texts: Help re: beneficiary deed enforcement in Phoenix, AZ (Maricopa County)

texts:
My mom owned a home with her boyfriend (an attorney), and she passed away in Nov. 2015.  Mom was his legal secretary for many yrs prior to her illness.  She filed a beneficiary deed in 2014 to give her share of the home equally to her kids. (She owned 25% of the home)
Her partner was told this by mom prior to her death; as she and he were not getting along, and she would have left him if she had recovered, (she had brain cancer).  Previous to this, he was the one who was on the beneficiary deed. He was not happy about it and continues to think we are basically stealing his retirement money.
Now that mom has passed, we have removed her from the beneficiary deed. There are 4 of us kids.
My mom's partner got an appraisal of the property which came under its value and I will at some point get my own.  He was considering refinancing the mortgage to pay us.  He offered less money (almost half what he owes us) to settle this.  We declined, and gave him an option to pay the full amount over time, but he refused.  We are now at a stand still.
On top of this, my siblings and I are not in agreement as to the amount we would settle for.  Some are so stressed out that they would take almost nothing to make this go away, while I feel he owes us what he owes us, and that is it.  I don't care what it takes, he will pay me what he owes me. So, that leaves me  needing my own legal help as I am not using the attorney that my sisters hired for their portions.
There is a mortgage on the home-in his name only. So:
1. Do we have to pay any portion of this mortgage? Either towards the monthly payments or deducting the balance of the mortgage when calculating the equity?
2. If he continues to refuse to pay us, do I file a motion to sell the property?  Or a partition of asset? What do I do?
3. I live in Maricopa County, Arizona as does the property in question that he (and only he) continues to live in. Since we aren't using the property-does he owe us rent of any kind for full use?
THANKS!!!


texts: Is it legal for a company to produce an upgrade kit for another company's product?

texts:
Let's say Acme manufactures two very similar consumer electronic products, "Foo" and "Bar", where Bar is basically a premium version of Foo, having many extra functional features. Physically, one could convert Foo into Bar by adding a relatively simple mechanical part. (This mechanical part is not a software protection dongle, it is really necessary for those extra features to work).

According to the specific state of the market, the "premium" Bar can be sold at a significantly higher price than Foo, despite the production cost difference being very small. Foo is, however, planned to also be produced in large numbers for a market segment which is unable or unwilling to pay for Bar, but it has a very small profit margin. Bar, on the other hand, is planned to be sold at a very high profit margin.

The problem is, that Foo can be converted into Bar by adding a relatively simple mechanical part. Some users might do it for themselves, on their own risk of course, but this in itself is not a problem as it requires some fine mechanics skill (making the part, not adding the part. Adding the part is easy) and most users are expected to buy Bar instead, or buy an official conversion kit (sold at a very high profit margin)

However, what prevents another company from producing such a conversion kit? The price difference between Foo and Bar is big enough and the manufacturing costs for such a "conversion kit" are small enough to be expected that there will be a large demand for it.

That mechanical part in itself is very simple, too simple to be patented.

For this question let's ignore black market conversion kits.

Can another company legally produce and sell such a conversion kit? How could Acme legally prevent them from doing so?
Can that other company legally market it as "conversion kit for Acme's Foo to turn it into a shiny new Bar"? How could Acme legally prevent them from doing so?
Do the answers for questions #1 and #2 change depending on the fact whether Acme also sells or doesn't sell such conversion kits?

(of course, such decisions will not be made in the real world without consulting legal professionals. I'm more interested in the general principles of this issue)


texts: Can a judges decision to allow a matter to trial be appealed immediately, or only after the trial?

texts:
If a defendant feels that a judge improperly allowed a matter to go to trial, can it be appealed immediately, or does the defendant have to wait until the trial is over?

For example, let's imagine that a person has been charged with "discharging a firearm within 500 yards of a dwelling" and the "firearm" is a bow and arrow. At the arraignment, the defendant argues that the charge is invalid because a bow and arrow is not a "firearm." Nevertheless, the judge allows the prosecutor to bring the defendant to trial, potentially a lengthy process.

Can the defendant immediately appeal the judge's decision at the arraignment and seek to have the charge thrown out by an appellate court?


texts: Can someone sell the property (both jointly and separately owned) property of their imprisoned spouse?

texts:
I am serving a 5-year prison sentence. While incarcerated, my wife of 5 years is selling my belongings such as my cars, trucks, campers, dogs, tools, motorcycles, clothes, etc. Some property is titled in my name, some is jointly owned. Some of it is in KY, and some is in OH.
Is this legal? Can I "put a block" on these items to prevent the sale?
I have family willing to retrieve items and store them. She has already cleared out both checking and savings accounts leaving me with nothing. All before mentioned items are paid off. We have no children in common.


texts: I'm working on a website that will use cookies. I heard that by law I have to add a notice "somewhere" on my site to tell people that it uses cookies and I have to include a page with instructions on how to disable cookies with various browsers. Ive asked people and searched the web for the law about this in the U.S but I only fnd stuff for the EU and that I have to follow EU's laws or I'll be fined. I really don't want to worry about adding this stuff to my website especially since it will not work like how it's supposed to with cookies disabled. What are the requirements for cookies in the U.S and if any, how am I supposed to present the notice on my site?


texts:
Now, yes, I know, downloading music or duplicating CDs is illegal.

However, I overheard someone talking about the matter.

Assume I bought the album ABC with the songs A through Z from a store (i.e. I don't have digital copies like when you buy music CDs from Amazon). Then, I lose the CD.

Am I allowed to get the songs (and only the songs from the album ABC) from, say, YouTube and download them if I can prove that I previously bought them (i.e. the receipt)?

Edit: I'm living in Germany.


texts: Could someone lacking a name be put on trial?

texts:
A man washes up on the shore in the middle of the night. He staggers into the nearest town, where he bumps into a woman walking home on her own - and, after a brief, confused altercation - he strangles her to death using the strap of her handbag.

The police are called, and the man is eventually caught and taken into custody. He does not appear to be capable of speaking any known language, and nothing on his person can be used to identify him.

I am very much a layman with respect to legal matters, but my understanding is that the opening stages of any trial include rigorous procedures to establish the identities of the parties involved. Would it be possible to put the man from the scenario above on trial for murder? Or would the trial just collapse when no identity could be affixed to the perpetrator?

(P. S. I live in the UK myself, but I'd be delighted to hear how this situation would be handled in any legal system.)


texts: What must I do to legally create a MMO browser game?

texts:
I am an adult programmer who knows (absolutely) nothing about law.

What must I do to start a MMO browser game?

I mean a massively-multiplayer online browser game similar to (for example) Travian, OGame or Tribal Wars.

Assume I will do all the work alone (hiring people to help me could be a follow-up question for another occasion).
If it matters, assume the game will be in english.
Assume the game URL will be the straightforward www.(something-here).com (assume I already own this domain - even though I don't - this could be a follow-up question if I can't figure it out by myself)
Assume all players will play together (i.e. there won't be separate servers for different countries).
Assume players can send messages to each other within the game.
Assume the game will be 100% free to play.
Assume the game won't have any advertisement (I would pay all the expenses myself).

(These assumptions are supposed to narrow down my question - on another occasion I may worry about these details)

When I ask "what must I do?", I am asking regarding law, of course. What laws must I follow? Must I do something special considering I am "just another citizen"? Do I have to create a company first? In short, again, what must I do?

I will be happy to give any other details that you might need.

If this depends on the country I live in, answer based on your favourite country - at this moment I just want to have an idea of how it works. Country details can be left for another time. Unless I am very lucky and you know the specific laws for Brazil.

Remember I don't know anything about law - I probably don't even know how to hire a lawyer.


texts: Equivalent of the Austrian “bedingt” and “unbedingt” in English law

texts:
What is the correct English legal translation of the words unbedingt and bedingt when referring to a court sentence? E.g.:

  Jemand wurde zu vier Monaten bedingt verurteilt.
  (Roughly: Sombeody was sentenced [bedingt] to four months.)

I read this in reference to Austrian law; I’m not sure if it’s also applicable to Germany.


texts: Can I claim copyright on public data that I have compiled into a database?

texts:
I have compiled a bunch of data released by the UNECE and government agencies into a multilingual searchable database on my website. In total it's about 2000 database entries in 4 languages, so about 8000 database entries, 2MB compressed data total. This has taken a lot of time, work and effort to do, so I included some random "nonsense strings" into the database to be able to find out if someone had scraped my site for the content.

Now it turns out that someone has.

While searching for one of the random nonsense strings I found another website which appears to have copied the content from my site onto their own.

What should I do? I guess contacting them and kindly asking them to either link to my site or to take the information down would be a first step. But can I claim any form of copyright on the data that I have compiled?

Addition:
The data in question consists of technical specifications (i.e. measurements, technical names, properties, etc). The site that has copied the data from my website has not included all the details (yet), just a summary of them - however, it's the exact same summary that I have on my website, which then links to pages with more details. Not sure if it matters, but it makes it obvious that there was no reorganization or other "creative" work on their part, simply cut'n'paste.


texts: Copyright - television broadcasting with offline storage, not playing same across devices

texts:
I am looking for insight into copyright laws to see if it is legal to do the following:

Party-A runs a television channel and has broadcast rights for movie contents.

Party-B builds video playing infrastructure in public places and invites television channels to participate. Under this plan, the video contents would be stored in the devices and then played.

Let's say Part-A agrees to participate.

