Speaker A: Alright, it is August 17, 2022 here with Lawyer Talk blitz edition. It's Wednesday, and that means of course, it is Blitz Wednesday with 99, seven loop and Randy, I've been off for a couple of weeks. I uh, had a jury trial last week, uh, out in Hawking County, the gorgeous Hawking Hills. A self defense murder case. I am happy to say it went the correct way. Our client was vindicated and found not guilty on all counts. What more can we ask for out of a, uh, out of the case? So often we try these cases so often, um, people ask us, how do you represent these awful people accused of crimes? Well it's also true that people often are wrongfully accused of crimes. And uh, in the case of a self defense homicide case, uh, this is actually true more than people might expect. If you are unfortunate enough to have to use deadly force to, uh, defend yourself or defend somebody else, it's not always the fact that the police will come to your side and say great job, and give you the round of applause for being courageous in doing what was right. And in this case, that's exactly what did not happen. The police, uh, did the opposite. The prosecution did the opposite. They, uh, actually condemned my client for intervening in what was obviously a domestic, uh, violence incident and uh, on behalf of a young lady who clearly needed help. So uh, it's tragic for everybody, life was lost, um, but at least, uh, the right outcome happened. My client did not lose the rest of his life because that's exactly what he would have been facing, his life in prison. And when you frame it up that way, your choice is use self defense, defend yourself. Um, sadly, somebody lost their life and you risk, uh, the rest of your life in a prison cell. So the consequences were extreme. At uh, stake was everything for my client. And the jury returned the correct not guilty verdicts on all three charges. So we are, uh, still recovering and celebrating from that. But that doesn't mean we're not going to answer The Blitz questions. And it, uh, doesn't mean that we're not going to continue to answer your questions here@lawyertalkpodcast.com. Just go there and submit them. I've uh, got a few in the bank. They're going to be coming in the next coming weeks now that I've finished my trial. So uh, it uh, takes all this. I am on it. Uh, questions will be answered, podcast will be delivered and the show will go on. For now, we have The Blitz ready to interface here.

Speaker B: Uh, we go better call Steve, uh, our number one lawyer who's definitely helped out our family and we're like, hey guys, he could help out yours. And right now he's going to give free law advice. Rick, are we having a good connection with Steve?

Speaker A: Steve? Yeah. Can you hear me? Oh, there we go. Yeah.

Speaker B: Fantastic. Better than ever. Like, are you kidding me? Sounds so good. All right, well, we already have a question that came in via text. Steve, hit it. Right now, my girlfriend is being sexually harassed by the owner of a company where she works. He hugs her and grabs her butt. The worst. He pinned her in his office and kissed her against her will. When he went in to kiss her, she had back to the wall, so she turned her head away, but he grabbed her face. I told her, the next time this happens, to call the police and file charges for assault. Does she have the right to do this? Would that legally be considered assault?

Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, that is an assault. So an assault is any unwanted touching like that that causes, uh, you don't even need to call serious physical harm just an assault like that can be a crime. Now, there's also sexual harassment claims against an employer. Now, depending on where she works and how many people work there, it may qualify under Title Seven, which is federal law. And even if he doesn't qualify under Title Seven, there's some Ohio law that might apply that would give a cause of action. Generally, there are two forms of sexual harassment. One is a quid pro quo where you either do this for me, or you're going to lose your job or lose a promotion, or you won't get a promotion. Um, and then the other is a hostile working environment where it's just so, uh, obnoxious and continuous that the, uh, work environment is impossible. Uh, the key to this is making complaints in writing. The key to this is documenting everything that's happening. And the key to this is don't let yourself be a victim. This is horrible behavior and conduct. Nobody condones it. And, uh, there's help out there. So, uh, starting with the police isn't a bad idea. Making a complaint to human resources is going to be critical, and, uh, then getting some legal advice will also be critical. So I strongly suggest you do that. Nobody should have to endure this at work or anywhere else. So man, uh, I hope it works out.

Speaker B: All right, we have one online, uh, actually, who's our caller?

