MINOR IN POSSESSION OF ALCOHOL INFORMATION
THIS IS JUST A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE FIRST OFFENDER PORGRAM. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIIONS AFTER READING THIS, PLEASE SET AN APPOINTMENT. IF YOU HAVE OTHER CHARGES IN ADDITION TO THE MIP YOU NEED TO SET AN APPOINTMENT.
If you have received a misdemeanor ticket for Minor in Possession of Alcohol (MIP) by the City of Ann Arbor or the State of Michigan (generally these tickets are issued by the UM Department of Public Safety) you may be eligible for a special program offered by the 15th District Court. If this is your first MIP offense, and you do not wish to challenge the ticket, and there are no other charges pending from the same incident, you may go to your arraignment (the first court hearing) and accept the First Offender MIP Deferred Sentence Program that will be offered to you by the court.
The program requirements are as follows:
1. Pay court costs of $250.00 (cash, check or credit card) at the 15th District Court Services Office. Plan to do this on the day of the hearing, although the court will allow you 30 days to pay.
2. Attend an alcohol awareness class with SPECTRUM Prevention and Treatment Services, which takes place in the Michigan Union. The court will assign you a date to attend. Classes are held on selective Tuesdays from 2 to 5 PM. You must pay a $100 fee in cash for this class at the time that you take the class. You must arrive 15 minutes early to register. If you are late, leave early, or fail to appear, you will not be given another opportunity for this program, and a criminal conviction will be entered on your record.
3. The court will set an administrative review date after six months of a non-reporting probation, at which time your case will be dismissed. No conviction of a misdemeanor will be entered if you have complied with the requirements. A record of the plea and later dismissal will be kept by the court and Secretary of State as required by law. Your failure to comply will result in a conviction on your record, possible suspension of your driver’s license, and a possible warrant for your arrest.
If you decide to accept the above program, this office will not review the facts of your case for any possible defenses. If you have questions or need specific advice, you need to make an appointment to meet with one of the attorneys.
Please note that this first offender’s program for MIPs, which is specific to the 15th District Court in Ann Arbor, is a one time only opportunity to prevent a criminal record for this offense. A second MIP may result in jail time and a criminal conviction.
If you go to court, and for any reason you are not offered this program, you will appear before the magistrate for an arraignment. You are to plead “not guilty” and the court will set a new date called a pretrial. You will then need to call Student Legal Services (as soon as possible) to schedule an appointment to meet with an attorney who will be able to assist you at the pretrial.
Note: Camera cell phones are not allowed in the courthouse.
Leave your phone at home. Revised 8/07
Frequently Asked Questions about Security Deposits
QUESTION: How much is my landlord allowed to charge for a security deposit?
ANSWER: Your landlord is prohibited from charging more than 1 ½ months’ rent as a security deposit
QUESTION: My relationship with my landlord has broken down recently, and I’m afraid that s/he will take unreasonable amounts from my security deposit. What should I do?
ANSWER: Your security deposit isn’t due until 45 days after your lease ends. So, in the meantime, make sure you document all of your repair requests and pay your rent on-time. If communication with your landlord breaks-down during your lease, you should contact our office for legal advice. When your lease ends, remember to provide your forwarding address to your landlord within 4 days of moving out. You can pick up the “security deposit packet” in our office which contains detailed information we’ve compiled on how to get your security deposit back, if your landlord retains it after it becomes due.
QUESTION: I just received a letter from my former landlord, setting forth deductions from my security deposit. What should I do now?
ANSWER: Your landlord is required to state in writing, on the face of the letter, that you have 7 days to respond to the letter or else you forfeit your security deposit. So, you should respond in writing to the landlords’ deductions. If you disagree with a specific deduction, you should make sure that you clearly state your disagreement with the charge and the reason for your disagreement.
QUESTION: It has been well-over 45 days since my lease ended, and I have not received my security deposit back from the landlord or a letter from him/her about deductions from the deposit. What should I do?
ANSWER: If you don’t have any outstanding rent payments (which you agree that you owe), then you should come to our office and pick up one of our security deposit packets. It will outline how you can go about communicating with your landlord about these matters, and if need be, how to sue your landlord for return of your deposit.
QUESTION: I moved out of my apartment two months ago, and recently realized that I did not give my forwarding address to the landlord. What should I do?
ANSWER: You should contact your landlord immediately and notify him/her of your new address. You should ask about the status of any deductions to be assessed / already assessed against your deposit, and a statement / invoice about this. If you disagree about charges taken from your deposit, you should come to our office and pick up our security deposit packet. It will outline how you can go about communicating with your landlord about these matters, and if need be, how to sue your landlord for return of your deposit.
QUESTION: I recently moved into a house and the landlord asked my roommates and I to pay our security deposit to the tenants whose lease just expired and who moved out. Should I do this?
ANSWER: No, do not pay the security deposit to reimburse tenants who are moving out. Your security deposit should go to your landlord who should only take deductions from your security deposit as a result of damage that results during the time of your tenancy.
QUESTION: Our toilet overflowed during our lease, and we don’t believe that we were negligent in causing it to overflow. Our landlord is now trying to charge our security deposit for the cost of repairing the toilet. Is this charge legitimate?
ANSWER: Landlords are responsible for the costs of maintaining and repairing the premises except when the tenant is extremely irresponsible in their care for the premises or when the tenant recognizes a maintenance issue but fails to notify the landlord about it. In this situation, unless your lease dictates otherwise, the charge is probably not legitimate. You should see our office for further advice about this.
