Posts

30-day or 60-day notice of resignation

Questions of practical interest are the ones that tend to get improperly censored on the Law site of Stack Exchange. One of those questions is about employment contracts. The post did not provide the language of the contract, but the scenario can be paraphrased as follows: My current employment contract requires me to provide a 30-day notice if I decide to resign. This contract will expire in 45 days, but I already signed a one-year renewal that increases to 60 days the requisite notice of resignation. I need to quit because I just got a better job. Given the overlap of these clauses, does the requirement of 60-day notice already apply? Some relevant information is missing, which this time precludes an assertive answer. For an assessment of contract issues it is crucial to know the exact terms of the relevant clauses. This time one can only provide some examples of what to watch out for in these contracts. The renewal agreement might contain a language akin to " This agreement sup

Interrogatory or subpoena on a witness

On Law StackExchange a litigant in pro per outlined the following scenario. Unfortunately his post got censored there, that being the fate of many interesting, practical inquiries. "I have sued a California mobile-home park LLC for breach of contract and a couple of additional issues. The park manager's failure to properly and lawfully manage the park (which I told the real estate company that owns the park about) are the reason for the suit. She is mentioned as part of the problem, but she is not named as a defendant. Now I need to request discovery from her, but I'm not sure if she is a "party to the action" whom I should give an interrogatory--or a non-party witness whom I would subpoena information from. Is employee manager a party to the action?" Regarding your claim of breach of contract, the only entity to be named as defendant is the one with which you entered the contract. Your contract is with the company, whether it is the LLC or --if different--

The case Walters v OpenAI

By Iñaki Viggers. The defamation case Mark Walters v. OpenAI is a reminder of everyone's duty to make judicious use of Artificial Intelligence. Despite being mindful that AI is largely devised for subduing humankind, my view is that OpenAI will and should prevail in this controversy. Background According to Walters's complaint pleadings , journalist Fred Riehl notified Walters of content fabricated by OpenAI's ChatGPT that is blatantly false and defames Walters. The alleged context was Riehl's so-called research on the matter of  The Second Amendment Foundation v. Robert Ferguson in federal court, a case that does not involve Walters at all. The complaint Walters filed in GA state court provides details of ChatGPT's fabrication, aka hallucination in the crappy (and creepy) AI hell. Walters seeks relief for libel per se. OpenAI sought removal to federal court, where Walters's attorney filed an amended complaint . The amended complaint in federal court mostly a

Non-stretch of non-compete

 A contractor and company C agreed to the following clause titled "Non Solicitation Covenant": Contractor will not enter into or attempt to enter into (on Contractor's own behalf or on behalf of any other person or entity) a business relationship to provide the delivery of consulting services to any company or entity that: (i) was identified to Contractor by Company, as a Customer or Partner of Company, or (ii) was sold any of Company's software or services by Company. Company C used to have a customer A, whose owner created an entirely different business B. The extent of C's incompetence or misconduct prompted A to stop doing business with company C. B has never had a relationship with company C. The contractor met A's/B's owner by virtue of contractor's business relation with company C, and that owner has asked the contractor to do a project for B. The question is whether it is lawful for the contractor to accept B's request to do business with h

Prevailing party and attorney fees

 A person from Washington outlined the following scenario to ask (1) whether attorney fees would be awarded, and, (2) if so, how they would be calculated: - Two parties agreed that the following clause will apply in the event of a lawsuit:  " The prevailing party shall have the right to collect from the other party its reasonable costs and necessary disbursements and attorney' s fees incurred in enforcing this Agreement. " - The plaintiff filed suit. He was awarded only half of the amount he claims the defendant owes to him. - The defendant alleges plaintiff's negligence caused defendant's costs to exceed the amount for which the plaintiff filed suit. The limited information in this scenario suggests that the plaintiff is entitled to attorney fees. But it is important for people to become aware that agreeing to provisions about attorney fees is tremendously risky. Those provisions always should be avoided. The "American rule" that by default each party b

Belated and unilateral terms in a contract

From Utah, USA, a client of a property inspection company asks: Is the provider entitled to unilaterally impose new conditions after it has accepted the payment and done the job? The answer is No.  This question is paraphrased from a post on the Law site of Stack Exchange, where it got closed as part of the site's ongoing censorship and decay. Background The client, a prospective homebuyer, mentions that he asked the company to perform an inspection of some real estate in which he is interested. The parties did not sign a contract. Based on their verbal contract, the inspection was performed as scheduled, the client paid, and the provider informed him that the report will be delivered within a few days. The provider subsequently notified the client that the inspection report is available at the company's website. However, the client is prevented from downloading the report unless he signs in acceptance of a set of "terms and conditions" that hitherto had never been di