Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with sue

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

Can a husband sue his wife?

daveyt — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 06:12:27 -0800

Are there any circumstances in (UK) law that would allow a friend to 'sue' his wife for what he considers the money she stole from their joint account. Long story much shorter.

Boy meets girl, gets married. Within 11 months she reveals (out of the blue) that she never loved him, not even on their wedding day.

Before getting married she convinced him that they should have a shared savings account, and a shared current account. She contributed nothing to savings, and little to he current account. She has spent over £70K during the marriage with no consultation with him.

Yes he's an idiot - he didnt check his statements/accounts at all. He had no reason to - he trusted her.

Yes she is an idiot - she has pissed this money up the wall. He now has a very long bank statement detailing exactly where all the money has gone.

Yes they are separating - for some reason, not divorcing - I dont know why - at this stage, he didnt divulge.

Yes he is lawyered up. He isnt, I have to say, a person of great judgment, and at the moment, utterly depressed and angry. I'm listening to him mostly, and I've told him to dump the village conveyancing solictor he told me is a "lovely sweet old lady" because he's being a fricking idiot and to find a rottweiler of a lawyer.

Is there a case here - as I think there might be - for some sort of conspiracy to defraud?

The amounts involved, and over the given time period suggests that this might have been premeditated.

The girl is young, immature, unpleasant, described by her 'friend' as a deeply unlikeable person and I have no doubt she knew exactly what she was doing.

Does he have a leg to stand on?

Toronto Injury Claims Lawyer

juiceCake — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 02:59:53 -0800

Injury claims lawyer recommendation in Toronto? A friend was in a car accident quite some time ago and now she´s being sued for severe injuries. The fault of the accident is still at fault as well. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

I broke my leg! Should I pursue compensation?

ImproviseOrDie — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 06:43:52 -0800

Personal injury filter: I broke my leg very badly--clean break of both tibia and fibula--while visiting my brother's apartment building in Brooklyn NY. I required surgery and a 5-day hospital stay. I will require months of PT and further ortho visits. I don't know yet if I'll lose any time from work beyond the week I was in the hospital, because my job is understanding and will let me work from home for at least a while. I cannot drive for at least a month, so I'm dependent on the kindness of my friends to bring me things, and as I live in a 3-story walkup (in Baltimore), I won't be going anywhere for a while. My question is about whether I should try to have the apartment building owner(s) contribute money toward what I expect to be quite a high amount. I'm not looking for damages--just for whatever my insurance won't cover. More details: I know that YANAL and YANML. I'm a 39 year-old woman, if that matters. My brother lives in a building where each apartment is owned; I'm not sure if they're condos or a co-op building. I fell on the stairs in the common area. I can't say for sure if I tripped or what, but I was not being reckless. All I know is that I was carrying my suitcase (carry-on size), landed wrong on my right foot, tried to use my left leg to stabilize and avoid falling, but my left leg simply snapped in two. (Yes, ouch. Worst pain of my life.)

In the hospital I had to wait 2 days with my bones unset while the swelling lessened enough to have surgery, during which they inserted titanium rods and pins into my leg. I had quick PT to learn how to negotiate with crutches and my cast, but once the cast comes off and I get a removable boot--probably in a few weeks--I'm going to need several weeks of PT to learn how to bear weight on that leg again, and how to drive with the boot, and I don't know what else. I may start with a walker with the boot and progress to a cane. I'm told I should expect to feel pain for about 6 months.

I'm currently unable to stand up for more than about 15 minutes because of swelling inside the cast and pain, so in addition to all the other drudgery outlined above, my daily activities are severely limited even while I'm trapped at home. This affects things like cooking, hygiene, pet care, and whatnot.

My brother, who rents in the building where the accident occurred, is encouraging me to pursue compensation from the building owner(s). (He's planning on moving soon, but this would be his advice even if he were staying.) Several nurses in the hospital also encouraged me in this same direction, and so has my mom.

