texts: Is it legal to trade bitcoin for cash in Virginia, USA?

texts: I was wondering if trading bitcoin for cash (for example payments on Apple Cash, Venmo or Zelle) is legal in Virginia (USA) or not. I would like to know before I start selling some of my bitcoins.


texts: I went to a dentist, whose name doesn't belong here, got some xrays and a prescription.  The bill was $104.00, which I paid the same day.  Next thing I know, they are sending me to collections for this amount.  I provided proof of payment and wrote letters, and yet this is still on my credit report.  I have filed a dispute with two credit agencies.  Can I sue these people?  And keep in mind, I am giving you the short version of this situation.


texts: How to handle CVs / resumes with GDPR rules?

texts:
As a consultant my resume is personal information which is handed out to prospective clients frequently.

How personal should it be? Should some data be anonymized?
Should the resume be returned from prospective clients?
Is there any way to enforce a client to treat it confidential?


texts: Excluding Implied Warranties in Multi-national Contracts

texts:
I am selling specialized industrial products to a Polish company who will use them at a site in Poland. We have hired a Polish lawyer to help us understand/exclude as many implied warranties as possible under Polish law, but have set the applicable law under the contract to New York state law.
Under US law, there are implied warranties as outlined by the UCC (fitness for purpose and merchantability):

“Unless excluded or modified, a warranty that the goods shall be merchantable is implied in a contract for their sale if the seller is a merchant with respect to goods of that kind.”
“Where the seller at the time of contracting has reason to know any particular purpose for which the goods are required and that the buyer is relying on the seller’s skill or judgment to select or furnish suitable goods, there is unless excluded or modified under the next section an implied warranty that the goods shall be fit for such purpose.”

For safety's sake, our lawyers have advised us to include the express warranties for merchantability and fitness of purpose in bold or ALL CAPS just in case, but during contract negotiations with our client they tell us that it is a typographical nightmare and they would kindly like us to remove the formatting so it doesn't look so hideous.
What risks (if any) should we be aware of taking on if we remove the formatting from this standard exclusion of warranties?


texts: Can you charge someone with murder for hire if the target doesn't exist?

texts:
This is a completely fictitious scenario from a roleplay in a video game set in America, but say a person who is an undercover cop hires you to kill their spouse, you take the money and then they arrest you- however you're told by a cop part of the sting (with bodycam evidence) that the person you were hired to kill doesn't actually exist. Does that still constitute a murder-for-hire charge? Is that a technicality a good lawyer could fight and win in court?
The game law is based off of California's.


texts: Ask people for WhatsApp address book consent; what to do when declined?

texts:
I have first posted this question on Super User. Since I tagged it with Android (as I use WhatsApp on Android) it got migrated to Android Enthusiasts. There one decided that it was not on-topic for that site and got closed. This question does address the technical side of uploading only a partial address book, but it mainly focuses on the legal perspective. So perhaps it is on-topic here.

A year ago I gave into the nagging and started to use WhatsApp. With the recent update I have agree to new terms of use which contain this (italic emphasis mine):

  Address Book. You provide us the phone numbers of WhatsApp users and your other contacts in your mobile phone address book on a regular basis. You confirm you are authorized to provide us such numbers to allow us to provide our Services.

So in principle I would have to send a message to each and every one of my contacts in order to ask. And while I am at it, I would actually also ask for Telegram, Hangouts, Wire, Skype, Duo, Signal; perhaps just a general authorization would be the easiest.

Then I get back a bunch of messages which I archive somewhere securely in care somebody sues me about it. Then I can prove that they gave me permission to upload their contact details. This is just tedious and a lot of work, but technically it can be done.

What do I do about the people who do not agree? Android 6.0 on my phone does not seem to allow to give only selected contacts to WhatsApp. This means that I would have to delete the number on my phone which sounds utterly inconvenient. My contacts are stored in my Google account. Should I have asked my contacts for that already?

Is there anything I can actually do about this? I think my options are the following:

Continue to use WhatsApp (like virtually everyone else) and ignore that I could potentially be sued by somebody who would not consent to his contact information being uploaded.

As I am a German citizen living in Germany, I am not sure where I would be sued, actually. WhatsApp has no department in Germany, so the US law covers my relationship with WhatsApp. Can another German citizen sue with under US law in Germany? Can only US citizens sue me, would I have to fly to the US? All in all it seems like a non-issue in personal life.
Delete the WhatsApp account (if possible) and not use the service any more. In principle I would have to get rid of all the other messaging apps as well. I couldn't store my contact list in my Google account then either, right? That is also sharing the data with other people.
Attempt to ask every one of my 532 contacts whether it is okay to upload their phone number. Otherwise delete the phone number or the whole contact from my address book. Keep track of these numbers in a paper notebook at home (in a safe).

My actual question: Is the third option actually possible? And what could happen if I stick with option one?


texts: US: What is the purpose of "club" in retail outlets

texts:
I'm thinking of:

BJ's Wholesale
Sams Club
Costco

Does a member/club relationship legally confer some business advantages?

Is it true that that they are not public access stores, because you must be a current member and you have to show credentials at the entry point?

Could a club deny particular services (even to a member) that an ordinary business may not?


texts: Opting out of cookies by emailing a company

texts:
Is it legal for a company, which serves customers in the EU as well as elsewhere, to say in its privacy policy that you can opt out of analytical and marketing cookies by emailing them? Rather than offering a technical solution to prevent them from setting those cookies.

Firstly, let us assume that if you were to email them, they would instruct you to change your browser settings to block 3rd-party cookies.

As a second variant, let us assume that they would instruct you to disable all cookies, but that this would break minor functionalities of the site.


texts:
I understand that freedom of speech laws in the US are stricter than in the UK and Europe, but I understand that there are still restrictions  (eg [Holmes wrote, "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic" (schenck v. united states,249 U.S. 47, 39 S. Ct. 247, 63 L. Ed. 470 1919]).)

This link also talks about inciting to violence. It seems clear that Donald Trump has done this in some of his rallies, with the predictable result that violence has ensued. But I have not heard of anyone laying charges of this nature against him. Is there a reason for this? Are candidates somehow protected? Or is this kind of thing protected by freedom of speech laws?


texts: What do you do when the truth is something that can be proven false beyond a reasonable doubt?

texts:
Suppose you firmly believe something to be true but you know that it can be proven false beyond a reasonable doubt. This can happen if, for example, you witnessed something that is incredibly unusual. It might also happen if enough other people conspire to lie about something that you know the truth about.

The fifth amendment to the constitution should prohibit you from being forced to testify in a situation where you have a reasonable belief that truthful testimony could subject you to prosecution for a crime. But it seems like that can't help you in this case. Immunity from prosecution for truthful testimony won't help you if a prosecutor can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that your testimony is false. And I can't imagine a prosecutor allowing someone to testify with immunity from prosecution for making false statements in that very testimony.

This can't be so rare it has never happened. If it has happened, what happens when someone tells a judge that he pleads the fifth because he believes that if he gives the testimony he believes is truthful it will subject him to perjury charges because it can be proven false beyond a reasonable doubt (despite his belief that it is true)? If it has never happened, what should happen in this case?

To be precise, the assumption behind this question is that you have an objectively-reasonable belief that an answer that you believe is true would subject you to criminal liability for perjury.

To be clear:

The person has not yet testified.
They are being asked to testify.
They have an objectively-reasonable fear that the testimony they would give will subject them to criminal liability for perjury.
They therefore invoke their fifth amendment right.

Assume none of these points are controversial. Obviously, others may not agree that the testimony they say they will give is truthful. But there is no reason to doubt their claim that the testimony they would give would subject them to criminal liability for perjury.

The question is whether this has ever occurred and, if so, what happened. Or, if it has not occurred, what would happen next? Can the person be granted immunity from prosecution for perjury in the very testimony they are given? Or can they be compelled to testify even though they have an objectively-reasonable belief that the testimony they would give will subject them to criminal liability? Or is there some third alternative?

Lastly, if this has never happened, why not? It seems like this wouldn't be a terribly uncommon situation. I don't think it would happen every day or even every year -- but never in the history of jurisprudence?!


texts: If the police search my vehicle or house without my consent, and they don't find anything, what recourse is there?

texts:
I understand that if the police perform an illegal search, then any evidence found during that search will be excluded from a trial, but what if they didn't find any evidence?

If the police do an illegal search, and they don't find anything, is there anything I can do about it?


texts: Are provisions requiring employees to provide certain amount of notice before quitting, enforceable?

texts:
To my understanding giving 2 weeks notice when quitting is customary, though not legally required. Can an employment contract stipulate that the 2 weeks are mandatory?
I'm curious how it would be enforced in practice. What's stopping someone from calling in sick for 2 weeks? Or claiming their new job requires them to work certain hours and the old one must cater to a different schedule?
Is it that if the company suffers damages because a person quit without enough notice the company could sue? Would this really be needed to be explicitly written into the contract? Would the company have to prove that they suffered damages that they otherwise wouldn't have if the employee continued his job for 2 weeks?
EDIT: this is assuming the job doesn't have a high level of responsibility, for example it's working in a retail store and not taking care of young children who require it.


texts: Do police have powers that civilians don't?

texts:
Citizens can do many things the police can do: Citizens can detain people, get court orders, and so on. Citizens can't send people to jail (although these days many jails are private).
Is there any distinction between citizens and police? Are police just a government-sponsored security guards?


texts: Would it be legal to use deadly force in a stampede?

texts:
Imagine a stampede where there is a reasonable fear of death or grievous bodily harm. Would it be legal for a victim to use deadly force in the form of a gun or knife in this scenario?

