(04/27) HOTL Hour 1

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 A. Wego to Afghanistan and the Taliban, the
Taliban took over and if you rememberfirst time out, the American forces were

(00:22):
able to kick out the Taliban.It was a war America prevailed and instituted.
Now we have a democratic government inAfghanistan and because of the Taliban,
and this insurgency is guerrilla warfare,which is very good at doing. They
won the war. As a matterof fact, Joe Biden got in so
much trouble about the American withdrawal inAfghanistan, and it's really one of the

(00:47):
main points I guess against him whenhe did run and will run for president.
So with that being said, theTaliban said they're going to be more
open, they are going to allowsome kind of women's rights, or when
the Taliban comes in, they're prettyfundamentalists. This is a very fundamentalist Muslim

(01:07):
Sharia law country in which women haveabsolutely no rights. They can't be seen
in public without that burka. Theycan't be seen in public without someone there,
a man there. They cannot bealone, they cannot drive, they
certainly cannot vote, and so theTaliban said, we're not going to do
that again. We are going topull back, and they did for about

(01:29):
thirty seconds. So what is theTaliban just reinstituted. Women will be stoned
to death in public, and thisis the punishment for adultery. We will
flog women in public. We willthen stone them to death in public.
Now not men. For a manto be guilty of rape, there'll be

(01:52):
four witnesses all testifying against him,all men. Very few men rape women
in front of four other men whoare willing to testify against them in a
sure reaccurt But women, it's adifferent story. As a matter of fact,
if women get raped outside of marriage, which of course they're allowed to
be raped by their husbands, thenthey are guilty of adultery by being raped

(02:16):
with someone not their husband. Andguess what's going to happen. They're gonna
be stoned to death. So asthe comment the statement was issued, we
will soon implement the punishment for adultery. As I said, we will flog
women in public, we will stonethem to death. These are all against

(02:36):
your democracy, but we will continuedoing it. This is to the West.
We both say we defend human rights, as we do it as God's
representative and you as the devils.Let me get this right. Our version
of human rights is the devils.Their version of human rights is God's plan

(02:58):
for humanity, stoning women to Yeah, not a good place to be a
woman, very good place to bea man, relatively speaking. Do you
know how many in my life athome? Do you know how many yes
DearS come out of my mouth everysingle day? Max? Hello, Max,
Welcome to handle on the law.Hi. The issue is is that

(03:21):
I work at a children's hospital andI've been making disclosures to my boss regarding
patient safety and care and violations ofthe law. As such, a lot
of my conversations with my boss aredone over zoom when I am working from
home, and I have a setof roommates who have heard these conversations and

(03:43):
disclosures to my boss. When Iwent to HR, they said, can
you prove that your boss said A, B and C. Now, I
did record the meeting for my ownnotes. That is not admissible. I
know that. But my roommates didhear the converse station When I was on
the zoom in my room. Theywere off to the side listening and could

(04:04):
hear can I use them as witnesses? No, because that's hearsay too.
That's hearsay. Uh. And you'renot someone hears someone say something. Uh,
and is not the witness in court? Is not a party of the
court, is part of the proceedings. No, it's it's uh. By

(04:24):
the way, let me it's not. You can't put it in because it's
hearsay. But let me ask youthis, Uh, why even considered court
court? Who's going to sue who? On this one? You sound like
a whistleblower and you say that youhave in fact complained. Uh? Now
was any of this done an email? Was any of this done in writing?

