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[ { "answer_id": 4896, "body": "<p>Generally (at least in the US), you cannot file criminal charges unless you are a prosecutor. Criminal charges are brought by the <em>state</em> on behalf of society as a whole; the goal of criminal charges is not to help or compensate the victim, it's to punish the offender and benefit society. The victim will often obtain restitution payments, but they are pretty much bolted on to a procedure not focused on compensating the victim. For instance, if the AG decides to drop charges (which they can do at any point), the charges are dropped. </p>\n\n<p>Instead of picking one or the other, you can do both. After the criminal case, if you want, you can file in small claims. You can't collect double, but since they have totally different purposes you don't have to do one or the other. </p>\n", "score": 3 }, { "answer_id": 4915, "body": "<p>You might consider approaching the prosecutor first with your evidence. Then agree to be a witness for the prosecution if they decide to prosecute. Wait for the criminal procedure to resolve itself. If they get a guilty conviction or a plea with an order of restitution, you win without having to file a suit.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, if the defendant wins an acquittal, you can still proceed with your civil suit in small claims court. You have to be careful because the $1,000 is a small enough amount that it could quickly be overtaken by legal fees if you have to hire an attorney.</p>\n\n<p>The advantage of this approach is it minimizes your cost and time investment by letting the criminal justice system do much of the work for you vis-a-vis establishing civil liability for the crime/tort.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "criminal-law", "small-claims-court" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4756, "body": "<p>See <a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1621\">18 U.S.C. s. 1621 (a)</a>. Perjury only relates to <em>material matter</em>.</p>\n\n<p>In my opinion, your little logical paradox isn't material. You might be scolded by the judge to stay on point. If you keep doing it, you'll be held in <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_of_court\">contempt of court</a>.</p>\n", "score": 69 }, { "answer_id": 4916, "body": "<p>Your hypothetical contains a false premise. Witnesses are not allowed to make \"opening remarks.\"</p>\n\n<p>Witnesses are only allowed to answer questions (while under oath) — not make remarks. Any \"remarks\" or statements that are not responsive to a question will most likely either be the subject of an objection and, therefore, not allowed. Or otherwise ignored completely.</p>\n\n<p>In both cases, the judge will likely direct you (the witness) to follow the rules of court procedure and stick to just answering the questions. If your non-responsive conduct continues, the judge might give you a series of warnings to be followed by a finding of contempt and jail time (in the most extreme result on the continuum of possible outcomes).</p>\n\n<p>The only people allowed to make \"opening remarks\" are the litigants and their attorneys.</p>\n", "score": 9 }, { "answer_id": 4786, "body": "<p>I think most people in the courtroom would roll their eyes, and, if you were lucky, your foolishness would be ignored.</p>\n\n<p>Quite probably you would receive a little lecture from the Judge to the effect that legal proceedings are serious and you ought not trifle.</p>\n\n<p>My $0.02? Don't screw around while under oath or, in fact, at any time while in a courtroom. Judges can be kinda humorless that way -- they can get pretty grouchy about people who appear disrespectful to the court.</p>\n", "score": 7 } ]

[ "rules-of-court" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4892, "body": "<p>It's essentially a legally enshrined incentive for high net worth investors to supply capital, which is consistent with the other entities that qualify in § 230.501. It tends to come with increased access to riskier offerings, where the risk ensues from exempted registration.</p>\n\n<p>While nominal dollar thresholds typically get eroded away by inflation, they needed a line in the sand to represent financial sophistication.</p>\n\n<p>Speculation: I suspect the initial number was a ballpark attempt to approximate the point at which individuals (at that time) tended to be involved in more complex projects (<em>e.g.</em> certain hedges and ventures).</p>\n", "score": 4 }, { "answer_id": 4911, "body": "<p>put in the vernacular, an \"accredited investor\" is a so-called \"sophisticated\" investor who does not need to be protected from their own stupidity or from rapacious consultants who prey on passive market participants (i.e. 401(k) fundies.)</p>\n\n<p>The number chosen IS essentially arbitrary. It's essentially 5x the median US income.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "finance", "banking", "sec" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4910, "body": "<p>No.</p>\n\n<p>The quality of care for chattel is that the animal is not starving, it is not being subjected to cruelty or pain. Not getting a \"haircut\" is perhaps inexplicably not on that list of egregious grievances.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "canada", "pets" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4719, "body": "<p>See <a href=\"/questions/tagged/jury-nullification\" class=\"post-tag\" title=\"show questions tagged &#39;jury-nullification&#39;\" rel=\"tag\">jury-nullification</a>. I'm not a legal historian, so I can't say for sure what the laws on jury acquittals were at that time in that jurisdiction. However, when a jury has final discretion to acquit a defendant of a crime that's it: They can effectively ignore laws if they want to acquit someone. Such acquittals do not set a precedent or have any bearing outside of the trial in which they issue their verdict.</p>\n", "score": 9 } ]

[ "germany", "legal-history", "jury-nullification", "murder" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4871, "body": "<p>Was there a contract? If there was a contract, then it is a breach of contract, possibly embezzlement. Was there a verbal contract? Same, but you might have a hard time to prove it. Was there no contract? Nothing you can do. </p>\n\n<p>In the end, she's the mother of your grandson. If you managed to put her into jail for embezzlement, would your grandson say \"good job, grandma / grandad\"? Not likely. Or if she says \"no Christmas presents because I have to pay $1200 to your dad's parents\"? It's a learning experience. You've learned something for $1200. Many people paid more for important experiences, </p>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 4906, "body": "<p>Barring evidence to the contrary, agreements between family members are presumed to <strong>not</strong> be contracts. Legally, the money you have given your daughter-in-law is a gift; once gifted it is her money and she can do with it as she likes.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What are my options to get my money back, or get it paid to the school? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Negotiation with your daughter-in-law; you have no legal options to compel this.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I am new here, if this forum is not the proper place for such a question, where might I go?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It'll do.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is what she did illegal?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Illegal, no. Unethical, yes.</p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "theft", "divorce" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4905, "body": "<p>Sorry, where is the tort? Infidelity is not a tort.</p>\n\n<p>US divorce is no fault - infidelity of either or both partners is irrelevant to the divorce settlement or the custody arrangements of any children.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "united-states", "civil-law", "marriage" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4904, "body": "<p>Yes, you can do this.</p>\n\n<p>However, spouses in Canada usually own land using <a href=\"http://lawdictionary.ca/en/tenancy-by-the-entirety/\" rel=\"nofollow\">tenancy by the entirety</a> which means that ownership would automatically pass to you on your wife's death; by-passing the provisions of her will. To give effect to your wishes, you would need to ensure that you held the property as <a href=\"http://lawdictionary.ca/en/tenancy-in-common/\" rel=\"nofollow\">tenants in common</a>; your wife's share would then form part of her estate and be distributed according to her will.</p>\n\n<p>You will need professional legal and tax advice on this.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "canada", "real-estate", "wills" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4902, "body": "<p>First of all, the amount involved is probably a few hundred dollars, maybe a thousand: if you do not pay it is <em>extremely</em> unlikely that your roommate will attempt to recover.</p>\n\n<p>Even if they do, they will probably fail - 30 days notice is 30 days notice: unless last month was February, the 8th to the 8th is either 30 or 31 days, you have complied with the terms of the lease. If the lease had said \"one named months notice\" then your roommate may have a case; as it is, they don't.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is he right? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is there ever a case where I'm liable for pro-rated rent beyond the 30 day notice period? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Only if it says so in the lease.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Do I owe him rent for each day in November that the room is vacant beyond the 8th? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Would a judge make an exception in his favor since I didn't tell him I was looking for a new place to live?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Judges don't make exceptions, particularly not in anybody's favour. The role of a judge is to enforce the law - not to make exceptions to it. A judge would give effect to the terms of the contract except where those terms are prohibited or against public policy.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "california", "rent", "sublease" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4888, "body": "<p>Your options are generally limited by where you have (or can establish) residency, along with where your communal property is held.</p>\n\n<p>There are (decreasing numbers of) jurisdictions known as \"<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divorce_mill\" rel=\"nofollow\">divorce mills</a>\" that have notoriously lenient rules for establishing residency and completing divorces.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "international", "marriage", "divorce", "settlement" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4893, "body": "<p>Get a corporate lawyer. The standard practice is to create two LLCs (usually in Delaware, which offers some of the best protections): A holding company owned by the individuals, and an operating company, owned by the holding company. If done correctly (which is why you need a lawyer to review the creation and operating agreements) it is nearly impossible for an adversary to follow the operating company back to the individuals without a compelling legal reason ordered by a court.</p>\n", "score": 18 } ]

[ "united-states", "corporate-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4881, "body": "<p>I'm pretty sure in France you have moral rights and copyrights. I am writing from New Zealand, but we have some similar intellectual property laws due to being member countries of the World Intellectual Property Organisation. We are also both member countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO has the TRIPS agreement which relates to IP). So my answer may or may not be right &ndash; check what it says in France's copyright acts: you should be able to search for terms like first owner, and moral rights, films/videos, etc.</p>\n\n<p>The school isn't your employer, and so the basic rule is that you as the author are automatically the first owner. Since you're not really at school to create anything or research for the school, I don't think the court would enforce a blanket term that you had to agree to that the school owns intellectual property in what you create. You probably own the copyright. </p>\n\n<p>You also have moral rights in what you have created, which means even if the school does own the copyright in your work, you can request they attribute it to you if they show it in public (online). Not all works have moral rights. However, in NZ if you create a film/video you do have moral rights in it.</p>\n", "score": 5 } ]

[ "copyright", "intellectual-property", "france", "education" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4869, "body": "<p>I would <em>inform</em> the authorities about that loss as soon as possible (consider that your lost license could be found by a criminal who then conveniently \"loses\" it during a bank robbery), and ask them how to get a replacement license as soon as possible. </p>\n\n<p>See here: <a href=\"http://www.dmv.org/ok-oklahoma/replace-cdl.php\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.dmv.org/ok-oklahoma/replace-cdl.php</a></p>\n\n<p>That website actually recommends having a copy of your CDL with you at all times, or your company should have a copy on their files they can fax to you, so it would seem legal to drive with a copy. </p>\n\n<p>There is a difference between \"driving license\" in the sense \"the permission given to you by the state to drive a car on public roads\" and \"driving license\" in the sense \"a piece of paper or plastic giving evidence that you have permission to drive\". In most countries, driving without license is a serious offence, while driving without the piece of plastic is a minor offence. </p>\n", "score": 5 } ]

[ "driving" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4883, "body": "<p>Probably some privacy laws. They're interfering with your privacy by disclosing your personal information to other agencies without your consent. \n(This is in New Zealand, but most jurisdictions have privacy laws)</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "criminal-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4878, "body": "<p>Both Congress and the state legislatures are expressly forbidden by the Constitution from passing bills of attainder. That means neither can ever pass a law that names an individual and says \"they are suspended.\" It is so important that it's one of the <em>very</em> few restrictions on government that the original Constitution (before any amendments) prohibited in bot state and federal governments. (Also, a \"bill\" is not a law. It's what a legislature is <em>considering</em> making a law.)</p>\n", "score": 7 } ]

[ "united-states", "police" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4863, "body": "<p><strong>tl;dr</strong>: Yes, there is a competitive market for experts. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Background</strong></p>\n\n<p>As an example, firms like <a href=\"http://www.compasslexecon.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Compass Lexicon</a>, <a href=\"http://www.analysisgroup.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Analysis Group</a>, <a href=\"https://www.cornerstone.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Cornerstone</a>, and <a href=\"http://www.charlesriverassociates.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Charles River</a> all do economic and forensic consulting, which is helpful for antitrust, securities, and corporate cases writ large. In the U.S. they're frequently brought in by a client's legal team, so the analysis is generally protected by the work-product doctrine in <a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_26\" rel=\"nofollow\">Fed. Rules of Civ. Pro. 26(b)(3)</a>. This speaks to #2 above.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding #3 and #1, the firms bring in prominent faculty members or researchers to enhance the credibility of testimony.</p>\n\n<p>If you're an expert in _______, a good starting point might be to get in touch with a few forensic _______ consulting firms. By nature, they'd have their ear to the rail concerning upcoming litigation.</p>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "trial", "witnesses" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4852, "body": "<p>Copyright expires 70 years after the original writer breaths his/her last breath, after that it becomes public domain. And all works published before 1923 are in the public domain in the US.</p>\n\n<p>This means that the inheritors of the rights cannot sue you for infringement because there is nothing to infringe.</p>\n\n<p>If the music is not in public domain you will need to contact the rights holders and negotiate the rights to use the music. This can also be a company that has the right to sublicense the content to others. This is often the way radios and DJs get the right for the music they play.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "united-states", "copyright", "music" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4843, "body": "<p>Joint tenant (with rights of survivorship) is a HIGHER level of ownership than \"tenants in common.\"</p>\n\n<p>A Tenant in Common's survivor rights in a property flow to her heirs, not the co-owner. A Joint Tenant's survivor rights flow to the joint owner/tenant. </p>\n\n<p>In the past, a joint tenancy was severable only by a court, or by explicit agreement of all joint tenants, because is a diminishing of the other tenant's rights, and thus wasn't able to be done unilaterally. Today, however, this is no longer the case, and in virtually all US jurisdictions a Joint Tenancy with Rights of Survivorship can be severed by means of a sale by one of the tenants to a third party straw-man, who then typically turns around and re-deeds the property back to the severing tenant. </p>\n\n<p>In some jurisdictions, they've dispensed with the necessity for a straw-man and allow a tenant to unilaterally (i.e. without consent of the other joint tenants) \"sell their share back to themselves.\" In most cases that deed conveying the sale must be recorded, whether direct or third-party. Also in some jurisdictions, there does still exist a \"tenency in the entirety\" a deed type that is a bit of an anachronism, which prevents unilaterally severing the joint tenancy.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "united-states", "real-estate", "new-jersey" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4851, "body": "<p>You are misinformed. </p>\n\n<p>In fact, approximately the reverse is true: in a typical jurisdiction in the United States today in excess of 95 percent of criminal cases that begin never reach a verdict. (The exact number varies a little, depending on which exact court system we're talking about.) Or never reach a trial at all, in fact. Or never even come close to making it to the trial date. </p>\n\n<p>Now, in some of those instances the charges wind up being dismissed. In some others defendants are diverted outside of the traditional criminal justice system when the circumstances seem better suited to other resolutions (examples: a petty criminal who steals to feed a drug addiction is diverted into a process where he or she will get drug treatment, a non-violent mentally ill person is put into a process where he or she will get mental health treatment); if they complete the diversion program the criminal charges are dropped. But in the vast majority of cases a defendant winds up pleading guilty, in court, to something. Sometimes in exchange for the prosecutor dropping certain other charges. Sometimes in return for the prosecutor downgrading a charge he or she would otherwise pursue in court to a charge for a lesser offense. Sometimes just in return for perhaps getting some credit in the eyes of the judge for \"acceptance of responsibility\" when sentencing rolls around. But make no mistake: there are few elements more central to the way modern American criminal justice works than plea bargaining. </p>\n\n<p>But don't feel too bad: for what it's worth you are certainly not alone in thinking otherwise. In fact, in my personal experience almost everyone outside the legal profession and the court system/s holds at least a few large misconceptions about the way criminal justice in the U.S. actually works. General news media outlets contribute quite a bit to helping those misconceptions form by typically focusing solely on the rare, high-profile, controversial (and thus ratings-grabbing) cases rather than the vast, vast number that end in a whimper instead of a bang. Law drama shows and movies almost invariably bear little relation to reality. (And that's is totally fine, BTW, as long as you <em>realize</em> they bear almost no relation to reality.) Which makes sense: <em>Law &amp; Order: SVU</em> probably wouldn't have stayed on the air year after year if most episodes just consisted of an endless stream of one rote, dull plea hearing after another, each featuring some otherwise-unremarkable sleezeball who's been caught dead-to-rights downloading and re-distributing child pornography.</p>\n\n<p>(And, BTW, the misconceptions aren't limited to criminal law &amp; justice, by any means. In fact, in my view other high-profile legal arenas like civil litigation, intellectual property disputes, constitutional law battles, and many others are even <em>more</em> misunderstood. But I digress...) </p>\n\n<p>Anyway, to sum up: very frequent plea bargaining = one of the foundations of how modern American criminal justice operates at a practical level. For tons more stats, background info, and analysis corroborating and analyzing that fact, see the links commenters have already posted and/or any of the many, many good items on the topic indexed via our friend <a href=\"https://www.google.com/search?q=plea%20bargaining&amp;ie=&amp;oe=\">Google</a>.</p>\n", "score": 11 }, { "answer_id": 4853, "body": "<p>In the United States, it is rare for a defendant to plead guilty to an offense at their first appearance, in fact, there is no incentive to do so!\nPleading guilty to the top count is equivalent to getting convicted in a jury trial, so why not make the government work for it and potentially be out on bail for a while?</p>\n\n<p>However, over time the defendants and the prosecutors work out an agreement that everyone can agree to. In time the defendant admits to some offenses by pleading guilty and the penalties the defendant receives are typically much less than the defendant could get after a jury trial.</p>\n\n<p>So in the end, about 95-97% of defendants do plead guilty, but only after pleading not guilty first. There's no point of pleading guilty if you don't get something out of it as well.</p>\n", "score": 6 } ]

[ "united-states", "criminal-law", "plea" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3837, "body": "<p>You should document the condition of the property with photographs before you move in.</p>\n\n<p>This will be your evidence if later you are charged for something that you did not do — or was already that way when you moved in. As @DaleM points out this is called a <strong><em>Dilapidation Report</em></strong>.</p>\n\n<p>When you fight for your security deposit back if there is a later dispute, it will be a battle of evidence. If you claim something was that way when you moved in, you must prove it. Photographs with a timestamp will be useful if not necessary to prove your case.</p>\n\n<p>You can prove the time stamp by posting the photos to a third party image host (like Flicker, Instagram, Tumblr, etc.) that has a reliable timestamp at the time of posting.</p>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 3891, "body": "<p>In British Columbia, if the landlord fails to complete a condition report,</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>[t]he right of a landlord to claim against a security deposit or a pet damage deposit, or both, for damage to residential property is extinguished</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http://tenants.bc.ca/condition-inspection-reports/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Plain english summary of the law by the BC Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.bclaws.ca/EPLibraries/bclaws_new/document/ID/freeside/00_02078_01#section23\" rel=\"nofollow\">Requirement for condition inspection, and consequences of not doing one</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.bclaws.ca/Recon/document/ID/freeside/10_477_2003#part3\" rel=\"nofollow\">Scheduling of the condition inspection</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The damage deposit can be (and generally is) required as a condition of entering the tenancy agreement. The inspection has to happen on the day you move in or at another <a href=\"http://www.bclaws.ca/Recon/document/ID/freeside/10_477_2003#part3\" rel=\"nofollow\">mutually agreed time</a> in order for the landlord to maintain their right to claim against the damage deposit.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "canada", "rental-property", "british-columbia" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4828, "body": "<p>It all comes down to the ToS you agreed to when you signed up with the host, or any changes made later.</p>\n\n<p>If it was in your ToS it is likely that they would have a fee for the time it takes.</p>\n\n<p>If it isn't mentioned then they would either refuse or request a fee as it does cost to have staff carryout work. </p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "data-storage", "data-ownership" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4820, "body": "<p>OK, so you understand that clickwraps do create enforceable contracts.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>the person \"agreeing\" to the dialog can arbitrarily manipulate the contents of the agreement terms</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So what? I can do a similar thing with a pen and paper agreement. You send me an agreement, I tell you I accept but <em>secretly</em> I have changed it. Well, guess what, when this ends up in court the judge won't care if I wiped my ass with it - I <em>communicated</em> my acceptance of <em>your</em> terms; therefore that is what I accepted.</p>\n\n<p>Under the hood, Google can show what the HTML was that their server sent to you and the http response that you sent back. They said \"Do you accept?\" you sent back \"yes\", deal done. What you did with the html in your computer does not matter one iota; just like what you did with pen and ink terms would.</p>\n", "score": 5 } ]

