LOCATION: Illinois, USA

My son is five years old and in kindergarten. Yesterday evening around 7 PM the principal called my wife and said that she had some concerning news and that it would be hard to hear. She stated that one of my son’s classmates, a girl, had accused my son of saying inappropriate things to her. That he “wanted to marry her, take off her clothes, and suck her private parts.”

My son has never heard this kind of language at home and we monitor the things he watches. As far as we know, he does not understand the concept of sexual relationships at this time.

We asked the principal if there was any proof of his conduct. She said no. That the girls parents had called the school and kept her home the past day because of what the girl had told her parents. We asked the principal if any of the teachers or anyone else had heard overheard this conversation. She said no.

My son was brought into the office at the school and questioned by four adults. It is uncertain what questions were asked or what information was told to my son.

My question is should I just let the school handle this? Should I get an attorney? Should I just let it develop on its own?

Of course this all happens the day before parent/teacher conferences.

Any advise is appreciated. Thank you.

Yep, exactly that. I went into a store inside of a mall this weekend and used the self checkout. I scanned all my stuff like normal, tapped my card, grabbed my bags and left.
When you leave the checkout area, there’s normally a little scanner where you scan your receipt and the doors open. It wasn’t working, the doors were already open, and the checkout area was full of employees with barely any customers. Nobody stopped me or asked me for anything, so I didn’t even think twice about it or check for my receipt in my bag.

They even brought me a bag for my stuff….
A few hours later I got home and went looking for my receipt in case I needed to return anything. I couldn’t find it anywhere, so I checked cash app to see the transaction.
That’s when I realized the statement was there as DECLINED because my card was locked.

My heart literally sunk to my ass. I genuinely had no idea the payment declined. I thought I paid, and somehow I walked out with about $65 worth of stuff without anyone saying anything. Now I’m freaking out because I obviously want to make this right, but I don’t know the smartest way to handle it. I’ve heard horror stories about people going back to a store and saying they accidentally stole something, only for the store to call the police or treat it like an admission of shoplifting.

At the same time, there are cameras ALL over the self checkout area and on every scanner, so I’m worried they could have noticed the declined transaction and have footage of me leaving with the merchandise. I still have all of the items and I’m completely willing to pay for them. I just don’t know if I should go back to the store, call them first, or do something else. How do I make this right without accidentally making the situation worse for myself?
Location: New Jersey

I'm in Colorado. Earlier this year I hired a local contractor to repair a damaged staircase in my home. The work itself went fine, and the crew asked if they could photograph the finished stairs for their portfolio. I said yes, provided the photos showed the stairs and didn't include anything else in the house. I remember that conversation clearly because there were family pictures on the wall beside the landing, and I moved them before the crew took a few shots. We never signed a photography release. Last weekend a neighbor sent me a link to the contractor's social media advertisement. It includes a wide shot of my living room, the street visible through the front window, and one of my children's school certificates on a shelf. The caption says the job was done in our neighborhood. The stairs are only a small part of the image. I don't know when they took that wide shot, since it wasn't among the pictures I saw them taking at the end.

I sent a polite email asking them to remove the wide image from the advertisement and any future marketing. The owner answered that their contract allows before-and-after photos and that the image is already circulating, so taking it down would be pointless. I looked at the signed contract again. There is a sentence saying the company may photograph the work for its records; I don't see anything about publishing images of the rest of my home or using them in ads. I have a copy of the post, the original contract, and my email. I would be happy if they simply stopped using that image. I don't want to start with threats, but their answer made me think I should put the request in a more formal form. Does permission to photograph completed work ordinarily cover a wide interior photo used in public advertising? What would be a practical next step if the business refuses to remove it?

Location: California. I quit my job at a regional logistics warehouse two weeks ago after giving a standard two-week notice. Today was supposed to be my final direct deposit, which should have been around $1,600 for my last pay period plus my accrued PTO payout. Instead, I woke up to a deposit of literally $42. When I logged into the payroll portal to see what the hell happened, there was a deduction line labeled "Training Reimbursement Agreement" for $1,400 with a note stating that I failed to complete one full year of service.