I'm normally one of those who's apt to say "Shit happens. Get over it. It was an accident. Don't sue." But I'm worried about incurring medical debt I cannot pay for, and my worries are compounded by a looming threat of layoffs at my financial services company.

Once upon a time I was an ass and had very bad credit, and I've worked long and hard to become more responsible and to restore my good name and a decent credit score, and I'm very worried about a downward spiral with collections agencies and huge credit card bills if I were to get a bill for, say, more than 5k. Which I'm quite sure I will. On top of all this, I'm getting a divorce, so I'm trying to minimize any and all bills as I start my new life and save enough to buy another house.

Provided that my health insurance company, who I just started with on 9/1, allows all the charges on the claims, I'll still owe 20% of the entire bill. I figure that with some denied charges, I'll probably owe closer to 30-35% of the total.

If you're still reading after all that, thank you! My question is not necessarily "Should I sue?" but rather "Should I pursue compensation for the costs I'm sure I won't be able to afford?"

How do I practice law?

hal_c_on — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:14:36 -0800

How do I practice law...without a law degree? (WAY more inside...sorry) I really need to elaborate:

I have a lot of time on my hands for the next 6-8 months. I'm talking lots! In the past when I had tons of time, I have:
*become a watchmaker (making an automatic watch from scratch)
*become a licensed pharmacist technician
*learned so much HR that I sat for the senior PHR test (and failed by 1 question...darn)

Thats just to show my dedication, and the amount of time I actually have on my hands.

So now another big bulk of time is coming up and I've been toying with the idea of practicing law. I'm not talking about working at a firm, having clients, or even advising people. Heck no. I'm talking about representing myself in court.

Over the past year (in Los Angeles County), I've encountered TONS of people who take advantage of consumers like me.

I had a landlord that took my rent and deposit but never paid the bank. They foreclosed the property, sold it, and told me to get the heck out.

I had my cable company charge me for equipment I returned (and had a receipt for). They stuck some debt collectors on me who swore at me, and harassed me on the phone. Seriously!

An airline at LAX refused to seat me because "all our seats are filled". The same supervisor seated the nice white lady who was after me in line though...too bad for them she's my wife.

My new landlord claims I am responsible for any costs incurred in replacing their 5 year old carpet because their washing machine broke and flooded the entire kitchen and leaked into the living room. What really sucks is that their maintenance crew had just "repaired" the washing machine the day before.

I was tackled by a security guard at a horrible horrible store that spreads sprawl everywhere (hint hint). When nothing was found on me (being tackled from behind TOTALLY stunned me and I consented to all sorts of garbage..."sure sure, you can search my pockets"). When nothing was found on me (I don't even know what they were looking for), the dude apologized by saying "hmmm...you looked like you were doing something wrong...like terrorrists". Awesome. Thank you, have a nice day.

Seriously...do you see that? And its not like I have a "kick me" sign on my back or something. Not at all. This happens to a LOT of people. They often feel they have no recourse...and thats that. End of story.

Anyways, I know a lot of these are small claims court things. Yeah, I can handle that. What about other stuff? It wouldn't be cost-effective to go to an attorney to handle some things.

How can I do this myself? The ONLY thing I know about law in LA County is how to file a small claims case on my own.

I KNOW a lot of these people would be willing to settle if I was able to send them a letter. Like an "intent to sue" letter or something. I know about the NOLO books, but they don't have a "I am suing you for tackling me in a store" letter.

Where do I get a set of attorney-type letters that I can customize to scare the bejeezus out of these bastards?

Where to best look up the law online (besides CAL state code)? Books? Library? Some super-duper website all lawyers use to talk about secret stuff?

I'm NOT looking for ANY kind of legal advice besides:

How can I best represent myself legally for all the wrongs that have been done against me?

