texts: Tell me about Lawyers' thoughts on defending clients that they know are guilty

texts:
There are other questions that address the role that lawyers play in defending clients and the difference between knowledge and proof. I am instead asking about the human element and the impact on lawyers themselves when defending people that are quite guilty (in the layperson's sense, at lease).

This question came to mind when reading a recent article on the El Chapo case as one of his lawyers describes him as a very nice guy. We could also hold the same discussion about the counsel for the Aurora or El Paso shooters.

I would like to know what kind of emotional, professional, or even philosophical challenges that lawyers for these people face. I understand that there will be defenses constructed that may call into question mental states, arrest and evidence procedures, or even conspiracy theories. I am not interested in the legal aspect of these cases.

I am curious as to whether some of these lawyers are ever troubled by their part in providing legal defense (whether or not they were successful). Have there been any autobiographies or firsthand accounts of these struggles? I would be interested in understanding the human drama that exists between performing one's job, upholding one's professional values, and navigating the atrocities that humans are capable of.


texts:
I'm not sure if this is a question for this SA site or if it should be on Interpersonal Skills SA.
I live on a dead end rural road, that is about two miles long. A neighbor kid, who lives about 3/4 of a mile from me, and I are training a team of oxen. We walk them on their leads along the road a couple of time a week. There are no houses between my house and the neighbor's. Since only one or two vehicles go by during our walk, often none, we can hear any vehicles from about half a mile away. When we hear a vehicle approaching, we get the team as close to the side of the road as possible, and hold them still. There is no shoulder, one side of the road goes up a hill and the other side down a steep bank to a creek, about 50 feet below road level. Most of the drivers slow down, smile and wave, but there is one driver who, when he sees us, guns his motor, races straight toward us, and swerves at the last minute, passing within two feet of us at 45-50 mph. He drives a big, double cab diesel pick-up. We can hear him coming, and can tell that he changes how he drives as soon as he sees us, speeding up and heading straight for us. The speed limit is not posted, but is technically 50 mph, although no part of the road is appropriate for that speed. Most drivers go about 30-35 mph. I don't know the driver, since he's never stopped to talk.
My question is what can be done about this rude, dangerous, intimidating driving, short of not using the road for walking. It is zoned agricultural. This is in the United States, in Oregon. Is what he's doing perfectly legal, or would this be considered reckless endangerment? Or considered some other infraction?
The cops around here are unlikely to be any help at all. It's a big county and they are understaffed.
He does the same if I am walking by myself, or with my dog. When I walk the dog, I get as close to the edge of the road as possible, stop, and hold the dog's collar when any vehicle drives by.
The kid says he does the same thing as she is walking to or from my house.


texts: Consequence for injury of child trespasser

texts:
My friend and I brought a rental house last year in Philadelphia, PA., and it was under construction for few months. While the house was under work, the kids from the neighborhood trespassed to my property a few times, and stole everything in my backyard. In addition, they damaged my basement door and tried to break into the house.

After we noticed the damage in the basement door, we put some barriers (screws, glass and metal wire) on the backyard to prevent them from coming in again.  However, they tried to trespass again but this time one of the kid got injured by the barrier we put up. A year later we received a letter from their attorney by regular mail asking for our insurance company contact information. In addition they sent out a certified mail but we didn't accept or sign it.

I called the police when I noticed the injured (some neighbor told me) and the police said we have nothing to do with the injured.

Will they go after me for the loss? I did have insurance on the property. Will it help if I remove everything under my name or sell the property?


texts: Can a policeman have his service weapon on him in a building that does not allow guns?

texts:
I am French, so the US regulations about who can hold a gun where are complicated for me, I apologise if the question is obvious in the US.
YouTube brought me to a 2019 case (the TV News version and the bodycam version with more details) where a policeman in uniform (and with his service weapon) entered an IRS building for personal business.
He was then stopped and "chased" by a security guard because he did not want to remove his service weapon. The policeman was being asked whether he was on official duties (in which case I assume that the service weapon is fine, having all the right paperwork or situation), he said no and wanted to leave.
He was stopped by the security guard and finally, it is all the security guard's fault.
My questions:

Can a policeman enter a no-gun building with his service weapon while on duty, but for personal business?
Can a policeman enter a no-gun building with his service weapon while not on duty (again, for personal business)?
Can a security guard stop someone who entered the no-gun building by all reasonable means awaiting for police to intervene? (the rationale being that someone broke the law)


texts: How has the “but for” test proven inadequate where two defendants jointly cause an injury that would have occurred even if only one of them had acted?

texts:
Source: p  200, Thinking Like a Lawyer: An Introduction to Legal Reasoning (2010, 2 ed) by  Kenneth J. Vandevelde

    This “but for” test has proved inadequate where two defendants jointly
  cause an injury that would have occurred even if only one of them had acted.
  For example, if two men negligently discharge firearms, both of which fire
  fatal shots into the victim, in a lay sense of the term both men “caused” the
  injury. Yet by applying the “but for” test, neither man can be shown to have
  caused it. If the first man had not fired his weapon, the victim would still
  have been killed by the second shot. Thus, one cannot say that but for the
  first man’s negligence, the injury would not have occurred. The same reasoning
  exonerates the second man as well. [1.] The “but for” test, in other words,
  would absolve both gunmen of liability for the shooting.
    Accordingly, many courts have adopted a rule that provides an alternative
  definition of actual causation. Under this rule, a defendant’s breach of duty
  is considered the actual cause of an injury if it was a substantial factor in
  bringing about the injury, even though the breach may not have been the
  “but for” cause. The outcome of applying this test to the shooting circumstances
  would be that either of the two gunmen would be considered the
  cause of the death.

Why is 1 true? Why cannot both shooters be found liable for the shooting?


texts:
From what I understand, destroying US currency is illegal with 0 exceptions. Legal Information Institute says: “Whoever mutilates... cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill... or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association... with intent to render such bank bill... or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued, shall be fined not more than $100 or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.”

This means that no US currency can be destroyed right? Except we did a chemistry lab on campus where we dissolved US pennies from around the 1960’s I believe. Since we “rendered it unfit to be reissued” then why wasn’t there any consequences? Did we do this illegally? They have been doing this for quite some time, how has there been no problems? My chemistry teacher actually tried to claim that people can burn US currency as long as you don’t go try to exchange it and use it as if it were legal tender. He said you can go exchange partially burned money at the bank, just don’t exchange it somewhere else like a store because “That’s were it becomes illegal”.
This is in Minnesota, United States of America

Please make sense of this for me, or interpret the law in a different way if I’m wrong, thanks!

Link to law: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/333


texts: Can I become a resident without changing my car registration? Co-lessee and lease are in Texas; the car and I moved to Pennsylvania

texts:
Recently I moved to PA after graduating from WV. I, my car, and my car's lease (from a credit union) are from Texas. When I leased, my dad got on it with me so I could go through his credit union. He's still in Texas.
I know I need to update my residency and they'll take my driver's license and give me a PA one. I want to go fishing soon so that's a done deal. Do I have to change the registration of my car? My title? The lease? Like I said, co-lessee is still in Texas and so is the credit union. I don't want to go through any more hassle than I need to and I don't want to make this a big headache for my old man. Trying to make hide or hair of all the legalese between PA's website and Texas's doesn't make much sense to me.


texts: Consequences of violation of employment contract in India

texts:
What legal action can an employer take against the employee who used the company laptop to work on a freelancing project? Duration maybe max of 10 days.
Possibility of allegation from employer is for using the company's asset (laptop).
If a full time employee works part time to another company in IT industry serving different domains, will that amount to dual employment in India?
Note: The freelancing project was just initiated as a sample project and no commitments have been made and the same wasn't being invoiced to the company who offered the work.


texts: Why would a lawyer accept a case that involved only $1.50 USD?

texts:
The European Union: Politics and Policies (2017 6 edn). pp 159 Bottom - 160 Top.

To wit, how did Costa find a lawyer for such a picayune quantum? I'm cynical and reckon that only a few are open-handed; most aren't. I can conceive only two reasons:

Was Costa simply lucky to have chanced on a big-hearted lawyer?
Another motive may be the lawyer's  longing to argue at the CJEU?


texts:
my partner has asked if she can see the holiday rota and was told she couldn't because of GDPR. Is that correct? I know anything that identifies you needs to be secure but the rota of when people are working is clearly visible on their noticeboard so doesn't the same apply to that?

thanks


texts: Why is "without regard to conflict of law" necessary?

texts:
I often see governing law clauses that state something like

  The contract is to be governed in accordance with the law of the State
  of California without regard to any conflict of law principles

I red this article but still don't see why it's necessary. The intent is clear. No one would put this in without intending to mean it.

The article says such clauses prevent against courts simply not following the choice of law, and also preventing "renvoi" but isn't that the same thing? I don't see how there are two different things the "without regard..." prevents.


texts: When must I pay first month's and the deposit on a new lease?

texts:
I'm signing a lease on an apartment in another city, about three hours away. I've seen the place, but I'm not able to trek out there to sign the lease in person before our rental period begins (May 1).

The landcouple has asked us to mail them the check for the first month's rent and the deposit, and they'll email the lease to us on receipt of our payment.

Frankly, this sounds backward to me. Can they insist on collecting rent before signing the contract? (It really seems like the answer to that question should be no.)

