(05/18) HOTL Hour 3

Handel on the Law, Marginal Legal Advice. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is a handle on the lawmarginal legal advice where I tell you you
have absolutely no case. Oh aswe start, okay, I want to
tell you about a court case,and this one is really interesting, and
i'll tell you why. This isa win for the Chamber of Commerce and

(00:23):
a super win for the banks.And this has to do with Joe Biden,
our president, and his plan tolower credit card fees, late credit
card fees to eight bucks. Rightnow, the banks charge show thirty five
dollars for late fees, late feesand overdraft fees. And what the President

(00:46):
proposed is a bill and I thinkhe can sign it and order this.
As a matter of fact, itwas slated to go into effect next week.
Where the President did order that creditcard fees be brought down to eight
bucks. Well, you can imaginethe banks went completely berserk if they're making

(01:06):
thirty five dollars per late fee.And to give you an idea how much
the banks make if you look atthe banking industry, fourteen billion dollars they
made just in late fees last year. And with the President saying, oh
it's only eight dollars, that cutsit by two thirds. Needless to say,

(01:29):
a little unhappy, right, Sowho files a lawsuit? Well,
the Chamber of Commerce files a lawsuiton behalf of the banks. And so
what does this judge do. Hestops the Biden administrations planned to lower the
credit card rate to eight dollars.He issues an injunction. He says,
no, you're not going to dothis because a lawsuit was filed. So

(01:57):
the Biden administration of course this instantly, and the new regulations were proposed by
the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, theExecutive brand. So the president has jurisdiction,
and it was oh man, didit blow up? So the White
House said that we're disappointed that thecourt sided with House Republicans who were against

(02:21):
this. Of course, big banksspecial interests to cut. They just weren't
interested in cutting the late fees belowthirty five dollars. Let me tell you
those junk fees kill people today.So here is it's a little wonky,
but I want you to understand this. The banks had sued to stop the
lawsuit earlier this year, but theyhad run into a roadblock when this federal

(02:46):
judge ordered the case to be movedto Washington, d C. Because there
are very few banks that operate innorthern Texas. An appeals court reverses that
and orders him to rule on theinjunction, and he said, you take
it over there to federal court inWashington, because I don't have any banks

(03:07):
here. The appeals court said,oh no, no, you're going to
hear the court. You're going tohear this case and you're going to rule
on it. He wanted to kickit down over from Texas to Washington,
DC. So the appeals court reversesmost of his decisions and says, you
gotta go. You gotta rule onthis. So Pittman did rule on it

(03:30):
to the banks, and he useda big part of the ruling to complain
about the Court of Appeals sending thecase back to him after he already ruled
the case should be handled out ofWashington. I don't know where he is
going with that. This is adistrict court judge who just had a decision

(03:50):
by the appeals court ordering him tohear that case. We don't care that
you kicked it back to us orWashington. We're ordering you to hear the
case. And he's complaining about that. He clearly in law school didn't understand
when the court had a rule thatthe supremacy clause in the United States says

(04:12):
appeals court overrule the lower court.So here's why Pittman was involved is because
that's forum shopping. This is whatpeople do. This is what companies do.
They start looking for a judge that'sgoing to be friendly to them.
In this case, it was theChamber of Commerce and found this guy and

(04:34):
he's in Texas and he, tohis credit, says it's over there.
It's not here. Over there.The appeals court said, no, you
rule on it, and he's allpissed off, but he gives the banks
everything they want, which is typicalcompletely. All right, Jason, you
got to tell me who's up untilwe figure this out. Carlos Hi,

(04:59):
Carlos, welcome, handle on thelaw. Good morning bill. Question.
I told the vehicle to one ofmy friends, and he hasn't pay me
properly, made a payment here andthere. Did now give me the down
payment required within two months? However, he has been making payments and not
the fully payment that we decided itwas going to be every month. Do

(05:24):
I have to get a lawyer forthis? It's about twenty seven thousand dollars.
Okay? Do you ever written agreementwith him. We do. The've
written an agreement between him and I'mnot with lawyer or anything like that.
No, it doesn't matter. Itdoesn't matter. The agreement is between you
and him. I mean, theseare the parties to the suit and he

