Verbal Contract

[salaam01]

I'm employed by a company that supports persons with mental retardation in daily living activities. The company also has a program thats called"Lifesharing" The program involves families, couples or single people taking individuals with mental retardation and mental health issues into their homes, as fully intetgrated members of their family and community. For doing so you would receive a tax free monthly stipened anywhere from $1800 to $3200. I informed the company over a year ago that I was very interested in the program and all of the cheif officers thought that this was a splendid ideal. I did all that i was supposed to do as far as locating a sufficient size house, submitting the application in which I was approved, family visits with the guys on my own time, and purchase an appropiate size vehicle. A move in date for early march was set in which i would be taking two individuals that happen to be brothers into my home. March 1st rolled around and I was told that the date had to be pushed back to the 15th. The 15th came around and I was told possible April 5th. The 5th came and i was told maybe the 28th. The 28th is upon us and now I'm being told that they don't have the funds to do the move at all. Meanwhile, I'm locked into a 12 month lease on a three bedroom house that costs $1295.00 a month, an auto loan of $25,000 at $509.00 a month, auto insurance that was increased due to the newer vehicle, and higher gas/electric bills due to moving into a bigger place. Most of the agreements were verbal but i do have documentation that led me to beleive that all was well. I've been working with these two gentle men for the past two years. My interest in this programwas not for profit but to simply provide these guys with a life other than what they have within the agency. I cannot afford all of these newly incured bills. My question is can I sue the company for the debt that i am in, as well as possibly punitive damages?

[Mr. Knowitall]

You applied for a program, were accepted as a participant, but they can't yet place people with you due to budgetary constraints. I can see that you expected to have people placed with you more quickly, but I don't see that they have violated your rights by being unable to do so.

[salaam01]

The grounds on which i would like to sue are that they have been telling me for the past year that everything was fine and as soon as i get the house the guys could move in. They came out to inspect the house, They put in smoke detectors and so forth. Perhaps i didn't make it a clear, they knew last year that they didn't have the funds to do this particular move. They admitted this to me face to face. They were hoping that once I got settled into the house, some funds that they were expecting from the county would come through. However, the county is holding up those funds for whatever reason which resulted in the company being honest with me about not having the funds. do that make a diffrence?

[Mr. Knowitall]

Ultimately you need to decide how you are going to proceed. If you want to litigate, talk to a local lawyer and get your case evaluated under the laws of your state. (But you'll probably rule yourself out from future consideration by this outfit.) Also, if this is your employer, suing them may cost you your job.

Have they said anything about when the funds might become available?

[salaam01]

No. They have not stated when the funds would be freed up because several other things have to take place, such as some of their houses being sold and some individuals being moved within the organization. They also said that the county owed them close to $1000,000 and would not be making the move until the county paid them back. Again they knew this a year ago.