You heard it right. We hired a midwife for 8500$ to do an at home birth. When she arrived, she said the wife was only 3-4 cm dilated, so she left to get lunch. Said she would be 15 minutes away tops. Ended up being gone for over an hour and 15 minutes… I literally delivered the baby on my own with the midwife and her assistant being gone getting lunch. We asked for a refund and they completely denied us. What do we do. When she initially arrived she said the wife was only 3-4 cm dilated so she was going to be 15 minutes away tops grabbing lunch. She ended up being gone for almost 2 hours. This was an actual midwife business we hired in port Charlotte too.

LOCATION: Port Charlotte Florida.

P.S - For clarity, I’m sharing my personal experience and the documentation I have regarding my family’s experience with the midwife service. I have not asked anyone to leave reviews or contact the business on my behalf. Please make your own decisions based on your own experiences, and don’t post anything about the business unless it reflects something you personally experienced or can accurately substantiate.

OREGON. Wondering about laws regarding mileage payout. My company pays everyone out at $.40/mile but I recently read that the federal minimum is $.76. Is my company using a loophole or are they flat disregarding the law about this? Thanks for all advice!

Edit- Thanks to all who responded personally and in the chat! I had no idea that is how it works. Appreciated all!

Location: Ohio

Our heat stopped working two weeks ago during a freeze. I called a local HVAC company with great reviews. Their website literally has a giant banner at the top that says "100% Free In-Home Estimates."

so the technician shows up on a Tuesday. He opens the furnace panel, looks at it for fifteen minutes, and quotes me eighty-five hundred dollars to replace the entire unit. I told him I needed to get a second opinion before dropping that kind of money. He packed up his bag and left.

I ended up hiring a different guy who fixed the issue for four hundred bucks by replacing a single ignitor switch. Problem solved, right?

Yesterday morning I open my mailbox and find an invoice from the first company for three hundred and fifty dollars. The line item says "Advanced diagnostic fee." I immediately called their office and told the receptionist their site promises free estimates.

The owner got on the line and started yelling. He told me the estimate is free, but taking off the furnace panel is a diagnostic service. He said if I do not pay the invoice by this Friday, he will file a mechanic's lien against my home title.

I NEVER signed a single piece of paper. He never handed me a clipboard or made me sign a digital disclosure. Its pure extortion, but now I am terrified this guy can legally freeze my property title over a made-up bill.

How can someone put a lien on a house without a signed contract?

LOCATION: US. I know Kinder Surprise eggs are obviously illegal to bring in through customs in the US, but let’s say you already had them in your possession (already in the US), and try to go through the TSA to board a domestic flight and you bought your eggs with you?

Will the TSA recognize them being illegal and confiscate them, even though they aren’t customs, or would they alert the customs in the airport, or would they only focus just on their job of no weapons and liquids and not care about your eggs, despite their technical illegality?

I am in Arizona.
My truck got broken into and some items (with serial numbers proving that they belong to me) were taken. The got was caught and had my property in his possession when he was arrested. He was recently sentenced so I reached out to the police department asking about getting my stuff back. They said they could not return anything until the DA released it.

Can they keep my stuff? There is no question of ownership. The serial numbers prove everything belongs to me.

Location: Mississippi, United States

Hi all. I work in a 300,000 square foot manufacturing facility with almost 500 employees, none of them contractors. Recently, management has had to begin repairs to our indoor plumbing due to foreign objects being flushed, like latex gloves and plastic ear plugs. During a meeting with the whole staff, the facility managers expressed that, if this were to continue to happen, then all restrooms across the facility would be permanently closed and instead, we'd have to use portable toilets placed in the parking lot.

My concern is the legality of this "solution". From what little I've managed to find on my own, port-a-potty stalls can be used as a temporary measure while repairs are being done but they can't permanently replace on site facilities. They haven't implemented this yet, but two of our ten restrooms (five men and five women) have been shut down for close to two months. Also, this would remove any hot and cold running water from employee access.

