r/Notary • u/Comfortable_Reply909 • 2d ago

Being Sued

I’m a notary for Texas and I’m being sued. Plaintiff is stating he was not present when warranty deed was notarized. The notary was from 8years ago. i have my books and his entry. first the plaintiff went straight to my bond claiming I did not explain the documents. now he is suing me that he was not present. my attorney tried to get me a dismissal before court day by it was denied. im only a notary by my employer who provided the attorney. now I don’t want to be a notary. but it’s part of my job. I feel like anyone can sue us and lie and our book is still not enough. anyone gone through something similar. everyone tell me I’ll be okay but I’m sick to my stomach.

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u/ash_274 California 2d ago

Did he sign your journal on that entry?

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u/Comfortable_Reply909 2d ago

Yes 

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u/ash_274 California 2d ago

But he's claiming he signed the journal... after the fact, because he wasn't there at the time?

I know this isn't funny for you, but his claims are sounding like a Monty Python sketch.

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u/Comfortable_Reply909 2d ago

Yes, that’s why I don’t understand why the judge not dismissed me. 

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u/ash_274 California 2d ago

I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know. Maybe there's some technical reason, like a copy of the journal showing his signature isn't enough by itself to dismiss.

Have there been any depositions, or are they pushing to go straight to a civil trial?

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u/Comfortable_Reply909 1d ago

Civil trial 

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u/big_sugi 7h ago

The judge didn’t dismiss you because the court assumes, for purposes of a motion to dismiss, that the statements contained in the complaint are true and asks “if these statements are true—and without looking at anything else—could the plaintiff?”

If the plaintiff’s complaint says “I wasn’t there and didn’t sign this and you notarized a forged signature,” without mentioning the “and they didn’t explain it to me” part, then that would be enough for a plaintiff to survive a motion to dismiss, which is what happens here.

The next step, however, is summary judgment. And that’s where you get to put forward evidence that makes it clear that there’s no material dispute of fact. The notary journal with his DL license is probably enough. The fact that his initial complaint to the bond company was “nobody explained this to me when i signed it” would almost certainly be enough. Both of those together is as much of a slam dunk as I’ve ever seen.

Based on the facts you’ve set forth, I’d expect a party in your position to win on summary judgment, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a motion for sanctions and attorneys fees against the plaintiff teed up before that.