What are some potential legal options when noise ordinances are not enforced for a particular local business (in Texas)? I live in a mixed use zone in the downtown area of a major metropolitan area in Texas. A recent city ordinance requires bars and restaurants to maintain noise levels below a certain level at different times of the night. The exact levels specified for our zone, which is &quot;Commercial/Mixed Use&quot; are: 70 dBA or 10 dB above the background noise level, whichever is lower, from 7 AM to 10 PM 60 dBA or 5 dB above the background noise level, which ever is lower, from 10 PM to 7 AM. 5 dB shall be subtracted from the maximum Noise Level where the Noise Level includes &quot;impulsive noise&quot; The most restrictive maximum Noise Level shall apply at the property where the noise level is audible. Using different Android applications, I believe that a bar near our apartment is routinely skirting this ordinance by playing music that is audible beyond their property. I have called the police at various times, but they either can't verify that the business is, in fact, violating the ordinance, or (more frequently) choose not to take any action, or sometimes just don't arrive to investigate in time. I understand that Android apps are not a professional instrument, but neither does the ordinance specify the accuracy of whatever is measuring the noise level. The ordinance in question is Plano City Ordinance 2021-12-6. I am considering purchasing professional equipment, but I also don't feel like I should have to bear unreasonable expenses to get some relief from this problem. What might be my legal options? Sue the business? Sue the police? What sort of evidence might I consider to prepare and what sort of remedies might I request?
You have verified nothing Your phone is not a calibrated decibel meter operated by a competent acoustic technician (unless you have qualifications you aren’t telling us about). It’s also clear that you don’t understand what the ordinance says in a technical sense. You have measured “decibels” but you have not explained whether you have measured A, B, or C weighted readings and which of those the ordinance addresses. Before you engage in any legal process you will need real expert evidence, which you can get by hiring a professional acoustic consultant to conduct a proper noise survey using calibrated equipment in accordance with the requirements of the ordinance. What are your legal options? If you can verify a breach of the ordinance you have several options: You could sue under the tort of nuisance to recover your losses. The evidence you have will help prove the nuisance but failing to comply with an ordinance does not ipso facto mean that the bar breached any duty of care it has to you. In any event, you would have to prove they owed a duty of care and prove your losses. You could seek an injunction requiring the bar to comply with the ordinance. However, the ordinance itself may not give you standing to do this. You could seek a writ of mandamus requiring the person responsible for enforcing the ordinance to do so.
It is usual for a lease to specify for what purposes and on what notice the landlord is entitled to access. Often there is a provision allowing the landlord access on no notice in an &quot;emergency&quot; which is often not specifically defined. Access for purposes of repair, and for purposes of inspection may be on 24 hours notice, or 48 hours, or some other period, or on &quot;reasonable notice&quot; with no specific period specified. Access for a reasonable purpose (such as inspection) on reasonable notice that does not actually inconvenience the tenant, and that is not demanded with unreasonable frequency will probably not constitute such a breach as to justify ending the tenancy, and may well not justify sizable damages in the absence of other breaches. Much will depend on the wording of the lease or rental agreement, and on the practice of the local courts. One might well ask oneself &quot;what actual harm will an inspection with insufficient notice do me&quot; because a court might ask a similar question if an action is brought. If the inspection does cause a problem, then that should be addressed.
In the U.S. this is a notoriously perilous area of the law, particularly because the laws regarding recording vary so much between the states. A good source for this question is the RCFP. To give you an example: In Pennsylvania it is a felony to record "oral communication" in any circumstance in which the speaker would be justified in expecting it to not be recorded. Legally, as soon as you turn on an audio recorder in PA, you had better make sure nobody unaware that you're recording wanders within range of your microphone!
