(05/18) HOTL Hour 2

Handel on the Law, Marginal Legal Advice. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to handle on the law marginallegal advice, where I tell you you
have absolutely no case. By theway, the phone numbers here eight hundred
five two zero one five three foureight hundred five two zero one five three
four. Now everybody knows the problemis that the Boeing Aircraft Company had you

(00:21):
had those two Max eights, thatthe seven thirty seven Max eight that fell
out of the sky and killed severalhundred people with that MCASS software screw up,
all right, So two planes fallout of the sky, and then
you have that Alaska Airline flight thatis sixteen thousand feet out of Portland.

(00:42):
That door plug blows off, andit had been at altitude what a mess,
Thank goodness, it was at onlysixteen thousand feet, which is high,
but not relative to how high airplanesgo. And no one was sitting
in those seats. A lot ofstuff was blown out of the airplane,

(01:02):
but no one was sitting and mostof the people that near or around that
plug had their seat belts on.So miracle of all miracles. Okay,
so Boeing it has all kinds ofproblems at that point. And Boeing now
is cutting a deal with the FAAsaying, Okay, we'll do better inspections,
we'll do better reporting. I mean. One of the crazy things about

(01:23):
FAA inspections, because there's so fewinspectors and cutting budget after budget, is
that FAA inspections take the word ofBoeing that they're doing and other airlines I
mean, or other manufacturers and airlineskind of crazy. So they found all
kinds of problems, bolts not boltedon, doors, not appropriately fixed,

(01:49):
and so Boeing and FAA cut adeal saying here's what we're going to do,
here's what we're going to fix.There were some fines paid, and
so okay, And now we findout and the FA finds out they breached
that agreement. So now we're ata different level. So Boeing may very

(02:12):
well be prosecuted criminally for breaking thesafety records, the safety agreements. Now,
how is a corporation prosecuted criminally?Does anybody go to jail? No,
And you can't put a corporation injail. So it's monetary damages,
it finds, it's decrees, it'sagreements, more oversight, more reporting,

(02:39):
but being prosecuted criminally, and corporationshave PG and E was Croppy was prosecuted
criminally for some of the stuff theydid in terms of wildfires. It is
not good for the corporation because here'swhat happened. When you sue the corporation
and they generally and you'll always noticethat we don't admit liability. We're simply

(03:04):
settling the case. They can't defendthemselves as to liability. They've already been
convicted. They can't say we don'taccept liability. They have liability criminally,
which is far stronger than civil liability. You have to go much further on

(03:27):
a criminal conviction or a criminal verdictrelative to a civil verdict or decision by
the court civilly. It's fifty percentplus anything preponderance of the evidence criminal is
beyond a reasonable doubt, much higher. So if you're suing somebody, some

(03:51):
corporation, some entity, and theyhave been criminally convicted or have agreed pled
out to that incident a crime,you got them. You don't even have
to prove liability. And so nowyou're talking damages and that's it. So
that's what happens. All right,let's do it. Phone calls, Hello,
Jeff, welcome to handle on thelaw. Hye Hi, Bill,

(04:15):
thanks for kicking my call. Sure, yeah, yeah, I have kind
of a unique situation that you mightappreciate. Okay, living in your home
country and your home city right now? Oh, are you calling from some
follow? Yeah? Wow, it'sa good line. It's a good line.

(04:35):
So Jeff is calling from some followBrazil. Now do you speak Portuguese?
Want to say hi to the bang? Uh? Own you in some
pollow? How's your Portuguese yet?Oh? Zero? Okay, excellent.

(05:00):
How long have you been in Brazil? How long have you been in Brazil?
Uh? Two and a half yearsand you don't speak a word of
Portuguese. I'm out in a well, I know some you know? Okay,
I want you to look up acouple of words in Portuguese. Okay,
Uh, it's stupid. Do it'sstupid? Dough? Okay, noom

(05:23):
sabi not now, you don't knowanything. Okay, let's go on.
Let me answer the question. Jeff. I'm just having too too much fun
with you, okay, Okay,yeah, on a serious on a serious
point. Yes, on a seriouspoint, actually serious. Go ahead.
The girl friend I'm living and wehave a nice place here in San Polo,

(05:45):
and she has a daughter, notfrom me but from another okay,
past marriage, and we have tobring her to the United States. Does
she be too gid it? Whatis the procedure she has to get a
visa before she has to get avisa? You bet, unless you're now,

(06:08):
unless you are marrying your paramore.And if you are marrying her paramour,
if you are marrying your partner,and she becomes a citizen, then
based on mom's US citizenship, daughtercan apply and it's a much easier way
of becoming a citizen. Otherwise,she's here on a visa and all,