Sure, money is ALWAYS nice...but better than money is knowledge. I don't want to feel as if I need to first find a lawyer who won't charge me $300 to listen to me, and then decide if my case is worth his time. I don't blame the attorneys. They are running a business. Ordinarily, they would assess a case by its potential revenue; if its not high enough...no dice. I understand and accept that.

The next time I'm tackled by some horrible company (figuratively and literally), I don't want to be stunned. I don't want to feel as if this is what happens and there's nothing I can do about it. I want to KNOW that they can't get away with this, and that I'm NOT a second class citizen. I want to be a citizen that knows his rights.

Including the right to represent myself in court.

ANY advice would be appreciated. ANY tips. Anything.

I know I've been kinda rambling. And this is what happens when I stay up till 1am, getting angry about this stuff...then writing it up in askmefi. Thanks mefites...you guys are awesome.

Legalfilter: I need advice if we should sue or not!

freddymetz — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:59:02 -0800

Legalfilter: I need advice if we should sue or not! We booked a hotel online, received our booking/reservation confirmation and arrived at the hotel in DC.
They then told us that we didnt have a reservation and they were sold out.

We then called the central office and the woman there could only give us a generic excuse to do with the credit card (but if we have received the confirmation, they have received the money..right?).
What i suspect, is that they made a mistake and dont feel they can admit it and now blame it on a generic credit card error.

They also said that they cancelled the booking an hour after we booked it but we received NO information of the cancellation what so ever.

We drove 300 miles to get to the hotel where we had a reserved room and they just left us standing there in the middle of the night.
I dont think this is acceptable behaviour from a top class hotel, so what do you guys think?

If you need any more information, feel free to ask!

I was run over, should I take legal action? If so, how?

flaneuse — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:38:44 -0800

So I was crossing the street right after work in the crosswalk, on a green walk sign. A cab was making a left turn, ran into me, knocked me down, and then ran over my foot! The worst part was that he stopped ON TOP OF MY FOOT, wth?! So he gets out of the car to check on me and i'm on the ground screaming bloody murder- BACK THE F OFF MY FOOT- pretty funny when i re-tell it now since miraculously (doctor's words) I was spared from any major injury! I had my Kaiser health insurance card on me and the ambulance took me to the ER at Kaiser (I am in California) where I had several x-rays, was given pain meds and crutches, and had my leg wrapped in a splint. I haven't gotten any hospital or ambulence bills from them yet, but did not pay the ER co-payment on my plan because I told the admin there that this was a third party's liability and that I would send their bills to the cab company's insurance provider.

This was over a month ago, and the cabbie's insurance company just sent me a "Report of Accident" form. It assumes that my car, not my person, was hit by the cab, which I plan to clarify. I also plan on ordering the police report that identifies eye witnesses who confirm that it was my right of way when I was hit.

I looked at past questions posted here, but they all involved car accidents and reccommended liasing through one's own car insurance company. Should I do the same with my health insurance? Should I sue the cab driver personally? The cab company? Call the cab's insurance company? I am not looking for an exorbitant sum of money but would like to see a small settlement for the emotional distress I've been through. Thoughts on how to proceed?

Should my mom sue?

