under the D&D System Reference Document?

As a hypothetical, if I were writing a fantasy book, could I freely throw in a Yrthak or Gray Render with no restrictions?

I'm thinking of publishing a supplement for another RPG under their Open Game License that includes creatures in the D&D SRD, which has all relevant information in its first pages.


texts: Can the US President exercise a power via Twitter?

texts:
My understanding is that senior government officials usually exercise powers by recording their decision to do so, such as by sending an email or signing a piece of paper. For example, the US President might sign a printed copy of an Act or a proposed executive order. That Act or order would usually be subsequently published, and in some cases the law requires the decision to be publicised in a particular way after it is made (e.g. published in the Federal Register). However I am not sure if there are any legal restrictions on the procedure used to initially record the actual making of the decision.

On 23 August 2019, the US President tweeted that 'American companies are hereby ordered' to do something, and retweeted the tweet on the official 'POTUS' Twitter account. It's not clear to me whether this tweet was intended to constitute a formal order or was referring to a separate document which would contain the formal order.

In any case, this made me wonder (as a general proposition) whether it would be possible to dispense with any other more formal document, and just issue the order via Twitter. For example, could the President pardon someone by tweeting 'XYZ is hereby pardoned for all her crimes against the United States'?

Can the US President exercise their powers by tweeting?


texts: What countries blindly protect their own citizens from extradition?

texts:
I was surprised to learn (in the background for the recent
protests) that a Hong Kong resident can murder someone in Taiwan
and go back to Hong Kong with no consequences
(by the way, the murderer is actually imprisoned now in Hong Kong for a few years because he used the victim's money in Hong Kong, but I want to consider a
hypothetical case for this question where he took no money).

Since USA has no extradition treaty with Taiwan (though USA has many more extradition treaties than Hong Kong has), could a USA resident do the same thing without penalty?  In other words, even with proof sent from Taiwan and a confession, would USA really not be
allowed to send the murderer to Taiwan or somehow penalize him?  This is hard to believe, so I wonder if there's a special law to deal with this in USA similar
to the law being considered in Hong Kong.  I have reviewed this similar question for a less serious crime which makes me think the USA state might be important, so assume California.

Also, every extradition treaty I have read is retroactive (meaning crimes before
the treaty was signed can cause extradition).  Is that usually true?
Is the new proposed law in Hong Kong retroactive?


texts: Can I drive my friend's car without having car insurance myself?

texts:
I haven't owned a car for months, and I'm about to go on a road trip with a few friends. We want to split the driving between ourselves, but I haven't owned a car in months, so I no longer pay for auto insurance.

Can I legally drive my friend's car? Whose insurance applies in the case of an accident?


texts: How can I protect myself from being framed for a crime if I live with roommates?

texts:
If I live with roommates, is there anything I can do to prevent them from opening (or breaking in to) my room, planting drugs, and calling the cops?

I know this may be a little paranoid, but I read this story and it got me thinking....


texts: What happens if governing law clause specifies a state but not country?

texts: A common clause is "this contract is made in accordance and to be construed by the laws of the state of California". What if something in the the contract applies to federal regulation and law but not state level law? For example laws pertaining to television requirements (such as audio levels) are federal, so would the clause that the contract is to use California law be invalidated since in a sense it should say "US law" (since the law comes from the federal level?)


texts: US law: what exact time is a person considered legally 18?

texts: Say a person was born at noon on January 1st, 2000. Under US law, what is the exact time that person legally turns 18? Is it the midnight before January 1st 2018, or the midnight after, or noon, or something else?


texts:
In the United States, is one's workplace generally considered to be a place where an employee can assume a relative level of privacy from hidden surveillance?

For example, suppose that I had a private office at work. Can I legally assume a reasonable level of privacy in my "private" office. Or can my employer record, without my knowledge, conversations I have with my wife on my personal cell phone during my lunch break? Can my employer just have a live mic hooked up in my office 24-7 to see if I say anything they do not like?

Legal disclaimer: This is a hypothetical question and I am not under the suspicion of my employer recording my conversations with my wife. I am not seeking personal legal advice for me or my agents.


texts: Use of a photo of a celebrity pictured with an author that looks like endorsing the author

texts:
Situation (not really me):

Suppose I go to a weekend conference to see the famous Dr Pheel. I buy his book, we shake hands and then I wait in line for an hour to finally proudly get my picture taken next to him.

Then, as an entrepreneur myself, I use that picture on my business website in a gallery, next to the "Tino Robbins and I", "Bryce Tracy and I", and "Bill Clonton and I" pictures, etc.

In this section, besides mentioning these people by name, I don't specify the context and when these pictures were taken. I don't mention either I paid $2000 and bought a $24 book to have access to Dr Pheel. It maybe actually looks like these guys are endorsing me or know me personally.