(04:46):
Yes? A lot of that.Okay, there, that's admissible,
all right. The people at HRthat you can that you talk to specifically,
that's admissible saying I talked to thatperson in HR. Now that person
in HR can say, oh,I never heard it, protecting the company,
protecting the administration. But here's theemails that I sent. Are you

(05:12):
going to refute those? Are yougoing to say that he didn't send that,
Max didn't send the emails? Soyou want to take a whistleblower attitude
towards this, And if it's abig deal. By the way, there
if it costs money, if they'rerecovering of money, of course you're going
to get a good chunk of it. Even if there's a huge fine,
you're going to get a chunk ofit. But don't worry about court at

(05:33):
this point, you know it's thisat this point is administrative. By the
way, what a couple of questions. I'm not going to ask you what
hospital specifically, because we're both goingto get sued if it turns out you're
making this up. What exactly wasit that they did or didn't do in
terms that you're not going to getnailed. They were a person who has

(05:56):
no clinical background, is just ahospitalministrator for various support services, was making
decisions that only a clinician can make, and those decisions ended up endangering patients.
Okay, was anybody hurt? Bigno, no, no, no,
I understand. Was anybody hurt asa result of it? Yes,
there were. There was a childthat suffered injuries. Okay, that those

(06:20):
people have a hell of a lawsuitand yeah, yeah, not necessarily you
you're a whistleblower. But the peoplethat were injured, it was the kid
that was injured that absolutely does havea case. So the bottom line,
no, no, someone hearing somethingthat someone else said, uh no,
does doesn't that work, does notwork that way. All Egg, Hello,

(06:45):
all Egg, welcome to handle onthe laws. To mister Suh,
I was I was driving in upstateNew York and I on the stop which
caused accident and death of my passengers. Okay, hold on, what what
what happened at the stop sign?Old Legg? Tell me you just say

(07:10):
I was at a stop sign andit caused the death. What does that
mean? Uh? I do younot stop on the stop sign and I
keep driving? Okay? You blue? Okay, you blew through a stop
sign? Is what you're saying?That is? Okay, got it all
right now? Uh all right,So tell me what happens after that someone

(07:30):
dies. That's a tough one.Yeah it might. Okay, your passenger
god dies? Okay, yes,So I was okay basically, and uh,
I plead guilty and I play fine. And now I receive a lantern
from a stake. It's gonna beheating and my sixth uh section five ten

(07:58):
ft three, Yeah, I don'tknow what that is? In New York
Section five ten parts threat no idea. What that means New York Stata is
excident report killed by respondent and whatthere was the name of respondent to the
station? Okay, all right,all so you're told okay, so you're
told to respond to the station atthe station. Uh so, therefore you're

(08:22):
not talking to the city attorney oryou're not talking to the age, you're
not talking to the district attorney,you're not talking to anybody other than the
police at that point. Now,yeah you okay, Now you killed someone.
Effectively, you're being held you're toblame for killing someone by blame through
the stoplight. Okay, let's startwith number one. Uh did you like

(08:45):
the person that you killed? Itwas my mother? Okay, so I'm
assuming you liked your mother? Isthat fair? Yes? Okay, howl
How old was your How old wasyour mom when she died in that traffic
accident? Two months short of ninetyShe's lived long enough, okay. Uh

(09:07):
so, Uh, what they're doingis they're simply doing, effectively a questioning
about what happened, whether it blowingthrough the stop sign was an accident,
which it sounds like it is,or uh, the way you describe it,
it sounds like it was an accident. Blowing through a stop line.

(09:28):
A stop sign is not a criminalviolation unless you're going through it at speed,
unless you're going through it for example, texting, which is a violation
in of itself, and then youadd to that an accident. If I
were you, I would bring alawyer. I would bring a lawyer.

(09:50):
Lawyer, Yeah, because because youmay say the wrong thing, and a
criminal case can go forward based onwhat you say at that investigation, that
hearing, if you will, eventhough it's not a formal hearing of any
kind. Uh, yeah, youbring a lawyer. So what's your question?
Uh, in the knowledge, ismy license doesn't be suspended? Oh?

