# Another one for the armchair (and real) lawyers here **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 26, 2015, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696 "2015-02-26T19:23:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/21 "2015-02-27T05:13:31Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Particularly, and this is a fun bonus twist, because this guy appears to be a lawyer of some sort. 98% of lawyers give the other 2% a bad name. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/22 "2015-02-27T05:19:31Z")
You might point out that he struck an object and left the scene of the accident. That’s hit and run. Not a lawyer but I’d point that out just for the reaction. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/23 "2015-02-27T05:33:11Z")
How fast does one have to be going to damage their wing mirror on a garbage can, to the extent that it needs repair? Given the conditions, this guy must have been going to fast. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/24 "2015-02-27T05:43:42Z")
What if it had been a kid that he hit? Would it have been the kid’s fault for standing “out too far”? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/25 "2015-02-27T05:47:14Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > How fast does one have to be going to damage their wing mirror on a garbage can, to the extent that it needs repair? Given the conditions, this guy must have been going to fast. The mirror on the truck that hit me got me in the head and shattered the mirror portion. Speed differential was about 45 mph. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/26 "2015-02-27T06:53:23Z")
If someone is going 45 on a road with garbage cans and snow, they are going too fast and deserve to break their mirrors ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/27 "2015-02-27T08:15:23Z")
Can you describe what this guy looks like? What is his approximate age? He may very well be trying out a new scam where he goes around to many neighborhoods and tells all kinds of people they need to give him money. The Nigerians are much better at this sort of thing and they don’t even do it in person. They can get money from people by email. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/28 "2015-02-27T10:34:23Z")
> [@LurkerInNJ](#): > > I clipped your trash can too. Please send me $500. > > … This. Here is my address in Nigeria. I will send you Russian bride by return mail. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/29 "2015-02-27T11:42:30Z")
ThelmaLou, I looked and looked but I couldn’t find your Nigerian address anywhere. I guess I got “whooshed”. Is that what it feels like? It never happened to me before. If you are going to answer me but only to whoosh me again, there is no need. I feel plenty dumb enough as it is. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/30 "2015-02-27T12:27:56Z")
So, it looks like we’ll be heading to court. _Shrug_ I guess we let them decide it now. That’s what the courts are there for, I figure. I see things one way, he sees them another, and we can’t agree. That’s fine with me. My goal with this thread was to check and see if my initial reaction was justified or not. I’m a scientist, and I’ve been taught to question my own prejudices at all times. It seems that I was, so I’m comfortable with my position. I’ve spoken to a second lawyer friend now (actually a friend of a friend), and he ALSO agrees that this guy doesn’t have a leg to stand on. He looked up Vermont law and said he can’t figure out even what we could violation we could be accused with. Also, I should say that I misunderstood what my wife said about her conversation with the sheriff. He didn’t actually say anything about what would have made us liable. He said that if he’d been called when the incident occurred, he would have taken a report, but only for the insurance company. He wouldn’t have even talked to us about it. So, as far as I’m concerned, I’m done communicating with this guy until we go to court. If he chooses to file suit. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/31 "2015-02-27T12:38:31Z")
Best of luck to you. I’m guessing the idiot won’t even bother to take it any further - unless he is much more stupid than he let on. I’m guessing that he won’t even show up in court. But it’s worth going. Just to let him see that he has no leg to stand on. ---
**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/32 "2015-02-27T13:57:49Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > I wish I could collect money from the city when I need a tire or an alignment after drilling the unseen, water-filled pothole. In the last couple of towns (US Southeast) I’ve lived in you can collect money from the city when you hit a pothole (water filled or not) and they’ve both been pretty good about paying up. It usually takes about 6 months to get a check while they are “investigating” but eventually they pay up. The caveats are that the pothole has to have been previously reported and has to be on a road maintained by the town (as opposed to a state road). This is one reason why I make sure to report potholes I find to the city since someone who hits it may be grateful that I did so he can get compensated. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/33 "2015-02-27T13:59:23Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > ThelmaLou, > > I looked and looked but I couldn’t find your Nigerian address anywhere. > > I guess I got “whooshed”. Is that what it feels like? It never happened to me before. > > If you are going to answer me but only to whoosh me again, there is no need. I feel plenty dumb enough as it is. Does that mean you no want Russian bride? She virgin. Twelve times she virgin. