Read and translate the text. Suppose you can’t settle your complaint and a consumer agency has been unable to help

Suppose you can’t settle your complaint and a consumer agency has been unable to help. Sometimes your complaint may form the basis for a criminal action against the seller. Furthermore, whether or not a crime is involved, you may wish to take your case to civil court. Anyone can go to court. Minors can sue through their parents or guardians.

Criminal Court. In some cases, a seller’s action may be a crime. Such acts can be prosecuted as criminal fraud. Criminal fraud oc­curs when a salesperson knowingly misstates or misrepresents some important fact, with the intent to defraud you, resulting in harm.

For example, assume you contract with a builder to construct a deck on your home. You pay the builder several thousand dollars to purchase the necessary materials. However, the builder doesn’t in­tend to build the deck. He simply uses the scheme to take your money. In such a case, you’re the victim of a crime. You should contact the police or your local prosecutor. Cases like this can be prosecuted by the government in criminal court. State laws not only provide a fine or jail term (or both) for a convicted defendant but may also re­quire that the defendant pay back the defrauded consumer.

Civil Court. If a civil dispute involves a large amount of money, the case will be brought in the local civil trial court. Taking a case to court can be costly and time–consuming. In some places, though, free or low–cost legal services may be available to consumers who cannot afford an attorney.

In civil court, you can ask for a number of different remedies. First, you can sue for damages, money that a court orders paid to a person who has suffered a loss or an injury. For example, if you are injured by a defective power drill, you can ask for money for a new drill, medical expenses, time lost from your job, and other related costs.

A second remedy is rescission and restitution. When you ask the court for this remedy, you ask it to cancel the contract (rescission) and order the person you are suing to give back any money you have already paid (restitution). This releases you from any further performance under the contract, but you will have to return any ben­efit already received under the contract. Assume, for example, that you sign a contract to purchase a set of pots and pans and that a pan melts the first time it is exposed to a direct flame. In such a case, you might seek rescission and restitution. You would get your money back and would have no further obligations under the contract. However, you would have to return the pots and pans.

The third civil remedy is specific performance. Here, you ask the court to order the seller to carry out the specific terms of the agreement. For example, if you ordered goods that were never deliv­ered, the court could order the company to deliver the goods. Howev­er, you would still have to pay for them.

A suit for damages or specific performance is designed to place you in approximately the position you would have been in if the contract had been successfully completed. A suit for rescission and restitution is designed to return both the buyer and the seller to the positions they were in before the contract began.

Find the equivalents of the following words and
expressions in the text.

Мошенничество, преднамеренно неверно представлять, использовать схему с целью получить ваши деньги, срок тюремного заключения, дорогостоящий и отнимающий много времени, бесплатные или недорогие юридические услуги, возбуждать дело за причиненный ущерб, расторжение контракта, по контракту, исполнение договора в натуре.

Answer the questions:

1. What do you do if you can’t settle your complaint and a consumer agency has been unable to help?

2. When do you take your case to civil court?

3. How can minors sue?

4. What is criminalfraud? Give your own examples.

5. When are cases brought in the local civil trial court? Is it expensive?

6. What remedies can you ask for in civil court? Characterize each of them.

7. What is a suit for damages or specific performance designed for?

Problem–solving:

Each of the following consumers has a problem. If the consumer has to go to court in each matter, what is the best remedy? Why? Could any of these situations result in a criminal prosecution? Why?

a. Jeanine takes a floor–length dress that originally belonged to her mother to the dry cleaner. When she picks it up, she finds several holes in it. The store claims the holes were there when the garment was brought in. Jeanine is certain that they are the result of the cleaning.

b. The Gonzales family hires the Weedout Chemical Company to spray their lawn twice a month during May, June, July, and Au­gust. Weedout sends a monthly bill. By June 10, Weedout has not yet sprayed, although it sent a bill in May, which the Gon­zales family paid. Weedout is behind schedule with its spraying because there is a great demand for its product, a successful new formula not yet available from other local companies.

c. Sergio, a college student, has a summer job selling books door to door. He is paid a commission on every book sold. To make extra money, he uses phony order forms. The top page is a re­ceipt for the sale of one book. The copy beneath, which has its signature line in exactly the same place as the top copy, in–eludes an agreement to purchase another book every month for two additional months.

In June, Mr. and Mrs. Joiner pay $12 for a book. The next month, Sergio returns with another $12 book and asks for pay­ment. The Joiners say they never agreed to buy the second book. Sergio shows them the receipt with their signature. The Joiners have not kept their copy of the receipt. Reluctantly, they pay for the second book. Later, they discover that several neighbors are in the same situation.

Match the words on the left with the correct definition
on the right:

Sue for damage	a person who starts legal proceedings.
Fraud	long.
Prosecutor	cancellation of the contract.
Costly	make a legal claim for loss or injury.
Rescission	criminal deception.
Restitution	a fixed period in public prison.
Attorney	ask the court to order the seller to carry out the specific terms of the agreement.
Benefit	a person with legal authority to act for another in law.
Jail term	order the person you are suing to give back any money you have already paid.
Time–consuming	expensive.
Specific performance	profit.

UNIT 9.