Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with lawyer

I Am Not A Lawyer... Yet.

greekphilosophy — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:31:12 -0800

Suggestions for getting the most out of BarBri while staying employed full-time? I'm taking the February 2010 Texas Bar Exam. I'm employed full time (a strict 9-6 schedule) and enrolled in BarBri. I have to do the mobile course because I don't live close enough to a testing site to get there in time for the nightly videos. How do I make the most of this experience while remaining employed full time? Is that possible? Is that stupid?*

Factors to consider:

- I'm not a morning person. I would love to wake up at 5am and start studying for a couple hours before work, but that just isn't going to happen.

- I AM a night person. I can stay up until about 2am just about every night and still function the next day. After 2am I'm pretty much no good.

- I have no children and no responsibilities and I'm pretty clear that a social life is out. I'm okay with that.

- I live 10 minutes from work. No need to factor in a major commute or anything of that nature.

- I did not go to law school in Texas, and I graduated in 2007 so any relevant law school studies are probably either stale or irrelevant.

- My work environment is not conducive to studying. I am a case manager for a social service agency, and I see clients on a walk-in basis. That means that I'm constantly interrupted. My office is also tiled and located next to a children's immunization clinic: their little screams reverberate through my skull all day long.

*I'm fairly certain this is a stupid plan, and I'm fully ready to slash my hours. But before I do that, I need to hear any and all suggestions for how to stay employed full-time while preparing for the bar exam.

Please recommend a great Real Estate/Probate Attorney in San Antonio, Tx

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 09:37:47 -0800

[San Antonio Probate/Real Estate Attorney filter] Can anyone from the Hive recommend a good probate/real estate attorney in San Antonio or surrounding areas. Requirements are that this lawyer be a real go-getter and not afraid to stand up against other attorneys on our behalf. I don't want a good ol' boy that's going to become chummy with the other attorneys representing the others in this case as has happened recently with our present attorney. I want someone that's smart, ethical, and a bit of a scrapper.

Personal injury lawyer in NYC?

limon — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:28:35 -0800

Can you recommend a personal injury lawyer in New York City? My girlfriend and I (pedestrians) were hit by a reckless taxi driver in November and we intend to sue. We can't afford to pay out-of-pocket, so it'd have to be a lawyer that makes a cut of the winning. (Not sure what the technical term for that is.)

How do I 'get a lawyer'?

jaffacakerhubarb — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:03:41 -0800

I'm not in any trouble, but how do I 'get a lawyer'? This is probably a silly question, but I thought I'd ask it anyway. I was watching a TV show a little while ago, and one of the characters was in trouble with the police for something minor (I forget what it was now, but it's not really relevant anyhow). The female character in question refused to discuss whatever it was and said "I want my lawyer". They replied "Okay, what's his name?" and she meekly replied "…I don't have one…".

Before I begin, I'm in the UK, so specific advice tailored to the U.S., while interesting, is ultimately useless to me. :)

Now, while this was funny and all, it made me wonder what I'd do in the same situation — and I realised I'd be in exactly the same boat. I'd go into 'exercising my civil liberties' mode, then have to sort something out afterwards. I'm not in any trouble with the authorities nor, hopefully, am I likely to be, but in the event that I am how does this work? Do I get a personal lawyer in advance, and if so, do you have to pay a 'retainer' or just pay as and when you need to employ said lawyer's services?

Most of my knowledge of the law is based on episodes of Damages, gangster movies and the courtroom scenes of Aaron Sorkin films, so I apologise for any gratuitous misuse of legal jargon or just general stupidity. Also, I know YANML, but obviously neither is anyone else so we're all good.

i am at a loss.

radiosilents — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:53:16 -0800

huge payroll issue. i'm lost and need direction. long story follows, but the short version is that i seem to have been overpaid by $15,000 and now my employer would like that money back. between november 2008 and june 2009 i seem to have been overpaid a grand total of just under $15,000 by my company. they seem to have not noticed this until a couple of weeks ago, and i have very recently received a letter detailing how they will be garnishing 20% of my wages per paycheck until this matter is resolved (which will take 44 pay cycles, or nearly two years).

there are two pieces of payroll software in play here, which we will refer to as the frontend software (which i have access to) and the backend software (which i do not). these are not different facets of the same piece of software, they are actually two wholly seperate systems which pass information back and forth.

we submit time on a weekly basis, and are paid every two weeks. we are paid in advance of time worked (something i will go into more detail about later).

