I receive a settlement offer from Simecom--and the long awaited contract copy

I have been patiently waiting to hear a response from Simecom. Will they continue their case against me, or have my pleas for reason and compassion found a sympathetic ear? And will they please send me a copy of the contract that I have supposedly signed, as I still have been given no information on why they think I owe them some 3000 euro. I was about to write the Simecom lawyer again when I woke up to a letter from avvocato Mizrahil with two important pieces of information. Here is what she wrote:

Dear Mr. Spadoni,

I am attaching a copy of the contract with Simecom.

My client is willing to renounce to distrain the Bank account for conciliatory purposes only, as legally you should have had to oppose the injunction.

Since your debt is currently € 2,799.18, I ask for your willingness to spontaneously pay the amount of € 1,000.00.

Should I make this all go away by paying 1,000 euro? That’s a lot cheaper than flying to Italy to defend myself, or hiring a lawyer to represent me.

But let’s look at the contract. It has been signed 13 times by the imposter Spadoni Paul Robert. And the signatures, while bearing a slight resemblance to mine, are very obviously not mine. If the scammer tried to copy my signature at all, he did a poor job of it, thankfully.

I’m not going to pay to end this. I don’t care if I have to spend more money. I want to see this through to the end no matter what it costs. This has just become too interesting to settle so easily.  I’ll send a copy of the contract to my friend Rob, who is an expert on handwriting and has testified in numerous courtrooms, but in the meantime, I’ll send off another letter to Simecom. Here it is:

Gentile Dotoressa Mizrahil,

Many thanks for your response and especially for the copy of the contract. I have sent a copy of the contract to a professional handwriting consultant that I have retained and await his response.

However, I can see from your offer to renounce the pignoramento del conto that you and your client realize that the signature on the contract is not mine. In truth, it does not take an expert to realize that. I have no doubt that you and your client can plainly see for yourselves the obvious differences.

I appreciate that you have offered to settle the case for a relatively small amount, but I also believe that by now you realize the evidence against me is false, and that it is unfair that I should have to pay anything to settle. I have already been made a victim once, and your attempt to collect from me makes me twice a victim. You are an attorney, no doubt a good one, but you are also a human being with a sense of fairness and compassion. I’m sorry your client was cheated, but it was not my fault. You have caused me stress and additional expenses, although I understand you were acting in good faith and, in the beginning, acting on the only information that was available. In light of the new information, it appears to be an unfortunate situation for both parties, but we don’t need to make it worse by continuing to pursue a path that will lead nowhere except to cost both parties additional expenses.

I already have incurred expenses in this situation. I must make a payment to the handwriting expert. Since my bank has not been paying my utilities bill, I will have fees for late payments. If I must fly to Italy and hire an attorney, there will be substantial additional expenses for my travel and attorney. And would you like me also to bring the handwriting expert? That will incur additional expenses. For all of these expenses and more, I’m certain my attorney will advise me to file a countersuit against your client demanding reimbursement.

I will include a couple of additional documents that show my signature for your use in comparing, and I look forward to hearing the good news that your client is renouncing the pignoramento del conto so we can all move on to more important things in our lives. I wish you the very best, and I appreciate you sending the contract copy and the kind and professional tone of your letters. All of this will make an interesting chapter in my next book about my experiences in Italy.

Sincerely,
Paul Spadoni

Coming next blog: The professional handwriting analysis