Credit Associates of Maui, Ltd. v. Carlbom

Cosco Carlbom (defendant) was the owner and sole proprietor of Aloha Screens, which was a sole proprietorship that had gone out of business. In or around 1993, Aloha Screens had entered into an oral contract for telephone and other services from the GTE Hawaiian Telephone Company, which later came to be known as Verizon Hawaii (Verizon). Aloha Screens had paid some of its monthly telephone bills to Verizon but owed Verizon $3,077.79 in unpaid bills by May 1998. Verizon assigned its right to collect the unpaid amount to Credit Associates of Maui, Ltd. (Credit Associates) (plaintiff). Credit Associates then sued Carlbom, individually and doing business as Aloha Screens, seeking to recover the money. At trial, Carlbom admitted that he was Aloha Screens’ owner and sole proprietor. Carlbom also admitted that the telephone numbers for which Aloha Screens owed Verizon the money were Aloha Screens’ phone numbers. A Verizon representative admitted that the representative did not know of any papers that Carlbom had signed agreeing to be responsible for the phone services provided by Verizon to Aloha Screens. The trial court awarded Credit Associates $3,077.79 from Aloha Screens but found that Carlbom could not be held individually liable for the debt because the agreement for the service had been made between Aloha Screens and Verizon, and Verizon did not have an agreement with Carlbom acknowledging Carlbom’s personal liability for the debt. Credit Associates appealed.