What Is a Cause of Action
A cause of action is one of those legal terms that lawyers throw out without really thinking about what it may mean to the people they are talking to. A cause of action is basically a set of facts that gives rise to an enforceable right to bring an action against a party. In other words, a cause of action is the basic set of facts that gives you the right to sue. When you sue someone, you must allege certain causes of action to give the court a basis for finding in your favor. Causes of action often entail legal theories like negligence, breach of contract, and fraud.
Like I said above, a cause of action is a basis for bringing a lawsuit. It is important when drafting a complaint to make sure it has all the necessary elements contained within the complaint to establish grounds for a case against the defendant; otherwise, the court can strike the complaint or dismiss it. Even if the plaintiff can prove the facts alleged in the complaint, the court may still dismiss the complaint if it does not properly name the right causes of action. The published decision in Heller v . Schwimmer, 197 Cal.App.3d 156, demonstrates this rule perfectly.
In Heller, Rachel Heller (plaintiff) sued her former husband, Michael Schwimmer (defendant), for specific performance of a separation agreement and damages as emotional distress damages. The court dismissed her complaint and plaintiff appealed. The court of appeal reversed the decision with respect to damages for emotional distress because a separation agreement gave plaintiff disciplinary powers over defendant in California, and imposed punitive damages on him if he did not comply with the separation agreement. However, the Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of the emotional distress damages because the plaintiff did not specifically allege emotional distress in her complaint under a specific theory of law. Therefore, the court in Heller stated that it is an abuse of discretion for a trial judge to deny leave to amend a complaint after it has been determined that the complaint is completely lacking in any merit and wholly deficient in stating a cause of action.
Legal Aid, What Is It?
What is legal aid?
Legal Aid is a resource for low-income individuals in need of legal help. Its purpose is to provide free civil legal assistance to low-income people so that everyone can have equal access to our justice system.
Legal aid can help people facing issues in child custody or support, housing eviction, domestic violence, bankruptcy, consumer fraud , foreclosure, divorce, and guardianships.
Financial eligibility is determined by the household income and number of people living in the home. Legal Aid has evaluation staff that determine financial eligibility and staff who qualify applicants directly. Applicants can also be turned away for other issues such as a conflict of interest with Legal Aid.
An Overview of AAA Arbitration
The American Arbitration Association (AAA) is a not-for-profit organization that has administered arbitration proceedings for more than 90 years. The AAA’s purpose is to provide conflict resolution services, especially in the context of contractual relations, in order to facilitate economic and social growth. The AAA has developed rules, known as the AAA Arbitration Rules, for many specific types of cases (e.g., wage disputes, international disputes, consumer disputes, insurance disputes). However, the AAA Commercial Arbitration Rules apply to most commercial disputes. The AAA also provides alternative services to litigation for construction disputes; labor disputes; and cases involving consumer, employment or international/splicing law.
There are several reasons that parties choose AAA to resolve their disputes. Parties generally prefer to arbitrate rather than litigate because arbitration is faster, cheaper and the parties have more control over the proceedings . In situations where the parties do not have a strong relationship or if the relationship is already damaged, the less formal and often more personal arbitration process is appropriate. For similar reasons, parties choose AAA rather than using another arbitrator, institution or ad hoc panel to resolve their dispute. The AAA will generally appoint a panel of two or three dispute resolution professionals with experience in the industry. If a single arbitrator is chosen, he or she is generally a former judge or a lawyer with over ten years’ experience in the relevant field.
There also several characteristics that are unique to AAA: (1) Arbitrators’ fees are based on the amount of time spent, rather than the amount of the claim, (2) Arbitrators and the AAA provide a number of procedural services not available in litigation, (3) Arbitrators work in an informal setting, and (4) AAA offers expedited procedures that allow a disputing party to obtain relief within a few months.
Room Rental Contracts
A room rental agreement is a written, legal contract between a potential landlord and a potential tenant. In New South Wales there’s a ‘standard’ room rental agreement that can be downloaded and used, or you have the option of writing one up yourself and getting both parties to sign. It’s up to you.
Why is a written room rental agreement important?
The main reason is so that you can assume your preferred level of control as a landlord (whether it be to be more or less involved with managing your property). A room rental agreement also helps to protect you legally in the event that a dispute arises.
What should be included in a room rental agreement to be considered legally binding?