(06:34):
and she's from South America, whichthe US State Department doesn't particularly not particularly
thrilled with, very tough place toget visas from South America. What she
told but what they what they tellme is really quickly. What they tell
me is I have I have toget married in the United States and I

(06:55):
can't be married. No, Idon't think so. I don't know,
I don't think so. I don'tthink so. I mean you're marrying Brazil.
I mean the US recognizes foreign marriagesbecause then anybody who gets married out
of the country, you know,nailed. Yeah, I mean, of
course that's bad. Advice. Theyrecognize foreign marriages. You need. All
you need is a marriage certificate andyou prove that you weren't married before or

(07:18):
divorced or whatever. So, uh, that's a croc okay, no on
that one. Okay, I listenedto you every morning here and saw Paula,
Wow, I love it all right. Anyway, that's the answer that
one. See. I told youthere are phone calls. Every once in

(07:39):
a while, I get phone callsthat I've never gotten before in questions.
That's one. Hi, Bill,I live in Brazil. I've been here
for two and a half years.I don't speak a word of Portuguese.
I'm not real bright or not care. I mean, that's another one.
I mean he can be just youknow, brilliant. Uh, and my

(08:00):
step daughter, even though I'm notmarried once to come to the United States,
it's tough. It's tough. Yougotta have to be connected. You
have to be connected, it's apparent. And even then it's not that easy
because where's the visa application have tobe made outside of the country, even
with marriage, so it gets verycomplicated. In those situations. You absolutely

(08:24):
need an immigration attorney. This isnot something you want to do by yourself.
Put this is not putting a bandaid on this. This is major
surgery. So you absolutely want theexpertise. Hey William, easy name to
remember. What can I do foryou? Okay? So I'm just gonna
try to run through a pretty quick. So I got in a auto accident

(08:48):
in Las Vegas. Basically, Igo and my LFE turns green, and
I go to turn onto the onramp and Las Vegas Metro decides to run
the red light with no lights onor sirens. Okay, what okay,
Los Angeles, Las Vegas Metro,any particular vehicle you have in mind.

(09:11):
I had a rental vehicle myself.No, no, no, not yours.
You know, the Metro authority didn'thit you. Some vehicle hit you.
I'm just curious as to what.Yeah, no, no, the
Las Vegas Metro police. It wasthe police that ran into you. Okay,
got it? Yeah, all right? And and so when I end
came to get in an accident,they have three motorcycle cops come out and

(09:33):
do an investigation on scene. Theydid that, they deemed that the officers
were one at fault in the intersectionon a redat And so I went through
the due process, and got alaw firm, one of the best ones
around there, and started going tochiropractice six days a week. I went

(09:54):
to the er a few times.I tons of medical bills, and so
I ended up having to leave thestate many months later for something completely unrelated
and just sort of didn't really thinkabout this matter for a while. I
figure, I get a call,but I, Okay, how long has

(10:15):
it been? How long has itbeen since I'm assuming the law firm signed
you up with a retainer agreement?Yep, okay, how long has it
been since you left the state?Or let me put it this way,
how long was it from the accidentto when you left the state? And
I'm assuming you did all your treatmentin Las Vegas? Correct, yes,
okay, So how long has itbeen since you left? Well, the

(10:39):
accident happened in December twenty seventh.I don't care. I don't care.
Don't don't start giving me dates,so I have to write down and do
addition and subtraction. Okay, okay, how long has it been you got
in an accident, you filed thepolice report, or you filed the lawsuit,
and then you left the state.Give me the timeline yep. Well

(11:05):
I went through several months of youknow, re understand, Okay, but
again, give me the timeline.I want to know. I understand that
you were treating accident. Yeah,then LUs, we'll forget even about the
accident, lawsuit and then leaving thestate. What's that timeline? Like,

(11:26):
how long has it been up thestate from the accident to lee you leaving
the state? That's important. Fromthe filing of the lawsuit to when you
left the state. Uh, yeah, that would have been over a year,
okay, which is fine. NowI got it. How long has
it been since you filed the lawsuitthat would have been done right after the

(11:48):
accident, which is the beginning oftwenty seventeen. Okay, so you are
almost five years out. Yes,okay, So the lawyer filed the lawsuit
five years ago, and what's what'sgoing on? Okay? When I returned,

(12:11):
I went down to their office.When you return five Who when you
return five years later? You wentto the office. Correct, No,
I wasn't gone for five years.You said you left five years ago from
now that's correct, you went back. Yeah, okay, okay, So

