I'm Being Sued!

It all started with a hysterical phone call.

“I’m being sued!” my mother-in-law screeched and then sobbed. “I don’t know what to do!”

“Sued? Are you kidding me?” I said.

“No, I have the paperwork right here! I really need some help.”

Knowing I could never sort this out over the phone I said, “I’ll be right over.”

The way to grandma’s house was a regular thing for me in those days. The beautiful witty woman mom used to be was a thing of the past. Her mind was going and it was hard for my husband to see her this way.

Thirty highway minutes later, I arrived at her retirement community. In the elevator ride to her seventh-floor apartment, I wondered if this could be real. Was it a scam or a misunderstanding?

A knock on her door brought no reply, so I tried the knob and the door opened. She came toward me smiling, “Oh, hi honey, I didn’t know you were coming. It’s good to see you.”

“So, how’ve you been?” I said, wondering if she might say anything about her problem.

“Oh, alright,” she answered with a shrug. “So, is there any reason you stopped, by?”

“Well, you called me to let me know you were being sued.”

“I’m what?” she exclaimed!

I noticed some paperwork on the table. Her frantic babbling became background noise as I picked it up and begin to read. “Yeah, this looks like a credit card bill you are late on so you're being sued for $11,000.”

“Oh, no! What am I going to do? I don’t have any money!”

“Do you have any other records on this account?”

“Anything I have would be right there in that drawer.” She pointed to an old rolltop desk.

I got comfortable on the floor and begin going through her files. This took time, and we chatted as I went through file after file. Eventually she asked, “So, why did you come over today? Did you just want to clean out my files?”

“No, I’m looking for paperwork on this account.”

“What for?”

“I want to find out why they are suing you.”

“I’m being sued? Oh no! What am I going to do? I don’t have any money!”

I realized it won’t matter how I answer her as she will forget what I said in a minute or two. I turned the conversation to other things, asking about her friends there at the center. Her comfy one bedroom was part of a low-income building occupied mostly by seniors. It saddened me that she would soon need to move to an assisted living arrangement.

I found the credit card account and cleaned out the last thirteen years of files, but there was nothing from her bank. “Where can I find your bank statements? I need to see if you have any money to offer them.” She looked puzzled. “Don’t you get a statement in the mail from the bank each month?”

“No, I haven’t gotten one of them for a long time.”

“I guess I will have to call the bank to help me figure this out.” I breathed a sigh of relief when she was able to answer all the questions from the bank so that I could talk to them.

After some time on the phone, I had an idea of her financial situation and briefly went over it with her. “It looks like you might be able to offer one hundred a month, but that wouldn’t leave you much for food or anything.” I walked over to the table and notice a binder there with the bank logo on it. When I open it, I find monthly bank statements neatly inserted by date. “Look at this. You have your monthly bank statements right here.”

“Well, I could have told you that.”

Why fight it? I smiled and shook my head. No one is going to believe this, I thought to myself. Her youngest son kept in touch with her, so I thought I might call him. “Does David know about this?”

“About what?”

“That you are being sued.”

“I’m being sued! Oh, this is terrible! Everything is happening at once!” She buries her face in her hands and sobs in earnest. I could kick myself for mentioning it again. I sent David a text. He called right back.

“Did you know …”

“Yes, she’s being sued for eleven thousand, eight hundred and eighty-six dollars and ninety-seven cents”

“What can we do?”

“Nothing,” he laughed,” She’s an old woman and she doesn’t have any money. They can sue her, but they can’t get anything.”

I had just wasted my whole day. I hung up and noticed her glaring at me.

“I have a right to know,” she said.

I was at a loss.

She continued, “What am I supposed to do? You said I’m being sued.”

Now she remembers.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. David said everything is taken care of." I cleaned up the paperwork, including the original “intent to sue” pages I had found there, and put them safely out of sight, into her file drawer, not to be seen for another thirteen years. “I better be getting home and cook some dinner for Terry. He’ll be hungry when he gets home." I gave her a hug and a kiss, grabbed the trash bag of old files and headed for the door. “Love you, Mom. See you next week.”

“Love you, sweetie. Bye now.” Then under her breath, “I wonder why she came by.”