The apartment is in Washington state.


texts: Does there really exist such thing as "no contract" when doing business with other party?

texts:
Sales persons are sometimes advertising their service as "contract free", so that they would get a better chance to convince you to sign up for their service. I guess the reason why this works is because to average person "contract free" typically means that you don't have to read fine print on a written contract that most of the time works against you.

  However, isn't this misleading advertising to claim that there is "no contract", because there always will be a contract - either verbal or written on a paper under different title (e.g. Application Form, "Unicorn tears")?

Based on answer I received here, the person claimed that it does not matter what is the title of the document - so document with title "Application Form" could incorporate another document via reference that specifies terms. Effectively you actually end up having a contract, but the only difference is that you did not explicitly sign the referenced document and did not have a chance to read it; and this works against you. Or another person confirmed here that there does not have to be any paper signed at all for judge to think that there was a contract in the first place. Also, another person told here that the terms don't need to explicitly be mentioned in the first place, if price (and possibly late fees) were omitted from contract, then judge will figure out what is fair.

  What would judge do if you were able to prove that other party claimed that their service is "contract free"?

If sales person was honest would he have to explain to the other party that "contract free" actually means:

  You know our service is only "written contract fee" and not "contract free". However, this is the exact reason why you would have to be really dumb to enter into business with us orally or just via Application Form, because now instead of just dealing with the fine print issue that you would have had with written contract, now you will also have to deal with incorporation by reference issue where we can incorporate terms and conditions from Application Form into our website or somewhere else; also, now instead of knowing what are the exact fees (e.g. ETF, late fees) that we would charge from you we will simply charge whatever we think is "fair amount". If you disagree with the amount of fees we charge, then no worries judge will decide what is fair for you. However, remember, just because that we did not disclose such fees in contract it  does not mean that we can't charge them from you.

Does monologue from "honest" sales guy above really explains how our legal system works, if there is "no contract"? Note that this question is only asked from legal point of view and not from building good relationship point of view.

I will wait for multiple answers before accepting the right one. I will give preference to that answer that will be backed up with precedent case where judge discusses meaning of "no contract".


texts: Who is responsible for damage caused by hacked account in China?

texts:
this is my father's problem but I will write in first person to make things easier. If this is not the right place to ask such a question please point me in the right direction, I am just looking for help.

Short story: We were doing business with the Chinese company and their email was hacked. This led to us making a transfer for the 'wrong' account and loosing the money in the process. Are they (Chinese company) somewhat responsible for this, or is it 100% our fault, according to Chinese law?

Long story:
We were doing business with the Chinese company, our firm is located in Poland. Since this is quite the distance, we hired additional, 3rd party guy in china (for many reasons, but one of them was increased security, or so we thought). Around a week ago, both the Chinese company and our guy got their email hacked by the same 'thieves' without them (and us obviously) noticing anything. They basically redirected communication between us and China, so every email went through them. They (in the name of the Chinese company) requested that the incoming money transfer should be made on their new account (different bank, but name of the company and people matched). So we contacted out guy in China to make sure everything is 'fine', but obviously He's account was hacked too so we basically talked with the same guy/s. Since this was a big transfer, and change of bank account raised our eyebrows a bit, we contacted the Chinese company through our second email, on their second email. As you probably guessed, it was hacked too. So we made the transfer, send them (thieves) confirmation of it, they photo-shopped it into correct data and sent it to the Chinese company, so we even got the response "We have the confirmation of your payment, we are starting to ship the goods" through the We-chat.

We realized something was wrong when after a week Chinese company asked as where is the money since we were not responding to their emails (obviously thieves were not letting them through).

I have to admit, they (thieves) did it perfectly in my opinion. They hacked two individual entities. when you look at the emails now you can tell that something might be wrong. Chinese company could have noticed it, since "new" emails started coming from ...@ourdomain.com, and not from ...@ourdomain.pl, as usually, but we also could have contacted them through other means of communication than email.

My question is, is there any Chinese law that states the Chinese company is even in some part responsible for our loss? I know that in theory thieves are 100% responsible for this, but currently Chinese company's attitude is: Well, it is your fault, you made the wrong transfer, you have to pay for the goods we sent.

Thank you in advice for any help in our matter.


texts: I understand that the first amendment enshrines freedom of speech. However, can the location where someone speaks pose a limit to this? Is it different between public and private property?


texts: Storing pirated data online who is responsible?

texts:
If I were to set up an online storage company and sell GB/TB who would be responsible for my customers uploading pirated/illegal data on my storage servers? Would declaring in the  terms and conditions that is definitely against the rules enough?

Assuming the data is completely private  and only available to the custom who uploaded it.

How do companies like Dropbox handle it?

Thanks


texts: Is it legal for a physician to refuse to give a lab collection requisition for a lab that isn't affiliated with the physician?

texts: I wonder the following: a physician in California, United States, gives to their patient a laboratory test requisition (e.g., a blood test) that is only valid in a lab affiliated with the physician. The patient asks for a laboratory test requisition for a different blood test center and the physician refuses. Is such a refusal legal?


texts: Is shredding a document included in forgery?

texts: I'm wondering if a defendant was to take the ownership papers of a $125,000 yacht and shredded them, would it still be considered forgery since it is altering the document?


texts: Does the EU "2-year guarantee" apply to security vulnerabilities?

texts:
As we all know, Android security is a mess. Google fixes security bugs, but it's a matter of luck whether your vendor or carrier decides to deploy the fix to your phone or tablet.

In the European Union, there is a mandatory 2-year guarantee for all goods: Faulty goods must be repaired, replaced or refunded if a defect which already existed on receipt of the goods is found at most 2 years after purchasing the good.

Has anyone every tried this w.r.t. security vulnerabilities? I.e., purchase a new, shrink-wrapped device (perhaps a cheap device that was released a few years ago but is still being sold) and then, after using it for about a year, force the trader to take it back because it no longer receives security updates?

On the one hand, all conditions for the 2-year guarantee should be satisfied:

The device was bought less than 2 years ago,
the defect was already present when the device was bought, and
the device can no longer serve its intended purpose (surf the web without getting your device compromised, your passwords stolen and, thus, your bank account emptied).

On the other hand, I have never heard or read about such a case, so I might be missing something obvious...


texts: Can someone holding a job with access to classifed information travel abroad?

texts:
In Russia there are some categories of employees with access to classified information (mostly in the military) who are legally BANNED from travelling abroad (due to the knowledge they possess) while in service and usually several years after the service or retirement.

Is there a similar restriction to TRAVELLING ABROAD applied for citizens in western countries:

For those who currently serve and have access to military secrets
For those who retired and had had such access


texts: can we legally use the source code of customer software without asking them?

texts:
My question is
can we use the source code of the software that we made for previous customer and we use that source code again legally without his permission?
can he take any legal action ?


texts: What are the best defenses to an unlawful eviction action by a landlord?

texts: What are the BEST defenses to an unlawful eviction even when I am currently caught up on all my rent in rent-controlled West Hollywood California?


texts: Is it legal for a university to tell police and security to not stop a battery on campus?

texts:
There is an evidence video showing how BLM protestors invaded a closed, planned and paid event. The security did nothing to help the speaker who was assaulted and battered.

According to newspapers, the college told police and security to not intervene. Is that legal?  Are there legal consequences for such an abdication of security?


texts: Can lease holder physically remove my items from home without judges order?

texts:
I live in a shared home and pay rent to the lease holder. He doesn't want me to live here anymore. The leaseholder basically said he has the right to kick me out whenever he wants and to remove my belongings. Is this right? Can he take my belongings and put them on the street?

I'm guessing not - for example even if someone is staying in your home as an unpaying guest, it wouldn't give you the right to pickup their jacket and throw it outside.


texts: Can you avoid capital gains tax by taking out a loan and not repaying debt?

texts:
Let's say I have 1 bitcoin and I am selling it for $100k, and I bought it for $0 at the time. Assuming a Capital Gains Tax rate of 33% I would owe $33k, leaving me with only $66k.
Could I instead get a loan of $100k backed by bitcoin as collateral + some fee for the loan provider. I can then spend that full $100k.
Oh no! I'm not able to pay the loan back because I spent it all. How unfortunate... Now the loan provider has no choice but to sell of my bitcoin to get their $100k back, and it looks like I'm after avoiding capital gains tax.
Is this legal? I live in Ireland so it would be nice to know what the laws are like here, but it would also be interesting to know what it's like in the US.
Or do you have to pay capital gains tax before using something as collateral for a loan?


texts: Call I legally receive mail addressed to my roommate that requires a signature?

texts: Say if I share a room or a house and I receive a mail which may need signature because my roommate is out. Is it regarded to be illegal? (the US)


texts: How do laws affecting racial and gender justice programs work?

texts:
Recent COVID19 relief packages in the United States include racial justice measures, such as additional funds without repayment for farmers on the basis of race. Although the COVID19 relief itself seems more comprehensible, it sparked a question among friends regarding how other racial justice efforts are regulated.
Take college scholarships, for example. We are aware of a large number of scholarships available only to specific minority races or to women. Naturally, special scholarships that are officially limited to Caucasian men are not needed and would be socially unacceptable, but how (if at all) is that regulated?
Are there laws that prevent scholarships or other financial assistance programs from being offered only to white men but which allow it for other groups? If so, what kind of language is used in this regulation (for instance, if a law allows offering assistance on the basis of race or sex using the term “minorities”, we were wondering if the interpretation of that bill would change if the sex ratio were to change within the country or a field of study, etc)?


texts: Why was the decision to make a non-traditional prosecutorial judgement unclear at the start of the 2017 Special Counsel Investigation?

texts:
Background

One comment on this question about Robert Mueller's 2017 Special Counsel Investigation inquired about a specific aspect of the investigation.  This aspect related to the prosecutorial decision making of the Special Counsel:

  First, a traditional prosecution or declination decision entails a binary determination to initiate or decline a prosecution, but we determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment.

