TL;DR.

The security guard at target thought my daughter (a 10 year old girl) stole press on nails. They were purchased at a nearby dollar store. The guard asked to see her bag when she attempted to leave Target. The guard looked in her bag, saw no stolen items, my daughter showed the guard the receipt, and then he chose to detain her. A nearby bystander saw this an intervened, got my number from my daughter, and called us. He attempted to take my daughter into the back room to get her to sign something.

A claims examiner at Target has contacted us for more information. Do I need to contact a lawyer to go through the claims process? Do I have a claim to sue? My big issue is that she was detained after the guard inspected her bag.

Location: New Jersey

Location: Wilmette, Illinois

We hired a cat sitter through Rover. She showed up late and then left our cats alone for ~24 hours. She was not responsive to messages. She came back then disappeared again and missed the cats breakfast. I told her she was not to return and we found alternative arrangements. She could collect her things when I returned later this month. She didn’t respond for many hours. I sent a friend to check on our cats and found them without food and that she had brought and left her (unauthorized) cat in our bedroom who also didn’t have food or a litter box beyond a pee pad. The cat obviously had an upper respiratory infection that she has now exposed my cats to. She was able to take a picture of something with the sitters full name and contact information since I don’t have that through Rover. There were also multiple vomit and hairballs from the cats. My cats rarely do either so this is unusual. All cats were fed and cared for before my friend left.

Cat sitter responded, never admitted anything about the cat, and basically just said she had been there the whole time. I have camera footage and a door log that says otherwise. I reiterated she was not to enter my home. My husband decided to leave our trip and fly back home as quickly as possible which would take about 24 hours. It was just feeling too unsafe and chaotic. She messages again and says she needs to get her stuff and invites me to have a “trusted friend” there when she does so. She entered my home 2 minutes after I received that message. She took her cat and all but one of her 8-10 bags of clothings and other items. I have a log of everything and I am working on a refund through Rover but they won’t cover the flight and or cleaning the house. I assume this isn’t worth pursuing to try and get the cost of the flight from her, but I don’t know if I’m missing anything legally. We are changing the locks and door codes. I feel like my home was violated.

My questions are this:

1. how long do I need to hang on to the bag of clothes she left before they are considered abandoned?
2. 1a) if she does contact me for her clothing, can I leave it at a police station?
3. is this a restraining order situation?

Location: Massachusetts

An immediate family member of mine recently passed in a rental car. Because of the nature of how he passed there’s hefty interior damage and the vehicle required biohazard cleaning + remediation. We received a letter from the rental company (alamo) asking close to $7,000 for deep interior cleaning and other associated fees that we cannot afford.

Legally my understanding is that debts and contractual liabilities don’t pass down to family members upon death, but do they have a legal standing to request this payment from next of kin? None of us signed on for the rental besides him.

Sorry this is short. Thanks

Several years ago a friend asked me if he should take out a loan to buy me a PC. I told him no as I only needed a few hundred more to flat out buy it myself, before the end of the week he had already taken out said loan and bought it then told me “you can just pay me for it monthly”. Finances started going wrong and he said “don’t worry about it. Just pay me back when you get it straight”. We ended up having several arguments, and he decided to part ways with me due to conflict of interests to say the least. He then proceeded to lure me out of my apartment (I had to leave the door unlocked in case my girlfriend got off work since she didnt have a key), and one of his friends walked into my apartment and stole the PC. They said they were “repossessing it” and that i ‘defaulted an agreement that I did not hold’. They left notes saying it was collateral, and I was left staring at said notes as they drove off with my tower. What can I do?

Ps. The PC is already gone. I don’t want it back, I want them to face the consequences of their actions because they threatened the safety of my girlfriend over this.
Location: Mississippi

Cop was too lazy to drive further down the road to turn around legally after nesting in the same spot to pull people over. I was confused and freaked out because they were driving towards me and I was just trying to avoid them. They pulled me over and ticketed me for speeding.

Is it worth contesting or no? I don't have dashcam footage. I assume the cop would have dashcam or bodycam footage, but I'm sure it'll be like pulling teeth to bring it to light.

