Small Claims B.S

[D.Dog]

My mother in-law is being sued in Small Claims court for the alleged violation
of a resrictive covenant agreement between her and a home companion referral agency being used to care for her father. The complaint says, she hired one of their referred companions away, cutting them out of their fees.

Mediation last week resulted in a court date and now because they realize she has no money they are
ammending the complaint to include my wife and her grandfather who has alzheimers. My wife is POA in fact for her grand father and never signed the contract, only her mother did.
They claim that by her writting the checks she had tacitly agreed to the contract.

My wife did not know of this contract untill they started legal action and did hire one girl for a temporary week, while someone else was on vacation. 6 lousy days!!!
The mediator said they both have a case.

In mediation the plantiff claims he has proof via 2 anonymos phone calls (yeah right) I would like to think that a judge will see past that, but knowing what I know, I doubt it.
They also claim they have timed stamped video showing the employee coming in and out of the home after she had fired the agency.

It seems to me that taking this alleged video is a clear violation of the FDCPA. Is this not stalking to collect a debt?


What say you all.

Darrin

[Ice]

It seems to me that only the original contract can tell the story. It must be reviewed very carefully.

Question: Have they also brought a suit against the employee that now works for your mother-in-law outside the bounds of her contract with the agency? The employees employment contract should also be reviewed... regardless of the answer to the question.

A payment to the agency by your wife does not necessarily constitute "agreement to contract". It could have been nothing more than a simple "loan" from your wife to her mother. That exchange was an agreement between them and had nothing to do with the agency.

The agency must provide more than a payment made by your wife in order to include her in their suit. Check your local rules regarding "written instruments". Have them provide proof of any instrument in which your wife and the agency have both signed in agreement.

You might also want the agency to provide proof that your wife has any "authority" in regards the care of her grandfather.

Using that strategy, your wife should move for a dismissal and have the court remove her from such filing. You can also note within any affidavit accompanying said motion that you "believe" the only reason your wife was included in the action was due to the fact that she has assets and the "plaintiff" is unsure of recovery from the other defendants. Attempt to demonstrate to the court that the plaintiff is suing the "neighbor" and has engaged the wrong party.

As I've said before, the time to protect your assets is before troubles like this arise. If you had that protection the agency would never have bothered to name your wife in a suit because they would never have discovered any of her assets. Remember, actions like this are all about money. If the public record does not contain proof of your assets this kind of stuff won't happen.

See my link for more Free information.

Ice

[masterduke]

If this is already in progress with your wife being sued You should file a motion to add yourself as a defendant. They will fight this, but what happens is; this is your right, as you are protecting your homestead and family. Also a spouse is responsible for the other spouse's debts whether they agree with or even know about them. They will try to keep you off of the case. It is unusual that someone is trying to become a co-defendant and adds a whole extra realm of legal entanglements for them, the plaintiff. This will also buy you some extra time to gather your self for the counter-attack. Also, they should only speak to you and not your wife. If they have served you with a summons and complaint. If there are any sentences in it stating, "account/account stated", this is their attempt at shifting their burden of proving their claim, to you, to prove you don't owe it. File a cross-claim or an affidavit denying any culability to short circut this sneaky trick they may try.
Discovery is in order if you have been served you may start this process immediatly (heck their summons and compalint demanding answers is a discovery tool). Do not answer any of their questions in the affirmative as they will use that to go for a summary judgement ruling at your first court appearence. You need discovery! If they haven't served you yet, why not sue them first on the grounds of lack of standing to bring suit or harrassment? Jaylon has had success, as has Iamfreeru2 in beating these creeps.