Traffic Tickets: Information for an Informal Hearing
15th District Court - Ann Arbor, MI
We ask that you take the time to review the following information. It should answer all of your questions. SLS does not represent students for civil infraction traffic tickets. We have found that the chances of success are so low that doing these hearings is not a good use of limited resources.
Most individuals who revieve a traffic ticket are concerned about the points on their driving record. They are concerned that it will result in higher insurance premiums. That only way to avoid those points is to prevail in a hearing. We suggest that you first ask for an informal hearing with the court. The hearing only involves the officer, a Magistrate, and yourself. No Attorneys are allowed. The 15th District Court does not charge any additional fees for this hearing, so if you do not prevail at the hearing, you will still only have to pay the cost of the ticket, with the points added to your driving record.
Traffic tickets are civil infractions which generally involve fines to the court and points assessed on your driver’s license. Because these tickets are civil in nature, there is a low standard of proof that needs to be presented to the court by the police officer. It is not difficult for the officer to prove his or her case. That means that the tickets very difficult to beat.
Also the 15th District Court does not provide the option of “a remedial driving school program” as an alternative to paying the ticket and/or the assessment of points. With this information in mind, if you decide to contest a ticket, you may wish to follow the points listed below.
1. Call Court and ask for an informal hearing. This hearing will include yourself, the police officer and the magistrate. Attorneys are not allowed at these hearings.
2. Preparation before your court date:
*Dress well
*You may prepare a drawing or photographs of the area to visually demonstrate your actions.
*Take a copy of the ordinance. (Search for “Ann Arbor Code of Ordinances” on the internet Google search engine gives a good response.)
*Prepare your argument. Your argument should show that you did not violate the ordinance (for example, the light was yellow and not red, when you entered the intersection) Tip: practice this presentation ahead of time, making a concise argument, with your directions properly memorized; bring notes with you if necessary.
3. Go to Court:
*Go early
*Find the police officer in the hallway or court room.
*Give your prepared story to the police officer politely, but firmly explaining your perspective of what happened.
*Ask the police officer if he is willing to amend the ticket to a lesser offense (less costs and/or points).
A. If the police officer says okay, and you accept, you will formalize it in the courtroom.
B. If the police officer says no, then wait for your case to be called.
C. You may then make your argument to the magistrate. You may also ask the police officer questions (for example, “Was anything obstructing your view of my vehicle?” “Were there other cars in the area that may have affected the radar?” “Was the radar properly calibrated?”) You should also check this site for speeding tickets, http://www.speedtrap.org/ or http://www.laserveil.com/laser/police/how-veil-fights-police-lidar/
If the ticket involves failure to stop or obey a sign, you can question the ability to view the sign and not much else.
Remember to be polite and remain calm, as being confrontational with the court or police officer will generally not help your cause. After your presentation, you may ask the magistrate for a dismissal or reduction in fines. After listening to both your story and the police officer’s story, the magistrate will then make a ruling.
D. If the police officer does not show up, ask for a dismissal of your case. It will be dismissed. Note: Police officers in the 15th District Court appear almost all of the time.
E. If you lose the hearing you can file a request for a formal hearing. In a formal hearing you appear in front of a jugde and the police are represented by they city attorney or a county prosecutor. Again, the officer must appear for the hearing. If they do not ask for the case to be dismissed. You can also talk to the attorney for the plice who may be willing to reduce the ticket. Again, your odds of success are not that good.
4. Please report back to Student Legal Services if you have favorable results from your hearing. Your strategies may be helpful to other students.
Revised 09/07
So you think that music is free, do you? Well perhaps you want to think again.
The Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) has begun aggressively initiating legal actions against individuals engaged in illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing. This year, Many students here at The University of Michigan, as well as student at numerous other universities, have been targeted by the RIAA for illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing. In the past, students have also been targeted by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Under copyright law, violators can be held liable for up to $150,000 per violation, and it will cost the students thousands of dollars to settle the lawsuits out of court. Several students have agreed to settlements in the neighborhood of $5000.00 in the last three months.
Do not be fooled into believing that illegal file sharing will not be noticed. The RIAA and other copyright holders use automated methods to identify infringements, and even small amounts of sharing can be detected and tracked to a student’s IP address. U of M, in compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), acts quickly when notified of alleged copyright infringements occurring from a computer connected to the campus network. If the RIAA or other copyright holders issue a subpoena to the University seeking the name and address connected with a particular IP address, the University will release this identification information unless the student files a Motion to Quash with the federal court and this Motion is granted. Release of this information will enable the RIAA and other copyright holders to pursue a lawsuit against the student.
While there is no way to know exactly what the RIAA is going to do, or who they are going to sue, students can take the following steps to reduce their chances of being sued. Do not install LimeWire, KaZaA, Blubster, Grokster, BitTorrent, Gnutella, iMesh, CuteMX, Scour, FreeNetfile, or any other music or movie file-sharing software on to your computer. While file-sharing software may itself be lawful, there is usually a copyright on the music, video, or other files being shared. The file sharing is a violation of copyright law unless the copyright owner gives explicit permission. If you have such a program on your computer, remove the program and all music or movies that you have downloaded. Make sure that there are no potentially infringing files in your shared folder. Simply disabling the “sharing” or “uploading” features is not sufficient. Make sure that your computer is password protected to limit access to your computer and thereby preventing others from downloading music or movies onto your computer. For assistance with removing peer-to-peer file sharing applications and copyright infringing materials, contact your departmental computer support professionals.
For a list of legal download sites visit:
www.riaa.com/toolsforparents.php?content_selectorequalslegal_music_sites
Should you have any questions concerning this or should you receive any type of notice or warning on your email account concerning this, please contact U of M Student Legal Services at 763-9920.
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