johngreenink

My boyfriend borrowed my car 8 days ago and was in an accident in bad weather. He hit another car. No one was hurt, but he was at fault. The woman who was hit took down my registration and insurance info, and then took off and called the police the next day (she had some kind of emergency unrelated to the accident.) My car was towed to a shop. I was contacted by my insurance company and over this past week the car was inspected, and deemed 'totaled' and I just cleaned it out today. They called this afternoon and told me the dollar figure for my settlement. Shortly thereafter I received an email from my insurance company asking for the address and or license information from the person driving my car, I've forwarded the email onto him to reply.

About 4 days after the accident, my boyfriend revealed to me that he only has a learner's permit, and not a full license. He'd failed his driver's test whenever he took it, and was still using a permit. So, he'd lied to me about having a license. Also, I'd seen his license in his wallet (licenses and permits in Massachusetts look nearly identical). After I received this email today, it suddenly dawned on me that this could have implications for the coverage for the loss of my car. In all honesty I was under the full belief that my boyfriend was driving with a license and would never have allowed him near my car otherwise. What are the possible implications here for me, and for him?

Thank you.

I was raised loosely as a Catholic, and my brother has become a born again Christian. I currently do not have a specific faith, but I do believe in God.

What confuses me most about the Christian God is that the bible seems to demand that a true believer will follow God's word without question, even if it seems morally wrong to the individual. If this is true, and God's ideal would be a society that worships him almost blindly, how is this any different than a totalitarian government? God gave us free will, but it feels as though that free will is there to tempt rather than to experiment with our lives.

If God's ideal is for us to follow him without question, how can anyone say that this is 'good'? Is it not the exact opposite of what many of us believe to be freedom?

I interviewed for a position through a recruiter with a well-known financial institution. I passed a phone screening, and went in for my first interview. Two weeks later, I was asked in for a second round of interviews. About 2 weeks later, I was asked to come in for a third round of interviews. My recruiter was very encouraging along the way. To our great surprise about two weeks later, it was found out that the position was moved to New Jersey instead of Boston (where I originally applied for the job), and this was the reason I was given for not getting the position. Never at any time was I told that the position might move out of state. I wrote directly to the hiring manager at the company asking for a bit more of an explanation about what happened, and she said that the position had simply moved and there were plenty of qualified candidates in New Jersey to interview.

About 2 weeks later, I see the same job re-posted on a well known jobs site, again for the Boston office. And, not just the exact position, but a junior position in the same department as well. My recruiter had agreed with me at the time that the company had handled my situation very badly, never giving me enough information, and spending nearly two months to give me a reply. Now it is clear that they lied to me about the reason I was not offered the job.

Do I have any legal options at this point? I feel as though I was discriminated against for a reason unknown, or at the very least lied to about the reason I wasn't hired. Is there any legal recourse I can take here? I ask specifically about this job because I spent a great deal of time, money, and effort to prepare for all these interviews. I would hope that I would at least be told a truthful answer about my candidacy. And, if I was an appropriate candidate, and the only problem was job relocation, why wasn't I immediately asked to fill the position if I'd done so well in the interviews? Thank you in advance for any help.

I am a Boston based person looking for any specialty shops that carry hard-to-find or niche perfumes, I'm sure there must be some out there, but web searches haven't helped. Any suggestions? Thank you.

Hi - I have a slightly frustrating tax situation. The IRS is claiming that I owe roughly $10.000 in back taxes. This figure is most definitely not accurate, and I need to go through about 4 past tax returns in order to get this straightened out. My tax returns were not complex (I only have one source of income) so it shouldn't be a monumental task.

What I need to know is who exactly should I hire to help me, a tax preparer, accountant, CPA? I don't have a big budget for this so I'd like to balance best service with affordability. Any suggestions? Thank you.

I'm curious to know about Mohamed's mother. Is there much written about her in the Koran? Are there any similarities between the she and the mother of Christ? Thanks in advance for any information.

I am driving from Boston, MA to Langhorne, PA tomorrow. I'll be stopping in Stratford, CT on the way for a few hours. I'd like to take a route that avoids New York City and the George Washington Bridge. I was thinking of taking the Tapan Zee Bridge. Any suggestions about a good route? My aim is to avoid heavy traffic and to have a generally pleasant drive. Thanks!

I have created a 16 x 16 pixel icon that I'd like to use as a favicon for my Yahoo Site Builder website. I've saved the file as 'favicon.ico', I placed it in the root directory for my site, and I've added (what I thought was) the right code in the HTML Head section of my index.html page, but it does not appear. Can anyone offer me explicit instructions as to what the code is and where exactly it is supposed to be placed? Thank you.

I need to file a Small Claims Court suit against someone. I currently live in Massachusetts, and the other party lives in Connecticut. Where do I file this claim? The claim is about an artwork that the other person sold to a third party without having bought it from me first. This occurred in Connecticut a number of years ago. Can I file this in my current home state of Massachusetts?

I am an artist and was recently contacted by an art buyer who owns one of my paintings. She wanted to establish provenance for the artwork, and found me through my website. What she didn't realize is that she bought the painting from someone who never purchased this work from me. The painting is one of mine which was on display for a short time in the mid-nineties. The gallery folded, and with it, three of my paintings disappeared, and I had presumed them to be lost, stolen or destroyed.

The current owner was able to tell me the contact information for the person from whom she had bought the piece in the early 2000's for $800.00. I have sent him an email asking him to please pay me the money that he received for the work. His office (he is a CPA) is in the same building as the gallery was in, so it's fairly certain that he simply took possession of this work that was left somewhere in the building unknown and inaccessible to me.

