My husband and I probably have the strangest circumstances you will ever hear of. Three years ago I had to to have emergancy surgery which we at the time thought would be covered through the group insurance coverge where my husband works. It turned out that the owner of the company that he worked for had for ten months been taking the employee part of the insurace coverge out of all of his employees checks but not sending in the payments for the insurance when my husband confronted him about the insurance he fired him and when he applied for unemployment insurance we found out he had not been reporting his employees earnings. It looked like on paper anyway that he had not worked at all for ten months. Thankfully we had all his pay stubs showing that he was employed and that insurnace had been taken out of his salary as well as proof that he had been working. We sued him for my medical bills and he was court ordered to pay them. We thought the problem was sloved our attorney sent letters to all the doctors hospital ect. that he was to pay these debts. Last week we applied for a new car loan and where turned down the salesman was really mad as he thought we had lied to him about our credit. It turns out this creep declared bancrupcty two months after all of these law suits ( we where not only ones who sued him) and now our credit shows all these way past due debts for my surgery. We have never received a single bill or collection call or letter scince the law suit. The hospital claims that as he declared bankrupcty that they can collect from us. Would disputing these bills with CRA do any good as these debts truly our not ours. I wish we could afford to hire an attorney but right now that is not at all possible. The part that makes me mad is he is still in business and no charges for theft or anything like that where ever brought against him!!!
You could try to dispute the debts and maybe you'll get lucky and they will be removed but they are your debts. If you received notice of the bankruptcy and failed to take timely action to challenge the dischargeability of the debt, you might have a problem. If you didn't get notice, which could happen because the boss didn't include you in his schedules, you may be able to ask the bankruptcy court to set aside the discharge and allow you to file a complaint challenging the dischargeability of the debt. It looks like it would not be dischargeable under Chapter 7 due to the misappropriation involved. It is possible that your attorney in the civil action you filed against the boss may have gotten notice and didn't tell you. If this is true, your attorney may be liable for malpractice. This would be another possibility to explore. You should see a lawyer about this if the amount involved makes that worthwhile.
You have about as much luck as I do...lol..!!! I know that you are upset but things will get better It just takes time...!!! First off how long ago has this been? What are the dates of the debt and etc. Second.. have you contacted the attorney that represented you about this in the past? Deveberk posted some great points. Have you got all 3 Credit reports yet? if not you need to. This way you can dispute the debts. If they are older then may delete them (if you are lucky). I would stick around this board I am sure someone here can help you through this or try to atleast! Please keep me posted... I have a friend in a similiar situation. She has yet to go to court. I just can't believe all of this has happened to you and s/he is getting away with it... ahhhhh that makes me mad....!!!!!!!!!!!
Here are my thoughts. A prosecutor normally will not take a case on his own. It has to be referred to him by a police agency or a regulator. They are not out there looking for cases. When people have ripped me off, I have gotten criminal charges filed. This is fraud and could reasonably result in a conviction and possibly prison time (doubtful in the real world). But, a conviction would keep this guy from any occupation that requires a license. And, he may be willing to deal if he sees a prosecution coming at him. Just remember, you cannot threaten to prosecute if he does not pay. Go to the insurance regulator in your state and the local police and file a complaint. Get the ball rolling. As to the medical bills, you are normally responsible if you are the patient when the insurer does not pay. I agree they should have contacted you. But, it appears that doctors try to collect from the insurer and then send it to the collection agency. Having racked up $150,000 in medical bills over the last two years, I have a lot of experience in this area. Sorry to be so negative but I can't find any encouraging news. Maybe someone else can help.
It sounds to me like there could be some criminal charges somewhere in this. The man stole your money!! I think I would go talk the the local commonwealth's attorney (Virginia version of a district attorney). Civil remedy didn't work, put his a$$ in jail.
Honey, this is insurance fraud, punishable by jail time. If you're in NJ, there are many resources to help you, including the Atty General John Farmer's ofc, the DCA & NJDOBI (dept of Consumer Affairs & NJ Dept of Banking & Insurance). If you don't know who to complain to, contact an insurance broker in your area, and ask who the regulatory bodies are in your state. As to the medical bills, don't charge anything on a credit card unless it's for urgent meds. Be proactive, and try to work out a payment plan with the hospital & all the ancillary providers like radiology, ER physicians, etc. The hospital's patient accounting office will likely have a patient's advocate who can direct you to sources of aid other than Medicaid if you don't qualify. If you belong to a church, they may be able to help you emotionally as well as financially. Feel free to vent here & update us on how you're coming along. I've not been through anything as bad, but I've had enough experience as a patient & in the financial & HMO industry to say you can and will make it.
Thank You all for the replies. I was in the hospital three years ago this month. Criminal charges where filed against him and he made some kind of deal so the charges where reduced to a misdeamenor and he had to pay everyone back the insurance he had taken out as well as pay the taxes social secruity and such to the proper agencies. I am not sure that we should have gotten a letter about his declaring bankrupcty as no money was directly awarded to us it was to all go right to the hospital, doctors ect. The copy of the decree that we have lists those debts not us as who is to be paid. We have contacted the attorney he did know about him declaring bankrupcty as his bill was part of the bankrupcty. He is going to make some calls and see if can find an attorney who can help us and let us make payments. The worst part of it all is right now we have an owner finianced contract for deed with a balloon payment for the balance in 16 months. We went with owner fianancing because the house needed lots of work and no one would loan anything for it, My husband works for a building contractor so for us making repairs was very inexpensive. The house is now worth $25,000 more than what we paid for it due to our repairs of course that is equity. The house just appriased for $68,000 and we owe less than $30,000 if we can not get this mess taken care of I am so afraid we will lose our house. Maybe we should put the house on the market so we won't lose everything.