This specific portion seemed to cause a surprised reaction, as well as confusion given the apparently opposing views on the indictability of a president by federal authorities.  Knowing the uncertainty about this aspect of federal law, both @Keith McClary, the person who wrote the original comment prompting this question and I wondered...

Question

In the 2017-2019 Special Counsel investigation, why wasn't the initial decision to make a non-traditional prosecutorial judgment made clear at the beginning of the process?


texts: Would I go to prison for killing the neighbor's dog if it attacked me?

texts:
My neighbors have a wild dog, they are aware of that hence they put a sign which says "beware of the dog." I try to avoid it but presently there are roadworks near my house so I have to pass by the dog.

Sooner or later it will attack me and I might kill it.  Would I go to prison for that?


texts: The difference between libel and slander

texts: I've heard people use the terms libel and slander interchangeably, but I know that they are different in the eyes of the law. What are the defining characteristics of each?


texts: Liability after accidentally breaking neighbor's sprinkler head

texts:
Imagine you are out for an early morning jog.  Someone has their sprinklers on, so you cross the street to avoid them.  Unfortunately, there was a malfunctioning sprinkler head that you didn't know about.  It's dark so you couldn't see it, and since the sprinkler wasn't working and wasn't spraying water, you had no other way to know it was there.

As a result you step on it, it breaks, and begins gushing out water.  Naturally you leave a note claiming responsibility for the accident (it's early in the morning and the home owner does not appear to be awake, so you don't want to knock).

What would be your legal liability in such an instance?


texts: Art transformation: does this fall under fair use

texts:
I used this image

to make this cutout

Would this amount of art transformation fall under fair use for commercial usage?


texts: Are there laws disallowing discriminatory pricing based on the customer's employment?

texts:
Are there any jurisdictions in the US which make it illegal (against the law rather than against some contract or custom) to charge higher prices for categories of customers based on their employment.  And I mean overtly.  For example, can a restaurant post a sign which demands a $100 entry fee for anyone employed by any city or state government or for anyone who is a doctor or a lawyer?
Clearly, customers can lie about their employer, but that's not the point.  The point is that if anyone enters and then claims to be in a certain employment situation, then they would create a liability by making that claim.


texts: Is it legal to record TV programs on a usb stick?

texts: I have a decoder which can record TV shows. Is recording (copyrighted) TV programs and/or films legal? Is it legal to watch them more than once and back them up on my PC without sharing them with others?


texts: Can music publishers/agents demand service fees for compulsory copyright licenses

texts:
By my reading of the compulsory copyright licensing rules, if I want to record a cover of a song and sell one copy of it, I would need to obtain a license, but if I send in a proper notice along with a payment of $0.10, the copyright holders would be required to grant me that license.  Many publishers license their works through the Harry Fox Agency, whose web site claims that a license must be obtained to make and distribute covers of a work in any quantity.
On the other hand, that web site will not license less than 25 copies, and once service fees are added in would charge over $16 for that.
Although I can understand that the paperwork necessary to handle a license would cost a publisher a lot more than $0.10, and that a company might reasonably request that performers not submit licensing-intent notices until the payment would reach a certain amount, and otherwise simply keep track of the copies they produce and include royalties for those copies in any payment they make once that threshold is reached, I am aware of nothing in the law that would entitle HFA to simultaneously demand that people acquire licenses even when distributing less than 25 copies, but then insist that someone making ten copies pay an amount more than 20 times larger than the $0.91 royalty specified by that law.
Is there any legal basis for HFA's demands?  If not, what would one need to do to legally obtain e.g. a license to produce ten copies of a work without having to pay HFA anything beyond what they would be legally entitled to receive?  I understand that it's perfectly legal for web sites to charge a 'convenience fee' for submitting credit-card payments on line rather than by mailing a check or money order, but find reprehensible the idea that a company should demand $16 for something whose price would be legally set at under a dollar.


texts: Was nationalisation of energy companies a breach of EU law?

texts:
Flaminio Costa v ENEL (1964) Case 6/64 was a landmark decision of the European Court of Justice which established the primacy of European Union law (then Community law) over the laws of its member states (Hilf, 2012).
The case was brought about because Mr Costa was an Italian citizen opposed to the nationalising of energy companies. Because he had shares in a private corporation subsumed by the nationalised company, ENEL, he refused to pay his electricity bill in protest. In the subsequent suit brought to Italian courts by ENEL, he argued that nationalisation infringed EC law on the State distorting the market.
The Italian Constitution Court gave judgement in March 1964, ruling that while the Italian Constitution allowed for the limitation of sovereignty for international organisation like the European Economic Community, it did not upset that normal rule of statutory interpretation that where two statutes conflict the subsequent one prevails (lex posterior derogat legi anteriori/priori). As a result the Treaty of Rome which was incorporated into Italian law in 1958 could not prevail over the electricity nationalisation law which was enacted in 1962.
The European Court of Justice ruled in favour of the government, because the relevant Treaty rule on an undistorted market was one on which the Commission alone could challenge the Italian government. As an individual, Mr Costa had no standing to challenge the decision, because that Treaty provision had no direct effect. But on the logically prior issue of Mr Costa's ability to raise a point of EC law against a national government in legal proceeding before the courts in that member state the ECJ disagreed with the Italian government.
I am confused with the ultimate outcome of this case.  What did this mean for Mr Costa's case?  Not paying his electricity bill aside, did nationalisation infringe EC law on the State distorting the market?
References
Hilf, M. (2012). Costa v. ENEL case, in Wolfrum, Rüdiger (ed.): The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 824.


texts: United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

texts:
if I used United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) for my game name and publish google play store  then in this world no one can use my name to publish both App Store and google play or amazon store?

I found this one recently

  Lion Studios has acquired in the Love Balls trademark through its
  continuous use in commerce, Lion Studios  is also the owner of the
  following federal trademark application currently pending in the
  United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) Lion Studios (Serial
  No. xxxxxxxx) for “game software” Filed October 9, 2017

above mean no one can used this name in the world to publish game to App Store.


texts: If I use an CC by Attribution 4.0 image in my application, am I required to make my app CC-BY 4.0 too?

texts: I want to use image that was licensed as CC by Attribution 4.0 in my application. Is there any requirements about licensing my whole application? Should it be CC-BY 4.0 too, or can I use different license?


texts: Can a landlord insist on late fee for payment mailed but not recieved

texts:
A residential tenant has an arrangement by which the tenant's bank automatically issues and mails a rent check to the landlord by US mail 3 days before the rent is due. This arrangement has been in place for several years, by agreement, with no problems. One month the check does not arrive. The landlord, after waiting for more than a week after the sue date, telephones the tenant to ask for the rent. The landlord also demands a 5% late fee.

The bank says that the check was duly mailed (first class, not certified or insured) on the usual date, and sends (by fax) a written notice to this effect to the landlord, at the tenant's request. It may be that the check was mis-delivered or not delivered by the USPS. The landlord's address has not changed. The check has not been presented for payment.

Obviously the tenant must pay the proper rent to the landlord. A replacement check would seem proper, along with a stop-payment on the original. But is the landlord entitled to t he late fee? If the matter were brought to a small claims court, would the fee be awarded to the landlord?

The tenant was originally under a written lease, but it lapsed and a month-to-month tenancy is in effect by verbal agreement and demonstrable practice over several years. There was no specific agreement on who is liable for errors by the postal service.

The tenant is in Maryland, the landlord is in Georgia. The landlord is a private individual, owning fewer than 10 rental properties.

An answer citing a state law, court decision, or relevant UCC section would be preferred.


texts: Can an abutter park on my property if they have a right of way easement?

texts:
I have a private road that goes around the perimeter of my property and is on my property. The abutters that use the road do so via a "right of way" easement.

Sometimes people, especially contractors, are parking on the roadway. Do they have the right to park there or does a "right of way" easement only allow them to pass through and keep moving?


texts: Copyright: Is it legal to create real objects based on fiction?

texts:
I play a lot of video games and some items/buildings/plants/vehicles (even entire villages/cities) look great. What if I had the money (and technology) to create the real deal? Would that be perfectly legal or do I need the permission from the copyright holder?

Internet searches haven't been fruitful. There are tons of examples where it's prohibited to create new art from old art or "base on a true story", but what about "reality based on fiction"?


texts: Legal implications of this prank going horribly wrong?

texts:
I remembered coming across this comic from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.

In this comic, Tommy replaces his boss' gun with a fake that just shoots out a "Bang!" flag.  Later, he breaks into his office and pretends to be a robber, presumably expecting his boss to try to defend himself with the fake gun.  However, his boss committed suicide, and happened to use the fake gun.

Assume the following:

Tommy did not steal the real gun, he hid it elsewhere in his boss' office.
Tommy has a job where he could plausibly need access to his boss' office (maybe an IT guy or something), so he has a key.
Tommy did not intend to actually hurt his boss.
Tommy's boss' suicide was entirely intentional, and he would've died even if Tommy had never attempted the prank.
There was no suicide note.
State and country doesn't actually matter, because I'm curious as to how different systems might handle such a strange situation.

