Legal Question in Consumer Law in Massachusetts

: Home Heating Oil

File a counterclaim. The company cannot provide you with something unordered. You can demand that they tell you under what authority they trespassed into your land and placed the unwanted fuel in your tank.

You can even file a police complaint against them.

Re: Home Heating Oil

You should file a counterclaim against them for abuse of process. By providing you oil which you did not order, they arguably made a gift to you. This would be an excellent argument IF you have their admission in writing. It is only a so-so argument if you are only able to recount it as an oral admission.

You should be aware, though, that equitable principles apply, and you may want to consider that you will certainly have some use of the oil. The court may thus order you to pay a fair price for it, if this is an isolated mistake (mind you, I doubt that).

You should also report this matter to the Attorney General. It sounds like someone here is having trouble selling oil, so is playing games. If you and other former customers are facing this tactic, it may result in sanctions or action.

As an attorney, I am not entitled to fight such tactics in the media. You, however, should be aware that all of the Boston stations, and probably all of the Western Massachusetts stations, have consumer advocates. If this is a scam, they will address it, report on it, and cause awareness to be raised.

Good luck.

Re: Home Heating Oil

With due respect to the other answer, I doubt that the police will seek prosecution if this is an ISOLATED mistake or act. They certainly will not prosecute for "trespass." This was only criminal trespass if it is "after notice [not to enter the property -- a sign or specific letter]." I doubt that you gave such notice when you ended the contract. On the other hand, by opening the fuel line into your house, it IS "breaking and entering the close," and arguably the criminal intent is to extort from you an inflated or unwanted payment for oil. This would be your better argument, and you might want to bring a print-out of the responses if you decide to use this route.

The other attorney is also right that a report may be of interest to the police, because if this is a PATTERN, it is a scam. Police LIKE to break up scams. Thus, he correctly suggests that you report it to the police. You can only hope that it is a light day at the station, or that there are similar complaints, because the modern police force is often busy with more open breaches of the peace.

Again, good luck.