all of my time was reported correctly on the front end.

the backend seems to have wholly ignored the time i reported and simply assumed things which were not true about my schedule.

in this particular case, i was working a 4x10 schedule (4 ten hour days a week) with my three days off all being weekdays. during the problem weeks, the backend system assumed that i must've worked 8 hours on each of the weekdays that i had off, and recorded that time for me as if i had been working. since i already had a full 40 hours reported, it counted all 24 hours as OT along the way.

the backend software is supposed to auto-generate an email to my supervisor requiring manual approval for any pay period that contains overtime.

the backend system recorded that OT for me on 28 seperate weeks, but only generated and sent that email on two of those weeks. on those two weeks, my manager went in and manually corrected my time on the backend and my pacheck was, as a result, as it should be.

on the remaining 26 weeks payroll paid me for those phantom 24 OT hours.

i recognize that an obvious question is "how did you not notice this was happening?" and the answer to that is just that we were specifically told by management when we were hired that even when working a standard set of hours week after week, we could expect to see fluctuations in our paychecks and that this was perfectly normal and that payroll had a complicated system but they were on top of things. sadly, i trusted them.

we sumbit time well before the close of the work week (submission of your anticipated time is due on tuesday, the work week ends on saturday) for the time we anticipate we will be working/on vacation/etc. payroll records hours and cuts the paycheck before that pay cycle is completed, and then on the subsequent paycheck corrects anything that changed after your time was submitted via a "prior period adjustment".

(side note, an example for illustrative purposes - way back when i was hired, it was just a couple of days before the end of a pay cycle and i was paid for a full two weeks of work despite having been employed by the company for only a handful of days. on the next paycheck, i was paid a much smaller amount of money to correct the previous "overpayment", and then on the third and subsequent paycheck things equalized and started paying out more-or-less "properly").

this can lead to some situations where corrections are reflected on your paycheck weeks after you correct your previously-reported time in the system.

(if you have a sick day after your time for the second week in the pay cycle is submitted, you can go back and correct your submitted time once the next pay period starts, and then on the pay period after that there will be a "prior period adjustment" which corrects whatever needs to be corrected at the end of the next pay cycle. as a result, corrections can often take up to three weeks to actually take effect.)

when payroll finally realized what had been happening, they communicated this to my manager (who then communicated it to me). my manager and i went back to my paper copies of all of my paystubs to try and sort out exactly what had happened, and then we came to the sad realization that the "prior period adjustments" seem to have been made with no sense of continuity or standardization.

as a single example, on one pay stub in the middle of all of this i see i was given money back in a category ("differential") which doesn't appear on any other paycheck. it is not an applicable pay category for me, nor was money ever taken out of that pay category.

after having looked over all of the paystubs from the months in question, i realized that there were far more categories than i had anticipated seeing and so i made a spreadsheet with as much data as i could glean. all of the following categories appear somewhere in the stack, some often and some rarely and a couple of them even have unique instances.

basic wages
overtime wages
overtime premium
holiday
vacation
excused day
short sickness
pay adjustment
OT adjustment
differential

in some cases i see money both being added and subtracted in the same category as a "prior period adjustment" on a single pay stub. in other cases, i see dollar amounts seemingly move between categories over time (i.e., a particular amount added as a "prior period adjustment" in a particular category on one paycheck, and seemingly that exact same dollar amount removed as a "prior period adjustment" from an entirely different category on a subsequent paycheck).

the "prior period adjustments" also do not note the date for which prior period they are adjusting on my paystub. payroll, it seems, can view this data on the backend but there are no tools available to me to view this information.

earlier this week payroll sent me a letter which states that for the next 44 pay cycles, i will have a charge of $330ish (20% of my gross pay) removed from my paycheck to account for the OT, the OT premium, some vacation, and some regular pay - all of which they claim were overpaid to me during the course of the year. they would like me to sign this letter, have my manager sign this letter, and then return the letter to them. at that point, they will begin to begin to deduct the listed amount from each paycheck.

by the way, this letter is the first communication payroll has had directly with me about anything in this whole mess.

i attempted to get more information from payroll and i was sent a very sparce spreadsheet with an incomplete legend and no explanation for the data on it. i'm assuming i don't know what i'm supposed to be asking for from them.

my manager said to me that payroll had mentioned to her that i would need to file a tax adjustment for the previous year, and then most likely again for the current year after this whole thing gets sorted. i don't understand exactly what that means.

do i need to consult a CPA? a lawyer? what questions do i need to ask of payroll? what data should i be seeking from them? i don't even know if i'm asking the right questions.

i live in oklahoma (near tulsa), if that's relevant.

please help guide me. i can survive on 80% pay for the next two years, but it's going to be awfully tight living and all of my plans to save money are completely shot.

throwaway email, if it's helpful : payrollwoes@gmail.com

should I sue?