I am very worried that this gentleman will not simply 'pay up' the profit from the painting, so I'm looking at what options I have to receive this payment. What legal recourse do I have at this point? The only solid information I have is the email from the current owner and her contact information. Clearly the previous owner will not be able to produce any documentation that he bought the painting from anyone. Have the statute of limitations run out on this? Any suggestions?

I have a full time job, but I have been hit with a lot of unexpected bills which have put me into debt. Therefore, I've made the mistake of taking out a few payday loans. Although these have kept me afloat and kept some of the bills paid, I'm now behind by about $3,000 because of all the fees and needing to extend those loans. I'd really like to be able to make some money quickly in order to get my finances back in order, are there any suggestions out there? I'm open to any ideas, and thanks for your thoughts.

I am trying to create a .ISO image to send to a CD Replication company for making into CD's. I have been told that the only format they'll allow is a .ISO image to be sent via YouSendIt.

Here is the problem. I have eight audio tracks, all in .WAV format, and I'd like to send these together as a .ISO file. When I try to do this through the Mac disc utility, and I've gotten to the stage where I click 'New Image", I have the option of selecting 'CD/DVD Image', which I pick - BUT, this saves the file as a .CDR file; there is NO option in Disc Utility to select .ISO.

I went to one website that says to simply delete the .CDR extension and type in .ISO. This seemed to work, but when I then sent the file by YouSendIt to the manufacturer, they said that only one file appeared, and it was empty.

I have attempted to download a 'free' version of "Toast" to help in this process, but both free versions I've tried to install have been corrupted or simply wouldn't work. The actual program no longer has a free version.

WHAT am I doing wrong? Should I wait until I go home and try this on my PC - is this easier to do on a PC? I'm deeply confused by this process. Can anyone offer a suggestion, and if you refer to a specific software that would help, can you reference a specific site and version? I've found that people will say 'Oh, that's easy, use this program', and they're referring to something that was free five years ago and is no longer useful.

Thanks in advance.

I am a first time home-buyer in Massachusetts, and I want to use the first time home-buyer tax break as down payment. Now that the program for the tax credit has been extended into April of 2010, can a buyer still use this program, and how can I use it? I have looked all over the Web and cannot find updated information about the rules governing this kind of sale, any advice would be appreciated.

A good friend of mine (early 30's male, self-employed, minimal health insurance) is an amputee and has been using the same prosthetic leg for many, many years. It no longer fits properly, and he is in near constant pain. This has made it difficult for him to find a job in the pubic workplace, and he does the best he can working for himself.

I wonder if there are any state or federal resources available to him to help him purchase a new prosthetic leg? He is a resident of Massachusetts.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I am in the process of doing the finance paperwork for a house I'm purchasing. First, I am unable to locate my W-2 forms from 2007. Can I request this from the IRS? My other related question: Can the IRS issue electronic versions of my W-2's? The mortgage company wants everything sent to them electonically - does that mean I have to get hard copies, scan them, and then email them? This seems excessively cumbersome.

Thanks for any assistance.

I am a first-time home buyer, and have begun the process by looking at properties, doing tons of research, talking to loan officers and mortgage brokers, and looking at FHA, various state grant programs, and specialized grants. Ideally I'd like to buy a home in New Hampshire and take advantage of the Rural Development Grant.

As I move along in this process, what kind of questions should I be asking, to myself and to the mortgage person / R.E. agent? The basics would be very helpful, thanks.

I have been approved for an FHA loan that would require me to pay (at least) a 3.5 % down payment. Along with that, I would need to show evidence of $10,000.00 available in liquidity. At the moment, I only have (roughly) about $2,000.00 in liquidity, the rest is tied up in apartment deposit funds and other funding I can't reach now.

I'm not even close to purchasing a house, but I really want to take advantage of the market and the Obama first time home buyer $8,000.00 tax rebate this year (that rebate in itself could virtually pay for the $8,000.00 or so I need in liquid assets). So, would I be able to borrow the funds from my credit union to cover the down payment and/or reserve funds? I'm not sure if this would be allowed in terms of the sale. Any help would be greatly appreciated! (and by the way, I also want to buy because my mortgage will be less than I pay in rent right now!)

I like to rove around New Hampshire on weekends and pick through big, interesting flea markets - Can anyone suggest some really good ones, and what towns they're in? Now that the warm weather is here, I'd like to go hunting this weekend. Thanks!

I'll try to keep this simple. My landlord deducted fees for a broken front door from my security deposit for an apartment I left in September of 2007. I revisited the apartment when I received a package there, and found that he never replaced the door (which he charged $350 for.) I was very upset that he charged me, and then never made the repair. I filed a motion in small claims court to have the money returned. He then in turn counter-sued me for $1,750 in damages to the apartment that are 1) completely ungrounded and 2) over a year past the time I was actually a resident in this apartment.

Can a landlord actually do this? I received a list of his alleged damages, 30 days after my tenancy, and there was never any mention of any other damages. I feel as though he is counter-suing to intimidate me, and I can't imagine that he has a legal right to sue, particularly since there have been new tenants in this apartment for the last year. Does anyone know how I should approach his counter-suit? Are there tenancy laws in Massachusetts that prevent a landlord from suing a tenant over a year past his actual residency in that apartment? Thanks for any advice, and for any specific legal language you can point me to.

Hello - I'm traveling to Richmond, VA for about 5 days in November, and I'd love to check out some good antique stores, second-hand shops, and used book stores. Are there any really good ones that people can recommend for me? Thanks