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Is it worth a lawsuit?


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In November of 2018, I filed for unemployment. I had to wait for my initial payment to be mailed to me. I never received it, and I called them a few weeks later and was advised of this (I have no documentation to prove this). I never received the heck to this day, and I have recently received mail to indicate that my mail was stolen. I was returned the check from November of 2018, and it said it expired as of November of 2019. I called the unemployment department and they are now saying that they can't reissue the check since its more than a year expired. I have documentation from the post master investigative team indicating I was the victim of this crime. The State still says they won't re-issue it. I contacted the unemployment office again who said that they DO have record of me contacting to check the status of a claim in 2018, but there are no notes, and calls are only recorded for 2 years. The check amount is only $720.00, however that's still a lot of money to me. Would the lawyer fees eat it up? Do I even have a case? It sounds like the state kept my unemployment benefit and is now refusing to reissue, even though I was victimized. I'm not usually a sue happy type of person but I'm really upset and looking for advice.

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It's not worth suing and I'm not even sure you have a case. If someone else cashed the check, you probably SOL. If the check was never cashed, you might be able to argue TWC owes you. Regardless it's a tough fight when it happened over 4 years ago. 

Take a deep breath and put it behind you. We all make mistakes and have to live with the consequences.

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10 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

It's not worth suing and I'm not even sure you have a case. If someone else cashed the check, you probably SOL. If the check was never cashed, you might be able to argue TWC owes you. Regardless it's a tough fight when it happened over 4 years ago. 

Take a deep breath and put it behind you. We all make mistakes and have to live with the consequences.

What mistake did he make? This feels like he got jobbed and horrible customer service.

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Putting aside whether you even have a cause of action, you're not going to have anything to show for it after hiring a lawyer. Nobody is taking this on a contingency fee for $300.

Your best bet is probably to continue fighting with the various entities you've already engaged with and just being relentless (and polite and respectful to the extent possible...) and hoping to eventually get it escalated to someone who might be able to help. 

But even that might not be a worthwhile use of your time - would you keep fighting if you knew from the outset that it might take you 10 hours of your life? 20? 30?

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Have you looked up your name in the state unclaimed money website? I look periodically because sometimes insurance companies have my business address wrong and after a certain amount of time without a check being cashed they report it there. Just have to verify w the state it is you 

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1 hour ago, Sawbonz said:

Have you looked up your name in the state unclaimed money website? I look periodically because sometimes insurance companies have my business address wrong and after a certain amount of time without a check being cashed they report it there. Just have to verify w the state it is you 

I haven't actually. I will do this, thank you.

15 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

Is this something you can take care of in small claims court?

 

 

I'm not sure to be honest. The sum is modest, but I'm not even sure where to begin. Would the state even send representation at that point?

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1 hour ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

Is this something you can take care of in small claims court?

 

 

IANAL but my understanding is amounts this small is what small claims is for. What I am not sure about is the other party being the state/a state agency. I would think it would be hard to win a case against the state even with a lawyer much less without one.

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4 hours ago, BornAndRaised said:

An issue I didn't realize I had until the check was just given back to me in February of this year.

Is your time worth nothing?  After 4+ years, you really just wanna piece of that, huh?  I'll acknowledge that getting fucked out of ANY money sucks, but...c'mon.  How much time are you actually willing to squander on this?

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46 minutes ago, After irth said:

Is your time worth nothing?  After 4+ years, you really just wanna piece of that, huh?  I'll acknowledge that getting fucked out of ANY money sucks, but...c'mon.  How much time are you actually willing to squander on this?

I am not in a position to turn away any kind of money. This isn't a "just want a piece of that," its money that has already been paid out to me, that they have noted was paid out to me, that was never cashed, and are now refusing to re-issue. I don't see the problem with this? If it will take excessive effort then I probably will just bitch and move on. However after calling today, They acknowledge I called to check the status of my claim in 2018, there were no notes on the call log, and they're saying the call has been deleted since then. I don't understand how I can be told, "yeah we saw you should get that money, you didn't cash the check, but no we won't give it to you," when it wasn't my fault?

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6 minutes ago, BornAndRaised said:

I am not in a position to turn away any kind of money. This isn't a "just want a piece of that," its money that has already been paid out to me, that they have noted was paid out to me, that was never cashed, and are now refusing to re-issue. I don't see the problem with this? If it will take excessive effort then I probably will just bitch and move on. However after calling today, They acknowledge I called to check the status of my claim in 2018, there were no notes on the call log, and they're saying the call has been deleted since then. I don't understand how I can be told, "yeah we saw you should get that money, you didn't cash the check, but no we won't give it to you," when it wasn't my fault?

Suing a state agency even in small claims court is going to be a massive headache and not doable without a lawyer.  A lawyer will eat up that sum in 2 hours.

Keep hassling them, maybe contact your state rep.

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9 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Suing a state agency even in small claims court is going to be a massive headache and not doable without a lawyer.  A lawyer will eat up that sum in 2 hours.

Keep hassling them, maybe contact your state rep.

I appreciate the insight from you, and everyone in this thread. I definitely have other avenues to pursue now. Thanks.

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14 hours ago, BornAndRaised said:

I am not in a position to turn away any kind of money. This isn't a "just want a piece of that," its money that has already been paid out to me, that they have noted was paid out to me, that was never cashed, and are now refusing to re-issue. I don't see the problem with this? If it will take excessive effort then I probably will just bitch and move on. However after calling today, They acknowledge I called to check the status of my claim in 2018, there were no notes on the call log, and they're saying the call has been deleted since then. I don't understand how I can be told, "yeah we saw you should get that money, you didn't cash the check, but no we won't give it to you," when it wasn't my fault?

How much time did you waste writing that reply and repeating yourself all over again?

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6 minutes ago, HamsterHookah said:

If you are really that hard up for money I'll venmo/ship you $100 because I do agree you've been screwed and I feel for you and it sounds like you are a bit desperate (I could be wrong?).

Hey I appreciate this very much. I'm not in the habit of taking a handout. I simply was looking for the best way to go about getting something I felt was already owed to me, that I missed due to no fault of my own. I recently just got employed so I'm getting there. Thank you so much for this kindness though.

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24 minutes ago, BornAndRaised said:

Hey I appreciate this very much. I'm not in the habit of taking a handout. I simply was looking for the best way to go about getting something I felt was already owed to me, that I missed due to no fault of my own. I recently just got employed so I'm getting there. Thank you so much for this kindness though.

DM me I’ll ship you some cash 

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I very rarely complain about much, but when I have, it's amazing how quickly issues can be resolved by simply contacting (whichever is applicable):

your city council rep, your state house rep, your state senate rep, your US House rep, or your US Senate rep

They seem to be able to get any government agency to get shit fixed, especially when you've already first tried to work with the particular agency.

The only time this failed for me was dealing with a county commissioner - living in an unincorporated area does have a downside.

 

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On 3/30/2023 at 8:34 PM, BornAndRaised said:

I don't understand how I can be told, "yeah we saw you should get that money, you didn't cash the check, but no we won't give it to you," when it wasn't my fault?

You've not dealt with the government much, have you?

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On 3/30/2023 at 3:02 PM, BornAndRaised said:

An issue I didn't realize I had until the check was just given back to me in February of this year.

 

You didn't notice the money was never in your account?  How did you not notice that the week it was supposed to happen?

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Even if it made fiscal sense (it doesn't), can you even sue a state agency?  Have they expressly waived sovereign immunity for this type of claim?  See Leach v. Board of Regents of Texas Tech, 833 S.W.2d 510 (Tex. 2014). 

Relax lawyers, I made that citation up so don't go looking for it. 

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