In states where family or strangers can use deadly force, would it be legal for them to shoot the stampeders?


texts: CopyFree, LGPL & GPL: is Closed Source Possible?

texts:
I am working on building an app for desktop deployment. I am using an open-source platform that, for the purposes of this question, can be considered to use a CopyFree license. That platform itself links multiple external libraries though. Some of these libraries are under BSD license, some under LGPL license, and some under GPL license. I want my product to remain closed source. I know GPL requires users of a GPL component to also release there source under GPL, but as far as i know, BSD permits me to remain closed source; I am unsure about the requirements of LGPL for end user deployment.

Assuming i can find a workaround for the GPL component, is it legal for me to remain closed source while incorporating external libs that are both BSD and LGPL?

Also, I have not made any changes to any of these libraries. Would it change the ability for me to stay closed source if i were to use an altered version of one of these libraries?

Also, what is the legal effect on static vs dynamic linking?(I want to be cross platform)

Thats 3 questions. I hope this is not too broad?


texts: Would Poker (with *Zero* real-world currency involved) in an M-Rated (18+) Online game be constituted Online Gambling?

texts:
Players of Red Dead Redemption 2: Online (RDO from now on) have been requesting that Poker or other gambling activities be added to the game.

These were expected to be included, as they are present in the Single Player, and in the predecessor Red Dead Redemption.

Many players of the game are suggesting that Poker or other gambling activities can not be included because of legal restrictions on Online Gambling.

Notably, RDO features two forms of currency. In-game "Cash", and "Gold". While Gold can be purchased with real money (Micro-transactions), the In-Game "Cash" has zero interaction with Gold, and can not be purchased with real money. “Cash” can also not be redeemed for real-world money, prizes, or anything else.

Transferring of currency is currently not something available in the game.

“Cash” is earned in all activities of the game, and no prizes would be tied specifically to the game of poker.

If Poker was to be included, and restricted to only In-Game "Cash", would this be an issue regarding Online Gambling laws in a significant number of countries?

Of note:

RDO is an M-Rated (18+) game.

With conservative Pot Limits gambling would be a vastly slower way to earn in-game “Cash” compared to other activities in-game.


texts: Can a lawyer use privileged information to collect fees from a client?

texts:
Suppose that:

A client is in debt to an attorney for legal services.
That attorney learns, in the necessary and proper course of representing the client, that the client is receiving some payments.  Presumably this information is "privileged."

Can the attorney use that privileged information in an effort to collect on the client's legal services debt?


texts: Is it legal for a retailer to stop accepting gift cards?

texts:
Dick Smith stops accepting gift cards

Direct quote from the PDF :

  He also stated that due to the financial circumstances of the Group,
  unfortunately, outstanding gift vouchers cannot be honoured and
  deposits cannot be refunded. Affected customers will become unsecured
  creditors of the Group.

All people who bought Dick Smith gift cards now have dead money because the store said they won't accept gift cards. Is this a legal action?


texts: Why do prisoners spend so long on death row?

texts:
In the USA, once appeals have been exhausted, why do prisoners spend so much time on death row?

My personal opinions on death penalty aside, I would expect that once the sentence is final, it should be carried out without much further delay.


texts: Does Ontario's Residential Tenancy Agreement include a term that makes the Agreement subject to the mortgagee or chargee’s prior consent?

texts:
My dad visited Hong Kong recently and was unnerved to learn that the HK gov't hasn't standardized a residential leasing form:

  The laws governing residential tenancy agreements are far looser than they are in other countries. There is no government-mandated standard legal agreement, so it is absolutely critical that you read the proposed agreements in detail, several times, and have someone else such as a professional relocation agent, solicitor or a colleague with experience in renting in Hong Kong review the agreement as well before you even think of signing.

I'm quoting the University of Hong Kong's Community Legal Information Centre's template merely as persuasive (not binding!) authority.

  [4.] e. If the Premises is subject to an existing mortgage or charge, then this Agreement is subject to the mortgagee or chargee’s prior consent.  If the Landlord fails to obtain such consent and consequently the mortgagee or chargee seeks repossession of the Premises, the Tenant shall have the option to terminate this Agreement by written notice, the Landlord shall return to the Tenant the Deposit without interest within 7 days from the termination of this Agreement and shall indemnify the Tenant against all liabilities, claims, damages and costs incurred by the Tenant as a consequence of such repossession or termination, including relocation costs.

Am I right that Ontario's standard lease  lacks such a term shielding the Tenant from the Landlord's liens? I can't find it.
Which other Canadian provinces and territories express such a term against Landlord's liens?


texts: What are the legalities of non-visible residence modification without planning permission?

texts:
I read an article about a British man who built a 'castle' behind a wall of hay bails. Then after some period of time he applied for some sort of after-the-fact planning permission under the rule that since no one had complained he should be allowed to keep the building. He was told to knock it down due to the obvious attempt to circumvent the law using the hay bails to hide the building.

If I was to dig a basement and the basement would require planning permission would I also be intentionally circumventing the law like the described situation? I wouldn't be intentionally hiding the basement extension but no one would see it because it's under my house.


texts: Have watermarks in digital downloads ever been used to prosecute uploaders?

texts:
Most digital downloads (music, ebooks) today are protected by watermarks. But I'm not aware of any high-profile cases where these watermarks have been used to prosecute uploaders of said works to e.g. download sites. Instead it's my impression that most court cases on illegal downloads centred on users of file sharing.

Have watermarks been used and are they used to prosecute uploaders in North America or the EU?


texts:
Here is a Wikipedia definition, of something that must happen before something else happens, but I'm not sure how to apply it to the law.

Let's say that there is an angel investor that meets a company with an interesting technology, and proposes to invest an amount, X, in the company for a certain percentage. The contract says something like, "a condition precedent for the investment of X is a demonstration of the company's technology to the investor's reasonable satisfaction." The company delays in doing the demo, but asks for the money. The investor says, "no demo, no money." Is this what "condition precedent" is meant to say?

If there is no express time limit written into the contract, is there an implied, or "reasonable" time limit after which the investor is off the hook? For instance, if the demo took place six months later, can the investor reasonably say, "your technology sounded interesting six months ago, but I fear that it has been made obsolete by now."


texts: How to report an infraction of the HIPAA requirements?

texts:
In the United States, in accordance with HIPAA requirements, the lab who performed a blood test on a patient are required to send the results to the patient no later than 30 days from the date of patient's request.

A patient requested multiple times their results (face-to-face during the blood test day, then by phone and emails). The lab eventually sent the patient the full results 3 months after the blood test, i.e. 3 months after first requested their results.

Where can the patient report this infraction of the HIPAA requirements?

If the answer is state-dependent, I'm mostly interested in California and Massachusetts.

https://myquest.questdiagnostics.com/web/help/Content/labresults.html:

  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ruling, effective April 7th, 2014, allows patients in all states to have access to their lab results directly from Quest Diagnostics within 30 days.

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20140203/NEWS/302039958

  Under the new rule, labs will be required to provide patients copies of their lab test results within 30 days of a request.


texts: What is the penalty for unauthorized use of the registered trademark symbol ®?

texts:
Is it a crime or otherwise problematic to use the symbol for registered trademarks in the U.S. if there is, in fact, no registered trademark present? And, if so, what is the penalty?

Symbol in question: ®

Inspired by this question.


texts: Is a public establishment liable for insect stings?

texts:
If a patron gets stung by, say, a wasp, while seated in a restaurant, can the patron sue the restaurant for pain & damages? Would an allergy to wasp stings make the case stronger? Would it matter if this occurred on the enclosed patio or indoors? And finally, would it matter if the sting was done by a random bee that somehow made its way onto the business premises, as opposed to the business being negligent about a wasp infestation occurring on their property (e.g., a hive/nest attached to the side of their building)?

(This is only a hypothetical question that occurred to me while seated on a patio and being pestered by a very persistent wasp.)

Apparently, there have been similar lawsuits in the past, with unspecified outcomes:

http://www.moabtimes.com/view/full_story/23539347/article-Moab-man-sues-McDonald-s-for-damages-after-alleged-bee-sting
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19911115&slug=1317461


texts: Is Google's claim of never targeting ads from gmail false advertising?

texts:
Google claims here:
that

We strictly uphold responsible data practices designed to respect your privacy. That’s why we never use the content you create and store in apps like Drive, Gmail, and Photos for any ads purposes.

However, as recently as 2017 google was targeting ads based on users' gmail content, according to the New York Times:

Google plans to abandon its longstanding practice of scanning user email in its Gmail service to serve targeted advertising.

Is this not in violation of some U.S. law related to false/misleading advertising?
The phrase "we never use" seems to imply that this is something that they as a company would not ever do (which is untrue since they did it in the past), but it is unclear to me how this statement would be interpreted by regulatory agencies.


texts: Can a judge simply say that industrial farms should treat farm animals well as it is simply right to do so?

texts:
In a recent case in North Carolina, Smithfields,  an industrial pork farming concern versus around five hundred local residents, and who were mostly black, and who had filed almost two dozen lawsuits complaining of the stench, flies and buzzards attracted by their farming practises was won by the residents after a six year court battle when Smithfield sued to settle.
One of the judges in the case, J Harvie Wilkinson III, denouncec

the outrageous conditions ... conditions that there is no reason to suppose unique to that facility.