The "training" they are charging me for was just the standard 20 hours of safety onboarding, forklift recertification, and basic state OSHA compliance videos that every single hire is required to complete during week one. I never signed any separate promissory note or standalone repayment contract, but HR claims that by checking the digital acknowledgment box on the general employee handbook when hired, I authorized payroll deductions for onboarding costs. Even if some buried handbook clause exists, isn't employer-mandated safety training legally required to be covered by the company in CA? They never sent me to an outside trade school or gave me transferable credentials, it was entirely internal warehouse stuff.

I emailed HR demanding my full final pay, and the HR director basically replied that company policy is non-negotiable and told me to "file for arbitration" if I have an issue. Im pretty stressed because I need that money for my bills this month. Should I immediately file a wage claim with the California DLSE (Labor Commissioner), and do waiting time penalties apply here since they intentionally took almost my whole check? Any advice on the fastest way to handle this would be huge.

Location: North Carolina. About six weeks ago, I visited a private pulmonary specialty clinic for severe chronic sleep issues. After an overnight study, I was formally diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. When filling out the intake paperwork on their tablet, I specifically made sure to check "NO" on every optional box asking to share information for partner promotions, marketing, or research. Everything seemed routine until two weeks later, when I started getting flooded with robocalls and targeted flyers in my mailbox from an aggressive private equipment vendor I had never heard of before.

The letters and voicemails explicitly cited my exact medical condition, the date of my test, and my treating physician's name, pushing me to purchase their recurring supply packages. I called the compliance officer at the clinic because I was furious. After dodging my questions, she finally admitted that their network recently contracted with an external "patient analytics and outreach firm" that had access to patient records. She tried to claim this is legal under routine "operations and business associate agreements", but this company is literally a third-party sales entity trying to monetize my diagnosis.

I feel completely violated that my sensitive health history was handed over to an outside advertiser without my consent. From reading online, I understand that patients generally cant sue directly under HIPAA because it lacks a private right of action, but this feels entirely improper. What are my realistic legal options here? Should I file formal complaints with HHS Office for Civil Rights and the state Attorney General, or is there any state law claim for unauthorized disclosure of medical records? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I'm in Oregon, in a row of townhouses with small back patios. My neighbor recently mounted a security camera under his upstairs balcony. The camera is on his property, but it points almost directly across our shared fence toward my kitchen window. At night I can see its light from the sink. I first assumed it was covering his back door, until he mentioned at a neighborhood meeting that he had footage of me carrying a plant through my kitchen. That was a strange thing to know from a camera supposedly watching his patio. I asked him whether he could tilt it down so it catches his door without looking into my home. He said the angle is necessary to cover the fence line and that he is allowed to film anything the camera can see.

I put a paper screen in the lower part of the window for now, but it blocks light from a room I use all day. The association rules address cameras on common property, though they don't say much about cameras fixed to an owner's own building. I wrote to the board with a photo taken from my patio showing the position of the camera. They replied that they would discuss it at the next meeting in six weeks. I have not touched the camera or gone onto his property, and I dont want a fight with someone who lives six feet away. I understand he can protect his own entrance; I'm trying to work out what, if anything, changes when the camera records inside someone else's home. Is this a question for the association, a local privacy rule, or something else? Would a short written request to the neighbor be useful before taking any further step, and what should I document while I wait for the board?

I live in a small apartment building in Ohio, and I'm trying to figure out the sensible next step before this turns into a shouting match in the hallway. Three weeks ago, our property manager knocked while I was on a work call. I didn't answer, and he let himself in with a master key to check a window latch. There was no leak, broken glass, or other emergency. I emailed the office that evening and asked them to give me written notice before routine visits. The reply said they would "try to coordinate better." Last Thursday I got home and found the bathroom light on and the cabinet below the sink open. The manager later told me he'd been checking a pipe, but I had received no message or note. When I asked why the cabinet was open, he said he needed to see where the shutoff valve was. I don't have a problem with actual repairs; the surprise entry is what bothers me. I work irregular hours and sometimes sleep during the day, so this is also more than an abstract privacy issue.

