(10/21) 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. Oh here'sa I don't think he has a case
or the family doesn't have a case. All right. You've got the band
Kiss that has been around for ohmy goodness, I don't know how many
years. I remember what, thirtyyears ago, forty years ago, and

(00:21):
they're still out there. And it'sone of those bands that's like the Rolling
Stones. Fifty years later, they'restill there, all right. One of
their technician, fran Stuber is hisname fran okay, but that's his name.
A guy, and for twenty oneyears he toured the world with Kiss,

(00:43):
serving as a guitar tech for thefront man, Paul Stanley. And
so during the course of this isduring COVID during the course of the band,
which is really weird. Two yearsago, in a show on a
show within a show that in Detroitthat Kiss was doing, he gets COVID

(01:07):
and dies in the hotel room.Okay, So here we are. A
couple of years later, family issuing the band and the band's management was
this one and the same and sayingwhy because first of all, this was
his job, and of course hehad to go to his job, and

(01:27):
second of all, he trusted theband's management would keep him safe, and
instead, according to the lawsuit,the band's management did not keep him safe,
and the lawsuit alleges that his deathwas preventable, doesn't say exactly how,

(01:49):
And I don't know how you preventCOVID because people were getting COVID through
everything, wearing masks, not wearingmasks. I mean, it was just
crazy, as you knew. Andthe thousands and thousands of people had died.
I think close to a million peopledied. I mean, it was
insane. And the family said thatfran had expressed concerns about the lack of

(02:12):
protocols and that there had been anoutbreak on the tour lasting weeks involving members
of the crew, and they didn'tdo enough to protect him, and it
would have been preventable. By theway, it could be that they didn't
do enough to prevent to protect him. That's entirely possible, however, arguing
that had they done enough to protecthim, he wouldn't have gotten COVID.

(02:35):
Come on, really, don't thinkso? Do they have a case?
They do not? All right,let's go ahead and take some phone calls
here, okay, and hello Anne, welcome, Hi. I appreciate your
program, of course you do.What can I do for you? My

(02:59):
relative got notification over the computer thathe won a contest that he won a
million dollars. And how did hewin a million dollars? Yeah, just
by word of mouth on the computer. And then wait a minute, word
of mouth. You can win amillion dollars on the computer. Yeah,

(03:22):
through publishing clearing publishing clearing house.Okay, go to your door and go,
you won a million dollars. I'vealways wondered about that. Okay,
So he wins a million dollarly areliable company. Okay, I'm sorry exact
okay, So they signed them up, and he signed them up and he

(03:43):
got a check for it, butthey never come to help sign the check
at the bank. And then Iwondered, if, oh, he's been
paying the money to pay the government, So do we have does the relative
have to pay the taxes? Before? You really, why would he pay
taxes if he never got the money, right, So why is he paying

(04:04):
taxes? That's what the company saidhe had to do, and he just
went ahead and did it. Pardonand he just went ahead and did it.
Yeah foolish. Yeah, well,so what's your question is that does
the government really need the money beforeyou spend the check? Well, of
course the government needs the money outof every point. But yeah, I

(04:26):
think he would be fair and pay. Well, okay, fair enough in
that nice of him. Well,so at this point, obviously he stops
paying any money, and he turnsaround and I guess, well, tells
the I r S two things gonnahappen. Uh, he's got to amend
his taxes and when he said whenthe when the company says he has to

(04:47):
pay the taxes? Is this amonthly check sometimes twice a month? Wow?
So I told the relative, Ithink it's a scam. Yeah.
Well, this is way way beyondfoolish. This is right into idiocy,
and I mean several levels of idiocy. Right, A couple of things he's

(05:09):
got to tell he's got to goto accounting and tell the IRS what's going
on. But the money may noteven be going to the irs. That's
what I tall. Yeah, themoney is probably going to these scammers.
And you're right, it's a scam. Yeah, Well, thank you sir.
Okay, that's good. And youget to call them and go,
you know what, You're not allthat bright. Oh we start with an

(05:30):
idiot call excellent excellent Amy. Hello, Amy, Welcome to the show.
Hi Bill, Yes, ma'am.Okay, I have a question for you.
I was divorced. It was aseventeen year marriage. It ended in
two thousand and eight. We havethree children together. My oldest son was

(05:53):
having major issues and had no relationshipwith my EXX for some reason did not
like my oldest son whatsoever, butloved the other two kids. And my
oldest son just had major issues andneeded rehab. So I had asked him