(10:16):
Yeah? Probably? Well yead boy, that's there. It is I
killed someone, and is my licenseis going to be suspended? You're my
kind of guy, like I likethis as my license is going to be
suspended. How about you killing yourmom? Is that a problem? No,
that's not a problem. I'm guessingyes, your license is going to
be suspended because when you're talking abouta moving violation that causes that causes injury,

(10:41):
in this case, causes death.Yeah, you're probably gonna be suspended.
You're also going to get sued beyondanything you imagine. Do you have
do you have accident insurance? Yeah? Okay, well they're gonna write.
Well that's interesting because are you theonly person who is is connected to your

(11:01):
mom? Are you the only sibling? Are you the only child? Uh
no, okay, your sister cango after you for wrongful death. Your
sister can go out. She's goingto insurance. Okay, she's gonna get
She's probably gonna get the maximum.She's gonna get the maximum on insurance because
and that's it, not more.She's gonna file for wrongful wrongful death.

(11:24):
Will find out if your insurance coversthat. I don't know, but you
get to find that out. Butthe important one. Don't worry about the
insurance part. And because and bythe way, even if insurance doesn't cover
it, how much money do youhave? Oleg what kind of assets do
you and my assets? Yeah?What kind of money do you have?

(11:46):
Oh? Couple? All right,Well, they can go after you for
the balance of that, but Ithink, uh yeah, I you know,
you're right. I would be veryconcerned whether your license is going to
be suspended that or not. Andyou killed somebody, eh, you know,
not the end of the world.I like this. I like it.
Oh, here we go, Mark, Hello, Mark, hy So

(12:11):
I inherited a rental property after mymother died, and in one of the
units she has allowed. Oh,let me do this, you know what,
Mark, Mark, Mark, Mark, Mark. I am running a
little bit late, So let's seethis. Let me put you on hold
and we'll pick you up as soonas I come back. Okay, because
I don't want to cut you offearly. Uh, Mark, let's go

(12:35):
back to you. Welcome to handleon the law. Okay. So I
had inherited a rental property from mymother in the city of Los Angeles when
she was alive. She allowed thispoor immigrant person to move into one of
the units at basically a third ofmarket value. Well, she passed away,

(12:56):
he continued living there and moved out. Led a friend move in at
the same rate. And I'm wonderingsince there was never any leases. Yeah,
okay, we get it. Canyou do something about it? All
right? When friend moved in atthe same rate, did your mom accept
the rent at the same rate thatthe previous tenant was in she had already

(13:22):
passed Oh oh, oh, oh, okay, Hold on a minute,
Hold on, So you're telling methat you now own the property. Okay,
it's in your name, which isnot absolutely critical, but it helps.
It's in your name. You havea tenant that's paying you a third
let me get this right, athird of market rent. And someone moves

(13:43):
in, tenant leaves and you didnot accept the new rent. Is that
correct? No, that's not correct. Okay did you take did you take
the new rent from the new tenant? Yes? And you cash the check?
Yes, Okay, that is hisrent. That's the rent because you

(14:07):
accepted it. You accepted someone elsemoving in. You accepted the rent.
Therefore, he is a tenant atthe price that you accepted. So the
quick answer in terms of can youraise the rent, quick answer no.
The long answer is no. Allyou can do because it is rent controlled,

(14:30):
is to raise it whatever. TheCity of Los Angeles, under its
rent control ordinance allows you to dothree percent four percent. So you're kind
of you're kind of screwed on thatone. Okay, So having accepting the
rent, accepting that rent check,Yeah, no, it's not. At
least it's a month to month tendancy. And in places that you're not allowed

(14:52):
where you they don't have rent control, you can raise it. Let's say
it's an unincorporated area of Los Angeleswhich doesn't have rent control, or if
you or a city within southern Californianorthern California that doesn't have rent control.
Under California law, you're limited toten percent. Under if there is first
time of we live in Nevada andthis happens, you can triple the rent

(15:13):
overnight. Hey. By the way, I'll give you a thirty days notice
whatever the law allows you to say, and your rent is going to go
from one thousand dollars a month tothree thousand dollars a month because that is
market rate. Congratulations, But no, you're stuck at the ordinance of Los
Angeles because you accepted that. Youunderstood. Yeah, isn't that horrible.

