(04/29) 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. I don'tknow if you've ever been on a cruise
I have. I love cruises.It's I've been on cruising since I've probably
started when I was mid thirties.So at that time I was I cheated

(00:21):
because I pretended I was a lotolder and won the wheelchair races. And
they finally caught on saying, youknow what, it's not fair you against
the eighty year old, even ifyou look like you're eighty. So here's
what happens on cruise lines. There'sa point to this, and the point
is is that older people tend togo on cruise lines, and the more

(00:43):
expensive the cruise line, and actuallythe smaller the ship, the older the
people. Are those big, hugeRoyal Caribbeans for example, that have six
thousand people, a lot of families, etc. All right, those are
that's a younger skewing crowd. Nowyou get the small ones, celebrity cruises,
hiking cruises, these are pretty highend cruise lines. They tend to

(01:03):
be smaller and older people, andinevitably people die on those trips. I
mean, it just happens so celebritycruise. This is one of those.
And here's a lawsuit that's really kindof interesting. Most cruise ships have morgues,
I mean out and out morgues.Now smaller ships sometimes don't. So

(01:26):
there is a woman and her familywas on a celebrity cruise and her husband
died on the cruise. I meanthere's no foul play or anything. He
just died. And what ended uphappening is they take his body like they
do when people die, and inthis case, they put him in a
storage locker, a cold room thathad beverages in it, and this is

(01:51):
quite often they do this, orthey put him in freezers, etc.
And so the bodies don't rot.Now, this is in the Caribbean where
it gets hotter than hell, andit looks like the cooler wasn't working.
So Robert Jones ended up dying ofa heart attack this past summer and they

(02:13):
put him inside this cooler that wasn'tproperly chilled like she was promised, and
he was in there for a week. Mmmm. Needless to say, well,
I don't want to get too graphic. His body was bloated and green
and falling apart. And the familywas unable to have an open coffin funeral

(02:37):
as the families did long standing custom, and of course they sued celebrity.
And I think that's going to happen. I think it's gonna be a good
lawsuit. One thing about lawsuits withdead people emotional distress. It's not wrongful
death or anything, because he haddied of a heart attack. It's just
the emotional distressed family goes through.Now, emotional distress normally doesn't fly.

(02:58):
Yeah, I can't sleep, I'vegot hysterics. If I ever see a
car again, I'll go out ofmy mind. That sort of thing,
which is usually craphole up. Butwhen it comes to dead people in the
family, that's usually a pretty goodcase. You know, Uncle Murray falling
out of the bottom of the casketin front of everybody at the funeral.
That's good. That's good. AndRobert Jones dying of a heart attack and

(03:20):
bloating and being green. Yeah,that's good. That's very good. So
there's gonna be a hell of alawsuit, there, no question about there
about that. All right, phonecalls, we'll start with you, John,
Hello, John, Welcome to handleon the law. Oh yeah,
love listening to the station. Ilearned a lot from you, thank him.

(03:42):
I live in West Virginia and Itravel out of single lane road going
to work every day. And therewas a tremendous pothole and it obviously it
comes out into the road, soit's not only just on the side,
and normally I can miss it,but there was a car oncoming that would

(04:03):
not get over. I hit thepothole and it cracks my pumper cover.
It bends both front and rear mson the passenger side. Now I called
are claimed that West Virginia has andthey're basically saying that it will more than
likely not be covered. And Isent pictures. I took pictures of the

(04:29):
hole. I took pictures with myfoot in the hole. Yeah, no,
we don't worry about that. Imean that part. I understand.
No one's arguing there wasn't a potholethere. No one's going to argue that
it didn't cause all kinds of damageto your car. And as you say,
in West Virginia, there is aprogram that you can call and there
is a pothole filling program. Correctcorrect, Yeah, okay, but the

(04:54):
very next day isn't okay, allright, I mean okay, so they
did, so let me ask you. They so they wan't had you complained.
They went ahead and filled it thenext day, so that was timely.
So what is your question? Allright, the lady. The way
the lady talked to me is thatthese claims rarely get approved. Um,

(05:14):
with all the documentation I have,with the pictures that I have, and
just a simple fact that they clipyou know, fixed it the very next
day. I mean, is itsomething like basically you can't fight city hall.
Yeah, it's it's it's a littlemore than that. First of all,
you have the issue of there's await. I mean, there's uh

