Question
5 Years ago I moved A clients entire apartment in to a storage place for he suffered a very bad stroke. The bill was paid for by my clients wife ,who lives in Canada. Now the storage people are sending non payment notices to me & she is not always on time on her payments. May I add I have never been paid for my services ,for moving the stuff .My client is not in his correct mind state so I am wondering how do I handle the mess I got myself into? If I emptied The contents of the storage shed since she , & her husband are in Canada & her Husband is also there in body only. Can they come after me in any legal way if the storage unit was emptied by me &closed; by me ? Please note I live in PA they are in Canada.
Answer
I don't understand this. Why on earth would the storage people be contacting YOU? When people lease a storage unit, they enter into an agreement with the facility for lease of the space. Is your name on the lease? If it is, then you may be liable. If it is not, then there is no basis for the imposition of liability.
And who are you that this is a client? Why does the client's wife live in Canada? Where is the client living? If the client and wife are not together and the client is mentally incompetent, does the client have a financial power of attorney that names an agent (the client would have had to have this in place before the stroke)? If so, who is the agent? That is the person who should be liable. If not, is there a guardian?
And why is this stuff still in storage after 5 years? If the client is not coming home, his guardian/agent needs to get rid of this stuff - sell or otherwise dispose of it.
If you were hired to move the stuff then you should have submitted a bill to the client's wife or whoever hired you to do the move. If you did not, then its your fault unless there are some other circumstances. The statute of limitations for most contracts in PA is 4 years and you are over that. I would talk to a local attorney as to whether you could possibly sue the client's estate for reimbursement but you cannot sit around and waste more time. If you want paid then you must act.
Why would you empty and close the storage unit? Why do you have that authority? You do not pay for it and I presume that you are not on the lease. Only the person leasing the unit has the authority to close it other than the storage facility has the right to enter and sell the stuff if the rent is not paid.
And who is "they" to come after you? If you take the property in storage that does not belong to you and if you are not on the storage lease then what you propose is stealing. That is a crime and unless you want to end up in jail or with a criminal record, I suggest that you reconsider your proposed course of action.
If you are the one who leased the unit then you may remove the property from the unit and cancel the lease as per the lease terms. However, since you have stuck your nose into someone else's business and have assumed possession of property belonging to someone else, you have now created a bailment. You are now responsible for any loss or damage to that property.
Frankly, you have handled this stupidly up until now if the facts are as you have related.
I suggest that if you have some money that you find a local attorney and pay him/her to look over any storage agreements if you have a copy of it and see whether your name is on there and if you are liable. If you are liable, then you need to empty the unit, cancel the lease and pay any outstanding charges. You then need to notify the client, wife, agent or guardian that you have the client's property and for them to come and get it within 30 days or make arrangements to retrieve it or to otherwise contact you. If you do not hear from them, I would be very careful - I would have the items inventoried, photographed and valued. If the property is not worth more than $500, I would take it to a thrift store like Good Will and ask them to hold for 30 days. I would then notify the client, wife, agent or guardian where the property is at and have them retrieve it if they are interested. Then your conscience will be clear and you will have protected yourself in case the client's estate tries to pursue legal action against you.
If your name is not on the lease, then you are being a busybody and I don't understand why you are involved here. In such case, I would write to the storage facility and advise them that you are not responsible and to please contact wife in Canada or agent/guardian for client. It will not be your problem whether wife pays or not. If she does not, the storage facility can enter the unit, clean it out and sell the stuff but it will not be your problem if you are not responsible for the charges.
I do find it strange that the storage facility is contacting you if your name is not on the lease. I would go by and visit the facility and ask to see a copy of the lease or ask them how they have your information.