(12:31):
lawsuit was filed and then five yearslater you leave or five years ago you
leave. Okay, there's a fiveyear there's a five year timeline between filing
the lawsuit and now and now.Yes, but okay, and you went
back to the law firm. Justdon't even start explaining. I'm just answer

(12:52):
my questions. Okay, what happenedat the law firm when you went back?
I went back to the law firmabout thirteen to fifteen months later.
Oh good, Okay, So whathappened The attorney that was handling the case
for me no longer works for thatfirm, and they and the owner of

(13:13):
the owner and son of the firmtold me that they were not interested okay
and handling my case. All right, gud, that's easy. You find
another lawyer. They can bail out. I tried. I tried hundreds,
No, nobody, nobody. Thenit's not a good case. Then it's
not a good case, William,it's not a good case. Then no,

(13:35):
if a lawyer doesn't want it,it's not a good case. And
if the first lawyer did it andthen they got out of it, they
figured out it wasn't a good case. I finally figured out why. I
called an attorney and asked him,why do people do want this. The
case has already been done. Youdon't have to do anything because they don't
think it's a good case. Theoriginal attorney where file the lean a lean

(14:00):
against a lean against whom or maybeI'm not using the right word, but
you're not using the right words.I mean, you're making no sense to
me. If the case were toget paid out his name is attached to
it, it doesn't matter not anymore. He probably filed the substitution of attorney
getting out. If his name isstill on there and the law firm is

(14:26):
still on the hook, then thereis a big issue. They can't just
do that and let five years pass. No one wants the case. William,
can you accept that they told methey told me they don't want the
case, because if there's already anattorney that's going to have a chunk of
this of the but there, butthe attorney was working for that law firm.

(14:54):
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(16:26):
Welcome to the show. What canI do for you? Hey,
good morning, Bill Holmer gets yougo ahead. I want to pay off
some credit card bills, and I'mwanting to negotiate with the people. But
say, like I'll say, ifI owe ten thousand dollars to the credit
card and I negotiate that to five, do they send you a ten ninety

(16:47):
nine remaining or they can? Butyeah, because forgiveness, the loan is
considered income. Okay, Yeah,Now I don't when some do, some
don't. I have negotiated on people'sbehalf and I've never heard of a ten
ninety nine being issued. But dependson the size too, ten thousand dollars,

(17:08):
you negotiate it down to let's sayhalf, which is not easy to
do, but you're going to makethe you know, I'm going to go
bankrupt. I have no money,my dog is dying, I live in
a dumpster. I'm supporting my motherand she has huge shankers on her arms
and face and she can't go outin public and she I mean whatever that

(17:30):
you're and you're about to lose myjob. And so you cut a deal
and you say, I'll borrow themoney right now. I'll give it to
you fifty cents on the dollar,and they accept it. Yeah, if
they issue a ten nineteen, ifthey can issue a ten ninety nine for
the other five thousand, but youknow, in my experience, they've never
done it. Okay, all right, so that's good. That's what I

(17:51):
want to know that. Ye yep, yep, yep. But you always
negotiate if you can with with thecredit card companies, any creditor. Dave,
Hello, Dave, Welcome Bill.I need you know what kind of
attorney I need. My new painmanagement doctor put me on a medication last

(18:11):
month and even the mildest exertion causedaphib So I had my appointment with her
yesterday and I asked her to pleaseput me on the one I used to
take, and she said I will. She got really angry, say you're
talking crazy, said it and saidI'll put it. I'll prescribe it,

(18:33):
but I'm going to discharge you.You go come back. So says I'm
going to discharge you. Does thatmean that she's no longer going to be
your doctor, right, because you'renot in the hospital. You're not being
discharged in the hospital. Yeah,So it got me so upset. It
triggered apib. I said, please, let me calm down, let my

(18:55):
heart stop. Says no, youget out of my office right now.
So she throw you out of youroffice. And now you're suffering from a
fib And it's a month ago,right, and I fell in the parking
lot, right, Okay, howbadly were you hurt? Thank you for
that. How badly were you hurt? Oh? I badly injured my hip,
my right shoulder and my neck.Okay, and hold on soft tissue

(19:18):
or broken bones, No broken bones, no broken bones with soft tissue ligaments,
anything that shows up on an Xray or MRI, I she said.
The r said that they didn't doany MRIs. They said, but
I was badly beat up and bruised. Because okay, that's okay, that's
you know, that's helpful, butnot wonderful, all right, So she

(19:42):
says though she gets out, shegives you the medication, fires you,
says goodbye. I don't want todeal with you anymore. And you're so
upset you go out in the parkinglot you take a spill and you are
injured soft tissue injury, and whatis your question? So is this a