(05:44):
and he agrees to pay twenty seventhousand dollars correct correct on a monthly basis.
No, I understand this is heand he breached that agreement by not
paying you the full amount or skippingpayments. Quick question, did you guys
write up the agreement? Yeah?Okay, and I'm assuming that you didn't

(06:04):
have an acceleration clause in it.Correct. No, Yeah, that's great.
So here is what's going on,unfortunately for you, and that is
he only owes you what he hasbreached. In other words, if he

(06:26):
has paid you, I don't know, forty dollars, I mean four hundred
dollars out of the five hundred dollarsowed, he actually owes you one hundred
dollars. Whatever he is behind iswhat he owes you, and you get
to assume him over and over againbecause there wasn't an acceleration clause. This
is why you really want to lookwhen you sign these kinds of documents you

(06:48):
want to take, even off theinternet, and you look at prevailing attorney's
fees, I mean, and allof it. And what an acceleration clause
does saying if you miss any ofthese payments, the entire out becomes doing
payable and you can sue for theentire amount. And you don't have that,
So you only have okay, Iunderstand. So you only have what

(07:10):
is owed to you. And ifgo ahead, no, no, no,
okay, got it. And sothat's that's it. Now he owes
you twenty seven thousand dollars, buthe doesn't owe you twenty seven thousand dollars.
How much behind is he? Howmuch does he owe you to this
minute? Uh? So far hehas to pay these he only are like

(07:35):
two thousand dollars in that payment.He hasn't take a competiful amount in a
month. Okay. So if youadd everything up together of what he owes
to this moment, it's about twothousand dollars, right correct. Okay,
Well there's your lawsuit. Two thousanddollars, okay, not twenty seven hundred.
Now if he flakes out on you, then it becomes two thousand dollars

(08:00):
next time, you just add itup. And when you sue in small
claims court, you get attorneys.Well, you don't get attorney's fees.
You get the costs and costs ofservice. So let's say it's one hundred
bucks, one hundred and twenty bucks, whatever it is, the judge will
order part of the judgment that heowes you. That too is let me
ask you, is the guy realquickly? Is he working? He works

(08:26):
with the vehicle that I gave allAnd that's that's kind of a deep Okay,
does he work? Does he workfor himself? Does he work for
himself? That's a problem. Gettingmoney from him working for himself is not
easy? All right? So muchfor that? Uh, Madeline? Hi,
Madeline, looking to handle on thelaw. Hello, Yes, I'm

(08:48):
considering. I'm considering a no faulteviction for the purpose of moving my daughter.
Yeah, I don't know. Idon't know what a no fault eviction
is. So what are you consideringvoluntarily moving out? No, I'm considering
serving a no fault eviction. No, I don't. There's no such thing
as a no fault eviction. Eitheryou're evicting or you're not evicting. Well,

(09:11):
I'm evicting. I'm evicting. Okay, then you have an eviction.
Okay, it's not a no faulteviction. It's an eviction. Tell me
who you're evicting and why you're evicting. I'm evicting tenants who have been in
there for twenty years. Okay,for the purpose, for the purpose of
renovating the home and moving my daughterin. Ah. Okay, So let

(09:33):
me ask this are where what cityis the property in? In Los Angeles?
Okay? So you're under rent controland you clearly have Yeah, you're
falling into the rules. You clearlyunderstand the restrictions there are. But that's
one of the rules that allow youto allow you to throw someone out.

(09:56):
Okay. So have you told thepeople to move out? Not yet?
If this is my question, Yeah, would it be wise? Would it
be wise because you know they've beenthere twenty years? Would it be wise
to have a face to face meetingwith them, a conversation with them,
and proposing that I go forward withgoing through the housing department? Or if

(10:22):
they would exist, why would yougo through the housing department? Well,
the red control to Rso, no, there's nothing to do. You're within
all you do is you give themsixty days. There's relocation money that is
part of it, twenty five hundredor whatever it is, because they've been
in there forever and over even overa year. And here's what you do.

