This is an incident that happened to me in Toronto some years ago. I am telling this story as it relates to cancelling contracts. I was not sure about what was going on but as I have had a lot of experience since with cancelling tickets and such I will try to illustrate what happened.
I had been helping someone to move into a house they had just bought. There was no on street parking after midnight without a permit. It was ten minutes after twelve when I realised and by the time I got there the warden had already ticketed half the street. I struck up a conversation with him and he was a real gentleman. There were a couple of people with me from the move and one young guy was trying to be belligerent with the traffic warden. I calmed the young guy down because I had a feeling this guy was too friendly not to get some information from him.
He was a good sport and I even joked with him about how he could sleep while he was causing so much distress. He laughed at that and said he had no problem sleeping. I explained my situation and that I had never parked there before. He said he couldn’t do anything about a ticket once it was written but all I had to do was go to the Ticket Office on Keele St. and they would take care of it. It was that simple apparently. Not that I believed him.
Anyway we left on good terms and I showed up next day at the ticket office. I slid the ticket over the counter and started to tell the clerk my story. She had a glazed look in her eyes as if she wasn’t hearing me. That’s when I noticed she had the cancelled stamp in her hand and I watched her stamp the ticket. It was that simple. I still had no idea what had happened.
It wasn’t until I studied contract law that it became clear. All of the tickets and notices and other such legal demands that they are issuing are in fact offers to contract. We have been reading them wrong. That is because they are intentionally meant to deceive. Under contract law you have the right to refuse any contract that is offered and you also have the right to not contract. It is that simple. No contract can be forced upon you.
But here’s the catch. You have to do this in a timely manner. If you don’t they get judgement by default. I cannot tell you what the cooling off period is as it depends on the contract and jurisdiction. I base it on the assumption that it could be as little as 24 to 48 hours. That is why I talk in my other posts about getting your rejections in the mail the next business day. That way you have a 24 hour postmark.
Anyway back to their offers. They don’t meet any of the requirements for a lawful contract. Your failure to recognise this is what makes them quasi-legal through colour of law. Let’s go over the basics of contract law. Two parties only. That means two people. Anybody else tries to stick their nose into the contract is a third-party intervenor and has no legal standing. It is very important to understand your third party status. You are always a third party to their paper. That makes their paper a fraud.
All fraudulent contracts are null and void due to the nature of the beast. Caveat Emptor takes on a whole new meaning when you realise you have been buying stuff you could have rejected as faulty. I won’t go into this any more as we have the next requirement, which is meeting of the minds. I know you are probably going to say it was more of a head clash. Anyway enough said on that. You had no choice in the matter. Next is full disclosure. I could say more on this but I am assuming you weren’t told of your third party status. Next is fair consideration. This simply means that neither party has an unfair advantage or is unduly enriched. Are you being enriched by their paper?
Now there are other requirements such as who can and cannot contract. There is a legal age and a mental capacity. I say we all fail the mental capacity requirement but that is enough said on that. Another caveat of contract law is that the contract can be cancelled by either party at any time for any or even no reason. It doesn’t have to be for fraud. Fraud simply nullifies it upon detection. When you understand this fully and how to make it work for your benefit you will not be angry at the thousand dollar fine. Remember Caveat Emptor. Another basic of contract law.
Your lack of knowledge is not their problem if you enter an unconscionable agreement. In fact that is the only power these things have over you. Learn how to reject their claims with the full weight of the law on your side. Remember fraud is a very serious crime not just a word I throw out there. It is spelled out in detail in the Criminal Code and is only the gateway to uncover more serious crimes.