Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with litigation

Will the HOA Come For ME?

duckus — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:04:56 -0800

Can the HOA make me ultimately responsible for their drama ? I own a condo, but rent it out. Last year, the owner below me experienced leakage in her ceiling due to a design flaw. The leak originated in the outside deck of my condo.

At first, she contacted me, and we found dry rot in the door frame, which was replaced. At this point, it was also determined that the damage was centered outside, which is considered a common area and not my responsibility.

Now, she is still experiencing the leak and new damage and is going to the board demanding they resolve the issue. The board is maintaining (politely) that the original issue was resolved several years ago. I have not been directly contacted about anything, but am being cc'ed on various emails. It does seem that everyone wants to avoid litigation.

I am worried that at some point, this will come back to me. Can they come after me at all after they exhaust all of their options with each other? And if they can .. what are my options? I mean .. other than shelling out thousands of dollars I don't have.

MULTIPLE questions about a terrible car accidnet and the medical/legal fallout.

lattiboy — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 12:01:42 -0800

My brother and his wife were in a near fatal car accident in California while on vacation. I need to get them about 200 miles back to Las Vegas. I have MULTIPLE questions, and I hope you guys (and gals) can help... So, a head on collision at almost 65 mph and they're alive. Extensive injuries, but it looks like they'll both pull through (after a combined 10 surgeries). I have multiple questions, but the first is how to get them back to Las Vegas without spending $4000 on an ambulance.

They had both just quit their jobs and were on a long needed vacation, so no personal health insurance. They both were covered by $150,000 a piece medical, and the other driver had $50,000 per person medical coverage. It was the other drivers fault, he died at the scene.

This happened almost 2 weeks ago and I didn't even think to ask the smartest people I know what the hell I should do next. We have an attorney who is looking at our options as far as litigation goes, but the pressing issue is getting them out of the hell hole town in Western California without personally bankrupting my family. I called 2 ambulance services, and they don't seem to like "claim numbers" much.

Patent litigation for dummies

loquax — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 06:55:58 -0800

I'm looking for an outline/timeline of the steps/stages of patent litigation in the US. Can anyone help? Ideally, I'd love to see a list of all the hearings, motions, whatever that are required or common to patent litigation suits, and when along the timeline of a suit they occur. Are there any online resources that would have this kind of thing along with a brief description of what's involved in each step? I'm not a lawyer (obviously) so if what I'm asking for doesn't make sense, please let me know. Much obliged...

Jerry Springer Much.

Bageena — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:31:43 -0800

*deep breath* Ok. My great-grandmother left me a bout $10,000 when she died (I was six) to use towards college. My father, who was put as the executor over the account of whatever, spent the money when I was about fifteen. Now I'm 26 and I'd like to sue him for it. Can I win? More information - a lot more. My father recently went to prison for a myriad of charges, the most serious being child molestation. He'll be away for about 5 years. His home, which he 'owns' (has about a $25k mortgage, home is worth about $60) is probably going to be going into forclosure soon. His girlfriend is living on the property and he's instructed her to sell it. I've never considered going after him for the money before, but seeing as a)he's about to sell the home and have about $25k left after and b) I'm getting married in October and I need about $20k to pay for the wedding, I'm thinking now's my only real chance to get back what I'm owed.
I have the letter from my great-grandma where she outlines leaving me the funds, basically a last will and testiment. I have court documents from a custody battle between my parents over my little brother from about 7 years ago where he was court ordered to pay me back. I know around when he spent the money. I can probably get the name of the bank that was holding the funds and I can probably get the reciept or something that shows the main thing he bought with it (a truck). My question is whether any of that would matter... is there any legal precedence for this? Do I have a leg to stand on?
Thanks for your help in advance.

Fired/Sued/Quit?

converge — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 05:03:20 -0800

I work as a freelance tech in the POS industry. What can I do to avoid litigation? A huge part of my job involves teaching people how to run their businesses. Another huge part involves me having access to their financial records to troubleshoot (usually their screw-ups). And, if I refuse the above responsibilities I get massive shit from my client (my employer). So, how does one balance exposure versus doing a decent job, situationally specifically? Well, even other non-situational examples might help.

Evil Partner

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 07:25:48 -0800

How do I deal with a business partnership dissolution that is rapidly getting incredibly ugly? (Both emotionally and legally.) Two years ago, I bought 20% of a business (corp) from the then-only owner. Over the past six months, her behavior to me and the employees became increasingly erratic and verbally abusive. I chose to end the partnership, consistent with the terms of our contract, which states that she must repurchase my shares.

Because I felt that it might smooth the process, and I wanted to encourage her to pay me via a lump-sum rather than over the 10 years allowd by the contract, I asked her to make me an offer.

Well, her offer just came through and it's for less than half of what I originally paid. Moreover, her offer includes veiled accusations of financial malfeasance on my part, and veiled threats. All of this is complete crap, which I can substantiate. She's also alleged that I reduced the value of the company (despite the fact that an independent appraiser disagreed).

I hate this woman. I am burning with anger. I want to make her life as difficult as possible, legally of course. On the other hand, I realize for my personal sake, I would be better off behaving professionally and letting my representative (family attorney, unfortunately not licensed in my state but well able to negotiate on my behalf and help me avoid litigation) negotiate with hers.

In the meantime, though, I supposedly have a week and a half more of work, wrapping up projects and ensuring a smooth transition. I am not going to be able to be in the same room with this person, let alone work with her, primarily because she impugned my ethics-- I already knew she was greedy and a bitch.

What do I do? If she's going to end up giving me nothing (or virtually nothing), why should I make this transition smooth? On the other hand, I would like to receive my last paycheck. And, how do I get out of this without having a nervous breakdown? I can't sleep (been up since 4), eat, or relax.

Help! I realize there are a couple of issues here-- the legal partnership issues are being dealt with, I think, but I am concerned about slander as well, if she tells people these lies about me it could significantly damage me. I feel like I am being blackmailed, to be honest. (Note the numbers here are fairly small, in the 10-30k range, so litigation is really to be avoided.)

But...what do I do? How do I deal?

ICJFilter

willbaude — Tue, 21 Jun 2005 06:46:28 -0800

When the United States gets involved in litigation before the International Court of Justice, who makes all of the relevant litigation decisions? I assume that in the end the president retains ultimate authority to call the shots here (is that right?), both about whether to participate and how to. But surely he doesn't make every decision himself-- Is there a "solicitor general" for international litigation? Is there a sub-cabinet department devoted to this, or is it just part of somebody else's official duties? Is this done by the state department or the justice department? Or is it all ad hoc?