Florida General Practice Legal Questions

Well, it’s possible he could have a suit, but doesn’t sound terribly strong to me.  Particularly, I say this because it doesn’t sound like you guys worked out the terms of payment and exchange of goods.  Generally, money is given at the time to the goods are provided, but obviously that’s not always the case.  Now, if the tickets come in and he’s ready to hand them over, his suit could have some strength to it – assuming he purchased the tickets in reliance on your offer to buy half of them.  Keep in mind a pretty good adage – anyone can sue anyone for anything, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be successful.  On a practical side, I’d suggest exhausting practical resolutions where possible.... Read More

By the facts you’ve laid out, I’m assuming you guys didn’t have a band agreement drafted and in place (btw if you don't, get one drafted now at least)?  Well, that does make things a bit murky.  Sounds like you are on the right track to working it out amicably, but if you had no agreement to giving everything back, then it comes down to your word against his.  Your situation is very fact sensitive as to the strength of any claims he would try to bring to recover.  Right now make sure you keep records of these offers and any back and forth.  Without having anything in writing, he may have difficulty recovery everything he purchased for the band.  That said, getting involved with a lawsuit is generally not ideal.  I’d advise sitting down with an attorney to discuss all of the facts so that you can get a full legal opinion on the strength/weakness of a potential claim.  From there, you can decide how best to proceed.... Read More

As a first consideration, I’d be interested to know whether the man considers himself an agent of the landlord.  Often, landlords use property managers to deal with the day to day and just get a check from the property manager.  However, without reviewing the lease, I really can’t say.  Now, if your daughter did get caught up in a situation where a con man has commandeered an abandoned (or foreclosed) home, that’s a different story…and it does happen more often than you’d think.  If the tax man is putting notice that the home is going up for sale, it lends me to think it could be a foreclosure property – one that’s either in the process or is lost in the process.  In the end, it doesn’t really matter because if he is neither the owner nor an agent of the owner, he cannot rent out the property because he has no legal rights to the property.  So, in that case, your legal obligation to pay him rent wouldn’t exist because the lease is void from the beginning.  In fact, you’d have a suit for the money you paid him (except it’s unlikely you’d even be able to find him after calling his bluff).  On the bad side, if it is a scam, it means you’re daughter would now be a squatter and the actual owners could come back file what’s called an ejectment.  Here’s the long short to this situation – have your daughter take the lease agreement and any other correspondence to an attorney for review.  An attorney will be able to help connect the dots, and, if it is a scam, help clean up the mess.  ... Read More

First off, I am so sorry to hear that – that is absolutely awful.  On those facts, I’m inclined to say it sounds like you may very well have a case for negligence.  I would advise making an appointment for a consultation with an attorney to discuss all of the details in confidence.  If you do have a case, you don’t want to wait and run afoul of any potential statute of limitations issues.  The statute of limitations depends on the exact cause of action to be brought, but a negligence action would have a statute of limitation in FL of 4 years.... Read More

You are not required to return an unconditional gift.  However, if your mother claims that the money was a loan, or was in consideration for something you were to do for her which you did not do (for example, if she claims that she paid you in advance for painting her house), the outcome may depend on who the judge or jury believes.... Read More

Assuming that your father intended to make a non-contingent inter vivos (that is, not in contemplation of death) gift, that he was competent, that you neither defrauded him nor exercised undue influence over him, nor promised anything to him in consideration for the property, that the gift did not defraud any of your father's creditors, that your father was the sole owner of all of the property, and that there were no restrictions on your father's right to transfer the property (for example, that nobody held a right of first refusal over your father's house), his gift to you would be legal.  As you can see, there are a lot of "ifs".  Someone who would have inherited had your father not transferred everything to you could always challenge the transaction claiming that you exercised undue influence over your father, that you father was not in his right mind when he made the gift, that you defrauded your father, etc.  Moreover, you would only get as good title as your father had.  Thus, for example, if there was a recorded mortgage or other lien against any of the property you acquired, you would not get the property free and clear, but rather it would still be subject to the lien.  Also, there may be some property (real estate) which requires more than just notarization to transfer.   Finally, in some states (I don't know about Florida), a surviving spouse may have rights to some of that property when it is transferred to close to death.... Read More

In general, you need a current intention to use the mark in commerce within a year. The US Patent and Trademark office only covers marks for use in the United States. International trademarks are filed in each applicable country pursuant to the laws of that country. A trademark is a registration of a mark, letter name, design, logo for use in commerce in the near term. It is not a placeholder for the long-term future idea to come. If you have a current use or are actively developing it and expect to be in the market within the year, you can file the mark now. I often tell clients to hold off, however, if you are uncertain about the design, the words, or the mark is still changing because there is a significant amount of research, time and money spent registering a mark and most start up businesses cannot afford to spend the time and money on a number of marks before they are ready to commercialize products.  ... Read More

Based on what you've written, you had a contract with your ex-roommate that he would allow you to store your car on his property in consideration for a storage fee to be paid upon sale of the car.  He breached the contract, either by selling the car or having it towed, thereby damaging you in that you lost the value of the car (minus what you would have paid the ex-roommate for storage).  You can sue him for those damages.... Read More

  The question is whether your cousin has right of possession or is merely a trespasser. Your question raises many other questions. You had no idea she was there for 2 years? Who was taking care of the place? Did she pay any $ to you or pay other charges associated with the property?   Certainly you could evict her if there is no lease or other agreement (oral or written) in place . I need more info.... Read More

Both of you are a little in the wrong. Don't threaten or hold using or divulging information over someone. Tell the defense lawyer or don't, but to use it as a threat could be determined as blackmail of some sort. The employee, on the other hand, is directly threatening. No true law has been broken or civil action started as I see it. ... Read More

You should look for an attorney who is experienced in civil litigation matters. Auto Zone is reponsible for actions taken by their employees within the scope of their employment.  In other words, if the employees were acting for Auto Zone when they tried to repair the a/c, Auto Zone can be sued if they acted improperly.  Even if one of the men was not actually an Auto Zone employee, it Auto Zone gave him the trappings of an employee such that you would think he was (ie. by allowing him behind the counter and to order around Auto Zone personnel) he might have what is known as "apparent authority" and Auto Zone might be successfully sued for his actions. However, I am not sure about Auto Zone's business structure.  I know that it is a chain, but that does not mean that each Auto Zone is not independently owned.  You may be able to sue this particularl Auto Zone location successfully, but you may not be able to sue the parent Auto Zone entity if it is only a franchisor which had nothing to do with the incident.... Read More

I think you may have misunderstood.  A notary public is a person who has been authorized by law to attest to the authenticity of a signature.  You can't "send a notary".  Moreover, the notary in no way vouches for the truth of the statements contained in a given document, he or she simply vouches that the signature on the document is genuine.  What you may have been told that if you and your ex-father-in-law sign statements, and have your signatures notarized, swearing that the truck, although it is in your name, is not really your asset, the college or other financial aid provider may not include the truck as one of your assets when considering your financial aid application.  I doubt that this is true; the truck is still titled in your name and, should your ex-father-in-law ever fail to make the required payments on it, you would be responsible for them.  Still, it may be worth a shot. ... Read More

You would have to subpoena it.  To do so, you would probably need to sue the person who did it, and use that as a basis.  It would probably cost a lot more than it is worth to pursue it.  You are lucky they got a person to confess.  I agree with the police. Let it go.  You should have more important things to occupy yourself than to fixate on this.  Why not join a neighborhood surveillance group?... Read More