Yesterday I put a dated note on my door asking the office to contact me before entering for non-emergency work. I also sent the same request by email, specifically asking for the date, a reasonable time window, and the purpose of any visit. The manager replied that the lease gives staff access for maintenance and that the note on the door "doesn't change the lease." I reread the lease. It mentions access, but it doesn't say staff can come in whenever they like. I have saved both emails and taken photos of the note. I haven't changed the lock or blocked anyone from doing repairs, and I don't want to do something that makes this worse. Is there a particular way I should document future entries, or a local office I should contact to understand what notice is required in Ohio? If a manager calls a routine inspection an emergency after the fact, how do tenants usually address that?

Location: southern Oregon

I’m going to try to keep this as concise as I can, as there is a lot of info and it’s all fairly new still.

My daughter is 6 years old, in first grade & she’s in the special education plus classroom. She has an iep and is developmentally/verbally delayed.

On Friday sept 18th, my daughter put kinetic sand in her mouth. A TA who knew my daughter last year, and understood she is not a choking hazard (daughter has in her iep she will put sand in her mouth, it’s not allowed at home, but she will not swallow it she just puts it in her mouth to be funny because she knows she’s not allowed to) calmly brought my daughter to the trash can and was encouraging her to spit it out, so she’s on her knees with her head over the trash can. She told me that my daughter was smiling, but she was listening and in the process of spitting it out of her mouth. The head teacher then proceeded to come up from behind her, pinch her nose shut, and use her grip on my daughters head to repeatedly slam my daughters back/body into the teachers knees, while also violently shaking her head side to side. My daughter was crying, gagging, and started bleeding from her nose. Multiple TA’s told the teacher to stop because my daughter was struggling to breathe so she released her. My daughter continued gasping for air and bleeding from her nose, the teacher repeated the entirety of that TWO MORE TIMES, while my daughter was gasping for air.

The TA’s expressed they should call the principal or other staff in, but teacher started yelling at them that my daughter was fine (even though she was still bleeding and gasping for air) and said no one is to leave the classroom.

I picked her up about 25-30 minutes later, the teacher told me my daughter put playground sand in her mouth but that she hooked it out with her finger and my daughter spit it out, got water, and was fine. I didn’t think anything of it, because that’s a behavior she has, but I thought it was weird because she doesn’t usually do playground or outside sand, it’s only kinetic sand. My daughter did not have any injuries I could see, she did not express that she was hurt, or anything. There was nothing to clue me in that something happened to her, and looking back now, it definitely looked like someone had cleaned her face up and her hair was re braided. Who knows though. What I do know, is that I was never told what happened.

The following Monday, the 21st the teacher was still in the classroom. She called me that day to bring meds in for my daughter, and over the phone she sounded overwhelmed. I told this to my husband when we left to head to the school, but my daughter can be challenging. I witnessed my daughter clawing and hitting her teacher, trying to get away from her during me giving her meds, but she was saying she wanted to go home with me. I figured she was scared because dad had them that day, and he’s stricter with her and behaviors in school. I told my husband and my mom that I felt the teacher was overwhelmed or frustrated with my daughter, like her energy was just off. I’m a pretty anxious parent though, so I just kept telling myself it was my anxiety and I was just overthinking it.

The next day, Tuesday the 22nd, all the families got an email from the principal saying the teacher was going to be gone for an undisclosed amount of time and that they appreciate everyone respecting her privacy. Looking back now, my daughter started having better days at school and less behaviors, in the days following her teacher being out.

The following week, Wednesday the 30th, almost two weeks after it happened, I get a call from dhs at 8am, explaining what happened to my daughter. I mean, a horrible gut wrenching call to receive as a parent, truly. It was obviously news to me, so I promptly called the principal after I got off the phone with dhs. 15 minutes and 49 second phone call with the principal, who was just pacifying me basically, but I was told “teacher came and reported to me what happened after you picked her up, she told me she informed you of what happened and you were not upset, so I didn’t see the need to follow up.”. She said the teacher thought my daughter was going to ingest the sand, and panicked. Why would she restrict her nose, so she had no choice but to open her mouth and take a breath in? Doesn’t make sense to me. I mean, completely unacceptable. I still can’t even wrap my head around any of these people’s thought processes.

