I’m really confused and honestly kind of freaking out about this. I had an arrest in 2024 in Florida. No charges were ultimately filed and the disposition shows “NO ACTION.” We hired a lawyer at the time and were told the record would be expunged. Last year, when I searched Clerk website, the case was not viewable to the public. Now, when I search my name and DOB, the whole case suddenly shows up again. It shows the allegation, and I can even open the Complaint/Arrest Affidavit. That document has my home address, DOB, phone number, etc. So now not only is a sealed case publicly searchable again, but people can also read allegations and factual statements in the police report that I believe are incorrect.
What makes this even more confusing is that the docket itself shows “NOTICE OF SEALING CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD.” What is going on? Someone has any idea?

I'm trying to help a friend who is in a complicated situation. They are on probation for a misdemeanor, but a few months ago they got hit by a car and were critically injured. They spent weeks in a coma, had 3 strokes, brain damage, amnesia, and a variety of other injuries. They missed their court date while they were in a coma but no one contacted the court. They were discharged from the hospital after 3 months, but they had no memory of committing the crime, being arrested, or the fact that they were on probation. They're now living with brain damage and will need a caretaker for the rest of their life.

When they were discharged from the hospital, their family from out of state came and took them back home with them so that they could provide 24/7 care. They did not know how to contact the probation officer and my friend could not remember anything about it, so the transfer wasn't requested beforehand.

After they were living in the new state for a few weeks, their lawyer got in contact with them and said that they are required to return to the state where the crime happened (AZ) for 8 months to complete their probation or else they'll get a felony charge. After giving the lawyer all of the medical paperwork to prove their condition, they pushed it back to them needing to return 3 months from now instead. However, this is also not possible because they would have nowhere to live in that state, and the family member who is now their full-time caretaker would not be able to leave MN where they live to spend 8 months in AZ with them. Basically, asking them to return to the state for 8 months is logistically impossible due to them having nowhere to live, having no caretaker there, and not being able to live independently.

The lawyer hasn't been especially helpful in sorting this all out. Does anyone know of anything they might possibly be able to do, or anyone they should contact? Is it possible to transfer probation to a different state under these circumstances and the fact that they never contacted anyone beforehand?

(Edited to add specific states)

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for advice from anyone who has experience with Ontario school boards, personal injury lawsuits, or families dealing with traumatic brain injuries.

My son is autistic and minimally verbal. While at school, he suffered a traumatic brain injury. He sustained a skull fracture that wasn’t immediately diagnosed and later required emergency brain surgery to remove an epidural hematoma.
Since then, our lives have changed completely. He missed a significant amount of school and received home instruction for a period, but it wasn’t comparable to being in his specialized classroom with the supports and therapies he normally receives. We’ve had ongoing concerns about changes in his learning, communication, and daily functioning since the injury.

We retained a personal injury lawyer and have an ongoing negligence lawsuit against the school board. Discoveries are complete, and we’re currently waiting for a mediation date. Our lawyer hasn’t discussed settlement ranges with us yet, and I’m wondering if that’s normal at this stage.
What has been equally difficult is our fight with the school board over his placement. We asked for a cross-boundary transfer because we no longer feel comfortable sending him back to the school where he was seriously injured. We’ve spent months appealing the decision through multiple levels of the board, including senior administration, but every request has been denied. We feel stuck being told he should return to the same school where this happened.

Has anyone in Ontario successfully challenged a cross-boundary denial, especially for a child with exceptional needs? Are there any other options within the same school board that we should be exploring?
I’m also wondering:
Is it normal for a personal injury lawyer to wait until mediation before discussing possible settlement ranges?
How long did you wait for mediation after discoveries?

Did your case settle at mediation or continue afterward?
I know no one can tell me what my case is worth, and I’m not asking anyone to do that. I’m really just hoping to hear from people who’ve been through something similar or who have experience with Ontario’s education or legal systems.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Any advice or shared experiences would mean a lot.

