Now here is a story that made me laugh. Picture this, a collections firm sues a man over a debt that isn’t his and the lawyer, in front of the judge, accuses the man of allowing himself to be sued even though he told the collections company he was the wrong guy.
Under questioning by the judge, Mr. Hoyte recounted being called about the debt, providing his Social Security number and date of birth, and being summoned to court anyhow.
The collections lawyer then began to interrogate Mr. Hoyte.
“You claim you told Pressler & Pressler it wasn’t you,” Mr. Wang said to Mr. Hoyte. “Did you send them proof, as in a copy of your Social Security number with only the last four digits visible?”
“No,” Mr. Hoyte said. “They didn’t ask for it.”
“But you didn’t send any written proof of the claim that it was not you?” Mr. Wang said.
“I told them on the phone it’s not me,” Mr. Hoyte said.
Mr. Wang appeared outraged.
“So without any written proof that it’s not you, you would expect someone just, you know, to go on say-so?” he demanded. “Is that correct?”
Alice had reached Wonderland: The lawyer who had sued the wrong man was blaming the wrong man for getting sued.
Judge Dear cut off the questioning. He told Mr. Wang and Mr. Hoyte to come back to court in January.
Source: New York Times
