New York Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

As it is difficult to know your husband's case from just your fact situation, I suggest that you may wish to make an appointment with an immigration lawyer to go over your husband’s situation and to express an opinion if you are really worried. Otherwise, you can continue to wait. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

Generally speaking anything you say to the police can be used against you in future proceedings with a number of exceptions. For instance, under certain circumstances you need to be read your Miranda rights prior to giving any type of statement or answering any questions that the P.O. asks. With that being said, it's difficult to say what impact your statement may have on your case without knowing the full statement and the circumstances in which you made that statement.  Any time that you do speak with police you should do so in the presence of legal counsel. With an attorney present, you can be sure that your legal rights are being protected. For instance, you have the right to not answer any of the P.O.'s questions when they interrogate you. You have the right to not incriminate yourself and to remain silent, refusing to answer questions. You also always have the right to have legal counsel present when being questioned by police. If you are going to surrender yourself, I would certainly suggest that you have an attorney present with you to ensure that your rights are protected. ... Read Answer

It depends. You may be able to qualify under the violence against women act and thereby self petition without his involvement. Spousal abandonment may constitute a form of abuse that may constitute grounds to self petition under the VAWA act. However I would not represent yourself in this type of case. You should get counsel to represent you from start to finish.... Read Answer

Order of Protection are typically issued in two ways.    1) Through the family court - if there is some type of intimate relationship a person can make an application for an order of protection in the family court - these are some examples - related by blood or marriage, have a child in common, they were in an intimate relationship, or they were in a relationship and lived together. It doesn't sound like this is the case here.  2) Through the criminal court - in order for the criminal court to get involved and issue an order of protection, the mother of your daughter would have to contact the police department and have your girlfriend arrested. In order to do that, some type of criminal conduct would have had to have occurred, otherwise the police will not make an arrest if they do not have probable cause to do so. If the mother of your daughter can credibly allege that your girlfriend committed some type of criminal conduct against her or against the child, then it is possible that the police will get involved.    I hope this information is helpful.   ... Read Answer

You reference a criminal court case in your question but say it's a family court order so I wasn't sure whether the Full Order of Protection comes from the criminal court or family court. Either way though, you should be able to bring an application in the family court to modify the order of protection to a limited order of protection where you can be around your husband. Your husband may want to check with his probation officer though to ensure that there was no specific agreement with the DA or Probation that the order would not be modified for the duration of the probation period. ... Read Answer

It sounds like your husband was issued what is called a Desk Appearance Ticket or a Criminal Summons. For misdemeanor offenses they need fingerprints most likely because he was arrested for a fingerprintable offense, and they need photos for his rap sheet. I'm assuming he has not been in front of a judge yet? Most likely the next Court date is going to be his arraignment and sometimes they try to arrange to have him fingerprinted and photographed before then to expedite the proceeding, rather than trying to do it the day of. With that being said, any time he interacts with the police on this case he should do so with his attorney present, to ensure that nothing is said that might incriminate him. You should certainly reach out to an attorney to see if you can hire them for the case, or even if you are not looking to hire an attorney for the case but instead have Legal Aid, you may be able to hire an attorney to represent him strictly when he is fingerprinted/photographed to ensure his rights are protected.    Good luck and I hope this information is helpful. ... Read Answer

I'm sorry but without more information this is a difficult question to anwer. Generally speaking though, if the ticket was received outside of NYC then your attorney can negotiate a possible disposition with the Prosecutor's office. If it was in NYC then your attorney would represent you at the traffic court trial at NYC TVB. Your best bet here though is to contact an attorney and speak with them about the specifics of your case. ... Read Answer

It really depends on what your father's insurance policy says.  Some policies will not cover you if you are not named on the policy; others will.  Best to discuss the matter with your father and let him make the decision.  Keep in mind that failing to report the matter to your insurance carrier could result in a denial of coverage in the event you are sued, either for property damage, personal injury or both. Best regards, Jonathan R. Ratchik, Esq. Kramer, Dunleavy & Ratchik, PLLC 61 Broadway, Suite 2220 New York, NY  10006 (212) 226-6662 www.kdrpilawyers.com... Read Answer

You can evict the subtenant but you'll need to follow the same procedure for any other tenant.  Even if the subtenant does not have a lease, she arguably has a month-to-month tenancy which you can only terminate in accordance with the law.  Here are some articles I found online which you might find useful. Best regards, Jonathan R. Ratchik, Esq. Kramer, Dunleavy & Ratchik, PLLC 61 Broadway, Suite 2220 New York, NY  10006 (212) 226-6662 www.kdrpilawyers.com... Read Answer

You'll have to wait until after you get an appointment with a specialist.  The DMV wants to make sure that you do not suffer from a medical condition that causes you to suddenly fall asleep (or lose consciousness) at the wheel. Best regards, Jonathan R. Ratchik, Esq. Kramer, Dunleavy & Ratchik, PLLC 61 Broadway, Suite 2220 New York, NY  10006 (212) 226-6662 www.kdrpilawyers.com  ... Read Answer