If all the devices may not play the same video at a given time, would it be a violation of the rights of original copyright owner of the video (movie content)

If all the devices play the same video at a given time, technically the infrastructure is only a different broadcasting medium for television. In that case, is it still a violation of the copyright laws in any way?


texts: What is meant by the provision about electors in the Seventeenth Amendment?

texts:
I was reading about the Seventeenth Amendment and had a question about one of the sentences in its opening paragraph:

  The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

What does this phrase mean? Is this referring to Electoral College electors? To the voters in the state casting votes? To the officials up for election? I've done some searching online about this and haven't really found anything on the subject.


texts: Do the Courts of European Union publish the full transcripts of proceedings?

texts: I am trying to apply natural language comprehension, formal semantics and deontic logic to the the law and for that I need full transcripts of the proceedings and court materials. Do the Courts of European Union publish the full transcripts of proceedings e.g. in the most important cases?


texts: Does interpreting a law differently violate equal protection?

texts:
A woman in South Africa was recently sentenced for yelling very racist slurs at four black police officers. According to a New York Times article,

  “Past racists who have come to court have been given very small fines and have been treated very leniently, and it didn’t serve any deterrence,” said Neeshan Balton, executive director of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, an anti-racism group. “I think this will be a deterrent.”

Although this happened in South Africa, what if it was in the US: a person charged much more severely than is usual. Would this violate the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment?


texts: As a new owner of a motorcycle, how many days can I wait before I purchase auto insurance in New York state?

texts: In the NY State DMV website, I read that vehicle owners must register their vehicles within 180 days of the effective date on their Insurance ID Cards. But how many days can I wait before I get my insurance? I cannot find the information in the insurance requirements.


texts: Florida Real Estate Law: Does this document give the real estate agent and title agent the power to close even if something changes?

texts:
I'm concerned about the following text in a real estate transaction for a home I am selling in FL. It will be difficult for me to be at closing so the title company sent me some documents to sign in front of a notary. All the documents are straightforward except 1 single document buried in the middle of the stack. It says:
"the undersigned hereby authorizes [Real Estate agent name] or [Real Estate agents title company name] to execute any and all documents on my behalf in order to sell and convey the above real property"
It has a line for date and my name but no other verbage or expiration date. I don't understand why this document is needed if i have to sign and notarize all the other documents.

If the closing falls through on the closing date for some reason
(like issues with the buyers lender, etc) does this document give the
agent or title company the power to extend the seller contract
without my (the seller) consent?
If the money due to me at closing changes (i.e. they made a mistake
or something else changed such that the funds due to me are less than
i was notified about in the closing disclosure) do they have the
right to sign and allow the closing to proceed even if it's not in my
best interest?


texts: Was Tiger King guilty for shooting that horse?

texts:
Jurisdiction: Oklahoma, U.S.

Alleged facts:

Alice can no longer afford to keep her old horse and gives it to Joe.
In exchange for the horse, Joe promises Alice he will treat it well and give it a good life.
Immediately after Alice leaves the horse with Joe, Joe shoots the horse in the head and feeds the corpse to some tigers Joe owns.

Does Alice or the state (or any other party) have any cause/s of action against Joe for his conduct? Either civil or criminal? If so, what are they?


texts: Why is it wrong for google to show its own other products in its search results?

texts:
Google is facing antitrust probe in India. I don't know about other countries but what Indian law is broken in google search? Google search is a private free product. Why is it bad to prefer its own other products like google-maps instead of bing-maps?

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/antitrust-probe-into-google-moves-into-next-phase/articleshow/48751439.cms


texts: What happens when a president is part of a mafia that violates the law in other countries?

texts:
In his confession, one of the individuals arrested in FIFAgate (corruption, bribes that were paid through United States financial institutions) mentioned former President of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, now Senator, and other former ministers.
What can the United States do now? Can the United States arrest ministers, senators or presidents from other countries?


texts: How to avoid buying flat which might land under Compulsory purchase agreement

texts:
Sorry if its not 100% law related query, as I am new here.

It seems that - in UK cities Compulsory Purchase agreement is enforced quite often by local councils.(Although there's a usual farce of 'Consultation Period' formality & authorities keeping 'everybody informed, very fairly & timely'...
Mostly ex-council properties are first to get trapped into this, but looks like it could happen to private property / apartments as well.
1) So, while buying a resale Flat / budget property, how to guess - if the Flat you're planning to buy perhaps could get compulsory repossessed & bulldozed for more profitable regeneration projects eyed by big construction giants (mainly to build similar structure, but to earn massive profit out of it) ?

What are tale-tell signs to identify such properties, in order to avoid them (apart from simple criteria - Ex-council estates or very old building having visible cracks)?

2) And if you're unlucky enough to be the "Private" owner of such property, (who bought the property under private purchase from open-market at market price in the past). How to ensure that- you've given the compensation higher or equal to the amount you paid while buying the property originally. Since, as soon as compulsory purchase news's out, market prices of such properties will be crashing southwards.
3) Does previous property owner given any discount / property swap on the new properties/apartments they build after demolishing existing properties

Cheers


texts:
This question is for publicly traded companies. Shareholders elect board members at annual meetings, board members appoint officers, and officers/employees run the day to day operations of a corporation. Although officers have significant authority, major decisions like CEO stock options must be decided and approved by the board. Therefore, if a major shareholder of a large corporation (say 15%) meets with a CEO candidate without the board's knowledge or discretion and offers that candidate options to entice them to join the company, this would be considered unethical or even illegal. Is that correct?

Furthermore, if the major stockholders choose to not sit on the board for some reason (even someone who owned 51% of all stock), would this mean they cannot make major decisions for the company even though they own the majority of the shares?


texts: Can i trademark a 10-year-old-dead-trademark?

texts: According to US law, if trademark 'ABC' has expired under 'Section 8/9' more than 10 years ago(2010), and has not seen any activity so far, can i trademark it?


texts:
In the state of New York, is it legal for a group of volunteers to form a labor union?
If not clearly legal, is there anything that prohibits a labor union of volunteers?
Clarifing edit
I am specifically interested in a labor union, of volunteers supporting web sites.  The particular company I wonder about is headquartered in New York, it is SE and we are all the volunteers in question.


texts: If a person commits assault in Mexico and not charged in Mexico, can he or she be charged here in the U.S.?

texts: A man assaulted a woman while in Mexico. She did not press charges there and they returned to the U.S. Can she press charges against him in this country for something he did in Mexico?


texts: Triple Talaq Bill introduced in Indian Parliament

texts:
From an article in a leading newspaper:

  Mr. Shashi Tharoor said he was against triple talaq, already voided by the Supreme Court, but opposed the Bill as it conflated civil and criminal laws.

How does it conflate civil and criminal laws ?


texts: Does the statute of limitations apply in the case of Tara Reade?

texts:
From this article https://www.businessinsider.com/former-biden-staffer-tara-reade-files-sexual-assault-complaint-2020-4

  A woman who accused Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her when she worked for him in 1993 has filed a formal criminal complaint with the Washington, DC, police about the alleged incident, Business Insider has learned. [...] The statute of limitations for the alleged assault has passed.

Is that really the case? As I understand it, the DC Sexual Abuse Statute of Limitations Amendment Act (passed January 23, 2019) removed the statute of limitations on sexual assault in Washington, D.C. and added a revival period. The most concise explanation I could find was here https://www.chaikinandsherman.com/blog/2019/january/dc-lawmakers-sign-sexual-abuse-amendment-act-to-/

  2-year revival period – In addition to extending the SOL for civil sex abuse claims, the Act also creates a 2-year “revival period” for claims that have already expired under the old statute of limitations. That means there is now a 2-year window in which victims can bring previously barred claims now allowed under the new statute of limitations.


texts: Can Congress declare someone guilty of insurrection and bar them from standing for elections, without that being considered a bill of attainder?

texts:
A Q&A to a related question on Politics SE quoted the 14th Amendment of the Constitution that:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. [...]
The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

While that is true, it's also true that Congress cannot pass bills of attainder, declaring someone guilty of something and then punishing them.
So can Congress itself just declare someone guilty of insurrection and bar them from standing in elections, without that being considered a bill of attainder? Or do they have to delegate the finding of fact (in re insurrection) to another body, e.g. to the judiciary?
N.B. I'm aware that following a successful impeachment, Congress has declared some persons ineligible for office, e.g. judge Archbald in 1913. So maybe Congress can actually issue that kind of finding of fact outside an impeachment... because barring someone from standing for office might not be considered a punishment. (I vaguely recall reading that whether a measure is or isn't considered a punishment is fairly central to whether something is or isn't a bill of attainder.)


texts: Can I pay someone outside the US to reverse engineer software against the license?

texts:
I would like to reverse engineer a piece of software.

Assuming the license doesn't approve of it, can I simply pay someone outside the United States to do this?  This article alludes to countries that don't follow such laws.


texts: Can a party decide that something that wasn't initially considered confidential, now is?

texts:
If I have signed a confidentiality agreement with an employer or client, can they provide me with information that would generally be considered non-confidential but then change their mind and require me to keep it confidential?
I had asked the question here as more of an aside, but would really like to focus the answer question here. Bob had worked for McDonald's through Agent. Bob signed a Confidentiality Agreement with Agent. Months latter Agent tells Bob "our client list is confidential. You can't add to any future job applications that you worked at McDonald's or have their name on your LinkedIn profile".
Is Agent allowed to retroactively do that?
Generally speaking things that are public knowledge aren't protected from such agreements and if they were public knowledge in the past it doesn't really make sense to say they now aren't.


texts: How does the FBI seize websites if they cannot use the law?

texts:
After doing some research about websites that have been taken down like Silk Road I have been extremely curious about the procedure that the FBI does to take down a website from the Internet.

