(06/01) 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, and letme start with kind of a fun lawsuit.
And this has to do with theLAPD. Now, let me tell
you about the LAPD. It hasgone from being the most racist police force

(00:26):
in the country, especially well historicallyit was very racist. Go back one
hundred years for example, do youknow that during the Depression, the LAPD
was responsible for not having people comeinto the city of Los Angeles, mainly
the folks from Oklahoma, the dustbowlers who would come in and you saw

(00:46):
those model T cars or those carsthat were a little bit newer, packed
with mattresses and rocking chairs and potsand pans dangling off the side, driving
in from the Midwest, particularly Oklahoma, from the dust Bowl. These farmers
that of course could not farm anymoreand we're starving to death, so they

(01:07):
come into southern California or try towell, the LAPD was tasked with making
sure that they did not come in. They actually now LAPD went to the
California Nevada border to stop people fromcoming in to California and then into Los
Angeles. It was crazy, alsocompletely racist. The LAPD and then throughout

(01:30):
its history it became one of themost professional police forces, was given the
reputation of being the most professional policeforce in the country, best dressed by
the way, year after year afteryear, LAPD uniforms were just terrific.
And then you had the Christopher Commissioncome in because there was the Watts riots,

(01:51):
and I mean history after history afterhistory. So now today police get
sued for virtually everything. As youknow, I interviewed a cop a while
ago, and he said, Igot two choices when I go out on
a call, especially if I'm beingtold there is an armed perpetrator or an
armed suspect. I either wait andget shot, or I shoot and I

(02:14):
get sued, or sometimes go tojail because I've shot wrongly. And so
that's how tough it is to bea cop these days. So here's what
happened back in twenty twenty. Thisfour years ago, and the case just
settled. Sometimes cases settle quickly,sometimes cases don't. So there is a
guy, but a named Benjamin Montemorwho was protesting with a group of people.

(02:38):
He was protesting in some protest overthe George Floyd. It was a
George Floyd demonstration and the police comeout. In this case, fifty police
officers come out to deal with theprotesters and police when there is a scuffle,
when there is a fight between thecops, when they're called an illegal

(03:00):
assembly, I mean, whatever thesituation is. They of course don't use
real bullets anymore. What they useis what used to be non lethal force,
read rubber bullets, foam but bullets. Since a few people have died,
it's less than lethal, they've changedit less than lethal force. Well,

(03:22):
he got shot. The lawsuit thathe filed against the city says within
minutes without provocation, Officer Henry Felixshot Montemayer in the groin with a forty
millimeter foam projectile, causing such severedamage it required a surgical procedure to reattach

(03:45):
portions of his genitals. Bottom line, Monto Mayor's balls flew off and he
had big surgical issues. He isnow known as no balls Benji. And
actually I just made that up.That's absolutely not true. And he just
settled. They just settled with thecity one point five million dollars. And

(04:08):
usually these things settle out anyway,unless they're so ridiculous that the city settles
for almost nothing. But sometimes thecity says we're going to court. Rarely
does the city or the state goto court or the county, because especially
if it's a decent case, butthey'll drag it out. They'll in this
case, they drag it out.This was four and a half years later.

(04:30):
Sometimes they settle within months, andsometimes they settle within years, and
in this case it was years.Okay, let's do it. Phone calls.
Hello, Mike, welcome to handleon the Oh, yes, sir,
good morning. I have a familymember tops alone on my house and

(04:50):
it's been a few years, it'sbeen a term and he's paying on delay
the interest on it. And Itried to you got to speak a little
bit, Mike. You gotta speaka little louder. I can barely hear
you. I try to. Igot it. Family member took a loan
on the house, paying interest only, all right, and I try to

(05:14):
get the loan back because my houseis paid off. And I hired the
lawyer to you know, And thelawyer suggested to write the letter first and
see the response after getting involved ofa family member, respectable or the priests
of our community. And he didn'tbudge now the lawyer. I hired the
lawyer, and I paid him afive hundred dollars deposit and spent months and

(05:40):
a half. I tried to callthe lawyer until now. He didn't do
nothing. Okay, all right,So your lawyer basically abandoned you. All
right. So when you say toyour friend or family member, took a
loan on the house, I don'tquite understand. He borrowed money from you,
and you own the house. Hedoesn't where? Tell me where the
house is in this When you sayhe took he took the loan on the

(06:02):
house, the house is in Irvine. No, No, I don't care
about that. I don't care aboutthat. Did you take a mortgage out
on the house to give him themoney? No? What does he have
to do with the house? Yes? When I putched the house at that
time, I was walking overseas andhe was living with me, my youngest

