texts: In Australia you can return/refund goods that were sold "not fit for purpose", is there an equivalent law covering leases?

texts:
I was offered a lease on a commercial property by an agent that promoted it for retail use. When I asked to use the building commercially they claimed I was on a residential contract and they had inserted a clause forbidding me from trading on the site. The ad I responded to read:

  Multipurpose site

  An exciting prospect for a residential tenant seeking office/retail
  accommodation plus storage offering direct access from ****** Street.
  The residential site was recently refurbished and accommodation
  includes 2 Bedrooms, kitchen and brand new bathroom - On-site parking
  is also available. Ideal opportunity for a multitude of uses. Flexible
  lease terms available. **** per calendar month.

I made my commercial intentions 100% clear from the very beginning and the agent promoted the commercial benefits but when I arrived to sign the documents I was tricked into signing a lease the agent claims "forbids commercial use of the premises". I was told all I required was "written consent" from the landlord but when I asked for it they told me to pay unspecified "costs".

Do I have legal options under false representation, pressure sales, consumer law or fraud if I requested but didn't actually receive a lease that was "multipurpose office/retail accommodation" on "flexible terms"?

EDIT: I found this and it seems relevant, is it?

  National laws for unfair contract terms

  As a supplier, you must ensure your contracts comply with national
  unfair contract terms laws.

  These protect consumers against contract terms that:

would cause a significant imbalance in their rights and obligations under a contract
are not reasonably necessary to protect the trader
would cause detriment (financial or otherwise) to a consumer.

  You must not include terms that allow you to:

change the contract without reference to the consumer
avoid responsibility when things go wrong
avoid liability for negligence
solely determine if the contract has been breached
impose fees and charges not related to costs incurred.

  If a court finds a term is unfair, that term is treated as if it never
  existed. If the contract can operate without the unfair term, it will
  still be binding. Any party to the contract can apply to a court for
  such a determination.

  The unfair contract terms laws do not apply to a contract to supply
  goods or services, or financial products or services, from one
  business to another.

  National unfair contract terms legislation is part of the Trade
  Practices Act 1974.


texts: Laws in the US against match-fixing, specifically in the context of NBA 2002 WCF?

texts:
The 2002 Western Conference Finals of the NBA between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings--particularly Game 6--contained some of the most suspicious games in NBA history. (Ralph Nader even wrote an open letter to the NBA commissioner regarding this particular series.)

One claim was that the referees were company men who made biased calls in order  to extend the series. (NBA series are best-of-7 and, perhaps obviously, the longer the series goes, the more money the NBA and the TV networks make. Also, the Lakers were, and indeed have always been, much more ratings-friendly, so there was an added incentive to have them progress to the next round. So the claim was that in Game 6 in particular, when the Lakers were down 3-2 in the series and were facing elimination, the referees repeatedly made highly dubious calls favoring the Lakers.)

The NBA has, of course, always denied this claim.

My question is this:

Suppose the referees who were officiating that game were to openly confess that they had been mildly biased towards the Lakers. Suppose also that they were NOT in any way gambling on the games and the pure "company men" theory holds---i.e., the referees, on their own accord and without explicit instruction from their employers, simply wanted to extend the series in the best interests of their company. They simply added a slight bias in favor of the Lakers---e.g. whenever they felt a call could go either way, they were more inclined than usual to give it to the Lakers. But they did not intend to go so far as to guarantee a Lakers victory. Would any federal laws have been broken? Consumers and what-not would certainly file a bunch of lawsuits, but would there be any reason for say the FBI or some other federal agency to get involved?

My understanding is that if there's outright gambling involved, then the FBI can step in, but otherwise I am not aware that any law may have been broken (in this hypothetical scenario).


texts: Does a non-compete also prevent a person from developing a project while waiting for their non-compete to expire?

texts:
A person helps a start-up develop a product then leaves the start-up. He/she was never an equity holder. During the 2 year non-compete period with previous client/employer, this person starts developing their own version (no copying of any kind) and announces on their website that their product will be available after a certain date, which is the date the non-compete has expired.
The previous client issues a cease and desist letter to the person to step developing their own product regardless of that fact that it is not released and wont be released till after the non-compete has expired.
Is person in violation of their non-compete for simply announcing their own product and when it will be available? In other words can the standard non compete prevent that person from continuing to develop and announce their product in the meantime?
The product is software. The person will actually be posting their version online for free and not actually selling it.
State is AZ. Section is as follows

Covenant Not To Compete:
During the term of this Agreement and for a period expiring two (2) years after the termination of this Agreement for any reason, Contractor covenants and agrees that Contractor will not:
a. Hire, offer to hire, entice away or in any other manner persuade or attempt to persuade any officer, employee or agent of Moron-Company or any of its affiliates to alter or discontinue a relationship with Moron-Company or to do any act that is inconsistent with the interests of Moron-Company or its affiliates;
b. Directly or indirectly solicit, have contact for purposes of selling any products and/or services to (except on behalf of Moron-Company), divert, or take away any customers of Moron-Company or any of its affiliates; or
c. Directly or indirectly solicit, divert, or in any other manner persuade or attempt to persuade any supplier of Moron-Company or any of its affiliates to alter or discontinue its relationship with Moron-Company or any of its affiliates.
d. For the purposes of this Section 4, businesses that are deemed to compete with Moron-Company include, without limitation, businesses engaged in IT system sales, integration, consulting, application development, maintenance and hosting. Competition also includes any additional goods or services that Moron-Company provides its customer(s), including goods and services that Moron-Company offers or prepares to offer in the future while Contractor is employed with Moron-Company. Notwithstanding Contractor's obligations under this Section 7, Contractor will be entitled to own, as a passive investor, up to five percent (5%) of any publicly traded company without violating this provision.
e. Moron-Company and Contractor agree that: this provision does not impose an undue hardship on Contractor and is not injurious to the public; that this provision is necessary to protect the business of Moron-Company and its affiliates, including their trade secrets; the nature of Contractor's responsibilities with Moron-Company under this Agreement require Contractor to have access to and develop confidential information which is valuable and confidential to all of the Business; the scope of this Section 7 is reasonable in terms of length of time and geographic scope; and adequate consideration supports this Section 7, including consideration herein.


texts: How do I digitally confirm the ownership of land to an individual?

texts:
What I'd like is to have an individual prove ownership of a parcel of land and then verify this claim digitally.

What is the conventional process of a person proving ownership of their parcel of land?
Can this be done digitally?


texts: Is it a crime to receive money from one individual and give it to another individual to reduce their taxes?

texts:
I have two relatives, Alice and Betty.  Alice wants to give Betty a $20,000 cash gift, but because this is over the $14,000 cap for tax-free gifting, they are concerned about Betty's tax responsibility as the recipient.

To solve the problem and reduce Betty's tax burden, Alice wants to give me a $6,000 gift and then ask me to give a $6,000 gift to Betty.  This way, no cash transfers are greater than $14,000.

My concern is that this may be considered tax evasion, or some other crime, which I don't want to be implicated in.  Otherwise, if this is merely a legal tax avoidance, that would be fine.


texts: Is it legal to film and record in public areas in Sweden?

texts:
The title says it all: Is it legal to film and record anything in public areas in Sweden (e.g. using a mobile phone)? Starting from roads/trees/object to people and especially the police (e.g. in a case when police want to possibly arrest somebody and use violence).

Any help would be appreciated.

P.S 1: I know it's illegal to do so in private areas.

P.S 2: I know it's also illegal to do so in metro or commuter trains without permission. However, I'm not sure whether I'm still allowed to film e.g. police in there or not.


texts:
Specifically, why did it need to be a Constitutional Amendment instead of a regular law?

The Constitution, under Article 1, Section 4, Clause 1, states that:

  The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

Wouldn’t this allow Congress to have required the direct election of Senators without having to Ratify an Amendment?


texts: Is It Unfair For A Business To Change Its Severance Package Policy During A Pandemic?

texts: In South Africa could it be considered an unfair Labour Practice if the practice and policy within a company had been to pay two weeks severance pay for each year worked. Then when the Covid 19 pandemic broke and the company realised that it need to retrench a large number of employees and it changed the policy to pay the minimum severance package required in law which is one week.


texts: How much of a codebase can be considered intellectual property?

texts:
If you write some code, generally you or your employer 'own' that code (I won't go into who 'owns' open source code because it's not what I'm talking about). It's yours/theirs to do with what you please. But at what point can you reasonably say "this code is mine"? It seems reasonable to say a 100,000+ LOC codebase written by in-house developers belongs to the company they work for. You could stretch further and say "this function is mine". It might be a very specialised function using an algorithm you created to perform some task, so really yes, that is yours because no one else created it, you did.

But what about boilerplate code and small snippets? What about "Hello World"? Millions of programmers have written a Hello World since the early 70's, but you couldn't say because you wrote one that you 'own' Hello World in your chosen language.

What factors distinguish code classed as something that can be owned from code "anyone could have written"? There's only a certain number of reasonable ways of achieving some programming task, and you surely can't claim ownership of any code that does the same thing just because you wrote one first (or can you?).

For example...

A friend of mine got a job for a trendy new startup (the kind where beanbags and having a wacky office environment took precedent over actually doing anything) that swiftly sank beneath the waves. He was given a project that could have been handled by one programmer and got through what he estimates as 10-15% of the actual programming before being let go. He also did all of the design phase and supposedly has documentation to prove it. I want (with him) to use what he already wrote to finish the project and launch it as our own, but he's worried his former employer may come after him and accuse him of stealing the company's (which is now defunct) property.

