Lied to and ripped off by former employement

[Paula103]

My husband and I worked for a small company for many years. It was run by a husband and wife team. Slightly over 6 months ago, the husband passed away. At that time, all company accounts were "frozen" since his name was the primary on all accounts. The situation comes from this, all company vehicle expenses (insurance, tags, maintenance, etc) were all either charged to us or our out-of-pocket responsiblility. The week that he passed away, a company vehicle that we paid for burnt to the ground (not our fault). It was fully covered by the company insurance which we pay on vehicles we use. Being that all assets were frozen, the wife did not have the finances to buy another vehicle at that time from the insurance check that would be sent for the van that burnt to the ground. We had to take out a personal loan to buy another van which was placed under the company name and insurance policy. *We were told by the wife (owner) before we even took out the loan that we would recieve the insurance check from the other van to pay back the amount we borrowed to purchase another company vehicle.* However, for MONTHS we were continually told that we would recieve this money so we could pay off the loan (that WE were making the payments on - not the company) and finally after 4 months of asking, we were told that we would not get the money after all. We no longer work for this company but are still stuck paying for this van which we do not have b/c it was a company vehicle. That van is unfortunately no longer running for us to even attempt to ask for the title to be signed over to us since we are paying for it still. Our only option is to possibly sue this woman for the amount of insurance check that we were suppose to recieve! Is this something that could be taken to small claims court? Do we have a case?

 

[JasonRT]

Dear Paula103,

What proof do you have that this agreement existed? If you have no proof, you have no case, if you have proof that there was an agreement for the insurance check, then you have a case and you should file.

FYI - if you ever do something like this again, get the party who is going to be receiving the money to file a voluntary lien against those funds. You can send that to the insurance company and they will pay you directly.


[email protected]

 

[Paula103]

Doesn't the fact that I have paperwork showing the amount of the loan taken out and what it was said to be used for count for anything? Especially,considering this vehicle was then placed under COMPANY insurance and tags (which I can prove). Also, it doesn't mean anything that all of her assets were frozen which is why we had to do it - it was not a gift. Why would anybody pay for a vehicle and then give up all rights to the company just for the heck of it?
Did this woman basically really just stick it to us and take advantage of our kindess and moment of sympathy since she had just lost her husband?
We also could get written testimonies from numerous people who also were aware of the agreement made; including the gentleman who takes care of all her financial papework like this (insurance, etc) and was aware of the amount we were suppose to recieve in return?

 

[JasonRT]

Dear Paula,

As I said before, if you have proof that this agreement existed you may have a case. You have witness testimony, so I suggest you procede with your claim. The witnesses will have to appear with you in court, their written testimony will not be acceptable.


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