r/legal

Need advice on what’s legal here / whether this could be considered self defense.

This happened during Baltimore rush hour traffic. I was driving and admittedly cut someone off by accident in heavy traffic. The other driver got extremely aggressive, sped around me, and intentionally rammed into my car. We both pulled over after. I am driving a Benz suv he was in Toyota truck.

I approached his car to get his insurance/info after the crash, but as soon as he got out he immediately got in my face yelling. Our noses were basically touching. I pushed him back to create space, but then he immediately came back toward me and got even closer again like he wanted to fight, so I punched him on the side of the head kinda hard. My passenger said he heard the noise. Medical did come later no one reported injuries. I was worried he might die.

After the punch my passenger grabbed him in a bear hug and held his arms against the hood of the car because he was still trying to get back to me and swinging around. He didn’t want me to get punched. During that struggle I put my thumb near/in his eye area trying to get him off my passenger.

Legally, how is something like this usually viewed in Maryland? And at what point does defending yourself become assault? He also said he had a dash cam to the

I live in New Jersey. My neighbor’s house set up is that their driveway is on the side of their house. The side of my house has my bathroom window and my dressing room window. The camera is directly across from my bathroom and has view of my bathroom and dressing room window, especially dressing room window..
I keep searching the laws and it is saying that since it is the side of my house and I have a reason reasonable expectation of privacy because it is my bathroom and dressing room window. I called an officer and he scoffed at me saying he’s allowed to have security cameras. Another officer came and said that he’s allowed to have security cameras..
they also harass me by honking and shouting outside of my window, blasting music at 4 AM in their driveway. They stare at me when I come outside. They’re older son circles his bike right in front of my driveway. I found their mother pointing her phone like she was recording my home when I walk out another time I’m checking the recycling and she runs up behind me and startle me. There’s a lot going on from this house and nobody is listening to me.

I have a blackout curtains and I am pretty sure one night they caught me on camera. My cat moved my curtain up and was looking out the window so I’m assuming they saw inside two days ago. The curtain in my closet fell and that was my worst fear I always said what if my curtain falls and thankfully I just walked into the room. I wasn’t actually changing if I was changing, I would have been on his camera and he is a very creepy man when I confronted him, he was acting jittery, and he yelled at me.
I know their camera replacement is illegal, but nobody is listening to me. What do I do?

LOCATION: Wisconsin & New York, the two states where these trials happened or are happening.

A judge recently ruled that Mangione's notebook with a manifesto was admissible as evidence, but the judge in Rittenhouse' case infamously blocked the video that Rittenhouse took a few weeks before the killings saying he wanting to shoot people.

What's the difference here? How does the legal world rationalize this?

Can I be charged? Victim shift blame crisis.

Okay so a little history, about a month ago me and my ex had split and he was harassing me and blackmailing me, showing up to my apartment uninvited. I had enough and got an order of protection.
Well to say the least, our relationship is very much a power imbalance issue meaning I am scared of him because he psychologically manipulates me.he broke the protective order and I reported it which lead to an arrest.
He got out and continued to reach out to me and eventually I caved in and was convinced to drop the protection order.
Fast forward, last night we were hanging out and he had gotten verbally aggressive toward me and called me names and I told him to leave my apartment.
We don’t live together, we don’t have children together, and we are not dating. He refused to leave, threatens me by saying he is going to call my job, my mother, and my friends and tell them I’m using drugs and also that he might have hidden drugs somewhere in my apartment that he will just say is mine.
It was getting heated and our volume was getting louder I was becoming more agitated and angry. He was recording me the whole tine. I didn’t know what to do.
He ended up calling the police and saying I assaulted him.
The officer asked me what happened and I said we were drinking and hanging ont when a conversation got aggressive and I asked him to leave and he wouldn’t and it escalated. I said I just want him to leave so I can go to bed. Officer said we can make that happen.
He proceeded to spam call me and tell me if I don’t apologize for assaulting him he would press charges. He knows how to get in my head and scare me so I’ll do what he says.
So my question is, how serious can this get for me? I am terrified I’m going to be arrested and lose my job and my apartment.
I don’t know what to expect or what my next steps should be.
Thank you for any help!

Location: Iowa United States

US, Colorado:

Context, I've been with this company for over a decade, and there was a private-equity buyout several years ago now. Our customers have been increasingly unhappy since this transaction, and my role has absorbed the majority of this unhappiness, we're the messengers who are always being shot by both sides. The last year or so, the money-minders have really leaned into automation tools and, as a result, have rushed half-baked solutions to market that customers hate, which is another thing my role has been required to absorb, and was part of the straw that broke this camel's back.