Ideally I'm looking for legal precedent if anyone knows of any, but I think it might be hard to come by if any exists at all.


texts: What happens to a dissolving corporation that cannot afford to pay its franchise tax fees?

texts: What happens to a corporation, or any of its executives, when that corporation is dissolving but has unpaid state franchise tax fees that it does not have the assets to pay? Can these corporation liabilities transfer to their executives?


texts: Should I pay rent, post-lease period, when I didn't live there anymore?

texts:
my friend and I moved out of our apartment a week before our lease was up, but we just simply didn't return the keys or let the apartment complex know, thinking they'd just charge us for it if needed. Now, we are being charged 250 dollars as a prorated amount for the days after the lease was up  that we didn't let the management know that we had left.

  The rent charge was the pro-rated rent for every day after 2/27 that the apartment remained in y’alls possession. Unless the keys are turned in or the resident confirms in writing that they have vacated the unit we cannot legally take possession of the apartment. For that reason you were being charged rent until I received the email confirmation from you that y’all have in fact vacated the unit.

Even though it is not a high amount, I am not fully willing to pay it because we weren't there.

I would appreciate any advice.


texts: Paying back relocation money and resignation

texts:
A year ago I started working at a well known company and it turned out to be a lot worse than expected, so I'd like to leave ASAP since I already made plans for the future. As part of employment I was also given some money for relocation and other expenses.

For it, there is a sentence in my contract (last part shortened):

  In the event that you choose to leave the company within 12 months of the start of your job responsibilities (start date for new hires or internal transfer date), all relocation cash allowances and money ... must be paid back.

My question (it might be more of an English than law related), but does within 12 months mean if:

The date when I stop working (my last work day) is within those 12 months,
I make a decision within first 12 months (officially give my resignation in first 12 months, even if then by notice period obligation I still work 13th month),
Something else :)?

Thanks!


texts:
I have an agreement presented by an employer that has the following bullet point:

Employees are prohibited from using, exploiting, disseminating, or
reproducing any intellectual work, in any form or of any nature that
belongs to [removed], whether or not it is covered by copyright, for
personal profit or otherwise.

What use is prohibited exactly? Does the "personal profit or otherwise" mean "personal or non-personal profit", "personal profit or personal non-profit", or "any reason"?


texts: What to do if the defendant failed to follow the court order and send documents to other party

texts:
I started a claim against a photography company that failed to attend our engagement party and refused to pay us back.

Last week I received a letter from the court saying that our claim is allocated to the small claims track.  In the letter it stated:

  Each party must deliver to the other party and to the court office
  copies of all documents on which that party intends to rely at the
  hearing no later than 4pm on 27th October 2015.

I sent all the documents to both the court and the counter-party.

Today is 28th October 2015 and I still haven't heard from the other party.

I am not a law student and never been to court before.

I was wondering what steps to take.


texts: "Compliance" of one software license with another

texts:
The Microsoft Public License (MS-PL) says:

  If you distribute any portion of the software in compiled or object code form, you may only do so under a license that complies with this license.

I'm trying to learn what kinds of things would violate license compliance in this context. Maybe if the newer license reduced the grants of the MS-PL? Or contradicted its conditions, expanded its limitations, or something else? I could use some help clearing it up. Thanks.


texts: Under GDPR, are service operators allowed to record all clicks of logged in users?

texts:
Under GDPR, service operators (e.g. people who run websites or web apps where users login in a browser) are not allowed to collect information about users unless either:

The user consents to having that piece of data collected while being able to maintain access to the service if the decline to consent
There is a direct business need to store that data
There is a legal need to store that data

However, consider the following scenario:

There is a web app that requires users to log in to access
Users can not log in unless they agree to the terms and conditions
Once logged in all button clicks (and keystrokes on the site) by users are recorded (on the service operator's servers)
This recording behavior is described in the terms in conditions
The service operator needs to collect this data in order to identify how to improve their service in the future

Is such a scenario allowed?  My gut inclination is that it would not be allowed since the need to identify future service offerings is not "direct" and that one of the benefits allowed by GDPR is that individuals have the right to opt out of analytics tracking while continuing to be able to use services.  However, a counter argument that could be made is that this business need is direct.  Which interpretation is correct?


texts: Does procuring cause in real estate apply when you have to change an agent

texts:
I found a property for sale online and I toured it with an agent a week ago. There was no signed agreement between the agent and me. However, the agent is not willing to write an offer for me as they insist that the asking price is great and that I pay a higher price than I wanted(about 7% higher). I had an argument with them and I had to fire the agent. I'm looking for a new agent who is willing to write an offer for me. However, one new agent told me that they can't write an offer for me because of procuring cause. If this applies, it would seem that I am stuck: the agent who showed me the property is not willing to write an offer for me; other agents cannot write me an offer because of procuring cause.
BTW, the property is in California.


texts: How is compensation divided up in class action lawsuits?

texts:
How is the money divided in a class action lawsuit?

Do the plaintiffs get a fixed percentage, or is there some kind of "cost" basis. For example, if the attorneys can "deduct costs" then it is obvious they can suck away all the money by just inflating their billable hours as they please. Is there any mechanism to prevent this from happening?


texts: Party is refusing to cooperate with the court. How do I proceed without a lawyer?

texts: A ruling (from a US court) was registered with a Canadian BC Provincial court that required them to remove CPLs (liens) from my property. This person (who lives in Canada) is refusing to cooperate. I understand they are in contempt of court. I'm told that only a lawyer can put things into motion to put this person in jail for their contempt. But they require $5000. Is there anything I can just do myself without having to pay this huge lawyer fee for something so simple?


texts: Are there books or sources on how laws are evolving in a way that current laws have little to do with original purposes?

texts:
I am seeing pattern where laws that used to serve some purposes is now serving very different purposes. I wonder if there is a name for these patterns.

According to

Why are there distinct burdens of proof in civil and criminal cases?

Beyond reasonable doubt are there to protect jury. Juries at that time fear that they will go to hell if they convict an innocent man. So the rule is made that the jury must conclude that the defendant is guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

Of course, the purpose and the meaning is no longer there. The purpose of beyond reasonable doubt cases is now a way to protect defendants.

That's because, of course, values have changed.

US have become secular countries. Yada yada.

Statutory rapes laws also evolved.

https://digitalcommons.law.utulsa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://law.stackexchange.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1080&context=fac_pub

It says that statutory rapes laws are there to protect virginity of young girls.

That would make a lot of sense.

Virginity was very important at that time.

Virginity of boys are "worthless" and hence not worth protecting. So a hot beautiful young teacher having sex with young boy would be "nice".

However, as times go buy, we have men and women treated equally.

Also marital age have gone up and virginity is not important anymore.

So now, statutory rapes would actually protect a 15 years old boy that rape an 21 years old girl. That 21 years old girl will have strong incentive not to report the rape due to statutory rapes law.

  When an adult is raped by a juvenile, the offense of statutory rape
  imposes criminal liability on the adult for the same intercourse by
  which the adult is a victim of rape. In this way, the offense of
  statutory rape criminalizes being raped; it criminalizes being the
  victim of rape. It criminalizes the failure to prevent or resist being
  raped by a juvenile. And neither defenses specific to statutory rape
  nor defenses of general application satisfactorily preclude liability.

If an adult is raped by a minor, is it statutory rape?

Another sample I can think off is adultery laws. Before paternity tests, adultery means paternity frauds. Men with power and wealth will end up inheriting his wealth to someone else' child if his wife commit adultery.

Times changed.

We can just use paternity tests to know who the father of the child is. So adultery laws become meaningless. In most states it's legal. Being legal, getting married no longer protect men from paternity fraud. If anything, getting married expose men to more liability of paternity fraud.

Are these "evolving idea", or phenomena, where a rule makes a lot of sense a long time ago, but somehow have been very different now have a name? So the laws were there for a reasonable purpose. And now the law is there for totally different purpose.

What are these called?


texts: Do I have to report lawsuit winnings to taxes?

texts: If I am a defendant in a class action lawsuit, and win a certain amount of money, do I have to report the earnings to the IRS?


texts: EB-3 (Green card) case in different county from the company's current address

texts:
I work for a Marin County based company as a foreign self-employed freelance contractor (software developer), and my client wants to open an office in Los Angeles and invited me to work there.

How to start the case without a physical address in Los Angeles? Should my boss rent an office first despite that he doesn't have anybody to sit in until I get the green card?


texts: Can I make someone open a restaurant for me, so that they'd be the owner but I would still earn at least as much as them?

texts:
I have some ideas for a restaurant, however I don't see myself working in one.
So I've been wondering if it is possible to hire / create a company with someone who would open a restaurant in my place and manage it according to my guidelines.
I guess it'd be like an intellectual property.

I don't know whether this depends on the country,  if it does I'm interested in Italy.


texts: Can the police legally force you to sit in interrogation?

texts:
I guess more specifically, when cops order you to sit down in an interrogation room (before you have been charged or arrested), is this a 'lawful order'?

I am asking because of the way this is often shown on shows like Law and Order. It seems like this is just so the cops can bully the suspect and be able to dominate them, and so is there a legal basis allowing them to do that?


texts: Is accepting an EULA considered binding, if I am an employee testing a company product?

texts:
I work as a software engineer and the product I work on displays an EULA the first time it starts. Due to the nature of the job, we have to reinstall it on a somewhat regular basis - so this happens fairly frequently.

The software, however, will not function if the license has not been accepted (no surprise there). This means I have to accept the license in order to do the job.