(06:25):
brother. All right, who's that? Yeah, don't even all right?
Let me ask you this. Letme go in another direction. Uh,
the house is free and clear,there's no loan on it. Who owns
the house? I owned the house? The house that okay, it's in
your name. So he takes outa loan on the house that you own.
I don't know how that works.What does the house have to do

(06:46):
with the money that he borrowed?Because when I purch it the house,
I purch it in his name.But now the house but wait, is
that now the house is in yourname? Right? Yes? Yes?
Okay, okay, so your name, you own the house, and he
borrows money. What does the househave to do with it? What does

(07:08):
that mean? He took a loanout on the house that he doesn't own.
You loaned money, right, youjust loaned the money. It's an
equity loan. He took her winthe house. How did he take out
an equity loan on a house hedoesn't own? At that time the house
it was in his name. Okay, so he owned the house. So

(07:30):
he takes out an equity loan ona house that he owned, and then
he gives you the house? Correct? Yes, because the house is mine?
Okay? So uh, okay,the house is yours. He took
out the equity loan, he wasonly paying interest on it, and now
he decides to flake and the houseis put up as collateral for the loan.

(07:53):
Correct an equity loan with the houseas the security. Do I have
that right? Yeah? Okay?And he won't pay it now, Yeah
he did, You're going to losethe house. No, he puts it
the house next up to me,and he has over a million points.
So did he take a loan?Did he take a loan on your house

(08:15):
or his house on my house?How did? Okay? And that's when
he bought that never mind, nevermind. You know, it's really been
nice talking to you, a realpleasure. Just keep on listening to the
show if you would. All right, I got love this ill. It's
a start. It's a start.Hello Bill, Yo, Bill, Bill,

(08:39):
you're there? Hey Bill? Yeah, I'm here. Sorry, all
right? So, yeah, Ihave cancer. I've been fighting leukemia for
seven years. During that my batis very bad from the leukemia. I've
had two failed back surgeries. Istill need a fusion in my back.

(09:00):
I'm losing feeling in my right leg. It's doing dumb and I'm going to
be paralyzed if I don't get thefusion. Also, I need a fusion
in my neck. Literally my bodyis falling apart. But I cannot get
anybody to give me or even talkto me about state permanent disability. Wow,
okay, so you talk about themedical problems. Are you seeing a

(09:22):
doctor? Are you set up forsurgery? Do you do you have a
plan in place for your medical problems. I do. I've been in pain
management for six years. I've beentaking opioids twice. Okay, hold on
your pain management doctor. Your painmanagement doctor won't give you a note,
will not recommend permanent disability. Hewill not. He says, it's hard

(09:48):
for me to get it because Iwork. I work very hard. I
make a good income. They won'tgive it time. Here's the problem.
You are working at your job.So when you talk about disability the law,
if you're working, it says,well, look at Hill, he's
working. He's not disabled to thepoint where he can't work. That's what

(10:11):
the disability is about, is thatyour disability stops you from working. And
either one hundred percentage or whatever,what do you do? Bill? I'm
in packaging, but I literally Ican't sit anymore. So I stand about
eleven hours a day and by middayI'm just absolutely misery. And why aren't

(10:33):
you? Why are you still doingthat? Because if I stopped working,
they say that most they'll give meis maybe a temporary disability. But who
is saying the most they'll give youpain management. Now, pay management doesn't
decide what they don't decide how muchyou get. Pay management doesn't make that
determination. It's the disability people.Oh, that's what makes that decision.

(10:58):
And so you yeah that and itdoesn't make any sense for it. Forget
about the doctor at this point.Okay, what you need is you need
a lawyer who does disability and temporarypermanent disability. That's that's what they do.
And they're lawyers who simply specialize inthis. That's who you want to

(11:22):
talk to, and then they'll figureit out. You'll get a doctor that'll
say you can't work, but youcan't work. You're not going to get
a doctor that says you can't workwhile you're working. Because Wow, if
I'm sitting there and I am ajudge right in its administrative law judge,
because it's a hearing, assuming youlose or even then you have a hearing,

(11:45):
and you're arguing I can't work I'mpermanently disabled. A doctor says,
wow, it looks like he's permanentlydisabled. And I'm the company fighting it.
I'm saying, but Bill's working.How can he say he's not working
when he's working. So that's yourproblem. It's not the doctor who's making
that determination. Uh. The doctorssay you can't work anymore, but you

