Plain-language reference for demanding areas of American law. Search it, or pick a topic below.
Getting a filing accepted, proving it, and answering the agency when it asks for more.
The mechanics of a court case for someone handling it themselves.
How someone gets out before trial, on what terms, and what breaks the arrangement.
The licenses and rules behind haircuts, nails, tattoos and massage.
Contracts that keep charging you, and how to make them stop.
Three licensed trades that are often confused, and the limits on each.
Buying and lending against secondhand goods, and the paper trail behind it.
Hiring someone to move your belongings, and what happens when it goes wrong.
Who may look after children, under what supervision, and who answers for an injury.
What you are charged compared with what was advertised.
Court papers must be delivered by an adult who is not a party, and the delivery must be recorded in a signed proof of service filed with the court. Personal service is handing the papers to the person. Substituted service leaves them with a competent adult at the home or workplace and then mails a copy. Service by mail requires the recipient's cooperation in most systems. Defective service can void a default judgment long after it is entered.
If a remittance is not honored by the institution on which it is drawn, no receipt is issued and any receipt already issued is void, with the request losing its receipt date. A payment returned for insufficient funds is resubmitted once; a second failure allows rejection or denial. A payment returned for any other reason, including a stop payment, is not resubmitted at all. Where the request had been approved, the approval may be revoked on notice and other fees are not refunded.
Personal care licensing examinations are set in two parts, a written theory paper covering law and sanitation and a practical paper performed on a mannequin or model. A license does not travel by itself. A practitioner moving states applies for licensure by endorsement, and the receiving board decides whether the original training hours, examination and current standing meet its own standard. Where they fall short, the usual remedy is added hours or a re-examination.
Observation is lawful only from a place the observer may lawfully occupy. Public streets, sidewalks and open commercial parking areas carry the fewest restrictions. Ground close to a dwelling, enclosed by a fence and used for domestic life is treated as part of the home and is protected accordingly. A posted sign or an oral instruction to leave converts a lawful presence into criminal trespass, and several states impose civil liability for entering or using a device to capture private activity.
Getting a filing accepted, proving it, and answering the agency when it asks for more.
All articlesA filing can be accepted, receipted and under way, and still come apart weeks later because the money never actually moved. The regulation treats a dishonored payment as though the fee was never paid, and the receipt goes with it.
The mechanics of a court case for someone handling it themselves.
All articlesCourt papers must be delivered by an adult who is not a party, and the delivery must be recorded in a signed proof of service filed with the court. Personal service is handing the papers to the person. Substituted service leaves them with a competent adult at the home or workplace and then mails a copy. Service by mail requires the recipient's cooperation in most systems. Defective service can void a default judgment long after it is entered.
A person commanded to produce documents may serve a written objection before the earlier of the compliance date or the period set by rule, which suspends the duty to produce until a court orders otherwise. A motion to quash or modify asks the court to cancel or narrow the subpoena. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45 requires a court to quash a subpoena that allows unreasonable time, exceeds geographic limits, demands privileged material, or imposes undue burden.
A deposition is oral testimony taken under oath before trial, on written notice to every other party, and recorded by an officer authorized to administer oaths. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30 limits a deposition to one day of seven hours and limits each side to ten depositions without leave of court. Objections are usually stated for the record and the answer is given anyway, with the judge ruling later if the passage is offered in evidence.
How someone gets out before trial, on what terms, and what breaks the arrangement.
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The licenses and rules behind haircuts, nails, tattoos and massage.
All articlesPassing the written and practical papers is the easy part to plan for. The harder question is what a license is worth after a move, because endorsement is a discretionary route with conditions attached, not an automatic transfer.
Health club statutes require contracts to allow cancellation if the buyer dies, becomes physically unable to use a substantial portion of the services, or if the club closes or moves beyond a set distance without providing an equivalent substitute. Florida uses a five driving mile test. Refunds are calculated on the unused remainder, usually on a weekly basis. Proof requirements are set by the contract within the limits the statute allows, and notice still has to be given in an accepted form.
State health club statutes require the agreement to be in writing, with a copy given or emailed to the buyer at signing. Most cap the maximum term, commonly at three years, and prohibit payment obligations running beyond the term. The contract must disclose the minimum length of the term in a stated type size positioned above the signature, and must carry a cancellation notice. Terms that conflict with the statute are void, and treble damages are available in some states.
State health club laws give a buyer a period after signing in which the contract can be canceled without penalty. Florida's baseline is three days excluding holidays and weekends. California gives five business days and extends that to twenty, thirty or forty-five days as the contract price rises through set thresholds. Notice may usually be given in person, by email to an address on file, or by first-class mail, and refunds are typically due within ten days of the notice.
Three licensed trades that are often confused, and the limits on each.
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Buying and lending against secondhand goods, and the paper trail behind it.
All articlesTwo separate processes run when property in a shop is said to be stolen. A police hold order freezes the item; a claimant's notice starts a civil route to recover it. Neither is resolved by the shop deciding who is telling the truth.
Hiring someone to move your belongings, and what happens when it goes wrong.
All articlesOn an interstate household goods move the carrier may not provide a period shorter than nine months for filing a claim, or shorter than two years for bringing a civil action after it gives written notice that the claim is disallowed. A valid claim is a written communication identifying the shipment, asserting liability and demanding a specified or determinable sum. The carrier must acknowledge it within thirty days and pay, decline or make a firm settlement offer within one hundred and twenty.
An interstate household goods shipment charged by weight must be weighed either as an origin weigh or a back weigh, with the vehicle fully equipped, nobody aboard, and the fuel tanks handled consistently. The shipper may observe every weighing and, after being told the billing weight and total charges but before unloading begins on an origin weigh, may demand a reweigh. The reweigh weight then governs the freight bill, and weight tickets must accompany the invoice.
Interstate household goods carriers must provide reasonable dispatch service and must tender the shipment on the agreed delivery date or within the period stated on the bill of lading. When a delay becomes apparent the carrier must notify the shipper by a listed method, at its own expense, and record the notification. Delay is claimable under the federal claims rules, and the carrier must acknowledge a written claim within thirty days and dispose of it within one hundred and twenty.
Who may look after children, under what supervision, and who answers for an injury.
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Two different systems watch a fuel pump. One is federal and concerns the yellow label, what the number on it means and who has to certify it. The other is state, concerns whether the gallon dispensed is a gallon, and leaves a seal on the machine.