He goes on to add:

What was missing from Kinlaw Farms and Murphy-Brown [the former name of Smithfields] was the recognition that treating animals better will benefit humans. What was neglected is that animal welfare and human welfare, far from advancing at cross-purposes, are actually integrally connected. The decades long transition to concentrated animal feeding operations lays bare this connection, and the consequences of its breach, with startling clarity.

He described a system where they expected to live in enclosures that they had outgrown, reducing them

to almost suffocating closeness ... the dangers endemic to such appalling conditions [are] always manifested first in
animal suffering.

In such cases, I've noted that how we are to treat animals is linked, as in this case, to the benefit of hums beings. This is, as far as I understand, a utilitarian argument.
Q. Can legal arguments be advanced in situations of this kind to treat animals well simply because it is right?
Obviously, a court can only take into account what has been legislated into law. So more broadly speaking:
Q. Have such arguments been advanced to the legislating body, the body that actually writes the law?
It's probably worth adding that punitive damages of around 500 million dollars were originally granted. (But was reduced to 90 million on dollars on appeal by Smithfields).
edit
@Ryan M:  I haven't invalidated my earlier question, as you can observe, I've said it's a more broadly based question. And a good answer can address both.
Legislatures consider moral questions and this has an impact on legal discourse, so it's a judicial question as well as being a political question; though in my opinion, more moral than political. I've tagged it jurisprudence to point this out.


texts: Constitutional Law in the absence of service-process

texts:
Can a Federal Judge make findings that substantially affects the property interests of third persons who are not and never were before the court {no action commenced against them, and no process) during the course of criminal sentencing proceedings directed at defendant parties in that case?
And if there is no authority for making such a finding, what would be the remedy where the Court ordered the property of the other persons to be sold, again without issuing service to said persons?


texts:
In the US, are protected classes "bidirectional"?

For example, it's illegal to discriminate against veterans. Does that also mean that it is illegal to discriminate against non-veterans?

In my state, lawful use of tobacco on your own time is a protected class. So I can't refuse to hire smokers. But what if I wanted to hire ONLY smokers?

Are there any protected classes that are one-sided?


texts: Are the USA the only country with multiple, "competing" penal codes (Dual sovereignty doctrine)?

texts:
As a German, I was surprised to learn that in the United States, there are penal codes (and prosecution) at two levels of government, namely at the state level, and at the federal level ("federal crime") - under the so-called Dual sovereignty doctrine. This produces interesting problems, such as how to treat acts that are crimes under more than one of the US penal codes.

In Germany, there is only one criminal code (the Strafgesetzbuch), which is enacted by federal parliament, and I believe the situation is similar in other European countries.

So, are there other countries with "competing" penal codes, like the United states?


texts:
The 1st contract was signed by both parties but the services were misrepresented to Party A. This made the contract void. Party A attempted to back out of the contract, but Party B amended the contract and Party A signed the amended contract. Both parties received consideration in the amended contract. Is the amended contract, that is based on the first voided contract, valid and enforceable?

If it is valid and enforceable:
What if Party A felt pressured (due to financial reasons/limitations) to sign the amended contact? Is it enforceable?


texts: What is (or was) the difference between Louisiana's Civil Code and Revised Statutes?

texts:
As an example, Title V, Chapter 1 of the 1869 Civil Code was about the grounds for divorce. (This Chapter appears to be exactly the same in the 1882 Civil Code.)

Section 1190 of the 1870 Revised Statutes was also about the grounds for divorce. (This section appears to be exactly the same in the 1876 Revised Statutes.)

The wording in both are very similar, but not identical. For example, the Revised Statutes required that for divorce on the grounds of abandonment, the abandonment must have been "for the space of five years." In contrast, the Civil Code had no such requirement.

Which law would have been followed? For example, in the above case, could someone have gotten a divorce on the ground of abandonment of fewer than five years, given that this was ruled out by the Revised Statutes but not by the Civil Code?


texts: Is it Legal to Incorporate the name of a defunct publication in a new publication?

texts:
I want to create a publication (monthly magazine) that incorporates the name of a defunct magazine, such as “The New [name of defunct magazine]” kind of along the lines of The New Christy Minstrels.

Is this legal? The magazine hasn't been published in several decades.


texts: Is it legal to use and/or share expired software that is still copyrighted ? Can people still be sued even if the company was bought or dissolved?

texts:
Some examples of expired software:

Macromedia Flash 8 : Macromedia company bought by Adobe
Electric Rain Swift 3D : Electric Rain company went down / disappeared

Is it legal to use and/or share expired software like this, that is still copyrighted ?
If it is illegal, can people still be sued, even if the production company was bought or dissolved ? If yes, on what grounds ?


texts: Lawyer knows trial is hopeless but tells client they can win

texts:
(Hypothetical)
Rob is charged with a crime. His lawyer, upon receiving discovery, realises that they are very unlikely to win the trial if they plead not guilty, that the best course of action for Rob is to plead guilty and get a sentence discount.
But the lawyer knows that Rob has money and wants to suck it out of him, especially that he knows Rob will be jailed anyway. So he encourages Rob to plead not guilty by saying they have good chances to win.
What would be the best way for Rob to detect that, if any possible?
Are there any working protections in place that would secure Rob from going on trial with unscrupulous lawyers like that? Or can they always get away with it?
(Any jurisdiction)


texts: Does the U.S. Constitution's First Ammendment protect false speech? In other words, does it give a citizen or the press a right to spread falsehoods publicly?


texts: State testing unarmed ballistic weapons off some waters abroad?

texts:
The Sunday Times reported an unarmed missile had been set off from the
  submarine off the coast of Florida but, rather than head towards
  Africa, had veered towards the US.

  [ BBC News, Trident: Defence Secretary refuses to give test missile
  details, 23 January 2017 ]

The missile is a Trident SLBM. It was fired by the HMS Vengeance from the Royal Navy (Britain). In the preamble to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, for which Britain was a depositary state, I read the following:

  Desiring to further the easing of international tension and the
  strengthening of trust between States in order to facilitate the
  cessation of the manufacture of nuclear weapons, the liquidation of
  all their existing stockpiles, and the elimination from national
  arsenals of nuclear weapons and the means of their delivery pursuant
  to a Treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and
  effective international control,

  Recalling that, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations,
  States must refrain in their international relations from the threat
  or use of force against the territorial integrity or political
  independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with
  the Purposes of the United Nations, and that the establishment and
  maintenance of international peace and security are to be promoted
  with the least diversion for armaments of the worlds human and
  economic resources,

  [ From the preamble of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
  Weapons (NPT) (1968) ]

There are also a series of international legal instruments such as treaties which prohibit the formal testing of nuclear weapons which Wikipedia introduces as the "experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability of nuclear weapons".

Would a country be technically conducting a nuclear weapons test according to any international legal instruments by doing what Britain was reported as doing?
Irrespective of whether such doings were formally a nuclear
weapons test or not, would such a test infringe on any rule of
international law?

In particular, are there any rules of international law allowing or prohibiting a country from so testing ballistic missiles? Do the nuclear weapons states recognized by the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) enjoy a specific status in that respect?
Would being in international waters as opposed to within 200 sea miles of a country make any difference (I do not know where the missile was deployed from exactly)?


texts: With NO written contract or non-compete in place, how does the law (NY, NJ, FL, CA) view contacting former clients?

texts: Is there any kind of generalized legal rule of thumb in reference to contacting former prospects/clients/colleagues once you've left/been terminated, etc.? With no written contract or non-compete in place is a former employee/independent contractor free to contact and interact with whomever they want? Also, what determines if the prospect or client is a "trade secret" in the eyes of the law? Thanks.


texts: Harper v. IRS and the third-party doctrine

texts:
On tax day 2020, plaintiff James Harper accused the IRS of obtaining his cryptocurrency transaction history from Coinbase without a warrant.

Harper is claiming the IRS violated his rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution by demanding his information from third parties without any specific suspicion of wrongdoing and doing so without notifying him or allowing for him to challenge the seizure of such property.

But in US v. Gratkowski, the court had already analogized Coinbase to a bank,

under the so-called “third party doctrine,” there is no legitimate expectation of privacy in information voluntarily turned over to third parties.  In applying that doctrine, the U.S. Supreme Court has previously held bank records were not subject to Fourth Amendment protections.

Does Harper have a case?


texts: Wrongful termination of contract as anticipatory breach?

texts:
A is a book publisher and would like to take part in a Book Fair. A contracted B to do all the arrangements, for example, erecting displays and stands in the venue of the Fair. A agreed to pay B by two instalments.

The payment of the second instalment is late for 4 days. B attempted to terminate the contract, claiming that A has committed a 'repudiatory breach ' of the contract by late payment and that time is the essence of the contract.

Assuming that time is actually NOT a condition (or essence) of the contract, and thus B in fact has NO right to terminate, would B's attempt to terminate amount to an anticipatory breach? Because B has clearly evinced an intention to refuse all performance by 'terminating' the contract?


texts: Is it legal to approach a threatening situation openly carrying a firearm?

texts:
Imagine this: A man is threatening you on your porch. You come outside with a rifle (muzzle pointing at the ground in a open carry stance) and politely ask him to leave.

Is this brandishing or open carry or assault with a firearm? What if the man was in the neighborhood and not on your property?

