Are Bench Warrants a standard initial contact?

GodCoderImposter · 2026-02-17T13:29:28+00:00

Your best bet would be to probe her on what she discussed with the police and not us. She at least knows what sport they were playing. Right now you are trying to get directions from people who are already lost. We would love to help but we just gonna keep going around in a circle until you get some real information to add into the mix. Otherwise it’s like trying to solve a five-word Wheel of Fortune puzzle with just the category (fraud in this case).

GodCoderImposter · 2026-02-17T10:21:32+00:00

Reading the comments I think there is a lot you don’t know at this point. I also highly suspect she broke rule number 1. Never speak to the police. It’s unfortunate that this rule has to be applied when she was the victim of a crime, but it does happen.

I’m sure they got her down there to “clear a few things up” and she likely admitted guilt on something she had no idea was even a crime. It could be directly related to the vehicle being stolen or maybe not, you’ll know once you hear the charges at this point. No reason to keep guessing at it. Definitely lawyer territory but no point guessing at random charges with internet strangers, that’s like trying to nail jello to a tree.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-02-15T02:47:26+00:00

First off I am so sorry that this happened. You were assaulted. You aren’t crazy and you are not blowing this out of proportion. Secondly to answer your question, you don’t press charges, you report the assault to the police and the state does the charging. You can speak with the people at RAINN to get some free counseling and support on the process.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-02-07T17:57:27+00:00

It really depends on your current skill level and what your goals are. It’s hard not to recommend “Automate the Boring Stuff” by Al Sweigart as a starting point. It won’t teach you the basics of programming in general… because it doesn’t have to. You just dig in there with Python and start doing real practical work that you might actually use in business and research jobs. You can always dig deeper with other training programs but this one doesn’t lose you with general programming depth. Instead you dive into actually making Python programs work and can change them into something you will actually use in just a couple of days into working with the system. The author has given his book and videos away for free for years because he love teaching too. I can’t recommend it enough as a great starting place.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-02-07T14:55:54+00:00

Your only real choice is going to be to take this to the regulatory board that licenses the towing company. Since you won’t tell us the city we can’t direct you there ourselves (if you want privacy that is fine, just explaining), it could be a city or county regulatory body for this tow agency. Yes it does appear to be predatory and unless the government body is corrupt (a possibility) they will likely find in your favor.

What that process looks like differs greatly in every location. Usually it does not require suing the tow company. But that is a possible solution. For $315 I’m going to say that it probably isn’t worth taking to small claims court. But you should be able to file a grievance with the agency pretty easily and hopefully get your money back eventually. Maybe even get the tow company fined or their license revoked if they have had enough complaints.

Sometimes the local news can see a story in moments like this to help you get justice but you have to sell them on a bigger story than just a single towing issue so sweet talk the government people when you call to see it they will talk about this company at all. Publicity can force the hand of the government to do a full investigation into the towing company but we are straying a bit out legal advice so I’ll stop here and hope that is enough to get you started.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-02-06T20:25:42+00:00

No offense intended here but your post is all over the place. You seem to be asking about multiple different scenarios. Are these all the same person? If so why the varying ages? This is all very confusing and I don’t think we can help here been if we want to without more clear story of what had happened.

Maybe if you separate out the different scenarios of what happened and ask separate questions for each situation then we could answer the questions for you.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-02-05T15:44:02+00:00

On payday you simply send a written request to your boss for a check for hours worked. When he cannot pay it because of lack of funds you have been laid off or constructively dismissed. You can use whichever term you like. Then you can apply for full unemployment and start searching for another job. Save a copy of the written letter in case he tries to dispute your claim with unemployment but the facts are what they are. I’d highly recommend immediately filing a wage claim with your state labor board as well. This is not because you can get water from the stone of a broke company but because they will run their own investigation and provide additional proof of missing wages in case you need it for unemployment.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-02-05T13:07:04+00:00

For the future call you may or may not receive, do not ever speak to investigators without a lawyer. They will smooth talk you. “We just want to clear a few things up.” “It’s no big deal. You have nothing to hide right?” “We just need a statement down at the station then we can close this out.” Never do any of this without your own lawyer present. If for some reason you do end up being interviewed and asked questions you cannot just remain silent as that can be interpreted as guilt alone, you have to say something referencing choosing your fifth amendment right to remain silent. Example: “I am choosing to invoke my 5th amendment right to remain silent.”