How do they do it if the website is hosted in another country for example? Do they just contact the hosting company and blackmail them? Does the FBI "hack" the websites they cannot seize?

My question applies for both Dark Web and Clear Web websites. I understand that is much easier for a government entity to just use the law for their purposes but that's not always possible...


texts: Is my landlord required to bring an ungrounded house electrical service up to code?

texts:
We recently started renting an older house.
We were installing a dryer when we noticed we were getting electric shocks when we touched the back of the dryer while it was plugged in.

After some testing, I determined the house isn't properly grounded at all.

I made a maintenance request to my landlord last night, but I wanted to make sure I was correct in demanding they send an electrician immediately.

I found some laws stating the home must be within all applicable building codes, one saying grounding is required for all 240v plugs, and another specifically calling out laundry areas needing grounding.

Am I in the right for demanding an electrician immediately? I consider the home to be unsafe, but I'm not an expert in any regard to building codes.

We are located in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.


texts: Cop gets beat up at a party and I ran so

texts:
If people get into a scuffle and at a small party and a cop friend is around and he gets beat up and knocked cold out, when he awakes can he legally arrest anyone that was there before but not after he woke up?

I'm wondering in a situation like this, what should occur? How can you be protected if you are an assumed violator but I did not touch anyone (I just cut out).


texts: If someone puts out an OCR of a scan of a Public Domain work, is that OCR under copyright? On one hand, one may consider that "creative work", on the other hand, the "creative work" (the resultant text) is in Public Domain!


texts: What can happen if I don't register a trademark for my business?

texts:
If I register my business name and start operating my business using that business name and a logo that I made which contains the words of the business name, what can happen if I don't register the logo as a trademark?

I've searched for existing business names and trademarks and I believe it is not infringing on any existing names or trademarks.

If someone sees my logo and does a trademark search and sees that I've haven't registered it as a trademark, can they then register the trademark and enforce it against me?

Or am I only at risk of accidentally infringing an already-existing trademark (such as if I didn't conduct my trademark search correctly).


texts: Not registering my US born child of 1 US parent as a US citizen

texts:
I, a US citizen, married my wife, from EU country (not Britain), in the US. We live in the US while my wife finishes school (2-3 years) on an F1 visa and then plan to move to back to the EU. My wife will give birth to our child in the US, but I would like to not register my child as a US citizen.

US citizenship has a lot of benefits, but those come with added responsibility. I want that to be my child's choice.

Can I choose to not register my child as a US citizen? Can I register them with an 18yoa deadline for them to choose citizenship?


texts: Is There A Loophole to Term Limits Through VP Succession?

texts:
Suppose Fred is a popular politician, and Fred's Party wants him to be president for more than two terms. Why couldn't Fred's Party do the following?

Party nominates (Random Stooge) as their candidate; (Stooge) agrees to take Fred as his running mate (vice president). Party gets public to elect (Stooge) by explaining their plan; then (Stooge) resigns after two days in office. Repeat every four years with a new stooge (but still Fred). After two or three elections, the public would learn to just vote for the "vice president" they want and disregard the nominal candidates.


texts: Employer Requires Employees to pay Cash Gift to Owners

texts:
Every year an Alabama based small business requires every employee (except for the daughter of one of the owners, apparently) to pay a $30 cash gift that is split between the two owners. In theory, this is a "Christmas gift" to the owners, but is orchestrated by the office manager/wife of one owner. An unconfirmed rumor indicates that if an employee does not pay the $30 ahead of time, it is deducted from their pay check. It is confirmed that a list is kept of which employees have or have not paid this money.

This does not seem legal to me, but I cannot find any specific information regarding this. Can any expert here either vouch whether or not this is legal and/or point me in the right direction to verify the legality against current laws?

As an additional note, employees are reportedly required to attend the company Christmas party or forfeit their bonus checks. The bonus checks are not based on performance, so, while this seems unethical, it does not appear to be illegal. However, if it is illegal by some statute, I would also appreciate any links or information regarding this as well. Thanks.


texts: What are the legal steps I can take if buyer doesn't pay me for an item?

texts:
I am about to send a package to a shop. I talked to them through Instagram and they have sent me pictures showing they are really that shop. Also my friend just visited the shop a few days ago.

We agreed to a price and they told me the shop's address which is really the one from the shop. They also have a webpage.

But I have no names and I am unsure what they can or have to do after they receive the package.

Does an agreement in a chat count as a valid contract?

What steps could I take if they don't send the money?


texts: Legal to make an app that organizes other people's youtube videos?

texts:
I'd like to make a mobile application that organizes youtube videos into groups, allowing the user to browse groups and watch videos.

For example - I'd like to organize certain cooking videos (not made by me - linking to content made by someone else) in a helpful way.

I cannot find literature helping me understand if this is allowed or not. Can someone help me find the right rules to read?


texts: Tools of the trade, software implications

texts:
My understanding of the general legal principle of "tools of the trade" is that tools which are necessary for the exercise of a profession are the inviolate property of the tradesman and cannot be taken away from him either by bankruptcy or by employer or by the state or by anyone else. A tradesman has absolute ownership over tools necessary to conduct his trade.

For example, imagine a machinist makes a clamp at his workplace. Even if he uses company materials and time to make the clamp, the machinist still owns the clamp, because it is a generic tool, not a workpiece. If he leaves and goes to work for a different company he can take the clamp with him and he owns it forever. That is my interpretation of the "tools of the trade" principle. This would not apply to a special tool only usable at a particular employer. For example, if the tool would only work on one employers specific machine, then it is not a "tool of the trade", because it is not generic.

My question is whether this principle applies to software as well. For example, lets imagine a programmer writes a sorting algorithm. Such an algorithm is generic and can be used at any employer. Does the programmer have the right to retain and use that sorting algorithm while working for other employers because it is a "tool of the trade"?


texts: I owe rent for a month and my landord is threatening me to move my stuff out of the house

texts:
(Note: I know a similar question has been asked but this is slightly different in terms of the agreement and I also have specific location information which might help come up to a better conclusion.)

This is Covid19 pandemic time and I understand that it is a tough time for everyone.

I'm living in a rented single room in a shared-house with a verbal agreement (No on-paper lease) in MA, US. As per the verbal agreement, I'm supposed to pay the rent at the start of every month. Also, there is a 1-month deposit which I had already paid. Also, I'm not sure if my landlord is renting the place legally or illegally.

Only, this month (May 2020), I requested him to pay the rent of May & June together by June 15th. Also, I haven't been staying at my house since more than 2 month. But, he threatens me to pay rent of May within a couple of days or he will ask someone to put my personal belongings from my room to somewhere outside the house in my absence and without my permission.

Q. Can he legally do that without me giving him permission and in my absence?

Any solution or recommendation? Thanks in advance!


texts: Does a landlord have to tell you the reason for entering your apartment?

texts:
Today a "representative of the investors" in my apartment complex entered my apartment for an inspection. As the inspector was leaving he said to me that I passed the inspection, but just barely. I asked him what that meant and if there were specific inspection criteria he was looking for, but he declined to answer.

Afterwards, I contacted the apartment management office, and was told that they weren't told what was being inspected, just that someone would be entering apartments.

I was just wondering if there is any reason a landlord has to tell you why they are entering the property you're renting, or if with sufficient notice they can simply enter for any reason. I assume this could potentially differ on a state by state basis, so general knowledge is fine. I live in RI.


texts: Virginia non-stock corporate board elections

texts:
Can a non-stock corporation with one class of voting members establish two classes of Board Directors, and then tell members to vote for a certain number of nominees from each class?  Is that practice in compliance with:

  13.1-846. Voting entitlement of members.
  C. Unless the articles of incorporation provide otherwise, in the election of directors every member, regardless of class, is entitled to one vote for as many persons as there are directors to be elected at that time and for whose election the member has a right to vote.

In other words, can a board write bylaws establishing a certain class of board directors, and then force the membership to vote for someone in that class?

Here is the section from the articles of incorporation:

  The directors of the corporation shall be elected by the members at the Annual Meeting, at which time the members shall elect the number of directors whose terms have expired. The initial Board of Directors shall serve until the first Annual Meeting to be held in 1994 when elections shall be held to fill all positions on the Board of Directors. Half of those elected to the Board of Directors at that time shall serve for half a term and half serve for a full term. Thereafter directors shall serve for two-year staggered terms.


texts:
Over at Politics, there is a question about the definition of majority.  People seem to agree that the correct definition is more than half (called here the classic definition), but the question is about the erroneous attempts to express this in mathematical terms as 50% + 1 (called here the incorrect definition, but if someone can suggest a less prejudicial adjective I will edit the question accordingly).

This incorrect definition is erroneous because it yields incorrect results for odd numbers, implying that an extra vote is required compared to the classic definition.  The Wikipedia article uses the example of seven votes; because 50% + 1 of 7 is 4.5, a vote of 4 to 3 fails to meet the threshold specified by the incorrect definition, so would not pass the motion being voted on.  A more extreme example is that of three votes, where the incorrect definition implies a unanimous vote is required.