Edit: I'll add that I might rather just pay for the driver safety course than risk having to pay the ticket in full and/or legal fees

Edit 2: To those who are assuming I was speeding towards the cop: I was trying to avoid them.  They veered to the side and their behavior was unpredictable and freaked me out. I didn't explain it thoroughly enough in my post and no everyone is assuming I tried to hit *them*.  I reacted on instinct to get out of their way.

Location: Texas

Location: Minnesota

I brought a few boxes of old film negatives to a local photo lab to have them professionally scanned. They’re mostly family photos from the 80s and 90s that belonged to my parents.

When I picked everything up the employee mentioned there had been a mixup with two orders but told me mine was complete.

A few days later my sister found one of our childhood photos posted by a random photography account on Instagram. We messaged the account and the guy was actually pretty normal about it. He said the photo lab accidentally included around 300 of our scans on the USB drive they gave him with his own order.

He apparently liked a few of the pictures and posted them because he assumed they were old stock photos or abandoned negatives the lab had included for some reason.

He removed the posts when we explained it, but he also said he already imported the entire folder onto his computer.

The photo lab apologized and offered to refund my scanning fee, but they basically said since the other customer agreed to delete everything there's nothing else they can do.

Some of these are pretty personal family photos and I'm uncomfortable with the fact that hundreds were handed to a stranger in the first place.

Is this just a customer service screwup or is there actually any legal responsibility on the lab for distributing copies of private photographs to someone else? Also, do I have any right to ask for something in writing confirming what happened instead of just accepting their verbal apology?

Location: Los Angeles, California

Hello everybody, I hope you are doing well 🙏. I was recently fired from a State Farm insurance agency. Long story short, I took a trip that my boss had previously approved. A few days before the trip, he told me I couldn’t go anymore, even though everything had already been paid for, and said he would fire me if I went. I’ve heard from people that this could be wrongful termination, but whatever—to be honest, right now I just want to figure out if I can get the money I’m owed.

I get paid every 5th and 20th of the month. My check on the 5th includes my hourly pay from the 16th–31st, plus my commissions for the whole month. My check on the 20th is purely my hourly pay from the 1st–15th.

I was fired on August 9th and was told to come in the next day to pick up my final check. After getting the check, I realized it only included my hourly pay. I asked my boss where my commissions and bonus were, and he told me I would have to wait until September 5th to receive them. This all happened on August 10th.

September 5th came around. Normally, I would see my check on ADP and then go pick it up in person. Turns out I’m not getting a check because, according to my boss, commissions + bonuses are “discretionary,” so he doesn’t have to pay them to me. That simply can’t be true, right? I thought discretionary meant it was purely out of the blue, like a random bonus or something similar. This wasn’t like that at all. Everything was performance/metric based.
For example, my commissions have set goals based on cars, life + auto, etc. I sold a good amount before being fired, and I also had big policies carry over that issued during this pay period, so it’s a lot of money.

My bonus dates all the way back to April. We had a health promotion where, if we sold a certain amount, we would get $50 per health policy. We usually have to wait a few months for all the policies to be issued and good to go before we get paid. This month was THE month we were supposed to get paid, and my former coworkers told me they received their bonuses a few days ago as well.

I know this is a lot, but if somebody could please help me figure this out, I would really appreciate it. It’s a lot of money that I’m not being paid, and I want to know what my rights are and be able to respond to my former boss if he claims these commissions and bonuses are “discretionary” when they were based on specific sales goals and performance.

Location: Nebraska

In 2023 I purchased a 2020 Dodge Charger Scat Pack from one of those dealerships that specializes in cars with branded titles. Test drove it, and it drove smooth. The exhaust is very loud, but you can see it clearly has aftermarket exhaust on it so I just chalked it up to that. I ended up buying the car.

Fast forward, I've had work done on it several times, including getting the exhaust resecured within the first week because you could feel it hitting the floor when you'd go over bumps, several oil changes and most recently some warranty work on some front suspension parts using the extended warranty I purchased with the car. After all that suspension work, it became clear that the steering rack needed replacing. The warranty company refused to approve the new rack over the phone like they had everything else, and sent an inspector out to look at it themselves. When my mechanic told me they'd be sending someone else he warned me there's a good chance my warranty will be voided when they see the modified exhaust, especially since I have no catalytic converters. Well needless to say I was pretty shocked to hear this. I knew the exhaust was loud, but I always chalked it up to the aftermarket mufflers.

