"THAT IS NOT ME"

Back in 1996 I received a notice from a Hyannis law firm that they were representing a client that had an addition put on their home in Attleboro, Massachusetts. This addition apparently was built very poorly and the owners received a court judgement against the builder in the amount of over thirty-one thousand dollars. The homeowner contacted the Hyannis law firm to try to find their builder and collect their judgement. This builder had the same name as me (Richard Shaw).

The hand delivered notice was signed by an attorney (lets call him Duke Williamson not the real name but I don't want to get sued by the real lawyer because that is what lawyers do.) "Duke" described in the hand delivered letter how they hired an investigator to find "Richard Shaw" and that they were convinced due to the investigative report that I was the person they were looking for and they were going to attach liens on an office and also a parcel of land that I owned at the time and conduct a sheriff's sale of these properties to satisfy the court judgement of their client.

I think this whole matter started as I played volleyball at the time with a secretary who worked for this law firm. After one volleyball night a group of us went to a bar across the street from my real estate office. I am surmising that this secretary saw some information in the office and may have said "Oh, I know him."

Prior to this matter from time to time I used to receive phone calls at my home such as "Rick, this is your landlord; you owe me for the rent". I would reply, "That's funny, I didn't know I had a landlord." Other calls were from the phone company and a local grocery store saying that my checks had bounced and I would have to explain that I was the wrong "Rick Shaw."

I called back the law office and spoke with "Duke" as well wrote a written reply denying that I was the person that they were looking for to assist their client. First of all, I am not a builder. I took a "shop" class in high school and almost failed the course as I messed up trying to build a birdhouse. On my own, I found out that the builder "Richard Shaw" had a different middle initial than I do. The builder "Richard Shaw" drove a red truck and had a dog; of which I had neither. I have never been to Attleboro, Massachusetts in my life. I found out that there was a bounced check for five thousand dollars taped in front of the register at a local building supply company from the builder"Richard Shaw". I also asked in my written reply why at my home was a building contractor hired to add a sun room if I were myself a building contractor. I think I did a better job on my own in finding out and investigating the builder "Rick Shaw" that the inept investigator hired by the law firm.

I then dared the attorney to proceed with the sheriff's sale of my properties so that I could sue their firm for lack of due diligence,defamation of character, illegal confiscation of property, and mental anguish.

In the end, I ended up agreeing to meet their client from Attleboro at their law office. The client confirmed that I didn't build their shoddy addition to their home. I said to them, "Hi, nice to meet you."