My questions are as follows:

Is Tommy guilty of any crime?
If his boss didn't commit suicide, and tried to defend himself against the "robber" as planned, would Tommy be guilty of a crime even if ultimately no one was actually hurt?
If a real robber had broken into the boss' office before Tommy had a chance to play his prank, and the boss was unable to defend himself as a result, what charges would Tommy be facing?
Could his boss sue him if the scenarios in (2) or (3) came to pass?


texts: US domestic flight crosses into Canada - what is the legal situation?

texts:
It's common for US domestic flights to cross into Canadian or Mexican airspace. For example, a flight from Alaska to New York, Seattle to Boston, or Hawaii to Texas would likely cross into foreign airspace.

However, as far as I know, this is not legally considered a border crossing. In my experience, there is no passport control.

What exactly does the law say about this? What is the determining factor of a whether border crossing has occurred when air travel is involved?
Can CBP check passenger IDs on domestic flights that crossed into foreign airspace?

Furthermore, if an domestic flight made an emergency landing in another country, what would happen to the passengers who don't have their documents with them? Is there a special legal provision for such scenarios?


texts:
Everyone has heard the procedure to get sworn in in an American court:

Put your hand on a Holy Bible and answer yes to "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"

However swearing on a Holy Bible to God has decidedly Christian roots (regardless of whether it is actually a Christian practice) in an official setting in a country with a constitution that explicitly gives freedom of religion.

As a non-Christian can you refuse to make such a vow?


texts: Trading Card Database - Copyright Infringement or Fair Use?

texts:
I would like to create a text-only database for collectible trading card games. The database would contain card names, ability text, flavor text, etc. Images would not be included. This project would be non-profit, open source, transformative (having been removed from the original graphic context), and non-competitive (the raw data has no use in and of itself). The purpose of the database would be integration with third-party computer applications. Uses could include documentation, product info, search, analysis, etc. Abuses could include creating proxies or replicating gameplay online.
Would a DMCA takedown request of such a database be warranted? Why or why not? Which US laws apply? Which Supreme Court rulings apply?
Game Copyright Document FL-108 by the United States Copyright Office states that "Material prepared in connection with a game may be subject to copyright if it contains a sufficient amount of literary or pictorial expression. For example, the text matter describing the rules of the game...". Does this apply to individual cards or just rule books? In most cases flavor text is expressive and original content. Referencing the Wikipedia article on Fair Use, the Text Mining and Internet Subsections seem relevant. I also read the NOLO article on Fair Use.
Hundreds of websites already contain card text and images. I suspect that most sites have not received permission to use this content. Sites are often created to generate revenue or are community-driven projects. For example:

Trading Card Database,
Scryfall Magic (formerly magiccards.info),
Sets — PkmnCards,
Category:Card Gallery | Yu-Gi-Oh! Wiki .


texts: What regulations specify the loan and what regulations specify the credit under US law?

texts:
What is a difference between loan and credit in the law system? Let's say US law.
What does it mean to grant a loan, use a loan or to have a credit? What regulations describe both credit and loan?


texts: Can a debt collection agency tell a half truth about who they are?

texts:
I am in Washington state. Recently, I've been receiving calls from Conserve, a company that provides private and confidential services to private and public companies (as stated by the agent on the phone). This immediately made me suspicious, and when I asked for more information, they simply stated that they could not give me any more information. I told them that the person they were looking for was not available, and they stated that they would call back later. Before I could tell them not to, they had hung up. I looked up the company, and found that they are a debt collection agency, and on their website, it states that

  This communication is from a debt collector, and is an attempt to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

As far as I am aware, if it is a debt collection agency calling, don't they have to inform of this, before I tell them any information? There is not automated message that states this, and it is from a different number each day.

The reason I am certain that it is a debt collection agency calling, is because the person that they are looking for, has told me about debts that they have, and have received letters attempting to collect a debt.

What steps can I take in this situation to either prevent them from calling, or have them at least let me know who they are?


texts: What does COVID-19 have to do with Live Audio at SCOTUS

texts:
The US Supreme Court will be hearing oral arguments during Corona virus pandemic over teleconference. This is to comply with social distancing and prevent the spread of the disease. But why are they making the live audio feed available to the press and public in real time; something they have been steadfastly reluctant to allow? (Some say recalcitrant.)

related: Why does the United States Supreme Court oppose cameras, when Australia's, Canada's, and UK's have permitted them?


texts:
I've recently come across a newspaper illustration from the mid-1920s which I'd like to reprint. Here in the US, the term of copyright for written material is the life of the author + 70 years. What is the law with regards to reprinting newspaper illustrations (where the rights were likely sold) and what are the laws for copyright on artwork ?

The work is an illustration of the London Beis Din by Bryan de Grineau (1882-1957) discussed here.


texts: What does "While in the service of the company" mean?

texts:
I have been offered 5% of a company through a shareholder agreement form (which I have not signed) but am really worried about a clause which essentially states,

  Any IP discovered by me relating to the business while in
  the service of the Company must be disclosed and becomes the property
  of the company.

Typically, I might say that service is the time during which I am being paid but there is no wage associated with the shareholding.

I am a contractor and work for other customers, I am concerned that such a clause would mean that I would be obliged to disclose customer secrets as they  are in similar sectors.  Am I over-stressing or should I argue the clause?


texts: Which aspects of human-subjects research rules are actually laws rather than conventions?

texts:
I'm aware that various laws exist regulating research on human subjects (Wikipedia summary here and in linked pages).  However, I've had a tough time finding sources that clarify the boundary between legal restrictions and "guidelines".  It's also not clear to me to what extent these laws apply to institutions (by governing what kinds of research they can fund/sanction) versus individuals (by governing what kinds of research activities can actually be performed).

So what I'm interested in is:

Are there laws that make it illegal for an individual to violate or blur the boundaries of human subjects ethics guidelines, even though what is actually done would not be illegal if it did not constitute research?  For instance, stopping someone on the street to ask them a question is not in itself illegal; does it become illegal if an individual does it to a lot of people and writes about it as research, without having the sorts of safeguards that an institution's IRB would require?  I'm talking here about cases where the acts themselves would not otherwise be in question (e.g., the research doesn't cause physical harm), but only become potentially problematic because they are part of research.
If research conducted at an institution violates ethical guidelines, is that considered an illegal act by the IRB or the individual, or both (or conceivably neither, if the violation wasn't covered by an actual law)?  For instance, if a researcher submits a research proposal and has it approved, and then someone claims the proposal violates human subjects research guidelines, is it the wholly the researcher's fault for doing it, or does the IRB bear culpability for not properly vetting the proposal and alerting the researcher to the problems?
Is there a specific mechanism for determining what counts as "research" subject to these rules in the first place?  That is, is there an accepted legal framework for distinguishing informal information-gathering, not subject to the rules, (e.g., "Hey all my Facebook friends, everybody take this latest web quiz and post your results in comments!"), from bona fide research that is subject to the rules?
Are there legal distinctions between different subject areas of research?  A lot of the stuff I read on the issue mentions motivating cases that involved medical research, like the Tuskegee syphilis experiment.  However, it's not clear to me if medical research actually has different legal restrictions than other kinds of research (e.g., sociological interviews or psychological questionnaires).

I'm mainly interested in the legal situation in the US, but would be interested to know about the law on this matter in other countries as well.

Also, I'm aware that in practice it often doesn't matter where the line is between what's actually illegal and what's just disallowed by university guidelines or scholarly consensus, because a researcher's reputation, career, and funding are vulnerable regardless of whether actual laws were broken.  (In other words, even if you didn't break any laws, a journal may refuse to publish your paper if it smells a rat.)  I'm asking this question on this site because I'm specficially interested in which restrictions on research activity are actually a matter of law, not just convention or institutional self-regulation.


texts: The Gender Pay Gap and the Equality Act 2010 (UK)

texts:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/part/5/chapter/3/crossheading/sex-equality

If the Equality Act 2010 Part 5 Chapter 3 protects employees from differences in wage based on gender for the same work, then where does the Gender Pay Gap issue arise from? I have been able to find figures on the differences in annual wage between men and women but nothing on a difference in hourly wage which leads me to believe that, in the UK at least, the gender pay gap is a myth.

Can someone please provide information to explain the legal issues, if any, the UK has in terms of equal wage, and help explain what aspect of the law complaints on unequal pay arise from. Are employers lowering women's wages illegally or is the issue with annual pay?

Any help would be much appreciated.


texts: Would loading a firework into a gun make it a Destructive Device?

texts:
I've got a question inspired by a dream I had last night. If someone were to load a firework into a firearm, would that result in the firearm being classified as a Destructive Device? For instance, lets say you took a standard, breach-loading 12 gauge shotgun (barrel diameter just over 18 mm), and you inserted into it an 18mm fireworks rocket, followed by a blank shotgun shell to ignite the rocket's propellant.

Would that cause the shotgun and/or firework to become classified as a Destructive Device under the National Firearms Act? If it does, what actions would the owner of the weapon need to do to avoid breaking federal law?


texts: Could Hillary Clinton have declined to defend Thomas Taylor?

texts:
In 1975 Hillary Rodham was appointed to defend Thomas Alfred Taylor who was accused of raping a 12-year-old.

