Kim Davis Needs to Let it Go

Handel on the Law. Marginal Legal Advice.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're list Saints KFI AM six forty.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
The bill handles show on demand on the iHeartRadio f
This is handle on the law, marginal legal advice where
I tell you you have absolutely no case. Now do
you remember the case of Kim Davis, the former county
clerk in Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licenses to

(00:27):
gay couples. And that came after the Supreme Court's twenty
fifteen decision the Oberfell versus Hodges, which allowed same sex
couples to legally marry. And that was based on that
marriage is a fundamental right and same sex couples have

(00:47):
that right. You can't deny that it's a fundamental constitutional right.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Ever since then, there has been a huge move to
overturn that among conservatives, and Davis has fought her case
for years and she has directly asked the court to
undo that decision. She said, the time has come. This
isn't a filing for a course correction. Now, this is

(01:17):
a pretty conservative court. For example, it overturned Roe v. Wade,
And there are conservative members of our society who have said, okay.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Roe v.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Wade was overturned. How about the same sex marriage rule?
It's time to overturn that. It's time to overturn the
Overfeld case. Now, what the court does is it grants circiori,
which means it grants someone's ability to be heard in

(01:52):
front of the court. Yes, you have the right to
argue in front of the court, and we will make
a decision whether we do Unano's decision or not, whether
we publish our findings or not, whether we just say
this is the way we think or nothing, or there's

(02:13):
a huge, huge analysis done by virtually every justice, like
in Roe v.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Wade, like in the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
So the court was asked to grant sorcery for this case.
And as I said, about one hundred cases go in
front of the court, of which I don't know fifty
sixty maybe a year, are heard, thousands are presented to
the court and then the clerks go through them in
very few many apply, very few make it. And what

(02:46):
ended up happening on this one is the Court said, no,
we're not going to hear it.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
We will not grant sirciori to this case.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Overfell versus Hodges stays same sex marriage as a fundamental right.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Stays so that's uh.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
I guess that's a win for the gay community. And frankly,
since I am very much in favor of gay marriage,
allowing of gay marriage for many, many years, obviously, I
think this is a right decision and a lot of
basis of my belief in gay marriage is, you know,
gays have the right to be every bit as miserable

(03:31):
as the rest of us are. Or when we get married,
why not? And by the way, how does it affect you?
Explain that one to me. I see tax is affecting you.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
I get that.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
What I don't see if your neighbors who are gay
decide to get married, how does that affect you? Well, society?
And and then you bring in the Bible. Of course,
the Bible doesn't want gay marriage.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Just on and on and on.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Anyway, I think it's a good call by the Supring
Court on this one. Okay, let's take some phone calls Isaac. Hello, Isaac,
welcome to handle on the law.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Are you doing Bill? I got a question.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
I have a five year old daughter whom I share
fifty percent custody with with the mother.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
She's gonna start school this year.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
But we're going to dispute us to what schools this
or she'll be attending.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
What do I need to do in regards to having
someone established that for us?

Speaker 1 (04:23):
A judge is going to so I need a judge.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah, you petition the court. You walk in and you
ask for a hearing. You want the judge to order
that the school that you have chosen is where the
kid's going to go. You go in front of the judge,
you make your argument, and she makes the argument, Your honor,
here's why I want my daughter to go here to
this school, and here are the reasons. And ex wife says,

(04:49):
here are the reasons why I want the daughter to.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Go this school.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
And the judge just looks at those reasons and say, okay,
I'll choose one or the other.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
And they're got to get in the court, gotcha.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
Okay, Now, in your opinion, I'm a homeowner, she's a renter.

Speaker 5 (05:04):
She has a flexibility moving around with you, judge, maybe
side of my favorite a little more.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Now, I don't think so.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
I don't think homeowner versus rent or No, it's a
question of what's the benet for the child. Now, if
she moves around and has a history of moving around,
it's not that she's a renter. The issue is she
moves around your honor and therefore she my daughter has
gone to three or four schools in the last year
or three schools.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
The judge's going to.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Give it to you because it looks at the benefit
for the child.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
The rental part. No one cares.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Okay, okay, And by the way, I don't think you
need a lawyer for this one either.