Then, under these circumstances, is my acceptance of the software EULA considered legally binding?

Edit for clarity: I develop the software whose EULA is in question, and I am directly employed by the copyright holder of said software (and the second party to the EULA). I'm not concerned about anything nefarious happening (I wouldn't stay very long at a company where I feel like I have to watch my back) - this was simply a matter of curiosity that struck me this morning while I was reinstalling an instance of the product.


texts: In the English law, how is a conflict of interest between an extradition request and a criminal conviction solved?

texts:
This question was motivated by Julian Assange's famous case, but it is a more general question.

As it is known, he currently has a conviction of 50 weeks prison term for bail jumping. Thus, England wants him to serve it in a prison (jail?).

From the other side, another country - this time, the USA - wants him, without a conviction (in the USA), but because also they want to punish him.

Thus, we have a conflict of interest:

The English criminal system wants him to serve his punishment. They are probably tuned to not allow him to go to anywhere, until he served his prison term.
Also the criminal system of another country wants him. The U.K. is bound by international agreements to give him to them.

The logical solution would be to first make him to serve his punishment in the U.K., and then extradict him to the USA. It seems a likely outcome in JA's case, but not always.

For example, in the case of a famous terrorist or war criminal, it would be surreal to delay his criminal procedure, only because he committed also some traffic offense in the U.K.

Which interest will be stronger? How is it being decided?


texts: Both expended and encumbered or can be one

texts:
Quoting the Maryland Capital Consolidated Bond Loan bill from the 2018 legislative session (Chapter 9 - Senate bill 186), 1(7):

  “The proceeds of the loan must be expended or encumbered by the Board of Public Works for the purposes provided in this Act no later than June 1, 2025. If any funds authorized by this Act remain unexpended or unencumbered after June 1, 2025, the amount of the unexpended or unencumbered authorization shall be canceled and of no further force and effect.”

The question is two-part:

Does expended refer to by the Board of Public works?
If one has funds that remain unexpended but no funds that are not unencumbered, are the funds unexpended subject to cancelation?

As an example: $1,000,000 proceeds; $600,000 expended; $1,000,000 encumbered by the Board. Are the $400,000 unexpended funds subject to cancelation?


texts: How can one gain access to isolated pockets of open access land?

texts:
What rights do members of the public have to access isolated areas of open access land, if any at all? That is to say areas of access land which are (i) not crossed by and do not adjoin any public rights of way or (ii) areas of access land which are separated from all other nearby access land and rights of way by excepted land. Examples of such land can be found in these two locations:

Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4 - Notice the railway line which isolates the western part of the access land
Example 5 -  Notice the track leading to the road is not marked as a right of way

As far as I can tell, no specific provision is made for cases such as this in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000:

  “means of access”, in relation to land, means

  (a) any opening in a wall, fence or hedge bounding the land
      (or part of the land), with or without a gate, stile or other
       works for regulating passage through the opening,

  (b) any stairs or steps for enabling persons to enter on the
      land (or part of the land), or

  (c) any bridge, stepping stone or other works for crossing
      a watercourse, ditch or bog on the land or adjoining the
      boundary of the land.

This appears to make the implicit assumption that the relevant access land will be adjacent to some form of right of way.


texts:
We had a bout of freezing rain last week. While I was driving to work, I stopped at A US Customs Inspection Lane (I commute from Canada). Due to the crowning of the plaza, my car slid sideways 90 degrees into a pole. I was fully stopped with my foot on the brake at the time. There was no forward momentum and in my opinion, I was in full control of the vehicle.

Unfortunately, the plaza is owned by my employer and considered private property with public access. I had them save camera footage that shows the plaza was not salted.(The freezing rain was forcasted well in advance, this was not a freak storm). Upper management is adamant that they are not liable for any damage and I should file a claim with my insurance.

If I file a claim, would it be considered At-Fault? Based on the evidence I have, would my insurance company find me not at fault and subrogate against my employer to recoup my deductible?

FYI US Citizen, New York Resident, NY Registered car.


texts: Incomplete building rented on commercial lease

texts:
Can an incomplete and unsafe building be rented to a tenant on a commercial lease if the building never received a certificate of occupancy?

[![enter image description here][2]][2]

[2]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/3pezU.jpg?s=512


texts: Do students have First Amendment rights at a private university?

texts:
Do students have First Amendment rights at a private university, or can the university expel or punish students for saying something it doesn't like?

I don't understand why people need examples, but the cases I'm thinking of are (1) posting a controversial meme on the message board, or (2) questioning the concept of "microaggressions" during class (This latter case happened at a public university, but I wonder if it would be treated differently at a private one)


texts: Does the GDPR mandate that web sites provide access to cookie settings?

texts:
Cross referenced this question with SO just to get more technical perspective

In this article it says with respect to:

Google Analytics and GDPR consent to cookies and tracking:

  Based on a true choice. The user must be able to opt out of all but the strictly necessary cookies and still use the site.
  Retrievable. The user must have access to their settings and make changes to what cookies they want to accept and reject.

Is it the responsibility of the site to implement this or is this something that the user should be able to do via the browser?


texts: What is the opposite of "lesser included offence"?

texts:
If someone is charged with murder, but acquitted at trial, they can't be later charged with manslaughter, because it's a lesser included offense.
The opposite isn't true, though.
If someone is accused of manslaughter, but acquitted at trial, they can later be charged with murder, because it's a .... what?


texts: Can I ask for Hospital Discharge report?

texts:
One of my student could not come to Physics lab and now he is asking me that he was sick and he went to ER after coming to USA.  He says that he does not have doctor's note for the visit. In reality, his friend told me he went home abroad and did not return on time.
Can I ask for ER discharge report as a proof?  Does it violate Ferpa ?

Thanks
Pat


texts: Is a Florida corporation that shows no profit or losses required to file taxes?

texts:
A company is incorporated in the state of Florida; it was formed by a wantrepreneur. This company has no employees, no location, no profits, and no losses; the only proof this company exists is on paper.

Is this company required to file taxes for the previous year, and if they don't, will they face any punishment?


texts: Where are the "United States Classification" codes for trademarks defined?

texts:
I'm attempting to do some preliminary research on trademarks and having trouble with the US classification codes. E.g., I'm looking at a 'Goods and Services' description that starts with "IC 042. US 100 101."

The IC designation is clear enough and it's easy enough to find IC definitions.

However, I can't find the US class definitions. I understand the IC system is the primary classification used for trademarks, however all (?) the trademark applications I see include 'US' code numbers as well, following the IC numbers and the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure refers to the US codes as "secondary".

So, it seems the US codes are still useful—though secondary—but not defined anywhere I can find. Or should I just not worry about the US codes?


texts: What authority decides what races exist?

texts:
There are at least three typical situations where race/ethnicity/sex are requested on applications:mortgage, health, and employment.
What authority decides that there exists a race called white?
I could understand grouping say Irish, Scottish, and British together as a race, or Greek, Italian, and Israeli, but my understanding is that Persian, Greek, Egyptian, and Scottish are all considered to be of race white? I was surprised when Persian friend stated that he was told to list his race as white.
Are there separate laws/statutes for mortgage/health/employment? Do they originate from Congress, or from actual federal departments?
Then what separates ethnicity from race? Are Dominicans black/hispanic/white?


texts: In Canada, can you be sued if you specifically name a salesperson in a poor review?

texts: Say that I did business with Acme Corporation and my salesperson was John Smith.  I want to write a review of my service that specifically says "John Smith was not a good sales person" in my online google review of Acme corporation.  Can John sue me for defaming him even though I was reviewing Acme?


texts: How might this use of the Star Wars logo and universe be legal?

texts:
A French book about Star Wars recently came out, giving a psychological approach on the films and characters. The book doesn't contain images, but on the cover, the Star Wars logo is visible, and there's a drawing of Sigmund Freud holding Darth Vader's helmet.
I believe the names of the characters are used throughout the book, as well as names of planets, spaceships, or other fictional elements from the films.

I believe the author thinks they are in their own right to use these elements, and I assume the publishing company also did some research before putting out this book.

But I also know that Lucasfilms and Disney love suing all sorts of people, from their own former employees to Ronald Reagan.

To me, the line isn't clear between the two. So I am wondering if this use of the Star Wars universe respects copyright and trademarks regulations, and on what legal grounds.
(I am asking because I would like to write and sell derivative works as well, and I don't know how I could be sure to never break a law).

EDIT: I asked the author yesterday if they had to pay to use the trademarked logo, derivative visuals, etc, and he said "Copyrights for Star Wars only applies to images taken from the film. Not on the logo, font or drawing inspired from".

JURIDICTION: France & USA


texts: Can I legally deny entry to service dogs because I have cats in my store?

texts:
The rules for the ADA about service dogs includes a section with zoos as the example.
"service animals can be restricted from areas where the animals on display are the natural prey or natural predators of dogs, where the presence of a dog would be disruptive, causing the displayed animals to behave aggressively or become agitated."

I currently have a sign in on the door at my shop saying "There are cats in the store. No animals of any kind or service dogs permitted." because I have two cats in my store. We don't sell food or clothing and I live above the store so my cats tend to be in the store as much as they're upstairs. They're all up to date on their shots, they're healthy and they're perfectly friendly to people. They don't take well to other animals though. So as I understand it, because the dog would cause my cats to become agitated I am legally permitted to deny the dog entry to my store.