As a public defender, could she have refused the case? She said she didn't want to do it. What could have happened to her if she refused the case?


texts: Outstanding debt for deceased relative how to stop the bills coming?

texts: My uncle passed away a few years ago, and owed quite a bit of money, I believe he owed on the house and perhaps on a loan. He did not leave any money in his will, and we ended up paying for his burial. Somehow the collection agencies got my mom's address and are sending her all sorts of bills.  Obviously we are not responsible for the money he owed, but how do we get them to stop sending them? It's stressing her out.


texts: If a copyright owner doesn't sue for infringing behavior, does that prevent them from suing me later?

texts:
If I'm infringing somebody's copyright on an ongoing basis, and the copyright owner knows about this but does nothing, can they still decide at some point to sue me?

Or more technically, can laches bar a copyright suit that is otherwise timely under 17 U.S.C. §507?


texts: Job offer withdrawal because of non-compete

texts:
My problem is the following:

I have signed a contract with a company in the UK with an effective start date which has to be defined. Now my previous company has claimed they can enforce a non-compete clause because the new company works in the same area as them. They told me after I signed the contract with the new company and they changed their mind after they initially said that they would not enforce that clause. Is it possible that the new company may decide to withdraw the offer that I have signed because of this clause? They told me this should not be an issue for them but they are taking a very long time to confirm my starting date and I am a bit worried they may change their mind.

Many thanks to anybody who can give me some insight on this.


texts: Code Project Open License linking restrictions

texts:
The Wikipedia entry for the Code Project Open License lists "Linking from code with a different license" as "Unclear". It seems unambiguous to me: code with a different license could link CPOL-licensed code with the restriction that the combined program not be used for "illegal, immoral or improper purposes" (CPOL 5.f.), so any code under a license that allows this added restriction could link it without issues.

Is this interpretation right, or is it more complicated than that? I haven't been able to find a definitive answer on the Code Project forums or elsewhere.


texts: Can a guardian file a TRO on behalf of a disabled adult ward?

texts: I understand a guardian can restrict communications of a ward if the guardian deems a person is a threat to the wards health,financial situation or well being.  Does this include allowing for a guardian to petition for a TRO on behalf of the ward in court, without consent from the ward?


texts: Early Drivers License Issued For Child With Disabled Parents

texts:
I am 16 years old,
I got my drivers permit February 3rd, 2017 and my 6 months ends August 3rd, 2017,
I live in South Carolina, United States.

Question:
My father says I can get my drivers license early (before August 3rd) because he is legally disabled. He states this because he thinks there is a law that if I pass the driving test even though i'm in the 6 months of the drivers permit so I can drive him around. I could wait until August 3rd but my brother and his wife are coming to South Carolina to visit for the summer (next week) and I would love to surprise them with me getting my driver's license.
What my father is stating about me being able to get my drivers license early, is it true? I am too young to know much about the law (or care to study it). So I am here asking for your knowledge.


texts: Difference in severance package between 2 employees within a one month span

texts: In my ex-company, there were 2 layoffs with in a span of 1 month. In the 1st layoff, the severance pay package was better than 2nd layoff. Will the employees affected in the 2nd round have any recourse to go back and negotiate for a better severance pay?


texts: Can I buy a $ 500 lot as a foreigner to register a car in Florida?

texts:
I travel a lot to the United States (Florida). I would like to have my own car registered in the country instead of renting all the time. In long-term this will be cheaper and more comfortable.

I need a "real property" address to register the car and insurance from what I have been told.

So my question: Can I buy a cheap $ 500 lot somewhere in Florida (with mapped house number), put a large mail box there and start my car registration?

The mail box will be emptied all 2-3 months and will be large enough to hold all letters.

I'll also arrange someone who will mow the lot.

Is there any legal need of a building on the property to register the car?


texts: When trying to learn about and understand law, one of the most important aspects of it is the legal definition of a word. Is there a source in which the courts refer to when looking to define a word? If there is, what is it?


texts: I am not a party to a lease.  The client died and I told the landlord I would try to find someone for the property.  The landlord believes I am now responsible to may payment even to the lease ended for the client 3 months ago and died last month.  I don't believe the landlord can hold me responsible for his rent but he thinks because I was trying to find a new teante that I am responsible for paying the rent.


texts: Who controls access to a rented unit after the tenant dies

texts:
Bob lives in a rented apartment. He dies.
Bob's sister, Alice (who is the executor of Bob's estate), wants to enter the apartment. The apartment complex refuse to give her access without a court order.
The apartment management give access to maintenance personnel. Alice does not want that to happen, as she believes they may damage Bob's property.
Who can enter the property here? Who has the right to restrict access from the other?


texts: Is attempting to steal a crime in Canada?

texts: If someone attempted to steal something from a company and then was caught in the process and never actually got to steal the item, is that punishable by law in Canada? The company is in the U.S. the would-be theif is a Canadian resident.


texts: Do you need permission to use a well known first name in your company?

texts:
I intend to produce a mobile/app/software. The specifics doesn't matter but let's say there is someone extremely famous in the same field. A comparison is creating an F1 app called "Michael F1". I intend to use only the first name but everyone understand who this refers to.

The person is dead. Could his descendants make some kind of claim because they own a brand or something?


texts: How does 'judgement' differ from 'discretion'?

texts:
Source: p 52, The Rule of Law (2010) by Thomas Bingham

  In statutes the word ‘may’ (as opposed to ‘shall’ or ‘must’) is ordinarily understood to confer a discretion: the judge (or
           the minister, or whoever) may do whatever it is, but is not bound to do so. Thus, while a judge in a criminal trial ordinarily
           has no discretion to refuse to allow evidence to be given which is admissible under the rules governing the admissibility
           of evidence, section 78(1) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 creates a discretionary exception. The section says:

  In any proceedings the court may refuse to allow evidence on which the prosecution proposes to rely to be given if it appears
              to the court that, having regard to all the circumstances, including the circumstances in which the evidence was obtained,
              the admission of the evidence would have such an adverse effect on the fairness of the proceedings that the court ought not
              to admit it.

  The court ‘may’: therefore it has a discretion. But it is a discretion which may only be exercised if – a big if – it appears
           to the court that having regard to the matters mentioned the admission of the evidence would have such an adverse effect on
           the fairness of the proceedings that the court ought not to admit it (as might be so, for example, if it were shown that a
           witness had been tricked or bribed into giving a statement). Whether or not it so appears to the court calls for an exercise
           of judgment, but not an exercise of discretion. It either does or does not appear to the court.

Will you please aid me to understand the bold: Lord Bingham's bifurcation of 'judgement' and 'discretion'? I do not understand how the above example pertains to judgement, and not discretion.


texts: What's the difference between signing and ratifying a treaty?

texts: Am I right in believing that ratification refers to local enforcement of a treaty, upon signing it?


texts: Canada - how long can a person be under investigation?

texts:
I have been accused of a crime, and the police informed me of such. However, I have not been charged. They have told my lawyer that I am under investigation but haven't given any more info.

Is there any limit as to how long I can be "under investigation" for until either I must be charged or the investigation has to be dropped? Further, would the police be obligated to inform me if the investigation ended, or would I just hear nothing?

I ask because this process is causing me a lot of stress and I'd like to know how long it can go on for.


texts: What are customer laws about clothes warranty in Germany?

texts:
I live in a Germany for half of year now, and it's relatively difficult to understand all local laws and regulation, especially if you don't speak German.

I bought new sneakers in the large retail shop (Outlet) in the spring. This morning I've noticed that the sneakers started to tear near the heels. It's been 3.5 months from the purchase day.
I tried googling some laws about refunding or warranty repairment of clothing and shoes in Germany, but achieved no success.
What are the laws in this field in Germany? Are there any overall EU laws about it? Does the new "2 years warranty" EU customer law is applicable in this situation or not?


texts: "Does not put forward a case inconsistent with the confession" of guilt

texts:
In New Zealand, duties of defence lawyers require them to "not put forward a case inconsistent with the confession" if the defendant confesses his/her guilt to them (13.13.2(a)).
What exactly does that involve when the previously given not guilty plea continues?
Does that mean that the lawyers no longer can explicitly claim that the defendant is not guilty but just say "prove it" to the prosecution?
If so, how does maintaining not guilty plea not constitute putting "forward a case inconsistent with the confession"?
Related:

What options does a lawyer have if a client admits he is guilty but doesn't want to admit it to the court?
What does a lawyer do if they know for absolute certain that their client is guilty?


texts:
In the past, I had interactions via email with various boards of my town government. I recently noticed that printouts of these emails were scanned and added to the "meeting package" - a PDF document that is available on the town's website. The printout contains my name, email address, and in some instances my address and home phone number. Google OCR'd the PDF documents and finds them when I search for my email address.
(e.g. https://www.town.medfield.net/DocumentCenter/View/2309/BOS-Meeting-Packet-January-29-2019-PDF)

I asked for these documents to be redacted or removed, but I did not get a response and I don't expect any action. Is there a legal basis for this request, or can the town take the position that the correspondence is public record in its entirety?
And what entity could help me enforce a request for removal (other than a paid lawyer)?