odayoday — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 09:16:36 -0800

My mom was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, which sucks in many, many ways, not the least of which is that it seems that it could have been caught by her mammogram two years ago, but wasn't, possibly because the technician ignored information in her chart. She is now being encouraged by others to sue for malpractice, considering that her cancer has now had two extra years to progress. I'm wondering if she actually has a case, and if so, how should she proceed. This is kind of a long story, so there's more inside... My mom had silicone implants put in in the late 70s, and a few years ago they began to leak. Implants can obscure the mammogram technician's ability to detect tumors, so they have to use a special technique (although I'm not sure exactly how that works) to perform the mammogram. Because of my family's history of breast cancer (my mom's mother, aunt and sister all had it), and the fact that she felt a lump, my mom told her doctor that she suspected she had cancer, but according to her, he just brushed her off. Now, two years later, she had surgery to remove the implants, and has discovered that she DOES have cancer, and based on the size of her tumor, it has been growing for several years. When she showed her charts to her oncologist, the oncologist said, "Wow. He should have caught this. I'm going to call and tell him that he needs to watch out for this in the future," which leads my mom to believe that the doctor may not have been paying as much attention as he should have, and that this could have been discovered sooner. Basically, my mom is not at all the litigious type, and in fact has somewhat of a moral aversion to lawsuits. She doesn't blame the doctor for her cancer, obviously, but she's in a lot of pain and is having trouble working, and would like to know if he really should have seen it two years ago, and if she does decide to sue, what would be a reasonable settlement. She's feeling pretty hopeless about life in general right now, and I just want to make sure that if she has a right to some kind of compensation, she gets it. I would really appreciate any advice you can offer.

Bye bye finger, hello courtroom?

jkaczor — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:44:45 -0800

Neighbour sheers off 1/4 finger looking after another's house. Should he sue? Ok - this is for my neighbours. They are all nice, reasonable people. The one set (A) are a nice couple - ministers who travel extensively (lucky if they are home one week out of four).

The other (B) is a nice retired gentleman. Over the last several years he has looked after A's house while they were away - plant watering, check-up's, ensure no disasters are occuring (burst pipes, etc.).

B also picks A up from the airport using A's car.

Several weeks ago, B went to get A's car out of their garage to pick them up - and the garage door would not open/close properly.

B (a handy guy, who has taught me a thing or two about garage doors since I moved here) - unhooked it from the chain, and opened it. Then he move the car outside.

Then, B tried to close the garage door. But it was stuck (in the open position). B put his hands above his head, in-between door & frame - and pulled. The garage door became unstuck, garage door was not attached to chain, garage door came down very fast and forcibly.

Garage door took approximately 1/4 of B's finger with it. I helped B get to the hospital while my wife picked up A.

B has been in much pain. B has definately lost the 1/4 finger (my non-squeamish wife found it, we put it on ice and took it with us to the hospital - but it is not healing well.) B has other, serious health considerations that weaking his immune system with a stupid injury is not a good idea.

A has had "issues" with their garage door previously (we noticed it sticking, not opening/closing, etc.)

Should B sue? Isn't this what insurance is for? This is in Canada - does that really make a difference?

In the interests of neighbourly relations - should B not sue? (Does it really matter, if they have insurance - technically a freakish accident shouldn't raise rates?)

Help a poor landlord will ya?

merocet — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 18:03:23 -0800

The tenants that I had in my house in London trashed the place and ran out on me leaving me seriously out of pocket. I'm in New York and poor. Anyone had any experience of chasing these things through the courts from another country? I moved to NYC to marry my US-ian wife, leaving my place in London in the hands of a letting agent who rented it out. I'm not the big scary profiteering landlord. The money I take in rent doesn't even cover the monthly mortgage payments let alone the letting agents fees and in the US I'm at college so money is pretty tight. Any requests for fixing up or replacing stuff I've ever had from the tenants, I've dealt with quickly and without argument. Now I'm out a months rent and the security deposit (another months rent) with the house needing pretty major patching up due, in part, to their kids scribbling on everything (walls, carpets, furniture) and then, seemingly, to the families total lack of respect for other peoples stuff. The time it's going to take to get the work done means that I'm going to be out another month or two's rent. They seem to think it's OK for me to pay all of this (c. $4k in rent and deposit + another $4K in lost rent due to the damage they caused) so that they can buy their family house. I want/need my money back but there's the added complication that I now live in New York.

The letting agent is worse than useless and the contract I have with them doesn't seem to assign the agents any responsibility in this situation. I was insured but apparently that only covers non-payment of rent while renters continue to live in the house. Now I have vacant possesion I'm SOL. I have a forwarding address for the tenants but it's not where they live, just a mail drop for them.