Is this correct or would it still be illegal to deny the dog?


texts: Can a non-profit 501(c)(3) rent space to a for-profit company by creating a for-profit subsidiary?

texts:
I am starting a small LLC (a tutoring company) for which I'm looking to rent out space from my church.  It's in Wisconsin, if that matters.  We are looking for a way to do this that would not endanger their nonprofit or tax-exempt status.  (I could make my company non-profit as well but that has its own series of hurdles we're hoping to avoid.)
My research seems to indicate that the church could create its own for-profit subsidiary, rent space to my company via that, and then return the proceeds to the parent church organization with an unrelated business income tax (UBIT) which they would pay.
Is that accurate?  If so, follow up questions:

Would the space I rent need to belong to specifically either the parent church organization or the for-profit subsidiary?  (Or is unnecessary to distinguish?)

Would it need to be rented at fair-market value or could we set any price we wanted (including free or for donations)? I'm planning to give a normal amount either way but just to understand the legal obligations.

Thanks!


texts: No law against false imprisonment in Massachusetts?

texts:
A couple of weeks ago a cab driver refused to let me out of his cab. In the aftermath of that incident, I went to look up the laws in Massachusetts on false imprisonment and could not find any law against it. I know that in some states false imprisonment is a felony, but I could not find any Massachusetts statute making it a crime.

Am I missing something or is false imprisonment not a crime in Massachusetts?


texts: When can a landlord withhold damage deposit?

texts:
What must a landlord do to (legally) withhold some or all of a past tenant's damage deposit (aka security deposit)? I've heard (from the tenancy office) that a landlord cannot arbitrarily withhold the damage deposit, but what does this actually mean?

I guess my first question is: When is a tenant held financially responsible for damage? For example, if a rock is thrown from outside and breaks the window, it wouldn't be the tenant's fault. But if the tenant spills something that stains the carpet, then it may be (though even this might be a gray area if the carpets were so old as to be due for replacement anyway).

When a tenant moves out, what prevents the landlord from breaking something himself and claiming it was the tenant; or putting a bunch of garbage into the house, claiming the tenant left it, and charging for the delivery to the dump?


texts: How can sexual assault on a minor not result in jail time in the UK?

texts:
In a related story, I read that a British convicted paedophile who was found guilty of sexually assaulting an eight year old girl a few years ago, was then only sentenced to "community order." (Community service.)

I'm mostly interested in answers from people who have some knowledge of the UK justice system.

How could this man avoid jail time for his crime?

For example, in my native country, such crimes are punished with a minimum of two years jail time, and up to ten years. Some countries punish such acts with life imprisonment or even death.

Doesn't the United Kingdom have a minimum sentence for sexual child abuse?

Were there some special circumstances in this case that let this man get an extremely mild sentence?


texts:
We developed a demo for a client, who after the last meeting went silent and elusive claiming to be busy at our every request. After a year he launched the new website which was a copy and paste of our demo shared via link on our server and claimed the website was done internally. In using our work they implicitly accepted our offer but we hadn't discussed pay as they went silent.

It is obvious they had changed their minds on continuing discussions on pricing terms (which were next on the table since we had exceedingly and satisfactorily completed all they had asked for the project) because they intended to fraudulently copy and use our source-code free of charge. So in light of this intentional frustration, can court enforce this contract in law? bearing in mind that contract law and related legal fields are intended to provide for the orderly transfer of rights from one person or organization to another.


texts:
I've been reading the notes for a recent prolific court case, and in the records of what was said the phrase "Object to the form." comes up quite a lot.
What does this phrase mean?
(If it is at all relevant, I believe the law in play is US law, but I do not know where exactly the case is taking place.)

As requested in the comments, here are some examples from the case notes, with names redacted.
Example 1:

A    I don't recall.
Q    Is it possible?
A    It's a possibility.
MR. [REDACTED]:  Object to the form.

Example 2:

Q.   And, indeed, you would agree with me that if this individual claimed that Ms. [REDACTED] had something to do with the events listed in Narrative 1, you would have folded up on it, as the investigating detective, right?
MS. [REDACTED]:  Object to the form.
THE WITNESS:  Either myself or Detective [REDACTED] would have.


texts: I want to create a forum, which is devoted to a videogame, but I have a law question. What will happen if some user posts an illegal content? Am I responsible for it? I don't want to hire moderators. And I can't maintain forum every day, because I have much work. What will happen, if I go to place, where there is no Internet access, for long time? Also, what will happen if I lose interest to my forum and I stop maintaining it (forum will continue working)? Should I delete it in this case? Can I cooperate with law enforcement, so they could delete illegal content whithout my participation? Forum will be hosted by my own home server. Of course, posting an illegal content will be prohibited. I live in Russia. Please help.


texts: Why might Title 18 Section 793 be unconstitutional?

texts: During the House hearing today (July 7, 2016) Director Comey implied that section 793 of Title 18 might be unconstitutional as to applying the "gross negligence" standard to Hillary Clinton.  What is the law that supports this reasoning as to unconstitutionality?


texts: Can a defendant get probation without being convicted of a crime?

texts:
I believe my friends are being scammed. I discovered this information on the person in question from a court case December 2017:

  DEFERRED ADJUDICATION Jury Waived. Defendant arraigned. Defendant warned. Defendant enters plea of guilty before Court and prays that Court withhold adjudication of guilt under Art 42.12 C.C.P. Court finds that the evidence and Defendant's plea substantiates the Defendant's guilt of the offense of tamper w/govern record defraud/harm beyond a reasonable doubt as charged in the indictment. Adjudication of guilt Deferred and Defendant placed on probation for 4 years, subject to terms and conditions of probation served on Defendant. Fine: $500. Perform 150 hrs cs, anti-theft, corrective thinking, run CC w/199-83286-15.

When confronted the individual claims that he took a plea deal to avoid conviction. Can you plead guilty to a crime, get probation and simultaneously avoid a conviction?

This is important because he claims to be in the process of purchasing a FDIC insured bank and according to 12 U.S. Code § 1829 - Penalty for unauthorized participation by convicted individual, it should be illegal for him to engage in such activities even if they were legitimate.


texts: Why was this man not charged with this offence that it seems he has committed?

texts:
I was reading this article, Man jailed after sending photos of his genitals to undercover police officer.

This article states:

  Malcolm Blount, 55, was caught by police after he emailed three pictures of his genitals to an officer posing as the 12-year-old girl.

He was arrested for a few offenses but NOT Causing a child to watch a sexual act (Section 12 of the Sexual Offenses Act 2003). If you look at the Sexual Offences
Definitive Guideline

One would think category 3 would apply. Perhaps I am not clear on what "Sexual activity" in the legal sense means. Would this boil down to the genital being erect or flaccid? There has been a recent provision to Section 67 of the serious crime Act (2015), called sexual communications with a child (2017).

which he would have been charged with, but the offense was committed in 2016.

In this instance, what constitutes a bare minimum of sexual activity?


texts: Are volunteer organizations considered a social area under the Ontario Human Rights Code?

texts:
I was recently denied a volunteer opportunity at a community organization. I feel like I was discriminated against one of the code grounds as outlined in the Ontario Human Rights Code.

However, is volunteering considered to be a protected area under the Code? From what I can tell, the Code only protects discrimination with respect to employment, but I’m not sure then if volunteering qualifies as that.

Are volunteers protected from discrimination under the Ontario Human Rights Code?


texts: Identity verification prior granting access to personal data [GDPR]

texts: When receiving by E-Mail a Subject Access Request (SAR), which steps must be taken to ensure that the person requesting the SAR is the effective owner of the personal data?


texts: What does this sentence about Trump's lawsuits in Pennsylvania mean?

texts:
Source

A turning point for the Trump campaign’s legal efforts came on Nov. 13, when its core team of professional lawyers saw the writing on the wall. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia delivered a stinging defeat to Trump allies in a lawsuit trying to invalidate all Pennsylvania ballots received after Election Day.
The decision didn’t just reject the claim; it denied the plaintiffs standing in any federal challenge under the Constitution’s electors clause — an outcome that Trump’s legal team recognized as a potentially fatal blow to many of the campaign’s challenges in the state.

I don't understand the highlighted text. It's written in English, but not in the English that I can comprehend. Can anyone explain?
Tagging the question with "Pennsylvania", although I am not sure if the highlighted text is related to Pennsylvanian law.
Looks related: If Trump's legal challenges to the 2020 elections are so bad, why haven't the courts ruled them as frivolous? It seems probable that whatever the highlighted text means, it is something beyond just rejecting the challenge, even if it isn't ruling the case as frivolous.


texts: Am I liable for a school zone speeding ticket in New York State when blinking lights don't have a notice sign?

texts:
Long story short, I have received six citations for speeding in a school zone posted 15 MPH. I received my first citation in the mail two weeks after the event occurred, thus, I racked up six tickets before realizing I was doing so.
The school zone speeding sign looks like the attached image. I apologize for it being blurry, but the sign reads: "School Speed Limit 15: 7AM - 4PM School Days" It is also attached with lights that flash.
New York State Vehicle Traffic Law (NY Veh & Traf L § 1180 (2014)) states:

...no person shall drive in excess of  such maximum school speed limits during:

1.) school  days  at  times  indicated on the school zone speed limit
sign, provided, however, that such times shall be between the hours
of seven o'clock A.M. and six o'clock P.M. or alternative times
within such   hours; or
2.)  a period when the beacons attached to the school zone speed limit
sign are flashing and such sign is equipped with a notice that
indicates   that the school zone speed limit is in  effect  when  such
beacons  are   flashing,  provided,  however, that such beacons shall
only flash during   student activities at the school and up to  thirty
minutes  immediately   before   and  up  to  thirty  minutes
immediately  after  such  student   activities.