Comment/Explanation:
The initial couple of answers don't seem to address my concern, so here is another attempt to explain. My question is primarily about the level of protection that PII should get from local governments, not about public records. I do contract work for a federal government agency. I have to undergo training annually for Title-9,13,26 protection of citizen data. It appears to me that local town governments should adhere to the same standards, but I was wondering what the legal basis is.


texts: Hypothetical situation: Rental rates for destroyed/non-returnable property

texts:
Hypothetical: "Alice Corp"(hereafter "A") rents things(what they are should not matter, as much as possible, e.g. not housing units as those tend to be tightly regulated). "Bob B. Borrower" (hereafter "B") is their customer, who rents items from A with a contract, which specifies that the replacement cost of the rented item, should it not be returned in good condition is $100.

B rents something from A for a specified period of time(say 1000 days), at which point he must return it. B is charged $1 a day rental fee. B has the option to return the object before the end of the rental period, in which case, he will only pay a prorated amount based on the time he actually had the item.

The thing is damaged by a lightning storm, an act caught on video by an indisputable source, on day 500 of 1000; therefore, B owes A $100. B goes to pay A on the 1000th day, at which point there is a disagreement. A and B agree that B owes $100 for the replacement fee, as per contract. B holds that he owes $600, $500 for 500 days of use plus $100 for replacement. A maintains that if B paid on the 500th day, $600 would be the correct figure; however, since B neither returned the item nor paid the replacement fee (nor made arrangements to pay in installments, etc.), the rental was still in effect, and so A says B should pay $1100, $1000 for the 1000 days, and $100 for replacement. The barebones contract says nothing about this

Who is correct?

Note: This is a hypothetical situation, so any law system, etc. is acceptable. An ideal answer would be applicable anywhere, but feel free to answer using a specific one.


texts: If we were to setup a cannabis store online hosted in Colorado (or any other state), can we legally serve California?

texts: My main question is that since cannabis is still prohibited federally, would be illegal for cannabis sales data and payment processing to cross state lines?


texts: Is the NDA in the movie Ex Machina possible?

texts:
In the film, Ex Machina, an employee must sign the non-disclosure agreement before beginning work on a secret project. The agreement states:

  The signee agrees to regular data audit with unlimited access, to
  confirm that no disclosure of information has taken place, in public
  or private forums, using any means of communication, including but not
  limited to that which is disclosed orally or in written or in
  electronic form.

Is this legal? Do similar NDAs actually exist? How do "data audits" work when applied to an individual?


texts: Property lien expiration and removal in North Carolina

texts:
I live in North Carolina and had hired a contractor to work on my house. I'd paid them 50% in advance. They did a terrible job and were a nightmare to work with. I have refused to pay for the remaining work done.

They placed a lien on my house and never filed suit to perfect the lien. It has been over one year since the lien was put in place.

How do I go about removing the lien on my house without a lawyer?

Is there a form that needs to be filed with the NC county clerk's office?


texts: Can California water districts legally use proprietary water budget formulas?

texts:
My water district is using EPA's ETo (evapotranspiration) concept to set water budgets for retail billing. When water usage exceeds 2 x ETo x landscape area in a given month, then the HCF unit price jumps from $5.22 to $10.22. This practice in itself might actually be legal because a contract can set forth a formula for determining a price, rather than a particular dollar amount.
My question is whether the practice is still legal if the district chooses to use a proprietary formula for ETo, rather than the accepted CIMIS formula and publicly available data. For example, I was recently charged for 15 extra units at the higher price because the district used ETo=2.06 while CIMIS reported 2.60 for a nearby weather station.
When I provided the CIMIS data to the district, they said it "wasn't accurate" because CIMIS didn't consider factors like "local plant condition". While that may be the case, at least I showed my work. The district, on the other hand, said that all they could get was daily ETo values per grid cell (and, as it turns out, even those values yielded a higher budget than what was on my bill). They could not provide the "plant condition" data that they bragged about, or even basic temperature/humidity/radiation data that one might use to double-check the results.
Digging a little bit further, they are using a company called Hydropoint that is using patented formulas and interpolation techniques. Woah. If Hydropoint is so secretive with their data that multi-million-dollar water districts can't double-check it, then can this data legally form the basis for a contract, if I am not being told the actual budget value before purchasing the water?
Hydropoint advertises themselves as a water conservation company, and I'm sure that it would be legal to use them as such -- for the purpose of cutting your own water usage. But is it legal to use them in the way that my district is doing, to decide what their customers will pay, after-the-fact?
Furthermore, Hydropoint apparently makes their own irrigation controllers, which are being used by a city within my water district. Does this create a conflict of interest, since they then have an incentive to make unpredictable changes to their data, thereby making their own controllers (which have special advance and insightful access to the Hydropoint data) work better than any competitor's? And if so, doesn't this violate contract law's tenet that you must not interfere with the other party's ability to comply? How can I, the retail customer, comply with a budget that is (as noted in previous paragraphs) unpredictable, and is, furthermore, actually incentivized to be unpredictable?


texts: Why is the Rules Enabling Act necessary?

texts: What is the Rules Enabling Act? I understand it is congress allowing the courts to make rules, but why does congress have to give that power to the courts? I thought the courts were independent, one of three co-equal branches?


texts: Do "watermarks" on a video prove that the material is copyrighted?

texts:
Is it permissible to use a clip in an academic presentation that has already been watermarked by its owner?

Does it come under the ambit of 'fair use'?


texts: Fringe case of naturalization and dual citizenship (United states)?

texts:
So I've given a look over State Department policy and am unsure about exact actions that can result in revoked citizenship.

From here it seems naturalizing with intent to lose citizenship in another country is grounds for expatriation but its meaning is vague.

http://travel.state.gov/content/travel/english/legal-considerations/us-citizenship-laws-policies/citizenship-and-dual-nationality.html

Let's say I somehow made my own country and declared myself president of it, and everybody in the borders at the time is granted citizenship. Do I automatically lose my U.S. citizenship? Do the other US citizens? Were they naturalized even or does that not count as naturalization and they just are citizens of the new country? Have I now forced them to choose between my stylish empire in the making or the world of American citizenry? What about getting new US citizens, what if my government had no qualms about you retaining US citizenship, are you still acting with intent to lose citizenship? This may sound wacky and unrealistic but discussing this simplified example could have some useful procedural clarifications.


texts: If Virginia ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, would it go into effect?

texts:
In the Nov 2019 election, the Democrats won the majority of both Virginia state houses, and there is some discussion that Virginia could be the 38th state to ratify the (proposed) Equal Rights Amendment. (See this law.SE question for discussion of the ERA's possible effects.)

Approval by 3/4ths of the States would normally be enough to pass a Constitutional Amendment, but there are apparently two problems:

  Even if Virginia acts as expected next year, there is no guarantee the amendment would take hold. A handful of the states that initially ratified the ERA have since rescinded those decisions and the most recent congressional deadline passed about four decades ago. Despite those roadblocks, activists believe they are well-positioned -- legally and politically -- to push the amendment, which was written by the suffragist Alice Paul in 1923, over the line.

1. Withdrawn ratifications

Apparently four states (Nebraska, Tennessee, Idaho, Kentucky) have "rescinded" their ratifications, after initially approving them, and one state (South Dakota), added a "sunset" provision to their ratification if it wasn't approved in whole by the original deadline.

Are these "take backs" valid? Could they prevent the Amendment from going into effect? How would this question be adjudicated? Is there any relevant case law on the matter?

2. Congressionally-imposed Deadlines

The original resolution by the 92nd Congress included the following preface (emphasis added):

  Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission by the Congress

In 1978 another resolution was passed, extending the deadline to 1982, although this extension was passed by simple and not 2/3rds majority.

Despite these deadlines, the Amendment was ratified by Nevada in 2017 and Illinois in 2018.

Are these post-deadline ratifications (and a hypothetical 2020 one from Virginia) valid?

Would Congress simply need to pass a new (future) deadline, and all the past ratifications would take effect?

Wikipedia does list some purportedly relevant case law, can anyone help me understand how these might apply to these questions?


texts: Which US states penalize an employer if they withhold taxes for the wrong state for one of the employees?

texts:
Which US states penalize an employer if they withhold taxes for the wrong state for one of their employees? (withhold in California, but employee was in a different state: I'm interested in any US state)

For context, the question is a follow-up of Why does a US company need to know the location of their employees for tax purposes?.


texts: Contribution terms for an LGPL Licensed Project

texts:
Background: I am making contributions to a certain project which is released under LGPL and also under a commercial license.

According to the terms of contribution in the project by doing so I am transferring all my rights and ownership of the code to the company which owns said project.

My question is whether this stipulation has any effect on the license-terms of the code I contribute? That is as far as I understand that once a code is released as GPLv3 (and LGPL seems to contain mostly permissions for use additions to GPL) that this license cannot be rescinded.

Is my contribution (independent of ownership) thus also LGPL in a way which cannot be rescinded?

Are their terms of contribution than just a way of saying that they can dual-license your code (if they so choose) for a Proprietary version of the product?

Do I lose the ability to do the later myself?


texts: GDPR: Is giving out customer name and implied existence of customership legal?

texts:
I'm an employee (software developer) for a company that acts a data processor, and the company that is a client and data controller has requested a feature that I find questionable.

The purpose is to provide a client terminal inside a point of business that would function as follows:

The customer arrives to the shop,
the customer presses 'Start' button on a touch screen,
enters her phone number,
after this she is to be shown a greeting that includes her given name,
customer selects what services she wants in order to complete the service order,
and customer is called out by her given name when she is to be serviced.

My assumption is that should not be done, and if not illegal, then this would be at least seen rather bad manners. My assumption is based on the fact that the personal data (given name, existence of customership) may be handed to someone that has no legal right to see that data, and it might be impossible to name that person later on if needed.

