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How to determine the proper jurisdiction

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aw6196

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? NJ

Trying to make this as short as possible (the full story is much too long to post here) ...

My spouse hired someone to remove a tree. He brought along another 'helper'. No written contract, but verbal agreement to remove tree without bringing heavy equipment onto our property since she knew we have bad (clay) ground. In process of removing tree, his small truck got stuck. He asked permission to bring on larger crane to get it out. My spouse agreed, under the condition that they 'would not damage property'. Of course, they did ALOT of damage. Upon completion, upon handing over check, agreement was that they would 'come back to fix damage'. Person hired asked to have check written to his 'helper', so my spouse did (If I were there, no check would have been handed over).

When I found out what happened, I immediately put stop payment on check to make sure they would come back (I assumed they WOULD NOT be back after seeing the damage they did). I was correct - they never did come back. Ten weeks later, after no word from them, we got estimates to fix damage, most were almost double what they charged us to remove tree in the first place.

The 'helper' (who we didn't even hire) has now placed a 'criminal complaint' of 'theft of service' against my spouse. I have reviewed the 'parameters' of the 'theft of service' law, and I do not believe this is a legitimate complaint, and do not think they can 'prove' two out of the four items on the list based on the situation (we certainly did not try to 'deceptively obtain services with intent not to pay' for example).

My concern is this. We live in municipality X. The service (and destruction of proeprty) was performed in municipality X. My spouse handed over check in municipality X. Our bank is in municipality X. However, he filed the complaint in HIS municipality where HE lives. How can they accept that complaint?

Do they have legal jurisdiction over this complaint? I cannot find anything 'specific' to a 'theft of service' complaint and the proper jurisdiction. I am concerned because the municipality he lives in is small, they have NOT been helpful to us at all, and I suspect that he 'knows' someone over there. I can't prove that of course.

Can anyone explain to me how municipal jurisdiction is determined in NJ, and, how I can legally challenge it? For example, is there a document somewhere on 'determining proper jurisdiction, and how to challenge jurisdiction in NJ'?

Also, I would like to file a small claim against (both men I suppose) for the damage so I can have it fixed. I assume, again, I file in MY municipality since that is where it occured, but I do not know. And, do I sue for the FULL AMOUNT (assuming he actually wins the criminal case), or, for the difference between the amount he billed, and the amount it will cost to get fixed?

Thanks!
 



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