California Litigation Legal Questions

1. you cannot sue the online booking website. It did not steal your money or post your passport. Federal law protects referal websites like booking.com against such websites. 2. You cannot sue the Thailand hotel or its owners, unless they have substantial contacts with the United States. Listing the hotel on booking.com is not enough. Doing business with Americans who come to stay in the hotel in Thailand is not enough. Does the hotel or its owner have any other contacts here 3. Are you claiming that it is the hotel's fault that your money was stolen? Proving that a property owner is liable for a crime committed by an unknown third-party, is very difficult. Under California law, a hotel does not guaranty the safety of your property. I don't know about Thai law.  4. You should get a new passport, change the passwords on all your financial accounts, such as bank accounts, credit cards and investment accounts, and maybe even replace your credit cards, and maybe even your bank accounts and investment accounts. Bad guys on the internet have your name, address, birth day and place of birth. 5. If bad guys were to use the personal information posted by the hotel to steal money from your accounts, you might be able to collect from the Thai hotel for that, but not for sure. It is a new legal idea. However, you would still have to prove that the Thai hotel or its owner had enough connections with the US that a court would hear the case. See item 2. above. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Dana Sack... Read More

It takes two sides to negotiate a settlement. Your attorney and you have no power to force the other side to add reimbursement of your attorney fees and expenses to any settlement.  Many attorney client contingent fee agreements provide that the attorney receives a specified percentage of whatever is collected. If your attorney fees and costs are added to the settlement amount paid by the other side, the attorney gets the specified percentage of that amount, too. What is relevant is not what the other side is paying for, such as distinguishing between property damage, personal injury, lost wages, medical bills, pain and suffering, AND attorneys fees and expenses. What counts is the total amount. If the total amount, minus what you are going to have to pay your attorney, is enough, then you are ready to settle. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack  ... Read More

It depends on what you mean by "reality TV." Shows like Lost, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and Naked and Afraid, sign contracts with the participants which include waivers of any claims for use of their likenesses. I would guess that the contracts probably tell the participants who intimate the recording, filming, and distribution of the recordings, will be. The news media records people in public places and interviews people as part of their 1st Amendment role, and don't get waivers. Those who are recorded and filmed have no idea who those recordings might be used and no control over them. On the internet, there are some postings which are blurring the line between news and reality TV. News media and reality TV on broadcast and cable television are controlled by professional producers who are continuously seeking legal advice on these kinds of issues. Freelance people claiming the protection of journalism, but who are more like papparazi, stalkers or reality TV, aren't subject to that kind of professional control, often haven't had the professional education and training regarding the law and privacy, and might not care. Such cases are going to depend very heavily on the specific facts of the case. Our office does not take such cases on a contingent fee basis. That's where you don't pay the attorney until the end, and the attorney only gets paid from what is collected, whether by settlement or a judgment. Our clients compensate us on an hourly basis and pay us each month for any work done the previous month. Our way is less expensive for the client if we win. The risk of losing is on the client instead of on us. Dana Sack 510-286-2200... Read More

You should hire an attorney. The attorney will need to read the lawsuit, read any correspondence you have had with the other defendant, its lawyers and its insurance company, and interview you about your role in the company, your role (if any) in the occurences which are the subject of the lawsuit, and the reasons you left the company.  My first goal would be to try to find an insurance company to pay for your defense. It might be the company's. It might be your homeowner's policy. It might even be your car insurance. Lawsuits are expensive.  Depending on the facts and if there really is no insurance, and we really can't get your former employer to step up, we might try to get the plaintiff to give you a release in exchange for honest, truthful testimony against your former employer.  For example, if an employee is driving the employer's delivery truck going to or from a customer, runs a red light, and causes injury to anyone's person or property, the employee is personally liable and so is the employer. If the employee doesn't have much in assets and the employer does, and the employer fails to defend the eimployee, the plaintiff might offer to release all claims against the employee if the employee will admit that he ran the red light and was driving as part of his job at the time.  You have only 30 days after the complaint was delivered to you, to respond. Please hire someone rightaway. Dana Sack  ... Read More

They have the right to replace the battery, instead of giving you a refund. If you replace it, then you can charge it for 12 hours and then have your mechanic check it and see if it's any better. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need.   Dana Sack... Read More

