(05/13) HOTL Hour 2

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 here inCalifornia. Now, California is known as
sort of the nuts and fruits andtwig state, and we are some of
the most liberal cities in the UnitedStates are here, San Francisco probably being
at the top of the heap,la where I live, probably being pretty

(00:22):
close. So there was talk ofreparations for African Americans that descended from slavery.
So if someone's great great great greatgrandfather grandmother was a slave, then
that person deserves reparations from the stateof California. Everybody thought, come on,

(00:43):
that's nuts. Well not everybody,there are a few people. So
what does the state of California do? Takes it seriously, sets up a
task force to study reparations, andthen that task force recommends to the state
legislature what the reparations should be.And there was a whole panoply of different

(01:03):
kinds all the way from real money. Here's a check for up to one
point two million dollars. Someone's beenin the state for X number of years
and lived in a certain neighborhood becauseof redlining, because of racist crimination,
it's not just slavery, it's alsoredlining and the treatment of African Americans by

(01:25):
society in general, and the racismwhich incidentally did occur. I mean,
there's no question about it. Nowthe issue is do we pay people for
that? And that's what this rest, this reparations program is all about.
And someone figured out that if itturns out that the state follows the formula

(01:45):
as established by this task force,it will be the amount of money that
will be paid will be three timesthe annual budget of California. It's in
the trillions of dollars. And sothere'll never be another assuming this goes through.
There'll never be another cop be calledbecause I don't even know nine one

(02:07):
ones at a work because you haveto maintain it, There'll be no money
to maintain it. There will beno roads ever being fixed. I mean,
it's kind of crazy. Now,that's taking it to the extreme.
Granted, I mean this is alittle bit of hyperbole, but at the
same time, the basic premise ofreparations, you know, at some point
it has to go Await. Now, have we paid reparations in the past,

(02:29):
Actually the United States has, andthat is to those who were interned
at the very Japanese Americans who wereinterned at the internment camps during World War
Two. Here's the difference that thosepeople that were paid reparations and I think
it was twenty thousand dollars apiece,were actually interned. They were in the

(02:51):
camps. So if you extrapolate fromthat one and you agree with reparations,
only those people that were slaves wouldget reparations. Aren't too many of those
running around the other I tell youanother historically bit of reparations is that the
German government paid reparations to Jews whowere caught up in the Holocausts, but

(03:15):
only in German held states. Myfather was a Holocaust survivor and he could
not get reparations because his family waskilled in what was then Yugoslavia, and
that was a puppet government of theNazi regime and that was not considered part
of Germany controlled areas. So thereforehe wasn't he wasn't able to collect him,

(03:38):
he didn't didn't meet direct criterium.So anyway, is it going to
go? Of course it's not goingto go. Should it go? Of
course it shouldn't. And finally,we have our governor. Governor Gavin Newsom,
one of the most liberal governors onthe planet, has come back and
do you know what he actually saidabout reparations? No thank you, no

(04:00):
thank you. And what he's talkingabout is not money. And then you
talk about affirmative action in other waysof doing affirmative actions already here and then
the court got rid of it,and now will reparations go. It's going
to go on for a year.But here's the premise. Reparations were at
one time considered pie in the skyamong activists that were in the African American
community. Now it's being taken very, very seriously. All right, let's

(04:24):
go ahead and take some phone calls. We'll start with Randall. Hello,
Randall, welcome to handle on thelaw. Oh Bill, yes, yes,
questions Because I had a solar installedon my house and then, um,
you know, I think good andthen all of a sudden, I
got a summons for another contractor tryingto get money from that main contractor.

(04:47):
They're suing me for six thousand dollars. So I just wandered where the Yeah,
you got to defend it is whatyou do under California contract law.
Subcontract who are not paid by thegeneral contractor can go back and sue the
homeowner just to because that law justprotects them because they got nailed so many

(05:10):
times. So uh, and thecontractor won't sue. I mean the contractor
won't pay you or pay the bill. No, no, the contractor.
I can't even get a hold ofthe contract all right. I want you
to contact the contractor's license board andsee what you can do with that one.
Okay, they have they have differentways of dealing with this. The