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:27:26 -0800

Should I sue? You are not a lawyer, and if you are, you aren't my lawyer. I've already got a lawyer, so I'm set on that score. What I'm trying to figure out is, from an emotional, spiritual, and economic perspective, will suing be worth it?

Not long ago I was dismissed from an academic program in which I have already invested a tremendous amount of time, energy and money. I feel that my dismissal was unjust, and not only do my fellow students agree with me, but instructors and other program staff have also expressed that they believe it was unjust. My school has a grievance process, but I believe this process has been subverted on multiple levels in such a way as to make it meaningless - my lawyer more or less agrees.

Based on some initial legal research, I believe that I have a case - if not about my actual dismissal - then at the least about the grievance process. However, I've always been very against suing as a way of solving problems. Still, I really think something should happen at my school to make changes in order to make things more fair, and I'm coming to believe that a law suit maybe the only way to make this happen. Also, I have some pretty major costs I have to recoup because of this.

So I'm hoping to talk to other people who have sued - in any context - to help me get a sense of whether this process might be, well, worth it. Did you sue? Are you glad you did?

Thanks

Should I seek a personal injury lawyer after being rear ended?

zzztimbo — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 06:42:07 -0800

Should I hire a personal injury attorney after being rear ended? I was rear ended while waiting at a freeway off ramp stop light. It was completely the other driver's fault. The driver even admitted fault to me, the other person that I hit (I was pushed forward into the other car) and the CHP that came on to the scene.

My issue is my car is an older BMW with high mileage. My insurance is claiming it will be a total loss. I'm thinking that I won't get much for the car. I don't think this is fair and would like to be give as much money as it takes to find a similarly configured car.

The car I was driving is a BMW wagon with manual transmission. It is pretty difficult to find one of these in my area (SoCal). Should I seek a personal injury lawyer?

How do I sue an abusive step-parent?

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:43:51 -0800

How does an adult find a lawyer to sue an abusive step-parent more than a decade after the fact? I want to sue a step-parent for damages. They've ruined my life and made it a living hell of dysfunction.

I suffered over 10 years of extreme physical and emotional abuse as a child and it has wrecked me, my self confidence, my ability to function. We're not talking about a "I never got my pony" scenario. We're talking about severe physical violence from a grown adult to a child along with very severe psychological/emotional abuse.

I'm not at all interested in hearing anything about "letting bygones be bygones", or "forgive and forget". I've tried that. I'm tired of blaming myself for being broken and damaged like it was somehow my fault I had the shit kicked out of me on a daily basis.

The goals of the lawsuit are,

1. I want punitive, monetary damages to pay for therapy and treatment so I can have what's left of my life as functional as I can manage.

2. I want to help set a legal precedent that abuse isn't tolerated and parents are indeed legally and fiscally responsible for the crimes they committed under the umbrella of "parenting".

3. I want this step-parent to realize that what they did was not ok and that after many attempts at communication and reconciliation they've willfully denied their responsibility and haven't even attempted to offer an apology.

How do I find a lawyer? How do I find a pro-bono lawyer that will consider my case?

Can anyone recommend a real estate lawyer in Houston?

getupandgo — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:17:40 -0800

The wife and I are in the process of buying a home in Houston (TX). We have/had a real estate lawyer that we were working with, but she has gotten extremely non-responsive (we just found out yesterday that she has some family issues), and the deal just got a little more complicated. We were going FHA, and one of the stipulations of the deal is that the seller must own the house for 3 months before selling it. Apparently, we were told one thing, but the actual facts and paperwork say another. So we have another month and a half before we can purchase the property. We have been offered, by the seller, a 12 month lease, that can expire upon purchase of the property.

Now, that could be all well and good, and we really do need to move on this quickly, however there are two issues; first, is that we don't have a lawyer to look over the lease and to protect our interests currently, and secondly, we're going to miss out on the 8k tax credit (unless the deadline is extended).