As far as I can see it, if someone enters her phone number incorrectly, or for some reason enters a phone number that belongs to someone else, then it is possible that the given name belonging to someone else is shown.

Also due to the location (population 5,5 million), some foreign given names can be rare to such extent that they are unique within the country.

Since the phone numbers are recycled, it might be possible that a new customer sees the given name of previous owner of the number if the previous owner has also been a customer.

I doubt there is any other possible harm to customers expect possible loss of privacy that doesn't cause tangible damage, the services provided are not associated to sensitive matters.

So, is giving out customer name and implied existence of customership legal?

Edit 1
The phone number in question is probably expected to be a personal mobile phone number. It should be possible to verify that a phone number is a mobile phone number. I don't know if people sharing a mobile phone has been taken in to consideration.


texts: Is this a proper Bluebook citation for a Court of Federal Claims case?

texts:
I am a forensic psychologist who happens to prefer Bluebook citation style over APA style. I mention this fact because while I have some experience using Bluebook citation style, it pales in comparison to the experience and knowledge of most of you.

I use the online Bluebook (20th ed.). I have read Rule 10 - Cases (p. 94 in the print version) several times. But I am not sure how to cite a published decision from the Court of Federal Claims. Here is my best guess, which I assume contains errors:

  See: QTC Medical Services, Inc. v. United States, Fed. Cl., No. 17-80C, Memorandum Opinion and Order, filed under seal 23 June 2017;
  reissued for publication 12 July 2017.

The court decision is at https://ecf.cofc.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2017cv0080-69-0 (PDF)

Please let me know what I need to change to make this citation correct.


texts:
In Sweden can information illegally acquired by an unconnected person be used in the prosecution of crimes?

Say a person stole a laptop, found evidence of illegal activity on it and gave it to the authorities saying he stole it. Could it be used against the owner?

Further are there any special classes of information that change the answer? Like say medical or financial data, child porn or terrorism.


texts: Is preventing two people from interacting against human rights?

texts: For example, if two people fell in love and their respective families not allowing them to talk or interact at all


texts: If there's no majority candidate, does the incumbent or newly elected Congress choose the President and Vice President?

texts: If no candidates get a majority in the U.S. electoral college, are the President and Vice President chosen by the incumbent Congress or the ones just elected?


texts: GDPR legitimate interest and Contact Picker API

texts:
There is a draft web standard Contact Picker API see here and here.  An explicit use case is "bootstrapping a user’s social graph for social networks".  I'm interested in what ways this can and can't be used when using legitimate interest as the basis for processing under GDPR.
It's for a charity - which probably doesn't affect the law, but might affect your desire to help :-).
For example, could one:

Ask a user to select contacts to invite to a service
Pass that information (email and/or phone number) to servers
Send an invitation from the servers to the contact (by email or SMS)
Not retain the information further

This suggests that it might be permissible because of

Legitimate interest as the legal basis.
The "relevant and proportionate relationship" being that someone who already knows you has suggested that you might be interested in a service.

This is in the UK, so I'm interested in any other legislation that applies there.


texts: Why are manufacturers allowed to make false claims about memory capacity of thumbdrives?

texts:
I have a number of thumb drives and hard drives.  One hard drive I bought was said to be 2TB but its actual capacity is about 1.8 TB. A couple of thumb drives I got say they are 16 GB but on the back say:

  1MB = 1,000,000 bytes /
  1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes

This definition is the reason why I've accepted the false advertising on hard drive space, even though conventionally:

1KB = 1024 bytes
1MB = 1024x1024 bytes
1GB = 1024x1024x1024 bytes

and not

1KB = 1000 bytes
1MB = 1000x1000 bytes
1GB = 1000x1000x1000 bytes

As we get to higher levels the amount of space that is lost by this rounding down increases.

But isn't this still false advertising?  E.g., in Australia could I get a refund as I was misled in the believe that a thumb/hard drive had the higher capacity?


texts: Landlord won't contact me regarding deposit

texts:
I recently moved from an apartment complex. Well past 30 days after my move-out we have received no contact from the property management of any sort. They had been provided phone, email and forwarding address.

If they're going to keep any part of the deposit for any reason, my local law (Iowa) requires them to send written notice of explanation within 30 days, or they must forfeit withholding any of the deposit. (It does not mean they can't bill me afterwards). See: https://coolice.legis.iowa.gov/Cool-ICE/default.asp?Category=billinfo&Service=IowaCode&input=562A#562A.12

I sent them a letter by certified mail, to central management of the entire company, requesting the specific amount to be returned, along with all dates (move in, deposit given, move out, etc), and requested a response within 5 business days. It's been several weeks since they received the letter, but they have still failed to contact me at all.

I left them a voicemail requesting them to contact me by a certain reasonable time, and that I'll be seeking legal counsel and proceeding to court if that doesn't happen.

What would normally come next in this process, when the law is clear I'm owed my deposit?

Do deposit disputes just go to small claims court, or do I need to do something else first to establish a case?

What documentation do you typically need to support a deposit dispute?


texts:
In the US, if the police want to get a warrant to force someone to give a DNA sample in a murder investigation, is it always required that they must already have a suspect DNA sample to compare it to (i.e. collected from the scene, or believed to be connected with the crime somehow)?

I'll give a concrete example: suppose there's a murder, and the police don't have a DNA sample from the scene that they think could be the suspect. But they might get one some day - technology is always improving and there are clothes, objects etc. that might be enough, years from now. But it's speculative. Now suppose someone is named as a person of interest. Is it possible for investigators to get a warrant for that persons DNA? Or would the fact that there's currently nothing to compare it to make it impossible to get the warrant?

(I know that in some places they could take DNA if they arrest the person, but in this case I'm just asking about getting a warrant for DNA or "fluid samples" or whatever the term is. Let's say they don't have enough to arrest the person.)


texts: Is it likely that I will be able to use short (1 second) video clips in my mobile app?

texts:
In Android and iOS there are "GIF Keyboard" apps. Here's an example. These apps give their users the ability to search for and send a wide variety of GIFs to other people through messaging apps, such as Messenger or Google Hangouts.

In the context of these apps, a GIF is a short - usually one second at most - video clip. Much of the time, these GIFs originate from TV shows.

I'm creating my own GIF keyboard app (for Android, it will be released on the Google Play Store) that will, for the most part, be similar to these other GIF keyboard apps. By similar, I mean that my app will also allow the user to search for and send GIFs to other people through messaging apps.

The only differences are that

1] My app will only allow the user to search for GIFs that are found in anime (Japanese film and television animation)

and

2] The user will also be allowed to search and send static images from anime to other people through messaging apps.

I am relatively confident that  this app will not violate any sort of fair use law or copyright law because many other GIF keyboard apps already exist on the app store.

However, I just wanted to make sure that the chance of anyone taking legal action against me for releasing this potential app is very low.

As a sidenote - I have found these posts that seem to relate to the question of fair use and videoclips, but I wasn't entirely confident if my app would be legal based off of the information provided in these posts.

Length of movie clip for fair-use?

Is a video demonstrating a small portion of a movie sync fair use?


texts: Child expressly wishes to live with other parent. What is legal position of that other parent? (in general terms)

texts:
I am intending to phrase this in broad terms so that it may be useful to posterity, not just myself.

The broad situation is:

Location is England, United Kingdom
Father and mother are physically separated, but still married
The father lives walking distance from the mother (less than 0.5 km)
Child is 11 years old, currently lives with mother, stays over some nights at father's
Father has a flexible job which allows him to do school-runs or taxi after-school clubs, friends houses, so he could in theory totally look after child 100%
Mother refuses any except barest minimum communication with father, so organising schedules, or any kind of negotiating etc, is difficult
Child is quite articulate, aware and vocal, and expressly asks over and over to live with father, not mother
Mother makes claim father has manipulated child into saying this - it's not true
Mother is withholding passports
There is no formal written agreement regarding living arrangements, only chaotic and changing emails back and forth. Certainly nothing signed.

Question:

If one day the child goes around to the father's house, perhaps in a state of upset, and says, "That's it, I'm staying," what is the legal position of the father?
In particular, if the mother calls the police claiming "child abduction," what will be the police position? Will they come to the door of the father? Will they drag the child kicking and screaming back to mother's house?

Please answer in general terms so that this may be maximally useful to others in similar situations.


texts: If an allegation is approved, does it mean that the statistics cited in the allegation is correct?

texts:
For an example excerpt, see the Schwake v. Arizona case, page 15:

The University contends that the allegations of genderbased decisionmaking are conclusory because they lack the detail of the allegations in Doe v. Miami University, 882 F.3d 579 (6th Cir. 2018). The plaintiff’s allegations there included: (1) “every male student accused of sexual misconduct in the Fall 2013 and Spring 2014 semesters was found responsible for the alleged violation,” (2) “nearly ninety percent of students found responsible for sexual misconduct between 2011 and 2014 have male first-names,” (3) an affidavit from an attorney who represented “many students in Miami University’s disciplinary proceedings” who “describe[d] a pattern of the University pursuing investigations concerning male students, but not female students,” and (4) the plaintiff’s allegation that the university investigated him rather than the complainant. Id. at 593–94.