(10:43):
You give them sixty days. Ifthey don't move out within sixty and
you of course get the permits andall that so you can prove you're doing
what you're going to do, becausethat falls within the parameters of a legal
eviction in Los Angeles. And ifthey don't leave within sixty days, you
evict them. You file an unlawfuldetainer. That's it, and you have

(11:05):
to give him sixty days, andyou'll tell them, this is what I'm
gonna do. Sixty days, youmove out. Of sixty days, here's
the relocation money that you're entitled tothat you get when you move out.
And if they don't move out,they owe you the rent for the You
can't take rent after that because youtake rent, you've re established a tenancy
and so you'll be able to deductit off the relocation money that you have

(11:30):
to pay them. And we'll seeyou got to hit them. Now.
You can give them ninety days,you can negotiate. You can offer more
if you're a good person, ifyou got it long, twenty years is
great. So instead of let's sayit's thirty five hundred dollars, whatever the
hell it is, I don't knowthe exact, you give him five thousand,
you give him six thousand, yougive him ninety days, You help

(11:52):
them find another place, you givethem a superb reference. You actually all
the new proposed residents to say,Hey, these guys have been with me
for twenty years, I'm remodeling becauseof my daughter, and i'd really appreciate
you letting them in. And you'rethe landlord making that phone call. So

(12:13):
there's a lot of stuff going on. How much rent do they pay?
Nineteen dollars? All right, what'sthe market about twenty five hundred? Okay,
so it's not crazy, it's not. It's not as if you're trying
to get them out because they're payingthree hundred dollars And that's the excuse that
you're using. No, it's closeenough where it's legitimate. But that's what

(12:35):
you do. You follow the rules. And are they elderly people? Yes?
How old too? He is?Well, he's sixty two for sixty
two yeah, that's not that old. Sixty six okay, Yeah, I'd
feel better if they were like seventyyears old. Yeah, I'd feel better
if they were like seventy and eightybecause the thought of throwing old people on

(12:56):
the street so they have to livein a dumpster is always very exciting to
me. But you're, yeah,you're that's what you do. I mean,
you're following all the rules, butno, just relocation money. Please
leave, and if you want togive them extra money, I will find
where do I find that relocation bill? Because I mean I was online.
It's in California. You'll see itstate, State of California. They'll tell

(13:18):
you what the relocation money. It'sunder rent. It's under Los Angeles rent.
It's not Los Angeles RNT control.It's state of California. It's a
it's a California law, not LA. Yeah, I don't know, it's
under CALA. Just put California law, relocation money, tendancy. Throw those
words up and you should be okayon that. Now, let me tell

(13:39):
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(14:00):
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(14:22):
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so download the net by Robert Hello, Robert Bill, Yes, sir,

(14:48):
my mother passed away in September oftwenty one in Lakeside, California.
I'm the executive of the trust.I paid all the taxes due, and
then with the selling of the homepacks taxes were also paid. I received
a bill on eleven twenty three forthe full tax amount. I was able
to settle that. Well, waita second, if you already paid the
taxes, why would you settle atax bill that you've already paid. I

(15:13):
didn't pay. I've settled it bycalling them and explaining to them, oh
okay, so all right, received, all right, So you owe taxes
and you cut a deal with them. No, I told them they were
in error and they corrected it.But now I got another tax bill last
week. Okay. In terms ofif I'm assuming this is the FEDS,
right, or the state? Thestate? Sir, ooh, good for

(15:37):
you. The state is just brutal. You much rather deal with with the
Fed. So you're being asked topay taxes that you do or do not
owe. Let's start with that.I do not, okay, and you
can prove it. There was athere was a written deal. They said

(15:58):
you pay X number of dollars.You paid X number of dollars, and
now they're sending you more bills.Is that right? Yes, sir,
okay. I used to appeal it. You just say no and you ask
for an appeal. That's all youknow. I want an appeal now.
It was to me, I wasconsidering sending them the payment of the tax

(16:18):
bill. No no, no,no, no, no, no no
no. I wouldn't. Getting moneyback is a bitch. I'm gonna tell
you. I'd rather owe and thenwin the case. You're gonna have to
appeal it anyway, so, uh, you got to You've gotta appeal it.
Do you have an accountant, Yes, sir, that's who you talked
to. And you want someone whohas had experience dealing with a franchise tax

(16:42):
board. Oh, yes you do, because the state is just completely insane.
I've had one of those situations where, uh, it was sort of
a wobbler. I could have goneboth ways, and I kind of deal
because I didn't want to go allthe way up. And if they had

(17:03):
gone completely against me, I wouldhave appealed it, probably lost because I
don't know if I would have lost. The state is a real tickler,
but stickler. But you just youabsolutely get hold of an accountant to deal
with this, who has, infact, I had experience dealing with a
franchise tax board. Hi, Iwill yo, will welcome to handle on

(17:25):
the lot. Well you're there,yeah there, okay, what can I
do for you? Well? Okay, A real like a tough individuals.
Actually I told you the ex marine. But anyway, he took off in
my car. He was evicted purposely, I guess he was what hold on?