[ "licensing", "software" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4799, "body": "<p>Go to the scheduled hearing and present your complaint. Apparently the defendant will present no documents in court.</p>\n", "score": 6 }, { "answer_id": 4808, "body": "<p>That's what the court said: \"Each party must deliver to the other party and to the court office copies of all documents on which that party intends to rely at the hearing no later than 4pm on 27th October 2015.\"</p>\n\n<p>If there is an important document that you rely on that you didn't send to the court and your opponent, then you cannot use it in court. Even if it proves 100% that you are right, you can't use it. </p>\n\n<p>If there are any documents that your opponent plans to rely on in court, the court will ask them if they sent it to you in time. And since they didn't, they can't use these documents. They didn't send you anything, so there are no documents they can use in court. </p>\n\n<p>What do you have to do? Nothing. There's an old saying \"never interrupt your opponent when he's making mistake\". Not sending you any documents is a big mistake. You don't want to draw their attention to it. </p>\n", "score": 3 }, { "answer_id": 4812, "body": "<h1>Short Answer</h1>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Remember to <em>actually object</em> when in open court!</strong></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><hr>\nIf they show up and try to use documents they didn't send you by the deadline, you might have to actually <strong><em>object</em></strong> in court and state your reasons. It depends on the judge how formal s/he will make you be given you are <strong><em>pro se</em></strong>. However, I have seen instances where a pro se litigant didn't speak the words \"<strong><em>I object</em></strong>\" soon enough and the other side got away with stuff they shouldn't have.</p>\n\n<h3>Don't assume the judge will behave like your attorney.</h3>\n\n<p>In this case, you should be prepared to make the objection yourself. When they try to introduce documents, you should interrupt immediately, before the evidence is allowed by default. Now is not the time to \"be polite\" and \"wait your turn.\"</p>\n\n<p>Otherwise inadmissible evidence can be wrongly admitted if you don't object soon enough. That's one thing lawyers get paid for... knowing when and how to object to the other side's introduction of inadmissible evidence.</p>\n\n<p>Also, don't feel guilty that you are getting away with something unfair <strong><em>because of a technicality</em></strong>. There are good reasons for these rules and deadlines. It's so everyone can have enough time to prepare and make their best case in court. So the trial can be fair to everyone. <strong><em>Trial by ambush</em></strong> is never fair.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "united-kingdom", "jurisdiction", "small-claims-court", "claims" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4809, "body": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is the Bible being opened during the process in any state in USA in order to recite a quote from it or whatever? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>As part of the court procedure, no. I can imagine circumstances where parts of the bible (or any book) might be read into evidence or by or to witnesses as part of direct or cross examination.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Do they swear on the open Bible or closed?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Where a witness chooses to swear on a bible the bible is closed.</p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "united-states", "rules-of-court", "process", "religion" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4788, "body": "<h2>Statutory remedies and recovery of profits/damages</h2>\n\n<p>In the case that Joe infringes copyright, the highest statutory penalty is $150,000, if the court finds willing infringement. The copyright owner may alternatively recover any profits Joe made. (<a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/504\" rel=\"nofollow\">17 USC §504</a>)</p>\n\n<p>Joe may be enjoined to stop offering these clips.</p>\n\n<h2>Criminal prosecution of copyright infringement</h2>\n\n<p>Because of the commercial nature of the copyright infringement it is possible to be criminally charged under <a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2319\" rel=\"nofollow\">18 USC §2319</a>, if the infringement is wilful.</p>\n\n<p>A good summary of criminal prosecution of intellectual property infringement is the <a href=\"http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/criminal-ccips/legacy/2015/03/26/prosecuting_ip_crimes_manual_2013.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">Department of Justice Manual on Prosecuting Intellectual Property Crimes</a>.</p>\n\n<h2>Worst case scenario</h2>\n\n<p>Joe got an opinion from a lawyer telling him that his plan was certainly copyright infringement. People <em>love</em> these 25 second clips. Joe earns one billion dollars from selling these clips. The owners of the Big Bang Theory attempt to get in on the game, but everyone that would be interested already has an account with Joe. Joe is asked to stop and doesn't. Joe adds a copyright notice to each clip claiming personal copyright on the material. Joe been previously found guilty of violating 17 U.S.C. s. 506(a)(1)(c) in an unrelated matter.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>The copyright owner could recover all profits (1 billion dollars) that Joe made. (17 U.S.C. s. 504)</li>\n<li>The copyright owner could recover costs and attorney's fees. (17 U.S.C. s. 505)</li>\n<li>Joe is fined $2500 for the knowingly false copyright notice.</li>\n<li>Joe is sent to jail for 10 years and fined $250,000.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<h2>Likely outcome</h2>\n\n<p>In my opinion, the copyright owner would sue for an injunction for Joe to stop doing this, along with maximum statutory penalty for wilful infringement of $150,000. Joe would agree to stop, and the copyright holder would withdraw their suit. (This is of course not assuming the worst-case facts that I hypothesized in the previous section.)</p>\n\n<p>Regarding criminal prosecution, if Joe stopped, I believe criminal prosecution would be unlikely. In 1999, there were only twenty-six criminal copyright infringement prosecutions. In 2000, thirty-two. (<a href=\"http://www.law.uh.edu/faculty/gmoohr/Criminal.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">Ref</a>).</p>\n\n<p>This <a href=\"http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ipt02.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">reference</a> is dated, but around the year 2000, there was approximately a 10:1 ratio of civil proceedings to criminal proceedings relating to copyright infringement. More than half of the criminal defendants had infringed at least $70,000 worth of property.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "copyright", "intellectual-property" ]

[ { "answer_id": 885, "body": "<p><strong>I am not a lawyer; I am not your lawyer</strong></p>\n\n<p>In France, the <a href=\"http://legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do;jsessionid=DE796BB259DC634E9E598A6E500B2BE3.tpdila21v_2?idArticle=LEGIARTI000025111528&amp;cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006074228&amp;dateTexte=20150702\"><em>Code de la Route</em> (Article R413-15)</a> outlaws the possession of devices that detect or disturb, or are intended to detect or disturb, the operation of devices or systems that record or regulate road traffic, or allow evasion of road traffic offenses.</p>\n\n<p>This Article was last amended on 3 January 2012, and it is punishable by a fine of up to €1,500, confiscation of the device, and confiscation of the vehicle.</p>\n\n<p>The law is not prescriptive about such devices, and this is likely intentionally so. This Article is technology-agnostic, and would apply to any device with such a purpose. <strong>You can therefore assume that <em>all</em> speed radar detectors are illegal.</strong></p>\n", "score": 9 } ]

[ "driving", "france" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4798, "body": "<p>In <em>North America</em>, almost all universities claim both the <em>copyright</em> and the <em>patent</em> rights to all inventions performed using <em>university resources</em>, even if you're not employed by the university.</p>\n\n<p>That's why stuff like <a href=\"http://bxr.su/n/bin/csh/csh.c\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><code>src/bin/csh/csh.c</code> from NetBSD et al.</a> say \"<em>Copyright (c) 1980, 1991, 1993 The Regents of the University of California.</em>\", and not \"<em>Bill Joy</em>\", who's the actual author of <code>csh</code>.</p>\n\n<p>About the only university in North America that lets you use whatever university resources are necessary, yet still own full copyright <em>and</em> patent rights for any such invention is <em>University of Waterloo</em>, which explicitly boasts such status for its renowned engineering programmes.</p>\n\n<p>Some other universities let you own the copyright, but almost all still reserve patent rights to themselves (including those in England); and these policies are <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11625/can-a-university-claim-patent-rights-for-inventions-performed-on-my-own-time\">claimed</a> to apply even to the undergraduate students who aren't getting any financial support for their work! The <em>intellectual property rights</em> policies of western universities are almost always publicly available on their website, so, you should just search to take a look at yours.</p>\n\n<p>As for whether anyone would be able to acquire a patent in the first place... In the US, you have 1 year to register for a patent since first publication; elsewhere, once the work has been <em>publicly disclosed</em>, no patent can be obtained anymore. Since you are usually obligated to disclose patentable inventions to your university, you should ensure your <em>supervisor</em> and <em>second marker</em> do not disclose your project prior to securing the patents.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-kingdom", "patents" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4781, "body": "<p>The <a href=\"http://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/model_rules_of_professional_conduct_table_of_contents.html\">American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct (Rule 1.2 (d))</a> requires that:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>A lawyer shall not counsel a client to engage, or assist a client, in conduct that the lawyer knows is criminal or fraudulent, but a lawyer may discuss the legal consequences of any proposed course of conduct with a client and may counsel or assist a client to make a good faith effort to determine the validity, scope, meaning or application of the law.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Any advice to any client (including the President) to violate a law is against the rules of professional conduct.</p>\n\n<p>The American Bar Association and associated state bars publish ethics opinions to provide clarification. For example, the <a href=\"http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/events/professional_responsibility/2014/05/40th-aba-national-conference-on-professional-responsibility/session5_state_bar_of_arizona_ethics_opinions.authcheckdam.pdf\">Arizona State Bar published an opinion</a> about the effect of Rule 1.2(d) on a lawyer's ability to advise clients regarding activity that is permissible Arizona's Medical Marijuana Act, \"despite the fact that such conduct potentially may violate applicable federal law\".</p>\n", "score": 7 } ]

[ "licensing" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4795, "body": "<p>You said you couldn't find the license, so copyright is assumed.</p>\n\n<p>By printing it on your packaging, you are distributing their intellectual property without their permission. Furthermore, you are making a profit. That smells like copyright infringement to me, and you are subject to whatever penalties are there, from a Cease &amp; Desist, to monetary compensations.</p>\n\n<p>Fair use <a href=\"http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/\" rel=\"nofollow\">mostly applies</a> to commentary and parody, you can't claim it.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-states", "intellectual-property", "licensing", "european-union" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4793, "body": "<p><strong>Makerbot's explanation of the Terms is accurate</strong></p>\n\n<p>This is comparable with most other services that host and display User-created content - even with SaaS providers, as per <a href=\"https://law.stackexchange.com/a/3499/58\">Interpretation of content ownership/usage in service provider agreement</a>. </p>\n\n<p>They are correct that they are asking for the lots of broad rights, but it's all qualified with (my emphasis):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>3.2 License. You hereby grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company and its affiliates and partners, an irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free and fully paid, worldwide license to reproduce, distribute, publicly display and perform, prepare derivative works of, incorporate into other works, and otherwise use your User Content, and to grant sublicenses of the foregoing, <strong>solely for the purposes of including your User Content in the Site and Services</strong>.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That is, if they use your User Content for a purpose <em>other than</em> including it in the Site and Services (and you have not agreed to this use), you may be entitled to relief in the form of an injunction or damages.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "intellectual-property", "terms-of-service" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4775, "body": "<ol>\n<li>Lawyers may break confidentiality with client permission. You can <em>also</em> break your own confidentiality and talk to the prosecutor yourself. The prosecutor's response is up to the prosecutor; however, they tend to not be super excited about giving immunity to a witness for the <em>defense</em> if they might want to prosecute the witness later (and courts often are fine with that), so the more they suspect about your true role the less likely they are to grant it. </li>\n<li><p>No. If the feds later find truly independent evidence (<em>they</em> have the burden of showing it's truly independent), they can prosecute. Some states give transactional immunity to witnesses (you can't be prosecuted for crimes you testified about for any reason), but the Fifth Amendment doesn't require it and at least the feds aren't bound by state transactional immunity. It's hard to prosecute, but is possible if prosecutors play their cards right. </p></li>\n<li><p>Yes, it does allow civil liability. There is no right against self-incrimination in civil matters, only criminal liability. If the forced testimony leads to a lawsuit that bankrupts you, too bad. </p></li>\n</ol>\n", "score": 6 }, { "answer_id": 4782, "body": "<p>You're mistaken as to what prosecutorial immunity is and what it means. Prosecutorial immunity is a hybrid of judicial immunity, whereby prosecutors have absolute immunity when acting as an officer of the court in their capacity as an advocate (lawyer) for the state. After probable cause has been established, the \"proceeding\" phase is said to have begun, and from that point through verdict he prosecutor has absolute immunity. In an investigative or administrative role (essentially prior to the point at which probable cause exists, there is qualified immunity. So, the questions you ask have nothing whatsoever do do with prosecutorial immunity.</p>\n\n<p>Taking your questions on their face and ignoring your classification of the issues, I will go in order:</p>\n\n<p><strong>Suppose I commit a murder of a federal official (anyone?) and get away with it. Later I discover that some other unfortunate individual is being prosecuted for the murder I committed. I feel sorry for him, so I confess to a lawyer and wonder if I can do anything to get the innocent defendant free.</strong></p>\n\n<p><strong>Can my lawyer communicate anything to the prosecutor (or defense counsel) that would cause me to be subpoenaed, at which point I would invoke my fifth-amendment rights? Can this be done in such a way that the prosecutor would absolutely move the court to compel my testimony under immunity?</strong></p>\n\n<p>Your lawyer can only reveal what you communicate to him/her with your explicit written permission, and a confession would really be the only way to help the \"unfortunate\" innocent you feel sorry for. If your lawyer breaks confidentiality without your permission, not only will he or she likely be disbarred, but the information would not be admissible as it is protected by attorneys-client privilege, and therefore you could prevent the testimony from being proffered in any action. You would not need to invoke the 5th Amendment as you (your <strong>new</strong> lawyer) would have any subpoena quashed based on the privilege (of course in the real world this would never happen).</p>\n\n<p><strong>Suppose I have been given prosecutorial immunity. Now I provide testimony that exculpates the defendant and implicates me beyond a reasonable doubt for a number of crimes in multiple jurisdictions: murder subject to both state and federal prosecution, as well as other felonies related to the commission of the murder that would have never come to light but for my testimony. Am I truly immune to prosecution for any of those crimes in any U.S. jurisdiction?</strong></p>\n\n<p>No. When a prosecutor drafts/offers an immunity agreement, it is only for the jurisdiction over which they have the power to grant it. If the federal government or another state has the ability to bring charges, that cannot be bargained away by another jurisdictions prosecutor. Not only that, but when a prosecutor enters into an immunity agreement, it is <strong>never</strong> to help exculpate an individual already convicted of murder - they wouldn't offer immunity for this - this just isn't how it works. In fact, if you walked in and confessed to the prosecutor themselves, it probably wouldn't be enough for them to reopen a conviction. They nearly always have multiple pieces of evidence when they go to trial, so if anything, they would try you as a secondary defendant, but wouldn't just take your word for it that the person a jury already convicted is innocent.</p>\n\n<p>Immunity agreements typically arise when there are multiple suspects/defendants and they offer a deal to the less culpable to testify against the other. The agreement will say something like \"this is how we think the crime went down. We want you to tell us exactly what happened and agree to testify against the (other) defendant. Assuming your culpability is no more than X (say an accessory) you will get immunity from prosecution for anything you say\". It will explicitly say something to the extent of \"if you testify to crimes beyond which we are offering your immunity, this statement can be used against you\". There are never blanket immunity agreements where the person given immunity can turn around and confess to any and every crime, or say, \"I'm actually the one who committed the crime your asking me to testify about\". If that happened, you would be prosecuted. Unless you lied and your lawyer had no clue, he/she would never let you say that anyway. When a defendant enters into an immunity agreement, your attorney would go over, <em>ad nauseum,</em> every single word that (you) the defendant will say prior to it being offered to the prosecutor. </p>\n\n<p><strong>But now aren't I subject to civil liability? E.g., the family of the victim would absolutely win a judgement for Wrongful Death. How is it justifiable for a court to compel me to give evidence that will ultimately impoverish me, even though it does not result in my incarceration? Or is there some protection against this sort of collateral damage?</strong></p>\n\n<p>This would be the least of your worries, but yes, a conviction for murder is absolute proof of wrongful death since the burden on proof for the tort is only a \"preponderance\" and for a crime its \"beyond reasonable doubt\". The judgment would carry over and there would only be a trial on damages; liability is already established. There are no protections and the court is requiring you to do anything. You are doing it, in this hypothetical, of your own volition.</p>\n", "score": 6 } ]

