(04/06) HOTL Hour 2

Handel on the Law, Marginal Legal Advice. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is handle on the law,marginal legal advice where I tell you you
have absolutely no case and love tellingyou with that. Homelessness is well,
it's an issue in many cities acrossthe United States and here in southern California,
Los Angeles particularly, homelessness is insane. It is so high, so

(00:25):
many people. It's a great placeto live. First of all, a
lot of services for the homeless.This is California, and we just have
encampments. I mean, here's afigure for you that's kind of stunning.
La County sixty thousand homeless people,isn't that special? And you see these
encampments all over the place. Sowe've been dealing with homelessness for years.

(00:48):
Money is being thrown at the homelesspopulation, and in reality, the only
way you're going to do this,I mean permanent homeless housing. So people
are homeless can get off the streetand go into homeless housing or shelters.
But homeless housing is the answer.Five hundred thousand dollars per unit, can
you imagine. So there are allkinds of programs out there. So our

(01:10):
new mayor relatively new mayor, KarenBass, she has a program called the
Inside Safe Program, that also spendsjust buckets and buckets of money. And
what the Inside Safe program does istake people that are on the street and
move them into shelters or medium termhousing Inside Safe. And there was a

(01:32):
housing in East Hollywood and encampment.Twenty hundred to two hundred people or twenty
people, excuse me, were housedin this encampment whether our house, they
lived in it, and that wasnext to a daycare. So it was
cleared and this is what they do, and then they just come back.
So right after it was cleared,it was repopulated and the encampment was cleared

(01:53):
per that Inside Safe program. Andlet me tell you, every single time
any city gets involved, lawsuits hit. You're doing this incorrectly, you're discriminating,
you're not moving people into shelters quicklyenough, you're not offering shelters.
A matter of fact, there's alaw and there was a federal judge ruled
on this one, and that isif there is a shelter, if there

(02:17):
is no shelter nearby, if thebeds are all full, people can stay
on the streets. You can't getrid of them. So of course lawsuits
have hit. And by the way, that federal judge has now ordered that
Inside Safe gets audited because just peoplejust don't like the way money is being

(02:38):
spent. And so here's a cityprogram that's being audited now simply because and
by the way, it's not aquestion of theft, it's a question of
they're saying, you don't do itquickly enough, you don't have enough housing,
you're not really fulfilling the parameters ofthe settlement you made per Judge Carter's

(03:00):
decision. And so just another oneand we'll get him, get him all
the time. I don't even bringthe most of them to the table here
because there's so many of these.But this is an audit of a city
program. No corruption. I thinkthat's what's unusual. All right, let's
go ahead and take phone calls.All right, Francisco has been waiting there

(03:23):
forever. Hello Francisco. Yeah,oh Bill, I'll be going well or
badly, it doesn't matter, nobodycares. Right, I got a question
for you. So a year agoand left April, those door knockers that
are setting solar power came and Igot the solar team and it took six

(03:45):
months, no from April to June, they got installed Then after that,
like two months later, she canceledthat and I had to go with a
new carrier. Then after that,another three months later, I signed with
another You signed three different contracts?Yes, yes, because she said that

(04:05):
the wait she Francisco and then theI understand, probably a Jehovah witness who
also sold solar systems. You cancombine two in one, fell swoop.
Of course. You know, here'sthe Bible and you're going to sell you
a solar system. Bible's free solarsystem is not okay. So vendor comes

(04:26):
to the door, You sign acontract, vendor cancels the contract. Correct,
yes, okay, second vendor.I assume it's the same people that
came to the door or a differentokay, got it from her. Okay.
So you go to a second vendor. You sign a contract with a
second vendor who also cancels. Yes, oh guy. At some point you

(04:49):
say, okay, then this isthe company I mean I want to work
with. Third vendor. You signa contract, right, yeah, okay,
So now what happens with vendor numberthree? This was in October of
last year. Finally somebody reached outto me saying that I need to sign