Speaker A: We have Tristan with a question. Go ahead, Tristan. You're on the air with Steve.

Speaker C: I currently have a living situation. There's water coming through our ceilings. We have multiple problems at our apartment, and they're not keeping up their end of the deal with our lease terms. Right. Well, I've, um, been trying to open up an escrow account, and I can't give them a 30 day notice, and I don't know what to do.

Speaker A: Yeah, this is, uh, probably something you want to get a landlord lawyer for. I don't do a whole lot of landlord tenant work. I know only enough to make myself dangerous. This sucks. Generally, uh, speaking, uh, if you're renting your landlord has to provide a habitable dwelling. And you would ask, what the heck is a habitable dwelling? Well, it's one, where water is not coming to the ceiling to start. Um, two, where you've got basic amenities like heat, you've got safety, you've got the appliances work, just basic stuff. And, um, it sounds like the landlord is not living up to their end of the bargain here. So I strongly said, give me a shout. 614-224-6142. We can refer you over to a landlord tenant lawyer. There's lots of resources online, I think, for, uh, such things, because you get in a spot where, man, it just costs a lot to hire a lawyer. But on the other hand, you need the legal advice. That's one reason why I do this year every week. But I, uh, can't always answer, uh, every single question. Landlord tenant issues. These are nuanced enough where I'm not comfortable giving solid legal advice other than, let's get some solid legal advice for you. So give me a shot. We'll try to refer you somewhere.

Speaker B: All right.

Speaker D: I've, uh, got a text here. It says, I'm currently getting a divorce and found out that our debt is being split 50 $50. But, uh, since then, I have seen paperwork that my husband incurred $30,000 worth of debt, both during the end of our marriage and during our separation. A, uh, large portion of it on eating out. And it definitely wasn't with me or his children, just himself, probably other women. My question is, what if I don't pay it? My lawyer says there is nothing he can do about the 50 50 split. She, uh, said that her name is on none of his credit cards, so she doesn't see how creditors can go after her, um, that she wasn't responsible for any of that debt. Is there anything she can do or is there anything her lawyer can do and he just says he can't?

Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, look, I've got to defer to the legal advice she's getting from her attorney. We have to trust that the attorney knows what he or she is doing and understands the circumstances. So, um, let me take it a step removed from this particular situation. There is, uh, such a thing as unauthorized spending. And this happens a lot, I think, where at the end of a marriage, one side may be, uh, cohorting with others outside the marriage and spending a bunch of money. And it's frivolous. And, uh, it hardly is fair for, uh, your spouse to have to pay for half of that. So if you're out galvan around taking trips with your girlfriend or boyfriend, and, uh, you want your soon to be ex to help fund that, uh, that's a tall order. Um, now, to prove that, you're going to have to go into court with evidence and do your best to establish that it was not only frivolous, but probably I don't know exactly what the standards are, but you get what I'm saying. Now, uh, the attorney here probably knows about this, probably a lot more than I know about this, and hopefully can give some advice on whether this is viable. Because divorce is such a dynamic type of litigation, there's always a give and take somewhere. And a lot of times, like in much litigation, the give and take is legal fees. So you could spend easily 7510 grand in legal fees to save 15 grand in debt. And, uh, that's just a maybe. So there's always a place where the curves cross, where it's like, you know what? I don't care. I just want this thing over with. But, uh, principles sort of pushing you in the other direction. These are tough, tough decisions to have to sort out, particularly at the end of a marriage where there's lots of emotion anyway. So I strongly encourage you to have a very open and honest conversation with your attorney and really air out what the options are. And, uh, if your attorney says, look, there's nothing we can do, at least get an explanation as to why. Uh, so you understand that way, when you move forward, you'll know that you did everything you could.