[ "united-states", "liability", "fifth-amendment" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4785, "body": "<p>In most states in the United States, you can be sued. Whether or not the suit is successful will depend on facts related to the newsworthiness of what you publish. The Digital Media Law Project has a page where they discuss suing over the <a href=\"http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/publication-private-facts\" rel=\"nofollow\">Publication of Private Facts</a>.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>A plaintiff must establish four elements to hold someone liable for publication of private facts:</p>\n \n <ol>\n <li><strong>Public Disclosure</strong>: The disclosure of facts must be public. Another way of saying this is the defendant must \"give publicity\" to the fact or facts in question.</li>\n <li><strong>Private Fact</strong>: The fact or facts disclosed must be private, and not generally known.</li>\n <li><strong>Offensive to a Reasonable Person</strong>: Publication of the private facts in question must be offensive to a reasonable person of ordinary sensibilities.</li>\n <li><strong>Not Newsworthy</strong>: The facts disclosed must not be newsworthy. Stated differently, the facts disclosed must not be a matter of legitimate public concern.</li>\n </ol>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The person filing suit would have to show that the facts disclosed were not newsworthy. That is, they were not of public concern.</p>\n\n<p>Just because someone is prominent or famous doesn't mean they lose all rights to privacy.</p>\n\n<p>From <a href=\"https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/527/527.F2d.1122.72--2851.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Virgil v. Time, Inc.</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The line to be drawn when the publicity ceases to be the giving of information to which the public is entitled, and becomes a morbid and sensational prying in to private lives for its own sake, with which a reasonable member of the public, with decent standards, would say that he had no concern.</p>\n</blockquote>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "hacking" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4773, "body": "<p>\"Blackmail\" isn't usually the wording used in statutes. Statutes generally refer to coercion or extortion.</p>\n\n<p>In Texas, Rick Perry (who at the time was Governor), threatened to withhold 7.5 million dollars in state funding if a particular official did not resign. (<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary_Lehmberg\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/state-politics/20150724-coercion-charge-against-rick-perry-tossed-out-by-texas-appeals-court.ece\" rel=\"nofollow\">Dallas News</a>)</p>\n\n<p>This is still in the middle of litigation, but an appeals court found a charge of coercion of a public official was improper. A charge of improper use of his office is proceeding to trial. (<a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/07/24/one-of-two-charges-against-rick-perry-is-dismissed/?_r=0\" rel=\"nofollow\">New York Times</a>)</p>\n\n<p>\"Extortion\" charges are generally related to actually seeking money, property, or services.</p>\n\n<p>For example, former Illinois Governor, Rob Blagojevich was convicted of extortion (<a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/us/28blagojevich.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">New York Times</a>, <a href=\"http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-06-27/news/ct-met-blagojevich-verdict-06-20110627_1_political-corruption-crime-spree-abraham-lincoln-roll-jury-convicts\" rel=\"nofollow\">Chicago Tribune</a>). Extortion charges were related to Blagojevich holding up a grant for a school in congressman's district until that congressman held a fundraiser for Blagoevich. He also threatened to hold up hospital funding until that hospital's CEO made a donation to his campaign.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "united-states" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4776, "body": "<p>It seems fairly clear they mean for you to include persons you would consider <em>former</em> stepchildren but which they consider to be simply <em>stepchildren</em>. If you were married to a parent of children who weren't your offspring, they are calling these children your stepchildren and you should report them. Any further analysis is probably off-topic here but can be brought up on the English Language and Usage StackExchange.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "legal-terms" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4761, "body": "<p>I don't believe you could do that without infringing copyright. The Star Wars theme is a copyrighted piece of music, and creating a transcription of it would be considered a derivative work. Only the copyright holder can authorize such derivative works. Cost doesn't factor into it at all.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work</a></p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "copyright", "music" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4772, "body": "<p>It's not regulated by international law.</p>\n\n<p>Depending on the laws of the intended destination country, it may be the case that none of the members of the family are permitted to enter, or that they can enter, but only two can enter as a \"couple\", while the others are legally completely separate (or even excluded from the country).</p>\n\n<p>According to one <a href=\"http://www.immigrationnavigator.com/explanation-polygamy-affect-eligibility-immigration-visa/%20%22%22\" rel=\"nofollow\">blog</a>, at present in the United States,</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>a foreign national must actually intend to practice polygamy in the United States to be ineligible for an immigrant visa. The current law does not prevent a polygamist or someone who practiced polygamy in the past or expresses a belief in polygamy from being eligible for an immigrant visa. But aliens coming to the United States to practice polygamy are barred.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Before 1990, there was a law on the books by which someone who merely \"advocated the practice of polygamy\" could have been barred.</p>\n\n<p>This question has been answered on Quora <a href=\"https://www.quora.com/If-a-polygamist-from-Saudi-Arabia-immigrates-to-the-U-S-what-is-the-legal-status-of-his-wives\" rel=\"nofollow\">for the U.S.</a>, again <a href=\"https://www.quora.com/How-do-the-US-and-EU-governments-deal-legally-with-Muslims-who-immigrate-and-have-more-than-one-wife\" rel=\"nofollow\">for the U.S.</a> (where the question asked about \"US and EU\"), and <a href=\"https://www.quora.com/What-happens-when-a-man-with-multiple-wives-visits-or-relocates-to-a-country-where-polygamy-is-illegal-or-not-recognized\" rel=\"nofollow\">for Canada</a>. Basically, the whole family can't legally immigrate as a unit. However, determining who is the \"real\" wife, if any of them, would depend on the facts of the case, the specific laws of the target jurisdiction, and the purpose of the determination. It could very well be that every one of the other marriages would void a new marriage in the destination country and entitle the children to child support, but none of them would entitle the wife to a spouse's visa or the father to visitation rights after a purported divorce.</p>\n\n<p>See also this <a href=\"https://www.quora.com/If-a-man-is-legally-married-in-one-country-what-would-prevent-him-from-practicing-bigamy-if-he-comes-to-the-U-S-and-marries-a-woman-here-assuming-his-first-wife-lives-in-the-other-country/answer/Annika-Schauer\" rel=\"nofollow\">answer</a> about whether it's possible for a married immigrant to commit bigamy by entering the United States pretending to be unmarried. Sure there are people who try, and it's more likely to succeed with the cooperation of the foreign spouse(s), but it's against the law and can be grounds for deportation, imprisonment, annulment of the second marriage, or exclusion of any polyspouse who is outside the country. </p>\n", "score": 4 }, { "answer_id": 4651, "body": "<p>In Australia, the first marriage is recognised as a marriage, the subsequent marriages are not (<a href=\"http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma196185/s88d.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">s88D</a> of the Marriage Act 1961).</p>\n\n<p>The status of children in Australia is unaffected in any way by the marital status of their parents.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "international", "marriage" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4379, "body": "<p>Discovery can proceed at any time before trial/hearing on motion with the courts consent, or more typically during the time set forth in a scheduling order. When a motion for a finding of contempt is filed, it's unlike a regular complaint. You only get a small window to respond and at a minimum, you need to file an appearance and a motion to extend the time necessary to respond if you're not ready. </p>\n\n<p>Depending on what the Plaintiff is asking for by way of disclosure of assets, a scheduling order may have been issued. If they simply are bringing you in to argue that you never paid what you were ordered to pay, without a corresponding disclosure hearing, you need to ask the court for the right to conduct discovery pertaining to your defense. </p>\n\n<p>You say you filed a motion to dismiss (I'm assuming this was a 12(B)(6) motion , as a rule 56 motion for summary judgment would not be proper at this stage; however, neither are <em>really</em> proper unless they failed to give you the necessary documents. The reason is that a motion to dismiss (12(b)(6)is reserved for instances when t<em>he plaintiff fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted</em> or <em>for improper service</em> (among other jurisdictional issues that don't apply) in response to there motion, In this case, however, relief <em>can</em> be granted, despite you not agreeing with it for the reasons you stated. It does not appear that you're claiming ineffective service - what you are really seeming to say is that you have a valid defense. I'm not sure what the court would do in that case, except to just ignore it and schedule the hearing. </p>\n\n<p>If it <em>is</em> for improper service, or if it's based on them not giving you a copy of the Motion and Declaration for Contempt, the proposed Order to Show Cause, the Declaration(s), which are often included in a motion (but not always),the Proposed Order on Show Cause, and/or any other documents that your county may require, you should amend your question because that makes this analysis different. </p>\n\n<p>If you filed a motion to dismiss just because you don't think they should be able to bring the motion for contempt because you say she wouldn't cooperate, that is a <strong>defense</strong> not a reason to dismiss. </p>\n\n<p>While you can't make this go away with a motion, you <strong>can</strong> defend your position, and to do that, you seem to be saying you need to conduct discovery. If this has been more than a week or two, a scheduling order should have issued. You don't automatically get the right to discovery in a contempt hearing unless you have an affirmative defense to the motion filed with your answer, and again, you need to specifically ask for this. A You should call the clerk of the court where the original action was filed to see if an order on the motion was issued. Since you haven't served discovery, and haven't asked for any, it may be too late. That said, judges tend to give wide berth to pro se parties, especially those who are opposing someone who is represented. If you need to conduct discovery in order to mount your defense, I would ask the judge for an emergency hearing, now. You could be heard on this issue within a day or two.</p>\n\n<p>What opposing counsel says to the court, unless it's a joint stipulation, <strong>is not binding on you</strong>. Even if you ask for an emergency hearing, I would respond to to the Plaintiff's motion, calling it Defendant's response to Plaintiff's Motion of Readiness, outline paragraph by paragraph (this means numbered sentences with 2 spaces between), exactly what the facts are and what your defense are. If you are going to include things that you yourself have noticed or have evidence of, if pertinent to the opposing counsel saying discovery was complete, you need to include an affidavit attesting to those facts. Either way, include the date the motion was served, the date you responded with your motion, the dates pertinent if any pertaining to discovery that arose from a scheduling order if one was issued, date they filed notice, Then, you can tell the court the fact that you have not been served and discovery, nor did you have notice that the period for discovery had even began to run, and (assuming you need to) that you need to conduct discovery in order to present an adequate defense to the motion. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Importantly, you should note that when the Plaintiff's attorney stated to the court that \"discovery is complete\", you were not consulted and this was not a joint stipulation.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Then, don't wait for a response unless you do ask for the emergency hearing, and it is within just a couple days. I would just serve your interrogatories or RPD's or whatever it is you need to serve, or notice your depositions.</p>\n\n<p>If discovery deadline has passed, file a motions for an extension with the court with your request to are heard. Ask the other attorney to agree, first. He or she probably will. Then it can be a joint request. If they won't agree, als state that in your motion.</p>\n\n<p>If you get the opportunity for discovery, you're going to need to do a 30(b)(6) deposition of the company that refused to let you pay with the order of disposition giving you the ability. That will be your only defense. Emails to her will help, but the fact is, once the court assigns you responsibility to pay the debt, the court order is always enough to let you pay, or enter into negotoiations.</p>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 4763, "body": "<p>In Michigan, discovery is not allowed in small-claims court or civil-infraction actions. In district court, pre-judgement discovery is not permitted \"except by leave of the court or on the stipulation of all parties\". <a href=\"http://courts.mi.gov/Courts/MichiganSupremeCourt/rules/Documents/subchapters/Subchapter%202.300%20Discovery.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"MRCP 2.300\">MRCP 2.302(A)</a> Where discovery is available, the judge should issue an order setting \"the time for completion of discovery\". However, it seems that post-judgement discovery is wide open; if I understand Michigan law, and Missouri law is similar, it's perfectly reasonable to use discovery to gather information to enforce a judgement. Using it to gather evidence to defend against a charge of noncompliance with a judgement seems odd, but should similarly be allowed.</p>\n\n<p>In Missouri and at that phase of the trial, discovery might not be the right tool. Another option would be a subpoena. <a href=\"http://www.courts.mo.gov/courts/ClerkHandbooksP2RulesOnly.nsf/C0C6FFA99DF4993F86256BA50057DCB8/91948E0FDB70020C86257973005C2464\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Missouri Supreme Court Rulesquot;\">rule 58.02</a></p>\n\n<p>A third option is to just show up at trial with your evidence and witnesses. While the overall goals of a divorce proceeding are to divide the marital estate equitably and provide for the best interests of any children, the specific situation you ask about is a contempt proceeding, and for that the relevant inquiry is simply whether the person in question is in contempt or not. The relevant part of the definition of contempt in Missouri, <a href=\"http://www.moga.mo.gov/mostatutes/stathtml/47600001101.html\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Missouri Revised Statutes 476.110\">MRS 476.110</a>, would probably be:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>(3) Willful disobedience of any process or order lawfully issued or made by it;\n (4) Resistance willfully offered by any person to the lawful order or process of the court; </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>A judge will probably not be happy with a litigant who seems to be playing games, for example by asking for discovery where it's not needed. It might be simpler and a better strategy to answer the charge immediately, and also file a cross-motion asking for the other party to be found in contempt. </p>\n\n<p>Lastly, note that I am not a lawyer (and if I were, my comments here would not be intended as legal advice). If your ex has a lawyer currently representing her, that might be even more reason to retain your own lawyer.</p>\n", "score": 1 }, { "answer_id": 4401, "body": "<p>I don't know how it works in Missouri, but you're going to need to get discovery re-opened. It seems crucial to me that you understand if you need to ask for this in a motion or if you can ask at the hearing which will likely be scheduled as a result of the motion for contempt. You might be able to settle this by a phone call to the clerk.</p>\n\n<p>So you need to decide if you can defend the contempt motion with the evidence you have, or if you need discovery. If you can defend it, just bring all your evidence to the hearing. Of the hearing is actually more of a scheduling conference, ask for discovery and make time in the schedule to complete it. </p>\n\n<p>You need to check this, but I think the burden for contempt is VERY high.</p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "civil-procedure", "discovery" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4696, "body": "<p>You can take pictures of any buildings if you are in a public place, and can freely use such photographs without consent of a owner or designer of that building. [Japan Copyright Act, art. 46] </p>\n\n<p>BTW, external appearance of buildings in U.S. Armed Forces facilities are NOT confidential under US-Japan Security Treaty and related statutes enacted in Japan. </p>\n", "score": 3 }, { "answer_id": 656, "body": "<p>At least, US military bases and affiliated facilities in Japan are illegal to photograph. Here's the <a href=\"http://law.e-gov.go.jp/cgi-bin/idxselect.cgi?IDX_OPT=3&amp;H_NAME=&amp;H_NAME_YOMI=%82%A0&amp;H_RYAKU=1&amp;H_CTG=1&amp;H_YOMI_GUN=1&amp;H_CTG_GUN=1&amp;H_NO_GENGO=S&amp;H_NO_YEAR=27&amp;H_NO_TYPE=2&amp;H_FILE_NAME=S27HO138\" rel=\"nofollow\">Mutual Cooperation and Security Treaty under Article VI Facilities and Areas and the Special Criminal Act Attendant upon the Enforcement of the Agreement Regarding the Status of United States Armed Forces in Japan</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>日本国とアメリカ合衆国との間の相互協力及び安全保障条約第六条に基づく施設及び区域並びに日本国における合衆国軍隊の地位に関する協定の実施に伴う刑事特別法</p>\n \n <p>第六条</p>\n \n <p>　合衆国軍隊の機密（合衆国軍隊についての別表に掲げる事項及びこれらの事項に係る文書、図画若しくは物件で、公になつていないものをいう。以下同じ。）を、合衆国軍隊の安全を害すべき用途に供する目的をもつて、又は不当な方法で、探知し、又は収集した者は、十年以下の懲役に処する。</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Basically, violating the \"confidentiality\" (機密) of a US Army base by providing \"documents, diagrams, etc\" with a \"purpose\" of harming the Army is punishable by up to ten years in prison.</p>\n\n<p>I got scolded by security guards in front of non-US buildings, so I guess this is only a partial answer. Other answers for other types of buildings are very welcome.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "japan", "photography" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4759, "body": "<p><a href=\"http://www.healthinfoprivacybc.ca/confidentiality/when-can-and-cant-they-tell-others\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.healthinfoprivacybc.ca/confidentiality/when-can-and-cant-they-tell-others</a> is a pretty good summary. Different rules apply to private practices than public clinics and hospitals. I will assume that the clinic on campus is private. This is a summary of the summary about who your information can be shared with:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Health care professionals can share information within your \"circle of care\". Specifically, they are allowed to assume your consent to this but you can explicitly withdraw that consent. This would include doctors within the same practice.</li>\n<li>Admin staff can access your information for administrative purposes.</li>\n<li>Anyone you have authorised them to share it with e.g. relatives, friends etc.</li>\n<li>The Medical Services Plan for billing and admin</li>\n<li>If you are unable to drive</li>\n<li>If there is suspected of child abuse</li>\n<li>If you are wounded by a gun or a knife</li>\n<li>If you are a danger to others</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>For your specific questions:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I asked about it and they said it's confidential, but confidential to the clinic.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Correct, unless you <em>explicitly</em> revoke this.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>the counselling department can share information with the doctors</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is tricker, these people <em>may</em> be either within your \"circle of care\" or they <em>may</em> be part of the same organisation. Notwithstanding, councillors are not doctors and are governed by the everyday laws related to confidentiality i.e. information given in confidence is confidential and everything else isn't. If you are <em>told</em> the limits of the confidentiality i.e. they tell the doctor, then those are the limits unless you renegotiate them.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>he would know I only have one kidney? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Well you said \"the counselling department can share information with the doctors\" and this would require the information going the other way i.e. the doctor sharing with the councillor. Even if this type of sharing was OK in general (and I'm not sure it is, see above); the information shared should only be what is required for the councillor to do their job - the number of kidneys you have is probably irrelevant to this.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What laws apply to situations like this where confidential information in one entity (medical office) decides to share it without the consent of the patients to another entity (the counselling dept.)?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Well, we are not sure there are 2 entities: legally there may only be 1 - the university. Anyway, the laws are the Personal Information Protection Act and common law (Smith v. Jones, [1999] 1 SCR 455)</p>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "canada", "privacy", "medical", "british-columbia" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4737, "body": "<p>The question didn't mention marital status, but since states formally recognize that relationship it's helpful to start there.</p>\n\n<p><strong>tl;dr</strong>: The Supreme Court decided state laws that required a woman to notify her spouse were unconstitutional. Thus it's unlikely there'd be grounds for suit.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Background</strong></p>\n\n<p>The central mechanism of <a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/410/113\">Roe v. Wade (U.S. 1973)</a> was a balancing act between what it decided was a 14th amendment right to privacy and the state's interest in both the health of the woman and the potentiality of life. Because <em>Roe</em> explicitly recognized a state interest, Pennsylvania passed a statute in 1982 that required informed consent and a 24-hour waiting period. It also mandated parental consent for minors (with some exceptions) and spousal notification. This reached the Supreme Court in <a href=\"http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/casey.html\">Planned Parenthood of SE Penn. v. Casey (U.S. 1992)</a>.</p>\n\n<p>There, the court upheld most of the Pennsylvania law (reinforcing its statement in <em>Roe</em> that a state does have an interest) but struck down the spousal notification portion. To do that, it determined the appropriate test was whether a state was placing an undue burden---a significant obstacle---in the path of a woman seeking an abortion prior to fetal viability. It reasoned that:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>state regulation impacts a female's liberty more than male's during pregnancy (by way of biology)</li>\n<li>if a man and woman disagree, only one can prevail</li>\n<li>not all women are equally impacted by a notification mandate (for reasons of domestic violence, etc.)</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Combining this with the notion that women do not lose any constitutionally protected liberty upon marriage, it decided spousal notification would be a significant obstacle and thus an undue burden. In other words, unmarried women don't have spouses to notify, so placing a notification requirement on married women creates an additional burden that the court found undue.</p>\n\n<p>To get back to the question, the father certainly has a right to file a suit against the female (...and it happens from time to time). However, it likely wouldn't go far. Since unmarried women were the baseline in <em>Casey</em>, it's unlikely there'd be grounds for either married or unmarried fathers to sue their female partners. This comes up frequently under the moniker of \"Father's Rights,\" which has gained less traction in the U.S. than in other countries. That said, Wisconsin recently introduced a <a href=\"http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2015/related/proposals/ab237\">bill</a> that would allow fathers to proceed against abortion providers.</p>\n", "score": 6 }, { "answer_id": 4730, "body": "<p>For there to be a cause of action, the father must have suffered damage. It would be impossible to convince a court that he had.</p>\n\n<p>Further, government (including the judiciary) post <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade\" rel=\"nofollow\">Roe v. Wade</a> does not have the authority to interfere in the mother's decision so an injunction is not possible.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "united-states", "constitutional-law", "georgia" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4757, "body": "<p>Yes, you can be compelled by the government to reveal information: All it takes is a judge agreeing with a plaintiff or prosecutor that it has some relevance to a complaint over which the court has jurisdiction. If that point arrives and you want to protect that information you only have three choices:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Get a legal team good enough to convince the court otherwise.</p></li>\n<li><p>Face the consequences of contempt of court for failing to supply the information requested.</p></li>\n<li><p>Flee to another jurisdiction before #2 happens.</p></li>\n</ol>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "united-states" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4753, "body": "<p>Since you asked, and it's a perfectly legitimate question, here's <em>why</em> it doesn't violate the Fifth Amendment (from <em>Garner v. US</em>):</p>\n\n<p>The Fifth Amendment doesn't say \"you can't be made to say anything that hurts you.\" It says \"no person...shall be compelled in any <em>criminal case</em> to be a witness against himself.\" The <em>only</em> time Fifth Amendment protection applies is if you are being forced by the government to make a statement that could open you up to an accusation or conviction of a criminal offense. It's fairly broad (if it would help prove any aspect of the charge, you can claim immunity), but it's also restricted (you can't claim it unless it really <em>would</em> tend to incriminate you).</p>\n\n<p>That means that you could only argue the Fifth Amendment if your tax return might help prove a criminal case against you (the fact that disclosing income leads to you needing to pay tax does not qualify as \"self-incrimination\"). But the <em>amount</em> of income is not one of those things that might incriminate you -- you can get income through all sorts of ways. The thing that is incriminating is revealing the <em>source</em> of the income, and you can claim Fifth Amendment privilege for that.</p>\n\n<p>So:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>The only time you could possibly claim privilege is if you were being forced into a statement that might tend to incriminate you in a criminal proceeding. A statement that makes you liable for tax doesn't mean it might incriminate you.</li>\n<li>Filing an income tax return isn't inherently incriminating. The fact that you have income not included in any other part of the return (illegal income goes under \"other income\") doesn't imply you've committed a crime -- lots of people have other income.</li>\n<li>The <em>amount</em> of income can't be incriminating. The <em>source</em> can be, but you can claim Fifth Amendment privilege for that if it might incriminate you. And lawful income under \"other income\" still might give rise to a reasonable fear of prosecution, so the fact that you're justified in claiming Fifth Amendment privilege in source of income doesn't mean you're guilty of a crime.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Note that there are cases where you <em>are</em> flat-out exempt from filing tax returns under the Fifth Amendment: <em>Marchetti v. US</em> and <em>Grosso v. US</em> found that registration and tax on gambling <em>could</em> be blocked by a Fifth Amendment claim, which didn't even have to be asserted at time of filing, because merely filing the special return would establish you as a gambler (heavily regulated/often criminalized at the state level). The difference with the normal income tax form is that <em>everyone</em> (just about) files one, and so filing it doesn't mean you're a criminal. If there was a separate line along the lines of \"Income from Illegal Drug Sales,\" that might be one thing (anything other than $0 is inherently incriminating). But all the questions are broad, and have many legal sources of income associated with them.</p>\n", "score": 15 }, { "answer_id": 4746, "body": "<p>There is no support for Schiff's position that the Fifth Amendment allows you to withhold from the IRS information about your income.</p>\n\n<p>In <a href=\"https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/274/259/case.html\"><em>United States v. Sullivan</em></a> 274 U.S. 259 (1927), the unanimous Supreme Court held that:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The Fifth Amendment does not protect the recipient of such income from prosecution for willful refusal to make any return under the income tax law.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In <em><a href=\"https://scholar.google.ca/scholar_case?case=9395786726505555671\">United States v. Schiff</a></em> 612 F.2d 73 (2d Cir. 1979), the trial judge noted (and the unanimous appeals court panel did not disagree with this point) that:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>the Fifth Amendment does not give a person the right to withhold the required information on the return concerning items the disclosure of which would not incriminate him or tend to incriminate him, and that even as to items which might incriminate him, he is required to state the amount of his income even if he does not reveal its illegal source.</p>\n</blockquote>\n", "score": 10 } ]