Assume open carry and stand your ground.


texts: How to fulfill the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) when citing

texts:
I have a question about the European General Data Protection Regulation.

According to Article 13, one has to inform anyone whose personal data is collected:

  Where personal data relating to a data subject are collected from the data subject, the controller shall, at the time when personal data
  are obtained, provide the data subject with all of the following
  information: (...)

Article 14 might also be of relevance:

  Where personal data have not been obtained from the data subject, the
  controller shall provide the data subject with the following
  information: (...)

Article 4 explains, what "personal data" means:

  ‘personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or
  identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural
  person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in
  particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an
  identification number, location data, an online identifier (...)

(Source: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32016R0679)

Suppose, someone publishes a book, a scientific paper or an article on a blog, where he's citing a post from Facebook/Twitter/StackExchange/etc. These cited posts are "personal data", because they can be related to their accounts, which are "online identifiers" according to Article 4 of the GDPR. Would he have to inform the authors of all the posts that he cited?


texts: Can you use other company's brand or logo in your own marketing campaigns?

texts:
Company X is an online betting app for Football (soccer). They want to advertise on twitter or facebook for upcoming matches between certain football clubs and tell their users that they can start to place their bets for that match.

Is company X allowed to use the logos and names of these clubs for this advertisement?


texts:
Assume that a defendant (assume Paul Manafort or other indicted figure in the Mueller investigation) accepts a plea deal that requires their cooperation in related cases.  The terms of the deal are not part of the ultimate sentence, but a condition to lessen their penalties.

If the President then pardons that person, are they still bound to an obligation to cooperate?


texts: Is it legal to publish an edited version of an article without a disclaimer?

texts: Say I were to write an opinionated letter to the editor. Then, the newspaper edited my article for content (deleted something they didn't like, changed wording, or otherwise changed the meaning of my letter). Would it be legal for them to publish this under my name, without a disclaimer that they had edited it?


texts: Is it required for a website/file-sharing site to log the IP of downloads?

texts:
MediaFire claims they keep no logs of who downloads or accesses your folders. Is this legal and if it's not true, could they get into any legal trouble from it?

The first image is there support answering my question on whether they keep logs of downloads, etc
The second image is there data retention policy
Finally, the company is based in Texas, I'm not familiar with the local laws there


texts:
Imagine a billionaire who is obsessed with the idea of running his own country. The size and geo location does not matter much. What matters is full sovereignty and international recognition.

Creating a new country from scratch, even with many billions of dollars, would take many years without guaranteed success, the main challenge being international recognition.

So the billionaire decides to approach a tiny but fully recognized and sovereign state with a generous buyout offer. The population size and the people living there are such that he is able to entice them all to take whatever sums agreed, relinquish any and all rights in the property and citizenship and go away forever.

Once that is done, the man becomes the head of his own country. He can rename it, create any form of government he wishes, any laws he sees fit, only allow people matching any specific criteria to visit or settle, etc. etc.

Would the above scenario be possible in terms of international law?


texts: Postpone the date for moving into a new apartment

texts:
In Oregon, tenants are usually required to provide a 30-day notice prior to moving out.

My new landlord wants me to move in immediately after my background check. They don't provide a 30-day waiting period prior to moving in. So I will be effectively paying for both apartments for a month.

Is there any way I can persuade the new landlord to start renting apartment as close as possible to the end of 30-day period?

What are the legal means I can leverage to postpone the move-in date? Can I appeal to any statements in a law? The leasing agreement is not signed yet.


texts: If a retailer sends you something you didn't order, can you keep it?

texts:
This Consumerist article discussing a Wal-Mart shipping mishap involving a customer receiving extra iPods argues that the FTC ruling regarding unsolicited goods means that you can keep good as a result of a shipping error. That is, if you did solicit goods, but the wrong ones were sent.

When I've tried getting more information on the legal context regarding this law in the USA, I seem to mostly find opinions and not any real citations or analysis of legal precedence and regulation. Like the Consumerist article, they don't seem to be clear depictions of the legal environment.

It seems that many retailers operate under the assumption that if they make a mistake and ship the wrong thing, but the original Rule's wording doesn't seem to account for errors:

  Unordered Merchandise
  Whether or not the Rule is involved, in any approval or other sale you must obtain the customer’s prior express agreement to receive the merchandise. Otherwise the merchandise may be treated as unordered merchandise. It is unlawful to:

  Send any merchandise by any means without the express request of the recipient (unless the merchandise is clearly identified as a gift, free sample, or the like); or,
  Try to obtain payment for or the return of the unordered merchandise.

  Merchants who ship unordered merchandise with knowledge that it is unlawful to do so can be subject to civil penalties of up to $16,000 per violation. Moreover, customers who receive unordered merchandise are legally entitled to treat the merchandise as a gift. Using the U.S. mails to ship unordered merchandise also violates the Postal laws.

Are there other regulations that apply, or is this the end-all be all? Can terms-of-service agreements with online retailers stipulate that you agree to return incorrect shipments?


texts: California non-compete laws: where do they come from?

texts:
I once read that California non-compete laws come from the gold rush era, and yet I was not able to find any more information about the subject.

It would be interesting to understand what historical circumstances led California to have these non-compete laws which many of the other US states don't have. (and why those states don't have such laws)

Thank you in advance for any answer whatsoever.


texts: What can be the consequences of indemnification clauses in online terms of use?

texts:
A lot of online services prompt users to accept conditions of use that have clauses for indemnification that look very much like there is chance that the users that pays for the service can possibly pay fees if third party causes damage just because it was in some "relation" or "in connection" to the user's use of the service. On the other hand most of these terms of use also include clauses that write that the indemnification clause will survive any termination.

So my question is, what is the scope of the indemnification clause:

Is it required that the service provider first prove that the user's use of the services is 'in connection' for the 3rd party suit against the service provider or he can just say because this user uses the service he is in connection to any suit that is against the service?
Also what happens if the service provider just suits himself by some 3rd party connected to the provider and decides to use this as a way to sue it's users?
Also what happens several years after the user stopped using the service. If this clause survives termination is the above problems permanent? If yes isn't using such online services (services which have both indemnification and clause that indemnification survives termination) risk that last lifetime and rises with every new service with similar terms that you ever use?

Example of indemnification clauses are:

  You agree to indemnify and hold {service provider}, its officers,
  directors, employees, agents, subsidiaries and affiliates, harmless
  from any demands, loss, liability, claims or expenses (including
  attorneys’ fees), made against {service provider} by any third party
  due to or arising out of or in connection with your use of the Site.

or other variant:

  You shall defend {service provider} against any claim, demand, suit or
  proceeding made or brought against {service provider} by a third-party
  alleging that Your Content, or Your use of the Service in violation of
  this Agreement, infringes or misappropriates the intellectual property
  rights of a third-party or violates applicable law, and shall
  indemnify {service provider} for any damages finally awarded against,
  and for reasonable attorney’s fees incurred by, {service provider} in
  connection with any such claim, demand, suit or proceeding; provided,
  that {service provider} (a) promptly gives You written notice of the
  claim, demand, suit or proceeding; (b) gives You sole control of the
  defense and settlement of the claim, demand, suit or proceeding
  (provided that You may not settle any claim, demand, suit or
  proceeding unless the settlement unconditionally releases {service
  provider} of all liability); and (c) provides to You all reasonable
  assistance, at Your expense.

For my questions I assume that the terms have also clause that the jurisdiction is state of USA. For simplicity lets assume that it is State of California like the following text:

  K. Governing Law; Jurisdiction. This Agreement shall be governed by,
  and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of California,
  without reference to conflicts of laws principles. The parties agree
  that the federal and state courts in San Francisco County, California
  will have exclusive jurisdiction and venue under this Agreement, and
  the parties hereby agree to submit to such jurisdiction exclusively.

Also we may assume that the user have to click on agree button when he registers for the online service.
Another assumptions is that the terms have this clause also:

  L. Severability. If any provision, or portion thereof, of this
  Agreement is determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be
  invalid, illegal or unenforceable, such determination will not impair
  or affect the validity, legality, or enforceability of the remaining
  provisions of this Agreement, and each provision, or portion thereof,
  is hereby declared to be separate, severable, and distinct.


texts: Is it possible to refuse offering service to GDPR-protected customers?

texts:
Let's say I have a service that asks registration details from the user and for some reason I, as a provider of that service, can't comply to GDPR and therefore want to refuse registration of new users protected by GDPR or similar law. Is it possible to add a clause in the registration form requiring user to cancel registration of their new account if they are covered by GDPR (or, better, any similar law)?

For simplicity let's assume that I don't have to worry about existing users.

Update: I see similar question that seeks to achieve the same effect by means of introducing filters or by other disruptive means, this is different as it relies on EULA that user should accept before proceeding to use the website.


texts: Why are emergency exits that don't immediately open legal?

texts:
I was at Costco today and saw an emergency exit that looked like this:

Why would an emergency exit legally be able to have a delay before opening? Being hurt in 15 seconds is very possible in an emergency situation (such as an earthquake causing pieces of the ceiling to fall, possibly blocking the exit while it's opening).


texts: Can I legally fetch tweets without twitter API?

texts:
I am doing an RSS notifier, but I would like to add Twitter and Facebook feeds in it.

as both social networks shut down their RSS services, I am fetching the content

directly from the HTML public pages, parsing the content I want.

Question is: Is what I am doing legal?

 Can I be sued for "stealing" information from their website?