(20:03):
personal injury medical marsinal injury? Ofcourse, But is there anything there there
to sewer? I don't think.I wouldn't know any lawyer that takes it.
It's too hard to connect the dots. She has every right to throw
you out of there. She gaveyou the medicine that you asked for.
No, she gave me the oneI didn't want. Okay, But but

(20:25):
here's the problem. You still you'renot a doctor. Now you can say
the first one worked for me andI want this one. And it's kind
of a drag. I mean,is it malpractice? Yeah, it kisses
malpractice. There are some defenses.I thought the second one would work,
and that's my that's my opinion.That's my medical opinion. And Dave you

(20:47):
say, well, in my medicalopinion, you know you can't. So
the answer is, I don't thinkthere's much there. I really don't.
It's hard connecting the dots on thatone, really hard. Laurie, Hi,
Laurie, Yeah, I have aquestion. I've retained a lawyer to
file a motion on my behalf inthe Supreme Court. And then he emailed
me the motion. But he didit in proper. His name was not

(21:11):
on the paperwork. Okay. AndI said to him, hey, I
didn't pay the big bucks to giveme a motion improper. I need you
to represent me and file it.He goes, oh, you'll be fine.
You'll be fine. I don't worryabout it. So what's your question?
And then well, I mean Ilooked on his retainer agreement and it
says no refunds. Now, Ididn't pay him to be my ghostwriter.

(21:34):
Now I understand how much did youpay him? How much did you pay
him? Five hundred dollars five hundreddollars assume in small claims court for a
retainer agreement forty five hundred, oh, forty five hundreds. Okay, So
there's your lawsuit. Now he canargue that he prepared the legal documents for
you. Okay. Is that worthsome money? Okay? And your argument

(21:56):
is, look at the retainer agreement. You're myttorney, and you do not
file paperwork in my name in proper. That he was wrong, So
you're going to get a part ofthis. He did not, he didn't
file it. He emailed it.I understand, no ide it No,
I understand. It didn't matter.It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

(22:18):
He can't file it. If it'sin proper you're the one that has to
file it. I mean, hecan file it, but the attorney of
record is you, because there isno attorney of record. All right,
So what happened? What did youfile these? Was? Did it?
Was it filed? No? Whynot? Well, because I don't want

(22:40):
to file it under my name inproper Why not? Because they won't take
me seriously in the in the appealscourt, you'd be surprised. Why didn't
you get another attorney immediately? Well, I just paid this guy for that.
I understand. You just paid him, and you've got to get another
attorney, and you're going to assumehim small claims court. Why didn't you
do that? Well, because theroutinader says no refunds. Yeah, you're

(23:03):
suing him, you are. Whatdoes that have to do with you filing
the paperwork? Because he won't refundthe money for something he didn't do.
Okay, you sue him for that. That has nothing to do with your
case, now get it. ButI just want him to be the attorney
record. You can't force him.You can't that. You can't force him
to do that? Is that isoff the table? And why would you

(23:26):
want him to be a the attorneyof record when he won't even put his
name on the document? Yeah,you hire another attorney and you sue him.
But if you're going to file thepaperwork, what are you going to
not do the case because he refusesto be the attorney of record? Are

(23:47):
you going to walk away from it? Well? I don't know how to
e file, I don't know howto postmark stuff. I mean all these
things that an attorney would do.Is that's correct? So you hire another
attorney and you sue him. Let'sgo that's three four times, So let's
go five times. Now, youhire another attorney and you sue him.

(24:07):
What part of that are we havinga hard time understanding? Okay? All
right, thank you? Hello Marlene? Hi Marlene. Hello. Yes,
my daughter, age fifty one,was diagnosed mentally ill thirteen years ago and
has lived with me since then.She is unable to kill for herself,

(24:32):
ah, and has no other family. Okay, she wants me power of
attorney overcooks. How do I proceed? Okay? She wants you she wants
you to have power of attorney overher. Correct quick, Oh okay,
that's easy. You just file apower of attorney. You just get a
document power of attorney. I geta notarize she they find that that she

(24:53):
is number one, the person that'ssigning it number two. She has the
ability to make that decision. Shehas the cognitive ability. But when you
say she's mentally ill, how mentallyill is she Marlene mildly? Mildly mentally?
Yeah, well she can give youpower of attorney. Sure, just
haven't notarized. Follow the rules.It's simple, really, You just take

(25:15):
the document off the internet. It'scalled power of attorney. I know it's
a little complicated, and you pullit off the internet. You print it
and you sign it and you doall this stuff doesn't have to be recorded.
Whenever there's a decision that has tobe made, a banking decision for
example, or application from some governmentalsource, here's your power of attorney.