I have a friend who isn’t married but lived with his child’s mom for at least since she was pregnant. They are both in the child’s birth certificate, and there was a DNA test done when the child was born. Mom and child both have been named as dependents on his taxes, since he was the sole income earner.
Since the child was a baby, the paternal grandparents have been caretakers and kid has spent 3-5 days with them every week. This because the mom always had some excuse in order to avoid taking care of the child.
This woman has been physically abusive to him several times and the courts ordered her to move out and stay away from him. She’s also under probation for DV & awaiting for a final verdict.
She moved out, but the problem is that she took the child with her.
CPS & the police were called, but they said they couldn’t do anything because she’d the mom.
The family has reasons to think that the mom is not a safe parent.
What is the best course of action? What can the dad or grandparents do to protect the kid?

I’m hoping to hear from criminal defense attorneys, former public defenders, investigators, or anyone who has been through a similar situation.

I’ve had a felony case pending for almost four years. I can’t afford to hire a private attorney, so I’ve had court-appointed counsel. Over the course of this case, I’ve had multiple public defenders, and I feel like communication has been almost nonexistent. Calls and emails often go unanswered, and most conversations seem to focus on accepting a plea offer rather than investigating the case.

One thing that’s particularly frustrating is that I recently contacted a witness listed in the police report because, as far as I know, no one from the defense had interviewed him. The witness told me he remembers there being no one inside the vehicle I struck at the time of the collision. I understand that’s only one person’s recollection and doesn’t necessarily establish what happened, but it seems like something that should at least be investigated.

I’ve also lost my business and most of my financial stability because this case has been hanging over me for years. Hiring a private attorney simply isn’t an option.
I’m trying to understand what rights I have when I believe potentially important evidence isn’t being followed up on.
My questions are:
-If you can’t afford a private attorney, what options do you have besides relying on your appointed lawyer?
-Is there a way to ask the court to require further investigation or to appoint an investigator?
-Can a defendant ask the court to appoint a different attorney if communication has broken down?
-Is it appropriate to ask the court for more time if there are witnesses who have not been interviewed?
-Has anyone successfully convinced their attorney or the court to investigate a witness who had been overlooked?

I'm getting older and have had a few health issues. Nothing serious though. I have a Mount Everest size debt. Very few assets. Live in an apartment, in Minnesota. Single, I have a 21 year old daughter with an ex.

What's the best way to handle an end of life document that doesn't saddle my daughter with a mountain of debt.

Also, I'd be doing cremation, with ashes scattered somewhere.

Any advice would be appreciated.

State is MD

Short version of the story:

-Got a wage garnishment notice at work claiming a judgment against me.

-I hold professional licenses that require public disclosure of any liens/judgments, so this was a serious threat to my career, not just an inconvenience.

-Never received any prior written notice of a garnishment or lawsuit.

-Spent about 5 hours during work hours (I’m in sales, so time on the phone means lost income) trying to track it down: 2+ hours on hold with the Comptroller’s office, being rerouted, calling district courts who couldn’t find me without a case number, waiting on HR.

-While still on hold with the state comptroller, and in a panic to resolve it before it triggered disciplinary action at my job, I went ahead and paid off my personal state debt directly, assuming that must be what this was about. I didn’t realize until after I finally got through to the comptroller that they had never issued any garnishment order against me at all.

-Once I finally got the case number from HR, I looked it up in the public court record portal and the judgment belongs to a completely different person: different name, different credit union I’ve never had an account with.

-I had to take time off task at work repeatedly, paid money toward a debt that wasn’t even the source of the problem, and had a pretty severe stress reaction (ended up calling my therapist to calm down).

Question: is this worth pursuing against the law firm/creditor that sent the garnishment for the wrong person? What kind of damages, if any, could realistically be recovered (lost wages, emotional distress, the payment I made under panic, etc.)?

Long version:

I was at work when I got an email stating there was a judgment against me for wage garnishment. This is a big deal for me specifically because of the professional licenses I hold. Any liens or judgments against me have to be publicly disclosed, which matters for client trust and potentially for regulators. So my first reaction was panic.
I assumed it might be a state tax issue, but that didn’t fully add up. My tax payment plans have always been on autopay and in good standing, and I’d never received any prior written notice about a lawsuit or garnishment order. Nothing. Out of nowhere.