It seems to me that this sign doesn't fit either criteria. The flashing beacons do not have the attached sign, but the flashing beacons are still there and operating.
I am trying to question whether or not the lights were flashing when I was flashed by the ticketing camera, and I'm wondering if this is a reasonable thing to question based on the law I attached and the image.
Various links to the NYS Laws are here and here.


texts: Why can you be convicted for conspiring to project indecent images into the night-time sky, but not conspiracy to defraud a dead person?

texts:
I don't understand the difference between these two examples, because in both cases, the goal is scientifically impossible!

What does "if the means used to achieve the purpose are impossible" mean?

4.5 Impossibility and Common Law Offences

According to the House of Lords in DPP v Nock126 impossibility is a defence to a charge
of common law conspiracy. However, this is only where the conspiracy could never be
achieved: impossibility is not a defence if the means used to achieve the purpose are impossible [emphasis mine].
So if A and B conspire to project indecent images into the night-time sky, the fact that
such a display was not scientifically possible would not prevent the possibility of a conviction
for conspiracy to corrupt public morals. An example of where impossibility would be
a defence to a common law conspiracy is where A and B intend to defraud V, while V had
already died. It should be stressed that impossibility is assessed at the time of the agreement.
The fact that the plan subsequently becomes impossible (e.g. the company it was planned
to defraud has ceased to exist) does not prevent the original conspiracy being committed.

126[1978] AC 979 (HL).

Herring, Criminal Law: Text, Cases, and Materials (2020 9 ed). p 824.


texts: What counts as a binding notice of copyright in older books? Some just show the author or company and the date with no copyright symbol. Say if it just says the company and 1920 with no copyright symbol or notice, does this qualify as a notice of copyright in the United States?


texts: Is apartment co-signer responsible upon death of tenant?

texts: If someone co-signs for an individual to get into an apartment, and does not live with the person in the apartment. Then, years later after the person in the apartment has renewed the lease at least 5 times without the co-signer's consent or involvement, the tenant dies... is the original co-signer in any way responsible for any remaining rent or cleaning fees?


texts: Are courts "duty-bound" to enforce Rules of Procedure?

texts:
In Hunter v. Serv-Tech (E.D. La. 2009) referenced in this answer, the court denied a critical motion on a technicality and explained its reluctant decision saying:

[T]he Court is duty-bound to apply the law as it is written, and as written the Rules enact a policy of requiring all 12(b)(2)-(5) defenses to be made by motion, once, prior to filing an answer.  [Emphasis added]

This statement appears to equate procedural Rules with law.  (In this case the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.)  Is this consistent with American jurisprudence?
To what degree are U.S. courts "duty-bound" to apply rules of procedure?  Prior to reading that I thought that courts had broad discretion to waive rules in the interests of "justice" or "equity."


texts: Are there laws requiring the release of PII to participate in wall climbing in Utah?

texts:
I've been climbing climbing walls for over a decade.  It's a lot of fun.  But after moving to Utah recently, I find myself at a bit of an impasse.  I can't find any place around here that has a climbing wall that will let you climb without filling out what they call "a waiver," except it's totally not a waiver.  In every case, it's a big, long form requesting all sorts of personally identifiable information, including DOB, address, phone number, and email address.

I look at this information being requested, and here's what goes through my mind: best case scenario, I get put on a mailing list, which I don't want.  Slightly worse: they sell that information to advertisers, which I definitely don't want.  Worst case: the data gets stolen by hackers or a disgruntled employee, and sold to advertisers or identity thieves.  (It goes without saying that I don't want this to happen either.)  So there is no scenario in which I'm comfortable turning this information over.

Never in my life have I been asked to sign a waiver to climb a wall, let alone provide a huge amount of PII to go along with it.  One of the places told me that it's a legal requirement.  If so, it has to be local, as I've never run across it elsewhere in the US.

Can anyone confirm that 1) this legal requirement actually exists in the state of Utah, or 2) there's a different requirement (such as signing an actual waiver of liability, without requiring PII disclosure) and these are sleazy businesses trying to take advantage of it?  It would really be nice to know what's going on here.


texts: Could the Senate abolish the Supreme Court?

texts:
As a follow up from this question, suppose the Senate got tired of the "pesky" Court overturning its laws.  Or, suppose that additional elections produced Senate majorities of a different party than the President, such as a continuation of the 2016 arrangement.  Could the Senate simply decide to stop confirming Presidential nominees to be judges on the Supreme Court, even after there are no judges left on the Supreme Court?  If not, why not?

If unclear, absent a Supreme Court to authoritatively interpret the constitution, who would decide the answer?

While we would hope the "no judges remaining" would take a while, a disaster or major attack could cause such a situation to arise within a short period.

If so, this would be an interesting twist in constitutional law, that the Founding Fathers may not have considered.

Article II, Section 2, of the US Constitution states:

  [The President] shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law[.]

A separate question about if the President could do something similar is here; they seem separate because of the stronger duty to nominate ("shall") imposed on the President.

Could is intended to refer to legally could; political feasibility considerations would be at Politics, not Law.


texts: UK - ex landlord asking to pay for repaint

texts:
this question refers to the law in the UK.

I've moved out of an apartment and my previous landlord is asking me to pay to repaint the bathroom as it's crumbling because of condensation.

When we moved in, the bathroom paint was already crumbled but is probably worse when we moved out.

This is due to condensation as there's no active fan extractor. There's only a passive vent that doesn't do anything. It looks like this :

The bathroom has a window but it's facing my neighbor's other window, who is 2 meters away. For privacy reason, the window can't be opened during bathroom use.

We have done everything possible to create an airflow after the bathroom use but it's not enough to eliminate the condensation.

The landlord thinks that I haven't ventilated the bathroom properly and ask me to pay for repaint (which is more than £300+) and will be taken out of the deposit.

I will be willing to pay only if the landlord had installed everything that could help getting the condensation out. This is not the case.

We've tried to resolve this dispute by email but it is not getting anywhere. I don't want to pay for something where I did no wrong doing.

The next step would be to resolve this dispute through the Deposit Protection Service.

I can prove that the bathroom is not well designed for condensation extraction.

What is the law regarding bathroom ventilation?
What are my chances to have the DPS ruled in my favor as I can demonstrate plenty of things ?


texts: USA: Is "I am not a lawyer" disclaimer generally necessary?

texts:
Is it legally necessary to disclaim "I am not a lawyer" when engaging in casual conversation, writing Internet posts, etc. to avoid civil or criminal liability for one's comments?  Specifically, in the absence of:

claims to be a lawyer or implied claims (i.e. posing)
accepting payment or other compensation for legal advice

Is there any presumption under US law that casually giving advice to others on matters of law constitutes professional legal advice?

If a hypothetical statement is needed, let's say you said this to your next-door neighbor, who has no particular reason to believe you are a lawyer: "Based on my own past experience, and my reading of this statute, you are free to ignore this letter you received in the mail, as not answering does not change your outlook."  If your neighbor took this advice, and ended up in a bad position, and blamed you, are you in any way more liable under the law than if you had also said, "But I'm not a lawyer, so you should seek professional advice"?

I'm neglecting the practical (psychological) reasons to make such disclaimers.  Whether they have any real effect or not, giving them may preclude making trouble in people's minds.


texts:
What ID information do the signers need to write down in a contract signed with Adobe or DocuSign as a witness?

In other words, how are the signers identities described in the contract? Besides name, is date and location/country of birth needed? Is current location of living needed?

If you are making a international deal, signers might be unwilling to give personal information to strangers. What is the bare minimum they need to give so that the contract is legally valid?


texts:
I'm currently working on a business as a sole trader providing scalable servers to clients, they are billed monthly.

I'm aware the consumer rights act also affects digital goods, so whats to stop people from using my service for 14 days and then asking for a full refund? As these servers cost money to maintain, I have the potential to lose money on this, which could cripple my business if done enough.

Is there a terms of service clause/refund policy or somthing I can use in order to protect myself from losing money due to this? How do other companies get around this?


texts: Can Biden force the presidential transition to start?

texts:
A number of news sources have reported that Emily Murphy of the General Services Administration has failed to sign the document that triggers the presidential transition process.
Can the Biden team get a court order forcing her to sign it?


texts: UK TV Licensing changes 2016 - which Law or Legislation changed to facilitate this?

texts:
Various sources such as the BBC and MoneySavingExpert talk about the law changing with regards to TV licensing, specifically stating that UK Residents now require a TV License to watch catch-up (rather than Live) content on the BBC iPlayer, from Sept 1, 2016

However, I can't find any legislation or legal ruling that changes, amends, or supersedes the relevant act (Communications Act 2003 Part 4)

Legally speaking, what changed to require a TV License in order to watch Catch UP TV on the BBC iPlayer?


texts: What 'Notice of charge' fee applies when not specifed in a lease?

texts:
I'm a leaseholder of a flat, currently going through a remortgage in the UK. The lender's solicitor has told me that they're waiting to hear back from the landlord on what "notice of charge" fee is applicable and they won't proceed under they have that information.
There is a section on "Notices" in my lease, but no fee mentioned at all — neither to an amount explicitly, nor any reference (e.g. "a reasonable fee"). One clause does say:

Section  196  of  the  Law  of  Property  Act  1925  shall  otherwise  apply  to  notices  given under this lease.