Is this something I should be concerned with or am I just overthinking it? If I should be concerned, should I take any sort of action with documenting or recording anything?

Any advice is appreciated.

I’m currently dealing with a massive headache with a consumer protection/auto fraud case in Ohio. The law firm heavily over-staffed my file with multiple different people billing hours on it. My total legal fees came out to nearly $28,000 on a settlement total across parties of roughly $36,500. That means the firm is attempting to swallow up roughly 76% of my total recovery through hourly billing padding.
When I started digging into the 15 pages of billing records, the red flags were everywhere:
Double Billing: On one day, an attorney billed $190 to "meet with the partner to discuss engine," and then right below it billed another $190 on the exact same day to "meet with himself to discuss engine."
Insane Text Message Minimums: They consistently rounded up every single brief text message update to a minimum of 0.1 hours (6 minutes), meaning it cost me $47.50 every single time an attorney sent a quick text update.
Administrative Hikes: The senior partner bills at a $550/hour rate and applied it to routine tasks like reading a one-sentence email from me saying I was happy to settle.
Here is the kicker: We signed the settlement agreement on October 12th. Per the strict terms of that contract, the first $12,500 installment was contractually required to be released within 7 days—making it overdue as of Monday, October 19th.
The lawyer previously emailed me an explicit structural breakdown stating that when the first $12,500 installment clears, "$7,000 will be distributed to you and $5,500 will be applied toward the firm's fees."
Because I stood my ground and sent a text on Monday disputing the padded fees, the attorney has completely ghosted me. My messaging app shows they read the text last Monday, and it is now Sunday. They are currently withholding my contractually mandated, undisputed $7,000 payout to try and pressure me into dropping my billing complaint. Under state professional conduct rules, an attorney is strictly mandated to promptly disburse all undisputed portions of a fund during an ongoing fee dispute. I’m in the dark. No clue what to do

Hi, I had a car accident on September 19 in South Bend, Indiana, on Notre Dame game day, when the shooting at a nearby bar happened.
My car was parked on the street near the shooting area, and I was sitting inside minding my own business when a woman backed up and hit my car, damaging the driver’s-side door and front fender.
There were a lot of police officers in the area because of the shooting, so I informed one of them about the accident and asked for a police report. However, he insisted that it wasn’t necessary because they had a more important situation to deal with at the time. He gave me the woman’s driver’s license and insurance information instead. I also recorded a video of the officer explaining why he couldn’t file a report.

I contacted her insurance company, but after a long wait, they told me they couldn’t cover the damage because she was using her personal vehicle for business purposes.
I then contacted my insurance agent and explained what happened. He told me my insurance might not cover the damage either, but suggested contacting Uber because its insurance might cover it, depending on what she was doing for Uber at the time.
The evidence I have includes my dashcam footage, two witnesses who saw the accident happen, the woman’s driver’s license and insurance information, and the video of the police officer.
The repair cost is approximately $3,500.

What should I do in this situation? If Uber refuses to cover the damage, I’m afraid the driver might not pay for it either. How can I recover the repair costs, and what are my legal options in Indiana?

Hi,
Location = Illinois
My mom put her name down on my brother car registration couple years ago because he didn’t have a driver license. My brother is a huge piece of shit and should be banned from driving because he get so many tickets and fines. All the tickets and fines are under my mom name. My mom asked my brother several times to pay for the tickets/ fines or to even meet up at the DMV for her to remove her name from the car but nothing. Last month my mom driver license was suspended because of fine/ticket and no insurance on the car. We don’t know where my brother lives and he is not responding to my mom call or text about this issue. My question is, how can we remove my mom name from the car registration without my brother being present? My brother is mad at my mom for kicking him out of the house ( brother is 33 years old)
Thanks

Location: Florida

I have a civil court date coming up next week. It's an injuction (restraining order) hearing against my former partner who cut me and is now in jail for it. I don't want her to get out without me having some legal protection from her.