Speaker 4 (05:41):
No.

Speaker 6 (05:41):
I think he just file into some paperwork through the Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, I think I think you make the argument on
your own. You don't have to pay money for a
lawyer on this, okay, Jack, Yeah, just to make all
but just make all the reasons, and just do it
in terms of what's good for your daughter. Forget about you,
forget about you. Don't say it's easier for me. Just
say this is for the benefit of my daughter and

(06:04):
here's why. And that's how you do it. Now, depending
on how critical it is. I mean, you can do
it without a lawyer. I would probably hire a lawyer,
but that's predicated on how much you love your kids
and want them to be stable.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
I don't care. So you know what can I tell you? Lewis? Hello, Lewis?
Hi Bill?

Speaker 4 (06:29):
Yeah, I got a personal injury question for you. So,
my niece was in a horrible accident about about a
year ago. She was a passengered vehicle. The driver died,
she suffered, she lost a lung, lost like five digits
on both hands, so she's only got like five left.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
God, that's horrible.

Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yes, a horrible, horrible, horrible crushed her voice box and
now she always sounds like she's whispering. Oh geez, major surgery, Oh, major,
major stuff. Okay, long storysurre As that guy died, he
was attached to his dad's insurance. The insurance company, big
insurance company, reputable, is basically sending her the release right now, saying, hey,
here's your fifteen grand sym this, we'll be done with you.

(07:14):
You only had minimal covers fifteen thirty and five. What
can she do?

Speaker 1 (07:20):
Insurance? That's it.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
That's the only insurance she has. I mean, that's it.
There's nobody out. You can go after the driver or
the driver's estate, you can go after, but insurance. If
there's only fifteen thousand dollars of insurance, there's fifteen thousand
dollars of insurance.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
And if the driver has no.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
If the driver has no assets, but the damages are
so big, Lewis go to handle on the Law dot
Com because what happens when you have sophisticated personal injury
lawyers and there are damages to that extent, you'd be
surprised where they find assets for liability or a coverage

(08:01):
it is. I mean, they're going to go and literally
go to the ends of the earth. So I would
try that. But my take on it, it's fifteen grand
but it's let me tell you, the damagers are so
high on this that any good personal injury lawyer will
take a good hard look and try to find if
there's coverage. Handle on the Law dot Com. Absolutely where

(08:23):
you go.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
This is Handle on the Law.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Welcome back and Handle on the Law Marginal Legal Advice.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Sue, Hello, Sue, welcome, Oh hi.

Speaker 7 (08:36):
Thank you. My mom purchased a property a lot in
Florida in the seventies. The title is in her name
and her four.

Speaker 5 (08:45):
Children, which includes me.

Speaker 7 (08:47):
It was written as tenants in common. It should have
been joint tenancy. We're finding out my sister passed away.
My mom submitted a certificate and the per property ownership
is now in her estate, which would be her husband Okay, hang.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
On a second, the proper wait wait wait wait, the
property ownership is now in mom's estate.

Speaker 7 (09:13):
No, I'm sorry, it's in my mom's name.

Speaker 5 (09:16):
Yeah, and also also her four children, right.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
I get that? Is mom gone? Is mom dead?

Speaker 2 (09:23):
No?

Speaker 8 (09:23):
My sister is?

Speaker 1 (09:25):
Oh okay, so so.

Speaker 7 (09:27):
So her part is now in her estate?

Speaker 2 (09:33):
Which right, it goes? Yeah, it's yeah, she owns the property.
Her estate owns the twenty percent of the property. That's correct.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
So how do we.

Speaker 7 (09:41):
Get that ownership off of the property.