I've double-checked Section 196 of the Law Property Act
1925
but there isn't a reference to fees there either.
I've tried searching online, but can't find any definitive source — One post on this forum says that the landlord can charge any amount if it's not specified in the lease.
(I've also checked for previous questions here, but they seem to be US-focused.)

Is there some fallback amount (either legislation or through guidance) that would apply in cases like this?
Or is this really the case that the landlord can charge an abitrary amount?


texts:
My question concerns the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.  Provisions of this act were to be phased in, in stages.  I wanted to figure out where things stand currently, i.e. what exactly is required as of now, so I looked at the relevant USDA press releases at the USDA Food and Nutrition Service website.

There I found a press release about a Final Rule that I am interested in understanding better: Local School Wellness Policy.

There was a proposed change to the rule.  I find it all very confusing.  I'm just trying to find what is actually currently in effect (full text).

Perhaps someone with experience looking up laws will have an easier time finding the full, current text?


texts: Are plain clothes police officers allowed to use force to make an arrest?

texts:
Disclaimer: I'm not related to this case in any way shape or form, I'm just a citizen trying to look at this without bias.

Recently there was an issue in Massachusettes where a group of skaters were asked to leave the premises, a police officer confiscated a board from one of the skaters, but the skaters said they were leaving, they just wanted the board back.

Obviously, the skaters are in the wrong for skating on public/city property (and grabbing the board from the officer), but I don't think a trespassing charge like that should outweigh possible misconduct of a group of officers.

During the disagreement, another skater went to rip the board out of the officers hand and run off, at which point a non-uniformed cop stepped in and tackled the skater. While going down, the officer and skater exchanged blows, when asked by the court, the skater said he wouldn't have punched him had he known it was a cop. So instead of getting an assault/battery charge, he now is trying to be pressed with assault/battery of a police officer (albeit, non-uniformed, non-identifiable).

However the new has been putting a focus on the use of force in the case. Considering, while the first tackle was going down, another individual was seen in the video cussing out the officers and walking away. At which point, you hear an officer yell grab him and the skater runs off, to get tackled by another officer.

My main question here is, how can a non-uniformed/non-identified cop try to stick an assault/battery of an officer charge on someone, if the only people at the scene who know he is an officer, are the other officers.

I used to skate, but am trying to look at this unbiased, as I've seen plenty of citizens try to step in and be vigilantes, so the thought that the one skater believed he was being tackled by a random bystander doesn't seem super far-fetched.

Attached is the news article of the incident, which includes a break-down video of the altercation.


texts: Is it legal for an employer to ask for SIN number over email?

texts:
I live in Ontario and recently my SIN Number changed. I notified my employer about the change and they asked me to email them the new sin number. I do not want to do so and I prefer to update my sin number through a secured website (https).

But, the employer does not have a secured system. They in-directly insists on sending it with email. Is it legal to do so? and what should I do?


texts: How enforceable is a TA10 after exchange and completion

texts:
When a homeowner sells a house in the UK, they fill out a TA10 Law Society Fittings and Contents form.

This details which items within the property are included, excluded or for sale at an additional price.

When exchanging the TA10 becomes apart of the contract.

My question is, how enforceable is that form in terms of those items that are included. If an item is ticked as included, with no additional cost associated, and no comments outlined, is the seller able to invoice the buyer for those items after completion.

If the seller was to try and invoice for items ticked as included, is the buyer protected and not required to pay.


texts: Who can overrule a court's finding of contempt?

texts:
A judge has authority and broad discretion to incarcerate people for contempt-of-court.
Who, besides the judge who holds a person in contempt, has authority to overturn a finding of contempt or an order of incarceration for contempt?
Do higher courts hear appeals of contempt?
Can a governor or president issue a pardon that overrides a finding of contempt?


texts: Selling public domain ebook, how to avoid copyright infringement in the US?

texts:
I made an ebook from a 1936 publication (country of origin: UK) and preparing to sell it on my website with the help of a credit card processor. The book is under copyright in the United States but public domain almost everywhere else. I am not a US citizen, not located in the US, and not doing business through a US legal entity.

Is there a standard course of action in this situation to avoid copyright infringement?
What determines copyright infringement here, the buyer's US citizenship or the buyer's country of residence?
Am I responsible for verifying the buyer's US citizenship/residence and if so, what are the minimal requirements? Would it be enough to simply ask the buyer to select from a dropdown of whitelisted countries before placing the order?


texts: Are "safe distance" citations handled on a case-by-case basis? (USA)

texts:
I've always been told that when you come to a red light or stop sign, to stop far enough behind the car in front of you so that you can see the bottom of their back tires. While a good general rule, I was wondering what would happen if, while you were following this rule, a much larger/speeding vehicle rear-ends you, causing you to hit the car ahead. Would the size/power difference be taken into account as to who's at fault for hitting who? I'm not looking for specific ratios, only if it matters. A bonus would be how much weather is taken into consideration.

Currently in CO, but do find myself getting out quite a bit.


texts:
Like many consumers these days, I now depend on home delivery for many of my 'non-essential' items.

I have been shopping online for a steel product which is often counterfeited (mostly from China), and have managed to weed out the more obvious fakes. Unfortunately, the very manufacturer that produces the item has  contributed to the confusion by either importing the prime material and assembling it in the USA, or has exported the American-made parts to be assembled in China.

In this case, the product is recognized world-wide as superior when made of US steel and assembled in the USA, and may in fact be considered undependable in a critical situation (read "your life depends on it")

I think possibly this issue is being avoided by advertising the product as "USA Made".

In the past, "Made in U.S.A." meant something.

Is "USA Made" just a weasel-word, or is it actually another way to say "Made in the USA"?


texts: Who would be responsible for the child's death in this short story?

texts:
There is a polish short story ("Z pamiętnika poznańskiego nauczyciela"), where basically there is a child named Mike.

His mother sent him to school in another city under supervision of a private teacher. Mike was living with the teacher with rare letters to his mother as the only means of communication. Mike wasn't doing well at school and spent long time unsuccessfully studying to make his mother happy. The teacher didn't tell her that Mike had difficulties at school, because they both thought it could be dangerous considering her serious health problems after death of Mike's dad and her hopes in her son.

One time Mike studied at night with the window open and got deadly ill. The teacher didn't want to worry his mother, but finally couldn't hide the truth and she was there when Mike died.

Who is here to blame? Would anyone be convinced of murder if this had really happened in modern Europe? I'm not asking for extremely precise information, just rough estimates, so I believe the country isn't important.


texts: Government's standing in criminal trials

texts:
There's an answer on politics SE that has some upvotes (but more downvotes) claiming (even more adamantly in subsequent comments) that standing is issue of substantial importance in criminal trials; some quotes from the claims:

There is no distinction between 'civil' standing and 'criminal' standing. See Cornell Law and Wikipedia.
Standing (see the entries at Cornell's Legal Information Institute and Wikipedia) means in part that there must be actual or imminent harm to some person or persons. Child pornography (obviously) demonstrates actual harm to the child in question and imminent harm to other children, so the government can file criminal cases on their behalf, citing the producers and recipients of the material as complicit in that harmful act.

But those links don't' really explicitly say that.
So what relevance if any does standing have in criminal trials? E.g., are there any examples of criminal cases/charges dismissed for lack of standing, by which I mean that the court decided the government lacked standing? Let's restrict the discussion to federal proceedings, for the sake of not making this too broad.


texts: Is it illegal to use $ dollar to indicate in game currencies?

texts:
I'm creating a game where the player earns money while playing, my question is, could it be considered illicit or misleading to use the dollar sign ($) after the current amount of money in-game. I'm releasing the app on the Play Store, so I was wondering if I could get trouble in for using the sign even while the in-game currency is not in any way bound to real-world money. I haven't added in-game purchases so it's completely detached.
My main concern would be the legality in the countries where the dollar sign is used, for example, the US and Australia.
Is it illegal or should I fear any type of legal repercussion?


texts: Google deleted my developer account without warning or much explanation. What can I do?

texts:
I haven't received any prior warning in fact from Google and suddenly received the following message:

This is a notification that your Google Play Publisher account has been terminated.
REASON FOR TERMINATION: Prior violations of the Developer Program
Policies and Developer Distribution Agreement by this or associated
accounts as outlined in previous emails sent to the registered email
address(es) of the Publisher account(s).
Google Play Publisher suspensions are associated with developers, and
may span multiple account registrations and related Google services.
You can visit the Developer Policy Centre to better understand how we
enforce Developer Program Policies. If you’ve reviewed the policy and
feel this termination may have been in error, please reach out to our
policy support team.
Do not attempt to register a new developer account. We will not be
restoring your account at this time.
The Google Play Team

This was my only developer account to my knowledge. There is a free mp3 app from a friend who asked me to publish it in my account, which I didn’t check properly. I am assuming that created this termination since it happened only after publishing that app. This sudden termination comes as a shock and Google's decision seem very rude to me
Any idea what can I do?


texts: Replace User ID with pseudonym, still need consent?

texts:
I use a service called Matomo (as opposed to Google Analytics) so that I can own the data collected, and I thought they were better in regards of user privacy.

My goal is to avoid collecting any personal data for user privacy reasons and I don't want to bother visitors with consent. I have disabled cookies completely and I anonymize the last octet of IP-addresses (like Google Analytics), but for "User ID" Matomo only have the option to "Replace User ID with a pseudonym":

  Note: replacing with a pseudonym is not the same as anonymisation. In GDPR terms: the User ID pseudonym still counts as personal data. The original User ID could still be identified if certain additional information is available (which only Matomo and your data processor has access to).