Anyway, I'm trying to get legal assistance from local groups, but it's looking like I might be doing this myself. I'm told it's common, but it scares me. I'm not used to public speaking and I've never been in court. Also I'll have to face my abuser and possibly question her and she may get to question me too. I'm not completely sure how all this works. But I'm pretty scared to do this myself.

Has anyone here been through this? How should I prepare? Not asking for legal advice, just some ideas I can consider

Location: Tampa Florida

We hired an engineering company for remodeling drawings for permitting a 950 square foot accessory dwelling unit in late May. They said (not in contract) to expect the drawings 4 weeks out - July 1st.

Despite multiple outreach attempts asking for updates, we didn’t receive any until the product was delivered w/ plenty of errors on August 15th. In the contract, it says 2 rounds of revisions to meet city permitting are included. The city said that we had to demolish a side structure due to being over the property line. They charged us a 5k change order to start this work and told us over a call to expect approx 2 weeks. It took them 5 to deliver, and we are now on corrections which they again said 2 weeks.

It’s now been 5 weeks again with no update. We are losing $200 a day on this project. When it’s all said and done do I have a negligence case? Approx $20k in additional costs with no reason given as to why the work isn’t being completed. Again this is a 950 square foot already built property that just needed drawings for renovations, original timeline was 4-5 weeks and we on week 19 since starting.

Thanks

LOCATION: Michigan

My coworker is lower on the spectrum, she’s 21 and her unemployed father who’s an alcoholic keeps stealing her credit card for weed and alcohol and just recently started stealing her adderall.
She only works 12 hours a week so she doesn’t make a lot of money but he’s been secretly maxing out her credit card.
She called me today asking if she should file a police report but also she doesn’t want her father to go to jail.
I think he should, but I digress.
What steps can she take, she lives with him so I’m worried.

Has anybody on here violated a restraining order ? Can you tell me what was the outcome? I’m in San Bernardino county

Location: North Carolina

My mother owns an undeveloped parcel in an older (1970s) development in NC. She wants to build on it in the next few years. The deed states that there are deed restrictions but does not specify what they are. She has spoken with people in the neighborhood, some of whom are the original owners who have all said that they do not have copies of the deed restrictions, and don't remember what they are beyond no mobile homes. She has also reached out to the city and county government who confirm that the property is deed restricted, but they do not have any information as to what they are. The developer has been out of business since the 80s. We don't what to put ourselves in a bind as far as building something that would have to be taken down, but if no one has a copy of what the restrictions are, then does it even matter?

LOCATION: NYS (dutchess co) I left a vehicle which was registered and titled in IL, at a Firestone in Dutchess co, NY for an inspection. The reg was expiring the following month, and IL wanted the inspection in order to renew. Got it done within the week, paid for the service, then had to leave the area in a hurry due to a sudden death of someone quite close to me abroad (this was in July, reg expired in Aug) I tried 2x to have it towed out of the shop (a friend in NJ was happy to let me keep it in his property for awhile) but due to some very odd issues which arose between the tow truck driver and employees of the Firestone, the drivers wouldn’t take the car. (I had a lot of my belongings in the car, which I’d planned on moving into storage space in nys but got sidetracked by needing the inspection…they seemed to have gone through my things because they’d found some old expired NY plates, which I’d yet to return to the DMV, so the tow truck drivers were under the impression it was a NY car with IL plates? which just seemed like they were out of their lanes. The car still had valid reg both times I called for tows which if they’d simply minded their business, they could have towed my car to a safe destination.) I spoke with the manager of the store about what happened. He said I had 90 days to collect my car, at which point “NY considers it abandoned.” I didn’t ask for clarification, I just took him at his word, but by then my reg WAS invalid, and I was trying to find a solution. i decided to sell it to a friend, which was just simply a way to transfer the title so it could be driven on the heavily flock camera’ed NYS streets. But the manager gave or sold my car, which had a KBB value of $3500-5500k, to a local scrap metal company using an MV37 form rather than doing it with a garageman’s lein. The problem is my car was definitely worth more than $1250 as required by the form, and was NOT ABANDONED, also required to use that form (it was there with permission of the store manager.) The same manager who gave me permission to leave my vehicle there for 90 days, gave or sold it to the scrap metal company (who has not responded to my requests for paperwork) on day 60, and used his own name in the “owner of property“ field on the MV37 form.