(05:35):
in on my street. We hadthese insane rains recently, as you know,
uh potholes were insane uh. Andwe complained and it took three or
four days, which is considered insanelyquickly. So they filled it. Now
here's uh and there's a program andso they they met their requirements. We

(05:56):
have a program you called. Thenext day, we came in and fixed
it. The issue is the factthat they fixed it the next day.
Okay, are they more liable?Let me give you one rule of law
that is across the board. Fixingsomething after the fact cannot be used in
court because nothing would ever be fixed. That's not an admission of guilt.

(06:19):
And if they came out and fixedit timely, you got no place to
go. So I think it Soit's not City Hall because City Hall reacted
timely. I mean, next dayisn't bad after getting a complaint. Now
there could be complaints that have gonethere forever, for weeks and weeks.

(06:39):
But again, let's say I hear. For example, let's say they have
three hundred thousand complaints, which theydid after the rains. Someone's got to
go first, and someone's got togo at the end. They don't have
the ability to fix three hundred thousandpotholes the same day. So if they
act reasonably, they've acted reasonably.Do you have insurance, by the way,

(07:00):
apprehensive on your card? I donot have the comprehensive Virginia. Yeah,
that's why the State of West Virginia, they don't offer comprehensive. Of
course they do. Well, no, not on the like I said,
I just have the minimum so Idid, okay, all right, well
yeah, yeah, yeah, that'sfair. Usually it's minimum liability. So

(07:21):
the answers you really have no placeto go. Uh. And you know
that's the chances you take. Youknow, you buy a lot of insurance,
which I do, and you justtake your shot at it. And
how much is my deductible? Fivehundred dollars? So if the bill is
six hundred dollars or eight hundred dollars, I'm not going to file for insurance.
If it's several thousand, I'm goingto because every time, of course,

(07:43):
you file for insurance, you getnailed. Hello, Jim, you're
up welcome to handle on the law, right handle? So can you hear
me? Yeah? Okay, SoI gotta be in court on Monday for
a citation. I got a coupleof weeks ago, so streaking in public
open container. Um. But Inoticed, just looking at the ticket that

(08:07):
the cop wrote down the wrong date. He wrote down twenty twenty two.
So I was wondering if I couldget dismissed on that techniccount. No,
I don't think so, And I'lltell you why. First of all,
people are allowed to make mistakes.Second of all, Uh, he has
you, he's got the license platenumber, he has the color of the

(08:28):
car. I um, oh,well, okay, so are you gonna
claim. Are you gonna claim outrightyou weren't in the car. No,
I wasn't in the car. Iwas walking down the street. So how
could you get an open Oh I'msorry, you had an open container on
the street. Yeah, okay,sorry, I misunderstood. I thought it

(08:50):
was open container at a vehicle.Okay, so you're boy walking down the
street, open container. And sohe put down the wrong date. He
put down instead of twenty twenty three, puts down twenty twenty two. And
here here's the problem, and thatis, uh, that is such a
minor mistake that you know he hasyour ID. You would have to effectively

(09:16):
prove or at least bring up somereasonable doubt that you were someplace else that
you weren't even there, and thentry to explain no, no, no,
I understand. But when when itwas written, he says, here,
you are open container X date onthis date. I have your ID.
That and you're saying, well,you put down the wrong year by

(09:37):
one. So you put down insteadof twenty twenty two, you put down
instead of twenty twenty three, youput down twenty twenty two. Uh,
when you talk about that's not atechnicality, that lets people off. What
it is is either variations in thelaw, or prove that you weren't there,
or at least have reasonable doubt.For example, someone willing to say
no, he was at my houseat that time and willing to swear under

(10:01):
the penalty of perjury and lie incourt. And I don't know if you
have friends that are willing to dothat. I don't have any friends that
are willing to perjure themselves. Andif if you can approve that it was
the date that it's not written onthere, no, it's a mistake.
It's he made a mistake. Yeah, he put down And so how often

(10:22):
do you write twenty twenty three insteadof twenty twenty twenty twenty two. I
mean when I used to do checkbooks, and I still write checks occasionally for
the first three months, I makea mistake as to the year. So
I don't think. I don't thinkyou're going to get off and you're going
to have to say I wasn't there. That is a problem. Uh.