Speaker B: I'd also be choosy with our lawyer. We've never felt that way about you. That's why we want you on our show, and we want you to help other people, our listeners, because we love our listeners. I've never felt that way at all. Some people, at the end of their situation, even if they win, they feel like maybe the lawyer wasn't what they thought. Do you know what I mean? I 100% support you, and I love the law of advice. Uh, you give someone else just wrote it, and he says, I need some advice on how I can handle this. A coworker has been telling co workers that he plans on offering me a narcotic painkiller. Then he's going to report me for stealing. Okay? It says the plan is to have me drug tested and fired. I have never stolen anything. He simply just doesn't like me. I have also never failed a drug test. So I go to my boss and I told him what these people are planning, and my boss says he can't do anything because nothing has happened. Is there anything I can do or say that would make a difference?

Speaker A: Well, first and foremost, and you already know this, it sounds like you don't have to do anything wrong. You don't have to take drugs, you don't have to accept drugs. You don't have to do, uh, anything here. So protect yourself. You've made the report. Make sure it's documented. If you're hearing rumors or you're hearing, uh, innuendo like this, keep a journal, keep a log, and say, i, uh, heard this on this date from this person. And if you've got an ally there, have that person give you a statement. Document your case before it happens. Maybe. Um, but first, the Hippocratic oath. First, do no harm, don't do anything wrong. And it's going to be very difficult to frame you for doing nothing wrong. Obviously, if you don't have, um, dirty, uh, urine, or, uh, if you do have, uh, something in your urine, but you have a prescription for it, then you'll be okay. Like I said, what other people do, you can't control that. You can control what you do. Don't do anything wrong. Document what you hear and hopefully this all shakes out.

Speaker D: Uh, I've got a really interesting question that just popped up on text. This, uh, person says my nine year old son used his allowance to buy prop money from Amazon just to play with, to have some fake money. She says that she facilitated the purchase because her son obviously doesn't have an Amazon account and doesn't buy things online for himself. Nine years old. Well, the, uh, prop money, the fake money was delivered. It's clearly marked play money and for film prop use only. And she said it's like $100 bills. And the color looks good, but it also has that it's clearly marked that it's fake money. She says she had a friend in town who brought her 16 year old son. She says her nine year old gave the 16 year old a few bills. The 16 year old turned around and tried to pay for something with a fake $100 bill. So he was sighted by police and has to go to juvenile court. And his mom wants to know if she could be in trouble for it. So she's the one who's actually bought the money for her son?

Speaker A: No, I don't think so. This kind of thing happens all the time. There's lots of things out there. I'm trying to think of something analogous, but just, uh, use your imagination. There are lots of items out there that can be used or adopted to commit a crime. And just because you supply that item innocently doesn't mean that you're responsible when the person does use it to commit a crime. And that sounds like that's what's happened here. I mean, even your nine year old didn't know you give the money away to somebody and it obviously says it's not money. And that's that now it would be different if you give money away to somebody that was not clearly marked as counterfeit or prop money. And then you would know, or you would have reason to know that they might turn around and try to use it. Uh, then you both might be in trouble. But based on this scenario, I hardly think that you, uh, have anything to worry about. And, uh, the 16 year old probably wasn't even really trying. Seriously. Look, there's a reason that juveniles we, uh, have a juvenile system because juveniles are just that they're juveniles. So hopefully it works out, right?

Speaker B: You got one, buddy? Uh, yeah, that's an interesting thing. Kids can buy anything on the internet. We learn the hard way. When your grandparents give a, uh, nice quantity of an Amazon gift card, you.

Speaker D: Can go buy anything by whatever the.

Speaker B: Hell they want, guys, and it shows up to your house if you wanted it or not. So be careful with the amount you give them on those gift cards. All right? Someone, uh, just wrote in, I got fired from my job because someone complained about my personal life. It was nothing work related. And ever at my job is still talking about my personal life like it's theirs. Should I go through with filing a wrongful termination lawsuit?