Question:

Is it legal or acceptable to use pictures of yourself taken at an event with celebrities, without any approval/permission, on a business site and without clearly stating the context? (Even if these pictures are not really used for advertising or directly for a commercial use).

Is that kind of permission or information supposed to be specified when they buy their tickets for the show or is there some general rule for this? Since the celebrity accepts to take the picture, I'm guessing there's still some limits to how it can be used.

I found that answer similar to my question, but I'm not sure if it applies to the situation I'm describing because it's not fully a commercial use:

Is it legal to post a photograph that I captured of a stranger in the street?

I often see my clients do this to get some notoriety and even suggesting this to other entrepreneurs in their books or online. I'm asking this question because the editor in my team needs to point to our clients when some stuff shouldn't be published to avoid issues.


texts: GDPR: How to respond to clinicians who ask for subject access requests for results to be made in writing

texts:
During a hospital stay, when requesting a copy of blood test results from doctors or nurses, unfortunately patients are often met with the response "Your request must be made in writing and must be made to the hospital admin department".

This is in contrast to the guidance from the information comissioner's office on GDPR which states that subject access requests can be made verbally [1] and can be made to any employee of the organisation [2].

How should a patient respond in this scenario?

Guidance from the information commissioners office on GDPR:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/711097/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr-1-0.pdf

1:
Page 61: "Individuals can make a subject access request verbally or in writing".

Page 62: "The GDPR does not specify how to make a valid request. Therefore, an individual can make a subject
access request to you verbally or in writing."

Page 63: "... even if you have a form, you should note that a subject access request is valid if it is
submitted by any means, so you will still need to comply with any requests you receive in a letter, a
standard email or verbally."

2:
Page 62: "... It [The request] can also be made to any part of your organisation
(including by social media) and does not have to be to a specific person or contact point."


texts: If someone is sued in Singapore, can he transfer all his assets to europe?

texts: Just wondering what if someone know he's about to get sued say in a modern country like Singapore. he transfers all his assets (such as cash) overseas to another modern country like Germany. Then he loses the lawsuit. Can the local court seize his assets overseas?


texts:
Below is a quote from the laws of the United States. It in Chapter 26, section 672(c):

(c) Related or subordinate party For purposes of this subpart, the
term “related or subordinate party” means any nonadverse party who is—
(1) the grantor’s spouse if living with the grantor; (2) any one of
the following: The grantor’s father, mother, issue, brother or sister;
an employee of the grantor; a corporation or any employee of a
corporation in which the stock holdings of the grantor and the trust
are significant from the viewpoint of voting control; a subordinate
employee of a corporation in which the grantor is an executive. For
purposes of subsection (f) and sections 674 and 675, a related or
subordinate party shall be presumed to be subservient to the grantor
in respect of the exercise or nonexercise of the powers conferred on
him unless such party is shown not to be subservient by a
preponderance of the evidence.

I do not understand the word issue. It does not make sense to me, and I suspect that it has some legal meaning that I do not understand.


texts: Usage rights for a composition that later turned out to be plagiarism

texts: If an artist makes a composition and later turns out to be a plagiarism from another, who bought the rights, or perhaps used it because it was released under creative commons, will it have repercussions? Will who bought the usage rights have to repay to the artist who suffered the plagiarism? Or maybe just stop using it in the future?


texts: Who is liable the prior franchise owner, current franchise owner or franchise?

texts:
Say a 24 hour gym Franchise offers cancellation through email of their memberships. A cancellation email was sent but the membership was never cancelled and has been withdrawing dues for up to two years from a checking account. The ownership has transferred to a new franchise owner from the original, from when the email was sent.

With full proof of a sent email stating all information to cancel the membership who would be liable for reimbursement of membership dues? Does liability fall under the initial owner who should have cancelled the membership, the new owner who continued to withdraw dues, or the franchise as a whole? When filing in small claims I am wondering who the defendant would be?

The new owner states they have a waiver of all liability from the previous owner.


texts: Can a new debt be applied to inheritors of an estate after probate has been settled under UK law?

texts:
Question
If a deceased person who is a lease holder on a flat has debts to the landlord, can those debts be transferred to those who inherit the estate after the closing of probate?
Legally, is the inheriting party a new owner of the flat with a new relationship to the landlord, or is there a continuity of the relationship?
Context
In this scenario solicitors for the estate contacted the landlord, established and paid any known outstanding debts to the landlord and then probate was completed and the assets were distributed.
Later, new debts were "discovered" by the landlord and then applied retrospectively to the account of the party that inherited the flat. Do the party that inherited the flat owe the newly discovered debts.
Real-world context
I understand that asking about specific real world scenarios is off topic, so this section is arguably irrelevant, but in the real world scenario the origin of these debts is suspicious and so I don't feel like we are trying to wriggle out of debts legitimately owed; other owners of flats in the same building have no memory of this charge from the time, nor do the contractors who supposedly did the work. But all of that becomes irrelevant if the charges aren't payable even if legitimate.


texts: Does an intranet site need to comply with cookie laws if it's only used internally

texts:
I'm developing an intranet site used by employees of my company. The geographic location of an employee could be anywhere around the world but they will be accessing the intranet website using a VPN.

