Question for the Attorneys in here

[Rootbeer]

A vendor for my business (uniforms and cleaning supplies) forged my signature on a contract renewal.

The area manager is evasive when I ask for details on where and when I am alleged to have signed this 60 month contract. They have it dated 1/31/2024 but won't tell me if that's the day I supposedly signed it, if I signed it in person or they got it via postal mail.

I was a trained handwriting analyst in the SCIII days and I'd like to think I haven't forgotten everything. The signature on that contract is definitively not mine. The pen lifts are wrong and I have never made a few of these letter shapes.

I'm confident I can defend against their $10,000 claim but I don't have time to do it on my own so I'll hire an attorney to help. Sucks I gotta pay to defend against forgery. I'm pretty upset about it, to be honest. I've had other vendors forge signatures but this is the first time I've had one play hardball.

I suspect forgery is a systemic problem in this vendors front office. They seem fairly practiced in evading my questions.

A couple questions for you.
Is forgery on a contract illegal or is this a civil matter? If criminal, how do I notify law enforcement? I'm in a different jurisdiction than their head office; do I need to know where the signature took place before contacting law enforcement?

If this is a strictly civil matter, is there a pathway where I can get compensated for my time and legal expenses in defending against fraud? Is that even worth exploring or do I spend a couple grand on legal fees and walk away?

Thanks in advance for your advice, good friends.

[Roux]

That is both a criminal and civil matter.

The best defense is a good offense, my friend.

[Mikey]

I’m not an attorney and I don’t play one on TV but, in California, if you have a monetary claim of $12,500 or less you can take them to Small Claims Court. No attorney representation but I guess you can have one for advice. You file the papers, get it approved, and then you’re responsible for serving them. Do you have a monetary claim or just trying to get out of their claim? Not sure how that would work.

A few years ago when I was president of our road maintenance association (19 homes on a privately maintained road) we had just paid a few thousand $ to get the road sealed when the next day an asshole contractor replacing someone’s concrete driveway up the hill washed a bunch of debris down our newly sealed road and turned half of it white. Didn’t bother to clean it up at all. I complained to the homeowner and the next day the guy apparently (I was at work at the time) came by with one of those metal bristle sweepers and kind of cleaned it off. But it also removed most of the new sealer. I wanted him to pay to have it re-sealed but he claimed he had already remedied the situation and stopped taking my calls. I tried to take him to court but he hid in his house behind a closed gate and I couldn’t serve him. I didn’t want to go and hire someone to serve him so we ended up eating it in the end. I’m sure that Karma eventually caught up with him somehow.

[Roach]

Non-attorney comments:

How large is the company? Go to corporate and see if they have an ethics statement or office. Be sure to report it as criminal and send it to the ceo office too.

If they sell product on line, leave a comment in their ratings. A zero score. Better to leave it on Google, as they won't just flush it.

I've had a couple of similar problems, and immediate, strong, explosive response works best. What Roux said. No prisoners.

[JPGettysburg]

A vendor for my business (uniforms and cleaning supplies) forged my signature on a contract renewal.

The area manager is evasive when I ask for details on where and when I am alleged to have signed this 60 month contract. They have it dated 1/31/2024 but won't tell me if that's the day I supposedly signed it, if I signed it in person or they got it via postal mail.

I was a trained handwriting analyst in the SCIII days and I'd like to think I haven't forgotten everything. The signature on that contract is definitively not mine. The pen lifts are wrong and I have never made a few of these letter shapes.

I'm confident I can defend against their $10,000 claim but I don't have time to do it on my own so I'll hire an attorney to help. Sucks I gotta pay to defend against forgery. I'm pretty upset about it, to be honest. I've had other vendors forge signatures but this is the first time I've had one play hardball.

I suspect forgery is a systemic problem in this vendors front office. They seem fairly practiced in evading my questions.

A couple questions for you.
Is forgery on a contract illegal or is this a civil matter? If criminal, how do I notify law enforcement? I'm in a different jurisdiction than their head office; do I need to know where the signature took place before contacting law enforcement?

If this is a strictly civil matter, is there a pathway where I can get compensated for my time and legal expenses in defending against fraud? Is that even worth exploring or do I spend a couple grand on legal fees and walk away?

Thanks in advance for your advice, good friends.

Criminal.

However, 88 is the final and ultimate legal authority in here.

[mvscal]

A vendor for my business (uniforms and cleaning supplies) forged my signature on a contract renewal.

A vendor for your business? So this person is not in your employ or representing your company in an sort of capacity? Yeah, technically, there is a potential criminal element, but LE won't bother with it. They'll advise you to pursue civil action. If it's under the small claim threshold, do some Google Fu and fucking show up. Judges in small claims courts tend to appreciate a little attention to form and documentation.

Don't hire a lawyer for a $10K claim. That's a DIY yob, mang.