Legal Advice

[meanmachine13]

My boyfriend ordered a credit report recently and noticed he had a "Legal Item" listed on it.

It is from 2006 and states that someone is suing him in the "CQB - CLGA", which I am assuming stands for Court of Queens Bench - Calgary, Alberta. It lists an individual as the plaintiff, but the defendant simply states 'S'. No lawyer is listed and the comments section states "disposition unknown".

I find this weird that it doesnt clearly state my boyfriend as the defendant and instead has the letter S. (which is not an initial of my boyfriend in any way).

Anyways, we determined that it was from a prior landlord. During his time at this rental property, his brother caused extensive damages.

We are assuming this 'lawsuit' is in regards to the damages. However, my boyfriend has never received anything in writing/in person/over the phone/etc in regards to this case.

Any idea if there is a statute of limitations on a case such as this, since it has been 6 years? Does this 'legal item' affect his credit, seeing as it is on his credit report?

[pylon]

Um, I wouldn't openly admit your 'boyfriend' committed identity fraud in a public forum.

[GreatWhiteEbola]

OPs BF, doesn't want to get his brother in trouble. For some reason blood means more then justice, I know I would do the same for my brother too. I have no idea why...

[ken0042]

I'm no lawyer, but I'm fairly sure that your BF is safe from being sued. There is a 2 year limit to collect on debts. As long as your BF does nothing within that 2 year period to have acknowledged the debt; the clock has since run out. This is why when you are behind hundreds or thousands on something like a credit card; they tell you to send whatever you can. (Like $10 or $20.) It resets the clock.

As for getting it off his credit bureau report; I don't see how he can without getting his brother into trouble. If the last activity on the item is from 2006; it should come off in 2013- 7 years later.

Also my inner Troutman would also like to remind you to be careful about what you say on a public forum.

[meanmachine13]

Edited

I just found it weird that he has never been 'chased' about it. It makes me think the landlord wasnt serious about collecting the debts.

However, the fact that it was sent to Court of Queens Bench makes me wonder as well. This seems like something that should have been handled in small claims court.

Thanks for the info in regards to the 7 year limit. We had no idea it even existed, so we are just going to wait out the next year and hopefully it gets removed.

[meanmachine13]

Originally Posted by pylon

Um, I wouldn't openly admit your 'boyfriend' committed ******* in a public forum.

I didnt think it was a big issue, seeing as how he is essentially the victim of the crime. However, I have edited it just in case.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

If you got your report from either equifax or transunion I would contact them directly. Identity theft isn't uncommon on a person's credit report (or even just reporting errors due to name mismatches).

I'm not 100% sure on the process but he may just have to prove it isn't him. Although I've never seen anything quite like this. Usually it is just collection items from private companies.

[Titan]

You could also go down to the court clerk's office with the name of the suit and ask to see the original statement of claim. Its been years for me and I don't remember but there might be a charge but it would give you an idea of who is suing you and why they put S.

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I'm no lawyer, but I'm fairly sure that your BF is safe from being sued. There is a 2 year limit to collect on debts. As long as your BF does nothing within that 2 year period to have acknowledged the debt; the clock has since run out. This is why when you are behind hundreds or thousands on something like a credit card; they tell you to send whatever you can. (Like $10 or $20.) It resets the clock.

As for getting it off his credit bureau report; I don't see how he can without getting his brother into trouble. If the last activity on the item is from 2006; it should come off in 2013- 7 years later.

Also my inner Troutman would also like to remind you to be careful about what you say on a public forum.

Nope, Limitations Act only applies to the time in which you have to start a claim. Since the lawsuit was filed (an assumption I am making based on the notation on the Credit Bureau, but you may want to take Titan's advice and check with the Courthouse) the Limitations Act probably is no longer relevant. (I say probably only because it is possible the suit was filed >2 years after the lease was terminated in which case there is still a limitation, but we don't have enough info in the OP)

On the other hand, once an action is filed, there are a number of other possible limitations-type periods in the Rules of Court, although some of them have extensions. For example, the Statement of Claim has to be served on the Defendant within 1 year of filing, unless extended by the court. Also, there must be action taken to advance the claim within the past two years or the Defendant can apply to have it thrown out. It is possible that the Landlord got a default judgment against the Defendant, in which case the OP's boyfriend's only hope may be to appeal the judgment if he wants it off his credit bureau, but that may not be feasible unless he can first get the default judgement set aside, which is actually fairly easy most of the time, then win the appeal, which sounds much trickier given that the OP admits that the property was damaged while the OP was a tenant by a guest of the tenant which makes the OP liable. (generally)

If the Claim has proceeded to a judgment, it is automatically enforceable for a period of 10 years (last time I checked) and may be renewed by the judgment creditor after that if the judgment remains outstanding. The judgement creditor can also continue to update the credit bureau status to keep it active if they so choose.

I am not giving any specific legal advice about the OP's situation because there are not enough details and it's not a case I would take on, but I just wanted to clarify the limitation information so the OP doesn't act on possibly bad information.

The incorrect initial in the Credit Bureau could possibly give the OP's boyfriend something to fight on, but is could be nothing more than a data entry error on the Credit Bureau and looking at the original Statement of Claim and the judgment (if relevant) would tell you.