Do I need to comply with laws related to cookies or other geographic specific laws?

Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive 2002


texts: What law were these counter-protestors in Vienna charged under?

texts:
According to Vienna Police Charge 3 Men For Waving Israeli Flag at Rally, which cites a German-language article in Vice magazine, three people were charged for pro-Israel counter-protesting at a "Pro-Palestinian" rally.

What law were they charged under, and has its validity been challenged either for its constitutionality or under human rights protections given by the European Union?


texts: Why do buses not require passengers to wear seatbelts?

texts:
Lately I have been wondering why in the UK public buses do not require that the passengers wear a seat belt? In-fact, in the UK it is my understanding that no public buses actually have seat belts.
I also have the same understanding in regards to private coaches. While most private coaches do come with seat belts as far as I'm aware you're not required to wear one.
I find it strange since in a car you're required to wear a seat belt by law. It strikes me as odd that buses do not have the same requirements since this seems to imply that the bus is somehow safer or drivers are more qualified, yet bus accidents do happen!
Is there any specific mention of this in any UK legislation?


texts: Can an employment contract regulate relationships between employees?

texts:
An answer to a Workplace question raised my curiosity. The idea is that a company could legally (contractually) forbid its employees to have a relationship.

Is this at all possible somewhere? (The discussion under that answer seems to point to the US).

How is "relationship" defined in such a case? Talking OK but holding hands not OK? Going to the cinema OK but sleeping together not OK?


texts: Is there a proper way to include explanatory text in a constitution?

texts:
I've been tasked with heading a committee to update the constitution for our church. This comes after much confusion and disagreement about the exact meaning of some existing phrases.

I know that we will have to find a balance between being properly brief and still having sufficient wording to be clear. To that end, I'm wondering if footnotes might be reasonable. My thought is that these are a non-binding but plain-english description of portions that we anticipate being subject to confusion after memories have faded. They would also be used as a place to reference related definitions in other documents.

Is there a proper way of including footnotes (or another way to accomplish the same basic goal)?

I'm not sure this is the right forum, but I didn't see another community that looked like a better fit. Likewise, I didn't see a tag that looked like a close fit, but as this is a question about an organizations constitution, not a nations, I thought parliamentary-procedure was the closest option.


texts: Who is infringing copyright when hotlinking is involved?

texts:
When a page at "Pirate Site" embeds images from "Example Site" by hotlinking, we have the following situation:

Pirate Site isn't actually copying, storing, or manipulating anything. The pages only contain code with instructions that tell the browser to go fetch the images on Example Site. Example of code: <img src="https://www.example.com/copyrighted-image.jpg">
The visitor's browser automatically downloads the images from Example Site and displays them on Pirate Site. The visitor's browser is what is actually doing the work: going to get the image, downloading it, storing a local copy temporarily, and displaying it.
The visitor will do all that automatically without even realizing it or meaning it, just by visiting Pirate Site, even if they landed on that site by mistake.

We apparently have a paradox where the real "pirate" (the owner of Pirate Site) isn't even touching any copyrighted data in any way, but on the other hand the one who is actually processing the copyrighted material (the visitor) cannot avoid it. To avoid infringement, the visitor would have to open the source code before the browser executes it, check all the code, check who the copyright holders are, and make sure no copyrighted material will be downloaded when the web page is opened. So the pirate isn't touching the data, and the visitor technically can't avoid breaking the law.

Does this paradox have a solution? Who is infringing the copyright here?


texts: Do step-parents have any legal obligation to their step-children?

texts:
Suppose Billy marries Suzie and they have a son, Bobby. Then Suzie dies. Billy remarries Bonnie and Billy, Bonnie, and Bobby live together as a family for years, but Bonnie never adopts Bobby. Then Billy dies while Bobby is still a minor.
Could Bonnie theoretically just drop Bobby off at an orphanage?


texts: Is it a crime to bring a device that resembles a bomb to a public place such as an airport?

texts: Is it a crime if someone is aware a device looks like a bomb and brings that device to a public place?


texts:
We are developing software and interested in the following matter:
Is having email addresses and usernames of our users in file logs a HIPAA violation or not?

NOTE:
1. We are not going to store passwords in the log files just usernames and email addresses.
2. These file logs are used internally only.

I don't see any issue in accordance to this list https://www.hipaajournal.com/hipaa-compliance-checklist/ however it would be better to know for sure.

Thank you.


texts:
If the supreme court broke the rule of four, where would you go to sue them in order to get an injunction to make them not break it?

