Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
i did something totally stupid. i hired a housecleaner/organizer on Craigslist. we apoke on the phone, and she seemed pretty reasonable and honest. however, when she came to my house, she told me her sad story of woe, i.e., in two days her car was going to be repossessed, the electric would be turned off, her kid is very sick, blah blah blah. so me, being a compassionate person paid her in full, $1137 for forty hours of work, including a two hour consultation fee. i feel sooo sooo stupid for believing all this. she came and did appx. 5 hours of work, and after that, it was all excuses of why she could not finish the job. I had her sign a sheet of paper, outlining what i paid her, and for how many hours of work. She told me another time she was at my house for three hours, and there was no evidence of any work being done. so i fired her, and she told me she would give me back $400 after she did some other jobs. Then I thought about, and got angry and asked for $780. When I asked her for her address to mail back the key to my house, which was not even my key, she gave me a bogus address. What i want to know is there any recourse i have against her? can I post a warning about her to others on Craigslist? i told her i would do that and she said she would not only not refund me my money, but sue me for character assassination! thank you for your time
2 Answers from Attorneys
Truth is a defense to defamation.
You could of course bring suit against her for failing to provide the services you paid for. It sounds, however, like you might have real problems collecting.
You would have to check with CraigsList about their rules on postings. In terms of the law, however, truth is a defense to any claim for defamation. You would run the risk, however, of having to defend against any claim your former housekeeper brought against you. In any event, you should be extremely careful about the words you use, so that you can easily prove the truth of what you say.
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