88 The Queens Courier • REAL ESTATE • AUGUST 13, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com Your Homeownership Partner The State of New York Mortgage Agency offers: • Competitive , fixed-rate mortgages for first-time homebuyers • Downpayment assistance available up to $15, 000 • Special program for veterans, active-duty military , National Guard and reservists • Funds available for renovation 1-800-382-HOME(4663) www.sonyma.org Gorgeous Fourth Floor Condo at Long Island City’s 1 Vernon Jackson 1017 Jackson Avenue, Apartment 4F, 1bd, 1ba For more information about this listing and many others in LIC, Manhattan and Brooklyn, please contact us. The choice is clear. $750,000 Todd Hovanec 41 Madison Avenue 31st Floor New York, NY 10010 lmnsrealty.com 212.203.2016 Legally Speaking By: Scott Baron, Attorney at Law Q: “DJ” was a blind date I got from a web site. He picked me up in his shiny Corvette. Or so I thought: it turned out to be rented. Within minutes, the guy had crashed the car into a utility pole on the side of a roadway. According to the police report, DJ said he lost control when he saw an old friend. Nowadays, he is making out that, all of a sudden, an oncoming car crossed over the double yellow line: that’s why he swerved to the right. A: Using the latest story, DJ’s attorney may argue that his client was faced with an emergency, that his actions are reasonable and prudent in that context. Suddenly faced with an unexpected circumstance, not of his own making, DJ had little or no time to reflect and was compelled to make a quick decision without weighing alternate courses of conduct. Your attorney will reply that DJ’s latest explanation, about an oncoming car, is so patently a recent fabrication that it should not even get to the jury – even though resolving questions of credibility, assessing the accuracy of witnesses, and reconciling conflicting statements are generally entrusted to a jury. With regard to the police accident report, you will need to authenticate it, and sometimes may even want to take the deposition of the police officer who prepared it. Presumably, the officer was acting within the scope of his duty in recording DJ’s statement: it ought to be admissible as a party admission. To prevail against the rental-car company, you need evidence that the accident was caused by equipment failure or that the company was negligent in entrusting the vehicle to this customer. To prevail against the web site, you would need to voyage successfully through largely uncharted legal territory, with far more facts than you have given here. EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY Advertorial THE BLIND DATE The law responds to changed conditions; exceptions and variations abound. Here, the information is general; always seek out competent counsel This article shall not be construed as legal advice. Copyright © 2015 Scott Baron & Associates, P.C. All rights reserved. 159-49 Cross Bay Boulevard, Howard Beach, New York 11414 1750 Central Park Ave, Yonkers, NY 10710 718-738-9800, 914-337-9800, 1-866-927-4878
QC08132015
To see the actual publication please follow the link above