*Please: my question is to lawyers who have knowledge on how advocate for people, okay? I know there are thousands of sadistic NYers who are gonna live to come onto this thread and say “sucks for you, but it’s your fault for leaving it there”

The NY dmv has 2 distinct remedies for a property owner who wants to remove a vehicle from their premises; one is the MV37, which has 3 requirements to use (my vehicle only met 1, which was it‘s more thatn 10 years old 2011 Subaru outback in excellent condition) and the other involves a lengthy process of transferring the title after contacting the owner, contacting local authorities and announcing intentions etc (garageman’s lein.) They took the easy route and took it upon themselves to devalue my car and apparently claim I did not have permission.
Any lawyers out there who know about this area of law in NYS?

LOCATION: US, GEORGIA.
My elderly parents signed a contract for a new build home, but did not know a data center was being built 1.6 miles away. They put a $5,000 earnest deposit in. Do we have any case at arbitration to get earnest back. We are definitely voiding the contract, but $5,000 earnest is a lot in this economy. They also have a $20,000 earnest being pulled on the 30th. Would we only forfeit the $5,000? They signed on Saturday, October 24th. Thank you.

I'm in Ohio, USA. I dropped off my laptop at a local repair shop on September 18 because it kept shutting down randomly. They gave me a written estimate of $180 and said they'd contact me before doing anything that would cost more. I paid a $40 deposit and left it there.

On October 3, I called to ask for an update since I hadn't heard anything. The guy told me the laptop had actually been ready since September 25 and that I now owed an additional $90 in storage fees. Apparently they charge $10 per day after a repair is completed. This was the first time anyone mentioned that policy to me.

I checked the receipt and there's nothing about storage fees on it. There's a small sign behind the counter mentioning uncollected items, but I honestly don't remember seeing it when I dropped the laptop off. The shop says they tried calling me twice, but I have no missed calls or voicemails from them.

I emailed the owner on October 5 asking them to waive the fee. He replied on October 7 saying the policy applies to everyone and they won't release the laptop until I pay the full amount.

I need the laptop back for work, so I'm considering paying and disputing the extra charge afterward. Is that a reasonable approach legally, or would paying make it harder to challenge the fee? Also, can they actually refuse to return my property over a storage charge that wasn't included in the original paperwork?

Hi I’m 20 and my fake id got taken in location California LA at the Fonda theatre they went to the back to talk to there manager about letting me in and they said that it goes to police but still let me into the concert I’m wondering if anyone know the chances that I’ll get in trouble I’m worried

I have a small LLC in Texas and I've built a web app that pulls data from a large platform's public API. Users enter their public username on that platform, and my app reads data they could already see there. There's no login, no password and no scraping, and the app only reads.

I'd like to charge a subscription for it. The platform's API documentation says the API is free for non-commercial use, and commercial use needs a licence from them. I've emailed them three times about a license and haven't heard back in about a month.

A few questions:
What's the realistic risk if I charge without a licence?

Does the LLC protect me personally in a situation like this?

Is a cease-and-desist the usual worst case, or could it go further?

I'm planning to talk to a business attorney, but I'd like to understand the basics first. Thanks.

OCATION: Pennsylvania

Before anyone asks, yes, I know I was an idiot for not calling the police at the time to get a formal report. I’m kicking myself so hard right now.

Back in April, I tapped someone’s rear bumper while backing out of a grocery store spot at maybe 3 mph. We both got out, looked at it, and there wasn't even a visible scratch on either car. The other driver literally laughed, said “no harm done”, but we traded phone numbers and insurance info just in case. We didn't file claims because there was zero damage.

fast forward to yesterday, I get a certified letter from their insurnace company demanding $4,500 for "structural bumper repairs and medical evaluation." They're threatening to suspend my license and send me to collections if I dont pay within 30 days.