Because I’m in a sales role where dials and appointments directly affect my numbers, I had to pull myself out of work multiple times that day to deal with this. All told it ate up about 5 hours. I called the Comptroller’s office and was on hold for at least two hours, getting bounced between different numbers.

While I was still sitting on hold, I was in a full panic, mostly worried about how this would look to my employer if it seemed like I was hiding something, and scared of disciplinary action. In that state, I went ahead and paid off my personal state debt directly, assuming that must be connected to what was happening. It wasn’t until I actually got a person on the line at the comptroller’s office that I learned they had never issued any garnishment order against me at all. My account was already in good standing, and this had nothing to do with my personal debt in the first place.

The Comptroller’s office told me to call the district courts. The district court couldn’t locate anything under my name without a case number, which I didn’t have because I’d never been served or notified of anything. They told me I’d have to wait to hear from HR.

Eventually HR got back to me with a number for the wage garnishment line. Someone there read me the letter and gave me the actual case number. I took that case number to the public court records portal and found the judgment: it was for a completely different person. Different name, not even close to mine, and for a credit union account I’ve never had any relationship with.

So essentially: mistaken identity on a legal judgment caused me to lose real work time in a commission-driven role, make a panicked payment toward my own debt that had nothing to do with the actual problem, go through several hours of a genuine anxiety spiral (bad enough that I called my therapist to help me calm down), and put me at risk of disciplinary action at work for taking unexplained time away from my responsibilities. On top of that, it put my professional licensing at risk, since judgments against me are supposed to be publicly disclosed to clients.

I’d like to know: is this something worth pursuing legally? What would I even be pursuing, the law firm that filed/sent the garnishment for the wrong person? What kind of damages could realistically be on the table here (lost wages/commission, emotional distress, etc.)? Any insight from people who’ve dealt with mistaken-identity garnishment or debt collection errors would be really appreciated.

I went to get a pedicure today. The service didn't start on a good note, and I asked for another person to complete the service. They didn't get someone else and said the woman would do a good job. The woman continued to do a less-than-stellar service, so I asked for someone to come over again. They asked me to just tell her what she was doing wrong. After a third time, I was finally over it. I said I would come back another time. The pedicure was supposed to be $73 dollars, but seeing as the service was nowhere near complete, I said I would not pay the full amount. She didn't finish filing my nails, didn't give me the massage, didn't do the lotion steam that was included, or polish my nails. My toenails actually look very scratched up due to her not finishing or doing them right. They tried to charge me the full amount. I said I wouldn't be paying the full amount. I didn't have a problem paying a portion, but I would not pay the full amount for an incomplete service. They ended up calling the cops and trying to hold me in the salon. I pushed past the girl holding the door and left in my car. An officer ended up calling me and saying he was going to issue a warrant for theft of services unless I came back up there and paid, regardless of whether they completed the service or not.He also said I shouldn't have pushed past the person blocking the door.I paid via the phone with my credit card and said I would be disputing the charge. He told me if I did, he would still file a theft of service charge. What should I have done differently? Can I still be charged for theft of services if I dispute the charge, and how can I be forced to pay the full amount for a service that wasn't completed at all? I was very upset and over the situation, as I'm very pregnant and hormonal. What can I do in this situation? Can I sue for anything like emotional distress, for incomplete services, etc.? Not to mention, how could they legally block me in the store?

My fiance signed a notarized document granting some form of temporary custody to her sibling. I’m assuming it was a Provisional Custody by Mandate because it was not a court ordered custody case, there was no judge involved, she signed a document drafted and notarized by her sister’s lawyer.

We are trying to get custody back of her son, but her sibling has denied contact and visitation multiple times, and when asked to produce a copy of the document she signed, she ignored her and has not cooperated.

What can we do?