PS: I know I could use Facebook or Twitter's API, but I don't want to log-in to their services.


texts: Do I have the legal right to kill an animal preventing my exit when I burglarize another house?

texts:
If I break into a house with the intent to burglarize it, and suddenly any animal (for instance, a large German Shepherd) prevents my escape and starts to attack me, do I have the legal right to shoot it?

I'm not actually contemplating committing a crime, I was just curious. A google search revealed a couple of stories, but it isn't clear if you have the right to kill an animal to get away.


texts:
Background:

In April 2018, I was hired by a company A that outsources services. When I was hired, I signed two promissory notes for $25,000(local currency) for the concept of value of training for my next job. These two promissory notes where supposed to expire or be invalid in these cases:

after being employed over a year
there were another reason for it to be cancelled but I don't remember them

The client that wanted to hire the services from company A cancelled the project after a month of being hired. They tried to assign me to another place elsewhere but no other client was in need for my services. So I was told by HR that they won't be renovating my temporal contract and that my promissory notes were being annulled for this cause.

Today I received a visit from their lawyer about these promissory notes. He says I need to pay to them and I'm being sued.

What I can do about it? How I can protect myself?

Additional Notes

I still know the name of the person that handled my dismissal. He issued/signed a few papers about my exit from the company. Not sure if he still works there. Should I contact him? or it could make it worse? I need to clarify this situation as soon as possible.


texts:
I have a question regarding tenant's rights under a leased property; I can't seem to find the answer anywhere online.
What are the obligations of a tenant in a 1yr lease to provide notice of vacating the premises by the end of the lease, if there is no language in the lease describing such a notice? In other words, is there New York City or New York State law that requires a minimum notice to be given to the landlord if the lease is not to be renewed?
Any help is greatly appreciated! I have tried to look in Article 7 under real property laws (Landlord and Tenant laws) but cannot find any relevant language!


texts: Is it legal to publish a review of a travel service without letting the service know?

texts:
Say I review things for people to read, such as on a website or blog. Is it safe to say it's legal if my intention is, say, book a flight to Phoenix with some pre-conceived intention of critiquing the flight?

I wonder because I've heard at least one story where someone got in legal trouble over reviewing a service, such as a cruise trip's policies/procedures/service/clientele on their personal website.

In general, is consent/permission needed for this?

Say I want to book a flight right now and plan to review various aspects of it -- service, clients, other passengers behaviors (if noteworthy) and prices, while also taking photos aboard the plane as well.

Would I need consent from maybe a public relations department or something?

Or is this basically legal to do (a review, in general, about a whole experience)?


texts: How to take down app using our SDK illegally

texts:
I work for a company that created an image library that contains a lot of effects, it's a windows application.
We recently discovered 2 apps for android and ios that provides image effects the same as our windows application .
Upon further investigation, I discovered that this app calls a remote api, uploads the image you provide, then it runs our application and downloads a new image file with the applied effect on it.
There's no reference to our application or sdk in the app file itself, so we can't prove it's using our sdk in the app and of course we can't prove it uses in the remote server because we don't have access to this server.
The only way we can prove it is by comparing 2 images side by side, one "created" with the android and ios app and the one created with our windows application, they are exactly the same, even the effect names they use in their app are the same names we have the sdk.
I spoke with my managers and they said there's nothing they can do unless they spend a good amount of money with lawsuits etc... They also told that they failed to have google and apple to remove their app. I tried to email the developers enquiring them about it and got no response.
Is it really that difficult to do it? I'm not familiar with DMCA stuff, would that help?
Thanks!


texts: Weather my comments committed coercion in the second degree in NY?

texts: I disputed with my roommate regarding the noise issue. During a dispute, I said "If you keep making noise in the future, I will 1. contact the leasing office for feasible solutions 2. report this case to your professor(advisor) 3. cut off the in-room Internet". He said it was illegal verbal threat and wanted to sue me. May I ask if what I said regarded as an illegal verbal threat? Does "2.report this case to your professor/advisor" commits coercion in the second degree in NY? We are in NYC.


texts: Does a 3D print of a CAD file constitute a derivative work?

texts:
This came up in a comment discussion on a news story of someone selling prints of models that were licensed CC-BY-NC-ND.

Ignoring that the seller themselve seems pretty clueless and we can disregard their defence, the question comes up in the comments: is a 3d printed object a derivative work of it's design file and if so, in what jurisdictions?


texts:
I came across a mention of a "no break clause" in academic contracts, i.e. a clause in working contract by which an academic is liable to a penalty if they terminate their contract before the end of a fixed term. This is not related to a compensation of relocation costs.

I wonder if this was or is legal and practicable in the U.S. and Europe? I am equally interested in historical perspective (1950s) and modern days.


texts:
Pyramid MLM in illegal in India. Where source of income is from recruiting downline and the joining fees.

I had seen a lot of such companies workings. Some of them are registered with MCA and have a valid CIN/DIN.

Legally how/where to report to stop these companies ? And taking action against them by government ?


texts: Can reporting illegal income be used as incriminating evidence?

texts: As we all know, in the United States it is required to report and pay taxes on income obtained illegally. Can the fact that this income is mentioned on a person's tax return be used as evidence that the person committed a crime? If so, how could a criminal comply with the law of reporting his income without relinquishing his right to not self-incriminate?


texts: Understanding 'Adapted Material' for illustrations in a book

texts:
Suppose an author is intending to create a book using several (unmodified, pre-arranged/ordered) illustrations which are available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Is the author required to share the entire book as CC BY-SA, or can the author license the book (or text) in any desired way, provided the images are clearly still under CC BY-SA and properly attributed. Phrased differently, I'm unsure if the book as a whole constitutes an adapted material from the illustrations.

The CC BY-SA 4.0 legal text defines such adapted material as follows (emphasis added):

  Adapted Material means material subject to Copyright and Similar Rights that is derived from or based upon the Licensed Material and in which the Licensed Material is translated, altered, arranged, transformed, or otherwise modified in a manner requiring permission under the Copyright and Similar Rights held by the Licensor.

It appears to me that the book is based upon the Licensed Material (the illustrations), but they are not altered, transformed, modified etc. so this would not constitute an adapted material.

Is this understanding correct? Intuitively this would be saying that the share-alike clause only applies to work which modifies, alters etc. the illustrations themselves, but not for works which simply use the illustrations. I'm unsure about that, but mainly suspicious of this interpretation since I'm not sure I'd have reached the same conclusion for the legal text of CC BY-SA 3.0.

For the record, the illustrations do form an important part of the book, and the author would not be claiming to use the images under fair use, nor am I convinced the book would count as a collection (although, unless I've misunderstood, which is very possible, collections aren't an exception to the share-alike clause of the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, only prior versions).


texts: Is there a (preferably free) way to search small claims court records in the UK?

texts: I want to check up on a second hand car dealer in the UK to see if they've had any small claims court cases against them (and preferably the result of these cases). Is there any publicly available resource to see this kind of information?


texts: How to prove Landlord sent a section 21 via email (UK Law)

texts:
My Landlord sent a section 21 to me by email (which I'm fine with - I want to move out), but due to past disgruntlements on the landlord's behalf and him potentially knowing that we'll be able to sue him after we've left due to him not protecting our deposit in time, there's a chance that he'll mess us around.

He sent us a section 21 by email, and CCed someone from an agency (so he can prove he sent the email), so we can't pretend we didn't receive it, especially how we replied. This agent appears to be from a property services company that specialises in tenancy evictions and getting unpaid rent for the landlord - this was probably because we were withholding rent payments due to the landlord not adhering to section 48 (giving us a UK address to which we can send correspondence) and he wouldn't accept that he was breaking the contract at the time but has since realised this and all has been resolved, so this agent's service is no longer required.

But what's to stop him from going back on his word at the last moment (after we've signed a new contract) and pretend he didn't send it - because I can't really prove that he sent the email right? Unless the agency he CCed will be willing to act on my behalf too? Will they be legally required to?


texts: Is offline-only processing a "‘processing" as understood by GDPR?

texts:
GDPR, article 4, point (1) states:

‘processing’ means any operation or set of operations which is
performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not
by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation,
structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval,
consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or
otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction,
erasure or destruction;

GDPR, article 6, point 1. states:

Processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that at least one
of the following applies:
[...]

If I develop a pure offline mobile application, do I need to comply with GDPR? Let's say it does ask you for your full name, but only to display your initials. Or something like that.
Alternatively, if I develop a mobile application that does process some personal data on the "backend" (a remote server owned by my company), but some different subset of (potentially more sensitive) personal information is handled purely offline (never leaves the device), do I need to have a lawful basis for processing that data?
I feel that the intention of GDPR is to define "processing" as an action performed by an entity (person, company) either manually or using automated means, when I'm in charge of this data (I can access it, it can be leaked, etc.), so intuitively, offline processing shouldn't be considered "processing" as in GDPR. On the other hand, the definition in Article 4 is so broad that it feels like it does include offline processing.


texts: Should I seek the services of a lawyer when marrying my girlfriend who is on a J1 student visa?

texts:
We are planning on getting married. I am a US citizen and she is a student here on a J1 visa from Germany. She does not have a residency requirement. We have been together nearly 2.5 years and have pictures together and with our families to back up any claims.