I still have photos of both bumpers from that day showing zero damage, but my stomach has been in freefall since opening the mail. Does my insurance even cover something from half a year ago that I never reported? Or am I personally on the hook for this out of pocket? kinda terrified to call my insurer and make it worse idk.

Location: Kentucky

I have been living in an extended stay hotel for over 6 months. I am in a wheelchair. When I checked in I requested an accessible 2 bed room, they told me it was occupied but would be available in 2 days. When I asked after 2 days, they told me it would be next week. That went on for a month until I was demoralized and just stopped asking. I found out this morning that they don't even have a 2 bed accessible room. Their website says they do.

They never offered a solution. I've stayed at a hotel that didn't have an accessible 2 bed room available. They gave us two single rooms, one being accessible, for the price of a double room. They never offered a shower chair for the bathtub. When I use the bathroom I have to crawl in because my chair won't fit. When I climb out of the tub, I have to go straight to the floor. It's embarrassing to talk about because it's dehumanizing. The manager actually asked me recently how use the bathroom. When I told her, she didn't apologize or offer any solution. It was an "oh, okay" kind of response

I have no idea what type of attorney would be best. My situation is ADA Title III, tenant, civil rights, consumer protection.... It's too late for them to offer alternative accommodations now so if I sue, what do I sue for? What type of attorney should I contact? Will the hotel be obligated to fix it for the next person?

Location: Ohio.
I need advice on whether I should get an attorney now, later or not at all.

My minor 17yr old daughter was recently involved in a rollover accident. She was a passenger in the car. Everyone was a minor, including the driver. The driver swerved to miss a deer, lost control, hit a ditch and overturned. The car was totaled.

My daughter sustained a severe injury (a severed humerus bone) that required two hospital stays (one extended), two ambulance transports. Medication. Specialists. Consultations. MRI’s. Cat Scan. Major surgery (titanium plates and a ton of screws). She missed 2 weeks of school and has many upcoming appointments, including physical therapy in the future.

I have been billing everything through our health insurance (Medicaid) and I am reaching out to them Monday to do a third party claim and give them the accident report and the owners auto insurance.

The vehicle owner filed a claim with their insurance and when I contacted them (insurance company) it turns out their claim is in the middle of an investigation because apparently the vehicle was insured but the minor that was driving was not. He was completely uninsured (never added to the plan), all while being the daily driver of this car for months. The vehicle owner only added himself and his wife to the policy, so their totaled car will be covered, I guess.

What’s crazy is that he works for Allstate insurance and should know better. I’m assuming he was trying to cut back on a very high premium by not adding a minor driver. He just totaled a car a few months ago in a DUI, so I’m sure his premiums were already high. Of course they have already replaced their sons car with a brand new Mercedes for him.

If, by some miracle, the insurer covers the liability claim (doubtful) the state minimum coverage is $25,000. Maximum is $50,000 total for everyone in the car. I’m sure they only had the minimum coverage. Our medical expenses already far exceed that amount. There were no other injured parties.

My daughter does not have her license, so no auto insurance. I am temporarily disabled and cannot drive at this time, so also no auto insurance to file an uninsured bodily injury claim.

Should I contact an attorney or should I wait for my insurance and their insurance to figure it all out? I don’t really have money for attorney fees, as I just came out of a lengthy divorce and custody case.

I don’t know what my options are and feel hopeless in this situation.

I appreciate any guidance.

Location: Massachusetts. My ex filed a restraining order against me in Probate court because I have been pressuring him to stop violating our custody orders and he doesn’t like that. I’m not sure what happened when he filed it but I got a summons in the mail to appear for a deferred hearing. The order wasn’t granted at his initial filing. What would happen or be the point then? A restraining order is for imminent safety and abuse but they push off the hearing? We’ve still been communicating about our child since there’s no current order not to.

LOCATION : Alabama (USA)

Hi! Im looking for some legal advice on who might have claim over marital property during a divorce.