So Mefites, anyone had any experience in trying to do this stuff remotely that they can share with me?

Is it so complicated and expensive that I should suck this up despite it feeling very wrong?

Is there a way to do this and succeed?

What should I do about a client who owes money?

cbrody — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 16:53:32 -0800

A client stopped a cheque they gave me as payment for musical services rendered. They don't respond to my demands for payment. What options do I have? My string quartet was hired by a DJ company for a wedding at which we were asked to stay for twice as long as originally agreed in writing. A verbal agreement was reached on the day as to our fees (including extras for taxis and for an overnight stay which became necessary) and one of the DJs wrote me two cheques adding up to the total amount. One of the cheques cleared but the other (nearly 50% of the total) was stopped by the client.

No one from the company is answering phone calls or returning emails. I spoke to the person who wrote the cheques, who said that our fees were felt to be unreasonable and that they are trying to come to an arrangement, but it has now been nearly two months since the event and I have no reason to believe that they are willing to pay even part of the debt, given their non-communication.

I am considering taking them to court, but:
1. We had no written agreement apart from an emailed booking confirmation. The client never signed our contract, which among other things specifies our rates for overtime. Does the email plus the stopped cheque (which I have) count as evidence of an agreement?
2. I only have a PO Box address for the company (Tourasia). Should I sue the individual(s) or the company? It seems that Tourasia is only a trading name, and I don't have postal addresses for either of the individuals, despite extensive web searching.
3. Is it worth my while pursuing this at all? I have paid the other players their full fees, so I am personally out of pocket for the full amount of the debt.

What shall I do to bring my dentist to a small court for his negligence, and for how much?

dy — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:19:05 -0800

What shall I do to bring my dentist to a small court for his negligence, and for how much? I got a chemical burn to my face, about the size of a quarter, due to the negligence of my dentist. To make the long story short, it started two days ago when I went to have some filling work done for my teeth. The dentist accidentally mixed the water with the filling composite and smeared it onto my face. This triggered a rapid reaction with my skin. I was told at the time that I was probably allergic to the metal used for the high pressure tool piece. I did not buy his explanation and went to see my own doctor immediately. The next day I found out from the dentist that it was possibly an etch or acid burn by the composite. Today my own doctor confirmed me that it was indeed a chemical burn.

The burnt area is now dried up and is turning into a big dark scab. The burning sensation is going away, but the discomfort, as my doctor told me, will last for at least two weeks, not to mention that I have to show up like that at work everyday. According to my doctor, it’s unlikely to have scars afterwards in this case, but I’m still traumatized and scared to death with what if’s.

I’m furious that the dentist failed sending me to a medical clinic for immediate treatment upon my request. The funny part (not so funny) is that he treated me with Vaseline and recommended me to take Tylenol to ease the pain when this happened. I have been taking pictures of the burnt area everyday. I save all the notes from my doctor, visit receipts, and prescription. I want to see him at a small court, and want him to be responsible for his malpractice and negligence, and to cover all my medial expenses plus discomfort as the result. Shall I get a lawyer to represent me at this time or shall I settle this with the dentist by my own efforts first? If latter, what should I do first, and how much is reasonable to compensate my suffering, yet big enough for him to learn this lesson? Your inputs are greatly appreciated.

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.

My significant other and parent both work at same company, SO parent is about to sue company, now what?

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 23:29:53 -0800

Lawsuit Filter: So my significant other and significant others parent both work for the same company. SO's parent might be suing said company for age discrimination (and has a very good case). SO is worried about being blacklisted and/or targeted. How much should I and SO worry? Could SO also sue if SO is targeted because of the suit or at that point even join the lawsuit? I know (most of you are) not a lawyer but at least point me in the right direction. I should also mention this is a smaller size company not a major corporation. Everyone knows the relationship.

Sue my insurance company?