(06:15):
to please pay for half of it, and he said absolutely not, So
I had to sue him just somy son could go to rehab, which
was very expensive, and he endedup paying for half. However, he
made me sign I have a lifetimespousal support, and he made me sign

(06:38):
something that said that I would stopthis spousal support at age sixty two.
I'm fifty seven now, and healso had a clause in there that I
could never sue him again. Andwhat happened was after rehab, my son
was worse. He had never beento never was invited to my ex husband's

(06:59):
home. In my Mesito found myex husband. He didn't want anything to
do with him. He sent himto La by skid row. My son
thought he was getting his annex andhe died from sentinel. I'm sorry.
February twenty twenty one. Oh,I'm sorry. Yeah, it's been a

(07:19):
doozy. Yeah, And that kidwas so special and so anyway, I
just want to know, Like Iguess, the question is if I signed
everything that said spousal support is stoppingat age sixty two and I can't see
him anymore. I believe he's guiltyof negligent homicide. Why would he be

(07:43):
guilty of negligent homicide? What puttinghim? Putting a drug addict that was
worse than before he was just doing. Let me let me ask you something,
Amy, did he force your sonto go? I mean, what
did he do when he can comehim? He started doing heroin? All

(08:05):
right? Well, let me askyou why didn't you have your son at
your house? I did? Buthe started doing heroin here, all right?
And then you asked him. Hehad an agreement with him in the
rehab and he signed it and hesaid if he doesn't follow, he was
supposed to go to you know allthese things. When he got out,
he never did a thing, andI went up to his room and all

(08:28):
of a sudden I found needles anda glass. Yeah. Not arguing that,
Amy, I'm you know, certainlynot arguing that, but connecting your
ex to his death. There aren'tenough thoughts to connect that. It's just
simply isn't going to work. Okay, He's guilty of a lot of things,
but not negligent homicide. How oldwas your son when he died twenty

(08:52):
six? Oh? Okay, wellhe's an adult already. Oh I mean
yeah, no, no, there'sthere's a few yeah, yeah, no,
there's nothing there. So the otherside of it is the divorce and
you not being able to collect orat the age of sixty two. Spousal
support stops after an order of lifetimesupport. Were you represented by an attorney?

(09:16):
Yeah? Okay, how did youget at the beginning? He had
Trope and Trope and I had PhillipsJessner. Wow, okay, I mean
these are yeah, these are notsmall, small offers. I don't know
how your attorney allowed on life.I ended up using an attorney where I
live. That was terrible. Allright, Well, here is it sounds

(09:41):
to me, based on what yousay, I don't know any of the
other facts, that there was legalmalpractice there to somehow give you the advice
that you should go ahead and giveup lifetime support when you're at age sixty
two and then you're on your ownafter lifetime support order. You know that.
Uh, you know, I don'tdo divorce law, but I know

(10:03):
enough that I'm sure as hell notgoing to give you that kind of advice.
So what you have, you gotyou got to mess on your hands,
first of all, as far asyeah, as far as your excess
concern on the death of your son. I'm really sorry that happened. I
mean, I can't, I can't. I can't even imagine losing a child.
Yeah, I'll bet I didn't evenwant to live. Yeah, you
know, yeah, I have twentyeight year old daughters and I'm just trying

(10:26):
to put I can't. I can'twrap my head around that. Yeah.
So you what you have I thinkis a legal malpractice case to unravel what
you signed. And I think youcan go in front of a judge and
make that argument, but you're gonnaneed a lawyer to do that. It
is a pretty complicated case, andyou're going to simply have to get a

(10:46):
lawyer that's going to do it.Shouldn't be that hard because it's usually when
you have malpractice, you have anunderlying case that you have to prove.
Then you prove malpractice. In otherwords, in a malpractice case, you
have to go through the case againto prove malpractice. In this case,
I think, on its face,uh, you giving up your lifetime support

(11:07):
and what were you giving up for? What exactly were you what exactly were
you getting for giving it? Theframe was just all about helping my son.
And okay, so did your husbandkeep Okay, did your husband say
I will not help your son,our son who I hate unless you give
up your lifetime support. That's theonly way I will do that. Is

(11:30):
that what happened? Well, thoseweren't his exact words. No, no,
but that's basically what I mean.I'm ever going to pay you for
half of rehab? I understand.But did he pay for half of rehab?
Yeah? I had to assume himfor that, I understand. And
part of the lawsuit Wait a second, in the lawsuit in front of the
judge, the judge allowed you togive up lifetime support to pay for half