Background : My Husband and I (female) have been married around 7 years now. We have two kids togther, and one i had from a pervious relationship. (The previous childs father has no rights and has jumped off the edge of the earth as far as I know.)

Situation : My Husband's father passed away about 2 years ago. He left a Will and Testament, which states that my Husband is the beneficiary to all of his assest, which included his trailer and the land it sits on. We were married well before his father passed, before the Will was written, and are still married to this day. (We have never gotten a divorce, but at one point we did split up. However, that split came after the Will had been made and we were back together before his father passed. Im not sure if any of that matters or not, just want to try and add full context just incase.)

Once my Husband and I got back together, we paid off the trailer we were living it together. Once his father passed away, we sold our trailer and used that money to remodel the one his father Willed to him. Then we moved in to that home and have lived in it since. We have never moved, or lived anywhere else for any amount of time.

Currently, the Will is still in limbo. The lawyer handling it has not finalized anything. Im not sure exactly how all of it works, but what I do know is that, the lawyer has only collected all information from us needed to gather all the things together and has simply stopped and sat on the case ever since. Last year was our last meeting with the lawyer (to my knowledge) and have we not heard back since with any updates that I know of.

Having said that, I can NOT guarantee ANYHING im about to say, but it is worth noting my speculations. I believe my Husband has had meetings with the lawyer on a couple of occasions without my knowledge and discussed things I do not know about. So, there may be information I am lacking and do not know of. I feel this way do to certain behaviors my husband exhibited and things he had said and done, coupled with the fact that it has taken over 2 years to Read the Will and settle the case. It seems odd to me. None-the-less, I cannot prove anything at all.

He has made hints to the possibility of a family member of his, who has been heavily involved in this situation since the start, potentially "taking things over." By that, I mean this :

We had discussed why it was taking so long to finalize the Will and how it was odd. He tends to get dismissive and frustrated when I bring it up, but on this occasion he got mad and said something along the lines of, "I dont know why its taking so long. Unless (family member) decided to take control of everything so it would be in their name." To which i said, "They cant do that unless you signed something giving them claim over the property, or the will, or something like that." He responded with, "Well, I just signed whatever they told me to. I dont know what all I signed."

As you can see, this made me question things. But, again, I cannot prove this or that. I do not know if he signed anything of the sort, or if its even legally an option for him to have done that in any way.

What I do know is that the Will is certainly not finalized. I have no documentation proving that we sold our marital home to invest in the Willed property, as all of that was given to the lawyer. I do not have the receipts showing what was purchased for the renovations done to the Willed propert, as, again, all of that was given to the lawyer. I have a firm understanding that my Husband will aboslutaly try to legally fight me to keep the home if I file for Divorce. (He told me this during an argument one day.) He has family (the family member mentioned) who will and can help him fight me legally.

My question is, With all of the information above, What is the likely hood that I could be granted temporary living rights to the home until I can find other arrangements?

I understand the odds of being given the home in the divorce are almost none due to the cercumstance. I understand that since the Will is still in limbo, I do not have any claim over keeping the property, and not even sure if my husband fully does at the moment either. I understand that without proof of the money invested in the home I most likely cannot even ask to be "bought out" of my half. But, Im clinging to the hope that there's a chance I can just be granted the ability to stay here with the kids on a temporary basis, while my husband moves out (to rent or what have you), until I can find suitable living arrangements for me and the kids.

If there's one thing im certain on, it'll be that he won't fight me much for custody rights. He doesnt want to. His only concerns are the home and not having to pay child support.

Any added advice is greatly welcomed! Thank you, and sorry for the long post!

Location: Illinois/Wisconsin

Hello, I am from IL. Years ago, I was driving through WI and got busted with weed on me in Columbia County. I live hours away and just sort of decided not to go to my court date. So I’ve had a bench warrant out for several years and I’m in a position now where I need to deal with it. Just want to know what the best way to go about it is. This is my first and only offense. Do I need representation? Am I likely to receive jail time? I’ve never dealt with criminal proceedings before so any advice helps. Thank you.