Benny Andajetz — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 13:39:46 -0800

Have any MeFites sued their homeowner's insurance company? I just had a pretty serious claim denied. I believe I'm in the right and have contacted a lawyer, but before I jump I'm curious if anyone here has been through this? What were/can be the results and/or repercussions?

Will suing a lousy doctor do any good?

ultraultraboomerang — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 09:35:48 -0800

Medical malpractice suits: What actually happens to an MD when they're sued? In terms of disciplinary actions against the MD, is there a difference between being found liable in civil court versus a settlement? A couple of years ago my 6-month old sister died after heart surgery (aortic stenosis). At birth the pediatric cardiologist discovered a murmur, but wasn't alarmed as those usually clear themselves up in the first few months of life.

What became clear only after she died, pretty unexpectedly, was that the initial tests done the day she was born showed a severe defect we weren't informed of. In fact, the technician conducting the EKG circled things and made notes, which the cardiologist ignored completely. She saw the same cardiologist at 3 months but again there was no concern. At 6 months she said the baby might need surgery soon. This is when my stepmom took her to a private children's hospital, where they said "this baby needs surgery IMMEDIATELY." She survived the surgery but coded overnight. The surgeons appear to have done everything right, as far as we can tell.

Needless to say, this has been a complete nightmare. I'm trying to help my stepmom with some decisions about how to proceed legally. She places a lot of stock in my opinion, for whatever reason, so I don't want to steer her in the wrong direction.

A medical review board found the cardiologist's care to be "substandard." Now the question is whether to proceed in court. We're not talking about a crooked car mechanic here. I figure when we're talking about this level of trust - putting an infant's life in an expert's hands - we have to do what we can to get it on record that this cardiologist ignored what a technician clearly saw, and while we'll never know if it would have saved her life, the point is we deserved that information.

Is there a benefit to taking this to court? Will just being sued affect anything like the doctor's malpractice insurance, license, etc? What about a liable verdict versus a settlement? Is it better to actually go to court, in terms of what the consequences are for the doctor? I'd really like to spare my stepmom the witness stand and cross examination about why she didn't take the baby to more cardiologists (there are 2 pediatric cardiologists within 50 miles, incidentally).

What, in short, is the deal with these kinds of things?

Sorry for all the context, I don't know enough to know what's important. Thanks for any help.

Drunk Driver Totalled My Car & My Neck!

Fisherkitty — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 15:19:30 -0800

I was rear-ended pretty hard by a drunk driver while I was driving. I will have medical bills that are pretty high, and my neck will probably be messed up for months (at least). Will the insurance companies pick this up sufficiently, or should I seek legal counsel, who wants 1/3 of the recovery? This happened in Kansas. Anyone who has been through this type of situation, please help!! I was driving my 1991 Volvo down a 1-way street, late at night in a light rain when I slowed & signalled to drop off my friend at her apartment. Neither of us had been drinking. We did not see the car approaching us before it hit us so hard my car was thrown over the curb, 20 feet into someone's yard. Both the driver and the passenger of the other car were very drunk. Both of our cars were totalled--hers is completely fucked, but mine is drivable...there is body panel damage and the trunk is no longer operational. She drove a 1998 Ford, belonging to her father, as does her car insurance.

She tried to lie to the officer, saying that I slowed down really quickly and then hit her with my car, but instead of asking her to elaborate on how that would be possible, the officer took her to do field sobriety tests, which she failed. She went away in handcuffs and I went to the hospital.

The guy who was her passenger seemed pretty unattatched to her--he basically just walked away when the police released him from the scene. There were beer cans and an open bottle of whiskey in her car. Anyway, she had no idea what happened. The next day she was with her mother at the towing lot, insisting that the towers caused the damage to her vehicle because she had just "bumped" my car a tiny bit.