[ "tax-law", "constitutional-law", "us-constitution", "fifth-amendment" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4750, "body": "<p>The IRS rules on deductibility of business gifts are in <a href=\"https://www.irs.gov/publications/p463/ch03.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Pub 463</a>. Deductibility of business gifts \"for the eventual personal use or benefit of a particular person or a limited class of people\" is limited to $25 per person per year.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/question-deduct-employee-gift-cost-28066.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Furthermore</a>, </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Cash &ndash; or cash equivalents, such as gift certificates &ndash; are looked\n at differently through the tax authorities' eyes.... You must\n treat such gifts as additional compensation, no matter what the\n amount. These gifts are subject to withholding.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I wouldn't be surprised if there were a restriction on giving gifts to yourself, but since you're talking about a maximum tax benefit of single-digit dollars per year I don't consider it likely to make a material difference whether you claim it or not.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "tax-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4741, "body": "<p>An NDA is a contract, and at least in the U.S. a contract does not generally to be \"validated\" to be effective. (There are probably still some foreign jurisdictions that require stamps or taxes be paid for certain contracts to be in force.) In fact, in the U.S. a contract need not even be written to have legal force.</p>\n\n<p>However, if you want your contract to actually accomplish specific business objectives you need to consult a lawyer to ensure that it will have the effects you desire in the jurisdictions you care about.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "contract-law", "non-compete" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4740, "body": "<p>\"Whistleblowing\" by publicizing classified information does not have a safe harbor in the law. In the U.S., everyone who is given access to classified information signs NDAs acknowledging that unauthorized disclosure of classified information will subject them to both civil and criminal penalties. (Even non-government NDAs subject violators to civil penalties, unless used to report a crime.)</p>\n\n<p>Granted: no contract can be used to punish someone for reporting a crime. But there are means to report crimes one sees in classified information without breaking the law.</p>\n\n<p>If one believes that classified information showing law-breaking is being tolerated \"all the way to the top\" then, in principle, one would have to take one's allegations public, which <em>does</em> violate the law. Of course, such legitimate disclosures become highly politicized. If the \"whistleblower\" in such a case is actually charged then he can ask for a jury trial and try to convince the jury that breaking the law was justified, or even morally necessary.</p>\n\n<p>\"Treason\" is just one of the more severe crimes you can face for \"whistleblowing\" by injudiciously disclosing particularly sensitive classified information. The elements of treason are very simple. From <a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2381\" rel=\"nofollow\">18 USC 115</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against\n them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within\n the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason....</p>\n</blockquote>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "criminal-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4728, "body": "<p>Without a jurisdiction, I'll just say that unless the comments made in the reviews and discussions were false, the individual is unlikely to have any claim, particularly given that you've stated that this occurred <strong>over the course of a year</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>However, the individual may be able to argue that they were not given sufficient notice of their performance, for example through performance evaluations, and given the length of time, it likely that one would have occurred.</p>\n\n<p>A company may be able to terminate an employee in spite of their overall contributions if they have breached policy - for instance, an otherwise outstanding employee who attracts negative customer reviews based in fact, and who is given ample opportunity and guidance to improve, may cause brand and reputational damage to the company; in this case, it is a commercial decision to retain or terminate the employee.</p>\n\n<p>As for what recourse the employee has, if the comments were factual, then it is likely that they will not have any, <em>unless</em> the employer has not adhered to procedural requirements - for instance, in Australia, you are required to provide an employee the opportunity to have a support person present at any meeting which may result in the employee's termination - <em>or</em> the employer broke some other law - for instance, discrimination, bullying or harassment law.</p>\n\n<p>Unfortunately, the contributions an employee makes does not necessarily negate the harm they do, and complaints based on an employee's performance are completely valid if factual.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "employment", "human-rights" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4731, "body": "<p>Yes, they could sue either for breach of contract or under the tort of negligence. If they succeed, they would be entitled to either a) a refund or b) another haircut.</p>\n\n<p>They would not be entitled to damages for \"miss a meeting and contract\" as these are not foreseeable results of a bad haircut. That is, the barber's negligence is not sufficiently proximate to the loss.</p>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "liability", "civil-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4716, "body": "<p>First, a clarification: <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statutory_damages\">statutory damages</a> are damages that are prescribed by the statute rather than being based on actual loss.</p>\n\n<p>In both Canada and the U.S. even if the copyright owner was not attempting to profit from the work (thus realizing no <em>actual</em> damages), they could recover any of the <em>infringer</em>'s profits that are attributable to the infringement. (<a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/504\">17 U.S.C. §504</a>, <a href=\"http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-42/FullText.html\"><em>Copyright Act</em> s. 35</a>)</p>\n\n<p>In both Canada and the U.S., the copyright owner can elect to recover statutory damages (described below) instead of actual damages and profits. Even if there <em>are</em> actual damages and profits that the plaintiff could recover, the extra effort and cost associated with proving those may cause a plaintiff decide to recover statutory damages instead.</p>\n\n<p>In the U.S., statutory damages can be sought if the infringed work was registered at the time of the infringement (roughly). (<a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/412\">17 U.S.C. §412</a>)</p>\n\n<p>Statutory damages range from $750 to $30000 per work. (<a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/504\">17 U.S.C. §504</a>)</p>\n\n<p>In Canada, <a href=\"https://www.gowlings.com/KnowledgeCentre/article.asp?pubID=2231\">registration is not required</a> in order to be eligible for statutory damages.</p>\n\n<p>Statutory damages in Canada range from $500 to $20000 for all infringements in the proceedings if the infringement is commercial infringement, and from $500 to $5000 for all infringements in the proceedings otherwise. (<a href=\"http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-42/FullText.html\"><em>Copyright Act</em> s. 38.1</a>)</p>\n", "score": 7 } ]

[ "copyright", "intellectual-property", "damages" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4729, "body": "<p>Point #1 put simply says that when a decision or action (mandatory or otherwise) is given to 3 or more people then the decision of the majority is binding. For 1 or 2 people the decision must be unanimous.</p>\n\n<p>A quorum is either a) what the boards rules say (point 5) or b) a majority of the board (point 6) whichever is lesser. For the board you detail (7 members 4 for a quorum) the answer is the same either way - 4 members at the meetings make a valid meeting.</p>\n\n<p>If there are 4 or more members on the board, the board can function providing that 4 or more members attend each meeting. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Does that mean, for example, that the whole of the land surveyors board \"must\" meet at least once per year? Yes or no?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No, there must be one meeting where a quorum is in attendance.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>... that would effectively be a case where the board had fulfilled its duty through delegation. No?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes, providing that such delegation (in the form of a sub-committee) was a power that the board had.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>... but if the laws say the board is composed of lay persons too, they ought to show up at least once a year like the law says.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No, it doesn't. The criteria for <em>appointment</em> to the boards may specify a given number of professionals and lay-persons, however, once appointed they are <em>all</em> board members. There is no legal obligation on a board member to attend board meetings. Obviously, if they don't then they are not very effective board members and will probably not be reappointed but you can't force them to turn up.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "parliamentary-procedure" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4712, "body": "<p>The author of that work owns its copyright. Barring a licence that gives you the right to use it, you are infringing copyright. (I'm assuming no fair use in this case; i.e. the YouTube clip isn't actually <em>about</em> the audio track.)</p>\n\n<p>If you pay for licences, make sure the licence allows for the purpose you intend to use it for.</p>\n", "score": 7 }, { "answer_id": 4713, "body": "<p>When I buy a CD of \"Pee Wee Herman Sings Abby Road,\" (fictitious) I am \"licensed\" to listen to it. If I then want to use it in sychronization with a creative video I've made, I must obtain a synchronization license.</p>\n\n<p>When I go out to soundcloud and find a track, I must do the exact same thing. The fact that it is downloadable for free from soundcloud doesn't give you synchronization license.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "copyright", "fair-use" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4709, "body": "<p>It is discrimination, but not necessarily sexist or unlawful because the criteria you cited could apply to either gender. But that's for others to deliberate. If you can legally obtain her contact info, it would probably be best to let her know so she can pursue it if she wants to. It can be reported to EEOC.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-states", "discrimination" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4703, "body": "<p>Using two states as examples:</p>\n\n<p>In California, emergency vehicle operators are exempt from pretty much the entirety of the rules of the road (<a href=\"https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/vctop/vc/d11/c1/a2/21055\" rel=\"noreferrer\">VC 21055</a>). They can pass you on the right if they want to. Department policy might say no, but that depends on department policy and the details of their emergency vehicle operation course.</p>\n\n<p>However, California law requires all drivers to pull to the <em>right</em> when an emergency vehicle approaches (<a href=\"https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/vctop/vc/d11/c4/21806\" rel=\"noreferrer\">VC 21806</a>). Even though an ambulance driver legally could pass you on the right, you are required to pull right. According to <a href=\"http://www.blm.gov/ca/dir/pdfs/2004/im/CAIM2004-021ATT1.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer\">the BLM's emergency response policy for fire personnel in California</a>, this means passing on the right is heavily disfavored: the emergency vehicle operator doesn't know that the driver (who is clearly not paying much attention) won't suddenly notice them and comply with the vehicle code, cutting them off or running into them. Other policies/things which seem to reflect policies say similar things, and all make it clear that operators need to be careful that the car they're passing won't drive into them.</p>\n\n<p>In Maryland, the law is a bit different. <a href=\"http://law.justia.com/codes/maryland/2010/transportation/title-21/subtitle-4/21-405/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Section 21-405</a> of the Maryland Code obligates drivers to move to the edge of the roadway. This means <em>either</em> edge, so on a divided highway you might pull left. On a non-divided road, you obviously pull right. In this case, the vehicle may end up passing you on the right, but again: they are going to be careful about it, and would rather you get out of their way so they don't have to worry that you'll suddenly see them and drive into them.</p>\n", "score": 8 }, { "answer_id": 4705, "body": "<p>The first answer is \"do not panic and attempt an unsafe maneuver.\" The second answer is \"try very hard to move to the right.\" The third answer is, \"whatever you intend to do, give the emergency vehicle ample and clear indication of exactly what that is.\"</p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "united-states", "traffic" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4704, "body": "<p>Normally, payments between entities other than Corporations of more than $600 need to be reported to the IRS using form 1099-MISC. This is the obligation of the payer, not the payee. You should expect the company paying yours to request a <a href=\"https://www.irs.gov/uac/About-Form-W9\" rel=\"nofollow\">Form W-9</a> from you at some point, and then by February 16 of the next year you should expect to receive a <a href=\"https://www.irs.gov/uac/About-Form-1099MISC\" rel=\"nofollow\">1099-MISC</a> declaring all the money they paid you.</p>\n\n<p>Regardless of whether they report it (not everyone does this correctly ... or on time), you are legally obligated to include payments received in your business taxes.</p>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "contract-law", "tax-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4684, "body": "<p>It would appear that it is legal to make such prohibitions as a condition of their lease. The first amendment prevents <em>government</em> from interfering with your right to speech; it does not prevent you agreeing to refrain from exercising it in a contract. Presumably, someone who feels strongly enough about this will rent somewhere else or otherwise negotiate it out of the lease.</p>\n\n<p>From <a href=\"http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/political-yard-signs\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/political-yard-signs</a></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Although cities and other government entities are constrained by the First Amendment in regulating political yard signs, there is no similar restraint imposed on private homeowner and condominium associations. Seemingly the only free-speech avenue for a resident in a private homeowner association is an argument based on an individual state constitution.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>However, they can fall foul of state law, see the link for details.</p>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 4685, "body": "<p>Yes, this can be limited. Private property owners can and do prohibit certain uses of their property so long as it doesn't infringe on the use of \"basic necessities\" that all units must contain (access to bathroom and kitchen). They most certainly possess the right to delimit certain uses of the property. They don't even have to allow any use of common areas if they don't want to. </p>\n\n<p>A lease, or a rental agreement is a contract like any other; a bargained for exchange. So long as the agreement fits within the parameters of jurisdictional housing laws, anything can be bargained for. I have never seen a local fair housing law that included the right to display signs. Especially political ones. </p>\n\n<p>A public housing complex almost necessarily has to ban it, or they would have to allow everybody to put them up since public monies disallow discrimination. </p>\n\n<p>Most leases/rental agreements don't list every single thing that is not allowed in writing, because the bounds of what the human mind can fathom are endless. That said, there is typically a clause(s) that gives the owner/property manager the right to disallow any activity that could give rise to general disputes, could reflect poorly on the owner, or may in any other way be disruptive to the peaceful enjoyment of the property. With this clause, there is typically wide berth as far as what types of limitations can be imposed, with a termination clause allowing the owner to end the lease or the tenant to back out if they cannot agree on the specific action or behavior.</p>\n\n<p>With local Election Day fast approaching, my neighborhood is absolutely littered with signs in every lawn supporting someone or other. This certainly creates a perception of that property owner based on who they're supporting politically. Imagine a small dwelling (a couple of units), all with opposing support being announced through their signs (if allowed) and how that may create tension amongst neighbors (people can get excited over politics) who see each other regularly. </p>\n\n<p>Worse: Imagine a large complex. If allowed, there could be so many signs that there'd be no lawn left for quiet enjoyment! </p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "united-states", "rental-property" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4698, "body": "<p>Take option #2. Your concern in that scenario is not realistic: A lawyer who \"reported\" you to the counterparty of your settlement for such a consultation would be disbarred so quickly and harshly that it might actually give you faith in the Bar Associations. Consultations with lawyers are <a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/attorney-client_privilege\">privileged</a>, and <a href=\"http://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_1_6_confidentiality_of_information.html\">lawyers have a duty to maintain client confidentiality in all but the most extreme situations</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Furthermore, you might (ultimately) be entitled to whistleblower compensation, and unless you're an SEC rules specialist you probably wouldn't know how to get that without an advocate like a securities industry lawyer.</p>\n", "score": 6 } ]

[ "fraud", "whistleblower" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4695, "body": "<p>They retain sui juris after \"divorce\" or death of a spouse.</p>\n\n<p>A minor becomes sui juris upon marriage (civil marriage pursuant to Thai Civil and Commercial Code, article 1448). [Art. 20] The status of sui juris won't be revoked by divorce or death. This rule is not written in statutes but is interpreted in such manner.</p>\n\n<p>However, if a court judged that marriage is null and void (e.g. a valid marriage did not exist because of same-sex marriage, polygamy, consanguineous marriage etc.) and a spouse is aged under 20, his/her status of sui juris also become null and void.</p>\n", "score": 5 } ]