Speaker 1 (09:44):
You get it.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
By the heirs agreeing to it. The estate has to
agree to get her name off. And why would and
why would they get her name off? You got let's
say she has kids. Let's say she has a husband. Okay,
the dead sister, right, so her heirs, Oh, it's they

(10:05):
own twenty percent of the property. You can't just arbitrarily say, uh,
you know what, you don't have the you don't own
the property anymore.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
But we inherit it. We have twenty percent of the property.
We don't care. We're gonna get me.

Speaker 7 (10:19):
How do we get him off? Does he need to
open probate or how do we know they can?

Speaker 1 (10:24):
No?

Speaker 2 (10:24):
No, no, it's whoever owns that twenty percent. You pay
those people off and they just transfer their ownership. But
there has to be a transfer. So has the property
already been transferred to the five of you?

Speaker 7 (10:42):
I don't understand.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
Okay, okay, the five of you own the property. Correct,
it's in your names? Yes, okay, one of the.

Speaker 3 (10:51):
Five has died, yes, my sister.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
Okay, So with one of the five died, you just
bring in the air of your sister. They take the
place of your sister. So it's just as if your
sister was alive and you call her and say, I
want your name off the property.

Speaker 1 (11:13):
Do you think you have the right to do that?

Speaker 7 (11:17):
Well, I want her husband off of it?

Speaker 3 (11:21):
Is it?

Speaker 2 (11:22):
He's the heir r he is entitled to that property,
and it's her name is already on it, so her
part her estate has to be probated. But unless you
pay someone or they agree their names are not off,
you can't take owners and say we want you off
the property.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
Can you understand?

Speaker 2 (11:42):
How about if someone calls you up, Sue and says,
you know what, we want your name off the property. No,
I still own it. We don't care, we want your
name off.

Speaker 7 (11:56):
Well, I've already talked to him about it. So does
he need to open in probit to sign off on
that particle.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
No, there won't be a prob Yes, there has to
be a probate on her Yeah, you know that's a
little complicated because it depends on how it was held
and how he has to inherit. Yeah, there probably has
to be a probate where the property transfers to him,
and yeah, yeah, but you're not going to be able

(12:24):
to get him. He can't even sell the property because
it's not even in his name. It's in his dead
wife's name. So yeah, it's yeah, it's a little complicated.

Speaker 7 (12:35):
How much is it worth, Sue, Oh golly, I don't
not that much. Maybe seventy thousand.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Oh so it's five of you splitting up seventy thousand.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
Yes, wow, there's not much there.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
So that's a summary probate even just yeah that you
can't even hire a lawyer for that. You've got to
do it on your own. So you just follow the
rules of probate and you just you get to do
research because you're not going to hire a lawyer for
twelve thousand dollars of inheritance.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
That doesn't make any sense, Sam, welcome to handle on
the law.

Speaker 5 (13:10):
Hey, gibil so sure. So one of my friends he
basically retired a long time ago, and he had irrevocable trust.

Speaker 2 (13:24):
And he had what he had an irreq irrevocable, well,
irrevocable trust, not irrevocable trust or revocable. God, I thank
you for doing that, because you screwed my pronunciation. So
he had he had an irrevocable trust or a revocable trust,
which one irrevocable.

Speaker 5 (13:44):
Okay, and his wife passed away about ten years ago,
and now he wants to transfer his property to my name.
And there's some complications because you know, his wife passed
away and he can give his hard to me. So
what we did is trying to do.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
Why not? Why can't he give you his part to you?

Speaker 5 (14:08):
Well, the attorneys are saying that this fifty person belonged
to is the sister in law and the daughter, So
that I don't.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
Understand how if it's an If it's an irrevocable trust,
no one's owned, no one owns anything. The trust owns
it and you can't touch it. So he doesn't own anything.
The trust owns everything, and he doesn't have the right
except be a beneficiary unless.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
He's a trustee of the trust.

Speaker 5 (14:39):
He is, he was, He is the trustee of the trust.

Speaker 1 (14:42):
Yes, and so is.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
The trust door dead already? The person that wrote to trust.
Is that person dead?