Since I've been back from my FMLA leave, I've had three meetings with my manager, each accompanied by an HR rep each time, and one team meeting. I've been placed on a performance improvement plan, and have had zero opportunities to speak with my manager one on one. The team meeting I attended was incredibly disheartening because it sounds like all of the bullshit that led to my frustrations before my leave have only become entrenched/gotten worse. Furthermore, the idea that their "welcome back" was primarily couched in "let's do a postmortem on all of the problems you created before your leave" really leaves me with no desire to stay with this stress mine.

My brother's employer is a competitor in the same space, and they have my resume, but there's also apparently a "hand-shake deal" between our two companies about "poaching." So, what's the right way for me to say I'm done with my current employer while maximizing my chances with my brother's, all the while reducing lost income and benefits?

TL;DR Company was acquired by PE a few years ago, shit's been getting worse and worse since. My role has absorbed the majority of the difficulty which led to me to break down and seek FMLA, and then [title].

 
(Ohio)  Grandson (25) purchased a Dodge Charger two years ago with Hell Cat motor.    Private party sale.   He paid cash based on fair market value at that time.  It was thoroughly inspected by a dealership and found to be in great condition.
Two weeks ago he was on his way to work when a cop stopped beside him at a red light.  Light turned green but cop got behind him and followed him for three blocks before lighting him up.   Cop said he stopped him because “the sound of the engine didn't sound like a regular V8.”    I don't know what the hell that means.
Other cops arrived and after inspecting the engine VIN determined that the engine was a stolen engine out of another state, though the car itself seemed fine.
 
Car was towed to a police impound lot and has been held there since.   The cops said the grandson was an innocent purchaser of a stolen engine and had committed no nor was he suspected of committing any crime regarding the engine.   Thus far they have been stonewalling everyone.   I personally visited with the lead detective and told him if the engine was stolen then they could remove the engine and return the car.   He said they were waiting on something from an out of town PD and couldn't or wouldn't provide any info about the supposedly stolen engine or from where the original report was made.
 
Talked with an experienced lawyer who said he had no idea what to do.
I know what to do but I will end up in jail.   Any suggestions?

Hello trying to see where Instand we have been together 22 years and married for 13. My wife came to me wanting to leave. I fully supported her through law school and her entry level position until the last 3 years when we bought out the law firm she worked for. She brought home 1.2million last year and Ive closed my business and became a stay at home dad that also does maintenance and construction in her office buildings. Am I really entitled to half of the business and how would it be valued.

I gave access to some online files to my employer (hourly job). Some I made before I even started there, but some I made for them (cookie recipes, training resources, etc.). However, this was off the clock and they never paid me for it nor compensated me in anyway. There’s no transfer of ownership or anything. I only gave them access to files.

Months later, they fired me and I revoked their access to the documents. Now they are telling me I need to give them access back.

Do I have to give them access?

Location: Morocco

Visited Morocco by driving from Spain, declared my drone at customs as they are illegal in the country.

I was told at customs that they would hold it until I left again, and they gave me a receipt, they didn’t tell me anything other than have a nice time in Morocco - which I did by the way - amazing country and lovely people!

I stayed for just under 4 months and left by driving back again today. As I got to customs they told me my drone was likely gone, ‘destroyed’ as I’d been in the country too long. There was a 45 day rule apparently (first I’d heard of it, although my receipt does have something about 45 days in a foreign language in the small print at the bottom)

I didn’t think to get anything in writing at the time as it was quite chaotic and a bit of a shock, but now I’m on the ferry to Spain and wondering if I’ve just been scammed or if I have any legal way to recuperate the amount I’ve lost for the drone and accessories?

I will contact DJI and see if they can deactivate it through the serial number.

I kept the reciept from customs as well, which is officially stamped. Aside from that piece of paper, I had no emails, contact or warning that they were going to “destroy” it.

Ps - visit Morocco if you can!

So, My mental health as a bipolar person has declined recently. It also led to a relapse of alcohol after over 8 years. I really need to go to a rehab. I love my job, (especially working remote) and can't lose it (irony is I work in mental health field). Besides the communications, documentations, and keeping track of everything...what do I have to do to ensure my rights are protected under ADA? Do I fill out an application? Is it just automatically protected and my employer has to follow the law? For reference, my company has 1000's of employees nationwide. I also do not qualify for FMLA as its only been a couple months. Thank you.

(South Carolina) ex and myself have a paramour clause in our divorce agreement. It is simple language, no introduction to children until 6 months have passed since the relationship began, no overnights with children present until 1 year of relationship. Other party can protest violent criminals or hard drug users. Ex and I are fully aligned on neither of us exposing kids to a parade of partners staying over.