(10:43):
So when they talk about technicalities,uh, you're going to plead it was
a mistake. Uh and it orthat wasn't the appropriate year. Therefore your
honor let me out and I'm notguilty because of that. But it's it's
not going to happen. Uh,it really isn't you know. For example,
it's the same it's along the samelines. If I got a ticket

(11:03):
and says my car is gray,but it's really blue. But they have
your driver's license, they have yourlicense plate, they have yeah, you
know it's um no, that's notgonna work. All right, Chuck,
you're up. Hello, Chuck,welcome, Hey, how you doing handle?
You got my situation. I wasat a Indian casino and I had
my little malt stock with me andI trip and fell to one of their

(11:24):
planners. It was totally accidental andcaught by surprise. And I'm sixty four
years old, and it messed upmy hurt my leg, you know what
I'm saying. Yeah, And guycame over the wold up the report.
He says, we have to writeup a report. You know, you
fell down. He saw it andeverything, and so you know, I
got up to throw embarrassed, likeyou know, when right sid I got
money on the machine, I wentover to the machine. He followed me,
and he fell out this report andhad me signed it. Whatever,

(11:45):
says breakdown what happened, I wrote, turned the coroner trip and fell and
later on, but my lay startedprobing me. You know, my knee
was certainly I'm walking like you know. Okay, so you were injured.
So you were injured with the emergencyand had that. Okay, No,
so okay, you're written, allright, you were injured, and so
let's say there was some injury thereanybody. Well, let's start with any
long term injuries. I I don'tknow. I'm sixty five, am like

(12:09):
right now? You know, sure, I'm really built any now? But
have you gone to the doctor?I think? Have you gone to the
doctor? Chuck? Yeah? Yeah, I got a specials I gotta go
see on Tuesday. Okay, soyou don't know yet what the damages are.
Okay, we set that aside becauseyou could have long term damage,
okay, a long term person.I went to a lawyer, and the
lawyers that they can't They kept mewrong, and I took all the papers,
signed up within everything and send themall the pictures and everything that I

(12:31):
had to where it happened. Andthe lawyer didn't take great, can't help
me. Yeah, I'll tell youwhy. Yeah, I know, of
course the lawyer couldn't take it.I wouldn't take it. And I'll tell
you why. First of all,I need a lawyer. I'm pardon,
I needed a tribal layers. Indianslike a different country. Yeah, it
is so well, it is sovereigncountry. I don't know any tribal lawyers.
Uh. And it's I think thereare tribal lawyers a suit that sue

(12:54):
tribes. But that's not the point. The point is you don't have a
case anyone. The point is youdon't have a case anyway. And tell
you why. By the way,thank you very much for telling me.
It was accidentally and you didn't purposelygo into the planter. Uh, you
saw the planter corner. I hadthe dog in my arms. I couldn't
see what the planter down below.That's your fault. That's your fault that

(13:15):
you had the dog in your arms. What did they do wrong? What
did what did the tribe do therebefore? When? When did they put
it in? No idea? Okay, so the planner wasn't there before,
and you had the dog in yourarms, and I guess you weren't looking
too where the planner was and youtook a fall. I looked at you.
I looked up. I looked upbecause right when I cast that out,
I looked up. In there's awall, you know, goes along

(13:37):
in there's the corner. It's liketwo steps to the corner. And I
turned away from your school and youdidn't notice the dog in my arms,
and you didn't notice. And Iturned the corner and bam, I fell
into it. You didn't notice.Well, I think you're gonna have a
tough time because and I'll tell youwhy if it were, it's the Malts.
That's the issue. That is whatthe law really looks at. Am.

(14:00):
I wish you didn't have a God, I wish you didn't have a
Maltese because in my arms I heldit. I know, I know,
I understand that, I know,but I'm telling you it's it's a breed
of the dog. If you lookat the case law, if you look
at the cases that have come down, those are different. But you said,
oh, you said it was aMaltese. Shit suits are good.