Speaker A: Well, you should certainly go through with consulting with an attorney. Um, I don't know what the circumstances are here. I don't know what the situation is in the personal life. I know in the last couple of years of the Woke era, uh, there's been people fired for posting stuff on social media that one, uh, way or another, politically, their boss doesn't agree with. And, uh, I know there's been some wrongful termination claims that have arisen out of that. Generally speaking, you can't be fired for, um, protected things like your, uh, gender, your age, your race. These are protected things. Um, but then there's wrongful termination claims that just sort of exist in common law. So if it's unfair that you were terminated, or if it was unlawful for some reason, you might be able to get an attorney to help you negotiate some sort of settlement with it. Getting, um, your job back is going to be tough, but getting compensated for damages that you sustained as a result of losing your job, well, that may be possible. A lot of times, employment, um, lawyers will help negotiate a severance package as opposed to just flat out termination. So it's certainly worth consulting an employment lawyer who knows what they're doing. Give me a shout. 614-224-6142. I'll be happy to make a referral.

Speaker B: All right, this is an interesting one that just came over Texas from Chelsea. She says, My sister went to prison in 2018 and was incorrectly charged with burglary on an abandoned house she lived in for a month. It was an abandoned house. Her boyfriend did forge and record the deed, and that came with other charges. But the burglary is six years of a twelve year sentence. We paid for a lawyer. Nothing really went on for a year. Is there anything we can do about the mischarge? She also got charged with Rico. I don't know what that means, but Rico Act, I've heard about it and.

Speaker A: Some showed yeah, it sounds like there's a lot more of this. Um, so burglary means you entered a dwelling. It, uh, doesn't have to necessarily be occupied. It can be an unoccupied dwelling. It's, um, worse if you enter somebody's house at a time where it's likely that they're present. But there are different levels of burglary. Honestly, burglary is sort of confusing because it doesn't mean necessarily that you took anything. It just means that you entered at a time when somebody's present or likely to be present, or you entered with the intent to commit a misdemeanor, sort of like trespassing. But anyway, as far as the Rico goes, that in Ohio. Rico is racketeering influence and corrupt activity or corrupt organizations. In Ohio, uh, we called engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. And basically what it means is you commit a series of crimes as a pattern to, uh, achieve a greater goal. Like, uh, if you commit a bunch of thefts and you make a lot of money on it. Rico is designed to make those crimes a little bit more serious, or a lot more serious, obviously. But instead, uh, of just a bunch of small level thefts, you get convicted of a big felony, the first degree, if it's part of an organization or a pattern of activity. So there's more to this. I would need to know a lot more in order to give, uh, some firm advice. There are other options. Sometimes you can, uh, get early release, something called judicial release, after you've served a certain portion of the sentence, and that may be viable here. I don't know, give me a shout. 614-224-6142, I can help you assess your viability for early release or other options.

Speaker D: We had, uh, a man text, and I won't say his name, but he said he's going to soon be filing for divorce from his wife, who is physically abusive. He says he once recorded her on his phone hitting, uh, him and ripping out his hair. And he, um, said he wants to know, is that video illegal? Because she didn't give consent. He said she knew that he was recording her because he was pointing his phone right at her while it was happening, but she didn't give consent. Will that be allowed in court?

Speaker A: Yes, there's nothing unlawful about that at all. Um, Ohio, uh, believe it or not, is a one party consent state. Meaning unless you're a certain type of person, like, lawyers can't just record calls willy nilly, but generally people can record other people. In Ohio, it's one party consent. And they're like, well, that, uh, sounds like the other side has to consent. But it doesn't mean that. It means that the party recording it can also consent. And that's good enough. Um, this is not advice for everybody to go out and start recording phone calls, but, um, this isn't even that. I mean, it's not even hidden or secret. You've did it right in the person's face. So clearly, uh, this individual knew it will be admissible, for whatever it's worth. And I should also say this, whether it's a male, whether it's a female being abused, report it's. Uh, like I think Mike Dick, they used to say, you're going to endure what you tolerate. Um, this is not tolerable. So if it happens. Call the police. Nobody should be a victim. Call the police. Put an end to it. And usually once or twice it, uh, stops. But it's hard to do. It's easy to say, but please, uh, be safe. So you're saying he should report this particular incident to the police anyway? Yeah, I would. It might be too late, I suppose, if it's been months and months and months, but anytime there's physical abuse like that from, uh, a loved one or anyone, just report it to the police because it will stop it. Sooner or later, it'll stop it. And that's the best advice I can give. You do not have to endure this.