(05:09):
a letter a permit so that thecity could come in and write off.
Yeah, so what happens that youknow, it's been so long that Okay,
have you paid any money? No? Okay, then just walk away
and get another vendor. Now Iadvertise I advertisers. They're putting in a
solar system now in my new house. No, but but my panels are

(05:32):
already up and the web sec youI don't understand. Okay, the panel
is up, and they're asking youto sign the permit now before the panel's
up. Okay, No, No, the panels are installed. They got
installed last June. When are youasked to sign the permit? We last
week? Yeah, and that's interestingbecause every time there's a permit, it's

(05:55):
my contractor who signs for the permit. I don't remember ever signing a permit.
But okay, so they install it. They're asking you to sign the
permit, the application for a permit. Why don't you sign it? What's
your problem? Because because because we'vealso had a leak with them, and
I want them to fix my leak. Yeah. Yeah, and it's been
a year. It's like the principalOkay, all right, so you assume

(06:16):
them. I mean you got toassume them. That's it. You got
what's it going to cost you?What's you know? There's the contract and
you have to go to arbitration orwhatever. So you see the company that
installs it, they did a badjob. It's not that, that's what
I'm asking. I'm asking if i'mcalling. Yeah, you see the company,
You see the company that installs it. You sue the company that referred
it. And at some point whenand you didn't pay any money, and

(06:40):
you have solar panels out there,Yes, they've been up versus mass June.
Wow, are they working? No? No, okay, Well why
don't you get call a company seeif they work? And you're in pretty
good shape. Now the installation companyis probably gonna sue you because they installed
the panel. Yeah, all right, so you start they were going after
you now, No, no,no, they're the ones that are adamant

(07:01):
now of me signing that sign thecity. Yeah, you don't sign anything,
you sign nothing, Okay, Andyou get another solar company to come
in and you go, what isit going to take to fix this and
make this right? And you cango with any like the costco one or
sun run or anybody. You goto the costco one sure, because those
uh, they have to make Costcohappy. So you call them up.

(07:25):
But the problem is you're not installing, you're fixing. So that's the that's
the issue. You got to letthem know that you are fixing and not
installing. Third go round. Atsome point where where do you start doing
your research and say, uh,you know, I'll find my own company.
Jackie, Hello Jackie, Hi Bill, No baby shark this time?

(07:47):
Right? Nope, nope, Igot a line for those people that don't
know what Jackie's talking about. Ifthe lines are really down, I can't
get enough lines going. We playbaby sharks until we get lines. Yes,
usually a work. Okay, whatcan I do for you, Jackie?
I have a disabled son and he'she's an adult man. For a

(08:13):
year and a half, he's beendealing with its condition that two doctor,
not two doctors, but two facilitieshere in San Diego have misdiagnosed. They've
had a he's had an infection,raging infection for six plus months, and

(08:37):
nobody would help him. I almostlost him, he almost died. And
Jackie, what kind of facilities let'sstart with that. What do you mean
by facilities. Well, here inSan Diego, it seems like two entities
have the urology market stown up.One is a university and one is another.

(08:58):
Okay, you're talking about medical tomedical practices. Oh yes, okay,
okay, So, uh is heinvall? Is he enrolled in any
program, state, federal program,or you're just paying it? Or he
has medical insurance and you go toone or the other. His insurance is

(09:18):
through medical Okay, got it?All right? So okay, so would
we go ahead? I'm sorry,no, go ahead. We suspect that
they are purposely keeping him sick becausethey're making money off of him, Jackie,
purposely keeping someone sick from a medicalfacility. Let me tell you if

(09:43):
that is proved. First of all, it's if that's even suspected, the
investigation start flying, I mean quickly. I mean that is fraud. I
mean that is prison time. Purposelykeeping someone sick? Uh so correct?
So what makes you think? Whatmakes you think they're purposely keeping your son
sick? Because for a year anda half, as I had mentioned,