(14:22):
God, oh so so its shit. So it was a Maltese. Nah,
you know that's going to screw youup completely. Yeah, the old
Yeah I know, but yeah,I know, but yeah, but you
know. I'm sorry. You know, yeah, a little Yorkie would have
worked, uh Maltese, maybe alittle Bijon Frez. You know those are

(14:43):
up in the air. Uh sothe law is very very particular. This
is handle on. I'm sorry.Oh yeah, I'm gonna go get refunds.
I'm sorry. That's my fault,and I put the paperwork aside.
This is why I get paid thebig bucks. If you own a small
business and you happen to get throughCOVID, there's a program out there,

(15:07):
and you were able to retain fiveor more employees, you could be eligible
for a payroll tack tax refund aboutthe twenty six thousand dollars per employee.
And that's get refunds dot Com.You'll answer a few questions see if your
business qualifies for this tax tax refundand there's no charge upfront either. You'll
see if your business qualifies for thattax refund by going to get refunds dot

(15:31):
com. They don't get paid untilunless you get paid. And businesses of
all types can qualify, including thosethat took PPP money. Nonprofits had increases
in sales, professional corporations. They'vealready returned over three billion dollars to businesses,
including mine. So go to getRefunds dot Com. Click on the
qualify mebutton, answer a few questions, and you get started. Get refunds

(15:54):
dot Com. Get Refunds dot Com. Tanya, Hello Ton, Yeah,
Hi, Yes, I have adilemma for you. I'd been married to
my husband for fifty plus years.WHOA yes, Uh he started uh staying

(16:15):
out, uh, coming in,drinking holly intoxicated uh for days. Then
it was weeks and so he finallyjust left and he was he was he
was living with this other lady thathe actually had been doing work for and

(16:37):
uh and so uh so uh hehe just totally walked off and left abandon
and so and so. Uh SoI got the first of wayer I got.
He told me that he could probablyget me the house at what he
did, and a large sum ofmoney because of his age. And so

(17:00):
I stayed with him over a year, and he said that he got their
phone records. He about had tosue the company to get them. So
after that happened, and I've beengoing back and forth to court. He
was also sent a restraining order notto not to take off any marital property
from the residence. Okay. Andso after that she came to my house

(17:22):
trying to get into my house,walk right into the garage, trying to
get into my house, threatening me. So I call the police. Good
for you, and he told meto go up and take a restraining order
on her. If you don't,he said, she'll be back. No,
No, you don't need a restrainingorder, runner, just call the
police every time she shows up.That's trespassing. Well, well, he
told me that he'd be thirty minutesor longer before he could get out.

(17:48):
Before what you get out to cometo come out to my house? The
police? Yes, yeah, butthe police are it's gonna take. It's
gonna take thirty minutes. Does whetherthey're enforcing a a court order or they're
coming out for trespassing. And they'regonna come out quicker for a trespasser than
they will to enforce a restraining order. So you're still better off calling the

(18:10):
police. I call it. Idid, and he suggested that I go
up and do the restraining order.While I did that, he came to
court with her and the judge orderedher to not have any contact with the
will Tanya, why are you?Why are you paying attention to what he
is saying. Who is saying?Who? Your husband? Your ex husband?

(18:33):
Why are you paying attention at allto what he's saying. Well,
it wasn't what he was saying.He had to go to court because of
her coming out here. Oh,you didn't have to go to court.
No, you just call the policefor trespassing. But let's go on.
Okay. So yeah, there's arestraining order. The judge says to the
woman, stay away from Tanya.Okay, fair enough, So they ever

(18:56):
restraining order. So what's the nextwhat happened next? All right? Then
then after the after my first lawyer, God told me he got the phone
records. Well, then my husbandhas he's taken almost everything from here,
all of his equipment and things thathe worked with. So I had to
go back to court, Uh signa paper for him to have his clothes

(19:18):
and had had the had his othervehicle, which was uh, he bought
a new garage. Tania, thisis going this is going a little bit
too long, and but fall asleep. So uh, tell me what the
end all is? What's your question? All right? What? What?
What? What he's telling is helived in a toxic environment and that he
had to leave. So my firstlawyer told me that we were right at

(19:42):
the end of deposition and he said, I can't represent you anymore. And
that's great. That's crast, hesaid, because I didn't answer my emails.
Oh that's boy, Tanya, that'sthat's crap. All. I don't
know what kind of lawyer you had, but clearly is crap. Where do
you live? What state do youlive in? I'm in North Carolina?
Well, North Carolina, okay,So let me ask you this. I'm