(12:09):
need another doctor. And you can'twork while you're while you're arguing that you
you can't. You cannot work whileyou're arguing and working while you're arguing,
you can't work. You see theproblem. I do understand that the issue
I mean, and I completely hearyou. And that's what I'm being told.
I got when I was diagnosed withcancer. My wife left me the

(12:30):
same day I was diagnosed. Youdivorced me, so I'm trying to take
care of my three children. Yeah, no, I understand. You've got
a real problem on your hands.You have a real problem. But I'll
tell you about the disability part.You can't argue disability while you're working.
It's disability that stops you from working. So you've got to talk to at
a an attorney who deals in this. Okay, That's that's all they do.

(12:56):
That's they They only do workers compand disability. That's what you have
to talk to. That's an easyone. Just talk to these folks,
all right, let's go ahead andtake an early break. We'll come back
and then for the next segment,we'll have plenty of times, so I
don't have to cut you off.This is hand. Oh well, before
we do go, let me tellyou about NetSuite. I always forget,

(13:20):
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(13:43):
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(14:05):
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NetSuite dot com slash handle nets sweetsweet as an office suite. NetSuite dot

(14:28):
com slash handle. That's netsuitet dotcom slash handle. Hello John, Welcome
to handle on the law. Allright, So here's the deal. My
fault. Two years ago, Igot a dui. As a result,
I have this in toxalt breath oflaser device that I have to have in
my car. I've had it forseven months. The thing is Archaic number

(14:52):
one. I feel like it's builtin the eighties. You have to blow
into it so hard that I runout of oxygen. The thing beeps deepspeefs.
It took for my attention from driving. I've told my wife several times,
this thing's going to cause an accident. Sure enough, just past Monday,
on Memorial Day, broad daylight.Driving down a narrow road, one
lane road, there's a duly pickuptruck that's parked on the side of the

(15:15):
road, encroaching into the travel lanebecause it's a duly wide tires, double
tires. The device goes off.I looked down at the device. When
I looked down at the device,my right front tire clips. Okay,
the rare passenger tire on the duallyand it rips the tire off my car.
Do I have legal recourse against theIntoxalt device company? Driving? Okay?

(15:37):
First of all, you're driving.You can't text and drive. Now,
No, I know that you're theone. But here's the problem.
Okay, you caused the accident.Now was it your fault that you caused
the accident? You say your defenseis and I'm assuming did you get a
ticket? Okay, it's going tobe proper. All the La County Sheriff
they did a report and they issuedno citation. Okay, you're fine,

(16:00):
don't worry about that. So nowthe issue becomes you were basically the accident
was caused by this device because itis inoperative, and you have to have
it. And it's going to bea tough one because you're going to have
to argue it's defective design, itdoesn't work. I've called them several times

(16:21):
and they made notes on the accounts. I said, you need to send
me a new device. I go, I need to put notes on the
understand No, I think it's Ithink it's a solid defense. Now what
you're going to have is the manufacturerof the of the device is going to
say, you know what, it'san old device. It doesn't work.
It's the county's fault because they didn'tupgrade. So now you see the device

(16:45):
maker. First of all, youare sued by the guy who owns the
truck for whatever damage. Then youcounter sue against the device maker. Then
the device maker brings in the countysaying you used it way too long,

(17:06):
it is no longer, it's noit no longer works the way it was
designed to work. Or it's suchold old technology. Uh. And they're
going to say, and maybe oldtechnology, but it still works. And
how many of these have happened?Or is it just John? So what's
what's gonna end up happening? Doyou have recourse? Side? Think you
have a defense and you're going tolose, and you're gonna get and you're

(17:29):
gonna get tagged for clipping that truck. How much damage? Well, I
think I bent the axle in thetruck. It ripped the it ripped the
tire off my car. Okay,okay, if you bent the ass the
car you're talking some pretty serious damage. Okay, I'm assuming you have auto
insurance, correct, of course,Yes, sir, just turned over your

(17:52):
auto insurance. They'll take care ofit. No, I don't want my
auto insurance to pay out. Okay, what happens if the damage is eighteenthou
dollars? Assume me? What areyou gonna do? You're gonna take me
to small claim scort? No,no, no, no, no,
I don't like. It's not gonnabe assuming me. He takes a small
claims court. You're gonna get ajudgment of ten thousand dollars dollars you prepared?