Are there any reputable real estate lawyers in the city that anyone has dealt with and can recommend?

Should I quit looking in the legal field and become a stock broker?

xspot — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:41:33 -0800

Out of work law school grad thinking about looking into another career...looking for suggestions....how about a stock broker trainee...? Some background info. Living in NYC area. Recent law grad from 2nd tier school, crappy grades. Majored in finance as an undergrad. Failed the bar first time, worked for a year (non-legal field), out of work for another year before I retook and passed three state bar exams. Since then I've been out of work for another year+. I havent been completely out of work during those 'out of work' times but nothing that I'd put on a resume.
The legal job market seems esp. tough. Amazingly, I've interviewed with a couple of firms for entry level attorney jobs since passing the bar but I know for a fact that two of the firms hired people with 5-6 years experience. Ugh. Have also applied for a bunch of attorney fed/state jobs with no luck. I've known that my prospects for finding a an attorney job in this climate was slim, but I wanted to at least get licensed and was hoping for some luck but I'm now more than ready face 'reality'.... so I'm looking/thinking about a new career path.

Two main questions:
1.Suggestions on a new career path? I know this a ridiculous question to ask to strangers but I'd love to hear some new voices/opinions.
2. There've been alot of stoker broker trainee jobs listing recently...What exactly does a stock broker trainee do and is it worthwhile? Would my law degree/finance degree help at all at getting and keeping this job?

Looking for nonlegal work as a JD was tough, I imagine it'll be the same with a law license. Should I mention that I'm licensed to practice law or that I even went to law school? I definitely dont mind starting from the ground up in a new field but I'm hesitant to switch fields and 'waste' my law degree/license. How hard would it be for me with become an attorney again after working in another field for 4-5 years without any legal experience? Despite how it sounds I dont feel like I HAVE to be a lawyer, I just would like to give it a shot but I'm tired of waiting and not making steady income! I'm not necessarily looking for suggestions in finding legal work, but suggestions or advice would really be welcomed. Thanks.

What happens if an arresting officer records your conversation with the public defender?

doomtop — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:48:02 -0800

What happens if an arresting officer records your conversation with the public defender? When you get arrested, at some point the officer will ask if you want to speak to a lawyer. If you say yes, they put you on the phone with a public defender.

As I understand, it is illegal for law enforcement to record that conversation you have with the public defender.

If they do record it, what are the consequences of that? Does that usually affect the outcome of the charges you were originally arrested for?

“Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.”

crayon — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:50:44 -0800

Can you recommend a good (and reasonably priced) real estate lawyer in the San Francisco Area? I'm in the East Bay, but San Francisco is fine.

I've own a piece of property with someone else for 7 years. My buying partner has suddenly decided she just wants to stop paying and walk away. No, we don't have a funky mortgage and aren't really in trouble mortgage-wise. I need someone who has experience dealing with joint tenancy issues so I can figure out what my options are at this point.

I understand that lawyers cost money, but I also need someone who has a reasonable fees as right now I am suddenly faced with paying for everything on my own until the matter is settled.

Thanks in advance.

Need Help Finding a Lawyer for Fresno County Court Date Tomorrow

davidstandaford — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:15:50 -0800

How do I find an attorney to represent me at a court appearance tomorrow morning for the Superior Court in Coalinga, Fresno County? Over the summer I was given a ticket for an infraction for urinating on a public highway. I used the Fresno County Attorney referral service and spoke with an attorney last week who said that he could either represent me or find someone who could. I called back today and spoke to someone in the office who said he could not help me and did not know anyone who could.

My appearance is supposed to be at 8:30am tomorrow. I live in Atlanta now. I called the court and they said they cannot postpone my hearing date. If I do not show up, apparently they will issue a bench warrant for me.

Does anyone have any advice on how to find an attorney who could show up in court for me? I don't know what exactly will happen at the hearing, but I am happy to plead guilty and accept any fine, community service, or other punishment. I just need someone to deliver that message.

I tried a google search for lawyers in Coalinga and called some numbers but it was an estate lawyer and then someone in business law, so I need a way to refine the search or only find people who can potentially go to a court appearance for me tomorrow. I also called back the Attorney Referral service and they gave me the number of one attorney that they thought might be able to help, so I left him a number and I am waiting to hear back.

Thank you for all of the help.

[You are not my lawyer and this is not legal advice.]