(10:07):
he's they've not done anything to addressthe actual cause of what he's feeling.
And like I said, a wholesix plus months this raging infection was going
on, and doctors would give youdrugs and one actually he had a reaction
to and he had anguish and panicattacks. And they Jackie, did they

(10:33):
give him? Did they give himantibiotics? Are those the kind of drugs
that you're talking about? No drugs? Antibiotics? What kind of drugs?
This this one doctor in particular,through this university, It was like a
game show. He held up two. You can have either one of these
drugs, one with pentox of filingand another one was celebrat. Okay,

(10:58):
and he I don't. He tookcelebrates with no reaction to the other one.
He had a raging disfigurement. Okay, and Jackie dis figure Wait wait
wait a disfigurement as a result ofthe drugs? What what? What kind
of disfigure What kind of disfigurement Jackie? Well, it's in the pelvic area

(11:22):
and it's a sensitive area. Areyou talking about? What do you mean
it's a disfigurement pelvic? Is ithis nether reasons? Is it his that
part? Yes? The mother wantto tell me, Yeah, Well,
how do you know? How doyou know he's disfigured? Does he if

(11:43):
he hasn't shown you and he doeswhat you don't know? How do you
know it's disfigured because doctors have recognizedit as such, and it's it's and
it's in and it's in the medicalnotes there. It is disfigured right there?
How did you get there? Okay? What does the doctor say?
What does it say? What's thelanguage? Urologist? His urologist has noted

(12:09):
that pentoxifying was the problem, andwhat was disfigurement? Yes, sir,
wow, but what do we now? I'm curious disfigurement? I know,
yeah, I know we can dothis. Was it? Uh? Was
it the Schwanz? Uh? Wasit? It was the Schwantz itself?

(12:31):
Yes? Hmm okay, So hishis original issue is blood flowing in but
not going out and to this soit's swelling, it's becoming big. Wow.
Yes, and you don't and hewon't show you, so you don't
know how big it is. Now. You know a lot of people would

(12:54):
like a big one or a muchbigger one, you know, I would,
I mean I would go to thatdoctor and say, hey, give
me that drug. It's I understand, Oh god, all right, yeah,
all right. I make fun ofeverything Jackie. Well, well it

(13:20):
could be okay, not to you. I get it, all right,
Okay, fair enough, Okay,here's what you have to do, Jackie,
Jackie, let me stalk, letme talk to you, Let me
talk to you right now, letme talk. Let me tell you right
now if if anything is if anypart of that is true. By the
way, Jackie, I don't believethey're doing this on purpose. I don't

(13:41):
think that doing this on purpose toyour son is enough to put their medical
license on the line and to puttheir possibly going to prison on the line.
I don't think so. Now,there could be malpractice, there could
be negligence, and based on whatyou say, it's your sounds like you're
gonna have to talk to him medicalmalpractice attorney. Okay, you're gonna have

(14:01):
to talk to a medical malpractice attorney. Okay. That is Ye, that's
the only That's the only advice Ican give you, Jackie. It's the
only advice I can give you,medical malpractice attorney. All right. I
mean, I do feel bad forBut how explain to me how on this
show I can't make fun of that. Just tell me how I can't take

(14:24):
that one and do something with it, just tell me I'd be interested.
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(14:45):
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(15:07):
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(15:28):
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slash handle Brian. Yes, sir, mister handle, I have a question

(15:50):
for you. What is annovation?Okay? A novation is taking over a
contract. Sample, you have amortgage and you someone your family you want
to get off the mortgage, butyou're still on the mortgage and someone comes

(16:10):
in and they buy your house.Well, your loan is paid off and
they get a new loan unless yourlending facility is willing to let them accept
the loan, and you're off theloan. That's a novation. Also,
a novation is when you do aperformance and people stand up and they applaud

(16:33):
for you. That's also a novation. Okay, Well that's about what we're
talking about now. Okay, sotell me what. Tell me what we're
talking about. Well, we're talkingabout a bill of sale that that was
an notorized bill of sale and somebodyit was for two hundred thousand dollars and
they only paid me one hundred andfifty thousand dollars, and I accepted.

