Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California
I work for a shipping company in Commerce, CA. We received a call from a collection company based out of Texas. We decided to hire them for a few accounts we were having difficulties with in regards have paying us what they owed. We gave them the first account in which they collected with no problem with a verbal contract and through emails. Great!! So I gave the a farely large one, which was for $18,000. They were presistant and very rude during this whole process. They said they wanted to settle for $13,000 and they would need us to agree with 30% commission. My boss said no way. I already lost too much. So we did not agree to the settlement. So after many harassing calls and us refusing the deal they finally said, fine we will sttle for $1000 comission and you guys have $12,000. My boss finally agreed to that. During the process of them receiving the check theey asked for more accounts. I agreed and gave them a few more. Their policy was, we don't collect you don't pay. Well they got agitated with all these accounts and put a hold on our check and they now say we owe them all this money for their time and they need to get paid from the $13,000 they collected. Which they agreed on the $1000 comission. Now we are stuck. I googled the company and come to find out they have been in business since 2008 and they've had many complaints. They harass, they threatened to sue us and I also found out some of them are lawyers. That's why they are withholding our check, because they want us to give since they are based out of Texas and we are in California. That is out of our Jurisdiction and they know that. Isn't there anything we can do. This was done over the phone and through emails. There was no contract done in Texas or California, so who's to say what jurisdiction this is. Since mostly everything is done online now, isn't there laws that help with these sort of things. I'm very angry and upset, these people, bully, threat and use scare tactics to get you to pay and I don't want thenm to get away with it. This isn't right at all. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Deborah Arellano
Los Angeles, CA
1 Answer from Attorneys
The law has a number of rules to handle disputes between people in different states that are based on oral contracts. Some have to do with where you can sue. Others govern whose law you use to decide the dispute.
The factual history of the situation determines if you can sue them in California. This will require a more detailed view of the communications between you, but you may well be able to sue in California. You should probaby speak with an attorney to help you decide whether you can sue in CA, and how best to collect your money.
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