Speaker 1 (14:49):
His life is dead?

Speaker 5 (14:50):
Oh I don't know.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
His wife is dead. But it's it's the terms of
the irrevocable trust. It can't be touched. It no longer
belongs to anybody other than the trust, and the trustee
has the right to do whatever the trust allows the
trustee to do.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
So who's the trustee?

Speaker 5 (15:12):
He is the trustee, okay, So.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
He has the right. Okay.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
So he has the right under the terms of the
trust to transfer property. Is that correct?

Speaker 5 (15:24):
Well, my understanding, he does not have. He only can
transfer his part, which is fifteen okay, not his wise part.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (15:31):
So your question, in my question is he wants to
transfer the property to my name. And he also helped
me little bit some of his finances. Once in a
while he sends me five hundred dollars jack just at
the game.

Speaker 1 (15:43):
Okay, birthday, right, So what's what's your question? Sam?

Speaker 5 (15:46):
The question is a few days ago, some Social Security
people that came over and they say, hey, you are
being taken advantage of this this guy, Sam, And he goes, no,
he non, but this here, we're going to open a
case and.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
No, no, that's I don't understand that Social Security is
saying that you are taking advantage of your friend. Yes, okay,
that sounds pretty scammy to me. You if you want
to do all the changes? How big are we talking
about the estate?

Speaker 1 (16:22):
Sam? How much does he want to transfer proper to you?
How big a deal?

Speaker 5 (16:26):
It's above eight hundred?

Speaker 3 (16:27):
Ok?

Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah, it's time to get a lawyer.

Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah, get a trust in a state lawyer right now
to pick this up and talk to him and talk
to you and set up whatever it is.

Speaker 1 (16:37):
Because this sounds like a god awful mess.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
I see, get one for eight hundred thousand dollars. For
eight hundred thousand dollars, you're not going to spend a
few thousand dollars on a lawyer.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
Please.

Speaker 5 (16:50):
I know I have a lawyer, we al, we recently
hired a lawyer. But I'm just concerned. How can I
protect myself?

Speaker 2 (16:57):
Because you asked the lawyer, Well, it depends you get
a lawyer, and that's how you protect yourself. You make
sure that a lawyer protects you. That's what lawyers are about.
That's why you pay lawyers. So get a trust and
estate lawyer on your own, not on the not the
trust lawyer, your lawyer. This is Handle on the Law.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
Welcome back Handle on the Law. Bill Handle here marginal
Legal Advice. Hey Gina, welcome to Handle on the Law.

Speaker 6 (17:34):
Hi, how are you, mister Handle? Longtime listener?

Speaker 1 (17:38):
Thank you. I guess what can I do for you?

Speaker 2 (17:41):
Question?

Speaker 6 (17:42):
So my question to you is that my mom's eighty
six leader into a facility near my house five minutes away,
and we were supposed to get her house ready, and
firstly just she was a hoarder, so it was a
long clean up to get the house cleaned up. My

(18:02):
brother and I were supposed to get the house cleaned
up to get it ready for rent or perhaps for
sales my mom passes. My mom is still alive, so
we were supposed to get it ready for rent. However,
this year my brother decided to move his daughter in
and they are living there with no accountability to pay
rent or utilities. I pretty much keep paying everything because

(18:25):
that is my mom requested, And so I'm not really
sure how to move ford because now they're just kind
of living there.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
Okay, got it. So I'm going to throw a few
questions at you and we'll figure this out. First of all,
your mom died when? How long ago?

Speaker 6 (18:42):
No, she's not. She's still alive.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
Oh, she's still but in a facility. Okay. Who owns
the house? She does in her name.

Speaker 6 (18:49):
It's it's her name and her business name. And there
is a trust, a revocable trust, and we were supposed
to get the house rent.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
Okay, who is the trustee?

Speaker 6 (19:01):
Both my brother and I.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
Oh, he's also the trustee. And he's the one that
moved in.