Anyway, a quick Google search tells me it's illegal to sell a car that has no catalytic converters providing it was originally equipped with them, which is any car since 1975. What I don't know is what I can do about it. I mean it's been over 3 years, and used cars are sold as is, but then again it appears to be an illegal sale. Any advice would be appreciated.

Location: Massachusetts

My 69yo father was at a company (in MA) for about 9 years and planned to retire when he turned 70. He has been struggling with brain/memory issues and was prescribed medicine by his doctor to help with this. He made a mistake at work and his boss yelled at him and he told his boss about the health issues. His boss said to not tell anyone about this and then proceeded to fire him a few days later (early June).

No severance, health insurance ended that day (edit: he is now on Medicare). And he is not in the financial position to simply retire earlier than planned.

It was an office job at a big construction company. Do I have a case here? Or is there anyway you think we can get some sort of severance? He never reported this medication to HR and there is no proof that the conversation with the boss had occurred.

It’s very stressful right now and any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for reading.

Sorry if wrong flair not sure what to use here.

Location: Texas.

Since starting a new job on the 10th of last month I have been promised a few different possible pay days from both my direct supervisor and the person above in writing. Since that period I still haven't been paid and when attempting to be provided the number or a means of contact for hr I was denied. I also know full well that other employees have been paid within the most recent pay period and again have proof in writing from another employee that they did come by to pick up their check and was there to see them receive it when transitioning shifts.

I understand I can file a wage claim but I need this paycheck now. I am hoping to simply not show up to work until I receive my pay as withholding labor but I don't know if there's any possible defenses I can use to prevent a possible firing in the case I do it and I understand that Texas doesn't have any strong workers protections.

Can my boss legally fire me with all this if I don't show up until paid? What can I tell them before filing a wage claim with the Texas labor commission as I do believe I would receive faster and more immediate results with the right wording? And what should I do to protect myself legally?

I work as security but the company I work for is contracted to another. Im essentially a gate guard for a truck lot and my direct supervisor has messaged me to confirm the owners of said lot are supposed to be responsible for my pay.

For now I have

A photo of messages of me asking my direct supervisor for a means to contact who handles my wage or HR with it being denied

Photos of messages regarding those promised pay times.

Location: Washington State

I purchased an extended warranty with my vehicle. The dealer never paid the warranty company, who suggested I should seek a refund from the dealer.

I have been trying to reach a resolution with the dealer, but it’s currently in a state of phone tag, with them not really making an effort to clear this up. My loan is based off of the rate that includes the warranty. My intent is to have the dealer refund me for the payments made without coverage, and to then either activate the warranty, or have them adjust my loan.

If I am not successful in achieving this, what state agency do I need to contact? If they continue to dodge me, I’d like to be able to mention by name who I’ll be contacting if this is not resolved.

If there is a better way to approach this situation than what I have described, I’d be happy to listen.

Thank you!

Location: Portland Oregon

Im 15 and mom kicked me out yesterday at 4pm, I roamed around and then went back home around 8pm tp see if she was there. She wasn't, went to a friend's house and mom saw me on the way and forced me in the car.

She is now telling everyone and their dog that I ran away because I didn't want to clean, which is a lie because i do clean when she tells me to do so. Now im waiting for the cops to arrive and talk with them, since i dont want to talk on the phone because mom will force me to say im fine and lie.

I just want to know what the procees is

Location: MI

The judge required I serve by alternative service, one being certified mail. Defendant was served in all other ways as required including legal newspaper.

The complaint/summons was just returned back to me "RTS, no longer resides." Edit: there is no forwarding address

Do I file this with the court?

Location: Paterson, New Jersey

My car was stolen from my driveway the day before Easter and I reported it to the police. It was revealed that my car was one of the cars used in a homicide. A matter of fact, my car was THE car that was used as a getaway once the shooting occurred. The detectives told me that my car was being investigated because they found weapons. And that it will be returned in its condition. (The only thing messed up at the time was the ignition) when I came back in May because I received a paper to retrieve it.

A detective told me that the state still had my car and they removed the front console because their equipment to measure the mileage used was not working. I was told and promised that it was going to be put back. I eventually got a call from a detective on August 14th that my car was released a week prior. No body reached out to me about that until that day. I was able to go the next day to retrieve my car. To then find out that the front console was never put on and was never found in the car at all.