For those who don't know, the rule of four is the rule that requires only 4 members of the supreme court to grant certiori/review of a case.


texts: May I perform medical experimentation on myself without licensure?

texts:
I'm a retired cellular biologist and medical researcher whose license has been revoked, but I would like to continue a line of research with myself as my subject/patient.  The research involves implanting a device into my uterus, so no incisions are made necessarily, though I will need to administer an IV and ultra-sound upon myself.

I'd also like to extract some of my eggs to perform developmental observations on the side, would those be considered a part of my anatomy in the eyes of the law?  If fertilized, at what point would I need to destroy the samples?


texts: Is an "Acceptable Use Policy" and TOS enough to protect me from personal liabilty?

texts:
I do NOT have an LLC.  I'm creating a website that allows users to submit their photos and artwork for voting.  (no cost for memberships)

When a user signs up, they'll check a box saying they've read and agree with an "Acceptable Use Policy\TOS" which states that only original material to which they have the rights, and non pornographic material can be uploaded (of course explained in much more detail.. Essentially nothing illegal).

I know Copyright law (in the USA) has a safe harbor provision for content host, and I'll have a link on each image which allows people to report the image for copyright violation, or for any other abuse of the TOS.

Is this enough to keep me personally protected?  One of my fears is that someone will upload an image that's either copyright or child pornography and that someone ELSE will successfully sue me for damages.

Is this a rational concern? And will an Acceptable Use Policy\TOS protect me (if properly written)?

(Note: I will eventually get an LLC, but I want to get this site published first until I have the funds to hire a lawyer.)


texts:
The question:
If I am missing time at work, and spending free time, to do research to free myself from a 'crime' I didn't commit, can I sue 'the plaintiff'?

The background:
A rental car company is accusing me of doing ~2000 dollars worth of damage to the locks on one of their cars, they said that I must have locked myself out and trashed the door trying to break in.

I have hours of footage of the car in the hotel lot where I parked it, pictures showing the car in the condition it was returned, and the car was inspected when dropped off. There is more information I could provide, but it suffices to say that I have mountains of incontrovertible evidence showing that I never broke the car. Three dealers have quoted me a price of ~$300 to repair the damage they are describing. In addition, they have tried to charge me twice today, once for 2000, and once for 500 dollars, and I had to cancel my credit card to prevent them from continuing to try to get whatever sum they can. I have spent the last eight hours gathering this information, I plan to write them a letter tonight, mail it tomorrow, will probably be in contact with them again at least once more, and so will be spending more of my time defending myself against a 'thief'. I have read online that rental car companies will do this sometimes, and that there is no way out of their fees, but that part I already have covered. the question is:

Is there some way for me to inconvenience them (monetarily or otherwise) to get a sense justice?


texts: In United States, can guardianship be meaningfully contested by other grandparents?

texts:
In case both parents die before the child reaches the age of majority, and BOTH of them leave the wills with identical wording about guardianship wishes; that explicitly name the same set of grandparents as guardians, and the designated guardians are clearly fit for guardianship (e.g. medically and mentally healthy, own their own house and have comfortable financial situation, have good relationship with the kids and the kids themselves would want to remain with them, and no other obvious signs of un-fitness); can the other set of grandparents meaningfully contest the guardianship merely "because we are also grandparents"?

(I understand that in US, anyone can always contest anything if they feel like it, so "meaningfully" in this case means that the challenge to the will has any chance  of being successful).

Furthermore, in case it matters, the will clearly names the second set of grandparents as backup guardians, and explains why the first set was chosen (geographic proximity to where the kids grew up, as opposed to second set living far away); and clearly spells a request for the second set of grandparents to have reasonable visitation rights.


texts: Liability from attaching a note with tape to an improperly parked car?

texts:
I am a security officer for a private estate. I frequently deal with cars parking in a way that obstructs other vehicles.

On a recent occasion I asked the various tenants of the estate and each denied that the problem card belonged to any of their visitors. I put notices on a couple of the cars with brown tape requesting that the owners move the cars. The notices said that the police would be called and the cars towed if the request was not complied with.

The owner of one of the cars is now threatening to sue me for criminal damage. The tape left only a small amount of residue that can easily be removed with soap and water. Is there any liability associated with my actions?


texts: Can a person pay a fine to avoid imprisonment?

texts: Per U.S. laws, can a person ever pay a fine to avoid imprisonment?


texts: What happens if a law enforcement agency refuses to obey a court order?

texts:
So, let's say that a judge issues an order to a law enforcement agency - for instance, ordering them to behave in a certain way when interacting with protestors. The law enforcement agency then proceeds to disregard this order. What would happen next?
Normally, when someone refuses to obey a court order, they're held in contempt of court and arrested, but if the police responsible for arresting someone for contempt of court are the people being held in contempt of court, couldn't they just refuse to arrest themselves for contempt of court on the reasoning that they're already being held in contempt of court, and all that would happen to them for ignoring the order is being held in contempt of court for failing to arrest themselves for being held in contempt of court?


texts: is this a trademark or a copyrights violation?

texts: I am in a small country in the middle east called Bahrain, I intend to use the House Stark logo design of Game of Thrones as my company logo and name, is that legal ? however I am in another country not U.S ? what if I registered it as my own Trademark in this country ? is this design or logo a registered Trademarke in U.S ?


texts: Limits on reasonable compensation for a carer in the UK

texts:
Alice is in her 90s, blind and becoming deaf, with increasing dementia. She lives in a retirement home in the UK with some carer support. She sold her house to fund this, and has plenty of money.