My now girlfriend split from her ex a while after I did. Shes the long time best friend of a neighbor. My children (live with me majority of the time, ex has supervised visitation every other weekend due to mental and physical health challenges) have been friends with neighbors kids and girlfriends kids long before there was ever a relationship between myself and her. My ex was hermit and never got to know neighbors, much less any friends of neighbors.

If either of our kids are present, we hang out exclusively in mixed company. Never behind closed doors, and never any PDA or anything that could be perceived as such. Relationship is not disclosed to children, though they have picked up on it 2nd hand, when other neighborhood kids have told them about her being at my house solo when they have been at their mothers. We are about 1/2 through the 6 month kids in the dark period.

It hasn’t been an issue yet, but I look for it to pop up at some point when ex is having an off day on the mental health side. My goal isn’t to accelerate things with the girlfriend and context of her existence to my kids, but rather avoid having to force either them or me from isolating from our existing friends group through the duration.

First time ever posting on Reddit, so apologies for any formatting errors or faux pas.

I work in childcare, running classes and activities mostly for littles (1-4 years old) but sometimes for kids up to 7 years old as well. My boss recently announced a series of new policies, including one about employees that take medication.

We are no longer allowed to keep our medications near us, and instead can only keep them in a specific room far from the childcare space. We are also no longer allowed to leave the childcare space under any circumstances when children are present for classes (except in the case of emergency, but an "emergency" is not defined).

I have a prescription related to my mental health that my doctor recommended I take at a specific time every day. This time happens to coincide with the time that classes are usually happening. I also have other chronic health conditions that don't impact me every day but that I keep other emergency medications on hand for.

So in summary: we can only take our medications in a specific location but we're not allowed to access said location until after classes are done and all kids are out of the building.

Is it illegal for an employer to control what time an employee is allowed to take their medications?

Bonus points: Boss also includes the children's emergency medications in this too. Sometimes we have T1 diabetic kids on site, as well as children with asthma inhalers or epipens. In an emergency, we would have to yell for someone to watch the kids, wait for them to show up, and then run across the building, up and down stairs, to get their emergency meds.

I have a stayaway order protection in New York State against a ex girlfriend. In order it says you can’t contact by social media you can’t post provocative pictures of protected party and social media no harassment, etc. I got a couple phone calls today from mutual friends that say she’s posting all kinds of things about me on Facebook. Things that aren’t true a lot of slander, and definitely defamation of character. She’s not using my name, but she uses my nickname and also says things like my ex which everybody knows who her ex is. My question is is this a violation of the order protection?

LOCATION: VA (757)

I got a ticket for following too closely. I admit guilt. I just have a question about how to go about not getting points on my license. I currently have +2, and the ticket is worth 4 points. I was wondering whether it would be better to turn in the certificate to the judge or/and/or pay the ticket. The situation is messy. I originally was not going to get a ticket, but my passenger had approached the officer to discuss the accident as well; while I was talking to a police aid, they had gotten into a dispute, the officer felt disrespected, and ultimately gave me a ticket.

My main goal is not to have the points on my license or have the ticket docked down to something less (I've seen that as a possible option) and have insurance skyrocket (which might be inevitable anyway). Hopefully, this is the right sub. I'm just not sure how to go about it.

Hi, I’d like some legal help about a situation at my old job in Illinois. I’m 16 and worked as a shift lead at a fast food restaurant while going to high school full time. I was working around 33–40 hours a week, often 6–7 days a week, and management would schedule us under 5.5 hours to avoid giving breaks. I started at $15/hour and later got raised to $17 when I was officially made shift lead.

The workplace became very stressful, especially after I had an argument with the kitchen manager (“A”). After that, he constantly targeted me, and I felt unsafe around him. He had even gotten into a physical altercation with another manager before and wasn’t disciplined. I would get so anxious around him that I’d shake or almost cry at work.

Managers would often leave me, a 16-year-old, in charge at night. We were also pressured to stay later than scheduled and serve customers past closing. One night, after a very stressful rush with only me and another minor coworker working front, we decided to quit and leave after all customers were gone. We cleaned everything, clocked out, and left. We accidentally left our headsets outside because we were too scared to go back in after seeing A in the kitchen.

Afterward, the owner spam-called me and threatened legal action, claiming we stole or damaged the headsets. Police contacted us, but they couldn’t prove we did anything criminally wrong and said it was a civil matter. Now former coworkers are saying the restaurant may sue us. What should I do?