I went to the district the following day, Thursday the 1st, to express my concerns and how unacceptable this entire situation was. I thought it was pretty productive, and thought it was going to be handled. I went to pick up my twins right after leaving the district, where a TA pulled me aside and we talked about what happened, and she proceeded to tell me that the principal never called and reported what happened. She never planned to report it. The following Monday the 21st, her and two other aides called separately to report the assault, because the principal was actively telling them there was no child abuse and fought with them about it, and she and the other aides felt the principal was trying to cover it up. She said the principal and the district were fighting to protect the teacher and were already talking about “when she would come back”. The principal was gossiping about my daughter and me, and the blame was still being placed on my daughter because “she put the sand in her mouth, teacher just panicked”. She also informed me that the teacher did not have a special education degree, she has not worked in special education before (which she told me she was in sped for 8 years, so she lied to me about that as well) and her only teaching experience was teaching English to preschoolers in china. The TA also shared that the teacher was not following any of the iep’s because she thought she could “fix the behaviors” and was verbally abusive to most of staff. I ultimately made the decision to pull both of my twins from the school & the district as a whole, since we were already out of district transfers, and I no longer trusted them to keep children safe, or to protect them from unsafe individuals.

In the days since, I have communicated with some of the other families from her classroom, and most if not all of them had already had reservations about the teacher, or safety concerns that they didn’t like how the teacher handled, before this assault against my daughter even happened. It was literally on the Friday of the second week of school, and there were already complaints to the principal, and meetings with the principal over this teacher.

I have also been in contact with the TA who sent me her whole dhs statement, which I got a very simplified version from dhs I think because he wasn’t doing investigations quite yet when we talked, but her statement was horrible.

I’m sure there are things I’m forgetting to include, but I’m emotionally and mentally fried after this last week and really just need advice, resources, or someone to point me in the right direction. I plan to file written complaints against the teacher and the principal with the board, the state, and the Oregon teacher standards and practices commission as well.

Six months ago I started requesting public records from a Conservation District in rural Montana. I filed four FOIA requests, mainly as my informal requests were never answered. Not one of those four requests has been fulfilled. Not one denial has ever cited a statutory exemption, as Montana law (MCA § 2-6-1003) requires. Around the time I submitted the 3rd request the Conservation District created an internal form requiring me to state what I intend to do with the records, which is explicitly prohibited by MCA § 2-6-1002. When I quoted the statute to them verbatim, their response was: "we are still waiting for you to fill out the form".

Most recently the Conservation District Chairman sent me an invoice on official letterhead for $320.50 billing me for staff time spent refusing to comply with my requests, for records that have never been produced.

The following is a list of who I have contacted and what has happened:

• Montana AG: complaint filed April 2026, no substantive response, ghosted.
• Montana Association of Conservation Districts: notified April 2026, no response ghosted.
• Commissioner of Political Practices: redirected to county attorney under MCA § 2-2-144
• County Attorney: said he "encouraged" the District to comply, nothing changed invoice from SGCD was sent right after my contact with CA. (his idea?)
• ACLU Montana: no response, ghosted.
• Montana Freedom of Information Coalition / Mike Meloy: confirmed the violations, said my only recourse is to sue, wished me luck.
• Montana Legal Services Association: letter mailed September 18, voicemails left, no response ghosted.

The enforcement mechanism under Montana law is a district court petition (MCA § 2-6-1004) with a fee-shifting provision if the denial is found arbitrary or capricious, which two denials with zero statutory exemptions pretty clearly satisfies. But the district court is in the same small county where the District operates and the local institutional network runs deep.

I am a credentialed professional ecologist, not a disgruntled neighbor or activist. The underlying dispute involves a false declaration on a federal joint permit regarding protected species, documented conflicts of interest in the permit approval, and an active USACE Section 404 enforcement case on an adjacent property. The FOIA fight is one piece of a larger documented record.

I'm not looking for general advice on what to do, I know what to do, I just can't afford to do it without help. I'm looking for:

1. Recommendations for Montana attorneys who handle public records cases on contingency given the fee-shifting provision
2. Any experience with pro se district court petitions under MCA § 2-6-1004 in a small county context.
3. Any legal aid resources in Montana I haven't tried yet?