At the time, I chose to junk the car and signed a paper work that says I had a week to change my mind. That paper was signed on August 15th. I called them back on Tuesday August 18th to change my mind. But they junked it even though I had a week to change it. I recorded the call and everything.

I want to know if I have a legal case to sue?

Location: Virginia, USA
My car got towed for having no hang tag despite having one. My apartment’s hang tags are tiny(literally 2 inches tall). On my mirror its hard to see it but still definitely visible if you look from the front. I got towed this morning and the towing company said they would not issue a refund because the hang tag was hard to see. The tow company is who checks for hangtags. Why is it my fault that my apartment gives out tiny hang tags and they are too lazy to look? I can’t talk to my apartment office until tomorrow morning. Anything I can do here?

I have paid for parking, registered the vehicle with the apartment, signed a parking addendum. The exact word is “If you are provided with a parking tag or sticker it must be properly installed and displayed”. Its on my rearview mirror like any other parking tag. I was charged $215 by the towing company.

Location: Rochester, NY

So when I was young, my parents, while divorced, set me up to have excellent credit. However this led to me being asked by my older sister to co-sign on her apartment when she could not get approval alone.

Please save your time I know this is a terrible idea and have learned my lesson, now I received a letter from the sheriffs about garnishing my wages as she has continually told me it was sorted out last year. Though they only have my old job and address, my cousin just lived in the same duplex as me where they sent it off to.

I’m just wondering what the best course of action could be, I made the mistake and that I’m aware of by now to never do it again, however my sister has tarnished our relationship much further since then by laying her hands on me leaving me with a broken tooth I failed to recognize as well at the time.

My husband and I were in couple’s therapy in California and recently my husband used a therapy session to announce divorce.
I found out the therapist knew about this and has been in on this plan behind my back. And she advised him on steps to take in case I became suicidal which included removing my access to prescription medications (this is a therapist not a psychiatrist). So it seems there was also some sort of behind my back discussion of my mental health.
It seems to me like the ethics and legality of this are questionable when we’re both her client and she has no medical license. Is it legal?

Related, my husband is now trying to use things said in therapy while I was upset in the divorce case and is trying to get some sort of statement from the therapist which seems especially illegal. The court won’t allow that if I don’t agree right?

EDIT: I am not and never have been suicidal so having my husband and therapist sit there and tell me I was suicidal felt like gaslighting, like they were trying to get me to agree with them and not believing my own thoughts.

Location: Atlanta, GA, USA.

I was previously married and separated from my former husband in October 2021. At that time, we completed the necessary divorce paperwork together. My former husband took possession of the completed documents and advised me that he would file them with the court.
Because the divorce was uncontested and we had no children or marital property to divide, I was advised by an attorney that I would not be required to attend a court hearing. Based on the completed paperwork, my former husband’s representation that he would file it, and the legal guidance I received regarding the process, I believed in good faith that the divorce had been properly filed and finalized.
In April of this year, I married my current husband. We are now preparing to file immigration paperwork, including Form I-130, with the intention of submitting our case in November. As part of that process, I began gathering documentation establishing the termination of my previous marriage.
It was only during this process that I discovered that my former husband apparently never filed the divorce paperwork we completed in 2021. As a result, despite my understanding for several years that I was divorced, I recently learned that my first marriage was never legally terminated before I entered into my current marriage.
Upon discovering this issue, I immediately began the process of formally obtaining a divorce from my former husband myself. I anticipate that the divorce will be finalized within the next one to two weeks.
My primary concern now is determining the legal effect this has on my current marriage. Specifically, I would like guidance regarding whether my current marriage is considered void or invalid because my previous divorce had not yet been finalized at the time of our marriage, and what steps are necessary to correct the situation.
If my current marriage is not legally valid, I would also like to understand whether my current husband and I simply need to marry again after my divorce is finalized, or whether any additional legal proceedings, such as an annulment or divorce relating to the current marriage, are necessary before we can remarry.
Finally, because we are preparing to submit Form I-130 and related adjustment-of-status documentation in November, I would like to understand how this situation could affect our immigration case and what documentation or corrective steps we should complete before filing.
My goal is to ensure that both my marital status and our immigration filings are legally correct before we submit anything to USCIS.