Lawyers will cost around 400 dollars just for a consultation. I am wondering if this is a super tricky area of the law or we should be able to handle it by ourselves?


texts: What if I stored Personally identifiable information (PII) on cloud but with IP restricted environment or using VPN. Will it be GDPR compliance?

texts: I have a requirement to fetch and search (partial search, full text search, fuzzy search etc) personally identifiable information (PII) data in Admin Panel and I can restrict my environment with IP white labeling or using VPN. What if I stored PII without encryption (as plaintext) on cloud but with IP restricted environment or using VPN. Will it be GDPR compliance?


texts: Large company intellectual property theft

texts:
Say a company stole intellectual property from an employee(accept this as fact pretend he understands the contracts he signed and that this was infact his IP) . This employee is now concerned since the intellectual property was brought to the company it seems as though they are developing it themselves and disregarding the employees pleas to not steal the intellectual property.

A lawsuit would most likely be lost as the company has a large amount of resources to either win the lawsuit or drag it out.

The employee decides to exercise his 1st amendment rights. He decides to comment on all LinkedIn post and Glassdoor reviews informing others of the companies bad practices. He registers a domain and begins to comment on all their posts saying CompanyXIntillectualPropertyTheft.com and CompanXLiars.com where he plans to detail all the companies misdoings in a factual way.

Is what the employee planning on doing wrong or in any way illegal?


texts:
I live in NY and went to my local code enforcement office and applied for a permit. I was very up front about everything I planned to do with my home renovation from start to finish. I explained that I essentially wanted to completely modify my entire house from the foundation up. We originally wanted to leave the original floors and walls, but after determining it would have cost more to modify and bring up to code and realizing the house was never bolted to the foundation, we decided to replace everything from the foundation up. Never the less, we were issued a full renovation permit.

The original house was 1646sf and now the house house is 3200sf, we use to be assessed at 95k and I assumed with doubling the size of my house, my assessment would double and maybe a little more due to the fact it would be nicer. Now please keep in mind, we are still on the original foundation, original electrical service, original center beam, original boiler, basement windows, stairs etc.

I met with the assessor last week and she decided to reclassify my home as new construction and upped my assessment to 330k in a 110k neighborhood which brought my taxes up from 3k to 13k a year.

So my question is, is the assessor required to stick to the building permit issued (renovation), or does she have the authority to reclassify me as new construction?


texts: Underpriced software development project

texts:
We are a software development company that underpriced a project. The asking price was $5000 and our costs are now around $15,000 and the end is not near.

The project's requirements and outcome were agreed upon via email. Due to its unconventional nature we had to put in work that could not be foreseen during the planning stages.

What can a contractor do in a case like this?  For example, can we simply return the deposit with an apology?  Could we still be sued for damages despite making our best efforts?


texts:
The term "Common Stock" as used in this Appendix B means the Company's
  Common Stock without par value, as the same exists at the date
  of filing of the Amendment to the Company's Amended Articles of
  Incorporation first designating Series B Preferred Stock, or any other
  class of stock resulting from successive changes or reclassifications
  of such Common Stock consisting solely of changes in par value, or
  from par value to without par value, or from without par value to par
  value.

what do "as the same exists" and "designating" mean in this context? Please offer a simplified explanation of what this article means.


texts: Is there any documentation out there on how to terminate a lease via court procedure for a landlord not ensuring quiet enjoyment in Texas?

texts:
I have had a fellow tenant who has engaged in harassment via laser lights, which has resulted in a police report on these tenants who makes lots of notice after 10pm at night and other such nuisance behavior. It is my understanding that I am not wrong for asking the landlord to do something about this. Unfortunately, nothing has been done expect empty promises that I should continue to call the police so they can make a tight case to evict them.

My understanding is that in Texas you don't need so much police reports and accumulating incidents, one violation is enough. So I feel like I was stringed along and sure enough the real estate company sold the apartment complex to another company and the problem persists.

Is there any documentation out there on how to terminate a lease via court procedure for a landlord not ensuring quiet enjoyment?

Unfortunately I have not received consistent answers, for example, here in this documentation:
https://www.rentprep.com/landlord-tips/quiet-enjoyment/

It says that a landlord allowing loud noises and things infringing on others quiet enjoyment to be a breach of quiet enjoyment, but then I have also been told that these types of matters are "fraught" when taken to court.

So which is it? And is there any solid documentation out there one way or the other for the state of Texas?


texts: Does Death terminate a lease in Florida?

texts: If I sign a lease for 12 months and die in month 7 from an unexpected car crash, is my estate responsible for closing out my residential lease in the manner defined by the contract (advance notice of 3 months)?  Assume I am single.


texts: Are online accounts and phone numbers frozen when "electronic devices" are seized by law enforcement?

texts:
The recent seizure of the cellphones and computers of Rudy Giuliani by the FBI led me to wonder about the immediate, extra-legal consequences for such an individual.
Would this individual be restricted from transferring their phone number to another phone in order to continue using it, or to access their "contacts" list. Same for "social media" and other accounts (e.g. a password manager) – would the individual be locked out of those as well?
As a "non-legal" person, at first glance it seems to me that it would follow that the accounts would be frozen in order to preserve any evidence being sought. However, thinking about it further, if the warrants were only for "electronic devices" exclusive of electronic accounts and services (e.g. cell phone and social media accounts), then the individual should legally still be able to access them.
Stated a simpler way: what is the scope of a warrant for "electronic devices"?


texts: Can a company refuse a refund of a digital product, even if it has been less than 30 days since the costumer purchased the product?

texts:
Three weeks ago signed up for an online course. I agreed to pay the price of the course in ten single monthy installements, but now I have come to the conclusion that the course is not something that I want to have anymore and I would like a refund.

They refused to give me the refund, claiming that they don't give out refunds if it has been more than 48 hours after purchase, or if the the payment plan agreed to was the 10 installement monthly plan, claiming that I can't back out of the debt I agreed to. Aren't they obligated by international laws to give refund or cancel the payments, by the request of the consumer, in the 30 day window after the digital product has been purchased?

Is this something worth filing a complaint for, or is there no way I can get the refund?

The company is U.S. based, and I'm in a european Union country.


texts: Do NYS healthcare providers have a legal time limit to get your medical test results to you?

texts:
United States (New York state) here. My wife got some bloodwork done at her doctor's office a few weeks ago, and she confirmed last Monday (2/2/21) with their office that the results were back, but the office secretary couldn't read her the results. Instead she has to wait for a nurse to call her back to read the results.
She has called every 2 days since then and not only do the nurses not call back, but the office secretary keeps telling her that they are backlogged with work and that they will call when they can.
I understand these are trying times, but 7 business days to make a call and read some results?
Are there any NYS or Federal laws (HIPAA, etc.) that compel healthcare providers to give you your results within a set timeframe of the results being available? If so, what specific law/subsection/etc. is this, what are its terms and can someone provide a link to it?


texts: A plaintiff's "not guilty" verdict in a defamation suit

texts:
Scenario: John Doe is charged with murder, tried before a jury, and gets a "not guilty" verdict.  After the verdict I publish commentary saying that the jury got it wrong and Doe is definitely a murderer.  Doe sues me for defamation and attempts to enter as evidence the "not guilty" verdict he got.
What statutes and case law is there on whether or not the verdict can be entered as evidence, and (if it can be entered as evidence) how much weight the jury should place on it?


texts: Uploading to YouTube from 3rd party website

texts:
We are planning on starting a website that gives uploaders a service for their videos.
The users upload their video to the site, and the site is ranking their videos, letting them have a community opinion on their content.

The question is about copyrights.
The site’s purpose is to be free for anyone to use, and get community support and service.
The business model is having the videos uploaded by the site to YouTube, earning from views by YouTube, and displaying ads. Maybe a donate button.

If we state the aforementioned above in the terms of service, should there be a problem of copyrights?


texts:
In the US or the EU, who has to pay for a period of forced quarantine?

The question pops up due to the recent coronavirus epidemic, but I see that for previous epidemics (Ebola, SARS, MERS) authorities have already imposed a quarantine.

An extreme case would be a cleaner being quarantined in a luxury hotel. Would they be able to foot the bill?

What if the person under quarantine does not develop the illness, does this change anything?

Does the law draw a line between responsible and irresponsible behaviour (like traveling to a region hit by an epidemic)?

Are business owner liable, in the same way they are liable for accidents?


texts: Is blocking on twitter censoring in the USA when elected officials does it

texts:
Let's say an elected official have a Twitter account.

And let's say this elected official is using twitter to communicate information to the public relevant to the elected position.

And let's say this elected official decides to block users.

This means he is in that case actively withholding information from selected individuals.

It that censoring?

Of course there is a big loophole here if the elected officials private Twitter account is not used in any way to tweet information about the government office he holds. But the minute he tweets about his work as the position he holds after he entered the office things would change.

I am asking because there was a case in Sweden where a government organisation (just one of the many organisations within the government) had a Twitter account and for some reason blocked a user. Then, without even going to court, a judge said and I am paraphrasing: "You may not block users on a medium you are communication official information with because that is censoring." The kicker in that case was because Twitter was used to give information from the government and thus they could not block people and they have to unblock everyone. Would the same thing apply in the USA?

