A Mississippi woman recently filed suit against her former domestic partner in Philadelphia, claiming the defendant owes her about $330,000.
The women lived together in Philadelphia between August 2010-June 2015. The plaintiff subsequently relocated to Mississippi, but the defendant continues to live in Philadelphia.
The women also were business partners and embarked on real-estate ventures involving properties in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, according to court records.
The litigants expressed a desire for privacy; PGN is withholding their names.
The plaintiff alleges the defendant owes her $128,178.87 from the sale of their prior residence — which is 50 percent of the sale’s proceeds — even though the plaintiff’s name wasn’t on the title to the property.
According to the suit, “[The joint property] was titled in defendant’s sole name because defendant was not publicly out as a lesbian and did not want a record of joint property ownership with plaintiff.”
The remainder of the disputed funds relate to other jointly owned property, unreimbursed services and contributions by the plaintiff and alleged misuse of a joint bank account by the defendant.
The plaintiff’s suit contains 11 counts against the defendant involving breach of contract, conversion, unjust enrichment and promissory estoppel.
“Plaintiff has made numerous demands to defendant and defendant has made promises to plaintiff that she has not abided by, including inducing plaintiff to travel to Philadelphia in December 2016 to attempt to resolve the financial dispute wherein it was not resolved,” the suit states.
A recent defense filing seeks the dismissal of several counts — citing insufficient contractual evidence, lack of jurisdiction, lack of timeliness, redundancy, inadequate documentation and other reasons.
The dispute remains pending before U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone. A pretrial conference has been set for 10 a.m. Sept. 1 at the U.S. Court House in Center City.
Neither side had a comment for this story.