(05:32):
State of California contractor's license board.That's the animal you want to get hold
of, because there are certain protectionsfor consumers too. Now, I don't
know if the concept the contractor's licenseboards has an ability to go after or
to deal with a subcontractor. Butthere is a fund uh there that's paid

(05:55):
for by contractors in which money canbe paid paid off. Are we doing
for time? Good? Jan?Hello, Jann, welcome to handle on
the law. Yes, Dan,thank you for taking my call. Here's
the situation. I was seeing afamily practitioner for over three decades and then

(06:15):
he retired a month ago, andso I went in to see the new
doctor. And the new doctor said, you know, you have osteoporosis.
I said, no, I've neverheard of anything like that. And she
said a bone density test was orderedfor me in two thousand and fifteen by

(06:35):
this doctor that now retired. HoweverI never heard anything about it. So
eight years later I see the newdoctor that took over the practice and she
says, I wanted you to takeanother bone density test, and I did,
and the bone density test came backand now it had spread to my

(06:57):
spine and my other hip, andthere was medication. I can take two
shots a year. Those shots wouldhave stopped the progression of that osteoporosis.
But here I am eight years later, I still work. I have to
go up and downstairs. And myson in law, who's a doctor,

(07:18):
said, you know what, Inoticed. Your gate is a little different
now and I feel a lot moretentatives in my walking. So my question
is this, do I have anyrecourse? Yeah? You might, you
might, Yeah you might. Imean it sounds like medical malpractice. There
are two issues here, actually justone issue, and that is whether or

(07:43):
not the progression would have stopped orit would have slowed down dramatically had you
gotten those shots at the time whenit was when you should have been diagnosed
versus now where would you be.I mean, there's an issue there,
big one. And then you're goingafter certainly the previous doctor, and you're
suing your previous doctor for medical malpractice. And if it turns out that he

(08:09):
sold the practice, the new doctormay very well be liable because liabilities go.
Although I don't know if that workswith medical malpractice. That one is
an area of the law that I'mnot familiar with. So it's time to
talk to a med mal attorney.You have to at this point, you've
got to go to a medical malpracticeattorney. Go to handle on the law
dot com for medical malpractice and atleast you'll talk to an attorney who knows

(08:31):
what he or she is doing.And don't fall don't don't fall down.
You know, it'll be really,really careful. That's exactly what the new
doctor said. But the first partof your response is this, okay,
as I've done a lot of readingon it, and the first response that
it would have stopped. Okay,that's a medical issue. That's a medical

(08:52):
issue, okay, jan you haveto ask the doctor because that's all part
of it. As I said,Amada do I have that right, Amada?
Yeah, VCA. I already likedthis phone call. Okay, mata,
Yes, what can I do foryour mata? Oh? I just
found a chick from the Automobile Clubfor uh three thousand, nine hundred and

(09:20):
thirty four. But they issue datewas um saying two thousand five, two
thousand and five, because I know, my god, Yeah, okay,
I got it on my mailing.I just found now. Okay, so

(09:43):
hold on, you found mail fromtwo thousand and five, now, and
there was a check from the AutoClub for four thousand dollars for some kind
of a reimbursement or settlement for thecar being crashed. Correct, yes,
okay, yeah, okay, allright, So let me ask you a
question. Why didn't you call mein two thousand and six? Oh,

(10:09):
because you just found you just foundthe check? No, got it?
Okay, we got it. Okay, all right, I take that back.
All right, that's legit. UhWhy or how did you find it?
Was in a pack of mail?Because who keeps mail for twenty years?
Yeah? I was lucky that way. Yeah, well I get it.

(10:30):
No, no, no, no, I wouldn't say you were lucky.
Uh no, because all that didis remind you of the four thousand
dollars that you are not going toget that you should have gotten. That's
not lucky. Too long, waytoo long, Amata. It happened way,
way too long ago. So yeah, well it doesn't really matter.

(10:56):
Yeah, because of the distance.By the way, your accent, where's
it from, Mamata. I'm justcurious. I don't recognize your equador.
I love Ecuador, love Ecuador.Oh yes, wait a second. You
don't come from the Gallopicos, doyou know? Oh, because I've been
in Ecuador, by the way,controls the Galopacos. And one of the

(11:20):
things about Ecuador, and you thinka South American country wouldn't go that far,
the Galopicos has been one of themost protected areas in the world for
the longest time. And that wasEcuador that did that. Anyway, Yeah,
great country, no luck, Okay, Yeah, Ecuador really is neat.
Oh here's another little factoid about Ecuador. The official currency of Ecuador.