So since I can still identify people from this data collected I must inform the user? At the same time they have this section about consent on the same page:

  When do I need to ask for user consent? To identify whether you need to ask for consent, you need to determine whether your lawful basis for processing personal data is "Consent" or "Legitimate interest", or whether you can avoid collecting personal data altogether. We recommend to learn more about the lawful basis under the GDPR for Matomo.

So, is it possible to not having to inform the user about data collection even though their User ID's are only pseudonymised? I guess there is no hope for tracking unique visitors either then?

EDIT: Is a Privacy Policy page in the footer enough, where I inform the user of the things above?


texts:
I would like to create a VBA UserForm that has a very similar layout to one that is already shipped by Microsoft with Excel. The UserForm is pretty simple: one ListBox, two TextBoxes and around seven Buttons. I would like to use the UserForm as an interface for commercial software. The term layout/design refers here to the arrangement of elements on the UserForm.

My general question is:

Are there any kind of copyrights (or patents) on the layout/design of VBA UserForms?

And in particular:

May Microsoft hold any copyrights of the the layout/design of the UserForms that ship with Excel?


texts:
A coworker in the same building as me uses downtime to knit at his desk. Apparently he will sell these knittings on Etsy for a good deal of money. (>$8k over the course of a year)

I obviously don't care, but I am certain that he is also getting paid by the company while he works on his for-profit knitting.

All judgement aside, what's the worst or most likely possible punishment he could be subjected to as a result of this activity?

Location Northeast US.


texts: Would courts sentence differently if we used a different numeral system?

texts:
I hear a lot in the media about people sentenced to go to jail especially for a number of years divisible by 10.

Does our numeral system affect it? If we used base 7 (so "10 years" will mean 7 years, "20 years" will mean 14 years and so on), would courts sentence the same?


texts: A member of Congress subpoenas phone records and then release them: does this violate any US Laws?

texts: If a member of Congress (e.g. Representative Schiff) subpoenas phone records of people (which is allowed) and releases them directly (in a report) or indirectly (leaked to press). Does this violate any (e.g. privacy) US Laws? Or, if there is law for a court subpoena to keep records private (e.g. a Grand Jury), did/could Congress exempt itself from these laws?


texts:
Is it illegal to pay someone to hire me? How about receiving money in exchange for hiring someone? Does this fall under criminal charges, and would it be considered bribery?

In this hypothetical situation, this occurs in a private company. For example, suppose I pay someone to hire my son in their engineering firm. Are there any U.S. laws that would prevent me from doing so? To the best of my knowledge, only New York explicitly prohibits this type of action, which would be considered commercial bribery, but I'm not entirely sure.


texts: Law for passport renewel of a us citizen minor in india

texts:
My sister's daughter is a minor and us citizen by birth. My sister and her husband are separated and her husband has filed a case for divorce and child custody against my sister in Indian family court.

Currently the custody of a child is with my sister. Her daughter's passport is up for renewal in three months and her husband is not giving his signature for concern.

They applied in court for the order. The court is asking for any section or provision under which she can get the order.
 She needs to present any provision or section in front of judge to get the order
 Can u suggest me any section or provision that she can present  any provision in front of judge to get the confirmarion for renewel of a minor


texts: Is a gun in the waistband with a tucked-in shirt concealed or open carry in Michigan?

texts:
I generally carry my gun concealed, inside the waistband with a shirt or jacket over it. If I were to tuck said shirt in, the grip will show.
Is this now considered open carry, or does the whole gun have to be showing?


texts: Is it legal to include trademarks in 3rd party icon sets?

texts:
From my current limited research, I have come under the impression that some companies do not like it when their logo is modified. For example, in the Twitter Trademark Guidelines (which can be retrieved here) state in rule 1:

  You may not alter the Twitter trademarks in any manner, including, but not limited to, changing the proportion, color or shape of the Twitter trademarks, or adding or removing any elements from the Twitter trademarks.

Which brings me to my question: is it legal for sites like Flaticon to distribute social media icon packs that seem to break this rule? Especially since this website has a "no attribution required" subscription perk. Like do they make money off this? If so how are big media companies not all over it?


texts: it's not against the constitution to arrest a pregnant woman in Bolivia

texts: In Bolivia my liberal party is about to make it illegal to arrest an pregnant woman and I am wondering if this goes against the portion of our Constitution that talks about equity before the law. Can anybody tell me if this is constitutional without modifying the Bolivian Constitution?


texts: including vs. including but not limited to

texts:
I'm reading over a lease agreement and in one page a passage reads, "...including, but not limited to, [list]" while on a later page another passage reads, "...including [list]."

Normally I would assume the verb "including" to be non-exhaustive, but since the non-exhaustiveness was emphasized in the former passage, am I to assume the latter list is actually exhaustive?


texts: Is user opinion personal infotmation according to gdpr?

texts: If I ask user to enter their faviourite laptop and transmit that information am I being GDPR non-compliant?Basically is user opion voluantarily given and o;ptional PII under GDPR


texts:
Concerning modification of a photograph. is cropping a section of a photograph considered modification of the picture?
That I can then use commercially?
 our is it the adding something into the picture referring to modification?


texts: In UK law, are any business banking contracts considered unfair and therefore unlawful?

texts:
The bank we use for our business banking charged us US$1,300 recently. We incurred the charge by mistakenly initiating two identical transfers on online banking between accounts which have two different currencies (GBP and USD). We initiated a second transfer half an hour after the first one because the transfer did not show up in pending transfers (the bank later told us that we can see actions on the site by going to an area of the site which is hidden away). The bank then sat on the second transfer for 10 days and then transferred the money back because there were not enough funds after the first transfer and charged us what it calls an FX loss – the currency moved 4.5% in 10 days!
I am preparing to take the bank to the Financial Ombudsman. I think it's not reasonable that the bank sat on the transfer for 10 days and did not contact us to advise us that there were not enough funds to make a second transfer. I also think it's unreasonable that the bank did not display the first transfer in pending transfers or anywhere else clearly enough. However the bank claims that it can charge us this fee because the contract says that we will incur costs for FX transfers that fail for any reason.
I would be grateful if you can advise if in UK law any business banking contracts can be deemed to be unlawful. Thank you.


texts:
I currently reside in Ohio as a CHL/CCW licensee. I've recently moved into a community with a strict firearms clause that simply states that a firearm must be unloaded, fully encased, and carried in the open when transporting anywhere in the common area (including, but not limited to anywhere outside of the leased property; hallways, parking lot, etc). This would prevent someone  from carrying on their person. Failure to comply results in immediate eviction notice. I signed the lease.

I have no problem complying, albeit it defeats the efforts I've gone through financially, and in training to hold this CCW.

However, Ohio has 2923.126(C)(3)(b):

  A landlord may not prohibit or restrict a tenant who is a licensee and who on or after September 9, 2008, enters into a rental agreement with the landlord for the use of residential premises, and the tenant's guest while the tenant is present, from lawfully carrying or possessing a handgun on those residential premises

http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2923.126

The definition of the residential premises:

  "Residential premises" means a dwelling unit for residential use and occupancy and the structure of which it is a part, the facilities and appurtenances in it, and the grounds, areas, and facilities for the use of tenants generally or the use of which is promised the tenant. "Residential premises" includes a dwelling unit that is owned or operated by a college or university. "Residential premises" does not include any of the following:..

However in the context of firearms, it does NOT include a dwelling unit that is owned or operated by a college or university

2923.126(C)(3)(i)

Is the counter signed lease's firearms clause legal to enforce with the explicit laws prohibiting landlords from doing so in the case that I have a CHL/CCW?


texts: Do the 'not responsible for windshield damage' signs on the back of gravel-hauling trucks actually provide immunity?

texts:
Everyone who has driven on the highway knows the frustration of being stuck behind that gravel-laden truck that is slowly leaking rocks as you hear the 'ping ping ping' noises of them bouncing off your car. To add insult to injury, you'll notice the little ubiquitous sign that says 'not responsible for windshield damage'.

Those signs always make me wonder what would happen if I did try and sue an operator for damage. I assume that if I drove around in a pickup truck and random debris flew out and hit cars behind me, a little sign wouldn't save me. Does it do anything for these trucks? Are they not obligated to seal their cargo and protect other drivers from incurring property damage?

This is a USA-centric question. If there are specific laws by state that impact the answer, I'd be interested to hear about them, so I won't put a state tag on the question.


texts: Resolution of intractable disagreements between shared car owners

texts:
The jurisdiction is the State of Maryland in the USA, should that fact be of interest.

A friend of mine is involved in intractable dispute with the co-owner of a car. I'll call my friend Abe, and the other party Bella. All the agreements involved are handshake only. Abe inadvisedly co-signed a loan for Bella so she could buy an auto about 6 months ago. The deal was that Bella would make the payments on the car and would keep the car after the loan was paid off.

Of course the inevitable occurred and Bella stopped making payments. Bella also refuses to make the car available so it can be sold off to minimize Abe's losses. Thus the car will end up going into repossession and the cost of the repossession will be added to the loss column for Abe. Bella has terrible credit, so she has nothing to fear in that department. Bella is also a veteran thief and con artist with a long rap sheet and is currently on probation.

A further perplexing wrinkle that I don't really understand is that the MVA is refusing to issue title, tags, or registration. When I asked the MVA why they would only say there was an "insurance violation". Thus Bella is driving the car with long-expired temporary tags and probably no insurance. Both are listed on the title application, with Bella as the primary owner.