Speaker 6 (19:07):
No, he moved in his daughter.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
Okay, So he's not going to help you. You've got
a mess on your hands. What you're going to have
to do is, jeez, this is a god awful mess.
Is I'm just trying to think the trustee has the
right to throw the daughter out, has a right to
evictor The problem is there are two of you that

(19:33):
are the trustee, one of which is the wrongdoer. You
get to go to a trust and estate lawyer. I
cannot figure out any other way of doing it. If
I was in that same situation, that's what I would do,
because I think it's going to take. Yeah, I think
it's going to take a court order to have you
have the ability to throw out the daughter. The problem

(19:55):
is that the trustee can let anybody move in under
any circumstance.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
You, as the other trustee, are saying no.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
So you've got co trustees, each of you having the
power to either keep the daughter in or throw the
daughter out. And I don't know which way it's going
to go. How much power you have. Maybe you can
get I don't even know, get half of the value

(20:24):
of the rent on behalf of the irrevocable trust. Actually
it would all go to the trust. If you could
get the rent. It's gonna take. It's going to take
a judge to figure.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
This one out.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
You're gonna need a lawyer on this, and you're gonna
be able to pay yourself. I think out of the trust,
get yourself paid back, because I think part.

Speaker 6 (20:46):
Of I thought that. I kind of looked it up
on the internet, so I got some research on it,
and I understood that and all that, but the fact
that they're that, you know, the daughters living there and
it is my niece. Okay, so let me.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
Ask you this, Are you okay with a daughter living
there until your mom dies and the house is transferred
and then the I assume the transfer goes to you
and your brother, right, that's who's going to own the house. Yes, okay,
So with that in mind, so the house transfers and
you're without trying to sound too depressing, although for me

(21:27):
it's never depressing talking about people dying.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
I happen to like that.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
How close to popping off is your mom?

Speaker 6 (21:36):
You know, she's just this little German lady that just
keeps living and ticketing man.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
How old is she?

Speaker 6 (21:43):
She's eighty six, but ice where she will live to
one hundred?

Speaker 2 (21:45):
Okay, Well, yeah that's a problem. So let me how
much is this house worth?

Speaker 6 (21:52):
Probably close to a million?

Speaker 1 (21:54):
All right? So, and there's no mortgage on it.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
No, you know, I got to tell you, you know,
the value the money is getting very close to being
worth killing your mom off.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
You know that.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
I mean, if it was only a couple hundred thousand dollars,
I'd say no, But you're getting up in the let's
kill mom range, but.

Speaker 6 (22:14):
Donuts with it?

Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yeah, then there's I understand.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
Okay, So with that being said, coffee and German donuts
over the next x number of years for half a
million dollars, you get to figure out how much every
cup of coffee is. So here are your choices. Choice
number one is just let the niece live there. Choice
number two is just cutting a deal with your brother

(22:37):
and saying, hey, you know what, this isn't fair. But
the money goes to the trust, doesn't go to you.
You have to understand that the money, any rent goes
into the trust and your brother is going to get
half of it, so you may want to cut a
deal with him, or the niece just lives for free
in that place. Now, who's paying all the payments? I'm

(22:57):
assuming the trust is right, I have.

Speaker 6 (23:01):
All access to all my mom's face.

Speaker 2 (23:03):
I don't know it's but who is it coming. Is
it coming out of your mom's money or are you
paying out of pocket?

Speaker 6 (23:10):
No, out of my mom's money.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
Okay, so you're not being damaged. It's the trust that's
being damaged. And on behalf of the trust. You can
try to evict super money or just evicted, but her dad,
who is also a trustee, is not going to let
you unless you want to scramble this and go to
court and spend some money, of which the trust will pay,

(23:32):
by the way, because it's on behalf of the trust.

Speaker 1 (23:36):
Then you know, you let a go niece gets it
for free, or.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
You say to brother, hey, you know she can't get
it for free. This is going to be our stuff,
and if not, give me half of it.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
And that's all you can do. And yeah, it's it's
a little complicated. A million dollars when is that worth killing?