Anyway, my neck is pretty fucked and I have had a lousy New Year's because of this. Kansas being a no-fault state, I need $2000 in medical bills to sue, which I'm rather sure I already have. I am wondering if representation would really help me here, or if I should just accept whatever settlement I am going to get from the insurance companies involved. Bonus question: my car is still perfectly drivable. I intend to keep driving it. The trunk is fucked...anyone know how to get Volvo panels for cheap and/or how to work with the insurance companies to get maximum damages for a totalled car that I will be keeping?

Who do I sue?

JakeWalker — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 18:18:55 -0800

I was hit by a bus while my car was not moving. Who do I sue in small claims court, the driver of the bus, or the private company that owns the bus? I was hit by a bus in March. Bus was driven by a private individual, but owned by a bus company. I was not at fault in the accident, and am now going to sue to recover my damages in Small Claims court.

Do I sue the driver of the bus, the bus company the bus is owned by, or both?

If it matters, I am in Chicago (and that is where the accident occured). The driver is from Chicago and the bus company is headquartered here too.

How do I help someone achieve justice after he was attacked at gunpoint by the Sheriff's buddy?

univac — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 19:38:43 -0800

A close relative was attacked, beaten and threatened at gunpoint, and the Sheriff and DA are protecting the attacker. How do we use litigation and/or publicity to force accountability? A close relative was attacked, beaten and threatened at gunpoint in a very rural area. Help was sought from passersby, one of whom turned out to be the attacker's wife (so much for witnesses). When the Sheriff was summoned, he stated that he had known the attacker for ages, and that it was lucky he didn't shoot. The attacker was not arrested. I don't want to give too much detail here, but trust me when I say the attack was unprovoked. Now, the DA refuses to prosecute and Sheriff's department is not inclined to discipline the Sheriff.

I have confirmed that the victim wishes to pursue this, and not let it drop. My family is at a loss as to what to do. There was a meeting with a civil attorney, but he was not interested in the case.

I'd like to know how to make sure that the attacker is prosecuted and that the Sheriff is held accountable. I am interested in pursuing recourse through the legal process, but I am also interested in bringing public attention to the situation in order to pressure the relevant agencies to do the right thing.

The Beatles "White Album" Just Means They Were Too Busy To Do It

unixrat — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 11:32:05 -0800

So I'd like to start a site where people can submit/dl alternative album art for music. More inside? Yes, please. I've always hated the album art on Trip Shakespeare's Lulu and now that iTunes had that snazzy album-art viewer thing it began to drive me nuts. So, I created a different cover, one that I thought better represented the album. (All my own work - no copyright infringment, natch. But it had the band name and album name on it.)

That got me to thinking: "Wouldn't it be great if there was a site where people could share homemade album covers?" My very next thought was "Man, the RIAA would sue them into the ground." But would they?

So here's the question: "Would a homemade album art ul/dl site be legal?"

Sticking it to THE MAN

Smarson — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 09:31:24 -0800

LegalFilter: What are my legal options against a company that withdrew money from my checking account without my consent? * Earlier this month my cell phone service provider withdrew almost $700 from my bank account for seemingly no reason. This mysterious charge was in addition to that same month's regular fee. I called the company numerous times and they have no record of that transactions ever taking place. I've also been in contact with my bank and filed the appropriate paper work claiming a discrepancy.

I'm 95% sure it is my cell phone service provider's fault since the information listed for the with withdrawl (name of company, contact info.) is the same info. given every time a normal monthly fee is withdrawn for my normal cell phone bill. My question is, what are my legal options if neither institution claims responsibility? If it is my cell phone service provider, am I entitled to ask for a reduction in my current service plan (I wish I could switch to a cheaper plan with fewer minutes without adding 12 months to my contract)? Since this deduction came right before rent was due, I've had to sustain penalties both from housing costs and other bills and I just feel that I'm entitled to a little more than just a reimbursement.

sosumi, baby

Paris Hilton — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 19:31:24 -0800

Have any Lawyers or Doctors ever been sued for giving free advice on the internet? What was the result?