small claims venue question

I want to file a small claims action against a debt consolidation company in California. I was living in Michigan when we started doing business together. I now live in Ohio and this is where I was living when they broke the contract. Can I file here in Ohio? I can't afford to travel to California just to show up to court. How can I proceed?

Thanks for your help,

Mitch

[msgny]

Normally you have to sue where they reside or where the transaction occurred. Can you argue it occurred where you live--what actually happened?

Here's the story. My wife and I entered into an agreement with this debt consolidation company based in California while we were living in Michigan. We started paying into an account to settle a few credit cards and for a time, they did their job... When it came to one particular credit card though, they did nothing and the account was finally bought by a law firm and I received a notice that they were suing me for the amount owed on the card. Here's where debt consolidation company broke their contract for the last time: After we moved to Ohio, the debt consolidation company had $4,634 of our money we had built up in our account with them and they agreed (after A LOT of prodding) to pay this balance off to the law firm/credit card balance. However after only paying $2,287 of the original $4,634, they decided to stop paying the law firm in January and I have kept up the payments myself. I have called and emailed many times with no return correspondence. I just want my money refunded or for them to use the rest of our $2,347 to pay more of our credit card balance to the law firm. Can I file the papers in Ohio or Michigan or do I HAVE to file in California?

Thanks for your help!

Mitch

[msg]

You have to sue where they are or where you concluded the agreement.

What constitutes concluding the agreement? Would that have been when the law firm bought the credit card balance because the debt consolidation company never settled on it, or was it when the debt consolidation company failed to pay off my existing account balance to the law firm/credit card? If either of those actions concludes the agreement, could I file where I was living at the time of those actions? That would be a lot easier. I just don't want to pay multiple court costs for filing at the wrong venue.

Thanks!

Mitch

[randalljd]

Try filing in your own local small claims court and arguing the transaction occurred by phone and/or online etc., many courts will then let you proceed.

I think I will file locally and argue it was a Internet/telephone related relationship. That is how we communicated the entire time my wife and I were associated with the debt consolidation company. Additionally, the recent actions breaking our contract happened by email and phone in our current state of residence. It's worth the initial court fees to find out!

Thanks for the guidance!

Mitch

[able1]

let us know what happens

I am getting all of my paper work together right now to file the small claims court motion here in Ohio. After speaking with the lawyer that owns my credit card debt, I found out why the debt consolidation company chose to stop my credit card payments to their law firm. The debt consolidation company felt because we stopped paying into our monthly account with them (we wanted them to use our remaining balance towards the lawyer/credit card payments and then continue payments ourselves directly to the law firm) that we were no longer a client of theirs. So they had no obligation to continue the payments. The debt consolidation company just kept the remaining funds in our account!

I am still going to file, but can the debt consolidation company argue that WE broke the contract with THEM? Or is it still just plain theft?

Thanks for all of the advice!

Mitch

[able1]

They can try but they still cannot just keep your money.