(20:03):
assuming North Carolina has uh close tothe same laws that we do here.
Uh, and that is uh.And you're asking about spousal support because you
didn't answer emails. Therefore he doesn'thave to pay spousal support or somehow he's
in the right after a fifty fiveyear marriage. Uh, Tanya, you
are getting a crap load of crapadvice. Uh get another lawyer. Uh

(20:30):
you are another one. I haveanother one and I'm just beginning with him.
My second visit was okay, sowhat's your what's your question, Tanya.
Well, he's telling me that,you know, he's not sure that
he can get me spousal support orthat after fifty five years, and what
and what is the reason that hecan't get you spousal support? Is that?

(20:52):
What? What does he say?Lay, he's telling me that he's
saying that because my husband has toldsaying he's told his lawyer has been untrue.
Okay, so everything Wait a second, So everything that your husband has
done is a lie. Therefore youare not going to get spousal support.
Do I have that right? Yes? Oh, come on, Tidy,

(21:15):
please, So all anybody has todo that is hilarious. So all anybody
has to do is lie and thatwill make no spousal support. Please,
he said. The reason he saidhe is n he's ning. It doesn't
matter what he's doing, doesn't matterthat what he's renting, you're going to
get. It's a question of howmuch spousal support. And if the judge

(21:37):
will say you get whatever X numberof dollars, then he can move.
No judge is going to reduce yourspousal support. You know, I just
don't get it. Maybe maybe SouthCarolina is different, But how crazy does
that sound? All you have todo is lie and you don't have to
pay spousal support? Okay, fairenough? Why not? Hi Darrel?

(22:00):
Welcome? Hi bill. I hadbreak work done at a mom and pop
company and a few days later Ileft on a road trip and my brake
pedal started to fade. So I'mabout three hundred miles from home. I
make it into a national chain andthey said the brake line had come down,

(22:26):
it wasn't properly and the brake fluidleaked and I'd have new pads and
it damaged worked at the mom andpop company, didn't do it damage the
master cylinder, booster and the ABA. Right, so you got a lot
of damage. You got a lotof damage. And I'm assuming that national
chain said it was related to thebreak job that Mom and Palm break company

(22:51):
put in. Do I have thatright? Okay? Good? So what's
your question is can I sue themcompany? Yes, yes, of course
you can sue. They're the onesthat are fault. But let me ask
you, why would you ever goto a small company that the sign says
mom and pop break company. Well, I had two estimates, one from

(23:15):
a national chain, and they wantedas much for one axel as the mom
and pop wanted for both. ThatOkay, what does that I mean?
You know? Okay, let melet me go back If you have a
good mom and pop place to go, fine, you're going to get it
much cheaper than the national chain oreven the dealership. Dealership is really where

(23:38):
you get paid. The problem isthere is no way to ascertain. There's
no way to vet mom and popbreak company without doing research. Yelp reviews,
you do how long they've been inbusiness, are their lawsuits against them?
That's all public documents. Now,most people don't do that. I

(24:00):
don't know if I would do that. You know what I do. I'm
an idiot. I go to dealershipsand I spend way too much Monday to
have it fixed. But I knowif there's a problem, they're going to
take care of it. Same thingwith a national chain. That's not to
say you are wrong by going toa mom and pop company. What it
is is that you take more chances. The bottom line is, yes,

(24:21):
you can sue, it doesn't matter. They are going to be responsible for
all of it. You just needproof that there's a connection. Back we
go and I asked you, didnational chain say that all of your break
problems, everything that happened, theleak, etc. Was a result of
the break job that you had formom and pop, that's going to be
the problem. Other than that,you're going to be fine. It's a

(24:42):
good lawsuit. It's a good lawsuit. And now they couldn't get parts right
away, it's a hotel or lossto work. I don't know. It
depends on the judge. It dependson the judge. They couldn't get parts.
So let me ask this, whatif they tried to get parts?
What if parts weren't available? Whatif they argue supply chain problems because of