Location: North Carolina.

Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. Question about the length of time and radius of noncompete.

Assuming all NC elements of the noncompete are contained / addressed by the agreement, is a radius of 30 miles and duration of 12 months reasonable?

The contract says the employee may not practice “pediatric medicine” and the 30 mile radius eliminates everything in our entire county and means the employee would have to commute roughly 60 minutes (minimum) each way to find a job in pediatrics.

Location: Florida

I recently moved to Florida and was offered a job. It is a legitimate job. I went in person, met the small team, and shadowed, so I’m not asking about whether this is a job phishing scam.

However, they told me I need to pay a $1,000 onboarding fee that will supposedly be refunded after one year of employment. I would have to pay it upfront on my first day of training, either by cash or check, and sign an agreement.

I won’t upload the agreement because it contains personal information, but it is titled “Employee Onboarding and Training Fee Agreement” and also refers to an “Employee Onboarding Investment Agreement.”
The agreement says the fee helps offset things such as the background check, administrative processing, training, orientation, service training, trainers/coaches’ time, employee uniforms, and required onboarding materials and resources.

It states that I will receive the full $1,000 reimbursement one year from now as long as I am still employed and in good standing with the company and have not voluntarily resigned or been terminated. It also says, and I quote: “If employment ends for any reason before ____, the onboarding fee is considered non-refundable.”
I understand that they may be doing this because they want someone who will stay with the company long-term. I genuinely don’t think they are trying to scam me or make extra money from me.

My question is whether this is actually legal or standard in Florida. Is an employer allowed to require an employee to pay $1,000 upfront for onboarding/training and then make the employee forfeit it if they leave before a year?

I genuinely want the job, but I also don’t know if I can commit to staying for a full year, and I don’t want to put $1,000 at risk.

What would you do in this situation? Is there anything specific I should ask the employer or have reviewed before signing?

Location: Florida

Location: New Hampshire, USA

This is going to be a huge TLDR summary and sorry if it is vague, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do.

An employee stole over 30k from my business over a period of a few years. We brought all the accounting to show this to the local police station; the very same day, the employee went to the police station and confessed.

It took many months (maybe even a year!!!!) for them to initiate an arrest, which is still active, however the accused had since moved out of state and our local police station is unwilling to extradite him. We've contacted the Attorney General and they basically say our local PD has set those parameters.

We've been trying to push for this for over 6 years now but it really feels like our local PD doesn't give a shit about us enough to do anything.

We don't have money to pursue this action ourselves, but I do feel our local police department majorly dropped the ball and didn't handle any of this properly.

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

Location: Mississippi A couple of months ago I bought a wallet from Goodwill and I checked it pretty thoroughly which is why this is so strange because today while cleaning my room I was looking through my wallet and found something I didn't recognize in there and there was somebody's voting registration that doesn't live anywhere near me I don't know what to do with it should I take it to the cops should I just throw it away what should I do with it

Location: Kansas- trying not to run on the story but it is a bit extensive

I had purchased a food truck and had an install by the same person. Whole unit is on a lease so I do pay a lease, insurance, and all inspections are complete. Note this whole process had started early this year. March or April if I only recall in my head.

In a turn of events here is a breakdown

Vehicle purchased and truck built- inspected and ready in about 2-3 months

Drove back and had issues with < 100 miles after 2-3 food truck events

Towed to mechanic referred by builder to fix in town 3 hours away- found more issues digging further and had to rebuild. Agreed to fix with parts costs only.

Towed back to the builders shop and tested fluids by local mechanic and ran for checking for issues after vehicle was considered fixed

At local shop catalytic converter was stolen in lot. Mechanic agreed to take to local shop to fix after repair

After inspections I drove the truck about 45 minutes home and towed to local shop after knocking showed up under hood, fix was to rethread pulley bolt. Mechanic said it was inaccessible and had to removed fan shroud to be able to rethread. Fixed

Shop drove vehicle to another shop to fix catalytic converter. During drive white smoke came out and after inspection technician found coolant intrusion in the engine oil. Nobody is taking the blame here.

What i ask is

Who should be responsible and/or what are the next steps for me to take here