Hi I’m writing for my partner 27m got in a car wreck he was heading home from work and went to stop at the dispensary after work at 8:40 pm (dark already) he went into the middle turn lane to turn left yielded to oncoming traffic checked twice and couldn’t see any car(again it’s dark no lights near parking lot) goes to pull into parking lot as a Kia is coming out of parking lot and a dark blue Hyundai was speeding with his lights off so he hits my partners back passenger panel with enough force to send my partners car spinning and his back end hit the Kia. My partner was sober and had not smoked any all day and just because just because he was going into the dispensary and wasn’t in the right away he is completely at fault even though the Hyundai couldn’t be seen and was speeding. If he wasn’t following the road laws how is my partner at fault? Help please

EDIT!: the insurance is stating he is at fault even with witnesses stating the Hyundai had his lights off and we have video evidence of him speeding and lights off and the Hyundai driver admitted to the police he had no lights on and was speeding

Hi. I am truly so upset i even have to make this post.
My fiance and I are both 25. We have two kids, aged 2 and 3.5.

We recently moved into a shared living arrangement with their grandmother. We have the main floor of the house with two bedrooms and a bathroom, we share the kitchen, we use the living room during the day and they are able to use it at night. Anyway, her boyfriend was supposed to have moved out previous to us moving in. He currently has a June 14th move-out date, that he must leave the house by.

Last weekend, there was a domestic dispute between them that occurred outside the home in the driveway, while we were all asleep. My fiance was asleep in our bedroom and I had ended up falling asleep in the bed with our youngest (they are young enough to still wake up and need help getting back to bed).
We had no clue that the cops were called or that there was any issue at all. We have two sound machines that are run and we genuinely did not hear a peep. There was a two day protection order put in place and during that time their grandmother (my fiancé’s mother) was not allowed to see or have her boyfriend at the house. We were so upset that there would be this kind of incident directly after having us all move in. We’ve only been here for four weeks. We are immediately planning to move, which I hate for the kids to have to do, but this is enough to scare us out of a further relationship or living arrangement at this home or with their grandmother.

DCF opened an investigation for neglect due to this incident, which I know they HAVE to do since I have been a mandated reporter. When the social worker arrived she was surprised that there were biological parents that were active and had custody. Which was shocking to me considering we have never even used a babysitter since becoming parents. I showed her the inside of the home and she spoke with the kids and I for a while. She is required to meet with their dad, which is scheduled for tomorrow. Their grandmother is also required to meet with them but has yet to schedule an appointment which I’m decently irritated by.

We have nothing to hide and there is no neglect and certainly no abuse in our home with the kids. They’ve never seen screaming adults or a fight between anyone (certainly not their dad and I). We are incredibly open, laidback, and honest people. I’m a SAHM and their dad is such a devoted father and hard worker.

We are really terrified by all of this due to the gravity of this and the fact we were never prepared to have to deal with DCF at all, ever.

Is there anyone we should/shouldn’t be speaking to às a result of this? Is there any specific action we should take? Any rights we should immediately be aware of?

I haven’t been able to sleep. We keep a clean house, safe backyard, tons of food, and clean clothes. I logically know that their dad and I haven’t done anything wrong in the way of raising them and providing for them but could someone else’s issues be ground for removal or further action fron DCF? My parents welcomed foster children into our home while I was growing up and I know how scary it is for children to be removed from their parents.

EDIT:
I just wanted to add that we have NEVER seen or heard my fiancé’s mother raise her voice and same goes for her boyfriend. We would never have the kids in a home where yelling is something that happens. My fiance and I don’t even raise our voices at eachother and certainly not with the kids.
Thank you

LOCATION: Maryland

Got a school bus camera ticket in the mail for passing a stopped school bus. The problem is I didn't member doing it, I'm always ready to stop.

I reviewed the video, and remember the day but not the bus. 5 lane road, 2 each way with center turn lane. Commercial area. I was in the right lane, ready to turn right at the next intersection. There was a truck in the left lane, blocking my view of the bus stopped on the right going the other way. The car in front of the truck stops suddenly (I couldn't tell why) and the truck serves into my lane cutting me off. I was focused on the idiot truck as we passed the bus and never noticed it as it was off to my left 4 lanes away.

I'm seriously considering contesting it, as they shouldn't hold me responsible for something I can't even see, and the video shows the truck hiding me until he cuts me off almost next to the bus.

My question is, if I'm found guilty can I be assessed points as if an officer had written the ticket, or does it remain a civil infraction like a parking ticket.

My mom has went and told neighbors that I have assaulted her keep her from eating and have even kept her from showering. Well someone ended up calling for a wellness check on her while I was at work and 3 sheriffs showed up. My wife let them in to speak to my mother showed them we had running water, food in the fridge and that she has her own bedroom and bathroom. When they started to ask her questions she first stated that I did not hit her then went back on it and said that I did and claimed that the scabs on her arms are from me.

They never showed up at my work I just got a phone call a day later asking to come into magistrate court for questioning at first I agreed but then later said I did not want to answer any questions without a lawyer. What should I do.. my anxiety is through the roof.

Location: West Virginia