I have personally seen the incorrect definition used in corporate bylaws, but I am interested in knowing whether there are any government constitutional documents (including city charters and the like) that explicitly define majority as 50% + 1 or use some other questionable definition.

My principal question is about court rulings on such a definition:

Has any court ruled that such a definition must be interpreted as a call for a (very limited) supermajority vote?
Has any court ruled that the definition is actually an incorrect attempt to specify a simple majority in the classic sense so it must be interpreted as requiring a simple majority?


texts: Does the House of Representatives need a full-House vote to authorize a subpoena during impeachment?

texts:
There is currently an argument being made that - approximately:

"The House of Representatives did not vote formalize the procedures of the impeachment inquiry until October 31, therefore any subpoenas issued to the Executive Branch by any House committees are invalid and unauthorized under impeachment before Oct 31."

Presumably, this argument is implying that one does not have to obey a congressional subpoena during an impeachment inquiry (Announced September 24) unless there is a full-House vote?

First, is this accusation true?

Second, does there need to be a full-house vote on rules to officially imbue the House with the full power of impeachment, if this heightened state of authority during impeachment even exists?


texts: GPL v3 - Do I need to show passwords and secure keys in source

texts:
I'm developing in Python using Qt5 (PyQt5), which uses GPL v3 (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.txt).

I understand I need to make the source available, but if I create a separate file secret.py which contains only one line - the secret API key I use to communicate with my server (it's like a password), and that file or the API has nothing to do with the PyQt, Qt - do I need to show it in source?

Can I compile the software to executable file and attach source without the secret.py, or that is against the license?


texts: Losing job during first my first year in France!

texts: Let's suppose I am a not europian asseding, and I gained a job permit to work in France from DIRECCTE. I worked for three months and the campany told me that they have to break my trial period due to financial problems and they give me a notice period of one month to look for another job. The problem is that it's my first year in France and in my job permit the name of the campany is noticed. Pratically, what should I do before having another job? Do I have have to gain another job permit in case I find another job? And how this situation is going to affect my stay in France?


texts: Eviciting occupant of a house who has some equity in it in the US

texts:
I bought a house with an ex-colleague and I put up 85% of money and my colleague put up 15%. With an agreement that he would pay rent for the 85%.

Now he has stopped paying rent. What are my options? Can I get him evicted? If yes, what happen to his stakes?


texts: Can I print scans of a book's pages in my book?

texts:
I made a book which uses scanned pages of an existing novel. This book was a school project, an artists' book for a graphic design course. An opportunity has presented itself to publish my book, but I assume I don't immediately have the rights to do so due to the inclusion of the scanned pages of the novel.

I realize the course of action is to contact the publisher, but here arises my question. The book in question is Mount Analogue: A Novel of Symbolically Authentic Non-Euclidean Adventures in Mountain Climbing by René Daumal. There were many different versions and runs of this book, as seen here.

The exact book which I've reproduced is

  COPYRIGHT BY LIBRAIRIE GALLIMARD 1952

and

  FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1959
  © VINCENT STUART PUBLISHERS LIMITED

Vincent Stuart Publishers Limited no longer exists.

Does each occurrence of this book have its own copyright respective to the person who published/issued it, or does one entity own this copyright as of today? Is it possible that there is a particular book in that list that is no longer under copyright, i.e. due to time or the disappearance of the publisher?

I'm trying to find out which publisher/library/institution/entity to contact, or if there is a possibility that one of the books is no longer under copyright. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

Edit, 6 months later:

I've spent the last few months speaking to about 10 publishers, including everyone mentioned in print in the book in mention, everyone who they directed me to, the estate of the person who translated the book, the permissions company who manages that estate, and publishers who have reprinted the book since then (in different variations and with different translations), and no one seems to have the rights (or they point me to someone else who in turn doesn't). Is is possible no one has the rights to the literal pages I'm trying to gain permission to reproduce? Also, if I've made such an attempt and cannot find the rights-holder, can I reproduce them with a footnote stating such attempt?


texts: Is it legal to quote extracts from the GNU GPLv3 license on the Stack Exchange network?

texts:
The GNU GPLv3 License is auto-licensed.

Content posted to the Stack Exchange network is licensed by CC BY-SA 3.0.

GNU is viral copyleft and cannot be re-licensed to CC, and also requires that changing of the license is not allowed.

Is it legal to quote extracts from the GNU GPLv3 license (which is licensed by the GNU GPLv3 license) on the Stack Exchange network?


texts: How can issues be solved with the IRAC method?

texts: Can anyone help me showing the steps in IRAC method how to solve a particular problem?


texts:
I am in the process of purchasing a home for the first time. The title has a cloud because the house was sold at a tax sale in 2018 (the owner was deceased). The guy who bought it sold it to another person, who remodeled it and is now selling it to me.
The title search company is escrowing money from the seller to clear the title via a Quiet Title action. They want to continue with closing on schedule, and said there will be an exception on my title insurance which will be removed after the title action is completed. It all sounds like standard procedure to me, but I'm not a lawyer.
The one thing that concerns me is, what if the title action were to fail? Can this happen?  So, for example, what if an heir of that deceased decides they want to fight me over the house? Could I lose it? What about the mortgage I took out to buy the house? Or am I getting overly concerned about nothing?
Is this standard procedure?
I am in Pennsylvania.


texts: Is it illegal to order food and then not pay for it when it arrives?

texts: If someone orders a lot of food, lets say over $500 worth of food. Then when the food arrives, the person denies ordering it (they used an email which to order it which is anonymous) and say they do not want the food. Do they still have an obligation to pay for the food? This is taking place in the Netherlands


texts: Is it permissible to collect counterfeit currency?

texts:
I know that making, or preparing to make, counterfeit bills is illegal.  I also know that if you use counterfeit currency you can have problems whether you were aware of it or not.

I would like to buy or acquire counterfeit bills to keep for educational research purposes.  Is there a legal way to do this?

I am interested mainly in Polish Złoty as well as Euro and Dollar bills.


texts: Are there laws that prohibit trade/sale/growing of invasive plant species in the United States?

texts:
I recently ordered a plant that I discovered was highly invasive in Canada, and I live in the United States (just south of the border), and didn't know about the problem until after ordering.

Are there laws that protect the buyer from their own negligence with plants if such a problem is known before the trade/sale?


texts:
I am subletting a room in a university hostel from a friend who is technically my landlord. The contract ends on the 28th of February. I have been away from the country and will be back on 25/02/2021. The tenant I am subletting from is sending the following messages to me, making demands.

I'm arranging for someone to collect the spare key and bring yor stuff out of the room since the key you sent is being delayed.
If you'll arrive during work hours, it will be good to bring the key when you arrive. If not, he will bring the key before you arrive and keep your stuff in his room
Normally they allow only 30mins to return the key to them

Now, the room needs to be evacuated before end of this week. If you’ll arrive during work hours, he will wait for you. If not he will collect the key ahead of your arrival to make sure you get your stuff at all. Otherwise, you won’t have your stuff.

I don't have the key because he requested I send it to Germany because he needed to get in to access property he was selling.
I wanted to leave the property on 01/03/2021, and pay any fines from returning the key a day after the contract ends on 28/02/2021.
Does a landlord have the right to force me to evacuate the room I am subletting before the last day of the tenancy contract?
Can I call German police on a tenant who wants me to evacuate the room I am subletting before the last day of the tenancy contract?
I would like to know what actions I could take.


texts: What happened with daniel hogan´s space dive prosecution?

texts: I just read that the red bull strato project actually was the idea of Daniel Hogan. When he noticed, that red bull wanted to start it years later, he went to court. But what happened then? Was he get payed?


texts: Can a restaurant add requirements to a “special” that weren’t previously listed?

texts: I walked into a bar in Boston and ordered sliders. The sliders were advertised as half off during the specific hours I was there. I ordered the sliders and was then told by the waitress I had to also purchase a drink in order to get half off the sliders. However, nowhere on any of the restaurant signs, menu, advertisements, etc. did it mention I had to purchase a drink to get the half off price. I only found out once the waitress told me. I also asked if the drink requirement was written down anywhere (thinking I had just missed it) and was told “no, it is just common for bars to do this”. Is this legal? It seemed like bait and switch or libel to me.


texts: legal defense on laws applied differently to different persons

texts: is there any way to defend yourself against a law that's being applied in certain way to a person by previous trials by other judges, and then when you are being judged for the same action and you are found guilty? Can the previous trials be used as example to defend yourself to appeal the judgment in higher instances of court?


texts: Subletting in California on a month to month lease

texts: I have a friend who is a sublandlord in California and he's on a month to month lease. He wants to move out because the house is in terrible condition and the subletters are terrible roommates. How can he legally do this?


texts: How do I get out of my university apartment housing contract?

texts:
Due to COVID-19, I have decided not to return to my university in April (which was my original plan.) However, my university-approved apartment complex will not release me from my contractual obligation; they have only offered a discounted rent for the inconvenience.

As a condition of university approval, all apartment complexes are required to ensure their premises are safe. However, based on the latest word from the university's Housing Office, it does not appear that they will be intervening.

I am in Colorado, and my apartment complex is in Idaho. For the uninitiated/unaware, both are under stay-at-home orders that, at the time of this writing, are scheduled to end before April 18th, when I am "expected" to return to university.

My question is, am I still obligated to pay rent, or can I refuse on the basis of the pandemic?