(11:46):
I'm talking about, the national currencyis the US dollar. Their reserves are
in US dollars, which I thinkis kind of neat. Really really a
neat property or a neat place togo zeke Hello, zeke welcome. It's
welcome bill Um. Yeah, Ihave a question. Well, so me

(12:09):
and my brother, we we literallyand in this home. Okay Um.
My parents passed away and my sisteris UM trying to take over the property,
which she does not own. It'slegally owned by my uncle. Okay
Um. I recently foiled the restrainerorder against her because she's been harassing me,
UM, and she's she's trying tobasically get me to get out of

(12:31):
the house so she can take over. Okay. Now, Um. The
problem is that the day before yesterday, before I served her, UM,
she already knew that I had foundeda restrain order UM, and she attacked
me a lot with her her herhusband. Okay. They try to take
the tapework off my hands, andthey pushed me, and they threw my

(12:52):
phone because they saw that I wasrecording. I called the police. The
police said that they couldn't do anyarrest because they restrainer order was that Um
yet served. Okay Um. Meand my brother have been living at the
house. H that has not beenany issues. But I have noticed that,
you know, she tries to believemy brother around Okay, okay,

(13:13):
okay, let me ask you thisuncle owns the home. Correct, what's
uncle's position about you and your brotherliving in the house. Well, how
does he feel about it? Permis? Does he give you permission? Yes?
Well actually when I when we win, I actually was the co owner
of the property. Okay, sowhat why are you know? Why are
you no longer the co owner?Because there was an issue of my mom

(13:35):
had gotten stake when my sister ofbrainwashed my dad too to gave me out
of the the property. I wasgiven a paper. I spoke to you
about this back in December of Isigned the paper that I was in the
world. Um. Fifteen days later, after I signed that paperwork, I
realized why I went a court becauseI had a court hearing and that's where

(13:56):
the judge told me that the paperthat I signed was released into of the
property. And yeah, and yousigned it with that just here here sign
a piece of paper and you signedit. H Yeah, that's that's pretty
high on the smarts level, don'tyou think? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
I know that's yeah. Yeah,you're you're right, you're moving up
there, you are in you know, I don't know if it's first I

(14:18):
know there's thirty two degrees of masonry. I don't know how many degrees of
mensa mensary there is, but you'renot very high on that one, sou
Yeah you may. And this whendid you sign off on this paperwork?
This was about three four years ago. Okay, well that's done. Okay,
So now you got your uncle who'smaking all of the decisions. And

(14:41):
your uncle now you have to ifhe lets you in, that's fine.
Your sister, uh, she hasnothing to do. And if she harasses
you, you call the police.Again it's harassment, but you got the
restraining order, so next time shedoes it, you call the cops.
Now, the cops aren't gonna doanything the first five times, but eventually
you'll get her. Let me tellyou about CBD products for a moment.

(15:01):
If you have a hard time sleeping, CBD products will probably help stress in
your life. CBD products CBD products, first of all, they don't their
cannabis, but they don't cause ahigh. What it is is relief of
different types and the best products.Well. CB distillery dot Com my family
or regular customers, many of myfriends are and we're not alone. Cbdistillery

(15:26):
dot Com has more than two millionsatisfied customers. They can't all be wrong,
huh. Ninety percent of customers reportedthey sleep better with CBD. Eighty
percent said that CBD helps with stressrelease. So if you're experiencing sleepnesses stress
in your life, you can findthe right products at CB distillery dot com.