(11:52):
of Rahad and in front of ajudge when he just agreed, and okay,
I don't understand. How wait asecond, how did you get a
core order? I was using alady that was going back and forth with
his attorney, and they settled yourattorney and they said, okay, well,
you know, malpractice all over theplace. Amy, There's not much

(12:13):
more I can help you with becausea lot of this makes unbelievable, no
sense a lawyer giving you that advice, give it up, and I wouldn't
do it. Maybe if you knewwhat you were doing, you're represented by
counsel, maybe the court will go. Yeah, he had no duty,
by the way, to pay halfof the half of the rehabit, no

(12:37):
duty whatsoever. Once a child isof majority, it's it's over. Thomas.
Hello, Thomas, welcome. Yes, good morning, Bill. On
a class action suit with Johnson andJohnson over the ovarian cancer that took my

(13:00):
wife after fifty three years. They'reasking me to open a probate on her
estate. Yeah, and act asa personal representative of her estate, or

(13:22):
they will do it for a costof fifteen hundred dollars added to my expense
ledger. Okay, let me askyou. How big is the award?
Thomas, Well, it's a multibillion dollars. No, no, I'm

(13:43):
talking about you. I'm talking aboutyou. How big is the award to
your wife's estate? I am notcertain I can answer that, Bill.
Okay, well you have to askthat. And what's happening is your wife
was the plaintiff, Yes, andso the settlement goes to your wife.
I'm kind of a surprised. Usuallyin medical mal or personal injury, it

(14:05):
disappears, the case disappears. Butin this case, obviously it hasn't,
as you said, multi billion dollaraward, and it goes and the court
has allowed it, and so yourwife is this if your wife was still
alive, except obviously she's not,And so her estate is getting the money

(14:26):
and you're entitled to the benefits ofher state. But you have to go
through the process. They're not justgoing to hand you the check. And
so there has to be a probateopen, I think you. And the
question is is it going to costyou more to open a probate, go
into a probate attorney than it issimply accepting the fifteen hundred dollars that's going

(14:48):
to be deducted. Although that's kindof interesting how they can choose a probate
attorney for you. But maybe sincethe money is already settled, it's done,
it's been okay by a judge.It's certainly just a question of you
getting the money and going through theprocess. That's why I asked you how
much money is it? I haven'tmentioned anything too, Oh you want to

(15:09):
ask I'd call them up, callthe offer and go, hey, how
much money are we talking about?And it's variable money, but that's where
you want to go. And ifthe money it's to me, well,
obviously it's more than fifteen hundred dollars, but since you have to go through
probate, yeah, it's I wouldcontact you know who am I going to

(15:35):
contact on that one? I wouldcall a probate attorney and just ask that
question. It's a simple question Iask, which I don't have the answer
because I don't do probate, andjust find out how much money it is
and is it worth the hassle becauseyou're gonna have to pay a probate attorney
And if they're saying here, here'sa list of them or whatever, that
may be the way to go.All right, try that fifty three years,

(15:56):
then you die of John's I ofoveriing camp I assuming because of the
talcum powder that they pulled out thatthey sold for one hundred years or whatever.
That was a huge, huge settlement. Valerie, Hello, Valerie,
welcome. Hi. My town homea two bedroom, two baths, the

(16:18):
sunroom and a small gated backyard.It's mortgage free, and I would like
to rent it. I want toput in no pets and specifically say no
emotional pets. Okay, can Ido that? Yep, no emotional pets.
Now, you can't say no toa service pet. Okay, that's

(16:42):
different, you certified service pet.For example. Let's say I'm renting your
place and I have and I'm blindthat I have a seeing eye chicken for
example, that leads me around.Okay, you can't say no to that.
But emotional pets, I mean,no even knows what the hell they
are anymore. I have airlines usedto have people. People would come on

(17:04):
airlines with ferrets and parrots and saythese are I mean the parrots going all
over the place and crapping on people'sheads. But it's my emotional uh,
support animal. They stopped all that. Sure if they have a yeah,
service pet, absolutely, No,you can't charge more. If they have
a service pet, you cannot.Nope. Okay, it's a service animal

(17:29):
and it is a very different isa very different animal. Yes, okay,
but I can't charge more if there'sa service animal. No, you
can't. You can't discriminate against peoplewho have service animals. You can't.
So if I made the rent fortwo thousand dollars and I deduccked for a

