by Blacknight » Fri Jul 25, 2008 09:08:18 AM
To: brokeinOttawa (and others, who are interested)
Now this going to sound off the wall, BUT, follow Me here.
When We were negotiating NAFTA - that's right, NAFTA, there was a provision that Mulroney didn't want in, but the Americans insisted on.
The section is called, 'Transference of Laws'. In simple terms it means that each Country in the agreement, has access to the other 2 Countries Laws and Jurisprudence.
Now, just in case You don't know what Jurisprudence is, it's all the Legal Decisions, that come because of Court Cases.
You mentioned that You tried to pay of the money owed, but They refused to take the money. Under American Law, which because of NAFTA, You have access to, refusing to accept payments, means that the 'Debt is Paid-in-Full'. They can't refuse to accept Your attempts to make up for what They deem You owe Them, even if You offer to pay them back, at $10.00 a month. You are attempting to make good on Your debt.
Also, unless They have a Court Decision against You, which They advised You about, They can't have anybody just give Them money, not even Your Bank.
It sounded like You didn't know about any Court Decision, in which case, if They failed to notify You, about a Court Case, and They won by default (You didn't show up), there's a chance that the decision can be overturned.
I had a similar case several years ago, when I was at a Canada Trust, taking care of My Mother's Estate. I was talking to the Canada Trust Rep, and could hear a Canada Trust Collector, yelling at a Canada Trust Client who owed Them money, on Her Mastercard.
The woman had been Downsized, and had been waiting for Her First Employment Insurance Cheque, for 10 weeks. Canada Trust simply went into Her Bank Account, after She deposited the cheque, and seized all the money.
I won't go into all the details, but after listening to this Collection Agent yell at the woman (Yes, I could hear Her, even through I was 15 feet from the phone), I finally excused Myself with the Canada Trust rep I was talking to, and went and stepped in the argument.
I found out that Canada Trust had never taken Her to court, and, of course, if They had, You can't seize ANY Government Cheque, of any kind. NONE!
So, They couldn't have taken the money out of Her Bank Account, if They had gotten a decision against Her.
I told the woman on the phone that I was the Client's Lawyer, and advised Her that if They had returned the money to My Client's Bank Account within the next 10 minutes, I was going to go before a Federal Judge and have Canada Trust charged with Wire Fraud.
She said that They couldn't return the money within that time, so I said, 'Then I guess You and Your Bosses are going to jail for Wire Fraud. I believe the minimum is 10 Years'.
The money was back in Her Account within 8 minutes.
The bottom line, make use of the 15-30 minutes FREE You can get with a lawyer, then go to another one, and get more info.
Pass the info around. If I told You just how crooked Companies, and Yes, Our Politicians, are, You would probably just want to hide in Your House.
It's time We cleaned up this Country. If it wasn't for people like Us, there wouldn't be a Country. We're the one's who make the Canadian World go around, good or bad, and We deserve more RESPECT.
Nuff Said (Sorry it was so long, but it was important).