(15:46):
This is the source that I use. You start with a twenty percent
discount. Visit CB distillery dot comand enter my name Bill and you get
your discount and you don't need aprescription. Cbdistillery dot Com promo code Bill.
CB Distillread dot com. Not availablein Idaho, Iowa, and South
Dakota. CB Distillread dot Com.Hello Andy, welcome Yo, Andy,

(16:11):
you're there. We have a delayand yeah, now I can all right?
Where did I do for Andy?Have a single family residence. Hired
a general contractor to do a prettylarge porch project. I have those automatic
sprinklers where you have different zones tothe backyard and front yard. Upon starting

(16:34):
the project, all of a sudden, I lost my sprinkler system to two
front zones, one of them inthe immediate area of where the work was
being done and the other to theother side of the front part of the
property. Of course, they saidall of a sudden there was bad wiring
there. It's very difficult, youknow, unless I hire another landscaper for

(16:57):
me to prove what they did andto do. They said they would fix
the other section, and this isa licensed contractor, and I have text
messages to that effect, but thenthey suddenly disappeared, non responding to anything.
And of course I have my sprinklersto the entire front area that are
down. My question is, ifI were to go to small claims court,

(17:19):
am I suing them for the costsof having another landscaper fix it?
Or am I suing them to forcethem to fix it? And if they
can't assume them, okay, you'renot going to be able to get a
judge to order them to fix it. A judge will never do that.
However, your damages are that youhave to fix it. And that's assuming

(17:44):
that you can prove that they didit, because they're going to say no.
So now we go back to Idon't know if I can prove it.
You've got to prove it. You'rethe one that's suing. Now you
can say, and you're going tohave another landscaper just come in and give
you a bid by the way way, you're not gonna be at this point.
You're not hiring anybody. You're havinga bid come in. What is
it going to cost to repair this? And by the way, is it

(18:07):
the fault of the first contractor orthe contractor that this happened? Any idea
what it's going to cost to fixthis thing? Um? I would imagine
anywhere. I mean, you know, they tell you one thing and all
of a sudden it turns into somethingelse than learning with general contractors, I
would say five hundred to fifteen rouble. Okay, all right, so there's

(18:30):
your lawsuit. You get a bidon repairing it, you sue them saying
that it is because of their negligence, and you can get a statement from
your contractor. You can also argueyour honor this was fine beforehand. This
is where they dug it up.This is where it broke, because I'm

(18:53):
assuming that there is a connection.It's not as if they dug up in
one place and twenty feet away iswhen the when the sprinkler system went south.
I'm assuming there's some connection between thetwo correct. Yeah, Well,
the two main zones are fed bythis one area. Okay, Fine,
the records okay, or the wiringwas cut, okay. Then then then

(19:18):
you take you take pictures. That'sfine, and that's enough proof. And
that's where you go with at uhSo it is a small claims court the
cost of repair, and you cantell them you either fix it or I'm
gonna sue you. And I'm gonnasue you get my fees back. I'm
going to and you're gonna have arecord. I'm gonna put a complaint in
to the contractor's license board. That'sanother thing you do. And I have

(19:38):
a formal complaint put in and justsay, hey, if it's worth it
to you, then we go tocourt, that's all. And send them
emails and they make and they mayignore it, and a lot of them
do. But then that's what youdo. Is there any recourse for lost
wages for taking off? No,no, no, they're not gonna give
it to You can try, youcan try, but most entres won't give

(19:59):
it to you. But certain yourlicense board if it's true that they did
damage it, and that could beproving, will they do anything now?
No, No, no, absolutelynot. That is not within the purview
of a contractor's license board. Oh, let's go on the other side,
Russ a contractor, Hello, Russ, welcome, Hey, how are you

(20:21):
mister Handel? All yes, sir, this is all right. I did
a five recuvent sighting job for acustomer four or five years ago. The
material shrunk. And I've done hundredsof five or cement jobs over the past
years. This has never happened.To make a long story short, for
two years, we've been going backand forth with the manufacturer, and they
gave me, oh, well,why don't you caalk it? Why don't

(20:45):
you do this? And I've doneeverything they act but the homeowner and I
agree with the homeowner. I mean, it's a two inch gap in some
places, and you don't coalk somethingthat should be a quartering shot. Okay,
So let me ask this. Iyou're homewners on your side, what
is it going to cost to fixit and or repair it? I always

(21:06):
spend twenty thousand dollars. I hadto tear it all off. Oh so
you have to. You spent twentythousand dollars to undo what they did?
Is what you're saying? Yes,whoa whoa, whoa whoa? Okay,
why do you waiting? Why areyou why are you waiting four or five
years. Well, it took fouror five years for the shrink to shrink