(17:02):
I offered to reduce my price byfifty thousand dollars for this person to honor
an original agreement. In what theagreement was, This was the sale of
a vessel. Okay, let meask you. So they owe you two
hundred thousand dollars, they pay onehundred and fifty thousand dollars. So is

(17:23):
there fifty thousand dollars still remaining onthe balance and you offered fifty thousand dollars
off? That means you're paid offin full, isn't it? What am
I missing here? I guess theonly agreement that didn't get fulfilled would have
not been on paper. It wasa verbal. Yeah, okay, Brian,

(17:45):
Brian, Brian, that is atough one. That is a tough
one. Yeah. I mean youcan sue for the fifty thousand dollars.
I don't know where the novation comesin, by the way, unless you
agree that someone else is going totake over that contract, all right,
that's that's a novation. So someone really has nothing to do with the

(18:07):
other. So you got one hundredand fifty thousand dollars on a written contract
that you were paid for fifty thousanddollars on a verbal contract connected to that
that contra that first written contract,and you're saying you weren't get paid,
and you know, what do youdo? Well, you can sue for
the fifty thousand dollars. Witnesses emailsto that extent text talking about it.

(18:30):
Is it just a verbal contract betweenthe two of you? The original contract,
the bill of sale that was memorized, was for two hundred thousand,
got it? Okay, So it'snot. So it's not a verbal contract,
it's a written contract. What amI missing here? Well, one,

(18:52):
I offered to reduce the price byfifty thousand dollars. My ex friend
brought out a pen and wrote onthe original documented notarized bill SAO that I
was going to reduce the price byfifty thousand dollars. All right, so
let me ask you this. Didyou agree to it? Did you sign
it? I believe I did.Then you accepted the reduction. Then you've

(19:18):
accepted it. That's it. You'vedone. Nice talking to you. Hey,
wait, one more question, ifyou don't mind, sir, Yeah,
go ahead. What is defamation ofcharacter? There's no thing as defamation
of character? Well there is,But in what way did he call you
a thief? Did he go publicor he just you know, what did

(19:40):
he call you? What do youwant to assume for I received a letter
from a lawyer that on the sameon the same case, and he said
that I was he was defamation ofcharacter, slander. Okay, what is
the au you have doing? Whatdoes the accused you of doing? He

(20:04):
accuse me? Or telling people thathe stole the vote? Okay, did
you nope? Okay, then theyhave to pro he has to prove it.
That's all. That's not complicated.It's because he told people, all
right, Uh nope, didn't saythat, all right? Now what Susana,

(20:26):
Hello, Susannah, welcome, goodmorning Bill. Yes, my dad
passed away a couple of weeks ago, and he is survived by my stepmom,
who has dementia, very very baddementia, my sister who is from
my dad's second marriage, and myselffrom my dad's first marriage. My dad
did not have a will, andI spoke to an attorney and they checked

(20:49):
to see if it had been goneinto probate and they said no. They
said, well, charge you fifteenhundred dollars. We'll put it in probate.
You can apply to be the restfor all of is whatever he owned.
It came back to me the nextday and said, no, everything
property is it when it goes tothe wife communal communal pro community property?

(21:12):
But I don't know. Yeah,but I don't know what it is why
it would be community property if there'sno will, she gets half of it
and that's it, and then theother half goes to the surviving kids.
So I don't quite understand. Ithought, yeah, and you're right.
So I don't know how she getsall of the property when there is no

(21:32):
will when there are children there,So I don't I don't get it,
even if her name because he saidwere they Did they buy the house together?
And I said, yes, oh, well that is that's different.
If they bought the house together andit's uh it is bought in joint tenancy,
then it goes to her. Housegoes to her if it was if
it was bought and joint tenant,if that's the title, automatically it goes