EDIT: After a review of my last contract with them, I found this section:

  BREACH OF CONTRACT BY LANDLORD: Landlord may be in breach of Contract for the following reasons: (A) Landlord fails to maintain
  property according to BYU-Idaho requirements as stated in the Approved
  Housing Guidebook; (B) Landlord materially misrepresents property on
  website and/or in written information such as e-mails, flyers,
  brochures, etc.; or (C) Landlord suffers, permits, or maintains any
  nuisance or any health or safety hazard on the premises. Landlord
  agrees to release Student from this Contract and cover moving costs.


texts:
Let's say I purchased a piece of sheet music in PDF form from the author's website. I can't find anything on their website about licensing restrictions for downloads. Let's say I want to share the sheet music with other musicians at my church so that we can play it during the church service. [Edit: I do have permission to perform the song via CCLI.]

Am I allowed to share the electronic PDF with the musicians? Or the printed music? Or both/neither? Or is this a gray area?


texts: Can a judge order a juror stricken for cause to return?

texts:
Can a judge order a juror to return for jury duty based on the juror's answer in voir dire?

I observed the following in a Texas court.  During voir dire a juror was asked,

  Would you hold it against the defendant and plaintiff if they both cannot speak English and require translators?

The juror answered, "Yes, I believe they should speak English when a citizen of the U.S."

The judge stood up, threw down his pen, and yelled at the juror for this answer, and then ordered the juror to continue to return for jury duty until the judge found a case in which he felt the juror could be fair.

Is this allowed?  If not, what recourse does someone have in such a situation?


texts: Is it illegal to publicly share technical information discovered by tinkering, if information is used to modify the device?

texts:
I recently bought a product, let's say a car, with limitations intentionally introduced to the design, for example an electronic speed limiter. Being a bit of a tinkerer, I messed with my model until I figured out how to remove this limitation (i.e. remove the electronic speed limiter). If I were to publish this information online, telling other people how to modify their models, would it be legal?

As another example, let's say I figured out how to raise the power on a  brand-name microwave, or increase the cooking speed of a rice cooker. Provided the end result isn't in violation of any particular safety laws (and assume for the purpose that they do not), can I legally publish the information of how to do so?


texts: Can I sublet my apartment for the full lease amount and then live there effectively for free?

texts: If I'm leasing a 2 bedroom apartment, can I sublet for the full amount of the lease, then live in the other room for free? Can the person I'm subletting to have a legal right to kick me out, even though I'm technically still on the lease?


texts: Does the UAE law set the method of capital punishment for a given crime?

texts: The judicial system of UAE allows a court (a Federal court, I believe) to pass judgment of the capital punishment for crimes including homosexuality and denouncing Islam. The executions are carried through either a firing squad, hanging, or stoning. My question is, is the method of death sentence specified for each of the punishable crimes?


texts: Fifth Amendment and Mandatory Shelter in Place

texts:
Several counties in California have issued a shelter in place order due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For example, see a Santa Clara’s order here.

The order states that individuals have to shelter in place. However, it lists multiple exceptions. If a police officer or other authority empowered to enforce this law asks you why you are outside, do you have to tell why you are outside or does the officer have to have reasonable suspicion you are in violation of the shelter in place order in order to detain you? This seems to be in violation of the concept that exercising your rights does not give grounds for reasonable suspicion or probable cause. Does an officer need probably cause that you are in violation of the order to arrest you? Or is it assumed that if you do not tell the officer what you are doing outside then your behavior is in violation of the order?


texts: Is the IRS required to give notice of intent to levy prior to levy?

texts: I fear this is an XY problem, but I've got to start somewhere.  Can the IRS place a levy on whatever they want including money due to me from customers without any notice of an intent to levy?  I had received a letter from the IRS stating that I had until 6/12/2016 to respond to a 940/941 that wasn't filed and then I got a whole packet of accounts they levied on 05/18/2016.  If this question is not suitable for SE I apologize.  Not sure where to turn right now.  The issue is compounded by the fact that the agent isn't returning my calls and the local office he is supposed to be from is indicated as being closed on the irs.gov website as well as a recorded message when calling the number for the office stating the same.


texts: Can the police get a search warrant for data 'in the cloud'?

texts:
Curiosity question only, as usual for me.  I'm asking about US laws specifically.

Suppose someone is accused of a crime and the police have sufficient evidence to obtain a search warrant for his computers.  However, all of the suspect's activity and data are "in the cloud," hosted remotely by third-party servers, data stores, and virtual machines.

Can the police get a search warrant for such third party systems?  For instance if he has a virtual machine hosted by Amazon, would they serve the warrant on Amazon, or on the suspect?

What could police do if the suspect was using hosts located outside of the U.S.?


texts:
Are "mooted" motion(s) a part of the record for hearing FRCP 12(c) motions?

Can a party incorporate their previous motion(s) to dismiss into their current motion to dismiss even though those previous motions have been ruled "moot" because of an amended complaint?

If the previous motion(s) were ruled "moot" and never responded to, what would be the purpose of allowing them to be a part of the record for a motion to dismiss on the pleadings aka FRCP 12(c)?


texts: Ownership of work done by freelancer using their own licenses

texts:
I have hired freelance workers for my commercial project. They own licenses for the products I want them to use (Adobe software) to create illustrations. An Adobe representative told me that whoever owns the license owns the intellectual property rights to the creations - which in this case would be the freelance workers.
However, the contract that the freelancers agreed to and signed included a clause stating that all work produced by them during this time would become property of my company.
Given this agreement, will I own the work if they own the licenses?
This is for a company based in India.


texts: Roommate want to take me to small claims court (Maryland)

texts:
Long backstory:
So one of my roommates is the account holder of the utilities since she lived there since the last lease, and NOT ONCE have my other roommate and I seen a PDF or copy of the owed bills. She would literally just make decisions on the account and tell us to pay. We also signed a roommate agreement stating that we would pay 1/3rd of the bills and our respective amounts for rent. My issue is that the agreement also spoke about how to behave/interact with one another respectfully and my actual lease talks about enjoyment rights of the home. Long story short, the account holder started harassing me and my fiancé once COVID-19 interrupted my work status, and she kept bugging me to pay her back for the bills. I was unaware that me and the other roommate were reimbursing her this whole time for bills, and had assumed that our payments went directly to the companies and not her pockets. So I asked why she did not allow the bills to rollover (like I was doing with the rent) given the crisis as I did not have the means to pay back everything at once. I would have understood paying back the utility companies themselves if they had sent an actual statement of overdue charges. She then proceeded to demand that my fiancé pay towards the bills for visiting me despite how frequent/long her own guests have stayed at our residence with no such financial demands being made to them. We all agreed that guests could contribute if they so wished to their host, but I never said guests had to pay for the dang house (we are not a hotel...come on now.) She even tried to get my landlord to force my fiancé to pay, in which my landlord said I was not in violation of the lease so she couldn’t ask him to. And then she contacted her father who used his military contacts to find and message my fiancé’s former sergeant in the navy to pressure him into paying! All of this prior to her sending me a claim of money I “owe her.” I have since repeated that I will not be paying anything  without seeing a full statement of charges Provided by the utility companies themselves and I honestly don’t even want to pay her anything given how brazen she was during this whole ordeal. Would It be possible for me to argue this in court and agree to pay a lesser amount? I never had an issue with paying my bills prior to this but COVID-19 put me out of a job For awhile and instead of speaking with me appropriately she literally starting harassing both me and my fiancé. What can I do?


texts: Can people sue the state lottery for jeopardizing physical or financial safety due to lack of anonymity?

texts: I had a discussion with a friend and we both ended up agreeing that it recklessly endangers a lottery winner to publicly reveal their identity. If that person becomes robbed, hacked and/or injured soon after winning as a result of being revealed, can't they sue the state government for being so blatantly careless?


texts: Is it illegal to sell exploits for my university's course registration?

texts:
My university(and many others in my country - South Korea) takes course registration online. The thing is, the competition to get good classes is extreme, and it's on a first come first served basis. Good ones fill up within 1~2 seconds.
There's a javascript console exploit I have found out(for non-IT experts, this is just client side. That is, I am not "hacking" nor doing anything destructive) that allows me to register for all 7~8 classes in less than 1 second. This is basically undetectable from the school's server admin. There would be 0 problems for me using this method personally.
Now the problem is that I want to sell this method. I'm thinking about selling it like a "private hack" that isn't really an illegal hack but an exploit to 15 people for $150 each. It won't be a malware nor any form of software. It will just be some lines of code for people to put in chrome's console. This will most definitely stir up the hornet's nest, and it will probably be on the radar of my school.
Would there be a way for my university to prosecute me or penalize me for this?


texts: What is considered "too similar" in copyright? Game Development Specific

texts:
I have been looking up the laws of copyright for games. A lot of the stuff you find is pretty vague so it can be extremely difficult to have a good understanding of what you can/can't do. There are a range of different styles things can be done in, so how would it be determined if something is "too similar" and therefore infringes copyright.

This came into thought while looking at "Zelda - A link to the past". The game itself is very basic in design, 2D low resolution textures etc. If this were to be remade in 3D which would look completely different to the original style, could it still be considered too close? Does this account for storyline too, can you copy that?

I read this in another post:

  Copyright will protect only the computer program in the form written by a programmer i.e. its source code. Neither the functionality of a computer program, nor the programming language or the format of data files used in a computer program in order to exploit certain of its functions constitute a form of expression of that program, and thus, those are not protected by copyright

So is storyline considered functionality and therefore exempt? It's too vague and is quite intimidating, any information on this subject would be interesting.