(18:12):
Are you prepared to write a checkfor ten grand? If you can't
get rock from you can't get waterfrom a rock. If I don't have
the money, what are they gonnado. They're gonna have a judgment against
you, and your credit will becompletely destroyed, and the judgment will be
forever twenty years and you'll never andyour credit. You'll probably not be able
to get a credit card because youhave a judgment against you. I mean,

(18:33):
it's you're right, you can't getmoney from a rock. But I'll
tell you what they can do ismake your life for the next twenty years
miserable. Do you ever want aloan? Do you want a credit card?
Where they go, Wait a second, you've got a judgment against you.
Okay, so you go bankrupt onit, okay, which I don't
know if you can, because ifyou owe ten thousand dollars and you try

(18:53):
to go bankrupt, remember you're infront of a bankruptcy judge who goes,
you're making a living. You onlyowe ten thousand dollars. No to the
bankruptcy. You owe the money andit stays on your case. If I
get a judgment, I can giveyou one hundred dollars a month. No,
no, no, you can't.You give me one hundred dollars a
month. That's not enough. Iwant my whole full ten thousand dollars.

(19:15):
I don't have to accept any dealthat you want to pay me. Okay,
you know it's not that easy.I mean, you're right that you
can't get You can't get water outof the top of the barrel in which
there are turnips in No I getthat, or stones that are in the
barrel. I always get here.You can't get water from a stone.

(19:36):
There you go, Thank you.I knew it was one of those things,
a stone full of monkeys or whatever. But the point is, it's
no joke, it's not g Youcan't get money from me. You have
to look at the consequences, whichis why in the end you turn it
over your insurance company and they justpay it. And what you have is
an at fault without a major amajor accident with no personal injury. And

(20:04):
you're gonna get tagged on your insurance. But you're not gonna get tagged ten
thousand dollars. And you're not gonnalose your credit if you have some and
want to keep it, and ifyou ever want to buy a house,
for example, over the next zillionyears, yep, you'll be able to
at a decent interest rate. Now, will you'll be able to buy a
car? Of course you will.And look at the interest you're gonna pay

(20:25):
on it. Where I would paylet's say six percent seven percent on a
car loan because I have great creditcredit, you're gonna pay eleven percent.
No, I've had enough enough carpayments in my life. I'll just buy
it for cash. Okay. Thenyou're fine, Then you're fine, Then
you're then okay. I'm not arguingthat by the way, I mean a
lot of people do that and don'twant to pay interest. It's what it
is the consequences. It's the consequencesto your credit that is really and that

(20:51):
is no joke. By the way, if I had to decide, okay,
do I get tagged on my insurancefor the next three years and it
could go up a couple thousand dollarsa year, do I just pay that,
or I just pay the additional costof the insurance policy over the next

(21:11):
two three years, or do Ilose my credit for the next seven years
ten years? They say, inseven years it goes off your record.
That's a croc by the way,that's a crock. Uh. Christopher,
Hi, Christopher, welcome. Hi. How you doing this? Yes,
sir? What can I do foryou? Okay, So this is the

(21:33):
situation. I was detained by thepolice. The police were called I'm not
sure who called them. As theywere taking me they were taking out of
the building, I told them Ihad a sore foot. The guy actually
let go of the door, stoppedin the doorway, said look after I
screamed in pain, they put mein the car. I'm screaming and I

(21:56):
screamed some things at him, andI'm not going to say him on the
radio. Everybody look confused. Thenone of the older officers said, let
him go. Now, I gota fracture toe, and I want to
know what type of lawyer you wouldrecommend me ticket, because I would I
would get a lawyer who wants tohear the story before he throws you out

(22:18):
of the office. Or you canget a lawyer who throws you out of
the office without even listening to thestory. What happened. As far as
the police are concerned, it wasan accident. It was an accident,
shows I'm sorry, it was onvideo, which is it? And by
the way, if he goes whoops, and if he says whoops, that

(22:41):
even proves his case. Now startedlaughing. Okay, well you can still
laugh at someone's accident. So well, you may not think it's funny.
He may have thought it was,don't it's well, of course you don't
think it's funny because your foot isbroken. But are you going to are
you going to determine what he thinksis funny? Your honor? He says

(23:02):
it's funny, he doesn't think it'sfunny. That's a lie. Come on,
I'm just trying to ask what thelawyer you would get a personal injury
lawyer. But you don't have Youdon't have enough at all, not even
close to start a case against thepolice. Why because the injury isn't enough,
because there's too many variables in termsof accident or not. Because you're
suing the city of you're suing thecity. Uh, and they just don't

