Not looking for legal advice, but a friend has been hired by a home health aide agency, pending a re-testing (which she had passed the first time, but some time has gone by so she has to take the test over).
Earlier this year, my friend was moving from an apartment, and a person she didn’t like or invite showed up that night to ‘help’. Things got heated, and my friend got into a tussle with that person and accidentally broke his $30 Walmart necklace. He actually took her to court, where she had to pay for the necklace. She thought, ok, that’s over, case closed. However, she found out The Case is still open, and is going to remain open until December! She’s afraid the agency will investigate, run across this ‘crime’, and then refuse to hire her.
My feeling is that this is not a felony, just one of those things, and she shouldn’t worry. But my friend is hysterical, says the home health care agency is going to find out and not hire her now because she “has a record”.
I realize it’s up to the agency that’s hired her, and who knows, but would you say she is in trouble because of that stupid necklace? Any advice? Would you be worried if you were her? Would you consult a lawyer/confess/wait for the ball to drop?
Appreciate any answers, poor girl is devastated and has been through so much trauma and trouble in her life, and has been trying so very hard to get on track.
A civil matter doesn’t give you a “record” because it’s a personal lawsuit not a criminal offence. People get sued all the time. Like one neighbor sues another because they built a fence over the property line or something.
As long as there was no criminal complaint (like assault from the tussle) there shouldn’t be a problem. You could sue me for a million dollars because I swallowed your cellphone, and it could go on for years and years and a potential employer isn’t going to care that I ate your phone.
Now maybe if you were a doctor and there was a malpractice suit in the works that would be different, but for the run-of-the-mill stuff, like me filing a claim against you because your ball broke my windshield… meh. That’ really no biggie. There is no criminal record for taht.
Not clear from your summary whether he “took her to court” in the criminal or civil arena. If it was civil (like small claims court) she has no “record” of any kind. Even if criminal, it could very well be that the charges will be dismissed in December assuming she pays the $30 and stays out of trouble. Don’t know enough to really give you much guidance.
This appears to be a civil matter and shouldn’t appear in a background check for something like a home health care agency. Even if it did, it should only be about the judgment and if she can show she paid the $30, she should be alright.
I don’t know if she’s already filled out an application but, if not, she should pay attention to the wording of the question around reporting whether she’s been convicted/arrested or had a judgment against her. They’re all different and, if that part refers to judgments, she should make sure to answer honestly and in the coments spot, explain and be as brief and precise as possible.
I assumed that “he took her to court, where she had to pay for the necklace” referred to a small claims court, but only because the OP said nothing about the guy pressing charges or anything.
This does not sound like a typical small claims case to me. If it was, and she’s paid the judgment, there would be no reason for the case to remain open until December. Sounds to me like it was possibly a criminal matter, likely for simple assault or similar. Paying for the necklace was restitution, and she’s on probation of some sort until December.
It might be possible to get the thing “non-adjudicated”–and that may be what is already happening. If she doesn’t get in any other trouble, pays restitituion, otherwise complies with the Court’s order, the thing may go away with nothing on her “permanent record”.
Might be worth talking to a lawyer, maybe hire him to help resolve the matter or at least determine what exactly is going on.
She got a ticket to appear in town court to pay for the necklace which was broken. Nothing about assault was mentioned, she did him no physical harm, there were witnesses there that night. She showed up at night court five separate times until the judge got around to her, she paid the $35 via the ‘free lawyer’ there, and considered it all over.
She is going to talk to a lawyer but that won’t be until Monday. I myself felt it was nothing to worry about, but…
now you’ve got me worried, Oakminster!
I don’t know why the case wasn’t closed, either, you may be right.
“Free lawyer” in town court sounds to me like “Public Defender”. I’ve never heard of a small claims type court where there’s a free lawyer passing out advice to litigants, but every state is different, and sometimes there are regional variations within a state.
