ApricotDanish

The doorbell rang early in the morning. I didn't answer the door, as I never answer the door unless I am expecting a visitor. I went out the door later and found a summons and complaint had been attached to my door handle. I found out later that the plaintiff's lawyer filed a "proof of service" in which the process server claimed, under penalty of perjury, that he had personally served these documents to me, meaning, handing them to me. This absolutely didn't happen: I never opened the door and he attached the documents to the doorknob.

I realize that I can't avoid the lawsuit by attacking the service -- my lawyer threatened to file a motion to quash, but settled for an extension of time to file an answer --but it disturbs me that this process server lied under oath and I'd like to take action to report him or have him penalized.

WHat action can I take to report him or have him taken to task for this lie, which is essentially a crime: it's perjury to lie under oath. I live in California. I've heard that one can call the district attorney's office to report this process server, or sue the process server. Is this true? How would I sue him, since he really didn't cause any injury to me personally -- it's really more a crime against the state he commits by lying under oath.

I'm dragging my feet getting into the tech world. When I was in college, there were no computers: we used typewriters. I have resisted doing business online, and advertising online, but it's come to the point where I believe it would benefit my business (I'm self employed) to have a website. I've read that there are free templates for you to create your own website online.

Does anyone have recommendations for a good site to do this through, and also I am wondering -- what are typical fees associated with a website? Is there a monthly fee just to have one? Are there any other additional fees? Do you get charged for having people contact you through the website?

Do you have any suggestions for books and/or resources I can go to, to learn more about setting up and maintaining a website?

This is a hypothetical or "general" question, so there is no specific, actual document to refer to.

I am curious, in the case where an attorney agreed to take a plaintiff's case on contingency, where his/her payment would be a percentage of what was recovered/awarded in the case, what would happen if the plaintiff-client decided either to fire the attorney and seek representation from someone else, or chose not to continue with the lawsuit, before any settlement was reached, or the case even approached going to trial? Because the attorney would only get paid for his/her time if there is a recovery in the suit, it seems to me that an attorney would not be happy if the client decided to cancel the case, since then the attorney would have no chance of getting compensation for his/her time already invested in the case? Do attorneys often (or, ever) write something into a contingency fee agreement which stipulates that the client will owe them for any time worked if the client drops the suit, or fires the attorney?

A vindictive and malicious former tenant has sued landlord for breach of contract, basing the suit on completely false statements. Can landlord counter-sue the tenant (cross-complaint) for breach of contract since the tenant did truly violate the rental agreement numerous times, yet these violations by tenant did not result in any but very minor financial loss for the landlord --yet the landlord and others were caused emotional distress and inconvenience by tenant's breaches of the contract.

I know landlords can be sued for breach of contract, but can tenants or former tenants be sued for breach of contract? Not a breach of a LEASE but a breach of (failure to perform or violation of) some elements listed in a month to month rental agreement. Or is the landlord considered as having an available remedy for rental agreement violations vis a vis his ability to terminate the tenant's tenancy, thus obviating the need for a breach of contract suit?

I read that recently someone in New York state went to public records to find out who had handgun permits in one county in that state. The person who did this research unfortunately also felt entitled to simply publish this information publicly in the media, something that I think rightly made these gun owners feel that their privacy had been violated, and even made some feel endangered.

I respect the privacy of gun owners in general and have no interest in obtaining a long list of people in my county who have gun permits, but I want to seek this information regarding one particular person, to see if he has a handgun permit, so I would like to look at a list for my county and see if he is on it. Does anyone know what agency/office/or government entity I contact in the state of California to find this information?

THe tenant was given 60 day notice to move. The last day (the 60th day) the tenant could be in legal occupancy was November 10th. Tenant moved out November 3rd, but did not pay rent for November. The rental agreement states that rent is due on the 1st and when rent is not paid by the 3rd, a late fee applies.

First question: If tenant was given 60 day notice to move by Nov 10th but moved earlier, and did not inform me of the date by which he would vacate, can I charge the tenant rent through November 10th, or only through the last day of his occupancy of the unit, eg Nov 3rd?

2nd question: when making deductions from the security deposit, can I charge a late fee for the rent, since it was never paid? (REntal agreement states that last month's rent cannot come out of his security deposit) Or not, since tenant's last day was the same day that rent can be paid without a late fee?

This is a hypothetical situation that hasn't happened yet but I am a landlord wondering what to do if it does.

Say the tenant has been given 30 day notice of termination of tenancy. If the tenant should essentially move out just at the end of the 30 days, yet still "claim" the rental unit by leaving possessions in it and/or leaving a note that he has not abandoned the unit, what is the best course of action to take? If the tenant has not provided a forwarding address, the unlawful detainer suit cannot be served personally on him because his location is not known. Yet because he has written a note stating that he has not abandoned the rental unit, the landlord cannot just take possession of it.

WOuld the best course of action be to have a process server post and mail the unlawful detainer, posting it on his rental unit and mailing it to his last known address (eg the rental unit in question)? OR is there another course of action that would be appropriate to take?

I am wondering how much time could elapse between the occurrence of some incident that a person later claimed was emotionally distressing to them, and their filing a civil suit over that incident, before the claim of emotional distress became unbelievable because of the amount of time that had elapsed.

In the situation I'm inquiring about, an incident occurred where person A did something that greatly bothered person B who at that time did sue for emotional distress. Person C was exposed to the same situation yet was not much bothered by it and did not sue, though she knew about person B's lawsuit. Person A and person C were acquaintances and continued to be acquaintances who regularly interacted and socialized on friendly terms for 2.5 years thereafter. At this point, 2.5 years after the original incident, person A did something else that greatly bothered person C, who then sought to sue person A for both the more recent incident, and the incident that had occurred 2. 5 years before, alleging emotional distress from both incidents.

The question is, would it be found believable (reasonable) in court that person C experienced enough emotional distress from the original, older incident, to warrant damages, when the suit was only brought 2. 5 years after the incident, and person C had throughout these 2. 5 years been on friendly terms with person A and through that time showed no sign of having been injured by that old incident.

I'm reading the text of California Civil Code 1954.50 and for the life of me can't figure out if the law states that single family homes in general are exempt from all forms of rent control, or not. I live in a city with laws on rent control (eg landlords can only raise rent a certain percentage each year), but I am wondering if this state law, which trumps local law, applies to a bedroom rented in an owner-occupied single family home that was built in 1920. It's confusing because the language suggests that a single family home is only exempt if it's a NEW building, or if the bedroom being rented is new. Anyone out there have any insight into this law? Are all single family homes exempt from rent control in California, or only those which are new, or meet some other specification?

In California, are copies of the records of a civil lawsuit available to the public? WOuld these include the copies of initial complaint, and answer, and statements made prior to a mediated settlement conference? Would such public records include the copies of the settlement agreement and settlement amount? For how many years after a given case are these records available?

I have a Bradford White hot water heater, about 7 years old, model MI5036FBN2. The pilot light went out and I found out it was the high limit switch that had shut the unit off. I can replace the high limit switch, but I was told that the high limit switch often trips and shuts the heater off when the heater gets too hot, due to the air filter being clogged...or possibly not enough oxygen getting in because the air filter is clogged. As far as I can tell, the inlet holes to let oxygen into the sealed combustion chamber are below, just about 1/2 inch above the ground at base of the tank, and I can't get any type of brush in there to clean this out. Does the air filter actually need to be cleaned, and how do I do that, or is there some other reason the high limit switch would trip that I need to take action on?