MONTGOMERY, Ala. (Legal Newsline) – A man representing an Alabama woman who he says was incapable of entering into a high-interest loan agreement that cost her her car has failed to show why.
The Alabama Supreme Court ruled against Michael Falligant, as next friend of Michelle McElroy, on Dec. 4 and in favor of TitleMax – a company that takes possession of lendees’ cars when loans aren’t repaid.
“(T)here is no evidence explaining the specifics of McElroy’s mental illness or how it affects her mental capacities,” Justice Brady Mendheim wrote. “Falligant’s affidavit testimony is conclusory and generally asserts that McElroy is not able to manage her personal financial affairs and that she did not understand the terms of the contracts.
“But there is no evidence explaining McElroy’s mental illness and whether the reasons she is unable to manage her personal finances or understand the terms of the contracts mean that she is unable to understand and comprehend her actions generally.”
Falligant is the director of a mental health facility who claims McElroy suffers from a variety of mental and emotional illnesses.
She receives Social Security disability benefits but the record does not make clear why. Falligant failed to specify what mental illness McElroy suffers from.
In 2017, TitleMax loans McElroy $500 at an annual interest rate of 170%. When she couldn’t repay, the company took her 2007 Toyota Camry to satisfy the pawn-ticket agreement.
The Supreme Court’s decision affirmed a trial court ruling that held TitleMax showed the terms of its contract was enforceable, so the onus was on Falligant to show McElroy was unable to manage her own personal finances.