Alice's children are Bob, Carol, Dorothy and Eve. For obscure reasons, Bob and Carol don't talk to Alice, Dorothy or Eve. Eve has sole power of attorney over Alice's financial and medical affairs, and is sole executor of Alice's will. When Alice dies, it is not inconceivable that Bob or Carol might allege that Eve mismanaged Alice's affairs and thus depleted Alice's estate, some of which is left to Bob and Carol.

Alice becomes very unwell because of an infection. In the short term, she needs intensive nursing to recover, including help with feeding and turning in bed. Because of her dementia and (it is hoped temporary) delirium, Alice will only allow Eve to help her. Eve makes multiple trips by car each day to Alice. Eve is self-employed with a low-paid job for multiple customers, and loses money (and possibly a regular customer) every time she has to visit Alice.

Bearing in mind that Eve's management of Alice's finances might be examined in court, in general, how does the law determine whether Eve's expenditure of Alice's money is reasonable?

In particular, is it possible to say what reasonable expenses Eve might claim from Alice?

Mileage travelling to visit Alice?
Lost income from the hours Eve is unable to work while tending Alice?
Lost goodwill for Eve's business as customers desert her?
Cost in Eve's time to consult a lawyer for advice on these matters?
Cost of consulting the lawyer?

If any of these expenses are reasonable, what documentation should Eve keep to support her argument in a possible future legal dispute?

Apart from a possible family dispute, are there any other limits (beyond the requirement of an attorney always to act in the interest of the grantor) that Eve should be aware of?

Apologies if this seems very specific and detailed, but it is a general area that is going to become more important in the UK as we become better at keeping old people alive, and more lay people have to act with power of attorney. I would like to understand how the law approaches these fundamentally difficult family problems.


texts: Minor's legal right to his personal property

texts:
I am the legal guardian of my 14-year-old grandson and have been since he was 2 years old.  He has resided with his Aunt for the past 6 years.   Due to issues concerning his safety in her home, he has requested to reside with me.   I have brought him to live with me and now his Aunt is refusing to return clothing, personal items, etc. to him.  I have bought many of the items in question, my grandson has purchased some of the items himself, and many were gifts he received.
Does he have any legal rights to these personal items?  If so, what is the process to get these items back?


texts: Legal Status of Selective Service Records Regarding Conscientious Objection

texts: What is the legal status of conscientious objector forms in the US draft? Specifically, are records regarding specific individuals' conscientious objector applications subject to FOIA, and are they protected by some US privacy law?


texts: Why was the 'hiccup girl' on trial for murder and not accessory

texts:
so I was watching the new Piers Morgan documentary about a young girl, who helped set up a robbery for her boyfriend.
She was not directly involved in the robbery, wasn't there and didn't know the participants had a gun, yet she was charged with first degree murder and given a life sentence without the possibility of parole in a Florida court.
My question is why wasn't she charged with accessory to robbery or something like that.


texts: Government employer obligations for refusal to hire based on allegiations

texts:
The Kavanaugh hearings have brought up an interesting point. What are the legal obligations of a government employer, when it comes to handling allegations against a prospective employee?

I would like to use a different example. Instead of a Supreme Court nomination, suppose that a person is applying to a teaching position in a public school, and someone claims that she had inappropriate contact with a minor.

What kind of due process is the school required to abide by in approving or rejecting the candidate? Is a mere allegation enough to warrant refusal to hire, or is there legal precedent against that?


texts: Does processing for blocking mean "doing business"?

texts: This is an extension to my previous question here: Which country's jurisdiction applies on YouTube channels? My question is if someone blocks a video in regions (countries or states) where someone does not want to display it, the person or intermediary they are using (in this case youtube) will have to process data of the people from the blocked country to stop them. Does this amount to "doing business there"?


texts: Can I buy a housing development lot and not build a house?

texts:
Around the suburbs of Kansas City, there's no shortage of housing developments where you can buy an empty lot and are expected to use the land to build a house.

Would there be any zoning law preventing me from buying such an empty lot and turning it into a giant garden or a private park? Not a commercial farm, but a private thing.


texts: Is it ok to set up a private music website without royalties?

texts:
Suppose that there is a private band.  They occasionally record covers for the fun of it, they don't distribute, sell, or perform live so don't require any permission / royalties for their covers.  Suppose that they want to set up a music website where they can upload their covers of other people's copyrighted songs.