Also on page 15, Schwake alleged that "male repondents in the student disciplinary proceedings involving alleged sexual harassment and misconduct cases at Arizona Univ are invariably found guilty regardless of the evidence or lack thereof."
I am not a law student so I am assuming that, as the allegation is "plausible" (see the last page of the document), the statistics cited in those allegations must be objectively correct or well-supported?


texts: Is it ethical for an attorney to drag his/her feet with clients that aren't creating much financial benefit?

texts:
I'm trying to tie up the last loose end from my dissolution.  My ex's attorney, who I contacted a week ago, told me she's so busy that she does not intend to contact my ex until her bigger cases are out of the way and she gets settled in with a new office assistant.  She seemed to gloat on the fact that it'll take longer to get a hearing than to wait until she has time.  She knows that if she drags it out, I stand to face minor financial damages and harm to my credit.

Is the attorney's behavior ethical, particularly in terms of communicating w/ clients over material concerns?  Also, I have a lurking suspicion that my ex didn't pay her.


texts: Is it illegal to take home a lost phone?

texts:
I experienced a common scenario today: I was walking along and found someone's lost phone on the ground. It was out of battery, so what I wanted to do was take it home, charge it, and then see if we could call someone to get the phone back. In fact, I have lost my phone before and this is exacttly what some stranger did. However, it was pointed out to me today that I could be legally responsible if I take an item home that isn't mine, even if my intention is to return it to its owner.

Is it true anywhere in the United States that I could face legal consequences for taking home someone's lost item, intending to get it returned to them?

What if I don't intend to return it? Finders keepers?

To be safe, I dropped it off at a police station instead, but the police there did not respond very well. They seemed annoyed that we brought the phone in, and did not have a designated lost-and-found. Given their response, I would be more confident that the phone would be returned if I had taken it home myself.

Related (not duplicate) questions

Is it legal to stop somebody taking your stuff if you've left it somewhere? Most of the things here are about what you can do to someone who is trying to take your item. However, the answer does state this:

  The phone in question has been mislaid and anyone who finds it has a duty to deliver it to the owner of the bench for safekeeping pending the true owner's return: if the owner does not return within a reasonable time the phone becomes the property of the bench owner (e.g. the city that owns the park).

Perhaps this applies here and it is not allowed to take it home, only to return it to the owner of the property on which it was left.

Can a store sell merchandise I've left in the store? The answer explains that there is a distinction between lost, mislaid, and abandoned. This distinction probably applies here, but I do not know whether it is legal to take a lost, mislaid, or abandoned object home in order to try to identify its owner.


texts: Are jurors ever told about jury nullification in the US? If not, why not?

texts: It seems that if jury nullification is a right, then jurors should be told about it.


texts: Can I get kicked out of the UK if they leave the EU?

texts:
I am an Irish citizen and I moved to the UK a few years ago. Now they are going to vote whether to leave the EU. I know they might decide not to apply the law retrospectively but by law- would they be able to deport me?

Can they take my benefits?


texts: Terminating a freelance contract before completion

texts:
What are the potential legal ramifications of ceasing work on a web development contract which had no voluntary early termination clause, but which I believe the Client to be in breach of?

The project passed the end-date in the contract months ago, but work has continued (at a snails pace) due to issues with other developers on the project. In addition, extra features have slipped into the project and the requirements list has ballooned beyond what I initially agreed to.

Further, my circumstances have changed since the project has started. I was a student at the time of undertaking the work, but am now in full-time employment for the summer, and simply cannot commit to the time needed to complete the project. Had the project finished on time, this would not have been an issue, but I couldn't forsee the project being still ongoing at this late stage.

Finally, the Client only furnished me with the items needed to start the work a month into the project (Which was supposed to last roughly 2 months), and I was only furnished with the documents needed to complete the project a few weeks ago (Again, many months after the original end-date).

I'd really appreciate any advice, I'm a student afraid of being faced with legal costs I can't afford.


texts: Business contact based on observed activity - is it right?

texts:
My mother recently posted this on Facebook, but I'm interested in terms of the legalities regarding communication and observation.

  Earlier this year I joined a gym. Small one, based in local town,
  training in groups of four or fewer. Paid in advance for six months,
  because that is how their membership works. I stopped going in July
  because of an injury, and started back in October. Round about the
  same time I returned, I started going to another gym as well to see a
  personal trainer. This second gym is closer, has no stairs, has a car
  park and the trainer is cheaper. Also, the work I do is different and
  I find it more enjoyable, and it is pay as you go. But because I had
  paid in advance I arranged to go to gym 1 once a week, and to see the
  new trainer in gym 2 once a week as well. Just had a call from gym 1
  to say someone had seen me in gym 2(!) and had gym 1 done something to
  upset me. Is this normal gym protocol? It has seriously pissed me off.
  Surely you can go to as many gyms as you want?

I'm not intending to take any action legal or otherwise, I'm just curious on the potential legalities/ethics of the observations etc.

Please feel free to edit the question title or content as I'm finding it hard to word. We are in the UK.

Thanks


texts: Accepting terms and conditions without identification

texts: I’d like to build an app without any login or user identification but the app itself would require terms and conditions to be accepted. If I’d require to accept the terms prior entering the actual app, would that ”contract” be legal even thought I would not have any prove about the contract with some identified person? (Only the code would prove that you have to accept terms before using the app)


texts: I'm a young independent contractor interested in selling my services to big business. Now, I know that phone numbers for local shops are provided on Google maps. So, can I say, call my local mcdonald's with number provided, ask for the main office's phone number and advertise my services there? Is this something I can do? What legal limitations will I face? If this is legally not the best choice for me, what else can I do?


texts: intellectual property rights infringement

texts:
if i download a picture of product from merchant website, who owns the IPR of the picture? manufacturer or merchant.

The product picture can be anything like mobile phone, a picture of a house or even of a Donald Trump.


texts: Have there been attempts to manage quality of judicial work?

texts:
When judges make judicial errors of law (those later identified by higher courts on appeal; not to be confused with judicial misconduct), they are not affected beyond possible damage to their public image, personal pride and further career development.
That is, for a judge who is happy where they sit and who doesn't care what people say, none of the consequences of making an error would be anything to worry about. Essentially, such judges will have little or no motivation to avoid making errors.
It is certainly understandable that judges cannot be made responsible for their decisions (otherwise no one would want to be a judge). However, shortage of accountability and motivation as to quality of work creates leeway for abuse of judicial power e.g. making "errors" which are not in fact made by mistake but rather consciously to covertly pursue certain interests that have nothing to do with interests of justice.
Have there been any attempts anywhere to address this particular issue by reforming the Judicature? For example, has any government attempted to enact a system of tracking and analyzing judicial errors to get judges who made them work on them and make conclusions as to how to mitigate making errors in future? Or a system that officially raises question of fitness to the job where more than certain amount of errors has been made?


texts: Does the New York State Governor have the authority to impose fines?

texts:
The New York State Governor has allegedly declared a "fine for violations of the state's social distancing protocol from $500 to $1,000...."

The government website claiming that declaration references a March 20 executive order ("New York State on PAUSE"), but that executive order does not stipulate fines.

Does the state executive in fact have the authority to impose a fine without legislation?

If so, how can it be prosecuted?

(I struggle to imagine how a government prosecutor would successfully press a fine against a person or business that would withstand any judicial scrutiny given that the closest thing I can even find to "social distancing protocols" is this statement in the executive order:  "Businesses and entities that provide other essential services must implement rules that help facilitate social distancing of at least six feet.")


texts: Contract Law: What is the difference between 'Choice of Law' and 'Governing Law'?

texts: I have been trying to understand, if there is any difference between Choice of Law and Governing Law clauses, mentioned in contracts? If no, what is the difference and can they both be in the same contract?


texts: What to do if driver's license is lost during road trip?

texts:
My friend just lost her driver's license in California, during a road trip from Arizona to Oregon.  It's an Arizona license, but she's moving to Oregon.  Since she's moving, she doesn't even have an Arizona address anymore, which probably complicates things.

What does one do in such a situation?  My online research so far has just turned up "you're screwed in that case".

The only option I can think of is to continue driving to Oregon and hope she doesn't get pulled over.  She already got pulled over once, and got away with a warning and a fix-it ticket for the license (that's how she learned it was lost).


texts: Landlord obligations when plumbing causing flooding in unit

texts:
I live in an old building that was originally a single family residence but long ago was converted into four units. The unit below mine has flooded probably 10 times in the last year. Our landlord is pretty unhelpful in most cases. A few times ago he came out and looked at the hot water heater and had it replaced. the hot water heater is in a small closet with a door to outside and walls shared with the flooding unit and the garage.

The time after that I went and looked in the hot water heater closet and the floor was wet but the hot water heater and the basin it sat in were dry. The water was coming from the wall between the water heater and the flooding unit. The last two times it has flooded a plumber was actually called. The plumber has said both times that the unit floods when we, on the floor above, clog our kitchen sink. I thought that was a major design flaw for our sink on the second floor clogging to flood her apartment but we got a new sink drain trap and have been very careful about food falling in the drain since then. That didn't stop the last time it flooded when we hadn't used the sink the whole day.

Today I woke early to take a shower and while the shower was heating up I got a text message from the tenant below that their unit was flooding again! Now I can't take a shower without flooding her apartment. I'm afraid the landlord will do nothing about this. The plumber has been called out twice in the span of a month and has done nothing but tell us not to put food down our sink. We told them the last time that it was not a problem with food going down our sink. Is there anything we can do to get the landlord to actually fix this plumbing issue?

Residence is in California.