Legal Question in Consumer Law in Illinois

Breach of Contract or contract canceled

I signed up with a local dating service that requires you to sign a contract. In the contract it states that you may cancel the contract within three business days of originally signing the contract. The contract reads as follows:''You may cancel this Agreement within 3 business daysafter the first business day after signed this Agreement, you may cancel this Agreement by giving GE notice of such cancellation, in which case all monies you paid under this Agreement will be refunded to you within 30 days of ge's reciept of your cancellation notice'' After several phone calls and no response, I sent a certified letter on Day 3 on possible contract cancelation. Now, a year later, with no warning or other correspondance, my wages are going to be garnished for a balance I never knew I had. The lawyer for ''their'' side said that because the company didn't actually recieve notice of cancellation within the alloted time that I am responsible for the remaining balance. I want to know if I have any chance of fighting this in small claims court? Without a lawyer? And can the company still send this debt to a collection company, if I decide to take them to court?


Asked on 8/11/04, 6:44 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Thomas Moens Moens Law Offices, Chartered

Re: Breach of Contract or contract canceled

Your wages cannot be garnished without a judgment being entered. And a judgment cannot be entered without you being served notice of the lawsuit (and a few other steps). Go to your county courthouse, and ask to see the file for your case. There should be documentation in that file on how they allege you were served with notice of the lawsuit. I have seen instances where the collection agency plaintiff used a private process server who did not actually serve the defendants. If that is the case, the judgment will be void. And somebody's going to be in big trouble!

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Answered on 8/12/04, 8:33 am


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