[ "marriage", "minor", "sui-juris" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4693, "body": "<p>Japanese Government (METI) has released model (sample) Master Service Agreements for IT industries. Yes, these are written in Japanese.</p>\n\n<p>For details, click the link below or google \"情報システム・モデル取引・契約書\".\n<a href=\"http://www.meti.go.jp/policy/it_policy/softseibi/index.html#05\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.meti.go.jp/policy/it_policy/softseibi/index.html#05</a></p>\n\n<p>There are a several version of model MSAs (e.g. for SaaS, system integration, entrusted development etc.) </p>\n\n<p>Of course, you will need to revise it to fit your services. Don't forget to ask a lawyer to review it. </p>\n\n<p>Good luck!</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "legal-writing", "japan" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4583, "body": "<p>No. The 14th Amendment says no person may be deprived of life, liberty, or property <em>without due process of law</em>. There's an argument the legislative procedure must meet certain requirements, but the fact it was passed is certainly capable of being due process (and normally would be due process).</p>\n", "score": 8 }, { "answer_id": 4688, "body": "<p>Yes and no. If a law is unconstitutional, its enforcement is against the law. So you can break the law, and then successfully fight the charge on that basis. But it won't feel like liberty when you're arrested, jailed, etc. Also, whether a law is unconstitutional isn't always clear, so the courts might decide against you no matter how strongly you believe you're in the right.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "criminal-law", "constitutional-law", "civil-law", "us-constitution" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4683, "body": "<blockquote>\n <p>Getting other person's banking information (the number of accounts, the total amount) is a crime. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Really? In which jurisdiction and in which law in that jurisdiction is this a crime?</p>\n\n<p>Methods that might be used such as stealing mail or hacking computer systems are certainly a crime but e.g. asking someone how much money they have and how many bank accounts, while extremely rude, is not criminal.</p>\n\n<p>Ask away; I would expect the banker to politely (or otherwise) to fornicate off unless they had been given an instruction from their client to tell you.</p>\n\n<p>Many countries, Australia being one, have credit reporting agencies that will sell you a credit worthiness report on individuals and corporations. They do not go into that level of detail and you must supply a privacy release form from the subject.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "banking" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4679, "body": "<p>You can't normally ask the court to \"recuse\" an attorney, because \"recusal\" is normally restricted to the <em>judge</em> leaving the case. The more common term is moving to disqualify opposing counsel.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "legal-terms", "process", "legal-concepts" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4474, "body": "<blockquote>\n <p>Does the city have a right of discretion to not cite and fine Neighbor B, no matter the number of complaints and evidence from Person A?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Or does the city only have a privilege of discretion that was forfeited when the city fined Neighbor C?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No</p>\n\n<p>A prosecuting body's discretion to prosecute or not to prosecute is almost unlimited; this is pretty much universal across all common law jurisdictions. See <a href=\"http://www.justice.gov/usam/usam-9-2000-authority-us-attorney-criminal-division-mattersprior-approvals#9-2.020\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.justice.gov/usam/usam-9-2000-authority-us-attorney-criminal-division-mattersprior-approvals#9-2.020</a> for the power for the US Attorney.</p>\n\n<p>Legally there are three concepts in how this law must be exercised: <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_faith\" rel=\"nofollow\">good faith</a>, lack of good faith and <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_faith\" rel=\"nofollow\">bad faith</a>. In general, for a court to overturn a decision of a prosecutor (not) to prosecute there must be bad faith, an absence of good faith is not enough. Legally \"bad faith implies malice or ill will. A decision made in bad faith is grounded, not on a rational connection between the circumstances and the outcome, but on antipathy toward the individual for non-rational reasons.\"</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How does Person A legally address what appears to be the city attorney's conflict of interest with his paralegal? What is the correct terminology to use?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Perceived conflict of interest is the term. That conflict leads to apprehended bias. That bias amounts to bad faith. This is <em>not</em> a strong chain of legal reasoning and could fall over an either step. The perception may not match the reality, the conflict may not give rise to bias and the bias probably doesn't amount to bad faith.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What about the unwritten agreement between the city and the sheriff's department to not participate in the enforcement of dog complaints due to time constraints? That type of agreement to not enforce laws on the books does not appear to be legal. Does that apply in this case?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Unless the agreement was made in bad faith it is perfectly legal. There may be an argument that a blanket prohibition on action is bad public policy but that doesn't amount to bad faith. Better public policy would be to require a higher threshold of evidence or expected return (costs vs fines).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Are these details significant in a legal sense? I.e., some sort of admittance of negligence?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>An admission is always advantageous to a plaintiff, however, unless it was made under oath or in front of witnesses it can always be recanted. \"Negligence\" is not an issue here; trespass is.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Can Person A go to district court for a writ of mandamus to force the city to cite and fine neighbor B in the hopes of solving the noise ordinance violations? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No; mandamus can force the authority to do what it is <em>required</em> to do; not what it has <em>discretion</em> about doing. At best, you could seek mandamus to force the authority to (re)make the decision to prosecute if the decision was a) not made or b) not made correctly.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Could the city attorney's conflict of interest with his paralegal be outlined in that lawsuit as a possible reason for the lack of action on the city's part?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Could be, sure. How are <em>you</em> going to <em>prove</em> it is?</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What about the unwritten agreement between the city and the sheriff's department?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>See above.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is that heresy?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No, <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heresy\" rel=\"nofollow\">heresy</a> is \"any provocative belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs.\" It is usually used in a religious or cultural sense but could be applied to the law as \"established beliefs or customs.\" However, as stated, it is perfectly consistent with the beliefs and customs of established law.</p>\n\n<h2>TL;DR</h2>\n\n<p>You're on your own. You could threaten or actually commence a suit under the tort of trespass seeking an order that the dogs be removed or whatever else you and your lawyer think might work.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "jurisdiction", "legal-terms", "legal-concepts" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4652, "body": "<p>This is a multiple choice question:</p>\n\n<p>Does a crime take place in the location of:</p>\n\n<p>a) the perpetrator(s)</p>\n\n<p>b) the victim(s)</p>\n\n<p>c) somewhere else</p>\n\n<p>d) all of the above.</p>\n\n<p>The correct answer is d) all of the above.</p>\n\n<p>Jurisdiction in criminal matters is decided by the courts of each jurisdiction. Let me expand one of your examples:</p>\n\n<p>A US citizen resident in Canada hacks a server located in the UK to access the information of an Australian citizen resident in France but traveling in Germany and uses it to cause harm to the Australian's Mexican corporation's business in South Africa. Any or all of the courts of the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, France, Germany, Mexico and South Africa could hear the case. </p>\n\n<p>Some may decide that they do not have jurisdiction because their connection is tenuous (e.g. Germany). Some may defer their jurisdiction to another jurisdiction - effectively saying \"we have jurisdiction but will not hear the case; bring us the judgement from jurisdiction X and we will enforce it\", this is very common. For example, if drug smuggling takes place between two countries the perpetrator will generally only be prosecuted where they are caught, however, if they are acquitted in the first jurisdiction they may have to face prosecution in the second.</p>\n\n<p>The point is; jurisdiction is complicated.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "united-kingdom", "internet", "criminal-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4659, "body": "<p>Reselling products is legal - its called \"business\".</p>\n\n<p>What you are proposing to do is illegal - its called \"<a href=\"http://www.guidestar.org/Articles.aspx?path=/rxa/news/articles/2003/fundraising-what-laws-apply.aspx\" rel=\"nofollow\">fraud</a>\". Disguising personal gain under a charitable guise is fraud, a crime against the state for which fines and prison are the penalty and also the civil tort of passing off against the school for which they can seek recompense.</p>\n\n<p>If you were open and honest in your sales pitch - \"$5, $1 for me and $4 for the school\" then this would be legal.</p>\n", "score": 1 }, { "answer_id": 4657, "body": "<p>Generally speaking, you are committing fraud, by using the imprimatur of your school's fundraiser to take personal profit.</p>\n\n<p>Regardless of the legality, does that idea not set off your \"this idea is a stinker\" radar? People are buying that worthless, useless stuff because it's for a CAUSE. They could otherwise go to walmart and buy that same worthless, useless stuff for much less. You, adding on a \"premium\" that will go in your pocket, is (let me find the correct legal term...) a \"scumbag\" maneuver.</p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "united-states", "north-carolina" ]

[ { "answer_id": 704, "body": "<p>It depends on what information you are sharing, how you got it, and what rights the business asserts over the information.</p>\n\n<p>For example, if it is content created by the business and they claim copyright protection you can only use it without their permission in accordance with <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use\" rel=\"nofollow\">Fair use</a> exceptions.</p>\n\n<p>If you obtain the information through some limited/conditional access agreement you would be subject to the terms of that agreement.</p>\n\n<p><strong>As always:</strong> If you want a legal opinion specific to your use case you need to consult a lawyer in your jurisdiction.</p>\n", "score": 3 }, { "answer_id": 4658, "body": "<p>A business (nor an individual) can not copyright that \"we have a happy hour weekdays from 5:00pm to 7:00pm.</p>\n\n<p>If the information was publicly announced (i.e. via a sandwich board in the street outside their door, or in a newspaper ad) then it is \"news\" and is not protected by copyright.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-states", "copyright", "intellectual-property" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4650, "body": "<p>Providing or directing John towards the information would breach the agreement. Even making John aware that you exist may do so.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "contract-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4643, "body": "<p>When you say \"blanket immunity,\" I assume you're talking about <em>transactional</em> immunity -- the witness cannot ever be prosecuted for any crimes they testified about. This immunity is actually broader than that required by the US Constitution (although some states do require it). However, if it's provided, it absolutely covers crimes connected to what John is accused of. One very common use of immunity is to give a co-conspirator immunity to testify against another co-conspirator being charged with conspiracy. If transactional immunity wouldn't cover that conspiracy charge, it would pretty much defeat the purpose.</p>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "criminal-law", "witnesses" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4638, "body": "<p>Only certain types of cases require the court's approval for a settlement. Typically, these are class actions, domestic relations cases involving the division of debt/assets and child custody/support, civil rights cases – especially under 42 USC sec. 1983 – whereby the court will often need to approve and oversee consent decrees, certain suits brought by the attorney general on behalf of, and inter-pleading a consumer, and especially any civil action where the plaintiff is a minor, as well as a handful of other less common types of cases.</p>\n<p><strong>1) How do I know if the court needs to approve a settlement? (For example, a civil case in New Jersey)</strong></p>\n<p>If there is an attorney involved, they will let you know. Also, depending on jurisdiction, your scheduling order may say something like &quot;any settlements in compromise require court approval and a hearing on same.&quot; (I saw NJ: When I say jurisdiction, I mean this can differ between state and federal court.) If there are no lawyers involved and you're not sure, when the stipulation of dismissal is sent to the court, they will let you know that the agreement requires court approval and the case will not be dismissed until this occurs.</p>\n<p>This is, in the grand scheme of things, highly atypical. Generally, in a non-domestic civil matter that is not a color of law claim (alleging a government actor violated your civil rights), the court is not party to your settlement agreement.</p>\n<p><strong>2) What is the process? Who reads it and what do they look for?</strong></p>\n<p>In the cases when it is necessary, the court will review the settlement agreement. The process is simple: just a quick hearing where the judge will have already read the agreement (because it will be required to be submitted prior to the hearing) to be sure that it is fair and equitable. The types of cases that typically require court approval are specifically those types wherein one party is seen to be in a position of disadvantage (or in a divorce case, because often they use a mediator so the court needs to review it and ask the parties if they agree, also to advise them of their rights, to make sure child support is calculated correctly, and to make sure one party is not coerced into giving up visitation in exchange for monetary relief).</p>\n<p>The court will go over the terms of the agreements in these specific matters, and will then ask each party if they realize that they are forever waiving their right to seek further relief, or mount a defense, and that their case will be dismissed with prejudice.</p>\n<p><strong>3) If the settlement is approved by a court, how big is the discrepancy between a contract that is approved by the court and one which can later be deemed non enforceable? From what I read on the internet, a contract should not forbid someone from reporting a crime, but my contract explicitly forbids me from making any complaint with the Attorney General.</strong></p>\n<p>I cannot really comment on what your agreement states with regard to reports to the AG. If it was a whistleblower claim, they can bar you from bringing a suit under whistle blower protections if you are settling that claim, or can require a confidentiality agreement and not to file charges for crimes where you were the victim and you are being compensated civilly, but it cannot bar you from filing a criminal complaint that you have a duty to report, and certain things are not able to be contractually controlled.</p>\n<p>Whether you are Plaintiff or Defendant, I hope you have a lawyer if you are entering into a settlement of a civil suit that arose from the commission of a crime. This is getting into murky area and I would need specific facts and need to give you specific legal advice to answer this question. <a href=\"http://www.stroock.com/siteFiles/Pub156.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">HERE IS A LINK</a> to an article on this issue; whether or not it will be relevant I cannot guess.</p>\n<p><strong>4) Is there a reason the process should take over a year? We had both signed and dated a settlement agreement. Over a year later I was applying for jobs, and was trying to explain to potential employers that &quot;well, if you do look me up in the ACMS this case is active but we signed the contract over a year ago.&quot; Needless to say, I didn't get any offers.</strong></p>\n<p>No! If your case was settled over a year ago, your case should be dismissed by now. That is unless you are one member of a class action, and that claim still exists for the other members, or if there were multiple parties (but not a class) and the case is still going on for the others, but even if this is the case, you should have been dismissed out. Typically, when an agreement is reached, the case is dismissed immediately.</p>\n<p>It sounds like this was an employment law claim. Was it actually filed in court, or are you referring by chance, to an EEOC case that is still pending? Regardless, you should check with your lawyer, or opposing counsel if you were <em>pro se</em> to see why the dismissal has not been filed. You should also be able to contact the clerk to be sure the case was dismissed.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "civil-law", "civil-procedure", "settlement" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4641, "body": "<p>Contracts are allowed to address or stipulate anything that is not illegal. Employers are generally allowed to apply restrictions that do not discriminate against protected characteristics. I.e., unless there is a law against it, employers are almost certainly allowed to regulate the relationships between employees.</p>\n\n<p>In the U.S. this is quite common. For example, many companies have <a href=\"http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/free-books/employee-rights-book/chapter5-7.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">\"anti-nepotism\" and/or \"fraternization\" policies</a>. The former restricts employment of people with a (usually pre-existing) familial relationship. The latter restricts <em>behavior that could be perceived as \"dating.\"</em> Sometimes the restrictions only apply to employees with a supervisor/subordinate relationship, but it is not unusual to see a blanket prohibition.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "contract-law", "employment" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4628, "body": "<p><a href=\"http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/repairs_in_private_lets/landlord_refusing_to_do_repairs\" rel=\"noreferrer\">This guide from Shelter</a> lists the steps you should take.</p>\n\n<p>It can be summarised as: if the landlord fails to arrange the repairs, contact your local council. If they can't help, you can arrange the repairs yourself and request that the landlord reimburse you. If the landlord still refuses to co-operate, then you can pursue legal action.</p>\n\n<p>It's important that you document everything you're doing, and keep the landlord fully informed at every step.</p>\n\n<p>The guide states that you can deduct the cost from future rent. But it also says:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>You do not have the right to withhold your rent if your landlord refuses to do repairs. If you don't pay rent, the landlord could take steps to evict you.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>...so you may want to get expert advice before going any further.</p>\n", "score": 5 } ]

[ "rental-property", "england-and-wales" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4625, "body": "<p>I can think of three ways that your hypothetical bill could fail to become enforceable law.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>The <a href=\"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Canada\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Canadian Constitution</a> contains unwritten constitutional principles. Among other things, in <em><a href=\"https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1643/index.do\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Reference Re Secession of Quebec</a></em> [1998] 2 S.C.R. 217, the Supreme Court recognized that protection of minorities is an independent and fundamental part of the Constitution:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Canadians have long recognized the existence and importance of unwritten constitutional principles in our system of government.</p>\n \n <p>[...] the preamble invites the courts to turn those principles into the premises of a constitutional argument that culminates in the filling of gaps in the express terms of the constitutional text.</p>\n \n <p>[...] the protection of minority rights is itself an independent principle underlying our constitutional order [...]</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The Supreme Court of Canada could rule such a law unconstitutional in order to protect minority rights.</p></li>\n<li><p>The Queen of Canada via her Governor General could decline to give such a bill royal assent, preventing it from becoming law.</p></li>\n<li><p>The Queen/Governor General can dissolve Parliament at any time to trigger an election.</p></li>\n</ol>\n", "score": 5 } ]

