Court judgement for non payement...ethics?

In NC if a client calls you for work and you know another surveyor worked on the job, the other surveyor must be payed up to be able to work on the project . I dont know about crossing professional boundaries other than , Engineers fall under the same laws and board we do .

“I just received a judgment from a court for non payment of a wetlands as built I did last year.”

Is there is a substantial amount of money involved? If so, consider consulting an Attorney. The “Judgment” in your favor is brutal legal ammunition to assist in your recovery of monies owed plus interest.

Just my 00.40 😉

If you asking if the other professionals have any obligation not to use the plan because you have not been paid, I would think not. The payment is between you and your Client. If your survey is used in the preparation of construction plans, you may be able to obtain a Fi FA to collect your fee as your former Client is acting in bad faith. If you know where they bank, it could be fairly easy at that point. Of course, you may want to run this by an attorney and kiss at least 1/3 of the judgement amount goodbye.

Did you Lien the property?

I will put a lean on all his property sales in the county.

Can you provide the citation for this NC Law? I would like to see the wording how it gets around the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

> Can you provide the citation for this NC Law? I would like to see the wording how it gets around the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

Folks pretty much ignore anything named "Sherman" down there 😉

I don't mean to disagree but that is not true. The NC law only prohibits you from supplanting another surveyor under contract on a job, it does not require you in any way to make sure someone is paid. as long as the surveyor has been let go from the job, you can work on the job. That doesnt necessarily mean you would want to work for someone who hasnt paid.
the cite is

21NCAC 56.0701
(e) (7) Shall not attempt to supplant another engineer or land surveyor in a particular employment after becoming aware that the other has been selected for the employment.

"I will put a lean(SIC) on all his property sales in the county."

I'd be really careful with that - I don't think you can lien property that was not actually involved in the judgement. If you do that here you are subject to triple damages for the property not involved. Attorney stuff...

What I was told on our last judgment and lean was that you can put a lean on any real estate sales they have in the county. I will verify when I proceed with that.

Your state lien law may be different than mine...

That's what I thought. I never understood the line of thinking that I am supposed to be the collection agency for another surveyor. Now, if I know the surveyor, and know that the surveyor is a good practitioner, then it is unlikely that I would work on a project on which he is owed. However, some of these jacklegs around here aren't competent enough to stake out a square for a fence. If you do the client more harm then good you should have no expectation to be paid.

After winning in Small Claims Court I filed an Abstract of Judgement againist the person who owed me. It tied up ALL of his property in the County.

The amount owed was for a survey I did for him on a lot he didn't even own.

I finally collected when he tried to refinance the mortgage on his house.

law my not be the word to use . ethically it's not acceptable unless the previous surveyors been paid up. I am not telling them to do anything , I just will not work for them. I am pretty sure the board feels the same , as I was at a continuing ed class and heard it from the board . Thats what I was taught in school 20 years ago as we'll. And it's still practiced in my area. do what you will.

I believe that is how it is in NY, at least that is how it was explained to me.

Thanks

It sounds like Restraint of Trade that basically amounts to price fixing.

"...As used in the Sherman Anti-Trust Act (15 U.S.C.A. § 1 et seq.), unreasonable restraints of trade are illegal per se and interfere with free competition in business and commercial transactions. Such restraint tends to restrict production, affect prices, or otherwise control the market to the detriment of purchasers or consumers of goods and services. A restraint of trade that is ordinarily reasonable can be rendered unreasonable if it is accompanied by a Specific Intent to achieve the equivalent of a forbidden restraint...."

This is simply an issue of one Surveyor not providing superior services and seeking protection.

In MA you are not supposed to work for someone until the previous surveyor has been paid.

There are a lot of reason clients don't pay . superior service has nothing to do with it. There are developers that will cycle through one surveyor to the next racking up fees , with out paying. or does not like the result of a survey , moves on to the next guy.
I think your reading way too much into this..

If they will not pay, that sounds like a client/provider issue. Not, a provider/provider issue.