Q: Could my son be arrested? He threaten a collections representative when they kept calling our house about credit card?
We live in Florida. My son is 18 years old. My son had nothing to do with the debt owed. Collections representatives keep calling our house several times a day. My son answered the phone and told them his parents where not home and they repeatedly were harassing my son and his younger siblings.
My son after so long became upset and when they called he answered and cursed at them and said he would kill them if they called again and called them names and hung up the phone. Is it possible that he could be charge with a crime. A friend with legal background told me that my son could be charged with 365.16 Obscene or harassing telephone calls. Is this true?
This was only one occurrence. How could they charge my son with making harassing telephone calls. All my son did is answer the phone and never tried to call them back.
Could the collections representative lie and say my son called him? Also, collections representative is calling from another state.
A:
Asking a friend with "legal" knowledge is like asking an ambulance driver about medical care.
Or perhaps asking a toothless person advice about a dentist. The toothless persons does know about dentists.
356.16 involves outgoing calls.
Your son's threat was conditional not direct. Most likely the collector is out of state and could not recognize your son's voice among other legal issues.
By law if you tell the collectors to stop calling, they must.
I am surprised your friend with "legal" knowledge did not tell you this. I am actually NOT surprised!
If they don't stop, tell them and record the calls. Make sure your notification is on the recording.
You can also notify them by certify not to call anymore.
I would suggest you retain counsel before any suit is filed to protect you and your assets.
A relatively small amount of money spent now may save you a tremendous amount of money later.
A: Based upon the facts presented, your son couldn’t be arrested for cursing at the bill collector-harassing phone calls. At best, these facts remotely suggest an assault (threatening to kill); however, even that charge falls short since he did not have the ability to carry out the threat nor was there any action taken when the words were spoken. Phone records would vindicate your son since the records would show repeated calls by the collections company.
Justia Ask a Lawyer is a forum for consumers to get answers to basic legal questions. Any information sent through Justia Ask a Lawyer is not secure and is done so on a non-confidential basis only.
The use of this website to ask questions or receive answers does not create an attorney–client relationship between you and Justia, or between you and any attorney who receives your information or responds to your questions, nor is it intended to create such a relationship. Additionally, no responses on this forum constitute legal advice, which must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case. You should not act upon information provided in Justia Ask a Lawyer without seeking professional counsel from an attorney admitted or authorized to practice in your jurisdiction. Justia assumes no responsibility to any person who relies on information contained on or received through this site and disclaims all liability in respect to such information.
Justia cannot guarantee that the information on this website (including any legal information provided by an attorney through this service) is accurate, complete, or up-to-date. While we intend to make every attempt to keep the information on this site current, the owners of and contributors to this site make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to from this site.