[ "canada", "constitutional-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4626, "body": "<p>Copyright exists in the photo in its own right. Copying it without permission is a breach unless it constitutes fair use/dealing in the tweeter's jurisdiction.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-states", "copyright", "internet" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4618, "body": "<p>What a <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statutory_interpretation\" rel=\"nofollow\">statute <em>means</em></a> can be difficult to determine.</p>\n\n<p>There are several approaches to statutory interpretation that could be helpful:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textualism\" rel=\"nofollow\">Textual</a>: The plain meaning doesn't confine \"use\" to a few particular types of uses.\nThe plain text provides an expansive prohibition on any use of an electronic communication device.</li>\n<li><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislative_history\" rel=\"nofollow\">Legislative history</a>/<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislative_intent\" rel=\"nofollow\">legislative intent</a>:\n\n<ul>\n<li>The previous version of the subsection <em>did</em> limit prohibited uses to only composing, sending, or reading electronic messages. Given the amendment, it seems that the legislature no longer desired that limitation.</li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09800HB1247&amp;GA=98&amp;SessionId=85&amp;DocTypeId=HB&amp;LegID=&amp;DocNum=1247&amp;GAID=12&amp;Session=\" rel=\"nofollow\">When the bill was introduced</a>, Rep. D'Amico stated the purpose of the bill was to \"[expand] the prohibition on driving while using an electronic communication device to include uses beyond composing, sending, or reading an electronic message.\"</li>\n<li>During <a href=\"http://www.ilga.gov/house/transcripts/htrans98/09800022.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">debate</a>, when asked what a person should do that doesn't have Bluetooth, Rep. D'Amico suggested \"You put it on speaker phone\". When asked, \"Where would you place the phone?\", Rep D'Amico replied, \"Wherever you feel like; just not next to your ear.\"</li>\n<li>During the same debate, D'Amico described the bill: \"What House Bill 1247 does is ban handheld cell phones while driving a vehicle.\"</li>\n<li>In my opinion, the declaration of the bill's sponsor, and the debate surrounding the bill treated it as expanding the prohibition from including only texting and email to also include voice conversations.</li>\n</ul></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>As far as I can tell, the full scope of \"using\" under this statute hasn't been tested in court, but I could see this going either way. The plain text provides an expansive prohibition on <em>any</em> use of an electronic communication device. However, a court might also be convinced by the legislative intent that only aims to add handheld voice communications to the previous list of prohibited activities (or it least it could be argued that this is the case).</p>\n\n<p>Further, under a <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purposive_approach\" rel=\"nofollow\">purposive construction</a>, a court could even look beyond the explicit legislative intent and find that the core purpose was to prevent distraction, in which case \"using\" could include any activity on your electronic device that distracts you <em>as if</em> you were texting, or making a phone call (eg. selecting the next song to play in your music app).</p>\n", "score": 6 }, { "answer_id": 4620, "body": "<p>To add to nomen agentis's answer, in a test of \"usage\" the court may look to similar hands-free bans in other jurisdictions. For example, consider <a href=\"https://www.sanantonio.gov/portals/0/Files/SAPD/Hands-Free-Ordinance-2015.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">San Antonio</a>, where the City Council takes care to define usage. In particular, it</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>finds that the use of a hand-held mobile communication device to <br>\n 1. engage in a call,<br>\n 2. send, read, or write a text message,<br>\n 3. view pictures or written text, whether transmitted by internet or other electronic means,<br>\n 4. engage in gaming, or<br>\n 5. engaging in any other use of the device while operating a moving motor vehicle is a traffic hazard and a danger to the public</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>As to proof, they might rely on the officer's testimony or, in an extreme case &ndash; say one involving a serious accident &ndash; they might access the device's logs or otherwise analyze it forensically.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-states", "traffic", "illinois" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4616, "body": "<p>I agree with @feetwet that the risk is consumer protection laws that prohibit <em>false and misleading conduct</em>. I disagree with the conclusion that what your question proposes isn't <em>false and misleading conduct</em> because you told the truth.</p>\n\n<p>Putting aside the fact that there is a clear <em>intention</em> to mislead (a slam dunk for the regulator); the test for <em>false and misleading conduct</em> is not if you told the truth, it's if a reasonable person in the circumstances would be misled. IMO the conduct you propose is misleading.</p>\n\n<p>For example, in Australia the supermarket giant Coles was prosecuted for advertising bread rolls as \"Fresh baked in-store\" and \"Baked today, sold today\". In fact, the rolls were made in Ireland and par-baked there, frozen, shipped to Australia, thawed and then finished baking in store. Technically they told the truth, however, the ACCC thought it was deceptive, a reasonable consumer would expect that the whole process had taken place on site. The <a href=\"https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/coles-to-pay-25m-for-misleading-baked-today-and-freshly-baked-in-store-bread-promotion\" rel=\"nofollow\">Federal Cour</a>t agreed with the ACCC and imposed a $2.5 million fine.</p>\n\n<p>That said: if you are not engaging in deceptive and misleading conduct you can charge different prices to different consumers for the same product. Car yards do this all the time - a consumer who is a good negotiator will get a better price than one who is not.</p>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 4613, "body": "<p><em>If you don't make any false or misleading claims</em> I don't believe there is any law or regulatory agency in the free world that would prohibit this. Since I can't prove a negative, here is a broad analogy followed by a fun anecdote:</p>\n\n<p>There are plenty of products that are functionally equivalent but where the price charged is entirely determined by the labeling. In the U.S., \"store-brand\" (a.k.a. white-label) products are often literally the same as the brand-name products that may be stocked immediately adjacent to them. I.e., they come off the same production line, and the only difference is the packaging.</p>\n\n<p>Bottled water might be another great example. Especially water that is filtered and remineralized, as opposed to (maybe) spring water.</p>\n\n<p>Now the fun but perhaps not perfectly related example: You can cripple a product to sell it at different prices: Intel famously segmented the market for its processors with its 486 CPU: It was offered in a DX version, which had the full functionality, and a cheaper SX version, which started as a DX chip to which extra manufacturing steps were applied in order to disable the math co-processor. So even though the SX cost (marginally) more to manufacture, it was sold at a lower price because it had been crippled.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "consumer-protection" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4550, "body": "<p>Of course you have to follow the license. You seem to have a license that doesn't allow distribution and want to know if giving copies to the Dutch or Chinese branch of your company is distribution. </p>\n\n<p>First, you should not make that decision. Your company's lawyers should do that. Second, such distribution is with some licenses perfectly legal if you distribute the software with source code. That's a business decision which you or your manager or his/her manager... can make. </p>\n\n<p>Such questions (whether giving a copy to your Dutch branch is distribution) often don't have an answer that is yes or no but maybe - if you went to court, would a judge say that it is distribution? The answer is quite clearly \"maybe\". So unless you can find a safe way, there is a risk. Again, your lawyers will assess the risk. </p>\n", "score": 3 }, { "answer_id": 4518, "body": "<p>All use of intellectual property (IP) that you do not own must comply with the license terms of the IP. Most open-source software is released/shared under licensing terms. Typically they are not onerous, but legally they must still be respected.</p>\n\n<p>Some licenses distinguish between commercial vs. non-commercial, profit vs. non-profit, or personal vs. business use. The use case you describe sounds like \"business\" use, and unless your organization is a non-profit presumably it sounds like \"non-commercial, for-profit, business use.\" But a large organization should have general counsel that could confirm whether your use is compliant with the license terms of all the IP you use.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "licensing", "software", "open-source-software" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4615, "body": "<p>It's not your license. It's the MIT's license, for example. </p>\n\n<p>What all these licenses have in common is that they allow the user to use the software in the way that copyright law allows, and then give the user certain further rights. So all the users of the software can use it just fine without being able to read the license terms, as long as they don't do anything outside what copyright law allows. </p>\n\n<p>If they want to do things that exceed what copyright law does, they must adhere to the license. That requires being confident that you understand the license text - if you don't understand it, it would be stupid to do things that might be copyright infringement. But all that is of no concern to users, only to software developers. </p>\n\n<p>As an example, German courts have decided that GPL being in English is Ok in Germany, because German software developers can be expected to speak English. </p>\n\n<p>All in all, I would say that a translation of these licenses isn't necessary because users don't need it, and the reason why you have to display the license is usually because the license itself requires you to display the unmodified license. </p>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 4612, "body": "<p>Translating a license can change its terms, I would suggest looking on the appropriate site for the French versions.</p>\n\n<p>I would contact the owners as some sites won't allow you to do this.</p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "licensing", "software", "translation" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4225, "body": "<p>If what you show is correct and above-board then you are being sued in superior court. However it sounds unlikely that the plaintiff could have served you with notice of such a lawsuit without you realizing it, so if I were you I would <em>first</em> call the court to see if they do in fact have a case with the docket number listed. Then ask:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>When and who served the original notice in the case (because if you really didn't get it then whoever said you did majorly screwed up and is probably in trouble)</li>\n<li>Who the plaintiff's counsel is</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>If the letter was from a real lawyer on the California Bar, and that case really is open in the superior court with you as a defendant, then you really are being sued, and you should either get a lawyer or negotiate a settlement, because if you don't answer and defend then you're just going to have more judgments against you.</p>\n\n<p>If any of the above does <em>not</em> check out then whoever sent that letter is in big trouble if you report it to the DA, postal inspector, and (if they are a real lawyer) the Bar.</p>\n", "score": 4 }, { "answer_id": 4380, "body": "<p>Yes. You need to answer; they are normal interrogatories. They don't require anything except an attorney's signature (or the pro se party's signature) as well as the notice that tells you how long you have to respond. Look at the rule they are under (it will be in the Rules of Civil Procedure around 33). You can object to preserve objections for trial, but you still need to answer. Look at model objections and have them all written out on a separate document you can cut and paste from. Object in bold before your answer. If you don't object now you can't later. If you do, and you win, the info you give them cannot be used. Also, count the number of interrogatories (not including subparts). The rule will have a maximum they can ask. It is common for them to go over. Stop answering if they get to the limit and make them ask a judge for more. It is common that the most important ones will come last and if you win, you won't have to disclose.</p>\n\n<p>The objection you are referring to states \"this interrogatory is overly broad and unduly burdensome, and is not likely to lead to relevant information.\"</p>\n\n<p>That said, you still have to answer unless you can't get the information. You have to understand: the questions are meant to are invasive. They are a fishing expedition to try to get information to use against you. What you have cited are standard questions and are not invasive by the court's standards.</p>\n\n<p>You do not get to object on relevance or privacy concerns. They clearly want to find out where all your assets are or may be. Leaving anything out or lying is tantamount to perjury. Your answers must be notarized.</p>\n\n<p>You really need a lawyer. If you cannot afford one, look for law schools with legal aid clinics, or legal aid in your area. Call your local bar association for information. Good luck.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "california", "civil-procedure", "civil-law", "interrogation" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4600, "body": "<p>For U.S. companies and proprietors: <strong>No</strong>. In general you can only deduct food costs for necessary business travel, and then it is subject to either published \"per diem\" rates or a \"50% limit\".</p>\n\n<p>Start your adventure <a href=\"http://www.irs.gov/publications/p463/ch02.html#en_US_2014_publink100033862\" rel=\"nofollow\">reading at the IRS, Publication 463, here</a>!</p>\n\n<p>Amusingly, if you have a separate office, <a href=\"http://blogs.findlaw.com/free_enterprise/2012/01/how-to-deduct-coffee-donuts-as-biz-expenses.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">you <em>can</em> fully deduct the cost of \"refreshments\" (which includes coffee) in that office</a> as a \"business supply.\"</p>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 4603, "body": "<p>In Australia, you can claim the GST and a tax deduction for coffee you buy for clients, suppliers, etc. but not for owners or employees. They must either pay for it themselves or, if the company does, it is not tax deductible. Alternatively, it can be treated as a fringe benefit; fringe benefits over $100 per year per employee must have fringe benefits tax paid and are then deductible for GST and income tax.</p>\n\n<p>In addition, if the employee (owner) is staying away from home overnight; they may claim meal (and accommodation, transport etc.) either at cost (subject to limits that increase with your base salary) or on a <em>per diem</em> rate set by the ATO based on the location.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "united-states", "business", "tax-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4608, "body": "<p>In Connecticut, this is covered by the <a href=\"https://www.cga.ct.gov/PS99/rpt/olr/htm/99-R-0430.htm\" rel=\"noreferrer\">firefighter's rule</a>. Police and fire personnel entering a property as part of their official duties are considered licensees, which limits the duties of the landowner. The rules are as follows:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You can't intentionally hurt or lay a trap for the licensee.</li>\n<li>If you know or should know the licensee is there, you need to exercise due care with them.</li>\n<li>You don't have to worry about obvious hazards (but keep in mind that it's harder to see stuff at night).</li>\n<li>If you're doing something dangerous, you need to watch out for them.</li>\n<li>If you know about a hidden hazard, you must warn them.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I'm not sure how in-depth you need to go with the warnings; various things I find suggest the duty to warn might only be there when you know or should know the licensee is present, but signs are a good idea regardless. On the other hand, if you do need to warn them, you might need to mention the specific locations of the pits you actually know about. However, there's no duty at all to proactively look for possible hazards.</p>\n\n<p>This rule originated as a rule for professional firefighters responding to a negligently-started fire: the idea is that professional firefighters sign up to do a dangerous job, and letting them sue for hazards inherent in their job (they aren't called <em>without</em> a fire) is a bad idea. Also, since they cannot be denied entry, go in places not open to the public, and can arrive at any hour, needing to keep the property safe for them is an unreasonable burden. Of course, there's an exception if a law is passed to protect their safety, because statutes override common law.</p>\n\n<p>The rule has since been extended in some states to police, and to situations besides the very problem they were called for. Other states have abolished it. In any event, this is for <em>civil</em> liability only: this is when cops can sue for injuries caused to them.</p>\n", "score": 6 } ]

[ "united-states", "liability", "police", "search-and-seizure" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4607, "body": "<p>The language that you're referring to, where it states that if they do not provide responses to legitimately served discovery requests in a timely manner, that they would be responsible for <em>attorney fees</em>, this <strong>does not refer to your attorneys fees that you incurred in <em>defending</em> the suit</strong>. It refers to <strong>attorneys fees that would (actually could) arise out of a <em>hearing on a motion to compel</em></strong>, in the event they <em>never</em> answered. If that occurred, the law allows you to <em>ask</em> the court to award you reasonable attorney's fees as well as sanctions, but only those having to do with getting the court to make them answer. Importantly, despite the rule that states this is a potential repercussion for continually failing to answer, they rarely get awarded. This usually only occurs when the court has already warned them, after you (i.e., your attorney) has willingly given them extensions, the court has given them further extensions, and they still failed to produce/respond. Typically an attorney will allow the other side substantial extensions of time, and this is something you may not even know about. </p>\n\n<p>When you say they completely ignored the deadline, I'm assuming you mean the <strong>deadline on the discovery notice</strong> that gets served with the papers. Interrogatories and Requests for production of documents rarely get done anywhere near the deadline in the rules, which is a mere 3 weeks. Many times, it takes much more than this to track down everything that was requested. This is why extensions happen all the time and unless you're asking, this isn't something your lawyer will even discuss with you. </p>\n\n<p>When you say they \"didn't offer a remotely reasonable settlement until after the deadline and didn't finally dismiss the case until months after the deadline,\" I'm assuming you mean they didn't make a <strong>reasonable demand</strong> (it sounds like you were the defendant). This is actually very common, and in fact, it is very early on to make (or reduce the original) demand low enough that the Defendant will accept it prior to the discovery deadline and all the depositions have passed. (When I say deadline, I don't mean the one you're talking about, I mean <em>the</em> actual discovery <em>deadline</em>, which is set forth in the scheduling order; this can easily be 9 months from the time an <strong>Answer to the Complaint</strong> is filed.)</p>\n\n<p><em>If</em> you're referring to the <em>token</em> deadline put in the first set of interrogatories served, this not a \"real\" deadline anyone of the attorneys expects to be adhered to. Further, this a <strong>very quick</strong> settlement and you should be happy your attorney disposed of your case so quickly. As you pointed out, you are paying a lot of money every day the case lives on. In fact, the money you saved by settling early is substantial. If your attorney had gotten the documents and responses and had to wade through all of them, organize them, send follow up requests, take depositions, etc., you would be out easily another $10,000. Your lawyer did you a favor, because a less honest attorney would tell you to wait, to see if there is a defense, just so they could pad their bill.</p>\n\n<p>Many times when it is clear that the case is going to settle, the lawyers will serve <strong>pro forma</strong> discovery, and will say to each other not to bother answering while they attempt to settle. They are timely served if you cannot settle, but it's clear that settlement is the ultimate goal. This is very typical when the defendant almost certainly has exposure, but when the plaintiff's case also has some holes. Because of issues on both sides, they agree a modest settlement to dispose of the matter, quickly, is the best course. </p>\n\n<p>When you say the settlement explicitly involved each party paying their own attorney's fees, all settlements contain this clause. I have never seen a settlement agreement where a party agreed to pay the other's attorneys fees. It's just not done. In the rare case it is, it's part of the structure of the settlement and it flows to the Plaintiff, not the Defendant. This may occur in a civil rights case where there are no real damages, but the statute allows for attorneys fees to be awarded if even one-dollar is awarded. So, in a case like this, sometimes the plaintiff will accept their attorney's fees being satisfied as the settlement, (usually along with some sort of consent decree), so as to curtail the abhorrent behavior.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to discuss these issues with your attorney, they are not billable: they are administrative pertaining to your bill; hence, you can do so without fear of being charged. If you're nervous, tell him ahead of time you'd like to discuss your bill. He won't try to bill you for this, as he can't, and furthermore your case is settled so your file is closed.</p>\n\n<p>To answer your question explicitly: <strong>No - your fees are not recoverable.</strong> This is not only because you've already settled, but you were never entitled to them anyway. </p>\n\n<p>To answer your question about the point of sending discovery <em>at all</em> if you are not going to expect answers and the goal is to settle, (1) is to preserve the right during the discovery period, in the event settlement negotiations break down; (2) to give the other side a picture of how sharp your attorney is, and that he/she will be asking the right questions and they will be invasive; and (3) this is just how it is done. What you've described is how almost all low level cases proceed. </p>\n\n<p>Lastly, just to address what you said about it taking a few months from reaching a verbal or \"handshake\" agreement and having the settlement actually be recorded by the judge and a dismissal issuing, this is just something that takes a little while. Depending on the type of case it is, the court may need to approve the settlement. Even when it's not necessary for the court to approve the settlement, it takes a while to go back and forth on the language, draft the stipulations of dismissal and so on. A few months is right on target. </p>\n\n<p>It sounds to me like you had a pretty effective and honest lawyer who could've dragged this out for much longer. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Advice for the future, in case you ever find yourself needing the services of an attorney again:</strong> If you have these types of questions, you should ask them as they come up. Again, it's not something that you can be billed for, and your lawyer should be happy to answer. Some lawyers are better than others in remembering to explain what the technical stuff means, and what the game plan is. However, the client has a responsibility too, which is to ask if you don't understand.</p>\n", "score": 8 }, { "answer_id": 4604, "body": "<p><strong>No</strong></p>\n\n<p>You settled; it's over. Specifically, you have agreed to pay your own costs and have therefore waived this claim.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "process", "discovery", "new-jersey", "settlement" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4569, "body": "<p>You face two legal perils when you use a firearm against a wild animal:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Most wild animals are protected or regulated as game by state and/or federal law.</li>\n<li><em>Unnecessarily</em> discharging a firearm is forbidden in many jurisdictions.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>With respect to both charges, self defense is almost always a justification (assuming the possession of the weapon used was lawful).</p>\n\n<p>The specifics vary a little by jurisdiction, but <a href=\"http://wildlife.utah.gov/46-rules/rules-regulations/989-r657-63--self-defense-against-wild-animals.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">this Utah rule</a> is pretty typical:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <h3>R657-63-3. Self Defense.</h3>\n \n <p>(1) A person is legally justified in killing or\n seriously injuring a threatening wild animal when the person\n reasonably believes such action is necessary to protect them self,\n another person, or a domestic animal against an imminent attack by the\n wild animal that will likely result in severe bodily injury or death\n to the victim.</p>\n \n <p>(2) In determining imminence or reasonableness under\n Subsection (1), the trier of fact may consider, but is not limited to,\n any of the following factors: <br>\n (a) the nature of the danger; <br>\n (b) the immediacy of the danger; <br>\n (c) the probability that the threatening wild animal will attack; <br>\n (d) the probability that the attack will result in death or serious bodily injury; <br>\n (e) the ability to safely retreat; <br>\n (f) the fault of the person in creating the encounter; and <br>\n (g) any previous pattern of aggressive or threatening behavior by the\n individual wild animal which was known to the person claiming self\n defense.</p>\n \n <p>(3)(a) A person shall notify the division within 12 hours\n after killing or wounding a wild animal under Subsection (1). (b) No\n wild animal killed pursuant to Subsection (1) or the parts thereof may\n be removed from the site, repositioned, retained, sold, or transferred\n without written authorization from the division.</p>\n \n <p>(4)(a) A person is not legally justified in killing or seriously injuring a threatening\n wild animal under the circumstances specified in Subsection (1) if the\n person: <br>\n (i) has the ability to safely retreat from the threatening\n animal and fails to do so, except when the animal enters a home, tent,\n camper, or other permanent or temporary living structure occupied at\n the time by the person or another person; or <br>\n (ii) intentionally,\n knowingly, or recklessly provokes or attracts the wild animal into a\n situation in which it is probable it will threaten the person, another\n person, or a domestic animal.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Federal law is a little more terse: The <a href=\"http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/16/1540\" rel=\"nofollow\">Endangered Species Act</a> includes the following:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, no civil penalty\n shall be imposed if it can be shown by a preponderance of the evidence\n that the defendant committed an act based on a good faith belief that\n he was acting to protect himself or herself, a member of his or her\n family, or any other individual from bodily harm, from any endangered\n or threatened species.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2>Defense of property</h2>\n\n<p>One can be fined for killing threatened or endangered animals in defense of property or livestock (see, for example, <a href=\"http://www.leagle.com/decision/19882181857F2d1324_11963/CHRISTY%20v.%20HODEL\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>Christy v. Hodel</em></a>).</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://mdc.mo.gov/your-property/problem-plants-and-animals/nuisance-native-wildlife/wildlife-control-guidelines\" rel=\"nofollow\">These instructions from the Missouri Department of Conservation are typical</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If wildlife is damaging your property, you ... may shoot\n or trap most damage-causing wildlife out of season and without a\n permit to prevent further damage. <strong>Note: Wildlife you may not shoot or\n trap under this provision</strong> are migratory birds, white-tailed deer, mule\n deer, elk, turkeys, black bears, mountain lions, and any endangered\n species. For conflicts with these species, contact your local county\n conservation agent or nearest Department office. Control action may be\n taken only on your property. Wildlife you take under this provision\n may not be used in any way, and you must report it to the Department\n within 24 hours, then dispose of it in accordance with Department\n instructions. Check with local city or county authorities regarding\n the use of traps and firearms in local jurisdictions.</p>\n</blockquote>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "united-states", "weapons" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4595, "body": "<p>Yes, a judge may use the bible when making a decision. However, the usage nearly always takes the form of citation (in the form of scholarly texts) rather than precedent. </p>\n\n<p>That said, the lines get blurry sometimes. In <a href=\"https://casetext.com/case/banks-v-maxwell-1\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>Banks v. Maxwell</em>, 171 S.E. 70 (N.C. 1933)</a>, the N.C. Supreme Court was tasked with resolving a dispute where the plaintiff had been gored by a bull. As a means of anchoring precedent and establishing a strict liability rule when a bull has previously gored, it stated \"[t]he familiar rule of liability for injuries inflicted by cattle has remained approximately constant for more than 3,000 years. This rule of liability was expressed by Moses in the following words...\" The court goes on to cite <a href=\"https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2021%3A28-30\" rel=\"nofollow\">Exodus 21:28-30</a>.</p>\n", "score": 4 }, { "answer_id": 4581, "body": "<p>In most secular jurisdictions, the judge must rule solely on the law; statute and (in common-law jurisdictions) precedent. Not even the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Vatican_City\" rel=\"nofollow\">Vatican</a> uses the bible in judgements.</p>\n\n<p>The bible may be used in court to allow those who choose to do so to take their oath on it. Non-Christians, of course, may use another holy text and it is open to anyone to take an affirmation instead of an oath.</p>\n\n<p>Countries using <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia\" rel=\"nofollow\">sharia</a> law will look to the Quran and the Hadiths. </p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "criminal-law", "civil-law", "constitutional-law", "religion" ]