(21:55):
to her. Yeah, So andthen what about the money and the bank
that doesn't go to her us thatis held in joint tennessee if that is
where they're both together, and thenthen it's all theirs is there's one of
them or two of them. Theybelongs to everybody to those two. Okay.
Yeah, so when my dad passedaway, it goes to my stepmom

(22:17):
who has dementia. Okay, sowhen she passes, when she passes away,
it goes everything goes to all herkids because she has three kids.
Yep, So I get nothing becausemy dad. Yeah that is No,
it's not weird, it's a law. And this is why your dad should
have written a will. And no, it's not crazy, it's he should

(22:40):
have written a will. How muchmoney are we talking about, Susannah.
He probably has like like one hundredand ninety five thousand in the bank.
Yeah all right, well yeah,so if there's no will, I mean
I, and it's joint where themoney goes to the other spouse. I
don't even know why there would bea probate. There's nothing to probate.
And I tell you to get angry. I tell you to start screaming at

(23:00):
your dad, but he's not there. And you can start screaming at your
stepmom, but she's not there either. All right, So yeah, that's
no fun. You don't My kidsare so funny, Dad, Do we
still get our money. When wheneverI get angry with them and they act
out. Oh oh oh Dad,I know you're angry. Do we still

(23:22):
get the money? That's great.And I've told you about this before.
I have a trust and my kidsget it for the most part. You
know, my wife and I wereleaving the kids the money and we're not
going to kids don't know it.We're leaving money to the whales. And
I hate whales. But it doesn'tmatter. And every time I when my

(23:42):
kids act out, I show themthe will and I go, I've left
everything to your sister. Oh,you're right down. I'm sorry. I
won't act out. And again,then the next week when the other sister
acts out, I do the samething. I'm leaving it all to your
sister. Does it help they stillact out? Of course they do.

(24:03):
Of course they do. By theway, they just left the house.
You know, I downsize. Itold you they're out of the house.
They're twenty eight years old and theyjust left the house. Thank you very
much. Yep. Okay, HiNina, what can I do for you?
Hi? Yes, Hi, myname is Nina. I can't believe

(24:25):
I'm really got through and talking toyou, but so a friend of mine.
She went to stop in front ofa seven eleven and she has her
SUPERO. I don't know if I'mallowed to say that, but the brakes
wouldn't okay, the brakes would notwork. And she's one of those cars
that went through the seven eleven.We had pictures of it. Wow,

(24:47):
there was cheetos. There was cheetoson her car. There's water. Luckily
she didn't hit anybody good and thecops, yep, the cops came.
They asked if she was texting ordrinking, and she wasn't doing either.
But she cannot get anyone to takeher case no matter who she calls.
Was she going to sue? Imean, I guess the subreu that she

(25:08):
has, it's a twenty twenty two, and it should have a black box
or something in it to where shesteps on the break. It should show
that it's like malfunctioning like an that'sfair. I mean, it shouldn't have
breaks that just fail. And ifit had breaks that just outright failed,
then there may be an issue there. Now, she wasn't particularly hurt,

(25:32):
that's the problem. So does shehave since she wasn't hurt other than you
know, Cheeto's landing on her hood. That's just a whole different issue on
its own. Does is she claimingany injury? Well, so, I
mean other than mentally. They wantto fix the car and give her her
car back, and she doesn't feelcomfortable like going to the school school pick

(25:55):
up and drop off with the breaksfailing again, So she doesn't want the
car. I mean that's okay.You see she is she seeing a shrink?
I mean, is she she didgo to a psychiatrist and a chiropractor.
I mean she's a little shicken up. I mean the whole car went
okay, you can imagine, allright, and I'm assuming the seven to
eleven is going to sue her forthe damages to the store. I mean

(26:18):
be prepared for that. So yes, yeah, so you got that issue.
She has to take up a biggulp before she moves beyond that.
I know that. I couldn't comeon. That was such a soft ball.
What else could do with that?Yeah? Good? So does she
have insurance? She have car insurance? And that's another thing. She has