(25:03):
recent problems that they had. Youknow, if they've acted reasonably, you
can't hang You can't hang them forthat, but certainly all the other damages
you're responsible for. And that's agood question, by the way, in
terms of the hotel exid or wheredo you go with that depends on the
judge. If I'm the judge,they're gonna go, hey, did you
act reasonable? Did you try toorder the part? Are they available?
Then I'm not gonna tag you forthat. Crazy Mary. I haven't heard

(25:26):
from you in a while. Hi, Mary? But him, By the
way, I just called you likea month ago about you know, Marcus
Stewart's treaty. Later ever called meback. I have a sixty word.
I steel. Yeah, I tried. I tried to have her call you

(25:48):
Mary, but it's you know,I don't know what to tell you.
I digress. I digress. Okay, so let's go on with this question.
No, no, no, that'salways all right, go ahead,
No, no, you're not gonnado that. So here, let's do
let's do today's question. Let's dotoday's question. Okay, okay, okay.

(26:08):
Do I have to pay you ifI become famous and rich? Because
as a Jewish person, um,I have to think how do I make
money? Especially that's anti Semitic atall. As a Jewish person, I
have to make money. If youwere Catholic, you wouldn't have to make

(26:30):
money, you know, because God, God will take care of you.
What okay, go ahead, allright, So okay, I get it.
As a Jewish person, you haveto make money. Mary, you
got a calm down. You gotto calm down, all right? So
what what is So the answer is, I gets a Jewish person, you
have to make money. That's agood basis. There's only one star in
the in the rate of fifty chats, and whose name was Billy Handle.

(26:53):
Because that's up talk. He lookslike I didn't I give a video.
I already have thirty five. It'sthe name of it, just Bill Handle
and the La bill Handle and thechop Liver on YouTube, and I think
it's like best because it stars you. Okay, it's talking cat. Okay,

(27:15):
so you got a talking cat namedbill Handle. You put it up
on YouTube and the cat looks likeme? What is your question? Mary?
The need to get somebody to bemy attorney so that I can get
each one of these contract I'm sorryyou need an attorney because you have to
get each of the pussycats. WhatI sort of lost you there, Mary?

(27:37):
You know like contract like the ownerof the contract. Okay, hold
on a contract for what I'm alittle confused here, well, being a
star or being like, no,you don't need a contract for being a
star. Now now, now,now, you don't need a contract for
being a star. Mary, You'reyou're a star in your own right.
I mean, certainly on this show. Don't get a cup we get but

(28:00):
we get money for it. Whatdo we get money for? What?
I'm not I'm not talking to you. What I mean when I put my
food out to show up all thesepussy cats are gonna get paid. They
are. I'm going to deserve manager. Oh yeah, I got it.
So you're you're talking about between thecourt tracks and you're going to be the
manager. Yeah. Okay, that'sa good one. I've heard worse from

(28:21):
you. You never good attorney thatwould be willing to be my show business
attorney. Uh? Yeah, Iknow some show business attorneys. Yeah who
actually, by the way, whorepresent cats who look like people? Yeah
no, no, I have him, I have him. Yeah, they're
no, they're they're celebrity cat attorneys. Yeah. Yeah, all right,

(28:48):
So here's what I wanted to Yeah. No, this is good, this
is good. You can you havecome up? Mary? Mary? Hold
on a minute, Hang on Mary, And okay Mary, you oh you're
interrupting me. I'm going to hangup on you in a minute. Mary.
I'm going to give you a complimenthere. The reason I call you
crazy Mary because you call on aregular basis and you're really highly entertaining,

(29:11):
and I enjoy these phone calls,and you have come up with some truly
crazy ideas. But getting a celebritycat attorney to represent your fifty two cats,
particularly the one name Bill Handle,that is the whole man what do
you think I'm gonna think about thatone? Huh. I think I think

(29:33):
you have a winner there. Andyes, under those circumstances you need a
certainly you need an entertainment attorney.I happen to have one because I am
represented by an attorney, strangely enough, because most people who have contracts,
I have a contract. But Iam not a cat. That's the problem.
All right. So Mary, here'swhat you do. Uh, you

(29:56):
know what, Just email me,Mary, Just email me. Uh and
uh you and our screener will giveyou the email because uh, I don't
need crazy merry emails. Uh.Okay, you know, not bad.
This is handle on the law.