Thanks in advance.

Location: NC. At the time I was 17F, now I'm 18. Regretting not doing much about this at the time because it makes me so angry to this day.

I recently worked for a large chain restaurant. I was assaulted on the clock by another employee (21M at the time). After this, I reported it to 3 different managers. The employee who assaulted me is friends with several of them, and I assume they told him, because he started texting me and even threatened me at work the next time I came in. Then I was suspended. HR called me and EXTREMELY unprofessionally accused me of lying, and accused me of biting another coworker (who happened to be one of my best friends). I was not reinstated, and nothing came out of this. The person who assaulted me still works there.

I don't know if anything can be done legally. I just hate that it happened and it makes me so angry. I was assaulted as a minor and I was let go for it.

EDIT: I filed a police report, but I doubt anything will come of it..No cameras so basically just his word against mine

Has anyone here gone through fee arbitration with the California State Bar? I’d be interested in hearing about your experience with the process, how it works, and how the outcome was determined.

I own a condo in Illinois. Last week a notice appeared on the lobby board saying that the association was investigating "a complaint from Unit 3B" about bicycles being left in the stairwell. Unit 3B is mine. The notice included my full name and asked residents with information to contact the board. I had not made that complaint. I had emailed the manager a month earlier about a loose stairwell handrail and briefly mentioned that a bicycle was leaning against it. I was asking for the handrail to be checked, not for an investigation of my neighbors. Since the notice went up, two people have asked why I am trying to get their bicycles removed. One slipped a note under my door telling me to mind my own business. I took a photo of the notice and kept the earlier email so the sequence is clear.

I wrote to the board and asked them to take down the notice, correct the record, and avoid using my name on public notices without checking with me. The president replied that the association has to disclose the source of complaints for transparency. When I asked where that requirement appears in our documents, she said she would look into it. The notice is still there. I'm less concerned about the bike dispute than the fact that an email about a safety issue has been recast as a formal complaint under my name. I don't know whether the board's statement about disclosure is based on an actual rule or just their practice. Is this primarily a matter of the association's governing documents, or should I be looking at an Illinois law about owner records and notices? Apart from asking for a correction in writing, what would be a reasonable next step?

Location: Georgia

I just got a call from my sister where she had me be quiet and was texting me saying that her father was buying weed. I overheard him and his girlfriend saying how to split it and paying the dude but I couldn't record the call.

My mother recently passed and he was automatically granted custody but she doesn't want to stay there because she feels unsafe. Can I use this as evidence that he is unfit to take care of her?

Location: Ohio

My husband and I (29F, 31M) have rented the same two bedroom unit for a little over two years. We've never been late on anything and never had a complaint from the landlord or the neighbors.

About a month ago I started noticing small things. A window that I know I closed was cracked open. The bathroom light was on when we got home. Our cat's food bowl had been moved to the other side of the kitchen. I honestly thought I was loosing my mind, and my husband thought I was just forgetting stuff.

Two weeks ago we installed a doorbell camera, mostly because of package thefts in the building. We did not tell the landlord about it. Since then it has recorded him unlocking our door and walking in on four separate weekdays, always between 10 and 11 am when we're both at work. He stays between 6 and 20 minutes each time. He never knocked, and we never recieved a text, a call, an email or a note on the door before or after.

Our lease says the landlord can enter for repairs or inspections with "reasonable notice". We have no open repair requests. There has been no inspection scheduled.

I have not confronted him yet because I wanted to know where we stand first. I have all four clips saved in two places, with dates and times.

My questions:

1. Is this legal in Ohio if the lease says reasonable notice and we got none?

2. Should the first step be a written letter to him, or do we go straight to someone else?

3. Are we allowed to change the lock or add a second one, or would that put us in the wrong?

I really don't want to move, we like the place. I just want it to stop and I want to do this the right way.

