Colgan Contract

[Fred Rogers]

I currently have a tenant living in violation of her lease. She has a dog. I know about the dog but the tenant pays on time and is hassle free. The lease (contract) says she can't have a dog. Lets say for the sake of argument that I have another tenant that has a dog and the monster is wrecking the place. I sue to evict based upon the lease that says that she can't have a dog. Do you think the good tenant with the lap princess is going to show up in court and say that she has a dog and she is violating her lease and I am chosing not to evict her. I doubt it.

Don't you have the option to ammend her lease to allow a dog?

 

[vectorvictor]

Don't you have the option to ammend her lease to allow a dog?

Yeah I do but I'm not breaking the law or violating her civil rights if I chose to let her break the contract.

 

[Mr Wu]

Yeah I do but I'm not breaking the law or violating her civil rights if I chose to let her break the contract.

But if your other tenant hears that you are not enforcing the pet clause of the lease she can use it against you if you bring her to court.

 

[PinnacleDude]

Before I hired the lawyer I would contact the company and see how much they would settle for. Its prorated from date of hire so if might not be that much to begin with. Settling out of court without the attorneys saves Colgan the cost of suing you and you the cost of defending yourself.

Other than pure principle or to prove a point I can't see why they are even suing you over 10-15k and I have trouble believing your story. It would be like me suing someone over $100. Its more trouble than its worth and my time and effort is better spent elsewhere. Even if they do win its probably going to cost them more in administrative costs to keep track of the payment schedule that the court will draw up based upon your current salary. If you refuse to pay its tough enough garninshing wages in divorce cases where kids are involved and dead-beat Dads refuse to pay. The state of NJ has gone so far as to refuse fishing licenses to parents who refuse to pay child support. They are going to win the judgment (you signed the contract) but forcing you to pay is near impossible. More than likely once the case is done they would then sell the debt to a collection agency for cents of the dollar and write off the debt.

Getting back to my original point; they get cents on the dollar for the debt so if you are really in this boat (and I really do doubt it) I'd negotiate a settlement with them directly. The last thing your FICO score needs is a debt in collection. You signed the contract so unless the contract is illegal in its demands, you are under the age of 18, you did it under duress, someone forged your signature or possibly that you are too ignorant to understand a year long employment contract you WILL lose the case.

On the bright side this type of training "fee" is tax deductible as a work related expense so after you pay only a percentage of the money in your settle ment you'll get a third of it back at tax time.

I don't think you understand the new Pinnacle guys that are moving in to run Colgan. We have seen it time and again at Pinnacle. They will take people to court just because they can. They will spend $1 to get a nickel. They will try and keep from paying you if they absolutely can. If they think they can get money out of you, shady or not, they will do their worst. Good luck to all in this unfortunate situation.