Speaker 2 (23:53):
Yeah, yeah, I still think so. I still think so.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
All right, hey, Robert, welcome to handle on the law.

Speaker 8 (24:05):
Hullo, Belle. This is an inheritance issue involving my parents,
who were actually divorced maybe forty forty five years ago,
but just something came up recently, just to give you
some background. When they divorced that long ago, they pretty
much used my father's lawyer in those days, you know,

(24:27):
it was sort of like just let's get this over with,
and my mother got a small piece of property which
she sold off pretty quickly because she couldn't afford paying
the property taxes, and my father took the house in Israel.
So forty years later, he's married to a woman that
he was sort of seeing at the time and has
two kids, and he's willed everything to her. I mean,

(24:51):
it's not that all the kids aren't getting something through
a life insurance policy. But this house is quite valuable
and he's willed it to her, and including some other
properties and houses and then to life.

Speaker 1 (25:05):
Correct.

Speaker 8 (25:06):
Yes, okay, but my mother recently showed me a letter
that was written before they divorced, in my father's handwriting,
that promises to give that house in Israel to my
sister and I and it's handwritten and it's signed. I
don't know, is there any legal standing to contest anything
like that, because that house is really worth a lot,

(25:28):
and you know, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Nope, nope, nope, nope. Letters intent, letters, they mean nothing.
It's whatever is the documents, the will itself giving it
to her is contriving here a letter that says I
promise to do this, especially forty years ago, and even
if you could contest it, and let's say you did,

(25:51):
because there are people who would.

Speaker 1 (25:53):
Contest it under those circumstances.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
The argument is this was forty years ago. You think,
don't you think someone has a right to change their
mind over forty years.

Speaker 8 (26:03):
I guess so. But it seems like, you know, my
mother at the time, she was sort of, you know,
kind of not getting her own lawyer. There was one lawyer.
But you got nothing wrong with it.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
Robert, you have nothing to do with that. That is
your mom.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
Probably your dad probably screwed your mom out of property
that she would have been entitled to under the divorce.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
But that was forty years ago, so those days are
long gone.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
And the will says I'm giving you this property, and
a letter from forty years ago say I promise you
means absolutely nothing.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
So the answer is no, you don't. You know, it
goes to the wife.

Speaker 3 (26:43):
You know.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
It's just that simple.

Speaker 2 (26:46):
This is handle on the law. This is handle on
the law. Marginal legal advice.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
Keith, Hi, Keith, Welcome, Hello, Keith, you're there.

Speaker 3 (27:02):
Yes, yes, yes, I'm here, Okay, thank you, Bill, Sure, yes, Bill.
I'm a general contractor and I was called out by
an insurance company to go look at some water damage.
The adjusture was busy, she didn't have the time, so
she said, can you be my eyes for me? I
specialized in water and mold damage, so I went out,

(27:25):
took pictures, sent them to the insurance company. They took
a look at him, and they denied the claim. They
said it was long term versus and accidental. So then
the homeowner got an attorney and issuing the insurance company

(27:46):
for bad faith.

Speaker 1 (27:47):
I was claim FA.

Speaker 3 (27:51):
Yeah, so I was claim in this lawsuit as a defendant,
and I had to hire an attorney. So far it's
cost me twelve thousand dollars.

Speaker 2 (28:01):
Right.

Speaker 3 (28:02):
They said I was not qualified to do this, which
I am. I'm a general contract or. I specialize this.
They said I wrote up a report that influenced the adjuster,
which I did not. I didn't write up the report, okay.
And they basically said I was a yes man, saying
fair enough.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
Let me ask you a couple of questions. Uh, did
you write any report?

Speaker 3 (28:25):
Absolutely none, okay?

Speaker 2 (28:27):
And there hold on, And in the complaint in the
document suing you, it says you wrote up a report.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
Is that correct?