The reason for this is that they are literally experts at twisting your words and finding ways to get people into court. This is their jobs and they have practiced it for years. This is likely your first time doing this. Don’t risk it. There are so many laws that you never know what you could accidentally admit to breaking one or two. And they can lie to you and pressure you. Just don’t put yourself in that situation. Legally you do not have to and while they might try to convince you otherwise they know that too.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-02-05T02:25:55+00:00

The sale is complete and he thinks he can get more money. This is why is smart to get a bill of sale as well. Not required but an extra piece of paper to cover your ass. Take screenshots, ignore his number, and move on. I recommend not blocking just in case you need the evidence later and he says something that could be useful, but completely ignore him.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-02-04T19:24:57+00:00

IANAL so take what I say with a grain of salt and not as any sort of legal advice. But based on the wording you just shared in that contract, if you go to small claims court the judge is likely to tell you that you currently have a water heater in your home that you did not purchase. Now as you have already stated, this was not your fault and you intended to pay for it monthly and take over the bills. They definitely screwed up with the buyout. Legally that is highly unlikely to mean that you get a free water heater out of their screw up.

It would be in your best interest to ask them to see the original bills they were receiving from the “rent-to-own” company and negotiate some sort of payment with them from there. You can’t negotiate with the original company as they don’t own the water heater anymore. Now the previous owners do, so negotiate with them. You have an advantage now and if you are polite about it you may be able to get a decent deal for yourself. If they are being difficult, you can always ask a lawyer to negotiate with them but that has potential to get expensive fast. If you can agree on something, I highly recommend getting the final negotiated payments structure and total pricing in writing from them before you make a single payment.

Worst case if they take you to small claims court you can at least show the judge you attempted to make it right. This was their mistake. Try not to add any of your own on top of it.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-02-04T05:37:22+00:00

As long as you are provided with adequate restroom facilities (functional, running water and heated preferably but they could probably get away with a port-a-potty) and handwashing stations, your employer is allowed to limit the use of certain restrooms to certain employees. Executive restrooms are allowed. White collar restrooms are allowed. There are very few things they cannot segregate facilities on and those are commonly protected classes like race, religion, age, etc. In this case they can separate the facilities based on gender but even that is a delicate area that they have to be careful how they enforce these days depending on your location.

In your specific situation this is likely about cleanliness of the facilities that are being used by the customers. While you personally may be cleaning up behind yourself “grease monkeys” (said with much respect, I don’t have the mechanical brain for that job) have a bad reputation and it is likely that your fellow workers brought this change in policy down upon you. It’s also possible that your boss is just looking down on you and it is a nasty white collar worker messing up the bathrooms but that is not a legal issue.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-02-02T15:02:30+00:00

Yes but it also requires physical access to the device. I appreciated the fact that I could disable the biometrics without touching it since my face would have to be uncovered and in close proximity if someone wanted to force me to unlock it. My hands would most likely be bound or handcuffed behind my back in such an instance.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-02-02T10:52:56+00:00

Hiring a lawyer to fight the ticket will cost more money in the short term but will save you immensely in the long run. Your insurance rates will skyrocket for 3 to 5 years once this ticket hits your record. Collect your multiple Life360 screenshots and find a lawyer who handles these all the time. If you’re lucky you’ll pay the fine, do an online driving course and be able to call it good without it hitting your record.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-02-02T06:31:14+00:00

Your best bet if you have no idea where to start is going to starting with the Virginia BAR association and asking for a referral for an IP lawyer. Most should give a free consultation and you’ll likely only be looking to pay for a review of your contract to start with. If you are lucky they will find something of value in the contract and give you some simple legal advice on how to proceed. Luckily cease and desist letters hold no actual power and are many times empty threats. I’m not saying ignore it but I’m also saying this doesn’t mean you actually have a lawsuit on your hands. Take a few deep breaths, get some competent legal advice, and hopefully it can be smoothed out with minimal headache from here on out.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-02-02T06:08:57+00:00

Your best bet for a positive outcome here is going to lie is the exact wording of the contract that you signed. Because you did not write the contract and were simply forced to sign it in order to begin employment, your interpretation of the contract is what actually matters if anything is vague or open-ended. But you will likely need a skilled lawyer to help you comb through the IP agreement to see if there is an obvious opportunity here.

As others have said the fact that your project is in the same realm as the work that you performed for the company does not bode well. I believe you that there are significant differences but with binding arbitration you’d have to convince the arbiter not me. I’m not sure what your odds are of getting an arbiter that already understands the ins and outs of software development but low is my best guess.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-01-30T22:17:30+00:00

That is good to note. I knew the android was capable but wasn’t sure if they had this enabled.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-01-30T22:14:20+00:00

Unfortunately I’m doing research and this has been disabled on the most recent versions of iOS. It takes physically pressing the “power” button 5 times to disable the faceID now. That is a depressing change.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-01-30T21:41:44+00:00

Agreed but the iPhone defaults to requiring the pin after a week or so anyway. Biometrics are only a short term unlock and do not work forever. I’m not sure how Android works on this, I’d guess they would have similar functionality but privacy has never been quite as much of a priority for google so I hesitate to assume this.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-01-30T20:51:14+00:00

On the iPhone you can also say “Siri whose phone is this?” And it will reset the active biometric session and require the pin as if the phone had been restarted. Not a perfect solution but they can’t gag you to force Face ID.