Good questions to ask my Bankruptcy Lawyer in the morning?

samuel1613 — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:24:42 -0800

Questions to ask the bankruptcy lawyer in the morning to learn about the process AND to evaluate the lawyer's ability in bankruptcy. Sorry for the late question. I am visiting a bankruptcy lawyer in the morning. Without judging my circunstances, can you please give me good questions to ask to determine if this is the lawyer I should choose IF I do go down this path. What should I ask them about? Their experience? Their fees? Timeframes? Options? Please help as I know little about this process, and I would like to know if this is a good lawyer for this process. I already know all advise you provide is not legal advice, most of you are not lawyers, and I will take everything as simply friendly advise. Thank you for your help!

How does one review case law?

doomtop — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:21:39 -0800

How does one review case law? In a criminal case in state district court, I would imagine review case law would be very helpful. What I mean is, if you could review a case where an acquittal was acquired for similar charges to the case you are currently looking at, that would seem very helpful. I am sure this is something lawyers do all the time, for example when they are showing precedent, etc.

How do lawyers access this information to review case law?

Can you help me move?

motsque — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 08:16:01 -0800

Where do I go? Can you recommend your city / town / country based on what you like about it? I'll be graduating from law school in May. The law school isn't very highly ranked, but my grades have held steady around a 3.5 GPA. I've got experience doing academic legal research as well as small (one lawyer) office experience. All I really know is that I don't want to stay and take the bar here (it is COLD).

Please, tell me a little about where you live or have lived, and why you like it. Can mefis recommend places that they like that:

1. Need (and hire) new lawyers like me.
2. Have no winter (rainy seasons OK...but no snow!).
3. Maybe have a little ocean front.
4. Are a little like Chattanooga, TN or Charlottesville, VA (but aren't actually those places).
5. Are pretty liberal, even if the state is red.

If you're a lawyer, why did you go where you are? Do you like it? Or, if you're an expat American with a J.D. .... how did you get there?

I know this is pretty broad, but I'd like input from real people, rather than a brochure in a career office! Thanks!!

Canada: Going to court for impaired driving

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:30:12 -0800

I screwed-up, and got caught for driving impaired I know you're not my lawyer, just looking for advice.

This pertains to BC, Canada...but I thought I'd leave it open.

Like I said I screwed-up, shouldn't have been driving. Took a turn into a narrow gravel driveway too fast (it's on a hwy), and slide into the ditch.

All I needed was a tow truck, but someone called 911, so ambulance, firetruck, 2 cop cars. Got arrested for the first time in my life, charged with impaired driving, but was released once the paperwork was done.

I have a "Promise to appear" form with two dates:

One in Sept. "for purposes of the identification of criminal act". No idea what that means, so that's question #1.

Second in Dec. "to attend thereafter as required, to be dealt with according to law". Not really sure about this either, so that's question #2.

Question #3: I've never dealt with a lawyer. I can't afford one anyway. I don't know if I should try to represent myself of not.

Lawyer Gone Wild!

quadog — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:57:38 -0800

Need recommendations for dealing with an irrational lawyer with a personal grudge who threatens in writing to sue me, have me arrested and do all kinds of interesting malicious things. I live in California. My neighbor is a lawyer for the State. This neighbor recently sent me an email announcing his intention to sue me, have me arrested and exert various other inconveniences on my life. He has copied the homeowners association on the communication. I'm guessing the nature of the very minor dispute would fall under civil law - specifically with the building's CC&Rs on exclusive use common area property rights. The issue itself has been resolved. At this point he's just looking to pick a fight without any real goal other than to be a bully.

Would his behavior be of interest to the State Bar of California or any other professional entity? For example, is this item relevant?

Any other advice for preventing the situation from escalating further is much appreciated. I basically just want to diffuse the bomb and not have to deal with him.

Related question: I have not replied to him in writing or verbally. I don't intend to. I trust this is the right (in)action?

Housing dispute lawyer in NYC?

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 06:29:50 -0800

Can anyone recommend a good lawyer in NYC for dealing with housing issues, specifically a dispute over a security deposit with a former landlord? I'm currently wrangling with a former landlord who's refusing to return my (substantial) security deposit. I believe this will end up in Housing Court. I know I don't need an attorney for Housing Court, but I'd really like to have someone giving me advice and walking me through the process as well as helping me prepare and file all the necessary paperwork. I don't mind spending some money to do this, as the deposit in question was fairly large. Any recommendations?