(15:33):
By the way, how much areyou getting about six hundred? Yeah?
I will tell you this guy isif I were him, I would never
ever move. If he asked youfor a new paint job, you go
go pound sand, paint it yourself. If he asks you to replace the

(15:54):
carpet, you say, go poundsand. You replace it yourself. You
do nothing. Now. If thewater heater breaks, yeah, you got
to do something. If the carpetis so torn up that it becomes a
danger. Yeah, you've got todo something. But shortly that, yeah
you're kind of screwed. Yeah youhave no case all right. Yeah,

(16:15):
Robin, has been up there fora while. And Robin, this is
a mercy stop because you know you'regoing to ask a ridiculously stupid question,
what can I do for you?I need to buy some how to deal
with a car repair place that's jerkingme around. I took my car to
a local repair shop that I thoughtwas highly recommended and had a good reputation.
They've had my car since mid September. When I took my car to

(16:37):
them, I told him my prioritywas to have the work done right and
that there was no rush since Ihave another car I can drive well.
It's being repaired. They told methat I would have my car back by
Thanksgiving time frame. I hadn't heardanything by Thanksgiving, so I called them.
They told me hopefully by the endof the year. That too also
came and went. The business ownhas repeatedly told me he would with updates

(17:02):
on got it, got it so, and the car has not been repaired
yet. I'm assuming, right,Robin, they still have it? Okay,
fair enough. Now, do youhave a written document that gives an
approximation of what they're going to do, how long it's going to well,
not even how long it's going totake, because you said no rush,
so that's open to interpretation. Norush to me is well, well before

(17:26):
several months. No rush to memeans a few weeks. But it depends
on what a judge would say.So did you get a poso to speak?
Did you get any kind of estimateas to how much it was going
to cost? Only verbally over thephone. Yeah, that doesn't help Yeah,
that doesn't help you. All right, So you demand the return of

(17:48):
the car. That's all there isto it. You say I want my
car back, and it's because youhad another vehicle and you said no rush,
probably no harm, no foul.Legally get your car and just take
it somewhere else. And if it'sa question, if you have the car
isn't driveable and you have to toeit whatever those expenses are, you can
sue the previous car repair shop,but there isn't much there. You get

(18:11):
everything in writing. When I getmy car repair, When I get my
car repaired, boy, I'll tellyou. I go to the dealership because
I want I want someone that Iwant to go back to in case something
goes wrong. I pay more moneythan taking it to an independent car repair
shop, granted, but I wantthat kind of a backup. And there
it is. Here's what we're goingto do ABCD. This is the approximate

(18:36):
cost. If it goes ten percentmore than that, we have to call
you. And if there's any additionalwork that we find that has to be
done, we will call you andask your permission. And that stuff is
recorded, by the way, soyou can do it verbally, but it's
all recorded. So you don't havemuch. There's not much there except asking

(18:56):
for your car back and taking intoanother car repair for Okay, well,
what about the sixty six hundred dollarsI've paid them so far? Well,
you don't know what kind of damage. You don't know what kind of repairs
they did. Okay, if youalready paid them sixty six hundred dollars,
that blows my answer wide open.Now you get to find out did you
need sixty six hundred dollars. Ifthey did fix it and they return it

(19:18):
to you again, you had anothercar, so you're not out. Really,
you're not out expenses except maybe thegas, mileage, wear and tear
on this car. I mean youcan that's sort of nickel and diming if
I'm the jide j imming to tossthat one out. I mean, even
though they're damages. So do theysay what they did for sixty six hundred
dollars? The motor was blown andthen it was a firstly rebuilt motor.