If Abe sued Bella to force Bella to do something sensible, like either make payments or surrender the car, what reasoning would the court use to evaluate the competing claims? Abe will say Bella was supposed to pay everything and Bella will say they were supposed to pay 50/50, or maybe even 5 Bella/95 Abe. If Bella could get away with it she'd say the car was a gift from Abe, but Bella also co-signed the loan so I doubt that would fly.

Bella will certainly ignore any judgement against her, but I don't that's relevant to the question. Also not relevant, Abe's current plan is to simply let the car get repossessed and eat the losses.


texts: I have received an email from Mr. A. In court Mr. A denies sending this email saying that I am making up with everything. How can I prove that this email was sent from Mr. A?


texts: Secretly recorded audio to meeting with landlord and now starting a dispute against him. Can I submit it as evidence?

texts:
My ex-landlord preferred to communicate by in person meetings. I began covertly recording our meetings with the microphone on my phone. Only the audio was recorded, not the video. My ex-landlord was unaware he was being recorded.
I am applying to the residential tenancy branch (RTB) with multiple concerns to get money from my ex-landlord. Can I submit the audio recording as evidence? I asked the RTB directly and they said they accept any type of evidence, however to check with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. I contacted them but was given such a bureaucratic answer I couldn't make sense of it (I think it amounted to "we don't give legal advice").
Can I get in trouble for submitting an audio recording of meetings I had with my landlord even if he wasn't aware he was being recorded? On a couple instances other tenants momentarily joined in the meeting but walked away before it was done. Does this make a difference?


texts: Do domains typically have to be declared in bankruptcy proceedings?

texts:
I've been trying to research this, and so far all I've found is a lot of academic legal essays concluding the law hasn't really caught up to the technology.
Do domains typically need to be declared when filing for bankruptcy? I'm not talking about domains worth thousands of dollars or anything, just an obscure domain worth the $10 or so that was paid to register it.


texts: Can I right-turn on red if all cars must turn right but bicycles can go straight?

texts:
In this intersection, if the sign is red, can cars turn right if safe to do so?

Location:  150 E San Carlos St. , San Jose, California, USA. https://maps.app.goo.gl/KEw3BWtFLXMZGGiG8
Notes:

There's no 'no turn on red signal"
The sign mentions the right lane: all cars must go through the right lane. The left lane is reserved for bicycles. Overview of the intersection showing the left, bicycle-only lane, and the right lane:


texts: Self incrimination vs. obstruction of justice / destruction of evidence

texts:
Suppose a police officer has probable cause to arrest me based on evidence in plain sight. He wants to initiate a search pursuant to arrest.

Before the officer can detain me, I put the (alleged) evidence in a place where it is accessible, but if accessed incorrectly the evidence is permanently destroyed (or rendered useless to a prosecution, etc.)

The officer asks me to produce the evidence, and I refuse.
Consider several scenarios:

Do I have grounds to refuse to produce it because it would be incriminating; I am under no obligation to incriminate myself?
The officer, perhaps not knowing the risk involved, attempts to retrieve the evidence and fails, causing the evidence to be destroyed. If the officer can show that I knowingly put the (alleged) evidence in such a situation and allowed him to destroy it, what might the repercussions be after the fact?
The officer, perhaps understanding the risk, goes to a court and asks them to compel my cooperation. Could this happen and, if so, how?
Suppose I intend to cooperate but accidentally cause the evidence to be destroyed. What might the repercussions be for me, and who would bear the burden of proof?
Suppose the device has another function which produces some other items which are not incriminating. Suppose the officer retrieves these instead of the real evidence. Am I under any obligation to tell the officer whether those are the only items to be found, if I am hiding other items, etc.?
Can the mere possession of such a device be used by the prosecution to show criminal intent (e.g., a crowbar, flashlight and ski mask in my trunk)?


texts: GDPR - Are the typical lists of examples for personal data misleading?

texts:
Article 4 of the EU GDPR states

‘personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’);

The explanation for the term ‘personal data’ as

Personal data is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable living individual.

on this webpage of the European Commission (EC) is inline with the definition in the law.
The text on this page goes on and describes this in more depth. The pages contains also a list of examples for personal data:

a name and surname;
a home address;
an email address such as name.surname@company.com;
an identification card number;
location data (for example the location data function on a mobile phone)*;
an Internet Protocol (IP) address;
a cookie ID*;
the advertising identifier of your phone;
data held by a hospital or doctor, which could be a symbol that uniquely identifies a person.

Since it is the example list by the European Commission, many webpages which give examples for personal data in the sense of the GDPR have very similar lists.
However, compared to the definition of personal data this list of examples seems to be misleading. In my understanding of the GDPR personal data are all data related to a identified or identifiable person. So, I would additionally give the following two examples in order to show how far this can reach:

Chat messages stored together with the user's name in a data base would be personal data.
All the email messages in the inbox of a natural person would also be personal data, because all these messages are related to a natural person by the recipient's email address. (I assumed that the email address identifies the person, which should be usually the case. Otherwise, the contents of messages might make the person behind the email address identifiable.)

I would say that my understanding is in accordance with some answers on Law SE, see, e.g., here.
With this in mind the list of examples on the EC webpage looks to me more like a list of data which identify a natural person. Thereby, these data are personal data. But personal data are much more, all data related to "identified or identifiable natural person". In this sense this list of examples appears strange and misleading to me.
Do you also think that this list of examples is misleading?


texts: Is it illegal for a company to sell an item it does not currently have in stock?

texts:
If a company does not currently have something in stock does that information need to be known to the consumer?  Wouldnt this fall under a pre-order since the company does not actually have the merchandise it is selling currently in stock (this is for a new item that has never been sold before).   I recently purchase a product from a company which advertised it had X amount of items in stock ready to ship.  Turns out the company never actually had possession of the items when they said they did.  This was not known to consumers at the time of purchase.

Is this company breaking any laws?


texts: Legality of intentionally sending patches with security vulnerabilities to open source projects

texts:
Referring to no one and no incident in particular, imagine that some individuals, interested in performing a social/technical experiment, designed some changes to an open source project, knowing that their changes would cause security vulnerabilities in the product. They then requested the maintainers of the project incorporate these changes into the product (using the standard mechanism by which dozens of such requests are made daily), giving no indication of the security problems. The perpetrators main intent was not to introduce bugs into the final product and there is no indication that they had intent to exploit these bugs; rather, they intended to experiment with the change submission system and procedures. However, the bugs' introduction was a deliberate and predictable side-effect of their actions that they took no measure to prevent.
Did these individuals commit a crime? Are they civilly liable for the damages caused by the resulting security vulnerabilities?
In this theoretical question, the perpetrators are located in MN, US, and the open source project is based in CA, US.


texts: Does anyone besides the president have the authority to pardon?

texts:
There have been cases such as Antonio Bascaró, who has been in prison for 37 years because of non-violent marijuana charges. President Obama has had the opportunity to pardon him, but it was denied because Bascaró was prosecuted under "old laws", and Obama's agenda did not include old laws.

Does anyone besides the president have the authority to pardon people like Bascaró? In other words, could he be pardoned by some other authority?


texts: What are the different kinds of rules/procedures that describe what counts-as/constitutes a rule change and what kinds of problems can they cause?

texts:
This is a question about legislation, including constitutive rules and administrative law

To give some context, I am interested in legal reasoning (as in a logic of law), but I am not a legal-expert. For research, I was hoping to look at rules which govern the change of other rules. Specifically, rules which state what constitutes a rule change (presumably for different types of rules).

To give an example, I can cross off a rule in a constitution, but due to not being empowered that presumably would not mean I have changed any rules. It would not count-as a rule change. What I would like to know is:

1) What sub-types of these rule types are there? For example, some would state when a retroactive rule change is made - what other types are there?

2) What kind of absurd outcomes can come as a result of rule changes, due to the way rule changes are governed? For example, I can imagine that retroactively annulling a rule that states I can retroactively annul a rule is paradoxical, are there other similar absurdities that can occur?

I am ideally looking for some legal theory on this and if that isn't available then some examples covering different possibilities, but I don't know where to look. Thanks in advance!


texts: Dental/Medical Bill advice - insurance sent charges that provider did not disclose

texts:
A couple months ago I had some dental work done with dental insurance I had through my job.

After talking to the doctor and being advised to receive some fillers, I talked to the front desk and they disclosed to me the price I would have to pay after the insurance covered all of the costs, it was $350.
They did not show me how this was calculated, and I was not told about the total cost before insurance. I was only concerned with how much I would have to pay at the time.
I also asked if this was all I would have to pay and there would be no additional charges. They ran my insurance information and told me this is all I would have to pay.

That was ok with me and I proceeded to get dental work done.

For the next few months, I have been weekly receiving an "explanation of charges" letter, saying that I have a "Patient Responsibility" of $1200, and specifically saying "This is not a bill."

I called the insurance company, they were not much help in explaining anything, but they did tell me that charge was a difference between what I was charged and what the maximum insurance would cover.

This made no sense to me, as I previously understood insurance guarantees an "Out of Pocket" maximum, not a maximum of what they would cover.

If this is really the case, and if anyone has had experience with these situations, what advice would you offer in disputing these charges?

Would this affect my credit rating if I wait?

Is this something to take to small claims? What information should I gather in order to do this?

Is there a way to make this a dispute/claim between the provider and the insurance company without my involvement?

In my defense I was given either falsified or misleading information about the charges by the provider and I was charged for something I did not agree to. Would this qualify as a small claims defense, is there a better way to put this into legal terms?