(21:27):
up for three or three years,okay, And I googled it and I
found it from an engineer. Right, so now let me ask this.
Okay, you can stop right there, stop right there. Uh the original
contract that you wrote or that waswritten with you with the contractor, is
there any kind of warranty involved inthat at all? Of course, I

(21:48):
warrant you everything for lifetime, andit's transferable. It's I have the best
warrant to it. Then you okay, Then wait, okay, then that
then that becomes easy. You're gonnawhat you're gonna do is you put in
uh the warranty claim? Have youdone that yet? Now I'm the contractor.
I warrant my work. Oh youwarranty the work hold on? You

(22:08):
warrant the work. Yeah, okay, I misunderstood for a moment, I
guess zoned out. So you arethe contract you warrantee it for life.
Uh? And but the damage wasactually to the homeowners. Uh? So
is the product warrantied? Yes,the product warranty and I have a great
relationship. But then you sue,Okay, then you sue, you sue

(22:30):
the company. You see the company. Here's the thing, Okay, here's
the thing. Um, I've neversued anything. I don't feel like suing.
I owe the company one hundred thousanddollars. So they told me,
yeah, you know something. You'reright. It looks like Kraft. You
took a million pictures. We don'twant to get sued our stuff because the
homeowner wanted to sue the Okay,that's easy. And I didn't have a

(22:52):
thirty year warranty. So I justsaid this. They told me, yes,
we will reimburse you. Go ahead, fix it. Twenty thousand dollars.
Will take care of you. Nowyou'll have an amnesia. Oh yes,
it's above my pay grade. Yougot to talk to the matter,
right Russ Russ Russe, All right, Rust you owe them one hundred thousand
dollars right now. The Yeah,the warehouse okay, the ones that supplied
the material to you, the onethat's supplied material. And I think I

(23:15):
told him this. I said,look, I'm not paying you a dime.
Yeah, no, I understand that. Hold hang on, hang on,
why don't you just the duct thetwenty thousand dollars of what you owe
them, and say, you knowwhat, why don't you sue me?
And then you and then you bringup your defense. That's what I would
do. Let them a hassle suingyou, and if whatever and whatever thing,

(23:37):
whatever you say is legit, whichI'm there's no reason I wouldn't think.
So there's your defense. There's yourdefense. You got it. You
know they owe me twenty thousand andthen we're done. Gary, let's go
with you. Gary, welcome tohandle on the way. Yes, sir,
uh yeah, I received some correspondence. I have a reverse mortgage and

(24:03):
they're threatening to default default me andmake me pay up. First time I
ever called the radio show. No, I know, you can get a
little overwhelming. I get it anyway. I put the I put the property

(24:26):
in a living trust about five yearsago. And now they're saying they want
me to jump through all types ofdifferent hoops or they're gonna default me.
Yeah, I'm curious what type oflawyer do I need to go? You
know? Or you're not. You'renot gonna need a lawyer. You're not
gonna need a lawyer on this one. I'll tell you why what you did
was you technically transferred the property.And if you look at the contract you

(24:53):
had with the lender on the livingtrust, because what you're doing is you're
borrowing against your home. All itis is a straight loan in which they
say, tell you what, We'regonna give you some money, and it's
going to be secured by your house. And if if you either die or
move out, or sell your homeor transfer your home, then it's due

(25:18):
in owing. All the money wegave you is owe to us, plus
the interest. What you did issimply transferred into a trust. And I'm
assuming the trust. You're the trustee. The trust is in your name.
Correct, Yes, all right?You asked them what hoops are they having
you jumped through? Oh? Theywant to copy of my mortgage? Was

(25:45):
okay, give it to them.No, it doesn't matter, you give
it to them. What else,Oh, provide a full copy of my
revocable trust? You do that?How do I do that? You you

(26:06):
go and give them two hundred pages? Oh my godness, something that much.
You go to one of you goto a FedEx or a UPS store
and you hand them two hundred pagesand you go, hey, I would
like a copy of this, Andthey're gonna charge you what twenty bucks whatever
they're gonna charge you to do it, and then you ship it to them

(26:26):
and go per your request. Hereit is. You do not want them
to call this loan. You wantto keep your reverse mortgage, and you're
gonna keep the reverse mortgage by provingto them you didn't transfer it. You
simply transferred it into a living trust. And it's the same owners, it's
the same liabilities, it's the samebenefits. Do what they do, do
what they tell you to do.You don't need a lawyer, Just do

