Riley Fox Lawsuit: P.I.s Drop Lawsuit Against Parents

In 2004, three-year-old Riley Fox went missing before being found dead in a creek. The girl's father was first suspected in the killing, before DNA evidence exonerated him. Eventually, neighbor and convicted sex offender Scott Eby confessed to the crime.
He is now serving a life imprisonment, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
Prior to the confession, Riley Fox's parents hired private investigator firm National Investigators & Security Agency Inc. to find the girl's killer. After racking up a $ 70,000 bill, the firm says that the Fox's never paid. So the P.I.s sued their client, bringing a Riley Fox lawsuit for the unpaid amount.
But the Fox's say that they were justified in not paying the bill. The president of the firm, Richard Grove, allegedly had said he was trained by the FBI in doing his investigating and so the Fox's relied on this supposed expertise in hiring him. However, the Fox's claim that Grove did not have any ties to the agency and basically lied about his credentials, reports the Sun-Times.
So the issue in the lawsuit was whether the Fox's were justified in not paying National Investigators & Security Agency Inc. for its services. Apparently they were, as Grove decided to back off the lawsuit.
Generally, a party is liable for their debts and obligations to another party. However, when those amounts are owed on the basis of fraud, misrepresentation, or other fraudulent act, the debt may not be enforced.
Richard Grove may have felt that the Riley Fox lawsuit was not worth pursuing as he could not have won the lawsuit against the parents. After all, a jury would likely view the parents of a dead child more sympathetically than a private investigator. Additionally, Grove may have wanted to stop the publicity that would have come with the lawsuit announcing that he allegedly had no ties to the FBI -- apparently a selling point for his business.
Related Resources:

Find a Chicago Personal Injury Attorney (FindLaw)
Lawsuit against Riley Fox's parents dismissed (ABC)
What are consumer protection or consumer fraud acts? (FindLaw)

The Chicago Personal Injury Law Blog

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