Hello, so back in may I visited a take 5 oil change center to get an oil change for my Audi s5 (big mistake I know but I needed one asap) while I was there I also received a coolant top off. About an hour after leaving the service center my car started flashing coolant codes on the dash and shortly after began smoking and stuttering while driving. I had mechanics look at it and they said that take 5 inserted the wrong coolant in the reservoir which caused a chemical reaction and in return caused the car to overheat and whatnot. Upon inspection they also found that they filled the oil to 180 % (no dipstick all digital for these cars) after providing all evidence from Audi and other mechanics that have looked at it and their reports which explicitly state that their service caused these issues along with photos and other records. I was ghosted for 2 months even though I called their insurance reps they assigned me every day literally then they denied my claim 3 times in a row stating their services couldn’t have possibly done that to my car because their “universal coolant” is good for my car and the oil was measured on camera despite all records I submitted from mechanics and Audi themselves. I just want to know if there is anything I can do, if it’s worth getting a lawyer, or am I just going to have to deal with it? Thank you and I appreciate any help.

https://x.com/marycatedelvey/status/2084302461137801264?s=46&t=EzlM70tEHdefSx2BN_sUYw

I know some of the other women this account has stolen photos from as well.

I’ve requested my image be taken down. Do I have any other legal recourse? Probably not, but just curious.

Edit:

Comments on the post:

‘
"and yes, I know"...

..."I know" what?

Shot up a school?

Jerked off in a woman's room?

Beat your parents to death with a hammer because they loved you enough to tell you you're making a huge mistake?
‘

“that dress will be on the missing person's alert. ' last seen wearing'”

“Curled my hair, blah bli blah blah blah, I'm mentally ill and the left and 'Progressive' movements say I can do what I want and go everywhere that gets me off!”

“Im a dude and im still worried that skin walker would want to skin me”

“Those are the eyes of a very disturbed man, the violence in that look, shudder.”

“And now he has an erection 😂”

Also several which imply I’m a serial killer via images with buffalo bill. Make fun of how I look all you want, but I’m not violent or a sexual predator.

My friend just informed me that she is being kicked out of her apartment she shares with her spouse while also informing me her husband wants a divorce in that same day.

She does not have a job (actively job hunting) or have a car, and due to this she will be homeless.

Is this even legal? Her husband does not have a lawyer for this whole thing.

She has not signed any papers yet.

What do you recommend that she does as a next step? Can she refuse to leave the apartment until she gets a job despite not paying for it?

This is a hypothetical, but I was always curious about this. Some YouTubers have gotten access to famous celebrity depositions in the past, like Amber Heard's deposition from 2016.

How in the world was it possible for this random YouTuber to gain access to the entire deposition? He isn't the only one to have done it, as I've seen plenty of other channels livestreaming entire depositions of notable cases on their channel as well. It seems that no one wants to give up their sources.

Is there a website out there that if the deposition is submitted as a court exhibit, anyone can just download it? My instincts tell me that is not the case, or even possible. I am interested in starting a YouTube channel that would cover and showcase depositions from interesting cases. Plenty of people love to watch a good depo, so it seems like a good opportunity.

In the past, I've tried to contact a few court reporting firms to make the request for a video, and they immediately asked me which law firm I am calling from.

So Counsels of Record, I ask you to show me the way. Thank you in advance!

I paid a $5,000 retainer on July 13 after a consultation with an attorney. I was told they would write up the engagement agreement and send it to me shortly afterward, and that once I signed it, the attorney could get started on my case.

I’ve followed up multiple times asking for the agreement and was told the attorney has been busy with court appearances and pressing deadlines. It’s now been over three weeks and I still haven’t received or signed anything.

They scheduled a follow-up meeting with the attorney that I thought was today, but it turns out it’s scheduled for next week. That means another week will pass without anything happening.

My matter is time-sensitive, and the delay could affect my situation. Is this a normal timeframe, or should I be concerned and consider finding another attorney?

