Anita Baker is shocked that a home-painting job has escalated to a bench warrant issued for her arrest.

According to TMZ, she says she never received notice of the court hearing, and, what's more, she wasn't even aware that a lawsuit was filed against her. "I've never been in trouble with the law," she told the TMZ. I'm terrified."

According to the site, Baker is even surprised the contractor would file a suit. She said she hired the company, Ray A. Smith Decorating & Painting, in 2009 to repair storm damage on the outside of her Grosse Point, Mich., house, but they never completed the work.

The price for the repairs was set at $75,000, she explained. She paid $60,000 up front, and when they cut out on finishing the job, she did the spackling herself. She was never served with legal papers, Baker said.

The contractor is claiming he posted the paperwork on her front door, she continued, but she was on tour at the time, and doubts he ever actually posted it.

Her lawyers, Baker told TMZ, will be in court this week to get the warrant lifted and to set aside a default judgment that was declared in the contractor's favor for the remainder of the payment (some $15,000). 

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(Photo: Koi Sojer/PacificCoastNews.com)