Anonymous because I prefer not to have legal things associated with my username and Google-able by people I know.

How to make a will better?

madajb — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:55:04 -0800

Got any tips for creating a will for new parents? We plan to get a lawyer, this is so we are more prepared when we speak with them. If anyone know a good lawyer in or around Eugene, OR, that'd be handy too.

As the parents of a new child, we've suddenly become aware that a will would likely be a good idea.
One child, fairly standard estate.
We'll likely set up a guardianship for the child with financial oversight separate.

Looking for things that you may have found useful in setting up your own will or executing someone else's.
Sort of those little things that make a big difference.
Things you may appreciated when you were the beneficiary of a will or specific items to include or exclude.

[BigLawFilter] Just been no-offered at Nor Cal law firm, on campus interviewing is essentially dead for 3Ls. Experiencing hysterical panic.

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:18:15 -0800

[BigLawFilter] Just been no-offered at Nor Cal law firm, on campus interviewing is essentially dead for 3Ls. What to do? This is going to be long I think but I am on the edge of a panic attack. Coming from a T6 law school and top tier undergrad. GPA is above median but school doesn't rank so I don't know more than that. My no offer is technically a "cold offer" - I have been encouraged by this firm to tell other firms that I actually did receive an offer but have chosen to look elsewhere. This is so that they can attempt to mask what I believe is the real reason behind my rejection, economic difficulties. My discussions with attorneys at the firm now reveal that everyone (at least claims to have) liked my work and liked me. Career Services is skeptical of this cold offer business, as am I.

But I don't want to look like a psycho drunken unable to work freak to later firms who may consider me. I know that this is happening more frequently in this economy, but I am concerned that if I tell other firms that this one no offered me for economic reasons, when they call to check, this firm will give them the same bullshit reasons that have been mentioned to me: "fit" and on two occasions I had to be reminded to enter my time. The attorneys and the recruiting people I have spoken to since have indicated to me off the record that "fit" is not at all a problem. I'm a friendly, reasonably outgoing girl, and was regularly invited to lunches and after work events, even when other summers were not invited. Of course I'm aware that it's possible that someone I didn't speak to took a disliking to me and made that feeling known. Perhaps my yearning to pin this on the economy is me trying to deny this.

I know this market is very hard to break into, and that no one is hiring 3Ls. My Career Services office is not particularly helpful or optimistic. I am going to contact all the firms that were willing to give me an offer or a callback last OCI. Does anyone have any idea how state clerkships work, or how law firms view staff clerk positions or pro se law clerks, etc.? how does the transition from small/midlaw to biglaw work? throwaway: scared3L@gmail.com

Wills and estates lawyer in Vancouver

russilwvong — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:05:34 -0800

Looking for a good lawyer in Vancouver, BC, specializing in wills and estates, to revise our wills and give us more general legal advice about estate planning. How should we go about this, and what criteria should we use? (My wife and I are early 40s, two children under 10, middle class.)

Any recourse against a shady car dealer?

getawaysticks — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:33:56 -0800

A franchised, "legitimate" car dealer lied to us in order to get us to purchase a car. I know.. not really news and not really unique. But how can we fix this now? We test-drove a new RAV4 from the local Toyota dealership in 2007. We had driven the model before and really liked it - and this was the only dealer in the Metroplex that had a leather model. During the test drive, we noticed a rotten-egg smell coming out of the vents of the car during times of high acceleration. The salesman was in the car with us at the time and said, "Oh, no worries, that will go away once the engine has been broken in."

We should have stopped at that point and went home and researched the scent but we were exhausted and frustrated after looking for a car for 6 weeks or so. We are primarily a Subaru family but knew Toyota was renowned for its service and the quality of the cars so we bought the car (with extended warranty). I know that I can be very naive and I swear, one of these times I will learn.

The rotten-egg smell has never gone away. Here in Dallas, one has to hit the gas - hard - quite often. The smell is immediate and nauseating.

In the 2 years since we purchased the car, we have taken it in for service 6 times for this problem, and it has yet to be fixed. The problem is documented elsewhere on the internet for similar models or older models and there have been Toyota Service Bulletins for it, but nothing for our year/model combination.

Last summer on one of our service visits I went to pick up the car after work. The service employee said that he would file [another] report with Toyota corporate and that in the mean time, "Buy an air freshener." I am just aghast that someone would suggest that to someone paying those exorbitant car payments. Since that visit, we have both brought the truck in and the service manager acknowledges the problem but doesn't know how to fix it (at least, that is what he says). They have escalated to the regional distributor who indicated we need to try another brand of gas (we have done this). The last contact from the dealer was, "We really don't know what to do next."

