Contracts Legal Questions

Your former employer cannot "make" you sign this, but if you don't, you can't "make" him give you the bird.  Your employer is asking for a release, which is common, although there are some statutes in California that impose certain requirements which must be met for a release to be valid in an employment context, and it doesn't sound as if those requirements have been met here.  I would think that your main concern would be whether you believe that you have a valid claim against your former employer (I am assuming that you are only being asked to release existing claims, and not claims which may arise in the future; such releases can be valid, but are much trickier and less likely to be enforced).  If you don't believe you have a valid claim, it would seem to be a minor risk - that you may be giving up an existing claim of which you are unaware - to sign the release.... Read More

If your insurance paid for the damages you cannot get more money from the at fault driver. They likely have a subrogation claim and will file a lawsuit against him sometime in the next 5 years and likely impede his drivers license until he repays them. If the find out he paid you, then they may turn around and sue you for reinbursement. ... Read More

Sorry - but you are "workin it" here and thats not productive. Why is what they billed the insurance carrier of any consequence to you? This sounds a lot more like an effort to weaponize this issue to address OTHER issues or problems you have with the company at issue. That stated, you are not likely to "get your money back" on that notion, but you can always try. ... Read More

Sorry - but its not proper to provide you advice to pass on to her based on how you relate her issues. The advice would be that if SHE has legal questions about her lease she will need to hire a tenant lawyer to review it with her and go from there. If its not important enough to spend the money to hire a lawyer to review it and provide proper advice then that speaks to the importance of controverting the issue at all. In that case she should go the extra mile to do what the document says to eliminate any legal issues from arising. ... Read More

Not likely.  You would need to have a formal contract.  You can look into the Statute of Frauds for some background information.  If there are additional facts you would like to discuss, you may want to sit down with an attorney to review the situation in detail. Best of luck.... Read More

A more detailed look at your situation may be warranted.  I would suggest communicating with the original contractor ASAP to inform them that you are not moving forward with their company.  They may argue that certain things have been purchased for the agreed upon work and that you are responsible.  Ultimately, this may or may not be the case.  If they give you any problems when you inform them that you are not proceeding you will want to retain an attorney to represent you. Best of luck.... Read More

You may or you may not, depending on whether the contract is valid, but it has nothing to do with whether the signatures on the contract are notarized or not.  There are many reasons why the contract might not be enforceable, and it may be wise for you to engage a local attorney to actually look at the document, but in general if 2 competent adults who are not under duress reach an unambiguous and unconditional written agreement without either deceiving the other, whch agreement accurately reflects their mutual intent, pursuant to which each provides something to the other in exchange for what he/she receives, the agreement is valid and enforceable.... Read More

Not typically.  You have the freedom to enter into any contract that you wish.  The Courts may look for evidence of duress, e.g. unconscionability of the terms of the contract, adhesion contracts, are the parties at "arms length" to determine if a valid contract exists.  However, if a valid contract is found, then the court will not typically look at "fairness." ... Read More

There are many other factors which would determine whether you had an enforceable contract, but there's no reason that an agreemeent made over Facebook couldn't be a binding contract.  Assuming that you had a valid contract, you would have a claim against the seller for the difference between the price you agreed to pay and the price you had to pay to replace the items you had contracted  to buy.... Read More

The only person in breach of contract would be YOU trying to nullify the agreement arbitrarily after you signed it. That stated, you may also be in breach of your loan by doing so as you have jeaopardized the banks collateral. You need to retain a lawyer ASAP to try to address this immediately before you end up getting reposed and sued. ... Read More

According to the contract, it renewed for another 2 year term when it was not cancelled in 2020, and will now run until 2022, at which point you can cancel it if you give proper notice 60 days before it ends.  In NY, however, there are some contracts in which automatic renewals are unenforceable.  I don't know if it is the same in Illinois.... Read More

You loaned him money based on his agreement to repay you.  There is no need for a written contract, an oral contract will do.  However, in situations where a writing is required, it would generally (unless it expressly provides otherwise) only have to be signed by the party against whom it is being enforced, here the borrower.  To the extent that any court deems the time of repayment to be ambiguous, which I doubt, it is nevertheless likely to conclude that the borrower is required to pay when he gets his next tax refund (I assume you meant refund, not return).  If the contract had not set forth any time for repayment, the court would imply a reasonable time under the circumstances; it is very doubtfal that any court would hold that the borrower had years to pay under these circumstances, unless he has some strong evidence that this was agreed to.... Read More

Why would this not be an issue for withholding rent under Fla. Stat. 83.60/83.51? What do you expect the tenants to do? Use thier hands? Also you broke the law using her security deposit to pay rent. Fla.Stat. 83.49. You need to hire a lawyer before you lose that property to a judgment as you can't homestead a rental. ... Read More

Ummmm hate to tell you but the lack of due diligence is YOUR issue not the lenders nor the sellers nor body shop. Neither a car dealer nor a lender is obligated to make sure you have the coverage you want or need on on a car you purchase. If there are obligations beyond finanical responsibility limits, such as comp/collision required for financing, that is your responsibility to secure and is typically spelled out in the financing paperwork. As it is your vehicle and your finaincial exposure, the due diligence is equally yours. At this point, if the crash was some other persons fault, you need to focus on gettting them to pay for the damages, but you need to keep making you payments to the bank, in the meantime. Otherwise, if you wrecked your car and it was uninsured, you either need to make the payments to get it fixed and keep making your finance payments OR of thecar is totaled, see what can be done with the lender to settle the debt.   ... Read More

Parents are not responsible for the obligations of their competent adult children, and if that was all there was to the story your parents could ignore Dan, get the suit dismissed if he actually filed a lawsuit, and go to the police if he continued to harass them.  However if when you write that your mom "settled out of court", you mean that she entered into a settlement agreemet with Dan, that's a contract and she would be obligated under it unless she can prove that she  was somehow coerced or under duress when she agreed.  Sending letters wouldn't constitute coercion or duress.... Read More

It sounds like you started negotiations with this large business.  Before you go any further, you and this large business should sign a non-disclosure document, where both of you agree to keep all information confidential.  You don't want them to steal your receipe.  You really should find a Business Attorney, who handles mergers and acquisitions to help you.  The sale can be structured based on the negotiations between the large business and yourself.  It is not uncommon to ask for an upfront payment followed by royalities.  However, I would think that larger business would prefer a single payment as to avoid the paperwork and time in issuing periodic royality payments.  Again, this needs to be negotiated.... Read More