Civil Litigation Legal Questions

You are likely waaaaaaay out of if you think that your collective services are valued at $240,000.00 a year for cooking and cleaning. Second, you get nothing for such services short of an enforceable contract, there is no equitable lien for personal services. Third, if the will was changed to make you benficiaries to be left the house, its fair bet it will be changed back or you will have will contest on your hands, if she doesn't convey the properyty away so its not part of the estate. You need to retain a lawyer ASAP if you are being sued for ejectment or unlawful detainer to try to keep this from going off the rails. ... Read More

There are some situations where a lien is automatically creaeted by statute, but yours does not appear to be one of them.  Nor do you say anything about your contract providing for a lien.  Absent that, you can't obtain a lien until you obtain a judgment, i.e. sue and win.  In this case you may have a problem, because $7,500 interest for 3 months on a $30,000 loan is 100% interest annually, which is usurious.  I don't know whether California law provides that charging usurious interest rates means that you forfeit the entire loan, or just the interest, but I think you would be wise to consult a California attorney about your situation..... Read More

This  needs to be reported to your insurance company back then. They will provide you a defense if you have coverage. Otherwise, you will need to hire, at your expense, a lawyer to defend the lawsuit and try to get it resolved by settlement or through the court process. Bear in mind merely claiming that the BF had no permission to take the car is not enough. Especially if the facts suggest that you were trying to cover for his criminal conduct by claiming you had no idea who was driving the car, hence the police report and BOLO/warrant issue. Non permissive use is a valid defense, but it has to be supported and the worst case is the ex claiming otherwise to try to avoid a GTA charge on top of leaving the scene with injuries. ... Read More

There's no real reason to wait for a subpoena except that if your testimony goes against somebody they may be less mad at you since you had no choice but to testify.  It may also help you if you need to get the time off work to go testify.  The only other reason to wait for a subpoena would be if you had a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement which would conflict with your testimony, which doesn't seem to tbe the case here.... Read More

First, notify your auto insurance carrier immediately.   Each state has certain assets which are exempt from bein used to satisfy judgments. For example, NY exempts up to $2,500 of equity in a car and up to $10,000 equity in a home.  I don't know what the California exemptions are (it should be easy enought to find out online).  If you lose the lawsuit and cannot satisfy the judgment through insurance or otherwise, your non-exempt assets can be sold to pay the judgment.... Read More

A signed affidavit is an out of court statement which you would be using to prove the truth of the matter asserted therein, or in other words hearsay, and as a general rule inadmissible as evidence at trial, since the other side doesn't have the opportunity to cross examine the affiant.  In some states, and I don't know if Oklahoma is one, a recording of a conversation made without the consent of all parties to it is illegal, and would not be admissible at trial.  Assuming that you have no documents in which your competitors made these false statements (and remember you will have the opportunityt o obtain relevant documents during the discoveyr phase of your lawsuit), you will need to have the people to whom these false statements were made testify to that effect.  That is a long way off.  First start the lawsuit.   BTW,, libel is written defamation, slander is oral defamation.... Read More

My Firm sued Chase Bank in 2010 after they allowed a purchaser to place a stop payment on a certified check. Their actions would have cost my client $103,000.00. They do not always have the smartest people working for them. One thing to keep in mind is that if you sue Chase, they will hire an army of lawyers to represent them! I would be happy to discuss this with you.... Read More

Do you know whether the pool has insurance which covers your daughter as an employee?  If so the insurance company might be willing to provide your daughter with separate counsel, but more likely it would offer to have the same attorney who represents the pool represent her at the deposition, as there doesn't appear to be any overt conflict of interest between your daughter and the pool (unless the pool tries to blame your daughter for the accident, which seems unlikely given the facts you've recited).  Any litigation atttorney could represent your daughter at the deposition if you want her to have separate counsel, but it may be expensive.... Read More

I don't see anything in your explanation which would bar him from selling the vehicle.  Of course, he remains liable for payments, and if you had provided for a lien on the car in your contract of sale the buyer would take subject to the lien, but that doesn't mean that you wife's rnephew can't sell the car. ... Read More

File a motion to vacate the default judgment based on lack of service.  If you can convicne the court that you were never served the judgment with be vacated.  However, it is possible that you were validly served without knowing about it - service doesn't necessarily required that the sumons and complaint be handed to you.... Read More

Other than spend the money and time to go to law school and then get OJT as a collections lawyer, THIS along with "how do I win my case" are the two most asked and least answerable questions. Not collecting on a judgment is the risk you take in any case, and likely why lawyers that take cases on a contingent fee turn such cases down. ... Read More

You can sue her for defamation and seek damages as well as an injunciton preventing her from making any future false accusations.  Defamation cases are difficult to win, but suing her may bring er to recognize that she can face serious consequences for any repeat wrongdoing.  Perhaps as in interim measure before you go to the expense and hassle of starting a lawsuit, you could have an attorney write her a letter warning her that she will be sued if she doesn't stop.  If you do decide not to file a lawsuit now, you should know that defamation has a short stature of limitations,  I don't know what it is in Ohio but, for example, in NY you would be barred if you tried to sue more than a year after the defamation.)... Read More

You essentially can't. You either hope she gets tired and goes away OR you belly up to the bar, retain a lawyer, and pursue her offensively in litigation with the hope she finds that unsavory and seeks to do something different. Understand that litigation is NOT an inexpensive enterprise. ... Read More

You cannot replevina boat you don't own. You will need to retain a lawyer to sue for damages or to have a court determine that you should have title vested in you. This will be a complicated process and you will need to file suit quickly to try to minimize his ability to sell the boat. ... Read More