Speaker B: All right? Someone wrote in. I'm not going to name their name because, uh, they said they're embarrassed. But my picture name is put on a bulletin board of thieves at my workplace. Yet I still work there. The store manager is singing me out. She doesn't have any respect for me. She doesn't even look at me when she speaks. She's talking to other co workers about me. She told me to stop calling the store and coming in after I did my application. I talked to a gentleman about it one day, and the next day I had a job interview. Uh, she has been very rude to me every day since. I feel singled out. I feel humiliated and disrespected. Why would they want a thief to work at their store? Now everyone in the store is talking about my picture on the wall.

Speaker A: I guess I don't understand if this person really is a thief or if it's just like, we're going to screw with this person and act like she's a thief, but I think they're screwing with the person.

Speaker B: I don't think that she's a thief. I mean, in the email or the text that I'm reading right now, yeah.

Speaker A: Then I would say, take the damn picture down. If you're not a thief, you're not a thief. Tell your boss to take the picture down. This is one of the situations where document, document, document. I would go in in writing. I would say, here's what's happening in my work environment. And it's, uh, not tolerable to me and it shouldn't be tolerable to you. And if you get fired for that, then, uh, you start to dig into a possible cause of action. There's also sort of like the hostile work environment. The, uh, employment situation can be so bad that it forces you to quit. That's called a constructive discharge, which is fancy talk for saying life at work sucks so much that I had to leave. It was just intolerable. And, uh, then that also could potentially be a claim or a lawsuit. Um, the best advice I can give anybody outside the purview of the legal, uh, system is just leave. Get a new job. If you can, hopefully you can.

Speaker B: And the person wrote back in and said, I guess they work at a grocery store. My boss in the deli department gave me permission to take some, uh, food items home, some old subs, and that's why they put me on there.

Speaker A: Yeah, whatever the circumstance, that's not theft. Uh, uh, make a claim or make a report to, uh, human Resources. If it's a grocery store, it's probably a bigger chain. Go up the chain, uh, of command. Make sure it's in writing. Make sure your grievance here is aired out and documented in that way, if it escalates even more, you'll have some maybe a cause, uh, of action or some relief later. Um, as I say, every week, it's really important to document things. Don't just scream to people in the ether and expect them to write it down for you. You have to do it. You have to take responsibility. Send an email, send a letter. Make sure that somebody has this in writing, in your file, at the place, at your employer's place.

Speaker B: Well, thank you so much, Steve. We will talk to you next Wednesday. We love when you're on our show, but what is the phone number? Everyone can reach you out.

Speaker A: Yeah, it's simple. 614-224-6142. Everybody's going back to school. I just need to be back in school soon. That means people, uh, tend to run afoul of the norms of society, we'll say. And if that happens to you, no big deal. Put my number in your phone. Two 2614-224-6142.

Speaker B: He's the best. We love him. Talk to you later, Steve.

Speaker A: Thanks, guys. All right, another great blitz Wednesday. Awesome. Um, questions day in and day out. I never cease to be amazed by the really, uh, intelligent questions that people ask. They dig into it. Uh, it sounds like they take their time. They're looking forward to asking the questions, and I look forward to answering them every week. So if you've got questions, uh, it's simple, call the Blitz. Or if you don't get through, call me. 614-224-6142. And if you want it answered right here@lawyertalkpodcast.com, you go to Lawyertalkpodcast.com and submit your question. I know I say it every week. I'm behind. I get it. But I just finished my jury trial. I'm, um, back in action. I'm going to start hitting it down here in the studio and looking forward to, uh, a long line of questions getting dropped week in and week out. So check, uh, us out@ohiolegaldefence.com upstairs if you need help from a law firm. If you want to check out the podcast, I'll go to Lawyer Talk podcast.com. Here we are, every single week, off the record, on the air. At least until now.