The website will be private and only friends / family will be given a login to listen to their music if they wish.  The general public can't register and listen, it's an invite only basis.
There's no fee for using the website.  They don't want to sell the music or sell any subscription.
This is for personal use only and registrations are manually approved to ensure only invitees can log in.

Legally, is this ok?  The research I've done points to the song author only needing to be paid royalties if the record is distributed or sold to the public.


texts: How are Trump's actions against NFL protesters not a violation of Constitutional rights?

texts:
I've been casually following the NFL player protests against injustice in modern America. Often the controversy is centered around players like Colin Kaepernick, whose career seems to be over even though he was a [valuable] franchise player and whose [performance] stats seemed to be increasing each season.

The press seems to regularly report in articles like Colin Kaepernick Is Not Going Away:

  [Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones] Jones is the most outspoken owner
  to oppose the protests, but he speaks for more than a few of his
  colleagues. He has also donated to President Trump, who has frequently
  attacked the owners for not firing players who protest and who
  publicly praised Jones for his hard-line stance.

How can the president actively attack a person who is peaceably protesting and exercising their right to free speech; and encouraging (coercing?) others into abridging those rights?

I understand folks like Kaepernick have no protections from corporate America; but the rights and protections from government are guaranteed in the Constitution.

A related article that some may want to read is Kaepernick vs. the N.F.L.: A Primer on His Collusion Case. The article examines Kaepernick case against the NFL and the league "black-listing" him, and not the [seeming] transgressions of the government against him.

Here is a related Trump media event as reported CNN: Trump credits his Twitter wrath for Kaepernick's unemployment.


texts: Open source crypto project wallet and its liability

texts:
I'm working on a crypto wallet for a top 50 cryptocurrency. I'm part of the core team and we were discussing potential liability around the app we're building.

It's released as-is and under a BSD-2 Simplified License. Before the user can use the app, they agree to a disclaimer, a EULA and a privacy policy that state that software is offered as-is, they waive any liability the project may be under, and they're essentially on their own here. Additionally, the user is educated and warned about the importance of Wallet Seeds and Private Keys and the must continue through an alert where they confirm that they have backed up their Wallet Seed for further wallet use in the future.

The user always has their wallet seed and/or private keys (presumably), so they should always control their funds and that data is never transmitted off the device. We have no idea who has how much, nor could we access those funds if we wanted to (which of course we never would).

With crypto being the hot thing right now and it "combining all the things you don't understand about money with all the things you don't understand about computers," to quote John Oliver, apps, protocols, etc. will be a target for law suits.

Since our app is free, open source, presumably will have multiple contributors, a few maintainers, and the user agrees to use the app "as-is," are there any legal rulings around similar pieces of software?

I've been looking around for prior cases or rulings that have to do with lawsuits going after open source projects for something. A lot of what I've found has to do with patents, or suits over licensing, which my question does not.

Short of actual negligence on the part of an engineer, it seems that a combination of the BSD2 license and the disclaimer, EULA, PP, should be enough to insulate the project itself from liability should something go wrong with the app or the user tried to sue after losing their Wallet Seed.

Are there any famous/landmark cases where someone sued an open source project for anything (non-patent related) that I could read more about? My guess would be that if someone sued Red Hat, for example, if Red Hat (or the computer) crashed and the person lost all of their stuff, that the ruling would likely absolve Red Hat of responsibility. Obviously with crypto/money things are a bit different. I'm more looking for foundational legal/open-source rulings.

Thanks!


texts: Pokémon Home and EU distance selling regulations

texts:
I accidentally signed up for Pokémon Home, a subscription service allowing Pokémon to be stored in the cloud, using an incorrect Nintendo account. This essentially renders the service useless to me at this time.

The FAQ for Pokémon Home states: "Unfortunately, we are unable to offer refunds for a Pokémon HOME subscription for any reason."  Pokémon Home FAQ

Q1: Is this against EU distance selling regulations? Can I still claim a refund?

From the guidance on witch.co.uk, an exclusion to the regulations is applied for "contracts for services where you agreed to the service starting before the seven working days has expired - as long as the seller has provided all the information detailed above." I'm not sure what information they refer to, does this invalidate my case for a refund?

I have lodged a question with Pokémon Home support, requesting a refund based on the distance selling regulations, but after 36 hours I haven't received a reply yet.

Q2: If I request a refund within seven days, but the seller does not respond, what are my rights?

Thanks for your help.


texts: Quitting Job on the first day? What would be my last day? (Germany)

texts:
I wish to cancel my new work agreement that I already signed.

On 01.02.2019 (First day at the job)

Notice of termination: one month to the end of the month (during the probationary period)

Which day is my last day?

28.02.2019 or 31.03.2019?