(25:37):
It helps to have a doctor sayshe has mental illness and she has a
hard time making decisions. That helps, very helpful. And you just sew
that document. You have power ofattorney. No, I don't think so.
No, No, easy pasy.Just follow. It's follow the bouncing
balls or bouncing ball you go tocourt either, no, you don't go

(26:02):
to court. No, it's easy, it's easy. Don't worry about that.
Okay, Now, in order toreally I have no issues. Sometimes
banks have an issue and taking outbank accounts and certainly any real property,
there's a huge issue with the powerof attorney. You get a conservatorship a
couple thousand dollars, but with aconservatorship, boy, that wraps it up,

(26:22):
complete and total power. The conservatorhats one. Right, Lisa,
Hi, Lisa h right. Okay, Bill, what's going on is a
good friend of mine has her husbanddied and the house is she's trying to
sell our house and there's a squatterthat's related to them. There was a

(26:47):
restraining order when the husband was aliveon this particular person. When when he
died, I guess the restraining orderleaped and he he moved on to the
property. My friend is borderline handicapped, so she's kind of it's kind of
hard for her to get around,and we ordered a cleaning service to come
and clean up the backyard because shewas her homeowners was going to lap because

(27:11):
I didn't get the So what Iwant to know is the police came and
everything when the cleaning service got thereto clean up the yard and everything,
and the police said that if andhe kicked up course contestants and no,
no, no, this is mystuff. And we're like, well wait,
wait, wait, wait, thisis my stuff. What does that
have to do with cleaning up thebackyard? A lot of stuff because she's

(27:34):
kind of squatted in the shed backthere. Oh oh, and the stuff
was out in the yard. Yeah, her homeowks okay, right, all
right, so she is squatting andher stuff is out in the yard,
and the hoa wants you to cleanup the yard. Okay, right,
right right, So so the copscome out, and they made a mistake

(27:55):
by telling this in front of theguy. They got to check it out.
If you guys, the cleaning serviceves anything out of the yard,
then it's going to be uh,you know, they're going to arrest the
cleaning service. No they're not.No, come on now, they're not.
It's a similar matter, especially sincethe wait a sec h the property
now is in probate. No waitno wait, they're just trying to get

(28:22):
it cleaned up. So they cansell. Okay, who owns the property?
Now my friend? Okay, it'sbeen the property has been transferred to
your friend. Your friend is nowon title. Yes, okay, good,
So she's the owner of the propertyand you've got a squatter. What
I'd like to do is or whatyou should do is immediately file eviction papers

(28:45):
instantly. Okay, that's for starters. And then you simply tell the tenant
you are it's my property. You'rea you're you're a tenant, or you
don't even say that you have theright to move that stuff if you store
it or whatever. The cops arenot going to arrest someone for taking the

(29:07):
property. First of all, aguy can't even prove it's his property.
You can say it's my property.Okay, that's for yeah, you know,
you have to talk to an evictionattorney. That's what your friend has
to do. This is now,this is a tenancy. You have to
evict the person squatting. By theway, he's not a squat or he's
a tenant. If he's been inlonger. How long has he been in

(29:30):
there? Just about much. He'snever paid rent though, it doesn't matter
how long has he been in there. Six months. All right, Yeah,
he's a tenant. Okay, Soyou go ahead and you file an
eviction and the eviction attorney will tellyou what to do with the property.
But the cops telling you we're goingto arrest you, it's that's just not
the case. Because the guy wasthere, you can't improve it's his and

(29:55):
now it's viction attorney time. Alandlord tenant attorney for sure. Now let
me tell you about chronic pain,and chronic pain is there all the time.
And if you live in chronic painor you know someone who does as
I do, I'm gonna suggest youlisten to The Pain Game podcast. It's
a show about living in with chronicpain and the trauma that's involved with it.

(30:19):
It's half the Pray, which Ilove. And it's not about whining
what I do. It's about shiftingyour mindset when life and your body hurt.
And I've known the host, Lindsayfor many years and she deals with
what deals with this chronic pain twentyfour to seven, and she deals with
it heroically, and her guests haveeither lived with, dealt with, have

(30:41):
treated those folks living with chronic painand suffering from the trauma that may have
caused it. Every episode ends witha message of hope. And here's something
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the show is about giving pain purpose. It's pretty deep, but boy does
it help. It'll give you atotal new understanding, and a new episode

(31:03):
drops every Tuesday morning. You canlisten on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you
listen to podcasts, The Pain GamePodcast, The Pain Game Podcast. This
is Handle on the Law