Keep in mind, I am not looking for advice but rather a broader understanding of such a vague concept.


texts:
I am a special educator with a child who is in her second ear of preschool right now. She has a language delay and struggles socially (due in large part to the language delay.) She is doing extremely well academically, but she is not ready for the fast paced kindergarten program they have in her district. I have poured over all of her testing results, observations, and more. I will spare you the extensive details but she is not ready. Another year of pre-k will make a big difference. She will be 5 in June but so far through therapy she has only managed to reach a 3-4 age speech level.

I live in NJ in a district that is no longer friendly to holding kids back because a lot of families years ago began holding back their kids to make them higher achievers in later grades. It put a strain on the schools and they put a stop to it.

As a special educator I know all the things they will say to reassure and pressure me to send her into kindergarten. I don't care. My decision to hold her back isn't a vain one and it wasn't made lightly. I don't care if she's not the best student. I just don't want her to fall through the cracks in our test obsessed school district.

The first step is our meeting. They will recommend her to move on. I will make my case. They will say NO. After that it will go to mediation. Then--- court.

I am trying to plan ahead. I don't know how costly it will be if we make it to that point. (The school MIGHT back down, they avoid court at all costs from what I observed when I worked for the same district).

I have been unable to find information on taking a school to court over such a matter. Any advice? Would I be stupid to even try? Why kind of cost range am I looking at? What kind of lawyer would I need for this situation?


texts: Why hasn't civil asset forfeiture been ruled unconstitutional?

texts:
If news articles like this and this are accurate, then U.S. law enforcement can confiscate private property, including cash, without convicting someone of a crime – or even charging them – under a theory called "civil asset forfeiture."

The Constitution (5th and 14th amendments) clearly states that no one shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

This is clearly depriving citizens of property, and there appears to be no due process, so how has civil asset forfeiture survived challenges in the courts? That is, why isn't this a violation of the 14th and 5th amendments? (Last sentence added and italiziced to distinguish from other question How exactly does civil asset forfeiture work in the United States?)


texts: Rationale for paying spouse's attorney fees in a divorce?

texts: What factors are typically important in a court's determination of whether or how much one spouse has to pay towards the attorney's fees of the other spouse?


texts: Is it legal to restrict housing to certain occupations?

texts:
I've spoken with a landowner in the rural area of Saratoga, California, who owns a single parcel with more land than he knows what to do with, and I asked him why doesn't he build an MDU or some such, to which he replied that the city will never allow to re-zone and/or split the parcel of the land he owns, and that neighbours and such will generally be against any such arrangements, because it'll increase crime and drive the property values down.

However, what if said MDU had a restriction that only certain occupations could partake in it?  Would it be possible to build a condo or an apartment complex, yet have some kind of restrictions such that you have to be an engineer or executive or some such, in order to either own or lease the condo / apartment?  Or, perhaps, that each unit has to, (1), have at least a single occupant with an income much larger than what's normally considered adequate to service the rent, and, (2), no roommates from craigslist unrelated to the occupant?  Could it be made that some such covenant has to survive all future sale/lease/rent of any unit?


texts:
Note 1: This question is supposed to be a lemma here: Why is it not that a state divorce is actually an argument AGAINST a church annulment petition rather than a necessary condition for such petition? I am hoping to claim:

Whenever annulments are possible, there are incentives to getting an annulment (a civil/secular annulment) instead of a divorce, even if divorce is cheaper.

Question: If you're not in the Philippines or Vatican, why would anyone seek an annulment (as in a secular/civil annulment of course) instead of a divorce? My understanding is that divorce is cheaper, so even your (secular/civil) marriage is invalid, why not just say it's valid and divorce to save money?
I guess we can take cases:
Case 1. The invalidity of your marriage can be proven beyond reasonable doubt.
Case 2. You're not sure the invalidity of your marriage can be proven beyond reasonable doubt. So, maybe there's a risk of wasting money or time in applying for an annulment, when you'd just be told to divorce instead.
Also, since this is Legal SE, I guess the answer would be in terms of judicial economy, legislative intent, legal consequences (alimony, custody, etc), state interests, etc.
Note 2: replace 'reasonable doubt' with 'preponderance of evidence'/'balance of probabilities' or whatever (wow I'm actually so intrigued about all the levels that I'm discovering just now), if need be. Depends on whatever is the burden of proof standard here.
Also maybe related:
How do Filipino Catholics get a church annulment when their state marriage is valid, considering the Philippines doesn't have divorce?
Marriage invalid. Would a church annulment require a state annulment or state divorce?


texts: Is something including an unmodified work considered a derivative work?

texts:
Let's say I want to publish a book which contains an extract of a Wikipedia article. I don't want to modify the extract in any way, I just want to copy it into my book.
Wikipedia text seems to be distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. It is very clear that I need to provide credit to Wikipedia's authors, which is no problem. It is also clear that any derivative work needs to be distributed under a compatible license. So if I would make any alterations to the extract, I would need to publish this new version under such a license.
Now I wonder if my whole book would be considered a derivative work. And if so, would this mean that I need to publish my whole book under a compatible license?


texts:
My friend bought car from a dealer in Illinois, but lives in Indiana.  She didn't realize the car had flood damage.  She did get a CarFax report before purchase but it was clean.  Now the car is having mechanical problems.

What are her options?


texts: Reasons for UK citizen to not get an Irish passport?

texts:
The United Kingdom has opted to leave the European Union, this may make travelling and visiting my holiday home abroad more difficult, or even stop me from working abroad in the future.

My mother is about about to get an Irish passport, as her mother (my grandmother) is Irish. After the paperwork is complete I can also apply for an Irish passport.

Question: What negative things may happen if we get a second passport? I do not want to have to fight in the army, face any tax issues on my savings, nor would I want to lose any of my inheritance money if my mother were to pass on.

Additional info: I am 22, a British citizen with a UK passport, I was born in UK along with both parents. I spend almost all my time within UK, except maybe a short holiday every few years. Currently I am a university student, but in future I will just work an ordinary 9 to 5 job, I do not believe I will operate a business or invest in anything more serious then a few Funds. This also applies to my mother. All our banking is within UK.


texts: a non-law firm almost all whose work is by its in-house lawyers

texts:
In the United States, a law firm (companies whose remit is to practice law) has various restrictions. For example, in Missouri, if I'm not mistaken, it must be owned by a lawyer and is restricted as to how it can market to potential new clients.

Other firms have lawyers on staff. For example, a major cosmetics manufacturer may have tort, intellectual property, and employment lawyers on its payroll. But it is not subject to the restrictions noted above.

So it seems someone could do as follows: Start a company whose remit is to make its clients money, or to keep its clients out of jail, or to support its clients in the face of theft. And hire a bunch of plaintiffs' lawyers, or criminal defense lawyers, or intellectual property lawyers (respectively). And then advertise freely because, after all, it's not a law firm. And the vast majority of the work done by the company is legal, all done by its in-house lawyers. (Some non-legal, administrative paperwork will also be necessary, to connect the company's clients with the lawyers.)

Would that be legal? If so, is it done? If not, why not?


texts: How can I get an apostille on a marriage certificate?

texts:
I have a Certificate of Marriage issued from NYC signed by the city clerk

How do I get it apostilled? Do I mail it to the NYC county clerk or the Department of State? Does it need a letter of exemplification?


texts: Can police sent official request per email only (UK)?

texts: Policeman (United Kingdom) sends email with official request to obtain some data to company email address, but doesn't sent the post (original paper version) to the company's postal address. Is that right? I expect that the company must get a paper version or am I not correct?


texts: Acid attack on garden - perp arrested and charged

texts:
My neighbour threw acid over my garden; he has been charged for criminal damage.
I was told by a (junior) policeman that I'd need a loss assessor's assessment on the amount of damage before the first hearing. I should note that I did not have insurance.

In my garden, there's a 7 meter tall, 40 year old thuja tree. I've asked a few companies for quotes, and it'll cost a few thousands just to have it cut down. Is it correct that the amount of damage includes the removal and replanting of a new tree, i.e. the restoration of my property?

In fact, is it necessary to hire a loss assessor to determine the damage amount? Could I obtain quotes from several companies and hand them to Court? A friend of mine was a victim of criminal damage once (his computer was smashed) and he just named an amount without hiring one.


texts: What potential litigation could a corporation face if you made your personal phone number public on social media?

texts:
I saw on someone's Facebook page that they were hired at a major corporation who told them that they needed to delete their phone number, and ask that every one of their friends delete the phone number from their end as well.
When I asked this person why this was a requirement, they said that it had to do with the possibility of a lawsuit.
Can someone familiar in this area explain more? Thanks!


texts: Copyright of the world described in the novells "A Song of Ice and Fire"

texts:
I want to create from scratch a map that resembles the world described in the novells "A Song of Ice and Fire". My map will have a similar coastline and will use some of the names of the places from the books.

Am I legally allowed to do that? Are there some restrictions to what I can do with this map (e.g. share it for non-profit purposes)?

EDIT

I have seen the map a while ago in a web site and I am recreating it from memory.


texts: Referral Company submitted resume on my behalf without permission

texts:
I have utilized GlassDoor and ZipRecruiter in the past to look for and apply to new jobs. It was mostly a reasonable experience: I would apply for jobs I was interested in, and the companies would contact me via my email. I stopped looking several months ago and haven't visited these sites since.

