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Civil Suit for Fraud / Breach of Contract

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stack_climber

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arkansas / Louisiana

My wife and I live in Arkansas and purchased a 33ft above ground pool from a pool store in Bossier City, LA on March 25, 2011. Install of the pool was scheduled and rescheduled 8 different times. Each time no one showed to perform the install and no one from the pool store contacted us to let us know they weren't coming. I lost eight days of work due to these missed installs and no contact from the pool store. On May 21, 2011 I asked for a refund of the full purchase price. The owner of the pool store offered to give us the pool free due to all of the issues and loss we had taken and in addition to the pool he would also give us a full refund of the purchase price of $3,785.51. I agreed to this and he stated he would have the installer bring me the refund check when he came to put the pool together. On May 24, 2011 the installer arrived and hand delivered me a check from the pool store signed by the owner for $3,785.51 that was marked "Refund" in the memo section. The installer built the pool and left my property. Two hours later the store owner called me and asked if the installer gave me a message to hold the check for two days due to the fact that deposits were slow. I stated no, but I won't make it to the bank until Fri anyway. On May 26, 2011 the store owner contacted me by text message at approx 6:00 PM and stated, "that check needs to hold another day". I advised I would hold it until Tue May 31, since the upcoming weekend was a holiday. On Tue May 31, 2011 my wife took the check to our bank for deposit. Our bank performed an inquiry on the check and stated the account the check was written on had insuficient funds to cover the check. I contacted the store owner and advised him of what had occured and that we weren't able to deposit the check. The store owner, nor anyone else from his business, did not responded to the matter until Thur June 02, 2011. On that day the store owner sent me a message that stated "I'm tired of this, that check has been canceled. I asked you not to deposit that check and you refused." That statement in itself is a lie because I did everything he asked and when I stated I would hold the check until May 31 he never requested any change nor did he even attempt to contact me between May 26 and May 31.

Question: Is the fact that the check was written on May 22, 2011 and owner obviously knew at that time that he was writing a worthless check considered fraud?

Question: Does the action of the store owner issuing a stop payment on the check marked refund constitute breach of oral contract?

At this time all I want is the amount the check was written for. If I have to persue a civil suit, I will seek further damages that will include legal fees and lost income.

Question: Am I entitled to lost wages / damages caused by all of the missed installs, and would I be entitled to attach "reasonable attorney/legal" fees to the suit?

Question: Since the pool store is located in Louisiana but I live in Arkansas, where would it be best to file suit? I'm thinking in Louisiana since that is where his assets are located.
 


W

Willlyjo

Guest
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arkansas / Louisiana

My wife and I live in Arkansas and purchased a 33ft above ground pool from a pool store in Bossier City, LA on March 25, 2011. Install of the pool was scheduled and rescheduled 8 different times. Each time no one showed to perform the install and no one from the pool store contacted us to let us know they weren't coming. I lost eight days of work due to these missed installs and no contact from the pool store. On May 21, 2011 I asked for a refund of the full purchase price. The owner of the pool store offered to give us the pool free due to all of the issues and loss we had taken and in addition to the pool he would also give us a full refund of the purchase price of $3,785.51. I agreed to this and he stated he would have the installer bring me the refund check when he came to put the pool together. On May 24, 2011 the installer arrived and hand delivered me a check from the pool store signed by the owner for $3,785.51 that was marked "Refund" in the memo section. The installer built the pool and left my property. Two hours later the store owner called me and asked if the installer gave me a message to hold the check for two days due to the fact that deposits were slow. I stated no, but I won't make it to the bank until Fri anyway. On May 26, 2011 the store owner contacted me by text message at approx 6:00 PM and stated, "that check needs to hold another day". I advised I would hold it until Tue May 31, since the upcoming weekend was a holiday. On Tue May 31, 2011 my wife took the check to our bank for deposit. Our bank performed an inquiry on the check and stated the account the check was written on had insuficient funds to cover the check. I contacted the store owner and advised him of what had occured and that we weren't able to deposit the check. The store owner, nor anyone else from his business, did not responded to the matter until Thur June 02, 2011. On that day the store owner sent me a message that stated "I'm tired of this, that check has been canceled. I asked you not to deposit that check and you refused." That statement in itself is a lie because I did everything he asked and when I stated I would hold the check until May 31 he never requested any change nor did he even attempt to contact me between May 26 and May 31.

Question: Is the fact that the check was written on May 22, 2011 and owner obviously knew at that time that he was writing a worthless check considered fraud?

Question: Does the action of the store owner issuing a stop payment on the check marked refund constitute breach of oral contract?

At this time all I want is the amount the check was written for. If I have to persue a civil suit, I will seek further damages that will include legal fees and lost income.

Question: Am I entitled to lost wages / damages caused by all of the missed installs, and would I be entitled to attach "reasonable attorney/legal" fees to the suit?

Question: Since the pool store is located in Louisiana but I live in Arkansas, where would it be best to file suit? I'm thinking in Louisiana since that is where his assets are located.
So really, what's the problem? You got your pool set up didn't you? Did you make a copy of the cancelled check? If not it may be hard to prove a verbal agreement.

If you can prove you missed a few days because you waited for someone to come and get your pool put together, you may be able to prevail in small claims court. Other than that, it don't seem like you have a case.
 

stack_climber

Junior Member
Yes, I did get the pool. The pool installer hand delivered the check from the owner at the time he came to install the pool. Seems that in itself is proof of our agreement. Why else would he come to install the pool and hand me a refund check at the same time. Now I have a pool and can't trust to do business with the seller if I should need assistance in the future. I didn't ask for the pool, all I wanted was a refund. He thought I was crazy to refuse a free pool. He kept saying he just wanted us as happy customers, he wanted us to enjoy our pool, and he felt bad about me missing so many days of work due to lack of contact on their end. I even offered to load up all of the boxes of parts and bring it all back to him.
 

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