(17:48):
He was what purposely? The victed? What does the viction have to
do with stealing your car? Well, that was the other point. It
was watching my car in front ofhis apartment. He was just stick and
tired of staying there and everything,and he wanted to grunt to his mommy's
house in Wisconsin. Okay, soso he's on diapers, you know,

(18:11):
forever, so got it to anaccident. But anyway, so he's going
off to Wisconsin and he's taken mytitle and he says, I'll put the
title in my name. I haveto, and then then he ended up
taking off. Okay, did youallow him to wait? Wait? Wait
did did you? Did you signtitle to him? No? No,
TI, so he forged your signature. Yes, I have a witness that

(18:37):
the person that sold it to me, he gave me a bill of sale.
Just recently get another title. It'sthree hundred dollars to get another title.
So I'm wondering, do I haveto go to Wisconsin or wait a
minute, hold on, hang on, I don't understand the person that sold
it to you. I don't understandwhat that has to deal with anything.
If you own the car, youhave title. Where does the person and

(19:00):
that sold it to you and awitness have to do with this. I'm
a little confused. Well, Idon't have the title. He has the
original title. I understand who hasthe original title, the person that sold
you the car, person that stolethe car. Yeah, okay, okay,
he has the title because you keptthe title in the car, right

(19:22):
right, okay. And he forgedyour name and changed the title. Correct.
Well, it wasn't another person's name. It wasn't actually in my name.
Okay, so the other person.So he forged the other person's name
and changed title correct. Well,yeah, it wasn't that other person that
sold to me. I didn't geta change title, all right. I

(19:45):
just yeah, okay, thank youvery much. That wasn't confusing at all.
I'm having such a great time todaywith confusions. Fantastic. Uh Katie,
Hi Katie, Yes, ma'am youOkay. So I'm a landlady.
I received an email yesterday around twoo'clock from my tenant saying that the microwave

(20:06):
wasn't working properly. I was helpingmy daughter who had had surgery that morning,
so I didn't respond. At onefifty am today this morning, I
did that third email from him sayingthat since I'm not responding quickly to him,
He's going to assume that I'm allowinghim to do the replacement of the
microwave. Oh okay, got it. How long has it been since he

(20:27):
first reported it? And this lastemail at one fifteen in the morning.
What's that period of time? Aboutnine hours? Wow? You write him
an email. You are not authorizedto purchase a microwave. You are not

(20:48):
authorized. And by the way himsaying after nine hours you are not responding,
I have to assume. Let's firststart with a microwave has nothing to
do with it habitability. You havethe right to take a reasonable amount of
time to replace the microwave. Now, if it's a water heater, if
it is air conditioning in the summer, for example, if there's a leak,

(21:11):
water leak, you have to respondimmediately. Even then a couple of
days works where you look for aplumber who has to come out and give
you a bid. A microwave innine hours. That's crazy, Katie,
that's crazy you respond to the microwave. You are absolutely not allowed to purchase

(21:32):
a microwave and deduct it from therent. If you want to purchase one,
fine, that's your problem. Besidesreasonable length of time, is there
illegally length of time? Now it'sa reasonable No, there's nothing statutory.
There's nothing for statutory. The wordis reasonable unless there's some statue say it
has to be replaced with the nextperiod of time. Nope, there isn't.

