Legal Question in Consumer Law in Florida

How long to file a small claims motion

5 years ago I was fired by a large company. I was told by HR where I was fired never to go back to my office. I had personal items at my office which I never received. HR collected the items and gave them to another employee to give to me. That employee lived 60 miles from me and I do not see or keep in contact with that person. From what I have read on here HR should not have given my items to another employee. They should have sent them to my residence. Some of the items had some value besides personal value. Two were antique and a couple of others were collectible items. All told they were worth less than $1500. Can I still file a claim against the company since I'll never see the items again since the person they released my items to is no longer with that company and lives over 200 miles away now and I have no way to contact them ? I'd like to see at a minimum that they can replace the value of the items if not the items themselves. Thank you.


Asked on 4/20/09, 9:37 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Alan Wagner Wagner, McLaughlin & Whittemore P.A.

Re: How long to file a small claims motion

Why in the world would you have waited so long to do anything about this. From the facts that you provided, you have waited too long to do anything. There are exceptions, but the passage of time here makes this tough if not impossible to pursue. I see no excuse for the delay in waiting over 5 years to try to get your property. The employee was the company's agent and they would have been responsible for his failure to getthe items to you, but this should have been addressed at the time, not 5+ years later. The statute of limitations for a tort, generally, is 4 years. The statute of limitations for breach of an oral contract is 4 years and 5 years for the breach of a written contract.

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Answered on 4/20/09, 10:04 am


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