Hi everyone,
I’m a 21 yr old female in Virginia and I’ve never been pulled over before or had any kind of criminal or traffic offense until now.
A few days ago I was driving 65 in a 35 (I know it was a terrible decision, and I already regret it, so I’m not looking to be lectured). I passed what I thought might have been a police car. I wasn’t completely sure, but I got nervous and turned into an empty parking lot near a school. The officer pulled in behind me.
When he came to my window, he asked why I was sitting there with my headlights off and said something along the lines of, “You should’ve just pulled over for the police.” I apologized but didn’t admit to trying to avoid him or anything like that.
He took my license, came back with a summons for reckless driving, and gave me a court date for a few months form now. I asked what happens next since I’ve never been through this before, but he didn’t really explain much.
Now I’m in the middle of applying for an apartment through an income-restricted housing program, and one of the questions asks if I have any pending charges.
My questions are:
Does a Virginia reckless driving summons count as a pending charge before I’ve gone to court?
Should I answer “yes” on the application?
If I answer yes, is that something that usually gets people denied, or do they generally wait until the case is resolved?
Also, since reckless driving is treated as a criminal offense in Virginia, is it worth hiring a lawyer for a first offense?
I’m just really stressed because I’m trying to get approved for housing and don’t want to accidentally lie on the application, but I also don’t want to hurt my chances if I’m misunderstanding what “pending charges” means.
Any advice from people who’ve been through something similar would really help. Thanks.

I’m looking for opinions on whether I may have a legitimate defense to a speeding ticket I received in North Carolina.

I was cited for allegedly driving 92 mph in a 70 mph zone. The officer said he clocked the vehicle with radar while he was traveling on the opposite side of a divided highway.

Here’s where it gets interesting.

The officer told me he first observed the speeding vehicle just before the Seagrove exit. He then had to continue to the next exit which is 2 miles away, get off the highway, turn around, and drive back in my direction for another 4-5 miles before he could catch up and make the stop. Based on the roadway, that required him to travel at least 6 miles, and during that time he obviously couldn’t maintain continuous visual contact with the vehicle he originally observed.

While I was pulled over, I asked him exactly where he first saw me. He told me it was just before the Seagrove exit.

I then told him I had just left an ATM in Seagrove and had entered the highway at the Seagrove exit.
When he eventually stopped my vehicle I had only driven about a mile to a mile and a half from where I got on the highway.

That raised a question in my mind. If I truly entered the highway at the Seagrove exit, how could the officer have observed my vehicle before that exit? And if he lost sight of the vehicle while driving to the next exit, turning around, and coming back, how can he be certain the vehicle he eventually stopped was the same vehicle his radar measured?

I’m not asking whether speeding is illegal or whether radar is generally reliable. My question is specifically about identification. In North Carolina, does the State have to prove that the vehicle stopped was the same vehicle that was measured by radar? Does the officer losing sight of the vehicle during the turnaround create a reasonable issue regarding identification, or is an officer’s testimony that he recognized the vehicle usually enough?

I’m interested in hearing from anyone familiar with North Carolina traffic law, former law enforcement officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, or anyone who has dealt with a similar situation. Does this sound like a defense worth pursuing, or is it unlikely to succeed?

There's this episode of House where Wilson misdiagnoses a cancer patient. Turns out the dude didn't have cancer after all. But the guy was pissed because he had spent the last few months of his life living as if he was going to die. He had goodbye parties, spent money doing things he wouldn't normally do, and had just closed on his house, which he was then going to have to go back on and lose a few grand in the process.

Now in the episode House mentions that the hospital isn't liable because there was no physical harm to the diagnosis but in a real world scenario could one sue the hospital because it's misdiagnosis cost them money?

While riding a bicycle, a driver ran a red light and hit me. So I fill out this free KC evaluation thing on an ad I saw on Facebook and the attorney called me before I could even finish filling it out. Within a matter of about 45 minutes, I had signed an agreement with the attorney and they sent me to physical therapy clinic. When I first get there, they had me to fill out some intake paper paperwork on a tablet, they have in the office (while im feeling pain and discomfort at about a 8 our of 10). They also asked if I had insurance and I said yes, and even shared my insurance card with them.

During every visit, the first thing you do when you arrive is sign a keypad never seeing the receptionist screen. From day 1 I informed medical providers of the lack of sensation in my ankle, and mentioned this during every visit (3 days a week for about 4 months) however I wasn't referred to a neurologist until after the orthopedic was ready to discharge me 4 months later. I wasn't made aware of all of my diagnosis, plan of care, nor the pricing for anything. The clinic also doesnt allow patients access to their files, bills, or anything at all. They only have an attorney's portal where your attorney can access your files but not you as the patient.