(17:51):
pet free environment, I can't dothat either. No, no, because
well you can, but you can'twith a service animal. You can't in
any way to crimea someone has aservice animal. So un how about the
size of the service animal. No, you could have if it's a service
animal, they can have a serviceelephant come in. I've never heard of

(18:12):
one. Usually I think they're justdogs, you know, not, they're
they're all dogs. Service animals aredogs. So you don't And I can
ask for proof and verification. Ohyeah, oh yeah, absolutely no question
about it. And their certifications.I mean there are accepted certifications. It's
not governmental. Uh you know,there's that specific requirements, but the government,

(18:34):
well maybe there are but the governmentaccepts certification from recognized service bureaus,
and I should put that in theleast. I don't even have to.
You don't even have to. Youjust say, hey, you know,
someone comes in with a dog,uh and says you say, no pets.
Well I have a dog, okay. Uh. And they say it's

(18:55):
a no pets, that's all,no dog. And they go, but
I have a service animal. Okay. Let me see the certification, you
know, bring me the paperwork.Yeah, you can do that. Wait,
yeah, it's but so many peoplewant to buy rent places right now.
It's easy. It's easy. Oh, you can't discriminate against uh,

(19:17):
you know, for someone who's blind. Let's go back to that. Uh.
And you know they're gonna run intothings constantly. You know they're gonna
scratch up walls, they're gonna takea key and you know, open the
door and you know, scratch upyour doors that are looking for the keyhole.
That's a little insensitive, isn't it. Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
I touch, I touch, Okay, Hi, Land, then you're up,

(19:40):
yes, ma'am Bill, Yes,well, I'll make it short.
I am trying to get a lawyerto simply call this doctor I know,
and be a little nasty and hopesthat he will give me the medical records
of my late husband. This partDA to start my packed act. I

(20:03):
was told by someone that I needthe medical records otherwise is very difficult to
start the pact act to prove thathe died from a service connected illness.
Okay, and I have tried justcalling him nicely and asking him, would

(20:25):
he beat with me, give methe record. You're talking about the doctor
here, and he's not giving youthe information. Okay, he's just not
giving me the information. So what'syour question? Lynn? Is there any
way I can find a lawyer thatwould just be willing to call them up
and get a little stern with him. Okay, Yeah, I don't know,

(20:47):
uh Lynn, How old are you? You sound like you're about one
hundred and twenty. How old areyou? Well, thank you, I'm
sixty years old. You're sixty yearsold? Wow? Okay, all right,
all right. I was about tosuggest that there are organizations out there
that deal with elderly people, andyou know, you reach a certain level

(21:11):
when you're I don't know, sixtyor seventy or whatever it is. So
that's uh, I already found apart of the agent. You have to
be sixty two sixty two, sowhat you have and I don't know about
the packed act, but a phonecall from a lawyer isn't going to do
it. I mean you can try, and you know, where do you
get? You can you know,put just go into you know, going

(21:37):
to Google and just start putting somesearch words nasty, lawyer, obnoxious,
loud. My name will come up, by the way, just to let
you know. So, yeah,just and you might get someone who's willing
to make the phone call. Youcan try, but you know, I
don't know lawyers. They are justwilling to make a phone call. You
may have to go through the legalaction, you know, and actually five,

(22:00):
let's properly have to do that.I think you're gonna have to do
that, all right. Yeah,if that's sixty years old, I'm Rex
the Wonder Horse. I'll tell youright now. Wow. Michelle, Hello,
Michelle, Hi, here's my problem. My my sugar daddy bought me
a car, gave me, gaveit to me in a card signed I

(22:22):
signed it also, and wait whenwhen we hold on, hold on,
hold on, I just h there'spart of it. I didn't understand,
first of all, your sugar daddy. How old is your sugar daddy?
By the way, Michelle, I'mseventy. He he's seventy. How old
are you? Thirty thirty s?And why would anybody think to be a
sugar daddy? Okay? And sohe put he put also a business partners

(22:44):
okay, okay, Oh what kindof business? We with houses? So
we own several houses together? Ohokay, all right, in uncle Freest,
Florida. All right, So hegives me the car. Well,
my license are suspended, so hesays, just leave it in my name.
And you know, well I signedit though he was just so then
I could pay the insurance. Okay, Michelle, Michelle, Hang on a