To be ‘legally binding’, your room rental agreement should spell out the following:
In addition, you should also include , where relevant:
Note that if you’re renting a room out to more than 1 person, you can still use the ‘standard’ room rental agreement. You just need to fill it out appropriately.
Finally, some other documents you may want (but are not required) to make a room rental agreement legally binding are:
Although a room rental agreement doesn’t have to be formally registered to be legally binding, it’s a good idea to register it with the Tenancy Tribunal if you foresee any issues occurring in the relationship (such as one of the tenants not paying their share of rent or bond, leaving the property very dirty, or causing damage to your property).
You will be given an ‘acknowledgement of registration’ from the Tenancy Tribunal once your room rental agreement has been registered, and you may want to keep this for your records.
An Introduction to Contract Agreements
A recruitment agency contract agreement defines the relationship between a recruitment agency and its client. It sets forth the terms to which the recruitment agency and the client must adhere to in their business transactions. As each individual agreement will have different contract terms , the agreement acts as a legally binding contract should a disagreement arise. Other names for a recruitment agency contract include a retainer agreement or a search agreement.
A recruitment agency contract generally covers the remuneration that the recruitment agency will enforce for its services. The services offered by the agency will also be stated along with any special services. The recruitment contract should set forth the duration term of the agreement. If the recruitment agency finds an individual for immediate hire by the client, this should be clearly stated. If the client has the opportunity to review several candidates, this should also be specified. The contract should also allow for the client to give input into the type of candidate they are looking for and the candidate should have certain qualifications.
Legal Matters Impacting Single Fathers
Common legal issues single fathers face include custody battles, child support, and visitation rights. Far too many dads don’t know their rights and end up scrambling to find a reliable lawyer when they need someone on their side the most. Alone, separation or divorce is overwhelming at the best of times. Dealing with custody disputes, cutting off spousal support, establishing visitation rights, and all the other legal matters involved in separation are enough to test the emotional and financial reserve of even the most organized person. But not having the right lawyer—that can be the difference between arriving at a resolution you can live with and dragging each issue out in court for months, even years.
The first step in any legal proceeding is to find a lawyer you can trust. Nothing will erode your confidence in the legal process faster than when you encounter resistance from a judge or opposing counsel because you don’t have proper representation. Unfortunately, when a dad finds out they need a lawyer, it’s often the first time they ever hired a lawyer. Most of the time, the isolated event in question is an amicable divorce or separation that didn’t involve a lawyer. There are plenty of lawyers and law firms that cater to these situations, but they don’t always have the resources to assist dads all the way through complicated family court cases like custody, division of assets, and more. You need a lawyer that specializes in representing fathers, whether it’s for custody or basic separation agreements.
Legal Aid of Canada provides all lawyers that have been called to the bar a wealth of resources to assist them in family legal matters. However, there is a major gap in the resources. The majority of legal aid resources and publications are aimed at women. One of the main reasons why women tend to win custody over 80% of the time is unbalanced preparation before family court trials.
Let’s take a basic example: A couple goes through separation , and a father decides he wants to establish regular visitations with his children. His wife decides to keep the kids at her home and tells him he can have weekend visits when she feels like it. He doesn’t want to "rock the boat," so he drops the matter for the time being and tries to make the best of the short visits.
He waits two months, at which point his wife refuses to allow him to see the children at all. He finally decides to go to the youth court and file for visitation rights. The judge grants him the weekends he wanted plus an additional weekday visit outside of his home (that was a positive outcome). He thinks the matter is as good as finished; and this is where he makes his biggest mistake.
He gets busy with work and life and figures the judge will do all the hard work for him. Unfortunately, he didn’t know the judge wouldn’t communicate beyond providing the minimum orders.
Each time his kids were with him, he wanted to spend time with them out of the house, and he could deduct these visits from his support payment. However, his wife disagreed, and she demanded she keep her normal share of the monthly support. Spending time away from home is expensive—not only do you have to pay for all the expenses of being out of the home with your children, but you also need to maintain the house where you are not. Without proper preparation, an agreement was never reached, and with no written agreement in place, the judge failed to protect his rights. Now, he is stuck paying full child support as well as all the costs of visiting his children, as if they weren’t even there. The sad part is that without a bit of preparation, this type of scenario is not uncommon.