[]

[ "united-states" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4590, "body": "<p>On first reading, the question doesn't make any sense!</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Apache licence is for <em>software</em>.</p></li>\n<li><p>But you're asking about using a <em>font</em>.</p></li>\n<li><p>Is a <em>font</em> technically <em>software</em>?</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I think the answer would depend on how you classify the font in question.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>If it is just a set of mathematical equations, which, at the end of the day, simply transforms user input to machine output, then using said font for T-shirts is not much different than writing proprietary software in an editor like <a href=\"http://ports.su/editors/emacs\" rel=\"nofollow\">emacs</a>.</p></li>\n<li><p>If it's just a set of images/pictures (or if you're printing a single character at such a large scale as for it to be possible to re-enact the original non-trivial mathematical description that would result in an exactly identical character to be produced by the same software in question), then you might be subject to whatever terms are specified in the licence for copying or distributing pieces of software in binary form.</p></li>\n</ul>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "copyright", "open-source-software" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4482, "body": "<p>Counterfeit is a fake. It's made to look like the real thing. </p>\n\n<p>Pirated is an unauthorized manufacture of the real thing.</p>\n\n<p>Contraband is a thing that is imported (or exported) illegally. This can also include things that are explicitly illegal, such as narcotics or firearms, for instance in a prison, even if they are legal to import or export (as mentioned in comments by @gracey209).</p>\n\n<p>We usually think of luxury goods when we think of counterfeits; inferior quality with deceptive design and brand markings. </p>\n\n<p>We often think of music and movies when we think of pirated goods. However there is an interesting form of piracy whereby a manufacturer who is tooled to build an item during the day for a recognized brand runs the plant at night building the same item but labels it differently and ships it out the back door. That's obviously an example but should show the distinction of pirated goods - same quality but different branding. </p>\n", "score": 6 }, { "answer_id": 4524, "body": "<h2>COUNTERFEIT (TRADEMARK) GOODS</h2>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Any goods, including packaging, bearing without authorization a trademark which is identical to the trademark validly registered in respect to such goods.....therefore infringing the rights of the owner of the trademark in question under law of country of importation .</p></li>\n<li><p>It can also be a trademark designed without authorization to be applied in goods in (1) above ;</p></li>\n<li><p>Any goods bearing marks which are identical to , or substantially indistinguishable from a protected trademark when used on goods or services differing from those for which a trademark is registered causing confusion as to source of origin .</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<h2>PIRATED (copyright) GOODS</h2>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Any goods which are copies made without the consent of the right holder or persons duly authorized by the right holder in the country of production......</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Came across this in <strong><em>The EAC Administration Intelligence Analysis handbook, Draft. Ver. 2/Dec.2010</em></strong><br>\n[sponsored by JICA]</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "criminal-law", "international", "legal-terms", "customs-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 681, "body": "<p>Not all discrimination is illegal. For instance, landlords discriminate against those who can't afford to pay the rent. They might discriminate against former tenants who destroyed several walls during their lease period. They discriminate against those with bad credit, and often might discriminate against the unemployed. Landlords often <em>do</em> discriminate against frat students/college students in general.</p>\n\n<p>In fact, at least in the US, discrimination is generally <em>allowed</em> unless it's discrimination for one of a few specifically prohibited reasons (such as race). A lease is a negotiation on both sides; it requires <em>both</em> the landlord and the tenant to be satisfied with each other.</p>\n\n<p>As for why different places have different laws: Toronto is not actually in the United States. That means it has different people, a different culture, different primary values, and a different legal tradition. It's not surprising that laws are different; if laws were the same everywhere, the world would be a boring place indeed.</p>\n", "score": 18 }, { "answer_id": 680, "body": "<p>In the U.S. it is legal to \"discriminate\" against tenants for any reason not explicitly forbidden by law. Your question contains good examples of why a property owner would legitimately want to discriminate.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/housing_discrimination\" rel=\"noreferrer\">HUD</a> enforces federal anti-discrimination law. Presently:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Federal law prohibits housing discrimination based on your race,\n color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Some states and jurisdictions have additional categories that are protected from discrimination in the rental or purchase of property. E.g., <a href=\"http://www.dfeh.ca.gov/Publications_FEHADescr.htm\" rel=\"noreferrer\">in California it is also illegal</a> to discriminate on the basis of ancestry, marital status, age, sexual orientation, source of income, or medical condition.</p>\n", "score": 6 } ]

[ "united-states", "canada", "discrimination", "pets" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4573, "body": "<p><a href=\"http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/your_rights/eu_gender_equality_law_update2013_en.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">Here</a> is a summary of EU law on gender equality. Have a look at Section 3.4; there is an exemption allowed when the specific tasks require either men or women and there have been specific decisions both ways. The Royal Marines were allowed to exclude women from specific roles; the Bundeswehr were not allowed to make a general exclusion of women.</p>\n\n<p>It is certainly arguable that a provision allowing the conscription only of one sex is unlawful.</p>\n\n<p>If you are serious about challenging this law then be aware that it will take a lot of time, money and may put your liberty at risk. It is likely to take considerably longer than your period of service to take this through the court system; ultimately this is the sort of thing that will end in the highest court in Denmark. You may be spending time in goal waiting for the outcome.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to go through with this you should consult a lawyer who is expert on constitutional law.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "european-union", "constitutional-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4571, "body": "<p>In most Australian states, it is an offence to drive &quot;abnormally slowly&quot; in a way that unreasonably obstructs drivers or pedestrians. For example, in <a href=\"http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/legis/nsw/consol_reg/rr2014104/s125.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">New South Wales</a>:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<ol>\n<li><p>A driver must not unreasonably obstruct the path of another driver or a pedestrian</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>For this rule, a driver does not unreasonably obstruct the path of another driver or a pedestrian only because:<br />\nb. the driver is driving more slowly than other vehicles (unless the driver is driving abnormally slowly in the circumstances).<br />\n_{<strong>Example of a driver driving abnormally slowly</strong> : A driver driving at a speed of 20 kilometres per hour on a length of road to which a speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour applies when there is no reason for the driver to drive at that speed on the length of road.}</p>\n</li>\n</ol>\n</blockquote>\n", "score": 3 }, { "answer_id": 4558, "body": "<p>In my experience anytime somebody is going so slow as to cause a nuisance they are subject to a moving violation like \"<a href=\"http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/free-books/beat-ticket-book/chapter7-6.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Impeding the Flow of Traffic</a>.\"</p>\n\n<p>In general statutes do not specify minimum speeds because the \"safe and reasonable\" speed for a road can vary (downward) with conditions.</p>\n\n<p>I have occasionally seen posted minimums on highways in the U.S., but I have never found a special statute associated with those, so as far as I can tell they are merely encouragements to not impede the flow by driving too slowly.\n</p>\n", "score": 1 }, { "answer_id": 4562, "body": "<p>In Belgium there is a minimal speed of 70 km/h on the highway. On other roads there isn't a minimum. If your vehicle can't reach that speed you aren't even allowed on the highway.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://wegcode.be/wetteksten/secties/kb/wegcode/179-art21\" rel=\"nofollow\">That actual text is as follows:</a></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>21.2</strong> Behalve wanneer een lagere snelheid wordt opgelegd door het verkeersbord C43, mag geen enkele bestuurder op een autosnelweg met een lagere snelheid rijden dan 70 km per uur. Hij moet evenwel zijn snelheid regelen overeenkomstig de bepalingen van artikel 10.1.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>or translated (my own):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>21.2</strong> Except when a lower speed is mandated by traffic C43, no driver on a highway is allowed to drive slower than 70 km/h. He has to regulate his speed in accordance to article 10.1.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Article 10.1 prohibits speeds that would hinder traffic or cause accidents.</p>\n\n<p>However you will get run off the road if you drive slower than the speed limit.</p>\n\n<p>Also in the practical portion of the driver's license test if you don't keep up with the flow of traffic you can be failed.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "traffic", "common-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4567, "body": "<p>Signing as a witness binds you to nothing. Do not sign if you do not qualify as a witness (e.g. Time known, occupation) but otherwise go for it.</p>\n\n<p>It is unlikely that anyone would check your bona-fifes but if they did a statutory declaration would probably be satisfactory.</p>\n\n<p>Remember, the point of witnessing is to show the form was actually signed by the person.</p>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "united-kingdom" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4556, "body": "<p><strong>tl;dr:</strong> No, the dealership generally <em>won't</em> be able to recover the car if its act of parting with the car involved &quot;entrusting&quot; it to someone. That said, it can pursue Doe for fraud.</p>\n<p><strong>U.S. Background</strong></p>\n<p>First off, when the dealership gets <em>swindled</em> the situation is distinctly different from one where the car is <em>stolen</em> from the dealership. If stolen, we'd expect the dealership to be able to recover the car, as in <a href=\"http://www.leagle.com/decision/198056183NJ478_1531/O%27KEEFFE%20v.%20SNYDER\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><em>O'Keeffe v. Snyder</em>, 416 A.2d 862, 83 N.J. 478 (1980)</a>. If swindled, we'd expect the dealership to be out of luck, as in <a href=\"https://casetext.com/case/phelps-v-mcquade-1\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><em>Phelps v. McQuade</em>, 220 N.Y. 232 (N.Y. 1917)</a>.</p>\n<p>Why the different result? It comes down to the idea that when the car gets moved on to an unsuspecting buyer, either the innocent buyer or the dealership is going to get hurt by the bad act. This is because only one party (buyer or dealer) is going to get to keep the car, and the other is going to be upset. The court has to essentially choose who is going to get hurt.</p>\n<p>The way it does this is by looking at how the car left the dealer's lot. In cases of swindling, the dealer at least had some say in the matter: it &quot;entrusted&quot; the car to the swindler by what's called a &quot;voidable&quot; title. This is enshrined in the UCC:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>§ 2-403. Power to Transfer; Good Faith Purchase of Goods; &quot;Entrusting&quot;.</p>\n<p>(1) A purchaser of goods acquires all title which his transferor had or had power to transfer except that a purchaser of a limited interest acquires rights only to the extent of the interest purchased. A person with voidable title has power to transfer a good title to a good faith purchaser for value. When goods have been delivered under a transaction of purchase the purchaser has such power even though</p>\n<p>(a) the transferor was deceived as to the identity of the purchaser, or</p>\n<p>(b) the delivery was in exchange for a check which is later dishonored, or</p>\n<p>(c) it was agreed that the transaction was to be a &quot;cash sale&quot;, or</p>\n<p>(d) the delivery was procured through fraud punishable as larcenous under the criminal law.</p>\n<p>(2) Any entrusting of possession of goods to a merchant who deals in goods of that kind gives him power to transfer all rights of the entruster to a buyerin ordinary course of business.</p>\n<p>(3) &quot;Entrusting&quot; includes any delivery and any acquiescence in retention of possession regardless of any condition expressed between the parties to the delivery or acquiescence and regardless of whether the procurement of the entrusting or the possessor's disposition of the goodshave been such as to be larcenous under the criminal law.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>There's an old saying: &quot;title, like a stream, only rises as high as its source.&quot;</p>\n<ul>\n<li>In the case of a theft, the thief didn't have title in the first place and thus can't transfer it. So we'd expect the dealer to get the car back (buyer gets hurt)</li>\n<li>In your case, the swindler's bogus check falls under UCC §2-403(1)(b). Thus the swindler gets a voidable title and then has the power to transfer the car to an unsuspecting buyer. So we'd expect the buyer to keep the car (dealer gets hurt).</li>\n</ul>\n<p>Note: the title is &quot;voidable&quot; because, if the dealer realizes the check is dishonored, it can void the title.</p>\n", "score": 6 } ]