It can also be that they could consent to letting me go without needing to enter work contract at all upon requesting.(As in work contract it says ''Quitting before the first day is excluded''

But just in case they wont allow? Then what joining date should I commit to the new company?


texts: What are standards of proof that are lower than "preponderance of evidence?"

texts: Two standards that I've heard of are "compelling" evidence, and "reasonable indication." Apparently, they may be used to defend certain actions where the level of proof is less than 50-50 but "non-trivial." How, for example, can evidence be "compelling" while being "less likely than not?"


texts: Can/should a lawyer encourage technically true, but misleading, answers?

texts:
A lawyer cannot knowingly allow or encourage a defendant to commit perjury by lying on the stand.  However, can they encourage a lie by omission?
So for an example If I tell the police that I didn't have any blackmail material on some person when they asked me if I committed blackmail, but neglect to point out I still blackmailed them by bluffing them into believing I possessed the material.  Or claiming I don't have a copy of some information their looking for but withholding the fact that's because I gave the information to a friend to hold for me etc.
Can a lawyer encourage these sort of misleading, but technically true, answers with the explicit intent of trying to mislead investigators, or jurors, into making a presumption they know isn't true?  Would a lawyer encouraging this sort of behavior risk either legal sanctions or disbarment if it was known they were doing it?


texts:
The following is a hypothetical question only.

If a hypothetical person (living in Michigan) signs a paper document with both their signature and gpg key stating the key is valid as their signature, unless they sign a second line revoking the signature, and then get the document witnessed and notarized, can their key be considered their legal signature for matters such as wills or other documents?


texts: Is a disclaimer for a medical product enough to protect the company against prosecution for fraud?

texts:
I keep seeing adds for garbage products that directly claim medical benefits to using their product, then at the bottom of the site will have a disclaimer stating that their product "is not intended for use on humans or animals" and are not "intended for medical advice."

In the United States legal system, is a last minute disclaimer in direct contradiction to the bulk of the literature published by the business really enough to safeguard them from legal ramifications?

As an example:energy bands site


texts:
In US, the trial is adversarial.

The court works with 3 parties

One argue one way (The defendant is very evil and deserve punishment). Another argue another way (the defendant is a saint).

Then a third neutral party, namely the judge, decides which one is right.

Does this work in Indonesia?

Is this possible that the judge thinks that the defendant is guilty anyway even if the prosecutor disagree?

One case that comes to mind is Ahok case. Here the prosecutor think that Ahok is guilty of one verse in KUHP and recommend a probation. However, the judge declares that Ahok is guilty anyway.


texts: Is it illegal for a competitor to place fraudulent orders on an e-commerce site?

texts: Can a competitor place fraudulent orders on an e-commerce site in attempt to cause damages to the business?


texts: In the US, is it illegal to pay different employees different amounts for the same work?

texts:
My colleagues and I recently discovered that new hires for our position are being recruited with a salary that is 20% higher. Thus they are being paid more than us even though we have as much as 5 more years of experience in the same position. Other hires of equal seniority to us, but with different specializations, are also receiving this 20% higher salary.

Are there legal grounds for arguing that we deserve equal pay? Is it illegal to pay different employees different amounts for the same work, if the difference is not based on a protected attribute like gender or race? Could we argue that there is a "standard wage" that we are not receiving?


texts:
When is a summary a derivative work such that it needs the fair use defense to be legal?  For example, consider the following:

Farm boy fights evil empire.

I don't think that this summary of the original Star Wars trilogy would count as a derivative work, since it it can be used to describe more works of fiction than just Star Wars.  So, is a summary being specific enough that it only describe one specific work sufficient for it to a derivative work?  Necessary but not sufficient?  Or what? (Or if my question is meaningless/pointless, please explain why.)
NOTE: I am NOT asking about when a summary is infringing.  I'm only asking when a summary is a derivative work, regardless of whether or not it's infringing.


texts: Is it worth starting legal action in this case?

texts:
I am a selling VPS (virtual private server) servers online. I am not a company but I report all my income and pay tax (Georgia). Recently one of my customers did not pay 3 invoices and not only that, he also requested refund for one invoice he paid. He said the reason is that he did not use the server. There is no way we can know that and we sell servers per monthly payments regardless if server is used or not. Also our TOS clearly states that there is no refund under any circumstances. One invoice value is $120 and 4 of them are approximately $480. I have our conversation where customer claims he did not use the server but server was online all the time and we spent our resources for 4 consecutive months.
What are my options to take legal action against this man? What are chances of winning it and how much would all that cost? The guy is resident of North Carolina.

Thanks


texts: Can my landlord keep my deposit for longer in case additional flea treatment is needed? (renting with pets)

texts:
The pet clause in my tenancy agreement (AST) states that the landlord will keep part of my deposit (£300) for an additional 3 months, in case additional flea treatment is needed.

I'm perfectly happy with this arrangement and do not intend to challenge this, but I was wondering if they are legally able to do this.

