I live in CA. My husband and I took in a girl from a group home that I used to work at because she had no place to go after turning eighteen. Things were good while she was here; however, one day she said she was going to visit a friend & didn't come back. Three weeks later she called me after getting word that I was looking for her & said she was alright. I told her that she couldn't come back because I didn't want to be stuck worrying about where she is or if she's safe, etc & that she had a week to come get her things. This was in December of 2008. She made several arrangments to come get her belongings in December and never called or came. So, my husband and I donated her things to charity in May. Yesterday she called asking us to bring her the things she left. I told her we gave them to chariy & now she is thretening to sue us. My question is, can she sue & does she have a case & can we counter sue for storag fee's & the money it cost us to take care of her while she was here?
Optional Information: State/Country of Question: California Already Tried: I spoke with her verbaly in December and she stood me up twice. I then initiated contact through text messages & i stated that se had one more change to get her things or I'd donate it all to charity and she responds that she'd come get her things the following day "for sure" & again she never came. She did leave a phone message the day day saying she'd be there the following day, but again she never came. We gave her things to a local charity in early May and ironically she called us the day after asking for her things. I told her we'd already gotten rid of it. She was shocked & upset & hung up on us. Since then "her aunt" called thretening to take us to court and we said go ahead and now again yesterday a different aunt has called thretening to sue us again. At this point I feel we are being harrashed.
No she cannot sue because you kept her belongings for so long. By chance do you have any emails or writings telling her to come get her things from you. That would help you prove your time line. Having said that this girl has bigger issues than suing you for her things. She may threaten but in order to file she will have to pay $150.00 and file a written complaint. All of that takes alot of motivation which she does not have or she would have come and gotten her things long ago.
I do. I have all of the text communication from December of 2008 and two voice messages on my answering machine from the same time frame saying "...i cant come today, but i'll be here tomorrow...". If we do end up in court, can we charge her for of court cost and expenses, storage fees for keeping her things, harrashment and money we put out when she was here? At this point It's not peronal, but I do believe she needs to learn a lesson. We were here to help her and this is the reward we get. I'd be willing to sue for &1 for every charge just to prove a point to her. and what do we do if they keep calling us if we have no address to send a letter to?
you will be able to successfully defend and can countersue for storage fees but you will not have the court fees she will so there is no claim for that. I would not sue her unless she does it first. It will look vindictive and you have suffered no damage other than having to deal with a troubled youth which the court will see but likely not award independent damages.
One more question. We have reciepts from the place we donated her thing to, but are we obligated to tell her where we donated the things to? She asked a couple of times because she said she wanted to go see if they'd give the items back even though it's been several months, but I feel like she'll just go there and cause trouble and maybe even go as far as to say we gave them stolen property or something.
You can tell her if you wish but you are not in any way obligated to. You could go there and see if any of the items remain and if they do she can then go and collect them herself.
Experience: Litigation specialist, Probate and Estate law, Collection law, contract disputes, builder issues
Thank you for your help.
You are most welcome!!