Speaker 3 (28:36):
That is correct?

Speaker 2 (28:37):
You got them, You got them. That's a that's a
big case against these guys. That that is abusive process.
That'll making stuff up in part of a lawsuit, just
literally manufacturing it. Is I think enough to toss it?
And and on, Well, you're gonna win anyway, so that
doesn't matter. But that alone allows you to sue the

(29:01):
law firm and the plaintiff.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
For malicious prosecution.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
I had one of those, by the way in which
I was sued and claims were made that I did
ABC and D, and I could prove that I did
none of those things and that the lawyer made it up.
I got a very healthy settlement. Now it took me
a long time. I had to pay for my lawyer, unfortunately.

(29:31):
But at this point you demand that they dropped the
case against you and reimburse you for the money.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
Otherwise you're suing them.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
But you have to wait until the case is over
before you can sue them. Yeah, arguing that you're a
yes man, they have to prove it. That's just an allegation.
What does that mean? You're a yes man? Yes, I
agree to send them the pictures. This is what I
do for a living. Well, that means that you somehow
were there represented well, this is what I do.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
This is the normal course of events.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
What they're doing is blowing smoke and trying to get
money from you, Keith. They're trying to get you to
settle for some of the money and the lawyer knows
based on what you told me that you have no responsibility,
especially with that lie they came up with. Wooh, that's
a problem for them. So yeah, you're gonna go You're
gonna go after him. Unfortunately you're going to Well, let

(30:28):
me ask you, what is it already done? For twelve
thousand dollars. Has he made a motion to have you dismissed?

Speaker 3 (30:34):
He has, He's answered all of the claims that her
attorney made against who which I told you that I
wasn't qualified?

Speaker 2 (30:43):
Right right now, I understand that. I mean those are
questions of fact. I mean you have to allege why
you aren't qualified. I mean, you have a license, this
is what you do, and they're arguing you weren't qualified. Well,
why you can't just say he wasn't qualified. So I
don't know why your attorney has not yet made a
motion to a motion to dismiss you from the lawsuit.

(31:06):
I'm sure he will and at some point. But what
you do is have a sleezeball attorney on the other side. Now,
often they bring in everybody was involved, everybody, but in
order but they have to drop the people who have
nothing to do with it.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
And they should Otherwise it doesn't. Otherwise those people assume him.
You can't do that.

Speaker 2 (31:30):
You can't continue on with a lawsuit against someone that
you know is not valid. So your attorney is just
going to have to file that motion at some point. Now,
there are certain certain things that are a matter of
fact which are not a matter of law. You know,
for example, where something is indisputed, I have a letter

(31:52):
that shows that he accepted liability. Where's the letter. Well,
I'll bring it up a trial. You may come over.
You got to show the letter. Well, I don't have
the letter.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
You have that proof.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
You can't just say here's the allegation, and you bring
up in a deposition early on you're honor.

Speaker 1 (32:11):
There's no proof, there's no letter.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
So yeah, Elizabeth, Elizabeth, welcome to handle on the law.

Speaker 3 (32:22):
Hi.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
Yeah, okay, I'm a crossing guard.

Speaker 6 (32:24):
And so they had a party, and so I want
to raffle.

Speaker 4 (32:27):
I want a prize.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
They gave me a.

Speaker 6 (32:29):
Chair, a little with these little chairs, look at a coordiate.

Speaker 7 (32:33):
You could fold it really flat and you can use
it when you're working.

Speaker 6 (32:35):
So I took it to the.

Speaker 4 (32:36):
Hospital as a visitor friend because they don't.

Speaker 8 (32:39):
Have any chairs there.

Speaker 7 (32:39):
Harley and I sat down and it collapsed, and I
have a pinch nerve and I'm on a walker nowt
And should I go into the doctor and everything?

Speaker 6 (32:46):
Should I call the company and they leavel for that?

Speaker 8 (32:48):
I mean, he should give those chairs out.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
And I'm not fat at all.