If you have to sell the house because you can't get a mortgage, then sue him again. I would become his worst nightmare. He can't take bk again this soon.
I'm not sure he can legally file bk when there is court ordered restitution from a criminal charge. It may have been reduced to misdemeanor but it is probably still criminal. You might want to call the judges secretary or judicial assistant and see if they can offer any suggestions.
Thanks LK however our case was seprate from the criminal case. Our case was a civil case. Breeze Keep suing him sounds good to me. I wonder if we could sue him for deframation. If we could and asked for $5,000 or less we could sue in small claims court here. Then if we could get a granisheement for his banks and actually get the money we would have something to use to negotiate paying the bills on the condition that they remove the negitive information from the CRA's. The bills are just over $8,000 so that may be a real possiblity from what I have read here. Tell them work with us or we will declare bankrupcty and you will never get a dime. I am checking out this possibility tommorrow. Gigi
Gigi, First of all, I'd find a lawyer on my own. I think this guy really dropped the ball. He had an obligation to inform you of this guys bk. You shouldn't find out from a car salesman that you have a problem. Also, he should have informed the judge that this guy entered a plea and agreed to a settlement that he was filing bk. I really think you have a claim against the lawyers E&O policy. What you may do is contact the DA'd office and ask to be placed in touch with the Victim's Assistance Unit or whatever it is called in your area. I think all DA's offices have them and see if they can reopen the case. I'm sure this scum would love the opportunity to go back before the judge and explain why he lied about making restitution! Anyway, just a couple of thoughts. Good luck and I hope things work out for you and your family.
I'm not overly familiar with all of this stuff but I think that you should file a homestead paperwork thing with your local court on the house. I believe this is something that you can do yourself and it protects the house from being attached to creditor judgements as I understand it. You might inquire with your local court to see if this would be something that you would or can pursue. I'm sure that some of the great people here can help or clarify this as well. As far as that guy that defrauded you and your husband - Obviously this is out and out fraud. What I don't understand is that if part of his plea agreement was to assume the debt from the insurance claims, why are they coming back to you. The debt was legally transferred to him and he declared BK. Does this not sound like if you got a divorce and the spouse was supposed to assume the debt as per the divorce decree and then later filed for BK that they would come after you? This sounds highly illegal on the hospitals part. I also think that the first priority is to obtain all three of your credit reports like was suggested earlier. You may not want to see it but you can't start fighting it until you get a clear and accurate picture of where you are at now. I wish you well and hope that things get better.
Careful Reality, The hospital has done nothing wrong. When you are admitted to a hospital, you sign a contract saying you'll pay if insurance doesn't. Just because a court assigns responsibility to another party doesn't mean the hopital can't go after you if the other party fails to preform. Your analogy to a divorce is spot on. That exact situation arises daily by the score all over this country and if your name is on a cc contract and one party stops paying they'll go after you.
The part about the lawyer's E&O sounds good. Sue them both. If you can find a lawyer who will sue another lawyer.
Gigi, I have a client that has a similar dilemma. Her husband is 66 years old and had a heart attact with no insurance. The lady is 53 (in good health). They have no assets except for a small lawn care business. The hospital sued her for $26,000. The hospital's lawyer sent her a stiputlation order that would require her to pay $250 per month until the bill was paid off. You and I know that this bill would never be paid off at that rate. The interest alone at 10% was $2,600 per year. She was in a panic. I told her that I would contact the lawyer for the hospital prior to her signing the stipulation order. I suggested to the lawyer that the hospital could get 100% of their money if they went along with our plan. Otherwise, illness, bankruputcy, etc might garnish -0- for him and his client (the hospital) He said "What do you propose ?" I simply said that the woman (lets call her Jane) would purchase a modified annuity at a payment of $260 per month. The hospital would be named co-beneficiary (an insurable relationship creditor-debtor) and if Jane died, the hospital gets all of their money. If Jane lives, the hospital gets all of their money. The only difference is Jane keeps her good credit. The protection for the hospital is if Jane defaults, all of the cash built up goes to the hospital and Jane can still be directed to pay by the prior stipulation order. In your case, make a settlement offer with the hospital. I truly believe they will talk money. Get yourself an honest mortgage broker and refinance your house at todays good rates. Better to pay off bills at 7% then the credit card bullies at %24 percent. If I can help you, do not be ashamed to let me know. I have been through this scenario with my wifes lung cancer. You do have a light at the end of the tunnel. Just find a corner, (get out of the vicious circle that atty's and bill collectors keep you in) define your priorities, get the tools you need to get the job done and stick to your priorities. Good luck, RegisP
This is where people are getting in trouble. One should never sign an agreement to pay some one elses bills!