I've tried to look into this and all I could find on the government's website was:

  Your landlord must return your deposit within 10 days of you both
  agreeing how much you’ll get back

Which doesn't really explain whether agreeing that the additional £300 will be repaid 3 months later is legally allowed.

Additionally, as deposits need to be protected by a government-backed tenancy deposit scheme, does that mean that this £300 needs to be protected for an additional 3 months, or is our landlord allowed to just keep this in their bank account as the tenancy has already ended?


texts: What's the difference between an accessory and an accomplice?

texts: What are the definitions of each and what exactly is the difference?


texts:
I'm not a legal professional or student, curiosity brought me here.

I'm trying to figure out how ownership applies items that are financed, and to items that are used as collateral to obtain that financing. I thought that if I got a mortgage, or something like a title loan, than the lender maintains ownership of the property/collateral until the financial obligation is payed off. Recently someone told me that it's more complicated than that and I'm trying to get my head around it.

I think I understand how the police would eventually get involved in the mortgage situation, but what about the one with collateral used to secure a loan? I know that in the case of a car, the lender can repossess to vehicle if they are able to, but at what point does not paying a secured become a criminal matter? Would it be possible for that lender to obtain a warrant of forfeiture and get the local police involved?

Any answers or sources I could use to find them myself would be really helpful. Ultimately I am just trying to understand who owns collateral in a secured loan.


texts: Unable to understand this text in a deed of assignment of intellectual property

texts:
"The assignor has agreed to assign to the Company all of his intellectual property rights and title, interest in and to assigned rights relating to the business, technologies, software, products and services of the Company on the terms set out in this Deed."

I have joined a startup and have been asked to sign a "Deed of assignment of intellectual property" document. My specific question is that does it mean whatever IP I owned till today automatically becomes their property?

There is another clause: "To the extent that the Assignor owns (or if applicable owned) Intellectual Property Rights in the Assigned IP, the Assignor assigns to the Company (or if applicable confirms the assignment to the Company of) all of his or her right, title and interest in the Assigned IP."

I do not understand the legal stuff. I own a domain name and a patent. I also plan to own a company in a few years and am working towards it. Does it mean all that I develop in my personal time will belong to this company?

Full deed copy: https://simmondsstewart.com/template/ip-assignment-2016-09-16.pdf


texts: London: how to deal with a landlord not protecting a deposit and not rembursing it?

texts:
I have been living in London for several years now and experienced issues with one of my last letting agencies. I'm looking for your legal advice on what actions to take.

It was an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement within a shared house. The issue with this tenancy which ended almost a year ago was that the landlord never paid me back my deposit and also never protected it under the deposit scheme.

This website states that "before I start a court claim, I must send my former landlord a formal 'letter before action'. This letter must set out the detail of my claim."

I found out that the court could force my landlord to pay up to 3 times the deposit amount. Is it 3 times on top of the reimbursement of the deposit (i.e. a total of 4 times the deposit in best case scenario), or including the reimbursement of the deposit?

So I prepared the template letter as described here.

My question to you is: can I decide to take this to court if, let's say, the landlord does not agree to settle for at least 2 times the deposit amount?


texts: HOA By-Laws: Conflict between amending process and an amendment's change process?

texts:
My question is: if the original by-law amendment process (Article XIII as a point of reference) states that a simple majority of ALL members is required for changes, and that provision has not been amended, then is it legitimate for an amendment (amended Article VII) to prescribe a less-restrictive change process if the change is isolated to the specifics of the amendment itself?

To give a little context: my HOA recently voted on highly-contested proposal for a dues increase (~60% increase). The proposal was recently announced as having passed with majority: 65 votes of 129 "homeowners in good standing"

The by-laws of our association mention the amendment process (Article XIII) with the following wording:

  "These By-laws may be amended, at a regular or special meeting of the members, by a vote of a majority of the members.  Such votes of the members of the Association shall require the designated affirmative vote of all the members, not just the designated affirmative of a quorum of the membership"

Originally, from what I can tell, the By-laws did not include explicit dues rates, so amendments were passed in 1985, 1988, 1991, and 1997 to update that.

In 1985, the first dues introduced (added to Article VII) with a provision that

  "Any increase in this amount must be approved by a majority vote of the Members of the Association."

In 1988, however, that provision was changed to include the following wording(emphasis mine):  "Any increase in this amount must be approved by a majority vote of the members in good standing of the Association."

The amendment in 1991 removed the "in good standing" requirement, but then the amendment in 1997 added it back in.  (Our HOA is nothing if not inconsistent)

In this specific case, having at least one member who's not in good standing reverses the outcome of the vote (65 affirmative votes is majority of 129 members in good standing; but it's not the majority of 130+ total members).


texts: Can we use client email addresses for marketing?

texts:
I work in a small design agency and we are launching a new product soon. What laws govern our ability to email our past clients about this news?

When we work with clients we don't ask for their permission to add them to our contacts list, it's just regular work communication.