Speaker 6 (32:52):
It holds three hudred pounds one hundred and twenty pounds.

Speaker 3 (32:54):
It just collapsed.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
Okay, hurt my back? Now I get the question. First
of all, let me start.

Speaker 2 (32:59):
With I'm getting really sick of these questions about crossing guards,
winning raffles, winning chairs and the chairs collapse and they
get hurt.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
You know that, don't you. I'm just I'm just up
to I'm just up. I'm just up to here with
those questions.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
That's for starters, heard, of course, of course, not it's
the craziest stars, yes, uh.

Speaker 1 (33:23):
Yeah, no, no, it's it's it's it's a good story.
Uh yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
I mean, clearly, the man, the manufacturer, gave you a
defective product. And the only issue here, there's two there's
two issues here, okay. Uh. The the fact is it
was poorly designed or poorly constructed or manufacturer there was
a defect in it.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
I mean there's liability. There.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
Two issues, Okay, two issues though, is number one making
sure it all connects. Uh, and in fact it was
their fault. The fact that it collapse is pretty good proof.
The other issue is your damages. You're how badly you've
been injured? Now you're talking about a pinched nerve and

(34:10):
what else?

Speaker 6 (34:10):
Elizabeth, Well, I'm not sure you're gonna think youre x
ray's doing it. Give you some medicine for my for
the information, and I'm going to walker.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
All right, So here's okay, here's what you have to
do at this point, because you really don't know what
the damages are. But the damages is how much injury? However, Uh,
it could be fairly serious, and you want this on
the record, So I would talk to a medical malp now, no, actually,
a product design attorney, a personal injury attorney is.

Speaker 1 (34:41):
Who you want to talk to you.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
Now, the issue becomes they're not going to do something
unless you're really banged up.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
You know that is permanent injuries. Hope, I heard.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
I mean frankly, legally, i'd rather have you lose one
of your legs because that that that.

Speaker 1 (34:59):
Becomes a a better case. But it could be fairly serious.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
So at this point you call, you get hold of
a personal injury lawyer just to see where you stand
and what they may do. The personal injury lawyer is
simply set it up. In the event that there's some injury.
We've got all the we've got all the ducks in
a row. So go to handle on the law dot
com because we have personal injury lawyers there and you'll

(35:23):
talk to one of them, just do You'll see the
phone number up there, and just attack to them and
say you talk to me, and just saying is there
anything there?

Speaker 1 (35:32):
And if there and could there be something there? And
see if that works.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
The old crossing Guard, although I don't know what that
had to do with it, and then winning the chair
and a raffle that's kind of a weird you know
raffle in the meantime, you know, you could win over
a billion dollars in one of the lotteries. But you know,
the collapsing chair. I mean, that's better than not having one.
I'll buy that, all right. Let me put you in

(35:59):
a scenario where you're speaking to someone up close, or
you're in a group of people, or you wake up in.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
The morning and you breathe on the mirror. In the mirror.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
Almost cracks because of your bad breath. Yeah, we all
suffer from bad breath, every one of us. Morning breath,
coffee breath, onions, garlic, I mean all of it.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
So what do you do? Well?

Speaker 2 (36:20):
You can slug down a mint and suck on this
spearmint or peppermint and it takes care of the bad
breath in your mouth for a couple of hours. Or
let me give you a better suggestion, Zelman's minty Mouth.
Now Here is a little capsule on this parsley seed
oil covered with a very strong minty flavor. You suck

(36:41):
on the mint part and then you bite into the
capsule or you swallow it and it gets to work
in your stomach. Because people don't realize that bad breath
comes out of your stomach.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
That's where the food goes too. So Zelmans is a
double hit.

Speaker 2 (36:54):
You can only get Zelmons by the way online Zelmons
dot com, z l MS Zelmans dot com. That's Zelmans
dot com. This is Handle on the Law.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle show.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
Catch my show Monday through Friday six am to nine
am and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app,