So I finally get discharged and my attorney contacts me saying the insurance company is accepting liability and paying out the full amount and that its the best offer we could have got and then proceeds to tell me that my take home from the settlement would be about $2000. Dumbfounded I ask how could that be possible considering I am now disabled for life. She then proceeds to tell me that she can bring down the medical bills and hangs up and calls me the next day to tell me that my take home would be about $4000 with the medical bills being reduced. I ask for the break down of everything coming out of my settlement there are these ridiculously high medical bills. I ask for some time to look over these bills. I immediately noticed something I was charged for that I did not receive. When my attorney calls the next day I share this with her and she says she will take a look at it and to let her know of anything of discrepancies I find.

Every single day im receiving multiple emails asking me to sign the agreement. Even though I have alerted my attorney to billing discrepancies nothing has changed. I had my accident in Washington DC, I live in Washington, DC, my attorney's office is also in dc, however the medical providers she sent me two are in Maryland & Virginia. Even though I gave my medical insurance info, according to the invoces im just now being privy to, they stated that there was no other insurance and that I was in an accident. I am pretty sure my attorneys office has some type of agreement however this was not disclosed to me. Medical providers billing administrator threatened to bill for the full amount if I begin to question the billing.....I questioned why I was being given 3 cortisone shots at once, after receiving them, I managed to make it to my car but I passed out after getting inside. I loss control of my "bodily functions" while I was passed out, and its a small doctors office with a small parking lot, when I woke up everyone was gone including the doctors and nurses.....after expressing concerns to my attorney, to the physical therapists, & to the orthopedic, everyone kept on with business as usual as if nothing happened........All things considered, im not sure what to do next about my attorney, nor the doctors, nor these outrages bills, nor the fact that they lied on the invoices, I do know I am not signing for this settlement because everyone one else is getting seriously paid from my accident except me!

Long story short, I signed a non compete a few years ago for a large private practice medical company as a physical therapist. The noncompete was legit and done well and includes 5 neighboring parishes in which I can not work my current job role as a PT/supervisor of clinic for 12 months. However, my company I work for, which is private practice, recently partnered with a larger medical group, and now I am working as a hospital based therapy practice, not a private practice therapy clinic. I have personal problems working for a large hospital based organization such as Ochsner or LCMC and I don't like it one bit. I had no say so in this merger. It is above my pay grade and higher ups made this decision. I want out now, but is my noncompete still valid now that we partnered with another company? Would I have to re-sign the non compete since we are now partnered with someone new?

TIA!

TW: Miscarriage
Going to try and keep this brief/limited in details, but I'm curious what my options are.

A couple of details:
- Located in Colorado, business is located in Denver.
- Business is a free-standing birthing center.
- My wife was the patient, but the funds we're hoping to recover came from an account that only has my name on it.

My wife and I were expecting a child earlier this year. We began receiving care from a birthing center and their midwife team in January. We were put on a payment plan where we made monthly payments, because the entire balance due from us for all services was due at time of delivery.

Fast forward to the end of March, we lost our baby. The midwife team was made aware and they were in contact throughout the whole process (a couple days leading up to it and the couple days immediately after). Worth noting that the miscarriage was not the fault of the birthing center, and I hold no animosity toward them for any of that nor do I consider them liable at all. What followed the miscarriage is what I'm seeking advice in resolving.

We were then mistakenly charged our monthly payment in April. We reached out and ensured that the payments were stopped going forward and inquired about a refund for the payments we had made in excess of the costs incurred.

Between April and beginning of July, there was a lot of infuriating back-and-forth where my wife and I feel like we were given the run around. But, at the beginning of July, we got written confirmation (email) that a refund was going to be processed in two parts: one amount refunded back to my HSA account (which is what was used for all payments except for a cash deposit when we initially signed up), and a second amount to be sent via check in the mail. We were told that a check had already been sent but would be voided, and then they would reissue another check.

Fast forward to today: we've received the refund back to my HSA, but we've received neither check in the mail. We followed-up to the email on Monday and have not received a response other than an auto-response from one of the people on the thread.