At this point I am more than a little emotional about this situation. I am angry every time I make a car payment. I thought the extended warranty and/or Toyota's legendary service would protect us from something like this happening. Granted - the car is still drivable, but it is irritating and nauseating to deal with this scent. I would love at this point to just give them the truck back and walk away entirely (but I understand that that is probably not going to happen).

Here is what we have done so far. Are we missing anything? Thank you in advance for any ideas. I just can't believe it's 2009 and we are still letting major car dealers lie to and abuse customers.

1) Contacted bbb.org and filed a complaint
2) Contacted the North Texas New Car Dealers Association, who have initiated contact with the dealer
3) Contacted Toyota's corporate office who report they are investigating the situation
4) Contacted every Dallas news organization's "Watch dog" or "Consumer investigations" team, with little or no response
5) Called a lawyer who is ready to send a demand letter to the dealer, but is not very optimistic
6) Collected the necessary paperwork to attempt a lemon law claim - but the lawyer indicated that the remedy will probably not be to my satisfaction (they will either pay a sum of money to you, or allow you to trade out, and I don't want to deal with this company any longer at all).

Risk-aversion shows I'm qualified, right?

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:59:57 -0800

Should I take out a full load of student loans to attend a top-6 law school right now? I just got accepted off the waitlist at the last minute. This is not a "should I go to law school?" question; I'm already excited and fully committed.

The question, rather, is how much risk should I take financially in this economy? I was not offered a grant or scholarship (and might have a better chance at being considered for one next year if I apply very early - I put my applications in very near the deadline instead of in the fall). I currently have a job that pays well enough to put some savings away by next year, let's say at least enough to cover living expenses over all 3 years, and hope to come up with some opportunities to enhance my income given the extra time. I also have some personal projects I could finish up and be satisfied overall with spending another year this way before embarking on a long-term, non-interruptible career path like law. Until this waitlist acceptance, I was perfectly content with reapplying next year.

I am passionate about becoming a lawyer but terrified of becoming a debt slave. I can't seriously consider the possibility of committing to a loan payment plan that lasts longer than 5 years; right now, my 5-year payment plan would be $4,000 monthly starting 6 months after graduation.

On the other hand, schools like Columbia, NYU and Chicago are extremely competitive. As I was waitlisted at all 3 this year, I may not be able to count on getting in next year and they don't give deferrals to waitlisted admittees. After applying to other schools, I am certain that these are the only ones I would seriously consider attending, especially on student loans. I think I might be game for big law, but my freedom to choose is more valuable to me than anything, and I don't want to be stuck with it if I genuinely hate it.

Biglaw isn't even hiring right now, and I certainly don't want to place a $200k bet that they will be by 2012. My loans and interest rates are a certainty; the economy and the effects the recession will have on the legal industry and my ability to thrive or survive as a member of it in the near future are anything but certain. If it becomes clear over the next 12 months that student loans this large would be a death sentence for anyone, I could come up with a plan B and be glad to have escaped such a fate, even if being a lawyer remains my first career choice.

So I could be making the biggest financial mistake of my life (there are suddenly no guarantees of summer associateships and huge starting salaries for anyone at any law school?!) - or throwing away the biggest opportunity of my life (admissions are likely to get even more competitive next year, although I do have competitive numbers and would like to chalk up having been waitlisted to having applied quite late and scoring a 6-point increase on the February LSAT after applying with a lower score from December). If I pass up an opportunity to go to my dream school that might not materialize again next year, I'll always regret it; if I find that my life is essentially over after graduation due to crushing debt obligations, I will probably lose the will to go on after a couple years. Which way to go?

How do I select an attorney?

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:27:00 -0800

How do I select an attorney? I am searching for an attorney to advise me on a difficult situation related to my already-finalized divorce. I do not know any lawyers, and the only lawyer I have ever been personally recommended has an hourly rate in the stratosphere. Is there a reliable way to select a lawyer? It seems that client reviews on web sites that provide such functionality are few and far between in my area, and I feel I may have already been burned on a few occasions by simply selecting one at random. Are there any resources available to help me make this decision?

On the off chance that anyone here wants to make a recommendation, I am in Knoxville, Tennessee.