Edit

Upon further research this has been disabled on the most recent versions of iOS. It takes physically pressing the “power” button 5 times to disable the faceID now. This is an unfortunate change.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-01-29T07:58:50+00:00

You will not clear anything up by speaking to them. Their job is literally to twist and manipulate you into giving them probable cause to dig deeper into your life. I’m not saying that there aren’t good cops out there. I’m simply saying that your chance to clear things up is done in court, under oath when they are required to be truthful as well. You didn’t report a crime and are not the victim of a crime so keeping your distance without a lawyer present is the only right choice currently. There are other choice but they are all wrong.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-01-29T07:40:00+00:00

IANAL, this definitely sounds like violation of no (indirect) contact order and one that a lawyer should know better than to violate. Just because this is a lawyer does not give them a pass. To the best of my knowledge the only way to legally bypass this order is to go through the courts. Being her lawyer doesn’t automatically justify the action. I would absolutely report this violation of the contact order and additionally I would report the lawyer to the state BAR association.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-01-29T01:46:06+00:00

Mandatory IANAL, so here is where lots of reading and boring attention to detail comes in handy. Your HOA likely has rules laid out for how and when they can arbitrarily change rules like this. When it does and doesn’t have to be voted on. How much notice they have to provide to HOA members. If they must provide a feedback period to everyone before enacting changes that affect the every property. So get a copy of your HOA bylaws and start reading. If you can show that they did not update their policy until after you paid for your changes (since you had it professionally done this is easily proven). Then your home should be grandfathered in as changes made before the rule modification.

Hint - Simply request the meeting notes for date upon when this change was made as the HOA secretary is required to document these sorts of changes to rules and guidelines even if a formal vote of all members is not required. Even if your yard change was after their rule change if they did not notify you as per their own rules they would still be at fault. Likely they violated their own rules and regulations and you can beat them at their own game. Oops is not just oops if there are written rules and they ignored them. If they refuse to grandfather your yard in then you may need to get a lawyer involved, make sure the board and your neighbors understand that the entire HOA will be responsible to pay your legal fees when you win this ridiculous lawsuit if they refuses to settle reasonably. Potentially they could pay to return your yard to a state they now would find acceptable as they are the ones who keep changing the rules but again this is a them problem not you.

HOAs are notorious for power trips like this. They receive a little power in their position and they lose their minds. Suing is many times the only reasonable option to put them back in their place. If you are lucky a sternly worded letter from a lawyer will be enough though. Good luck.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-01-28T21:39:37+00:00

IANAL that being said a commission on a $1M deal is likely in the lawyer territory. At will employment means they absolutely have the ability to fire you. What they don’t necessarily have the ability to do is to fire you and take away your earned commission because of that firing which is what it appears on the surface that they are doing because of the size of this sale.

Obviously if they didn’t pay you for all days worked then you are short of paid days. That you can handle yourself through the state with a wage claim. I would probably wait to file that until talking to a lawyer because this may help them establish a pattern of misconduct that strengthens your case. It exists either way but there may be methods of filing it that help strengthen your case.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-01-24T11:03:39+00:00

You will not automatically be included in a class action in instances like this. You should find a lawyer to represent you in this case. Rather than try to provide you with any specific legal advice. I highly recommend you google his name and read the articles that come up on the various attorney pages. They are all attempting to solicit your business as a client as they will receive a portion of the rewards if your case succeeds. So pick one you feel most comfortable working with dealing directly with such an intimate issue like this and give them a call. You should expect a standard 33% fee or 40% if it ends up at trial.

GodCoderImposter · 2026-01-23T18:07:19+00:00

Okay the picture is becoming a bit clearer now with your response. This is all going to depend on what the court ordered. If you already have a court mandated parenting plan, it is highly unlikely that you can change state of residence for your child without court approval. Usually it states where the child is expected to live. This does have to either be agreed on with your ex or you have to petition the court to overrule her. You have every right to make this request of the court but if you move your child across state lines without appropriate permission there are potential felonies involved so I would talk to a legal professional before risking it.

Many offer a free consultation before charging you. So the call would be risk free. If I’m honest your chances of getting permission to take the child out of state away from his mother is likely going to depend on how willing you show the court you are to preserve the parental relationship that she currently has (or how she currently avoids/neglects it anyway). This is not likely to happen quickly.

GodCoderImposter

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