Edit:

1.5 years later: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-23/trump-told-by-judge-not-to-block-users-from-his-twitter-feed

2.5 years later: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/us/politics/trump-twitter-first-amendment.html


texts: No Blinker in a Left Turn Lane: Is It Illegal?

texts:
My question is simple, and pedantic:
An intersection near my house has a marked left turn lane, and a marked straight lane.
Problem is, the main road turns to the right at this roughly "Y" shaped intersection. This means the "straight" lane turns a shallow right, and the "left" lane goes dead straight ahead (when they have the light, of course).
My Question: I refuse to use my blinker when in the "left turn lane" on the basis that if I'm not turning my wheel then I'm not actually turning. Is this illegal under Ohio state law? This code seems relevant, but I can't make heads or tails of it.


texts: As of 2020, have any GDPR-related court judgements been successfully enforced on companies without presence in the EU?

texts:
The GDPR has been in effect for 2 years now and theoretically applies to any company on the planet which deals with personal data belonging to EU residents. But practically speaking, enforcing this law should be quite difficult, as EU authorities have zero direct enforcement power over foreign corporations without EU assets.
Over the past two years, have EU authorities succeeded in enforcing GDPR-related judgements over a single foreign business? By "enforce," I'm referring to a scenario where the foreign entity refuses to comply willingly, so EU authorities convinced a foreign court to enforce the judgement on their behalf.


texts: Can someone claim copyright infringement after-the-fact?

texts:
I made a mod for this free online indie web-browser game. A snapshot of the website 2 weeks ago on waybackmachine.com shows no copyright logo or Terms of Service anywhere on the page saying it's copyrighted. The developer of the game found out about my mod and tweeted that he would get it shut down. The developer has since put up a Terms of Service on the game's website that says all works are copyrighted and modifying the game is illegal. He then contacted google and got my mod taken down and I received a copyright strike on the chrome extensions store.

I don't really care about the mod anymore but can I get into legal trouble for this?

Edit: I should also add that the mod I made was free and the game is also free to play.


texts: Landlord shut water off to force me to move

texts: In process of moving but have been trying to come up with money to get water and electric. Landlord turned off water to force me to move. I can shower or clean anything or have water for pets. So stressed I can't sleep


texts: Does a no-refunds policy trump being sent the wrong item?

texts:
Say I order a product online from an American company with a strict no-refunds policy. The item is, for example, a blue t-shirt. What I receive in the mail is a home tie-dyed t-shirt, with additional decorations added. Legally, I did not receive the hypothetical item I paid for, and yet the store still had a no-refunds policy.

Is the company legally required to provide the item I ordered, despite their policy, or does the no-refunds policy hold more legal power than the incorrect item. What if I had been sent a sweater instead of a t-shirt? What if I had been sent a scooter?


texts: Is it possible to become a lawyer if you have a criminal record?

texts:
My partner wants to study law and do a law degree but has a extensive criminal record.

Is it possible to become a lawyer if you have a record?
If they decide to go through with it, would they be treated differently in the law community?


texts: My bicycle was stolen and I feel like I'm entitled to some compensation

texts:
I recently moved into a brand new apartment complex (most flats are still empty). Over a bank holiday weekend it turns out my bicycle (which I recently purchased for around £400) was stolen.

The bike was locked up in an underground car park of the apartments complex. There are 2 lock points for my entire building as the bike shed for our building is still being built.  There are security gates to even get into the complex, but these gates had been broke for at least a month or so.

There is no sign saying "items are left at your own risk".

There are CCTV cameras which I told the site caretaker to look at. He went on holiday and when he got back he said the cameras haven't been recording yet so effectively no footage.

I've submitted a police report that went nowhere. I've contacted my house agent about getting in contact with the site owners that also went nowhere.

I was thinking about some kind of legal case. Perhaps a no win no fee one but I have no idea how the law works in the UK for these kinds of things. Is there anything I can do or is it just bad luck and I need to move on?


texts: Do hospitals have to provide wheelchairs to patients and visitors?

texts: I was performing a project at a hospital on the number of missing wheelchairs. Must hospitals provide wheelchairs at the entrance per ADA regulation or some other regulation?


texts:
This service, "Find Email Free", offers to collect email addresses from its users, and then share them with the users.

It seems not only morally wrong on several moral grounds, but also shockingly illegal on many accounts (invasion of privacy, harassment, spam, etc).

Is this service legal, and how is it currently allowed to place ads on social media?


texts: Are there anything misleading about this ads?

texts:
https://skylinktvantenna.com/orderint-mod-sh/vsl1.php

I removed all tracking links

There is this statement that I believe is fraudulent

  But how can you watch all this for free? The secret lies behind a law
  that no television operator in the world wants you to know. This
  specifies that they must provide, in addition to the conventional
  signal, a signal per radio. In order not to break the law, all
  operators therefore broadcast this signal.

It basically said that there is a law that requires all cable TV company to also send broadcast for free via air.

They don't want it but they have too.

And you can get them by using antena.

It sounds a lot like nonsense to me.

For comparison

In my country, most TV are free and most are on air. But that's not because there is any law that requires it. The TV makes money from advertising. Of course, there are paid TV without ads. But those TVs are not available in anyway for free and requires a decoder to watch.

I suspect that is what's actually happening with this "antenae". If that's the case, is this fraud?

What I am mainly interested is whether there are laws that are like what the ads say. Namely that are there actual laws that force cable company to broadcast their shows for free.

The seller is basically selling a normal antenna and behaves as if their product is special.


texts: Explanations for GDPR if no personal data is collected?

texts:
I have a website that is a travel search engine and I am very concerned about GDPR.

I am not interested in any private information from the users for marketing or such things. I just use Google Analytics to see the behavior on the page and to be able to improve it. No log-ins or accounts, no retargetting, no e-mail gathering, no newsletters...

According to GDPR:

  ‘personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or
  identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural
  person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in
  particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an
  identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one
  or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic,
  mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person;

I have already anonymized the IPs for Google Analytics, so I would assume I do not have any personal data from the users anymore.

Is my assumption correct?

If so, do I need to care about all the clear explanations like where data is stored, how long is stored and so? Or can I just say something like:

  "This website does not collect any personal data"

?


texts: So my sister has a few of my clothes and some personal items that she borrowed from me . She claims I gave her the personal items and I never gave her any of it . I’ve asked multiple times for it back . Would it be illegal if I go to her house and take my stuff back ?? She has harassed and threatened me about me wanting my stuff back even said she’s gonna hit me when I’m not pregnant. Could I charge her with harassment and conversion?


texts: Does the USAF have any legal implications of being created much after the Constitution?

texts: The Constitution discusses appropriations and regulations for land forces and Navy.  Is it possible that the Air Force can benefit (or suffer)  from this omission (on account of not yet being invented, of course)?


texts:
in Germany who and how appoints Prosecutors?

ps.
I am looking at http://iate.europa.eu/'s translations, with entry 'EN Prosecutor':

EN public prosecutor
DE Leitender Oberstaatsanwalt
FR procureur de la République
IT procuratore della Repubblica

EN public prosecutor's office
DE Staatsanwaltschaft
FR parquet / ministère public
IT procura / pubblico ministero

Comments on translations are welcome too.


texts: Are tenants responsible for cleaning patio upon move-out in Washington State?

texts:
Key Lease Terms

The lease in this situation states, "Tenant agrees to return all items listed in the Report, including the leasehold premises, to the Landlord at the end of this lease term in as good and clean condition as when received, reasonable wear and tear excluded."

Other details which may be relevant

18 month lease term
Property is in Seattle
Patio condition on move-in report is "no issues" (as it was pressure washed beforehand)
Upon move-out the patio could not be cleaned with sweeping or any light cleaning options. The dirt and soot was baked in throughout and required power washing.
[Edit]: The lease does not contain a clause requiring tenants to perform regular power washing

Question

Are the tenants responsible for cost to cleaning the patio given it was not clean upon move-out and in Washington State tenants are not responsible for normal wear and tear.

Arguments for normal wear and tear:

Dirt collects in outside spaces naturally and are not in the control of tenants

Arguments for beyond normal wear and tear:

Regular tenant maintenance (sweeping) of patio floor would have prevented the need for pressure washing


texts:
I'm an international student on a J1 Visa pursuing a Master's degree at a university in Chicago. For the duration of my program I will live in Chicago, but will be leaving the US after finishing my program in approx 2 years. I have a driver's license from my EU home country along with the international drivers permit, which to my knowledge serves as translation.

The Illinois rules of the road state the following:

  Individuals may drive in Illinois without a valid Illinois driver’s
  license if they meet one of the following circumstances:
   [...]
  Are an out-of-state student attending an Illinois college/university;
  they and their spouse and children may drive with a valid license from
  their home state or country.

Does this exemption apply to me? I'm unsure whether out-of-state means someone not living in IL but only commuting to IL, or someone without permanent residence, such as me.


texts: Was Mendeley really compelled by GDPR to encrypt my database?

texts:
Mendeley 1.19 encrypted my data on my HDD with a key that only Mendeley has.
On Twitter Mendeley claimed that:

To comply with GDPR & keep your data safe, Mendeley has encrypted your
databases. You can still export libraries and import into another
reference manager, or get your data locally. Please reach out to
@MendeleySupport  if you have issues doing so.

Did GDPR really compel Mendeley to do so?
What article of GDPR this is?


texts: Has anybody else taken legal action against California's "only 26 letters in names" rule?

texts:
This is inspired by another question:
Is Elon Musk's child name valid in California?

The accepted answer quotes the a handbook from California Department of Public Health, Vital Records, p. 112:

  The form must be completed using the 26 alphabetical characters of the English language with appropriate punctuation, if necessary.

  No pictographs (), ideograms (), diacritical marks (è, ñ, ē, ç), or extraneous entries are allowed.