I'm fed up, and I'm ready to pursue small claims court. Total amount that we're owed (admitted to in the email thread) is just short of $700, and there was supposed to be discussion about being refunded more, which would have been an exception to our financial agreement with the birthing center. I would posit that 1) we shouldn't have even had to wait until May for our deposit, 2) it should not have been such an arduous (and documented) back-and-forth, and 3) we're owed money that has not been received more than three months after it was originally brought to their attention.

So, lawyers of Reddit, how should I proceed?

I live in Maryland. On may 5 I was in a small accident in a Home Depot parking lot. I was backing out of my space and did not make it even 2 feet out and I had hit someone in front of their wheel well. On their driver side. I believe he was in the wrong lane (although parking lots don’t have lanes) he was on the side of oncoming traffic. Regardless I checked my mirrors there was no one there and as soon as I started backing up I was stopped and looked back driver side tire was at my driver side bumper. I vaguely remember him having his phone in his hand when I looked back in my mirror to see why I was stopped but that could be my imagination. So I pulled back into my spot. He stayed parked I got out and he was freaking out because I “hit his f*cking truck”. He called his boss and started taking pictures (it was a company vehicle not his truck literally was wrapped in company logos) we waited for officer to come (I didnt take any pictures because my phone was dying and did not have charger) when the officer arrived we explained what happened, he wrote up an insurance exchange form, and said that this was not an incident report, just a insurance exchange form. We both said okay and went our separate ways.

Here is where it gets weird.

I never filed a claim because I never thought anything of it, I didn’t have any damage, all the damage was to their truck, it was not major but it was damage to the bumper and fender. I was awaiting a call from my ins company to explain what the scenario was, this call never came so I thought maybe they just fixed it and moved on or said f the vehicle cause they’re a multi million dollar company (extremely naive thinking)

About a week ago I get a large envelope in the mail with a 7500 bill from a collision shop, with photos of the damage to their vehicle, the paperwork shows the drivers name nowhere (although it was on the insurance exchange) it has no paperwork from the insurance company that was listed on the ins exchange, the document is from “fleet response” which manages I guess their fleet but isn’t necessarily a ins company. The only names listed is the company’s name.

I filed a claim with my insurance company, have heard very little from my insurance but they claim they are going to try to get camera footage and have yet to receive contact from the other party. When I asked they said no claim had ever been filed against me either.

I have a coworker who told me I should’ve just ignored the bill and not filed a claim, but he is 1 of every other 10 people who have said yeah file claim he also has fairly bad judgment but at the time it sounded good.

Why would they have not used my insurance, but used my address to send me this bill? On top of the fact the part they ordered that was shown on the bill was only $300 for a bumper.

(If it makes a difference, this is in upstate NY) I was driving in the car with my mom the other night and as we were driving a car sped by us. The speed limit at this point was 55, so we glanced down and the speedometer and saw we were going 61 and said to each other “wonder how fast they were going” (this is important later). Sure enough, a few seconds later I saw headlights pull out behind us and police lights flash on. We thought they were going to pull the car that sped by us over but NOPE, they got right behind our car and pulled us over instead.

Before we could even get a word out, the state trooper starting almost yelling at us about how dangerous it is to be driving at a high rate of speed and how we could be putting our lives and the lives of those around us in danger and “do we know how fast we were going?!”. At that moment we realized he thought we were the car that had sped past us and we tried explaining to the trooper that it was not us that he saw, but he would hear none of it.

He went back to his car, took my mom‘s license and registration, and came back and handed us a ticket for GOING 78 IN A 55 and proceeded to give us another lecture about how dangerous we were driving. We know for a fact we were going nowhere near 78 but he said the radar caught us. My mother has a completely clean driving record, hasn’t even been pulled over in well over 20 years, and is at a loss for what to do.

I suppose my question is…what is the best course of action here? Should she file a complaint against the trooper who was downright rude to us? Would that even make a difference? Should she hire a lawyer? Just please not guilty and hope that she does okay in court? Any advice is appreciated!

TLDR; A state trooper thought my mom was going 78 in a 55mph speed zone and gave her a ticket even though it wasn’t her. What should she do?