(26:48):
it. Copy it twenty bucks,thirty bucks, that's all it's gonna and
they'll do it right there. Youknow, they have one of those Blasto
magic machines, those Xerox machines,copying machines that go zip through that a
hundred pages a minute. You'll befine, Okay, pay attention, oh
electronics, Yeah you can, youknow what you knew. You can scan

(27:10):
it too, and I don't evenmake a copy of it. Have them
scan it and send the U andhave them send it on email. You'll
be fine. Uh yeah, yeah, yeah, all right. Ivory,
Hello Ivory, Yes, yes,man, my clip is I have a
tenant that moved out officially on thesixth of May. She never told me

(27:30):
that she was gone. She neverhanded me the keys. She left the
keys in the property, and sheleft items belonging to her on the property,
which her least clearly said state thatyou must remove all unwanted items.
Okay, okay, hang on,she moved outway ivory, Hold on a

(27:52):
minute. I want to get thisstraight. She moved out mid May or
early May without telling you she wasmoving out. She didn't give you notice.
No, she did give me notice, but she did not when she
left. She didn't hand over thekeys, okay, left them in the
property and left on the property.I didn't know that she was gone if

(28:18):
she gave you notice. Okay,did you bother to check whether she moved
out or not? Or did shelook like she was still living there?
It looks like she was still therebecause she hadn't left her belonging on the
property. What does that mean onthe property, her garden stuff, her

(28:41):
planners, furtilies, their guarding stuff, just gardening stuff. How about how
about inside the house. I didn'tgo inside the house until three days later
when she officially told me she hadOkay, so you're looking at three days.
So you found out three days aftershe gave you notice that she in
fact moved out, right, correct, Okay, I charge her for the

(29:03):
three days. Okay, that's myquestion. Oh can you charge her for
the three days? Sure? Youcan charge her. Now, whether you're
gonna get it or not, Ihave no idea, because here is her
argument. I moved. I toldyou I was moving. I left the
keys. Hold on your argument,I'd understand your argument is, Hey,

(29:26):
I went there and all of yourgardening stuff was there, So I'm not
going to go into your house.I'm going to knock on the door.
Oh no, you didn't do that. I'm going to try to figure out,
you know, whether you still livethere, and at least ask you
about whether you moved out or not. You didn't do that either. So
both of you have an argument.I'd give it to her if I if
I was the judge. But thatdoesn't mean that you're not that you're not

(29:51):
going to prevail. I mean itcould be one way or the other.
How much is three days? Rentliked seventy one for the three days?
Yes? Yeah, okay, soyou sew her for three days. You
may or may not get that andthen you know where she is. Told
I was told that I could takeit out of the deposit. Yeah you
can. You can. You deductedfrom the deposit. Absolutely. Okay,

(30:17):
you have one month. You haveone month to give her a full accounting
and then as and then tell herif you know where she is, get
your stuff out of there or I'mgoing to move it out of there and
give her ten days and then giveher another ten days and then you can
sell the stuff for all I care. Okay, all right, try that,

(30:37):
Yeah, okay, legit. Butit can go either way as to
the three days. But that's howyou handle it. You take it out
of the deposit. Now, ifyou want a small business and you were
able to get through COVID, andyou were able to retain five or more
employees through COVID, you could beeligible for a payroll tax refund. There's
a federal program that gets you upto twenty six thousand dollars per employee.

(31:00):
I mean, look at the mathon that one, and it's a refund
of taxes. You're not borrowing themoney. Go to get refunds dot com.
Answer a few questions online, takesunder ten minutes and see if your
business qualifies for this tax refund andthere's no charge upfront either, they're not
going to get paid unless until yourbusiness gets paid. And businesses of all

(31:21):
types can qualify. Surprisingly, thosethat even took PPP loans nonprofits had increases
in sales professional corporations. Their teamare experts in this payroll tax refund program
have already returned three billion dollars tobusinesses they help me get money back to.
So to find out if your businessqualifies, go to get refunds dot

(31:41):
com. Click on the qualify mebutton Get refunds dot Com. This is
handle on the law