In comments it is mentioned that this causes problems for the large Spanish population, among others.

So, I wonder, has anybody taken this to court?  If so, what was the result?

The title says "anybody else" because I am not interested in Elon Musk, but in cases that can form precedent for his possible lawsuit.


texts: When (if ever) is USPS's Certified Mail/Registered Mail/Signature/etc. valid for proof in court?

texts:
Something really confuses me about the whole legal aspect of confirming you sent someone mail.

USPS has different types of mail (e.g. Certified Mail) for "proving" you sent your mail (e.g. tax returns).
(Note: This question is not specific to tax returns. I'm just using that as an illustrative example.)

My question is, (how) does this prove anything about what you actually sent?

I could very well just stuff an envelope with empty pieces of paper (or, more plausibly, something totally irrelevant that is likely to be discarded) and mail it to some address, then get every kind of confirmation possible for it from the post office. And then claim that I sent some important piece of mail (say, my tax returns, or a contract, or some other legally important document).

And when court day comes, I'll have all the "proof" I could possibly have from USPS for it, yet I clearly didn't need to actually do what I claimed.

So my question is, whether these mail certifications actually mean anything in a court?
If they do, then why or how -- clearly I didn't need to send what I claimed?
If not, then why do people need to use them for legal documents? What useful thing does it establish?


texts: Is it legal to quote a copyrighted work in a tweet?

texts:
For example, if you want to tweet a humorous riff on a certain William Carlos Williams poem, would that actually be legal?

Examples (though I don't mean to single anyone out): https://twitter.com/mathewkumar/status/307557968864489472?s=20
https://twitter.com/sannewman/status/937718586096979968?s=20

The website poets.org includes this copyright notice under the poem

  Copyright © 1962 by William Carlos Williams. Used with permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved. No part of this poem may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the publisher.


texts: Are there international treaties preventing states from taxing property transfers out of it?

texts:
With the goal of discouraging companies and high net worth individuals from leaving the country to save taxes by taxing wealth leaving the country by a multiple of the taxes due per year if they stayed.

With "state" I mean a sovereign state which nationally can do whatever it wants, I'm only asking about international treaties/laws.

Purely hypothetical question, sorry if this shows a lack of basic understanding on my part. To me it seems like that would be qualitatively similar to the transaction tax some people have been proposing.


texts: Does signing CLA and contributing to Apache project really grant a patent license for the entire Apache source tree?

texts:
I've been going over the Apache CLA recently, and while I am a layman here I see one point of concern that hopefully someone can clarify.

Specifically, it seems on first reading that section 3

  You hereby grant to the Foundation and to recipients
  of software distributed by the Foundation a perpetual, worldwide,
  non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable ...
  where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
  by You that are necessarily infringed by Your Contribution(s)
  alone or by combination of Your Contribution(s) with the Work to
  which such Contribution(s) were submitted.

"combination of Your Contribution(s) with the Work to
which such Contribution(s) were submitted" would on its face mean that if, for instance, there was existing infringement of Foo Corp's patents buried deep within the Apache sources that Foo Corp was not aware of, and Foo Corp signed the CLA then submitted a trivial patch completely unrelated to the infringing code, that Foo Corp just gave a patent license for all existing infringing code without even knowing it existed.

Is this a correct reading, and if not, what am I missing?  Note that I understand patent licenses can only be granted if Foo Corp is legally allowed to do so, the question is more on the interplay between a systems patent and the CLA as detailed below.

To add an interesting twist: the real world issue being considered here is not one of software-only patents (which I generally consider a bad idea anyway), but one of patents that claim certain functionality relying on both specific software and specific hardware components working together.  As I understand it, attempting to claim infringement against the software component alone would be near suicide as the existing grants back to Foo Corp would terminate, but it should still be possible to claim infringement against any commercial packaged system products (hardware + software) that infringe without invoking the Apache revocation clause.

What is not clear to me is whether a.) the grant is as I assume above and b.) whether this would then affect the ability to claim infringement against a competitor of Foo Corp that is selling infringing systems (hardware + software) that include the Apache licensed software.

Thanks!


texts: Best way to provide video of landlord doing something he lied about not doing?

texts: I lived in a rental home where my landlord lived in the same building. The landlord had this notion he could "immediate evict" anyone. He told me if I wasn't out he would replace the locks and remove my belongings. Moving homes is a big task and I needed more than 24 hours. I purchased a surveillance camera because I knew the landlord had a key to my suite. One day my surveillance camera recorded the landlord entering my suite. He never gave me notice. I asked my landlord why he entered my suite without notice, he replied "actually no. The contractor entered your suite to see where a water pipe was. He was in there for less than two minutes". This is al lie in the sense the landlord was in there and for more than two minutes. How should I bring this up in court? The dispute is through the Civil Resolution Tribunal. Is my evidence enough or should I try to get him to repeat his lie in front of the tribunal? For example should I question him "did you enter my suite" and then present the video? Right now we're in the "facilitation phase" so I'm guessing it's best to keep the evidence hidden for as long as possible.


texts: Dual U.S./canadian citizen living in Canada who has never resided in the U.S. can vote or not?

texts: I am a Dual U.S./canadian citizen living in Canada who has never resided in the U.S. but my deceased mother lived and was born in Michigan and i was told i could register to vote but all Michigan voting sites states i must provide proof i lived in Michigan in order to vote?  true?


texts: What rights do I have as a tenant of a rental property if the property is condemnable?

texts: My boyfriend and I are currently renting a room from a friend. The friends is the only one on the lease, and the house is in very bad shape. There has been a plumbing issue for years, but instead of fixing the problem to begin with, the owners and/or property managers have elected to patch over the problem several times. Now, there is raw sewage in out back yard, and it occasionally errors from our shower drains. The owners specifically told my roommate they would not fix it. The property managers have sent a plumber a few times, and he even said he will not be the one to fix it if they decided to, bc it was such a big job that should have been fine years ago. The tile floor in half the house is breaking bc the floor is dining where there in basically a pit of sewage under the house. My boyfriend's father was a plumber so he had some experience with plumbing, and he is shocked and appalled that they even rented this house to anyone. It's a very old house that could have been amazing but instead is dining into a cesspool. He went into the attic to check out the insulation and it's cooler up there than in the rest of the house. Our power bill is over 400$ every month. I know it is not legal to just stop paying rent, but I also know if this place we inspected it would be concerned. Since we aren't in the lease, my boyfriend and I can't do much about the situation, not that we're aware of. My roommate is timid and send scared to say anything else to property manager. Should we call a lawyer? The county health department? What rights do we/ does she have as a renter?


texts: What do "constitutional" and "unconstitutional" really mean in the US?

texts:
People in the US often talk about how some laws, decisions, ruling, executive orders are "unconstitutional", but what does that word mean?

Does "constitutional" mean "obeying only the Constitution", or does it expand to "exceptions under constitutional laws", too?

For example, if A says B is an evil person and should die, is it A's constitutional right to say whatever they want, under the First Amendment, without being suppressed by the government? Or is it exempted from constitutional protection because it is "insulting" or "fighting words" according to Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, and therefore A should be punished with civil remedies? What if, as a result of what A says, C, a die-hard fan of A, goes out and tries to assault B? Would A be criminally liable too?


texts: Can I be sued for posting a night picture of the Eiffel Tower under CC-BY-SA?

texts:
I am an American tourist visiting France, and take a picture of the Eiffel Tower at night, the tower being the main and central subject of the picture.

Going back to the US, I upload this picture to my website under a CC-BY-SA license.

Can I be sued for infringing the copyright of the Eiffel Tower's lighting design?


texts:
I would like to install a license plate flipper so I can hide my license plate when I am on private property.  I have no need and no intention of hiding my license plate when driving on public roads.

How do I find out if they are legal to install?

I don't drive out of state so I am really only interested in the legality of installing the device in my state (GA)?

It is obviously illegal to flip the plate on a public road so answers stating this obvious fact are not helpful.


texts: Can adverse possession be used on land that IS registered?

texts:
Adverse possession is normally talked about in terms of finding and claiming land for which there is no registered ownership.
Around us, a lot of land is listed as registered by the local council including unused/derelict plots. Can adverse possession or something else apply for land which is registered but apparently forgotten? In other words, by the same process of using and tending to the land can an ownership claim become valid?
Or, once land is registered is it then non-claimable in perpetuity?


texts:
If an FBI or some law enforcement agent is on the Dark Web posing as a user, does this constitute entrapment?

They do not inform you of their status. Sharing personal information is not very frequent there, but if it does come up and they directly do not mention occupation if asked, will you be able to avoid future charges initiated with this contact because they were not honest?


texts: What are 'estates of the House of Commons and the House of Lords'?

texts:
Pls see green under-line below. I know what the House of Commons and House of Lords are, but I don't grasp "estates". What happens if I delete "estates of the"?

Colin Faragher. Public Law Concentrate (1 ed 2019). p 124.


texts: In what order do collateral and guarantees pay off a defaulted loan or bond?

texts:
Company A is issued a loan that is guaranteed by Company B and is secured by liens on Company C's assets.

Company A defaults on its loan. In what order are the collateral and guarantees used to pay off the creditors who own the loan? For example, is the collateral security from Company C used up completely first and then the guarantees from Company B relied on next, or is it pro-rata somehow between the security and guarantees, or something else entirely? Is there a standard part of an indenture or credit agreement where I can check this, or a convention if not?