A simple form that outlines the terms of the visitation and divide the expenses would have saved him the hassle, unnecessary court proceedings, and thousands of dollars spent to avoid the expenses of raising his children.
The Basics of CLE in New York
For legal professionals in New York, Continuing Legal Education (CLE) is an essential aspect of the profession. CLE programs cover various practice areas, providing valuable knowledge and expertise for attorneys looking to enhance their skills and stay current with the latest legal trends. In New York, CLE courses are structured to ensure that attorneys remain competent in their respective fields throughout their careers.
New York State has mandatory CLE requirements to ensure that practicing attorneys maintain their competency in the field. All New York attorneys must complete a minimum of 24 credit hours every two years, 4 of which must be in ethics or professional responsibility . Additionally, at least 1 of the remaining 20 credit hours must focus on skills. Newly admitted attorneys has different requirements. This structure is designed to ensure that all attorneys in the state engage in ongoing professional development and adhere to the highest standards of the legal profession.
Reducing the amount of time spent on CLE can help both attorneys and law firms alike. For an attorney, this means focusing on the most relevant skills for their practice area; for a law firm, this means focusing on the most relevant courses to maximize training budgets. While there may be no way to completely eliminate this task, they can reduce time by a particular type of course somewhere to acquire certain skills effectively.
What does Execution in Counterparts mean?
Counterpart clauses provide for more than one "original" signature page in a multi-party transaction document. That is, the parties sign identical copies in different locations. When signed, a set of counterparts is formed. The counterpart clause typically provides that any one of the counterparts may be used as a fully-enforceable original. The effect of executing in counterparts is that the parties do not have to coordinate three-way or four-way exchanges of a full set of originals. Instead , you can fax or scan and email your signature page as needed.
Multi-party agreements often involve complex binding arrangements. Sometimes, getting all parties to a multi-way closing in a single location on a single day can present practical challenges. There can also be practical data and document management considerations, to which an executed set of counterparts is better suited.
Any competent counterparty will expect to see a counterparts clause in any multi-party transaction document. A counterparty may even propose one if none exists.
What Exactly is an Interlocal Agreement?
Interlocal agreements are powerful tools that allow for cooperation between different levels of government. These contract-based agreements often provide valuable mechanisms for undertaking infrastructure and other capital projects, providing public services, and sharing administrative functions. The relevant statute, N.C.G.S. 160A-460, in addition to laying out specific requirements that must be met for an interlocal agreement to be legally enforceable (such as the execution by the governing body and a maximum duration of 50 years), defines an interlocal agreement generally as "an agreement entered into by two or more public agencies in furtherance of their common governmental purposes." These agreements are legally defined in subject as follows:
- Any of the activities listed in G.S. 160A-461(a)(1), (a)(2), (a)(6), and (a)(7). (a) is the provision of a particular service , facility or function that shows no duplication and (b) is that both governmental units have a statutory option to provide that particular service or function;
- A single service, facility or function that the domestic units have a statutory option to provide but where the selected service, facility, or function would require an annexation that is optional for one of the units; and
- Other lawful purposes not identified in (1) and (2) above so long as there is no duplication of services.
Before entering into an interlocal agreement, the participating governmental units must determine whether it is economically feasible for them to provide the required services separately. Here, economic feasibility refers to whether the participating governments can maintain the required services independently and whether they could potentially benefit from the advantages offered by an interlocal agreement.
Vacation Rental Agreement Definition
Vacation rental agreements are legally binding contracts that govern the relationship between a property owner or manager and a tenant or guest seeking to rent their property. These contracts outline the specific terms for occupancy including the rental rate, security deposit, restrictions related to pets, smoking, and guests, as well as fees levied for various amenities such as a pet fee or a charge for using a recreational complex.
In addition, a vacation rental agreement may include relevant ordinances, and enforceable information on garnishment and dispute resolution. Further defined in the agreement may be the period of occupancy , payment arrangements, and other expectations. Oftentimes, a guest will sign an agreement when he or she is making a reservation, which clearly outlines the conditions for staying at the specific rental.
These agreements are essential for both the guests and renters to fully understand their expectations and obligations under the rental. Often these agreements will highlight penalties or costs for violating the agreement, violation of which may cause the guest to forfeit his or her security deposit and possibly even be evicted from the property.