Your lawyer friend is misguided Casual conversation and writing are not subject to any maxims of interpretation - the words mean what the speaker/writer says and what the listener/reader understands and these may be different things. In a conversation about restaurants, there is no implication that the places not mentioned are not restaurants or don't exist. Even if I were to write a published magazine article called &quot;The 10 best restaurants in the world&quot;, there is no implication that no other restaurant can possibly be better than those 10. This applies even in business settings. For example, this is the Petbarn logo: It has images of dogs, fish, cats, and birds. By your friend's argument, it would be unlawful for them to sell products for the care of pet snakes or lizards since they aren't on the sign? Or, for that matter, to operate from a building that is not a &quot;barn&quot;? Finally, your friend is wrong even in legal interpretation. There are many ways of contract and legislative interpretation that are or have been in use in every jurisdiction. &quot;Expressio Unius Est Exclusio Alterius&quot; is one maxim of interpretation but it may be in conflict with others. For example, if a regulation on aircraft listed various types of aircraft but didn't mention helicopters but nevertheless had an entire section devoted to rotor maintenance the &quot;Rule against surplusage&quot; would require that helicopters be included. In any event, modern courts tend to take a more holistic view to interpretation and the use of individual maxims is optional.
Can't park within 30 ft of a stop sign. Tex Tn Code 545.302 b4. If this is the law they don't need to post a sign. http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/txstatutes/TN/7/C/545/G/545.302
This question is controlled almost entirely by local municipal and county ordinances. It is not a question of federal law that is uniform across the U.S. and in most cases it is not even a question of state law. So, there is no single answer to your question. Most localities regulate this with some combination of hotel specific building codes (usually incorporated by reference from a uniform building code promulgated by a private non-profit organization as a model building code provision) and hotel specific local zoning ordinances.
Can landlord backbill 4.5 years worth of utilities that were never billed to us bimonthly as directed in the lease? Yes, since the bimonthly billing issue appears to be within the LA statute of limitations for claims of breach of contract: 10 years (see here). But you might want to check the actual legislative language of the statute referred therein and the prior or consecutive ones --all pertaining to statutes of limitations-- so as to ascertain the accuracy of information in the first link (navigating through the bunch of LA two- or three-line statutes for this and that gets annoying). They are desperate to get me to move out since it is a rent-controlled unit and I feel like they have done this to cause issues and force me to default on rent. Is this a legal practice? I am not knowledgeable of state legislation particular to rent-controlled units, but I highly doubt it is lawful for them to proceed that way. Other details you describe reflect that the company has been --or is being-- malicious or grossly negligent. If so, strictly speaking, the company's conduct (1) ought to weaken its position or merits in trying to force you out, and (2) tends to contravene the contract law covenant of good faith and fair dealing (see below). If your lease mentions any statutes regarding rent-controlled units, you may want to search for case law at leagle.com to see how the statutes are applied. Without knowing the terms of your lease, I think your priority should at all times be the rent itself so as to avoid eviction. Does the "billing every two months" in the lease have any hold on this issue if they breached their own lease? Maybe not. The repeated, yet sole, failure to send you the bimonthly billings falls short of landlord's breach of contract. For your argument on breach of contract to prevail, you would have to prove that the landlord knowingly/deliberately let the water bills pile up prior to demanding you to pay everything at once. That would prove that the landlord is not meeting the covenant of good faith and fair dealing that is prerequisite in contract law.
The legal position You are quite clearly not running a business and if the matter went to court you could easily prove this be e.g. getting testimony from the people at the party, your testimony etc. In any event, your landlord can’t “fine” you. Fines are a punishment and only government can punish people. They can sue you for breach of contract for damages (which are restitution not punishment) or to seek specific performance. The practical position Take the listing down. Rightly or wrongly, it's souring your relationship with your landlord and their relationship with their HOA. Is having this mildly amusing joke worth damaging these relationships, particularly if you might want to renew your lease? The landlord might feel that they are better off with a tenant who doesn't cause them grief with their HOA. Even if your landlord understands, the HOA might not. If they sue your landlord, they will have very little choice but to join you. Yes, you will almost certainly win your day in court but you will not get reimbursed for the time and effort you had to go to. this includes taking the day off work, subpoenaing all your friends to give testimony etc. Who has time for that crap? Further, whenever you go in front of judge or arbitrator who has the power to force a resolution of your dispute, you are rolling the dice. Sure, you may think you have great evidence and the other sides' is completely bogus but if they present theirs with skill and confidence and you screw yours up then they can walk away with a win. Real court cases depend on who the judge believes. If they believe your landlord's reasonable story about running an illegal bar and they don't believe your crazy tale of it all being a joke - you lose. Remember: free speech can't be restricted but it does have consequences. Further, anyone who bases relationships on legal rights and responsibilities is going to have very shallow relationships.