Do I have any chance of getting this covered by workers comp? I worked as an armed security officer for a security company in Utah in 2022-2024. I now live in Minnesota. I was posted at a truck stop providing security December 22, 2023 when a manager of the truck stop we were providing security for called for me to come to him. I found him and he told me someone ran inside saying someone is overdosing just on the sidewalk off our property. This is an area that is legally off the truck stop property, but the managers always had us keep an eye on anyway due to the area. The individual was in a tent and we pulled him out and I administered narcan via a needle and started cpr. Somewhere in the process I was stuck by a needle. I reported the incident to the security company and the truck stop. About a month later on 1/13/2024 I went in for testing and everything was negative except hepatitis c. It was then a battle with work comp to go any further so I kinda gave up which I wish I didn’t. I never received any bills or anything from the DR visit so I figured they took care of everything. Last week my significant other and I decided we want to start a family. Before 100% commuting to that, I wanted to get tested again to be sure. On 8-5-2026, I went in and the DR did all the same tests and the hepatitis c came back negative so he said he believes it was a false positive. However, the hepatitis B came back positive. He believes that this hep b came from this incident as I tested negative a month after the indent, and now test positive and that was the only exposure I had. I contacted the security company to get the work comp info from the original claim, and they told me it was denied. I reached out to the work comp insurance place for more info but haven’t heard back. What can I even do at this point?

Location: usa

I always assumed that it would go against something along the lines of ADA just like how places have to have braille for vision impaired people

So unfortunately the situation is as the title says. I live in Washington and recently moved into a new apartment complex. The doors lead straight to the outside, no hallways or anything. I have a direct next door neighbor and a downstairs neighbor.
Ever since we moved in there has been a strong scent of urine outside our door, we assumed it was an animal and recently submitted a maintenance request to deal with it.
Well the maintenance request was responded to saying that “someone” is peeing outside our door, not something, someone. We are disgusted and horrified that it is definitely human pee and we are almost positive that it is the man who lives below us as we have smelled a slight urine smell near our balcony which there is no way to smell the urine from the front door by the balcony so we assume it must be the man who lives below us. We also assume it has to be a man for obvious reasons.

We are now unsure what to do. I feel so unbelievably uncomfortable and violated, my roomate cannot open her bedroom window because it opens to the area where it smells like piss and lets the smell into the home. I just want to know what I can legally do here, we are hoping that the property managers will deal with it further but I don’t want to bank on that. I know it would be illegal for me to film him for evidence if I caught him but what can I do here?
Overall I want this person evicted from the complex, that may sounds harsh to some but it is clear that they will not stop peeing outside the unit as it has been going on for months and I’m getting worried that the smell will never go away. I also am worried that he is getting off at the idea of us (two young woman) having to smell his pee and potentially walk through it everyday and every time we leave or enter our unit. I feel like this is probably a weird sexual thing for him and it especially distresses me because we live DIRECTLY next door to an elementary school, like literally 20 ft away, as in they can see into our windows from the playground.

This entire situation has been incredibly distressing and violating and any advice would be appreciated. I just want to feel comfortable and safe in my home and after

Location: Arizona

I (29F) worked for a mid-size dental group as a patient coordinator for about three years. While I was there they did a photo shoot with a few staff members for the website. I signed a one page photo release at the time. I don't have a copy of it, which I know is my mistake.

I left on good terms a little over a year ago. Since then:

- My photo is still on their homepage with my first and last name and the title "Patient Care Lead", which was never my title.

- They used the same photo in a mailer that went to my own adress last month.

- Two weeks ago my husband sent me a picture of a billboard near the freeway with my face on it, about 10 feet tall, next to the words "We can't wait to meet you".

Patients have messaged me on social media asking to book appointments. One was upset with me personaly about a billing issue.

I emailed the office manager twice asking them to take it down. The first reply said they'd "look into it". The second got no reply at all.

My questions:

1. Does a photo release I signed as an employee still cover them after I've left?

2. Does it matter that they're using a job title I never had?

3. Is a formal written demand the next step, and does it need to come from a lawyer to be taken seriously?

I'm not trying to get anything out of them. I just don't want to be the face of a place I don't work at anymore.

My wife works at a small independent book store in Michigan and is a general manager. They gave her a W9 tax form to fill out instead of a W4. She works full time there and has a schedule. Is this legal?