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/34 "2015-02-27T14:15:17Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > You’ve already overcommunicated with him. > [@Asimovian](#): > > QFT. Unless you’re doing it for your own amusement (and probably not even then), you need to stop responding to this person. If he insists on harassing you beyond that, you’ve already got the sheriff’s number. > [@Bone](#): > > There is no benefit to communicating with this person. Conmen and Internet Trolls love having you continually reply to them - stop now! ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/35 "2015-02-27T14:16:21Z")
Here’s a question: I’m picking up my kid at school. The road can be fairly tight when we’re talking about room for three soccer-mom type vans. (two lanes, and parking on the right)…my mirror clips someone else’s mirror. This person is parked three feet off the curb. Not a crazy distance but illegal. Would the result be that I’m 100% at fault, but the officer would cite her for her parking and maybe me forrrrrr…reckless driving? There’s got to be a less-strong offense for what I did.\* \*IRL she just huffed and yelled, I yelled at her for her parking and we walked away. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/36 "2015-02-27T16:18:22Z")
Point to ponder, but if you do go to court would it be small claims? The reason I ask if it it does go court and involves lawyers will you claim expenses off this idiot? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/37 "2015-02-27T16:38:17Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Oh, and the sheriff said that the only way we could possibly be liable is if we’d left it sitting out in the middle of the road, and even then, he would have needed to file an accident report with the police. Which he didn’t do. If he’s taking you to court, I guess it’s up to the judge at this point. You’ve already offered told him to let his insurance company deal with it but he wasn’t having any of that. If he’s not taking you to court, I would say “I spoke with the county sheriff and he said the first thing you need to do is file a police report. As soon mail me a copy of the police report I’ll take a look at it and go from there”. In my experience, people who are bullshitting really don’t like to get the police involved. I’ve been running a store for a long time and about once a year someone thinks they can pull a fast one on us (your cashier ripped me off, she still owes me $20 OR I bought this yesterday and don’t have my receipt but want to return it [um, we don’t sell that] OR wut? me? stealing?) once I get the feeling they’re going to keep pushing after I’ve called their bluff, I’ll up the ante by suggesting we let the police sort it out. Works about half the time. Some leave under their own power, the others get escorted out. Another thing, since he hit your garbage you should check it for damage. Maybe the police want to talk to him about damaging their property and not reporting it. Maybe he’ll call it a wash. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/38 "2015-02-27T17:04:56Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Oh, and the sheriff said that the only way we could possibly be liable is if we’d left it sitting out in the middle of the road, and even then, he would have needed to file an accident report with the police. Which he didn’t do. In my jurisdiction (Virginia), any accident involving a moving vehicle that involves either an injury or more than a certain minimal dollar value of damage requires that a police report be filed within a short amount of time - 24 or 48 hours. Of course, I’m sure that they don’t go around trying to proactively prosecute people for not reporting minor garbage can dings and whatnot, but perhaps a nice side effect is that if someone _does_ come back later and claim that there was damage, they can effectively only claim a low dollar value. If they do claim a higher value (like, say, $5000), they are effectively confessing to committing Hit and Run. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/39 "2015-02-27T17:10:10Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > This. Here is my address in Nigeria. I will send you Russian bride by return mail. But first, I will need a copy of the number of your passport to perform the background check for your honesty and to confirm the address for the CASHIER’S CHECK totaling 13,556,566 (Thirteen Million Five Hundred and Fifty Six Thousand Five Hundred and Sixtysix) United States Dollars. Please also forward $150 to obtain Anti-Terrorist and Anti-Money-Laundry verification certificate from your embassy here in Nigeria. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696/40 "2015-02-27T18:44:00Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Does that mean you no want Russian bride? She virgin. Twelve times she virgin. Twelve times? Oh my, Thelma. That would be so hard to resist. But wait! Does this mean that some Islamic suicide bomber went to paradise and collected his 27 virgins but rejected twelve of them? If some Islamic suicide bomber rejected those twelve, how good could they be? There is a phrase to describe something like this. I forget exactly what it is. But it is a very sloppy image. I don’t know now. I’m wavering. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-one-for-the-armchair-and-real-lawyers-here/713696.md?page=3)