Under-age contract

New York
At the age of 16 I entered into a contract with a cell phone company. I had no parent present at the time. I was unable to pay off the bill at one point and asked to shut down the account but they continued billing me. They have now turned my account over to a collection agency and are seeking legal action. Is the original contract void and am I liable for the current balance? I am now 18 at this time.

Curt581 said:

If you try to claim that the contract is void because you were underage and weren't legally able to sign a contract, it could be countered that you knowingly entered into the contract under false pretenses... also known as Fraud.

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Curt, that's ridiculous. Have you conducted any research on the topic, or did you just make that up?



Syntax: When a minor enters into a contract, that contract is "voidable" by the minor. This means the minor may void the contract at his option (the other party may not). When the contract is voided, the minor must return the benefit he received in order to get a return of the benefit he gave. Therefore, you cannot ask for a refund for minutes already used (and if you haven't yet paid for used minutes, you will likely owe for them).

However, let's say that while you were still a minor you sent a letter requesting that your account be closed, and you no longer used the service, but you were subsequently billed anyway. You can probably have those bills thrown out.

The fact that you're now 18 could be a factor as well, but you haven't provided enough info to determine how that may or may not be relevant.

Sounds like all our OP will have to do is prove he canceled the service

When I signed the contract, I presented my real ID and was never told that I was too young. Nor was it ever brought to my attention that there was such a requirement as minimum age; really QUITE ignorant on my part, but that fact remains. I can prove at least that I discontinued using the phone after I was unable to pay. The bills showed up for the normal amount with no minutes used.

Zigner said:

Sounds like all our OP will have to do is prove he canceled the service

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Probably. A copy of a letter, a record of a phone call, or even the OP's testimony may be enough. It depends on the fact finder.

As a side note: In most situations, sworn testimony alone is enough to justify the finding of a fact, and therefore, the outcome of many cases turn on little more than the testimony of the parties. Irrefutable evidence is generally not required. Of course, the more evidence one has, the better his chances will be of swaying the fact finder.