Objective observations of articulable symptoms of impairment. Just smelling is not enough. Just observing bloodshot eyes is not enough. It really depends on how he or others observed you performing your duties. And maybe your supervisor only noticed you make an error or mistake and required a drug test. An employer is unlikely to argue smell prompted testing. Your best test of whether you did not commit gross negligence will probably be when you apply for unemployment. Almost anyone qualifies for unemployment in New York so if you are denied that will speak volumes about any potential discrimination claim which you have not referenced. Employers can and do make mistakes and unless they discriminate by doing so, what's the cause of action?  You might be protected if you were once addicted to drugs or alcohol, were in rehabilitation and no longer abused drugs or alcohol, and you were fired. Or maybe your supervisor thought you were under the influence, sent you for testing based solely on his smelling marijuana, and your test produced a false positive, and your performance was not impaired with or without testing, you might have a claim. You state that you used to do the night time shift with him and it wasn't an issue because almost everybody smokes weed. Assuming that was before marijuana legalization how would that help? Employers can change policies or change how they enforce policies as long as everyone is treated similarly. If you were driving 85 mph down the interstate and were pulled over could you argue that 10 cars just passed you going more that 85 so the cop should have pulled them or everyone over? You drove the car a cop thought "I have enough on this guy to uphold a ticket" and only you were pulled over, so how does that argument work? When everyone violates a presumed policy against impairment at work everyone has to work without fault to avoid discipline, erst the first person who is observed performing below "standards" may lose their job even when others unseen performed worse. The employee must have facts which support a plausible theory of discrimination. Having your manager know you smoke weed anywhere is never a good thing, legal or not. Sharing personal information at work often causes bad outcomes. See this link: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/nysdol-issues-guidance-regarding-the-9960323/ ... Read Answer

Maybe. It's tough to say for sure. Any time you have a situation where an employee is not following a manager's instruction the manager should follow the procedure in the employer's handbook or employee policies. Often that involves a verbal or written notice, suspension, possibly termination. If you verbally warned the employee, maybe writing them up would have been the next step. Most employers are not excited about calling the police unless it looks like safety is an issue. A guess would be that this employee might have a history of being problematic. Some employees need to be removed or suspended when it looks like they might get out of control. It's hard to say whether you should have called the police first. The employer may allege that you did not follow its policies or the handbook. It looks like you may have acted reasonably but that might not support discrimination. You know the hardest part of our jobs? Tellling employees that: 1) If they have no written employment agreement like a union contract or a private employment contract AND 2) The terminated employee has no facts to support a plausible (not just a guess or a hunch) theory of discrimination, unless is unpaid wages, we often cannot help. Courts are not super personnel boards. That means that a court will not come in and tell a poorly managed company how to run its business. Sometimes a company has no idea who was at fault and it just fires everyone. That's not necessarily illegal unless an employee has evidence of some form of discrimination against recovering addicts, persons with disabiliites, or other protected classes of employees. You should recover unemployment benefits unless you committed gross misconduct. If you touched the employee first, even if he taunted you to do so, that might be gross misconduct and benefits recovery questionable. Keep looking for another job. All employees have duties to mitigate or find new work and you are in an industry that needs skilled managers and employees.... Read Answer

You can file for a replacement card by filling out an address change if you have not received it in the mail. If you have been married for more than two years at the time of the consular interview then it's likely you received the permanent card. If you received the temporary 2 year card then it's going to be challenging to remove the conditions to get the permanent card when it expires. Retain counsel for representation. ... Read Answer

The status check information is unofficial and, in your case, obviously confusing. If you properly appealed the denial, you will receive a decision in writing. I suggest that you wait for it. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

Andrew M. Jaffe Attorney at Law 2375 Covington Rd, Suite 315 Fairlawn, Ohio 44313-4358 (330) 983-4842 attorneyjaffe@aol.com www.LawyerJaffe.com  I do not see a problem with continuing your normal processes for your page and continuing to log-in   You mentioned that it was a business page.  That implies that you have ongoing relationships with customers - As well as the others who have the right to sign in.   You may want to consider an agreement between those who sign and are still active in the business to create a contract that clearly relates your relationships and how the business is to be run.   You may want to discuss your situation with a lawyer in more detail. Many lawyers, including myself, offer a free phone consultation.... Read Answer

There is no companion visa that you can sponsor someone for. The only real possibility of her coming here is either through a fiancée visa or a spousal visa. You should retain counsel to assist you sponsoring her for her green card either through a fiancé or through spousal visa.   ... Read Answer

Maybe. But not for the reasons you mentioned. If a colleague / co-worker discriminates against you or causes you to suffer adverse terms, conditions of employment then you may have a claim against both the employee and your employer. Think Title VII, because of race, religion, national origin, color, sex, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, age, and more. A hostile workplace, more than petty slights or trivial inconveniences, may be actionable across New York State. But you will likely want to work with an employment lawyer and may have to gather evidence to support such a claim. We rarely if ever suggest that anyone resign. Quitting is a last resort and almost never suggested. Work with an employment lawyer. Some of us work with clients or potential clients for a couple years to gather evidence and try to help the employee stay on the job while gathering evidence. Employees who hang in there, record information, and truly endure hostile, sometimes abusive workplaces, can recover respectable damages. Call some employment lawyers before you take it on yourself. Never easy claims.... Read Answer

No one can force you to sign anything. But without a contract or policy severance is not required of any employer. So if your employer pays you lawful consideration, which can be almost anything, you may be giving up rights to challenge agreements which otherwise might not be enforceable. No lawyer can advise you on noncompetition provisions without knowing much more about what you do, who you do it for, and by reviewing the terms of the agreement you might sign. One thing that is almost certain is that in most cases employees have 7 days to rescind or revoke a signed agreement. In most cases employees have 21 days to review severance provisions, at least in New York, plus another 7 days to decide not to accept the terms. Your best option would be to pay an employment lawyer to review the agreement before you sign it. Today, many of us do so for flat rates and we do that for clients statewide. Seeing a lawyer in person is becoming more rare for many of us. Good luck. Retain an employment lawyer is your best option before signing. ... Read Answer

Sometimes, not often (and maybe never in NY; I have seen it once or twice in other jurisdictions) buyers and sellers use the same attorney.  In my opinion, both the parties and the attorneys are out of their minds to do so.  Maybe you can do that if the buyers and sellers are close family members and there are no issues, but if you need an attorney at all, you need your own,not one trying to represent conflicting interests.... Read Answer