(26:40):
a car car insurance and she's beenpaying for a rental car. I said,
you're sure the car insurance should behandling all this not necessarily. It
depends on how much and et cetera. No, No, it depends on
what your insurance is. She isliable. Probably. The point is if
you have car insurance, if there'sauto insurance, just turn over to them
and go here, you deal withit. And it's as far as her

(27:00):
mental situation, that's a little toughbecause that's, yeah, that's not gonna
go any place. And the factthat she's afraid to go into the school
parking area or go through the drivethrough because she's emotionally upset. Uh,
that's don't work again on the well, I mean, it happens, but
how maybe outlier breaks and I getthat. And so you tell Subaru this

(27:23):
is your fault. I want torefund on my car. I'm gonna get
another car. See what they say. Problem is, what are you gonn
assume them for bad design? Areyou kidding? You think they're going to
allow a judge or a jury tosay the breaks are badly designed. They're
gonna throw everything they can. I'mgonna they're gonna spend hundreds of thousands or

(27:48):
millions of dollars. Uh, withlawyers trying to say no on that one
they can't afford to say, ohyeah, this is a badly designed brake
system now, so you know,I mean, there's oh case there against
super U and they might just say, hey, we'll fix your brakes,
here's a new car. Or youcan actually say I want my money back

(28:08):
because I can't trust you anymore.But there's no lawsuit. The only lawsuit
is going to be seven to elevenagainst her. That's where the lawsuit's going
to be, not only for thedamage to the store, because you're talking
about the window, you're talking aboutthe door, you're talking about I mean,
thank goodness, so was hurt.You're talking about the encounter, you're
talking about the aisles. And don'tforget those Cheetos that went on the hood,

(28:29):
you know, I mean, that'sbig, big damages. All right,
Thomas, you've been waiting there fora while. Okay, Thomas,
what can I do for you?Hey, Nel, thank you for taking
my call. I have a neighborwhose fence is on her property, but
it's completely dilapidated and falling into myproperty and I've asked her to fix it
and she's not going to do anythinganything. It's in a there the house

(28:52):
that she doesn't live in Okay,it's her childhood home, and I want
to fix it. How do Igo about getting payments? Or I don't
fix it? Don't you don't don'tYou don't have the right to fix it
without her permission. It's her fence, but falling into my yard. Okay,
then you get that. Then youthen whatever's falling in your yard you
can take, you can pick up, and you can see her for those

(29:14):
damages that that cost that you cando? Now what now? What about
getting a fence repaired? I can'tdo anything about anything, nless I build
my own fence on my own property. That's what I would do. But
if I were her, I wouldI would accept you repairing my fence.
Not a problem, she's she's not. Yeah, well yeah, of course,
but I'm not going to do itfor free. And hey, well
then then then then she says,no, I had that problem with uh

(29:38):
a neighbor and I said, Iwant to build a concrete fence, you
know, a block wall fence,and UH on my house a couple of
houses ago, and neighbor said no. So I paid for it myself and
I just put it up. Okay, Now she did have she did have
a tree that was growing underneath myfoundations, and I had to get a

(29:59):
little you're a writer, a levelbetter to have it removed. Yeah,
that you can do. And thenyou did that. So she removed it.
Right now, what about damage thatit did cause my property? Yep,
yep. All of that is.All of that is uh part of
your damages against her. But nothingin terms of fixing her fence. You

(30:21):
don't have the right. And ifyou do, congratulations. And if she
doesn't give you permission, uh,you can't do it. It's her fence.
She's allowed to have an ugly dilapidatedfence, and you came up with
the perfect solution, put up afence on your side, and she's going
to get the benefit of that.I mean, that's a drag when that
happens. Tell you what else isit? Drag? Bad breath? Mmm?

(30:44):
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(31:07):
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order three packs or more. Iknow you're gonna want to want uh more.

(31:30):
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to Zelmans dot com or they're alsofamily. Go to Zelmans dot com.
Z l M I n S.Get fifteen percent off when you use the
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(31:51):
I n s Zelmans dot com.This is handle on the law