(21:55):
And even again, even reasonable iflet's say a water main breaks and
then you have to do it immediately, and if you get a call at
one fifteen and you can't get ayou can't get a plumber until the following
more morning, and what if hecan't come till the afternoon. I mean,
you've done everything you could, butthis guy is that these people are

(22:15):
crazy. You absolutely and you getreally hard with him. No authorization,
it's on you. I have Ihave reasonable time and nine hours does not
cut it. Yeah. Okay.And by the way, if he deducts
it from the rent, you immediatelyfile for eviction. You pay, you

(22:38):
file for uh, you file forpayment. You've you've him a three day
notice, pay rent or quit andthen you don't have to and you don't
you can explain it. I willif you deduct it from the rent,
I will file an unlawful detainer andI will evict you because you are not

(22:59):
authorized. You are not allowed underlaw to deduct it. Okay, Okay,
you're gonna be fine. I justgot I'm angry at him. I
don't even know you when I'm pissedoff. Wow Ah, hello Teddy,
Hi do no thanks for taking mycall on the chandele. Sure. So

(23:19):
in two thousand and one, II live in Georgia. I went down
to the Florida to get my belongingsout of my apartment, but my belongings
were taken by my ex at thetime and put into her house. I
went to get my belongings from herhouse. She went to let me in,
so we end up I had mybrother. We ended up leaving in

(23:40):
driving all the way back to Georgia. About two years later or present day
now this year, I received ajob offer that was rescinded because I had
a background, as they said,and when I looked into it, I
had a domestic violence charge and criminalmischief from that exchange in Florida. We

(24:02):
are now in legal proceedings and weare trying to go to trial, but
the state, which is representing myex keeps giving her a continuance. And
why is this? Why is thestate representing her if you're being charged,
if you are being charged criminally,they're not representing her. It's the people

(24:25):
of the state that are representing it. Basically, she's effectively a victim and
a witness, so she's not beingrepresented. So you're being charged with a
criminal violation, correct, Okay,So she doesn't have a lawyer, it's
you're being charged by the DA,the district attorney. Okay, okay,
And you've got turned down for ajob because you're in the middle of being

(24:51):
charged. Have you already been charged? Of course you are, because you're
going to court. Well, I'min court currently, But I guess it's
all my background, which is weird. No, it is, I understand,
Yeah, but only an allegation.So so far, I mean,
you haven't been convicted of anything,So what's what's your question? My question
is I've been down there seven times, technically would have been eight, but

(25:14):
I put two waivers in. Butthey keep giving a continuance because she does
not she's not showing up. Okay, well, I have an illegal right
to just say, look, youknow what, while I might yep,
yeah, here's what you do,Teddy. It's real simple. If they've
continued it that many times, youmake a motion to dismiss the case with
prejudice, which means that they can'tbring it back. I'm surprised the court

(25:40):
hasn't done it on its own motion. Courts can make emotion and then make
a decision, and quite often thathappens. The court on its own motion
dismisses the case, either with orwithout prejudice. With prejudice means that's it,
You're done, there'll be no morefiling. Without judice means they can

(26:00):
file again. So you you've gotto file. You got to make that
file, Teddy. You've got toget out of there because you're entitled to
get out of that case. Allright. I'm probably defended when they know
that or that Yeah, no,they know that. They know that.
You call them up and you go, hey, why isn't there a motion
to have this thing dismissed? Afterall of these continuances that are requested by

(26:21):
the county by the district attorney.Oh yeah, I can't. How does
the judge allow this to go overand over again? What it's gonna allow
fifteen of these and it's going togo on for five years? No,
they can't off? Well no not, you're no. They can blow you
off all they want. Not.They can't blow you off if you make
emotion. Okay, And by theway, if the DA blows you off,

(26:45):
the DA is not making that decision. Is the court that is granting
the continuance? Okay, all right, that's what you do, judge.
Well I'm sorry, I'm sorry.Do I say it to the judge or
no? No, your attorney does. Now, your attorney does, your
attorney does? Gotcha? You havenothing to do with it. It's a
continuation based on lack of moving forwardwith the case, lack of proceeding with

(27:11):
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(27:32):
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(27:56):
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(28:18):
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(28:42):
want to tell you I am stilltaking phone calls. For those of you
that are on the phone, stayput because as soon as I walk out
at the top of the hour,I'm zipping into phone calls and I go
through them very quickly for two reasons. One we have no brakes and two
I have no patients. That translatesinto a lot of phone calls very quickly.

(29:03):
Number is the same eight hundred fivetwo zero one five three four eight
hundred five two zero one five threefour. This is handle on the law