Today, I was contacted by a company I did not apply for (which was obvious from the fact that they were halfway across the country), claiming that they received my resume and were moving forward with the interview process. I contacted the company they informed me that my resume was submitted on behalf of a referral company.

I know I didn't specifically sign up for any referral companies, and definitely did not apply settings for automatic resume submission.

Is what they are doing illegal?


texts: Is it illegal to backup your hard drive if you have copyrighted software on it?

texts:
Is it illegal if you create a backup of an HDD that has copyrighted software installed on it?

This could be anything from legally purchased games and or expensive popular graphics/video editing programs, just as an example.

Is this backup an illegal copy of the original HDD?


texts: What is the legal significance of stating that one does not own or claim rights in an uploaded youtube video?

texts:
I mean often you see uploaded videos containing content presumably copyrighted by 3rd party with the uploader stating:

  "I don't own any rights in this video"

What effect does stating such have? Is this supposed to provide some sort of defense against takedown notices, remove personal liability / help establish parody or fair use defense or is jut a legal folk remedy?


texts: Can a lawyer file for a divorce 14 years after finalizing the divorce in an other country?

texts: I am a Canadian, living in California, divorced my ex-husband in 2003. According to the settlement signed in California, the family home in Canada was transferred to me. At the time of divorce his employer filed an embezzlement case against him and therefore, my ex did not contest the divorce, nor did he want a share of the property.  There is a loan he borrowed without my knowledge and the court ordered my ex to pay that loan.  He did make some payments and then stopped.  I had no choice but take over payments to avoid foreclosure.  I then went to family maintenance to collect child & spousal support payment.  My ex did not want to make any payments, and filed for a divorce in 2015 in Canada.  He also placed liens on my property without revealing to the city that he was ordered by the court to make those loan payments.  I obtained another order from family court in California to enforce the 2003 judgement.  Can a Canadian court disregard the CA order, when they have no jurisdiction in the case?  Is there any legal basis for an attorney to bring such a case in Canada?  Is she not legally accountable for bringing such a case to court?  I am not a lawyer, but I see no legal ground for a lawyer to bring such a case agains me.  It was a huge financial hardship, to hire a lawyer in Canada, to travel so often, not to mention the mental agony I suffered.  I sent my ex's lawyer the recent court order; still she hasn't withdrawn the cases she filed on behalf of my ex.


texts: Why was video evidence released after the trial ended in the Daniel Shaver murder case?

texts:
From the wikipedia article it states:

On May 25, 2016,  Myers ordered portions of the video released. The released video omits the shooting itself.
The full unedited body camera footage of the shooting was unsealed by the Court immediately after the end of the trial.

It seems out of place that there would be video evidence of the crime in questioning happening, but the actual shooting was omitted while other parts of the video were released. Isn't the actual moment of the shooting the most important part of the video?
Was this to prevent bias? Why was the video evidence of the not used in the case?


texts: Do I (witness) have to respond to email from defendant's lawyer?

texts:
I witnessed (heard) an alleged crime a long while back and was recorded as a witness by the police. Recently, I received an email from the defendant's lawyer requesting contact information and asking me to answer some questions.
Do I have to respond? Does the report I gave to the police not qualify as all the information the lawyer would need? Is this just more helpful information for the lawyer?
I understand that I could be subpoenaed as a witness if the case goes to trial, but do I need to respond to lawyers before then?


texts: If someone found out after the wedding that their partner had been sterilized, what rights would they have?

texts:
A friend of mine was dating, and nearly married an immigrant woman. While she was in the "old country," her parents had her sterilized under circumstances that would be illegal in the U.S. but permissible in the other country. (This happened while the girl was undergoing another operation, so she wasn't even informed.) Only when she went to the doctor for a pre marital check up was this discovered.

Since my friend wanted children, they broke up the engagement. But suppose he had found out after the wedding. What rights would he have in the United States? Could he have the marriage annulled as opposed to file for divorce? Could he sue the girl's parents for doing this and not telling her about it?


texts: Would Multiple Coupons Stack or Apply Sequentially?

texts:
There is an episode of The Office where Michael gives a business five "10% off" coupons and forgets to write "Coupons cannot be combined." In the episode, the business claims they can use the coupons for 50% off.

But that got me thinking, even if you forgot to write "Coupons cannot be combined," is there an argument that the coupons would have to be used sequentially rather than stacking them? In other words, instead of saying the discount is 10+10+10+10+10=50%, could you argue that the end price should actually be 90% X 90% X 90% X 90% X 90% = 59%, for a discount of 41%?

Can you "stack" coupons as in the episode, or do they have to be applied one at a time?


texts:
A month ago I went into my apartment complexes office and handed a typed 60 day notice to the person at the front desk. They lost the notice or misplaced it. When the my new landlord called my current landlord for a reference, I got a rather unhappy surprise when my new landlord was told I hadn't given notice. Now I did take a digital photo of the dated notice with my phone prior to giving it to the person at the desk of my apartment complex. The photo which is dated, has location data on it showing I took a photo in the apartments business center which is in the room next to the office. If they don't let me out of my agreement are there better avenues than court for what they have to do?
Are there requirements that they have to prove they received the notice? Do they have to honor the notice or can they just continue to say we didn't get it. As this would seem unfair to tenants.


texts: Is it legal to log an IP address WITH an online name?

texts:
I am working on a "database" style of program that logs data such as an IP address, Steam Name, and Steam64 ID. I own a small game server company that hosts servers for a game called "Unturned" but we also plans on having servers for more games. I have a few deals with similar gaming communities, however, their staff tend to join my servers and crash them. Just to have more players join their servers.

The Use of this program is that I can put in an IP address and check if it has any Alts on record with the same IP address. So in case it is a staff member of one of these communities I can report that back to management of that community. This program does not automatically log Ip addresses, Only if I manually log them. I'm just wanting to know if there is anything illegal with this before I put it into action.
(For those who do not know what a Steam name is or a Steam64 ID, A steam name is an online name, no connection to a real name, and can be changed freely. A steam64 ID is a number used to identify a steam account and is found in the user's profile URL)
(I am in Australia)


texts: Contract tied to a non-refundable deposit if I don't sign

texts:
(I read the disclaimer in the sidebar: I'm not looking for legal advice: I'm just curious as to the implications to both parties).

Pre-amble and context: So I'm trying to rent a property in the UK. The agent we're going through wanted a holding deposit when we agreed to start the process (fine), which came with an agreement that the deposit is returned if we sign the tenancy agreement (reasonable), but not returned if we don't (ok, so they're protecting themselves against some loon block-reserving their entire property listing. Fine). I agreed because the justification sounded reasonable (with hindsight: I am not a smart man).

The fees had to be paid before seeing the tenancy agreement. The agency has thus far refused to negotiate terms on any bit of paper it's got me to sign (so we're clear: not asking about that. I ultimately agreed to the conditions, I understood the implications).

The question: Is it legal to have a deposit that is non-returnable on the basis of not signing a contract that the consumer hasn't had a chance to read before agreeing to the deposit terms?

I understand that a contract, in principal, needs to be fair (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/2083/introduction/made), but what if it wasn't fair? Could they have claimed it was fair, and refuse to amend any terms (at which point, I'd have had a "take it or leave it" contract that if I don't sign, I'm out of pocket)?

I'm aware the situation described is at least ethically dubious, but it seems to me that if they refused to negotiate, if I do sign it would be under some sort of duress (?) for the sum of money I'd be out-of-pocket by?

Likewise, this looks similar to the EULA sort of question that arises (pay money for a product behind terms that you can't read until you pay money).

(again, so we're clear: it's a situation that happened to me, but if I want actual legal advice I'll call a solicitor. The question is more that I don't understand enough about contract law to work out whether or not this was legally questionable rather than just the agency screwing me).


texts: Can we issue a certificate of employement for someone if our company is not legally registered?

texts:
I was a co-founder in my friend's startup for 6 months in India. It was something out of passion, not about money. So, the Company wasn't registered legally, all 10 of us were volunteering our services for free.
I got into a top software company, in the process I wrote co-founder of the startup in the experience section. In background check, they have asked for proof about all work experiences mentioned (certificate, letter of resignation/employment, or tax receipt)
So my question here is, how should I go about providing support documents? I am thinking to provide them with a certificate issued by another co-founder (the CEO) who can act as my reference. Reasons, why I think so, is:-

Company has a website running last 10months with good traffic.
I have my name/photo/credentials mentioned on the home page
I have my email with the startup's domain - myName@StartupName.com

But before I go ahead, I wanted to hear from more experienced people like you.. just in case I am doing it inappropriately.


texts: Why do governing law clauses sometimes specify the country?

texts:
In Governing Law clauses, why do they sometimes specify the federal law as well as the state/provincial law? Isn't it redundant?
For example

This Agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with
the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada
applicable therein.

Isn't it obvious some laws are applied from the federal level? Is this a Canadian thing (or just coincidence I haven't seen other examples)?


texts: Is it legal for company make you use 8 hours of vacation and work for free for a small time period, each day?

texts:
I work for a contractor to the federal government in West Virginia.  During a government shutdown, my company is making us use eight hours of vacation, per day, which is legal in the state of WV.  However, my company is also telling us that we need to check our government email during the shutdown, for any updates they may send and go into the HR system to input the eight hours of vacation, on a daily basis.  When I inquired about what charge code we should bill for that work, I was told that, since this would amount to less than 15 minutes per day, that it is not billable.  I am an exempt employee, but I am basically treated as hourly, as my hours worked and vacation must add up to the pay period minimum.