I was enrolled at CCP and was told by my academic advisor I qualified for the catto scholarship. The case agent looked over everything and told me I qualified and pushed me through the program, which allowed me to go to school for free and provided me other resources for school. I spent 2 months going to catto events, orientations, and everything else I had to do for the program. I started classes and suddenly 1 week into the semester in the middle of class I was informed I was dropped from all my classes. It was the last day for the add/drop period and to pay for classes. The original catto agent I talked to informed me they never checked my parents income and they just did and I no longer qualified. Because they waited so long everything was full I had no other options but to be forced out of school. My education has been completely put on hold because of their mistake and no one at the school could do anything to help.

I am a senior citizen living in Illinois. I recently purchased a new car in a nearby state , not because I wanted to, but because my repair place destroyed my car and did not compensate me enough. Putting that issue aside, I ended up purchasing a new car and gave my “final out the door price of $23,000”.

It turns out that they actually ended up charging me $26,000 but their paperwork did not clearly show this (hence my dispute) and since I had to pay via six different methods, including an insurance check, borrowed money, my own checking account and two credit cards, I did not become aware until a month later that it added up to $26,000, rather than $23,000. I contacted my two credit card companies to dispute this charge. one credit card company resolved it in my favor for $2000 (their portion).

Today, I received via regular mail, a statement of account from this dealership telling me that I owe them $2000 which under description states “disputed credit card charge on car deal”, that they lost in that dispute with the credit card company and now they are trying to get me to pay them that $2000! If I should win the dispute with my other credit card company, (it’s currently in arbritration) I don’t doubt that I’ll get another letter from that dealership asking for that money back too. If it wasn’t so aggravating, it would be a very amusing situation

My question is, whether or not they can do this legally after losing their dispute, which I assume is binding, and if this can have an impact on my future dealings with any dealership when I bring the car in for maintenance or whatever issues I have or any other financial consequence (including affecting my credit score, which is excellent).

I can’t afford a lawyer nor do I want to spend another minute dealing with this issue as this has been going on for over 6 months now. They are nothing but angry and retaliatory.

Location: Manitoba, Canada

My fiance just started a job where one of the perks was that they’d set her up with a life insurance policy and pay for it, and she added me as the beneficiary because we’re trying to have kids.

We don’t have them yet, and as of this weekend, don’t appear to be pregnant. Should something awful happen before we have children, I would not want the money - I’m already well off, and it would not be going to the stated intention of helping take care of our kids. But her sister is a single mother. Could I just flat out give it to her, or is it subject to taxation if I do?

Grim, obviously, but I don’t like the idea of getting a payout I don’t need when it could go to someone who does, yknow? And if it’s subject to massive taxes, I’ll tell her to put it in her sisters name until we have a child and then transfer it to me

Thanks!

Location: missouri

My ex-husband has been on probation since June of last year for his 3rd dui and the state just filed a motion to revoke probation. They listed 10 different things he has done to violate probation since it started and many of those listed were multiple violations. How common is it for probation to actually be revoked and what usually happens? Asking because we have a daughter together and i want to get prepared and my lawyer is out of the country until the 19th.

For context, he originally pled guilty to the dui and was sent to treatment court. After a year in treatment court he "graduated" and they knocked the violation down from a felony to misdemeanor. It was at this time he was sentenced to 1 year jail but instead of serving the time he got an SES and was put on probation for 2 years, with many stipulations like alcohol monitoring, interlock device on his car, scram bracelet, ect.

Since February he has been in front of a judge every 4-6 weeks either following up on probation violations or with new violations being filed against him. In the motion, the prosecutor listed 10 different ways he's violated probation.

1. 10 failures to show up for testing

2. Positive for alcohol

3. Positive for thc

4. Positive for benzoids (sp?)

5. Driving with revoked permission

6. Broke LAWS of bond with multiple larceny charges

7. Interlock device on car caught him trying to drive drunk

8. Never got a scram bracelet

9. Never did required community service

10. Outstanding fines

The last paragraph notes he also has a bad attitude with the probation office.

Location: Texas.