(23:07):
minute, he gave you the car, correct, Michelle, Correct, and
entitle is in your name on thatcar. The title is. I never
took it down to trade it,but when he signed it, it was
on the twenty eighth lone. Okay, hang on, he's wait wait wait
he signed all right, Wait asecond, he signed the transfer papers to
you, correct, And that wasnever taken to the DMV. So the

(23:30):
DMV doesn't know that you saw thatthe car is better fact correct? Okay,
well, the car is not inyour name because it was never recorded,
so I'm assuming it's in his.That's not even that isn't even the
least of my problems. They justgot out of jail last night with a
fifteen thousand dollars on because when hecame he put it he registered in some

(23:52):
of the girl's names, which wasone of my former friends. But he
came to get the car. Well, I said, no, you're not
taking my car. I got inthe car. He was holding onto my
door, you know, trying topull it off. He was holding onto
the windshield of the hood. Andfinally he stepped back two steps, which
I have all of this on video, okay, because I video at my
house. He stepped back two stepsand I drove off. Well, he

(24:15):
acted like I hit him, fellon the ground, you know, But
again all this is on video.Okay. He fell on the ground.
Ten cars, two ambulances, andthey took him off. And so now
I went to jail for assault agrand at Okay, So they arrested you.
Okay, how long how long wereyou? How long are you in
jail? Oh, I have severalgood friends. Six hours seven? Okay,

(24:38):
So you're bailed out. Okay,so now you're out on bail.
We okay, all right, fairenough. So you're out on bail and
you got a charge of assault anda few other things. All right,
so what's your question. Wanted tosuspend it driving and suspend it in grand
law sting. Okay, So hebonded me out. He gave my girlfriend
the money to bond me out.Oh, he bonded you out. Okay,

(25:00):
absolutely, But we have no contactorder, so he had to give
it to somebody. All right,it doesn't matter, It doesn't matter.
I was just curious. Okay.Well, anyway, what can I do?
Because he wants to resolve all this. He didn't want to do it,
you know. Okay, well whatcan you do? All right?
That gets you can't hit him orI because he's willing to do whatever.
Oh all right, well that getseasy. First of all, he walks

(25:22):
in and drops the charges. Hetells the DA that I want to drop
all charges. Okay, it wasa misunderstanding. And then you guys come
up with some kind of reason.If I were if I were he or
him, whichever way is correct,I would not admit that I made up
and fell okay, because then he'sadmitting to a false police report, so

(25:45):
he can't do that. Yeah,that's so. What I would do is
I would call a criminal attorney justto find out how you drop the charges,
okay, not to represent anybody,just how you go about dropping the
charges. And so that part isdone. As far as the car is
concerned, he can give it toanybody wants if it's still in his name.

(26:06):
So you have nothing, and isyour relationship over with him? Michelle?
Oh no, oh no, butwe just can't be in contact,
you know so right now? Allright, so let me ask you,
okay, can't be in contact withyour relationship is over? Even just a
question. He's seventy two, he'sseventy years old or seventy two, you're
thirty six? How often how oftendo you guys? You know? Not

(26:27):
yet? Not washed it? Right? Oh? No, we don't.
I don't. That's why he keepsme. He's already had the other bad
girls and they just give it upright away. So I'm the one that
says no, not until or married. Oh okay? And how long how
long have the two of you beentogether? About seven months? Oh?
Okay, so that's fairly you know, you still haven't put out yet.

(26:48):
Huh oh oh, good for you. All right, well I'm not already
mentioning it, I guess yeah,no, all right, no, no,
I'm sure the yeah I mean goodfor you. He said, that
is exactly why I like you,because you say no where everybody else throws
himself at him. Oh okay,all right, well anyway, that was

(27:11):
I have to admit that's one ofthe better phone calls I've gotten. You
gotta admit that, don't you.Oh yeah, I got more, but
I'll call you and get it backin line with some of the other ones.
All right, thank you, Yeah, that one works. That one
works, all right. I don'twant to take another phone call because they
take way long, Jacob, wetake an early break. Here is that
gonna work? All right? Andhere's the phone number. Eight hundred five

(27:33):
two zero one five three four.We start early the next hour. So
just hang on and you can callin now and we're gonna, you know,
spend some good quality time together.Especially now you're not going to have
the same phone call that I justgot. Those are very rare, very
rare, and far between, especiallythe part of seven months. And he's

(27:53):
our sugar to daddy, and helikes the fact that she doesn't put out
Okay, sure, why not.This is handle on the law