1) We are not supposed to do work of any kind, during a shutdown.  Wouldn't checking government email and filling out a time card on a daily basis violate this?

2) We bill in half hour increments.  Would checking email and doing time card activity be 0.5 hours of work, leaving a total of 7.5 hours VAC and 0.5 hours of work, per day?  I know that this isn't a huge amount of time, but the principle of making us burn vacation while working for free seems to be wrong.

I have checked with both the West Virginia Division of Labor, who told me that I needed to address this with the US Department of Labor, and the US Department of Labor, who told me that I need to address this with the West Virginia Division of Labor.

I was trying to get my question answered without getting an attorney involved, or at least an answer as to whether talking to an attorney may be worthwhile, but have had no luck, so far.

Thanks.


texts: YouTube - fair / allowed / legal use - is it OK to record music performances?

texts:
Quite often I take a GoPro / iPhone and record fragments of a music performance.

Quite often I upload the content to YouTube.

Quite often I receive following message:

  The copyright holder, which uses Content ID, submitted a claim to the
  content of your movie.

  For now it is only notification Do not worry. That does not mean
  trouble or affect the standing of your account.

  In your film, they see ads that generate revenue for the owner of the
  copyright or the copyright holder has received insight into the
  statistics of his views.

(I have Polish language settings so I used Google Translate to get the English version)

I would like to know if recording of a music performance - that includes:

lightning
visuals
scenery
audience
artists
and some music in the background (that is subject to copyright)

Is a fair / allowed / legal use? If yes, I should initiate an objection procedure

  If there are no problems, you do not need to do anything. There is no
  need to remove the film.

  There is a procedure to lodge an objection, which you can use if
  something goes wrong and the copyright holder or we make a mistake.
  Use it only in cases when you are sure that you have the right to use
  all content in his film.

(again Google Translate)

I'm actually not sure, that's why I'm asking...

Related: What is the "area" of copyright claims and fair use of songs?


texts: Taking out life insurance policies on people you expect to die

texts: Is it legal to do this? Can't I just take out policies on people I know with underrated or misclassified health problems and make money?


texts: As per GDPR, can i request the creation date of an account i made on a website on a legal base?

texts: Basically title, i want to know when i created my Microsoft account, they replied saying that this info is part of the verification process and thus they cant give it to me.


texts: How many days in advance should a subtenant notify the sublessor that he will leave earlier than expected?

texts:
Alice is subletting an apartment to Bob. The contract stipulates that Bob is subletting the apartment till August 15.

Can Bob leave earlier, i.e. decide to end the sublet earlier than what the contract stipulate?
If so, how many days in advance should Bob notify Alice?

Everything is happening in Massachusetts, United States.


texts: Conjoined Twins are identical twins who share some physical connection. In particular, some share the same body, although both possess separate heads. As such, what are the legal ramifications for dicephalic twins, inasmuch as personhood, citizenship, and criminal prosecution are concerned?


texts: Is using font on a business card considered commercial use?

texts:
I'm currently designing a business card for a client and looking for an applicable font. A lot of these fonts are marked with some sort of payment required for commercial use. While I don't plan to use any of these on the business card, can that really be considered commercial use?

My client isn't going to be selling his cards, only using them to further his business via advertising, so wouldn't that technically be considered fair use rather than commercial?


texts: Legality of the Android APK package format and external support

texts:
I was thinking of operating systems, more specifically mobile operating systems, and a thought occurred to me. Let’s say I decided to make an operating system, mobile or otherwise, could I legally implement support for Android (.apk) applications? Could Windows suddenly decide on their touch devices they just want to make it easy and run Android apps?

I know Android is open source, but I don’t speak legaleze and am not sure exactly what we are and are not permitted to do. Could Apple suddenly decide to support the .apk package to allow cross-platform apps? If I build an OS could I legally hypothetically support the framework and package format.

I understand getting access to the Google Play store is a whole new story, since that involves licensing costs and more complex legal stuff ( since that is a service from Google not included with Android in the open-source ecosystem ).

I am not speaking in a technical sense with this question, otherwise I would’ve asked in StackOverflow. I understand the complexity of an project of this, because of the complexities of how such things work. I mean purely in a legal standpoint. If I were to invest the money into either writing my system from the start to support, or somebody like Windows rewriting and adding libraries and firmware to achieve this goal, could the company get in legal trouble?


texts: Free english content, translation rights and fan translation

texts:
An editor published a free scenario for a role-playing game.

The French editor possesses the translation rights for all the content of the game, free content included.

Is it possible for the French editor to legally stop a translation by fans of the free content from being shared publicly?

The translation is not yet published.


texts: Do communist-era state-published books fall under copyright protection?

texts:
I am wondering if books from the communist era in east Europe (specifically Bulgarian books, published around 1981), that are technical in nature and have been published from a state run publishing house, are copyrighted.
What if I am to translate such a book in to English and publish it as my own work (without hiding the fact that it is a translation of the original text), can I sell it or upload it to my website to generate add revenue?


texts: What exactly is a "major medical condition"?

texts:
So I'm filling out a prequalification questionnaire for life insurance, and it asks: "Major medical conditions? ( ) Yes ( ) No".

What is a "Major Medical Condition"? Is there a list in law, or an insurance-industry standard?

Specifically in Michigan, if that matters.


texts: Who owns security camera video of locations open to the public?

texts:
I once lost my wallet. I had a hunch that it might have fallen out of my pocket when I was pumping gas. I went back to the pumps and asked if I could see the security video around the time I was there, to determine if that's what had happened. The establishment refused to let me see the video. Eventually, they watched the video themselves and reported to me that I did not appear to drop it there. I ultimately found it behind my bed. I was, of course, happy I found my wallet, but that incident got me thinking about the legality of the situation. So I pose the question.

An establishment holds control on a location open to the public. (gas station, shopping mall, outdoor entertainment, bar, shared storage lot, etc.) This establishment owns surveillance cameras with the good faith of protecting their own property. All entrances have notices posted informing all entrants that they are under surveillance. An incident happens with Alice on that premise that the cameras happen to capture. This incident does not involve the establishment's assets, it merely took place on their property.

Alice was at the public location being surveyed, has legal investment in the incident, and wants to acquire the video captured by the establishment's surveillance. The establishment's logic is that the cameras belong to them, therefore, so too does the video.

Is it legal for the establishment to withhold this video?
Is it legal for the establishment to share this video?


texts: If livestock damages my car on a public road, is the owner liable? (UK)

texts:
I live in England in the UK. I frequently commute to work via a scenic country route. Sometimes a farmer marches his livestock down one of the public roads. The cars stop on one side and the farmer leads them down the other.

Illustration:

I was wondering: if one of the cows reared up and damaged my car, who would be liable? My car is stationary on a public highway. Would it be the farmer? Or would it be considered an "act of god"?


texts: Photographing my mail and giving to my ex

texts:
My ex sent me a check for part of health insurance for children.  After it did not come, over 2 weeks, I reached out and told him I had not received the check.  He went to the post office, the mail clerks let him go through my mail and take a picture of the envelop that came from him.  It was conveniently on top of the pile, so he obviously went through it.  Sent it to me and told me it was at the post office.  Number 1, why was that not put in my box
Number 2 - why is anyone going through my mail
Number 3 - letting him take a photo?  That's not right.


texts: Refund when resident dies in assisted living - with particular contract terms

texts:
A General Hypothetical Situation:

An elderly individual is in an assisted living facility and passes away within the first week of a month. The individual's family seeks a pro-rated refund for the time of that month that the individual did not live there (because, of course, individual is deceased).

The Contracts:

[If it matters, both of the following documents are separate from one another and from any other agreement].

Say there are two form contracts. 1 and 2:

Contract #1:

The first was signed by the individual's family when it was presented at the beginning of the individual's stay. This one is titled "Refund Policy" and states that no refund will be given unless 30-day notice is given to the facility that the resident is "leaving."

Contract #2:

The second was neither presented to nor signed by the individual or the individual's family at any time. This one is titled "No Refund Policy In Case of Death." It explains that no matter what, there will be no refund in the instance the resident expires with time remaining in the month (meaning if the resident dies on November 1 and November has already been paid for, not even then would the family receive any refund).

The Question:

Given that the one form signed made no mention of death and specifically related to "leaving" and the fact that the second form exists (ostensibly for some reason as opposed to just for the joy of having yet more forms), but was not signed or presented (or discussed), can the individual's family get that remaining monthly fee back legally?

My initial thoughts focus on the wording of the contract signed and the existence of the second, more specific, contract. Simultaneously, I am wondering whether the contract is enforceable under the theory of contract of adhesion.

Thoughts?


texts: In an LLC (real estate) with two equal members, who is considered the owner of the LLC's properties. The LLC, or the partners?

texts:
I am one of two members of an LLC that owns property in Kentucky. Could one or both of the members be considered the owner of a particular property, or would the LLC represent the legal owner?

A little more background, a family member of my partner is renting one of the LLC's properties. This family member previously had HUD/Section 8 support, but that was terminated due to the familial relationship between tenant and owner.

Thanks.

Edit 1:
I found this piece that seemed to support my position, but it might only apply to NY. https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=0bb3124e-0533-4894-a705-bf31c0f91b49