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I'm officially American now

foo2thabar

Well-Known Member
NLC
I just filed my first lawsuit today.

Some guy I've been doing photography work for decided he was going to tell me today that he's refusing to pay me, even though he's already using the images I provided in a commercial setting. So I walked out and drove straight to the courthouse.

I want my money but I feel weird suing someone.

It was originally agreed to be $30/hr, he's been badgering me since the end of the first day and trying to bargain down.

"Can you just do all of the photography and the computer work for an even $300 instead of hourly?"
"Why don't you just shoot as quickly as possible here and do all the work at home or something?"
"I have thousands of dollars worth of professional photography equipment* so I'm not going to pay you to learn how to use your cheap camera."

Radda radda radda.

*He's either lying or just a rich guy that doesn't know how to use it. He didn't know what I was talking about when I was telling him I was shooting one series proper and one series overexposed to blow out the colors, which he requested in a layman's way.

It's odd that he's doing this because he was ecstatic with the results.
 
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welcome to the club! I haven't sued anyone, nor am I American... but I should have sued someone that forced me to lose $400 because he suddenly told me he didn't like the website I had been doing for him that he had all along said he liked. I didn't get a dime from that work, but he didn't get the website either.
 
I wasn't sure how you were going to suddenly become officially American, and didn't guess a lawsuit for a second. But it makes awesome amounts of sense :p.

Sounds like the guy definitely deserves it, too.

What do you DO when you go up to a courthouse and say you wanna sue someone? Do you just get assigned a lawyer or what?
 
I wasn't sure how you were going to suddenly become officially American, and didn't guess a lawsuit for a second. But it makes awesome amounts of sense :p.

Sounds like the guy definitely deserves it, too.

What do you DO when you go up to a courthouse and say you wanna sue someone? Do you just get assigned a lawyer or what?

You go on Judge Judy!
 
You go on Judge Judy!
hahahaha, smartass.
I wasn't sure how you were going to suddenly become officially American, and didn't guess a lawsuit for a second. But it makes awesome amounts of sense :p.

Sounds like the guy definitely deserves it, too.

What do you DO when you go up to a courthouse and say you wanna sue someone? Do you just get assigned a lawyer or what?
there is a section of a civil court house to go and file suits. you dont get a lawyer to file it unless you hire one. you can however get one involved later if the defendant decides to get a lawyer. you dont just automatically get one though. but, the defendant will be served a subpoena with a court date.

good luck Ben. stick it to him.
 
I figured this was a NASCAR thread.


Benjamin, you had a lot of signs that pointed to this whole thing coming. I do think the lawsuit is fair, and you SHOULD file it, but if it were me, I would have bolted the second he offered the $300. It sounds to me like he doesn't have the funds to cover his project and shouldn't have hired you in the first place.
 
I figured this was a NASCAR thread.


Benjamin, you had a lot of signs that pointed to this whole thing coming. I do think the lawsuit is fair, and you SHOULD file it, but if it were me, I would have bolted the second he offered the $300. It sounds to me like he doesn't have the funds to cover his project and shouldn't have hired you in the first place.

In these days, people do what they can to get stuff for free. Sadly some people do this stuff.
 
I wasn't sure how you were going to suddenly become officially American, and didn't guess a lawsuit for a second. But it makes awesome amounts of sense :p.

Sounds like the guy definitely deserves it, too.

What do you DO when you go up to a courthouse and say you wanna sue someone? Do you just get assigned a lawyer or what?

Basically what iBright said. I was charged $75 to file, he'll be served on the 31st. He'll have 30 days to respond and set up a court hearing or it will be defaulted to me.

The only time you just GET a lawyer for free here is if you're arrested.

BV: I was leaving when he offered $300. I came in Wednesday (the second day due to scheduling) and told him $300 was no good. I didn't do any work after $300 was mentioned, just billed him for the work I'd done to that point and was told to stick it up my ---.

Oh, I forgot to mention that he's emailed me and told me my crude language and 'use of the "f" word' was extremely unprofessional and to never contact him again. I never did such a thing. Makes me wonder what he's going to cook up for the hearing. Gawd.
 
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Usually you don't have lawyers in small claims court. From what I remember, the cap on small claims is around $7,500 in most states, so it's a court to fill the need of small disputes where the lawyer fees would exceed winnings.
 
Good on ya. I wouldn't feel bad suing somebody for that sort of thing. It's just getting what you're owed, completely different from tripping over in KFC or something.
 
Nick: Yeah, everything is documented.

Just got a letter from the Deputy Marshall. Uh, apparently the jackass registered his business to a Mailboxes, etc. box. The court clerk told me I couldn't have the business itself served. Now I have to figure out where he lives.
 
What kind of business was this?

100% E-commerce with a physical warehouse. Sold lots of novelty ---- like pepper spray. I was photographing LED 'Open' signs and animating them for his online store to show what the signs do. He was provided with I think 18 separate animations the first day along with a preliminary invoice.

I went back to the courthouse and spoke to a different clerk. This one said I could give them any address I think he might be at during normal business hours Monday through Friday. So I gave them his office/warehouse address, where I did the photography work. They told me it'll take a day or two to get in the deputy Marshall's hands and then he'll probably be served around Wednesday.
 
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