[ "united-states", "canada", "theft", "fraud", "conversion" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4553, "body": "<p>Generally, no matter where you are, the answer to your question(s) is largely going to be a fact dependent analysis. Just so we're clear, I want to be sure you're using the term <strong>pseudonym</strong> in the way that it's generally accepted or understood to mean, being a fictitious name typically used by an author (this could be book, blog, a paper &ndash; whatever); but not as an alias or a false identity used to mislead people about your qualifications or official position.</p>\n\n<p>Assuming you are using a pseudonym in the way it would typically be used: as a mechanism to write and publish under a name other than your own so as not to have credit, or discredit be given to your actual identity, than I cannot see this being a problem anywhere, nor could I find any laws that pertain to this. (You've not asked about copyright/trademark, which poses different legal issues but is also not insurmountable if done correctly.)</p>\n\n<p>Generally, if you are publishing something, you have the right to publish anonymously or use a <em>nom de plume</em> (aka:a pseudonym or pen name)...this has been done throughout history and throughout the world by many famous authors. Reasons differ and the examples for such are endless. I have heard of a famous \"pulp\" fiction writer having used one when writing a children's books; people do it to overcome biases and exposure associated with their name (both positive and negative); during WWII Jewish authors used them to avoid being discounted or arrested based on their name and lineage. In the 1700's (when the U.S. was coming into its infancy) many writers and journalists used pseudonyms, and while the use itself wasn't illegal, they did so to write controversial and often illegal articles, papers, and even letters to the editor, that criticized governments or monarchies and their practices. Some of the most famous pseudonyms were for that purpose. Ben Franklin used to almost exclusively write under a pen name and create elaborate characters to go along with them. Famous authors like Dean Koontz and Stephen King, both used pen names when trying out new genre's or to avoid over-exposure &ndash; especially when releasing at the same time. Many famous women authors, throughout history, used to write under male pen names because women couldn't be published or at least not as easily. Most famously was probably the Federalist (Federalist Papers), written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay (under the pseudonym Publius), who published 80 or so papers calling for the ratification of the United States Constitution. These were very dangerous writings for their time.</p>\n\n<p>When I read your question, however, I worry that you seem to be suggesting something other than simply a pseudonym for these various typical purposes. Maybe I'm wrong, but when you say <em>hide behind</em>, and you are talking about using Ph.D., or Dr., or some other title that would denote special education or training, you are treading into different territory if the purpose is to mislead or misinform people: not about <em>who</em> you are, <strong>but about what you know based on who you are</strong>. There is a big difference.</p>\n\n<p>So, for instance, Dr. Seuss (who actually began his career writing and drawing political parodies and cartoons) wrote children's books using Dr. as part of his <em>nom du plume</em>, which was his prerogative as nobody was mislead or harmed by the fact that he chose to put Dr. in front of his name. He was not posing as a doctor or giving advice about medical issues, so nobody detrimentally relied on his writings based on that fact. However, if someone wrote a non-fiction book about <em>life saving holistic cures for cancer</em> (I'm just pulling topics out of my head), and the author called himself Dr. Doe, or you write a book about prevention of suicide and you put Ph.D. after your name, and people who read the books detrimentally rely on the information because you've mislead them about your expertise &ndash; that is <strong>not just a pseudonym</strong> and it could definitely leave you vulnerable to legal problems. You cannot <em>hide</em> behind a title to exploit people by suggesting you're qualified to proffer information in which you have no training or expertise; this is not a <em>nom du plume</em>, it is a fraudulent misrepresentation.</p>\n\n<p>With regard to whether or not you <strong>have a right to hide behind a pseudonym on the internet? E.g., assuming I don't break any laws, can an internet host/provider publish my real name?</strong> that really depends on the site you post on. It is your responsibility to read their privacy disclosures to find out. Facebook, for example, has a \"real name\" policy, which disallows this practice. Other sites may allow you to create any screen name you want, but require a real name for registration purposes for a variety of reasons, one being if they need to have it for law enforcement purposes. Regardless of the policy of the web host, if you do break the law, or end up getting sued based on your writings, all it would take to reveal your identity is a subpoena arising out of a lawsuit. </p>\n\n<p>While using a pen name is seemingly legal in and of itself, pretty much anywhere, whether or not doing so could lead to criminal or civil liability, or whether your real identity could be exposed, is largely dependent on how you undertake to use your fake identity. Impersonating certain licensed professionals, or government officials can be a very slippery slope, and could be illegal or lead to liability, in an of itself. Personally, I would stay away from using any.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "internet", "privacy", "european-union", "germany" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4544, "body": "<p>The law assumes 5 days for mailing. A post mark is prima facie proof that it was mailed and the presumption, that you have to rebut, is that it was received. Did you recently move, where it would be forwarded? If so, it will have a forwarding sticker and this will get you another 5 days. If not, you are pretty much out of luck, unless you can get you mailman or some other PO employee to sign an affidavit explaining why it would've been delayed. EVERYONE says they didn't get those notices on time. They won't believe you.</p>\n\n<p>If you can't get or don't have one of the things I mentioned, you have to pay it, unless you can talk the clerk into allowing a late appeal. If it's something they leave on your car (the first one you say you didn't get), again, they won't believe you didn't get it. Everyone says this. So, you are going to try to convince them that not only did you not get the ticket, but you also didn't get the mail. This is a very difficult (I'd wager impossible) sell. Nobody is this unlucky. You need to understand that they hear people say this, all day long. They never got the ticket. They never got the notice. It is the </p>\n\n<p><strong>If you could manage to preserve your right to appeal</strong>, the only way to overcome the presumption that you new you had a ticket and didn't just ignore it until you realized how big the fine is, is to subpoena the surveillance images that almost certainly exist, as the city is littered with street surveillance. They can tell, from the time on your ticket, the exact time it was written. If you are granted a right to appeal, you can subpoena the disk and hope it shows someone (other than you) taking it, the officer failing to place it, or it blowing away. You only get this right, however, if you can convince them you didn't get the notice to appeal on time. This will be a hurdle in and of itself. </p>\n\n<p><strong>I forgot to mention</strong>: These type of village or neighborhood permits are very common in big cities. It is, in a way, a parking sticker. It gives you the right to park in a neighborhood where street parking is reserved for residents of that particular \"village\". Without one, you can't park in certain neighborhoods on the street, and need to find either a garage, or some other open spot that is not reserved for the residents. They do this because many of the apartments/condos/row houses etc., don't have private parking spaces. Without limiting the available parking to only folks who live in the area, they would never be able to park even remotely near their homes, with buying a spot, which can run $500 or more, monthly...and that is if they can even find an available space to rent nearby.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "human-rights", "vehicle", "mail", "illinois" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4538, "body": "<blockquote>\n<p>Owner claims cannot satisfy chain of custody if the data hit a cloud.</p>\n<p>Is that true?</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>No. On the one hand, as you say, you can just include the cloud provider on the chain of custody. On the other hand, opponents don't ask for chain of custody. And when they do, it's going to take a pretty drastic series of events to diminish the admissibility or weight of the evidence in court.</p>\n<p>Ten years ago chain of custody was taken more seriously but after many recent court opinions about proportionality and cooperation, lawyers don't challenge chain of custody unless something glaring appears to be wrong.</p>\n<p>I could go on, but suffice it to say - I don't know of any case where chain of custody made a difference in civil litigation.</p>\n<p>Be aware that adding cloud storage adds a step to your processing and production workflow. As it is, you probably receive original evidence and process the data, host it for review, and then convert to TIF for production. If the data is hosted in the cloud rather than your local server your attorneys will be waiting for you to get the data uploaded to the review platform. And then when the review is done the production might take longer because of the download. Obviously the production delay is not as severe as the upload for review. There are ways around this, like rolling the upload, but this takes more human hours because of the additional management required.</p>\n<p>I'll also add security as the reason to stay out of the cloud. Litigation evidence is usually highly confidential and requires a high degree of security.</p>\n<p>So, there are reasons for discovery vendors to avoid the cloud. Chain of custody is not one of them.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "litigation", "data-storage" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4540, "body": "<p>Processing creates an \"identity.\" Not that it would serve the alien for any positive purposes, but his fingerprints, photograph, physical description, and whatever name/alias he provided would be in a national database should any law enforcement agency come across him in the future.</p>\n\n<p>But after being processed, if it's for a minor crime, he will probably be released, perhaps after being required to post a small bail to ensure his appearance for arraignment.</p>\n", "score": 1 }, { "answer_id": 4536, "body": "<p>Someone may remember details, but there is an ongoing real world case where a man was found in the USA without any documents and with memory loss, who was and is assumed to be a US citizen (because there is no reason to believe otherwise) with unknown identity. He has been absolutely unable to get identity papers, social security number, and therefore any official job. There is a very detailed discussion on wikipedia - I hope someone knows a name. </p>\n\n<p>Summary: Your alien is stuck in a major way.</p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "criminal-law", "immigration" ]

[ { "answer_id": 120, "body": "<p>The bottom line is: yes, there are many statutes, in many countries, criminalizing speech based on the fact that the hearer finds them offensive. These may include:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Laws against extremist political sppech (i.e., anti-Nazi laws)</li>\n<li>Laws against hate speech or racial or sexually discriminatory speech</li>\n<li>Laws against criticizing or hurting the feelings of specific persons (i.e., lese-majeste)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The anti-catcall laws seem to be closest, in purpose and effect, to laws outlawing racial or religious hate speech, which are fairly common in European countries. Catcalling is, essentially, hate speech directed against women, and this seems very similar to other hate speech laws.</p>\n", "score": 6 }, { "answer_id": 288, "body": "<p>Yes.</p>\n\n<p>According to <a href=\"http://www.zakonrf.info/koap/20.1/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Russian KoAP 20.1 \"Small Hooliganism\"</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <ol>\n <li><p>Мелкое хулиганство, то есть нарушение общественного порядка, выражающее явное неуважение к обществу, сопровождающееся нецензурной бранью в общественных местах, оскорбительным приставанием к гражданам, а равно уничтожением или повреждением чужого имущества, -</p>\n \n <p>влечет наложение административного штрафа в размере от пятисот до одной тысячи рублей или административный арест на срок до пятнадцати суток.</p></li>\n </ol>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>A disorderly conduct, in other words, violating the public order, by showing profound disrespect towards the society, together with swearing in public place, offensive bothering of citizens, as well as destruction or damage of another's property, --</p>\n\n<p>is punishable by an administrative fine in the amount of 500 to 1000 roubles, or an administrative arrest of up to 15 days.</p>\n", "score": 5 }, { "answer_id": 4232, "body": "<p>Yes.</p>\n\n<p>In English law, <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harassment,_alarm_or_distress\" rel=\"nofollow\">Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986</a> makes it illegal, among other things, to use abusive speech in the hearing of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress by it.</p>\n\n<p>You may also want to look at Article 10(2) of the <a href=\"http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">European Convention on Human Rights</a>, which describes how a state that has signed that convention may restrict people's speech - any such restrictions must be 'prescribed by law', i.e. agents of the state shouldn't make them as the go along, and they must be 'necessary' for one of a set list of legitimate purposes. Of course there is much debate in courts about what is 'necessary'.</p>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 4537, "body": "<p>In Germany, you can be taken to court for insulting a person. \"Insult\" means saying derogatory things to them in front of witnesses. \"In front of witnesses\" is essential, if I record on video that you insult me, with no other person present, I have all the evidence but it isn't legally an insult. </p>\n\n<p>Harassment is not necessary. It is not necessary that the insult is believable (unlike libel where \"no person would actually believe this\" could be an excuse). </p>\n\n<p>The insulted person can sue you. If you insult an official state employee doing his duty (like a police officer, inland revenue employee, etc.) the state <em>can</em> and <em>will</em> sue you. It's strange for Germans coming to the UK and watching a TV show where an arrested criminal swears at a police officer &ndash; don't try that in Germany. </p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "criminal-law", "freedom-of-speech", "comparative-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4539, "body": "<p>Sadly, her assets will go into probate, and a judge/probate master will have to rule on how they're disbursed. Typically someone will be appointed as Administrator to the mother's estate. The administrator will contact all creditors, assemble and inventory/appraise the assets (i.e. furniture, car, house, bank accounts, etc.) and pay funerary expenses.</p>\n\n<p>Since she died intestate, there will be certain specific rules about who inherits the proceeds. The best avenue for the OP is to petition the court to appoint her as administrator of the estate.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "united-states", "wills", "divorce" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4526, "body": "<p>In Australia a person must have ostensible authority as an agent (agency by estoppel) to bind their corporation. </p>\n\n<p>If a person claims the authority and a reasonable person would believe in the circumstances that they have the authority then their actions bind the company. See <a href=\"http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca2001172/s769b.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca2001172/s769b.html</a> for the law and <a href=\"http://www.mondaq.com/australia/x/386390/Contract+Law/Companies+and+perils+of+ostensible+authority+the+danger+of+paying+money+to+a+third+party+and+not+to+the+creditor\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.mondaq.com/australia/x/386390/Contract+Law/Companies+and+perils+of+ostensible+authority+the+danger+of+paying+money+to+a+third+party+and+not+to+the+creditor</a> for a case.</p>\n\n<p>To take your example (and putting aside the fact that the purported contract is probably unenforceable in itself), if a reasonable person would conclude you had the authority (in your capacity as director or senior executive) then it would bind McDonalds; if you were a store manager or burger flipper, it wouldn't. </p>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "united-states", "contract-law", "california", "corporate-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4515, "body": "<p>In the U.S.: To my knowledge all states and jurisdictions that with a \"sales tax\" technically have a \"use\" tax, which means the tax liability falls on the purchaser. However, they require \"businesses\" (whose exact definition varies by jurisdiction) to collect and remit that tax on behalf of \"consumers\" (which can also vary, e.g., to exclude businesses that resell).</p>\n\n<p>Historically consumers have avoided paying use taxes by purchasing from out-of-state businesses that are not subject to their home states' laws on withholding the use tax: while technically a violation of the tax law neither consumers nor states have had an interest in calculating or auditing use taxes owed, except in the case of very large and unusual transactions.</p>\n\n<p>There is a large effort underway by states and \"brick-and-mortar\" stores that lose business to this virtual \"mail order tax exemption\" to subject out-of-state businesses to the requirement of collecting use taxes on behalf of the state. A few online businesses (notably Amazon) have acquiesced to this demand.</p>\n\n<p>To answer your question: In the U.S., an individual who is not making a \"business\" of selling items or services is generally exempt from the requirement to collect sales tax. It is the purchaser who has the legal obligation to declare and pay tax on such transactions. But purchasers rarely do.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "tax-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4505, "body": "<p>In Australia, the overall representations of the website must not be misleading or deceptive when it comes to the provision of goods or services, in order to comply with Australian Consumer Law.</p>\n\n<p>The length of the terms matters. In <a href=\"http://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2015/2015fca1090#_Ref432516928\" rel=\"nofollow\">a very recent case</a> against a homeopathy website, it was noted that (at [47]):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The terms and conditions were exceedingly lengthy and it was highly unlikely that any visitor would trawl through them merely to access another part of the Website for free. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In this case the significance of the length was not specifically tested.</p>\n\n<p>The position of the terms also matters. In <a href=\"http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/FCA/2011/1407.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">another case against a major retailer</a>, it was noted (at [37]) that the conditions visible:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>a user accessed a link at the bottom of each page of the HN Website titled “Website Terms and Conditions”, such that it was unlikely either condition would be found by a normal reader reading the HN Catalogue or viewing the HN Website</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This specific matter related to a very specific claim made by the retailer, and so I can't say whether it applies in general to website terms and conditions.</p>\n\n<p>Apart from the above cases, I can't find any good examples where the exact form of a website's terms have been considered in determining a case.</p>\n\n<p>There are some United States cases referred to in <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browse_wrap\" rel=\"nofollow\">the Wikipedia article for browse wrap</a>. These seem to have been judged in favour of the website operator only when the terms are conspicuous, and/or when the user has had repeated exposure to them (or a link to them), for example over a number of pages. Even where the terms are linked at the bottom of the website, and a user is not required to scroll to the bottom to use the site, terms have been found unenforceable.</p>\n\n<p>As far as I know, there's no statutory requirements - in Australia, at least, and quite likely anywhere else - that specify the manner and form that disclaimers may take.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "terms-of-service" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4504, "body": "<p>There are any number of reasons, but they'll probably fall into one of the following.</p>\n\n<h3>Permission was given</h3>\n\n<p>The site hosting the file has been given permission by the Copyright Holder. <strong>Permission</strong> is a defense to copyright infringement.</p>\n\n<h3>The Copyright Holder is unaware</h3>\n\n<p>The Copyright Holder is unaware that their Work is being infringed. Third parties have no general obligation to make the Copyright Holder aware of infringements, except where required by law.</p>\n\n<h3>The Copyright Holder has decided not to pursue action</h3>\n\n<p>The Copyright Holder has made the decision not to pursue legal action for any number of reasons, for example reputational damage or the costs of proceedings.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "copyright", "internet" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4402, "body": "<p><em>I drafted this answer many days ago but did not complete it. My intention is to define red flag notice. However, I'm hitting Submit because I think it's a good question and hope this will inspire other answers</em>. </p>\n\n<p>It seems like your immediate question, regarding the DCMA notices which Google is forwarding, is not a legal question. It is a question that can only be answered by Google and is dependent on their practices. Frankly though, it seems to me that Google search results might not be important based on the purpose of your proxy service. However perhaps your user base has evolved.</p>\n\n<p>You are a service provider under 17 USC 512(k)(i). If you aren't we need to clear that up!</p>\n\n<p>As for the copyright holders, you haven't received notice complying with 17 USC 512 (c)(3)(A)(i-iv). As such you don't have notice.</p>\n\n<p>Even if these notices don't qualify then we argue about whether you have red flag notice - based on facts and circumstances. (See <em>Grokster</em>)</p>\n\n<p>EDIT TO ADD:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/512\" rel=\"nofollow\">17 U.S. Code § 512 - Limitations on liability relating to material online</a> is one of the sections created by the DMCA. It is sometimes referred to as the safe harbor. You can read about it on Wikipedia® page for the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act\" rel=\"nofollow\">Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act</a>.</p>\n\n<p>If you read that Wikipedia® page you will see a short <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Red_flags\" rel=\"nofollow\">section on Red Flags</a>. They say it as well as I could: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>[In addition to notice from a copyright holder, the second way] that an OSP can be put on notice that its system\n contains infringing material, for purposes of section 512(d), is\n referred to the \"red flag\" test. The \"red flag\" test stems from\n the language in the statute that requires that an OSP not be “aware of\n facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent.”</p>\n \n <p>The \"red flag\" test contains both a subjective and an objective\n element. Subjectively, the OSP must have knowledge that the material\n resides on its system. Objectively, the \"infringing activity would\n have been apparent to a reasonable person operating under the same or\n similar circumstances.\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The reason that notice is important is that the safe harbor provided is only available if you do not know that infringing is happening. Plaintiff's prove knowledge through the letter or through red flags.</p>\n\n<p>I am glad that you asked about Grokster, because that was the wrong case! The case to look at is <a href=\"https://apps.fastcase.com/Research/Public/ExViewer.aspx?LTID=QFAa6aKgMWuDCaRi8w2YMDGn%20Zwe2ehy0aJsxEsFVsZDN/sL018ounD/S0GsxwYyrYiaDnD3bFnGp5tnw3mRv141q1UePyP%20Nv2YcZweo0HPdNR9oK%20vkbsgJUkIf0QHp5NTTB3tcDAjHDsBCQiGBucF5TSIPvI19N8cDySbQAQ=\" rel=\"nofollow\">Viacom Int'l, Inc. v. Youtube</a>, Inc., 676 F.3d 19, (2nd Cir., 2012).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The difference between actual and red flag knowledge is thus not\n between specific and generalized knowledge, but instead between a\n subjective and an objective standard. In other words, the actual\n knowledge provision turns on whether the provider actually or\n “subjectively” knew of specific infringement, while the red flag\n provision turns on whether the provider was subjectively aware of\n facts that would have made the specific infringement “objectively”\n obvious to a reasonable person. The red flag provision, because it\n incorporates an objective standard, is not swallowed up by the actual\n knowledge provision under our construction of the § 512(c) safe\n harbor. Both provisions do independent work, and both apply only to\n specific instances of infringement.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In other words, you lose your safe harbor protection if you know of facts and circumstances that would lead an ordinary person to know that infringement is happening.</p>\n\n<p>So the question for you is - do the letters forwarded by Google mean that you have knowledge and are outside of the safe harbor? Well that's the question that lawyers fight about! In fact <a href=\"https://apps.fastcase.com/Research/Public/ExViewer.aspx?LTID=FwhhLeU3mjlIXCyEbtJGtpsFwQHMcmJtTmCXEhYjf%20%20Ik6Lse8U%20v5Ww3877S/zozd8%20HtYqIRfrZvNfXAmRq37KjxjpSD4yghmrBayEfwNZfoQhlvcP%206RaCeU6oReXCJi34fnnwh/OFDn%20xPnS0JhYqiNVlw4FdYA292MFeY0=\" rel=\"nofollow\">Columbia Pictures Indus., Inc. v. Fung</a>, 710 F.3d 1020 (9th Cir., 2013) is all about that fight. If you read that case you will see that Fung was doing a bunch of shit that totally made it completely obvious that he was infringing. And he was earning money directly from it. He was screwed from the start.</p>\n\n<p>Now again, this does not really help you with the google blacklist problem, but it should help you understand what you need to do as a service provider to not be complicit in copryright infringement.</p>\n\n<p>You really should read the <em>Fung</em> case and 17 U.S.C. § 512 - they will go a long way to help you understand the analysis a court will apply.</p>\n\n<p>EDIT</p>\n\n<p>Regarding your legal exposure, I always assume that a cease and desist letter will precede a lawsuit. With that said, only you know how much infringing is coming across your server. Fung made his money directly from the infringement. He attracted website visitors specifically because of the infringement. He had emails and other documents proving this. </p>\n\n<p>Diebold is interesting because they attempted to use copyright to control the spread of their emails. First the court said no commercial harm and no diminishment of value of the works. Then the court found that the stuff wasn't even subject to copyright. This is obviously not a typical case. But it sounds like you see yourself as OPG in this case. <strong>I don't see how you can become a plaintiff against bona fide copyright holders who follow the links as far as your server</strong>. As I understand it, you are a reasonable target of the the notices, that's the result of running the proxy. However, I might be getting out of my technical depth here.</p>\n\n<p>As I intimated earlier, you might need to seek out some strategic advice regarding dealing with Google and the specific steps you might take to stay in the right side of their enforcement. </p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "copyright", "internet", "dmca" ]