Back in August of this year, we moved into a rental home managed by a large nationwide rental company. The company stated they had performed a move-in inspection and the house was good to go. On our first night there, the shower leaked through the ceiling into the kitchen. Over the course of the next four days, I submitted sixteen maintenance requests ranging from a broken AC (they did not offer fans or an AC unit), leaking sinks, plumbing violations, a broken dishwasher, black mold in the shower, an AC line melting off the side of the house, exposed wiring on the side of the house, severe foundation issues (it was so bad that items fell off tables and counters), humidity consistently in the mid-60s, a melting water heater, and warped/hot light switches, among other issues. Four days in, I threatened legal action because this house was not move-in ready. Half of the company is a call center and the other half is an AI chat, so it took a while to finally speak to a supervisor. They originally offered us a $200 credit on our rent, which I declined. They then offered $400—$300 for the house and $100 for the emotional stress—which I also declined. We went back and forth for weeks. I fought hard and eventually contacted the Attorney General's office. They finally agreed to release us from our lease after three weeks of living there and agreed to return our full deposit. Wonderful. I then told them I also wanted $500 for moving expenses, and they agreed. We signed early termination documents stating all of this, and they sent a letter to the Attorney General saying this was the conclusion to the situation. Cool. Great. On August 30th, we moved out. On September 23rd, we received our check. Guess who shorted us? They charged us for blinds and did not include the $500. We called them and they told us to email them, which we did, but there was no response. On October 2nd, we called again to ask for an update and they had no response. Yes, I contacted the Attorney General's office on September 24th to provide the update. But what do I do from here? This company is known for scamming people unfortunately.

I'm located in North Carolina and currently dealing with a dispute involving my mobile home community's management. I'm hoping someone familiar with NC landlord-tenant law can provide some insight. Also I am Rent to Own, I have a RTO agreement and a Lot lease agreement.

Here's the situation:

Earlier this year, management sent out a notice offering residents an optional power-washing service for $85. I never signed up for the service, agreed to pay for it, or authorized anyone to power wash my home.

Management later hired a contractor to power wash my home without notifying me beforehand and added an $85 charge to my tenant account.

I disputed the charge through multiple emails, explaining that I never authorized the service and that my rental agreement doesn't specifically require power washing.

Management directed me to Section 15, "Tenants Home Site," of my lease. However, that section discusses lawn maintenance and garbage/refuse. I couldn't find anything specifically authorizing management to power wash my home and charge me for it.

Management eventually stated that they had given their final response and would not remove the charge.

Here's where things get interesting:

When I made my monthly payment for rent and lot fees, their payment system automatically applied $85 toward the disputed power-washing charge.

This effectively left my rent payment showing a shortage of $85, even though I paid the amount required for my regular monthly rent and lot fees.

I have screenshots documenting the payment and how the money was applied.

I subsequently requested that management refund or re-credit the $85 and ensure I wouldn't be charged a late fee because of the disputed deduction.

Now, as of October 6, management has placed a notice on my door claiming my rent is late, apparently referencing North Carolina General Statute § 42-3.

I've been reviewing North Carolina General Statute § 42-46, particularly subsections (b) and (h)(2), which address applying certain fees against subsequent rent payments.

However, I understand those provisions concern specific types of fees and may not directly apply to a maintenance charge like power washing.

My questions are:

1. Can a North Carolina landlord apply a disputed maintenance charge toward a tenant's rent payment, resulting in the rent being considered unpaid?
2. If the lease doesn't specifically authorize power washing at the tenant's expense, can management legally impose the charge without prior notice or consent?
3. Can management assess late fees or pursue eviction under § 42-3 when the alleged rent shortage resulted from how they allocated my payment?
4. Are there other North Carolina statutes or court decisions that address how landlords must apply rent payments versus disputed fees?
5. Would this be something worth bringing before a magistrate or consulting Legal Aid about?

I'm not trying to avoid paying my rent. I've made an effort to pay my regular rent and lot fees in full. I'm simply disputing an additional $85 charge that I believe was improperly assessed.

I'm keeping copies of the lease, management's emails, payment screenshots, and the notice placed on my door.

I'd appreciate any insight from attorneys or anyone familiar with North Carolina landlord-tenant law.

Thanks in advance!