(23:26):
roll over. I just did.I literally just did a story in which
some guys balls were shot off,balls were shot off with a foam rubber
bullet. That, yeah, Iunderstand. And he got a million and
a half after anything. Okay,I got it. But after four years

(23:48):
of litigation, he got a millionand a half dollars. Who gives a
rat million and a half dollars.I don want to do fire. You're
not gonna do that. It's notgonna happen. Okay, Chris, it's
not gonna happen. You're gonna getthe dude fire because you think it should
be fired. Doesn't work that way. Of course you think should be fired.
Of course you do. It's notgonna happen. Personal injury lawyer,

(24:10):
what in on that? Yeah?Personal injury lawyer. Don't go to handle
on the law dot com because theythose lawyers won't touch it. Go to
any personal injury lawyer other than handleon the law dot com because I'll tell
you right now what they're going tosay. Timothy. Yo, Yes,
yes, good morning, Bill.I am a movie producer. Question.

(24:30):
I'm getting such a hard wait wait, wait, stop for a moment.
I'm having such a time with phonecalls this morning. Uh are you on
a cell phone that you you haveearbudds or something? That was fair?
That's weird. And you're not ona speaker phone? That is correct?
Wow, you don't starting to hatecell phones even though that's all I have.
All Right, so I'm sorry,Timothy. Let's move on. You

(24:53):
are a movie producer. Okay,let's go from there. Yeah, all
right. Guys put that money ona movie and wanted to write it,
wanted to play the lead. Igave him advice. He did to take
my advice. He lost money.He didn't want to take personal accountability.
He went to the costs. Thecosts threw it out so there was no
crime committed. He went to thedistrict attorney in his state. They threw

(25:14):
it out. Said no crime iscommitted. Now he's threatening a civil suit.
He's going to people I've worked withtrying to get the statements. I
work in an industry where there's bigegos. Nobody wants to take personal accountability.
So anybody who didn't make millions ofdollars off of a project now siding
with him and he's getting the statements. Is it civil? Is it entertainment?
I sent him a season to siftand I'm not quite sure what to

(25:36):
do about it. You have toget a lawyer if he filed a lawsuit.
Had he filed a lawsuit yet,No, that's annoying for okay,
then we just Then all you dois kick back and wait. He is
allowed to go and get statements.He is allowed to say, this is
my lawsuit. He is not allowedto say Timothy stole money from me,

(25:56):
Timothy is a thief. That okay. Then now you have a defamation suit.
Now you have if he is factuallysaying things that are untrue to hurt
your reputation. Okay, that isthat is libel per se. That is
right there in uh defamation. He'sright in the middle of it. And

(26:18):
now you get to sue him.Now let me ask you this, is
it hurting your reputation? Is ithurting your ability to do business? I'm
not sure. Yeah, And becausehere's the problem man, by the way,
that that's exactly correct. You're notsure, because no one really is.
And even if you're sure, youwould have to prove. Someone would

(26:41):
have to say, yep, Iwould have hired Timothy, but for what
this guy did. Yep, Inow have doubts, and I'm not going
to hire him, and I hiredsomeone else. It is not easy to
do. In the end, allyou do is and you even know who
he is going to Yes, yes, because so you're right. So you

(27:04):
email them and say, hey,here's what happened. The guy lost money
and that's it. And the guylost money, and uh, and we're
in a business that if you're ifyou think we're guaranteed to make money,
then go ahead. I think thatwe are. See, I don't think

(27:25):
his accusation all right, And Iassume now he is accusing you specificly.
Just fire you have to. Youhave to file the lawsuit, and you
let everybody know you have filed thelawsuit. As a matter of fact.
You send them copies of the lawsuit. You go, here's what this guy
is doing, and I am suinghim. And here's a copy of the
lawsuit once it's filed, because it'sa public document. Civil it's a civil

(27:48):
case. Yeah, it's a civilcase. You're suing him for money,
and you're and also part of it, and part of it also is to
get a court order telling him tojust st you know, the cease and
desist. You just stop whatever thehell you're doing for sure. Now let

(28:08):
me tell you about bad breath.Can you be sued for that? Yeah?
Maybe if your breath is bad enough. And bad breath is really what
we live with and we do everyday. And here's the problem. No
one really tells you. They justmove away going. Uh. You see
the ugly face. And if someonebreathes on you, do you have the
guts to go? You know,you smell like an Iraqi sheep herder.

(28:30):
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(28:53):
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(29:14):
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(29:37):
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on the law