(19:41):
Okay, it was built by anengine. Okay, fair enough. Did
they tell you what was going tocost sixty six sixty six hundred dollars?
Yeah, they gave me. Okay, right, So all you have is
all you have is they're too latein delivering it. So demand that they
do it or and then tell you'rein small claims court next week. And

(20:02):
do it in writing. Do itin writing, never ever do it just
verbally over the phone. Send anemail. That's easy enough for a text,
Steve, Hello, Steve, welcometo the show. Yes, sir,
I'm horrible. Let's go ahead.Okay, this girl, this lady,

(20:22):
elderly lady, pulled out of anArco station in the car about five
hundred feet down the road, slammedinto her about thirty miles an hour driver's
side, and she didn't want togo in front of him because he was
driving erratically. I believe he wason her cell phone, didn't even see

(20:44):
her. It didn't change the lanes. But the whole thing is they told
her, Progressive told her it washer fault. Yeah. Yeah, I
can see why they did that becauseas a general rule, anybody who pulls
out into traffic is it fault.I mean, that's the way the law
works. However, I tell you, she can argue with the insurance company

(21:07):
and say, hey, wait aminute, this was five hundred feet down
the road. He could have stopped. What I saw was erratic driving,
and he was on his cell phone. She had to have seen it.
And then you see what the insurancecompany has to say. Is it anything
other than her word as to that'swhat happened. Well, there was a

(21:30):
witness of the back seat. Butbasically she's very believable. This woman,
she's extremely up. Okay, wellthat helps, that helps, and the
witness is going to confirm what endedup happening, correct in a court.
I spoke to him. He's akid and he's just he just went along

(21:51):
with one. How old is he? A kid. How old a kid
is he? Twenty three? That'sgeez, Steve, How old are you
eighty eighty? Yeah, well,anybody who's seventy two is a kid to
you. Okay, yeah, okay. So you have a twenty two year
old man, young man who sawit, but he is either related or

(22:11):
a friend of the driver the womanwho pulled out of the arco right,
oh yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, okay, all right, So
I don't know how much credibility he'sgoing to have. So the bottom line
is you argue with your insurance companyand you simply tell the insurance company,
no, you're not going to holdme responsible. I was not at fault

(22:33):
at all. It wouldn't change theirmind. No, that was the next
thing I was going to tell yoube prepared for them to say no,
which quite often happens. That happenedto my daughter. She pulled out and
someone actually changed lanes and hit her, and the insurance company said, no,
it doesn't matter, except that therewere enough witnesses and we could tell

(22:56):
and it was at a street corner, and so we got the insurance company
to change their Mind's rare. Soshe's going to get tagged. There's nothing
she can do. There's nothing shecan do. Her insurance company is going
to view it as an at faultaccident, pay off the driver to whatever
extent were injuries asked for personal injuriesthat part of the lane, the other

(23:19):
driver. It doesn't matter if shewas injured or not. You know,
nobody cares. That doesn't help hercase. She just goes to the doctor
or whatever happens. She is.Part of her policy is medical bills for
her. So the fact that shewas it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter,
It doesn't matter. That part doesn'tmatter. It's the other side,
the person that hit her. Didthe other side claim personal injury? No,

(23:42):
okay, Then it's going to bean accident, her fault with no
injury. They're going to pay offthe driver. She is going to be
tagged with an at fault accident.Yes, and there's not a damn thing
she can do about it. Now. If that's her first one, I
filed the lawsuit for her, Sheokay, So she filed the lawsuit against

(24:07):
him, and if she wants theinsurance company to pay up, she goes
ahead and just sits back. Orif she filed the lawsuit, she's telling
her insurance company. I'm not interestedin you covering my mom. I'm not
interesting in you covering me. Insuranceis out the window. All I'm going
to do is sue them. He'sgoing to turn around and sue her and

(24:29):
he is going to win. Buthe hasn't suit her yet. Well,
well, when she sues him,she already sued him. Yes, okay,
so she is suing him when sheis legally considered at fault. Okay,
brilliant move. Brilliant as opposed tojust letting her insurance company take care
of it. Here, this iswhy I paid for insurance. Why does

(24:51):
she have insurance anyway? Yes?Is she's suing people when she's at fault?
Why does she even have insurance?So she has no case at all?
That's correct. He has no caseand she's an idiot for suing him.
Did you recommend her to sue him? I helped her. Yeah,
you're an idiot too. Well.Yeah, get a legal show. Yeah,

(25:14):
get a legal show. It'll beactually, if possible, it'll be
worse than mine. Is that possible? Uh no, no, not really