That’s what he was (sorry, I’ve never been involved in anything like this) - he stood up there with the people who showed up with no lawyers, in front of the judge, I guess to make sure each of them understood what was going on. The cases were mostly traffic tickets, speeding tickets, dogs roaming free…The people who showed up with their own lawyers were facing more serious charges, they (not the lawyers!) were brought to court from jail, wearing prison jumpsuits.
Then this sounds very much like a criminal matter. A non-adjudication/retired to the file type outcome may still be possible, depending on local practice. She’ll need to discuss options with her lawyer.
Even a misdemeaner criminal assualt charge will not necessarily eliminate her from being considered for the home healthcare job. But they will probably ask her about it.
If it was a criminal matter, doesn’t a prosecuter have to bring the case to court, as opposed to the guy with the broken necklace? Since no mention of a prosecuter is made and there is no mention of a charge (e.g assault and/or battery), I would assume it is a civil matter.
That said, civil matters will show up in a Lexis search. I had a small claims case against my electrician/landscaper who took off with some money I prepaid him for supplies, then never completed the job. I was forced to hire someone else and threatened to sue the first guy if he didn’t return the money for the portion of the job he didn’t do and the supplies he didn’t use. He sued me first trying to harass me, so I countersued him. The day before the suit was going to court, he caved and gave me back my money back and we both dropped our suits, but it still appears on the books. I thought that was strange since we never actually went to small claims court.
Here in California, they did have a court advisor you could talk to for small claims court who would advise you on filling out the paperwork correctly and getting a process server. You didn’t have to pay this person, however. I assume this is the aforementioned ‘lawyer’ you are referring to in the story.
So, in short, yes, the matter can probably be found in a Lexis search, but since it is civil, they won’t care since a) it is not criminal and b) the girl already paid for the necklace such that there is no judgement or lein outstanding.
Pardon me for mentioning the elephant in the room, but: "Things got heated, and my friend got into a tussle with that person and accidentally broke his $30 Walmart necklace. He actually took her to court, where she had to pay for the necklace."
So - she got into a physically violent altercation, was taken to court and found guilty? And she had to pay for damages?!
If I were hiring someone to take care of grandma in my house, this would most certainly give me pause. At a minimum, this sounds like someone who has anger management issues - at worst, this sounds like someone who reacts aggressively in a situation that doesn’t call for aggressive action.
Would YOU want this person to be your family member’s home health care provider?
Just for sake of arguement, if there was a problem between the prospective aide-to-be and a patient, the agency who hired her would be the one who would be sued in court, so they probably would care very much if this was a criminal matter. (especially since it’s a current situation, not something that happened 15 years ago)
I agree, it sure looks bad. Explanation: on the night of the move, during a blizzard, her 16 year old daughter (a chronic runaway who quit school and moved in with who knows who) showed up with her (daughter’s) 18 year old high-school- dropout, unemployed, druggie boyfriend. Friend cannot stand the boyfriend who she feels is a bad influence on the daughter. Friend ordered him to leave, he taunted her, she pushed him toward the door, he pushed her back, she grabbed his collar and pushed him out the door, breaking the necklace in the process. Lots of stress, and it all happened in about a minute - and here are the repercussions 7 months later. Friend takes care of her own 87 year old mother, and very well, which is what got her interested in being a home health aide. (I feel she would be an excellent one, she has always been kind and patient.)
I still think there’s way too much hand wringing over this. Even if the friend beat the living crap out of the 18 year old kid, if she wasn’t actually brought up on assault and battery, which it doesn’t sound like she was, there’s no record of it. It’s almost surely a civil matter, and over $30, who really cares? The fact she takes care of her own elderly mother is probably evidence enough she is good at it and experienced. I would simply tell the friend to not be surprised if it comes up, and to simply explain it as an issue involving a broken necklace that was paid for with the details of “and I broke it throwing a druggie asshole kid out of my apartment” conveniently left out.
Update - apparently, accidentally breaking a Walmart necklace whilst evicting the druggie boyfriend of your runaway daughter from your home does NOT exclude you from embarking on a career as a Home Health Aide! YAY! In other words, she got the job and starts soon.