I'm very sorry, but that is not enough information to answer your question.  It depends on how you were served and what you were served with.  There are generally three ways to serve someone with a summons and complaint: (1) personal service; (2) substituted service; or (3) by publication.  However, if this is an out of state lawsuit, you can be served by mail.  But if this isn't a summons and complaint, then you can be served by mail.  Sound confusing?  It is.... Read More

In court, phone calls don't count, unless the other side admits what you say was said. So put things in writing. Emails only count if the other side admits that they received them. Anyone can type an email in Word, print it out, and claim they sent it. So send them a letter, with your name and address at the top and your signture at the bottom, and mail it with a stamp. You can email a copy, in order to get it to them faster, but that letter will be admissible in court and will have a lot of influence, even if the other side denies it. It will also demonstrate to them that you are serious, getting ready to sue, and maybe even that you have a lawyer around who will send the next letter. If the cost of fixing the floor is less than $10,000.00, then you can sue in small claims court and neither side will have lawyers. As the plaintiff, if you are unhappy with the decision, you have no right to appeal. The defendant can appeal and automatically get a new trial in Superior Court, with lawyers. Lawsuits are very expensive. If your letter doesn't get them to do the right thing, maybe a letter from an attorney will. Maybe they will agree to mediation with a neutral flooring expert or a professional mediator. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business.   Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack    ... Read More

Yes, but it will not be easy or a sure thing. If you sue Holland's Next Top Model or the LA production company, they probably got your friends to sign a location agreement and that agreement includes a provision that your friends must pay any attorneys fees, judgment or settlement resulting from your suing any of them. So even if you sue the companies and don't sue your friends, your friends are going to get sued and anything you win, they will end up paying all or at least a portion of it. Did you have a written agreement with your friends? If not, then they'll be free to claim that they told you all about it and that you approved. You may have heard that real estate contracts have to be in writing. Not one for only one week. Holland's Next Top Model might not be an American company. If not, then it will resist being sued in an American court. Opposing that defense will add to the cost of the lawsuit. If this case were to go to trial, it is likely to be expensive, at least $100,000.00. Holland's Next Top Model and the LA production company probably have insurance which will pay for their defense. So you'll be paying your lawyers, and they won't be. We would not take on a case like this on a contingent fee basis. That's where the lawyers don't get paid until they collect a judgment or settlement, and then 30%-40% of what they collect. That's usually 2-3 times what you would pay on an hourly basis. We would expect to be paid for the hours we worked, at the end of each month. I can't think of any attorney who would take on this kind of case for a contingent fee. None of us have ever handled this kind of a case, but we're experienced trial attorneys. I'm sure we could do a very good job for you, and we handle cases and trials in the Los Angeles courts all the time. Until the actual trial, almost everything can be done by phone. I look forward to talking to you about representing you in this very interesting and unusual lawsuit. Dana Sack 510-286-2200 ds@sackrosendin.com  ... Read More

In California there is a law that establishes that cutting down a tree without an owners permissions allows treble (3x's) damages for the value of the tree and I believe there maybe a recent case for emotional distress damages but that is an iffy damage. To determine the value you would need an arborist to value the tree and if you believe it was the key to preventing hillside erosion, someone with specialty training in soil erosion.... Read More

Yes, but... If you dismiss one defendant without obtaining a signed waiver of costs, that defendant will be the "prevailing party" and be entitled to recover its "costs of suit." In addition to filing fees and other expenses, if either a contract or a statute allows the prevailing party in this lawsuit to recover reimbursement for its attorney fees, then you also will be liable for such reimbursement. Giving up a defendant just to avoid some hard work responding to discovery is always a bad decision. The other defendant will be able to point to the other defendant as the real bad guy, as a defense. The defendant you dismiss might even confess that it was  the real bad guy, and provide the other defendant with a complete defense.  Litigation is very complicated and dfficult. Even licensed, trained, experienced lawyers make mistakes all the time. You really need an experienced and qualified attorney. Hire an attorney, instead of dismissing any defendant. Dana Sack  ... Read More

I would have to review your lease or rental agreement to determine whether or not the landlord has liability. Hopefully you had some form of renters insurance and therefore another potential means of recovery. You should engage an attorney with all of the details to counsel you on your options and opportunities for recovery.... Read More