The instructions from the court state that lawyers are not necessary, but I may hire one if I wish. That may be different where you are.
Historic boundaries and conservation efforts.
Its always good to have a contingency.
In Colorado, they raised the limits in small claims to clean out the district court rooms years ago to 8500 dollars.
That being said, the defendant/respondent has the opposite opportunity, and once you bring a lawyer, it's automatically bounced into the higher court.
That was the Colorado law. In NM, it's a complete unknown for me, and I hope I can keep it that way too.
@not-my-real-name I learn something new every day.?ÿ Looked it up and "In a handful of states, including California, Michigan, and Nebraska, you must appear in small claims court on your own. In many states, however, you can be represented by a lawyer if you like."
My experience with small claims has been to win a judgement and still not collect a penny from the deadbeat.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
My experience with small claims has been to win a judgement and still not collect a penny from the deadbeat
I thought; filing a mechanic's lien, meant that you would collect if the property ever sold, or the property couldn't be sold.
?ÿ
What's the difference between a lien and small claims court?
@dougie Liens only work if the individual owns property in their name to lien . Deadbeats often don't have anything in their name or have it in someone else's name for that very reason. A judgement in small claims is no guarantee that you will be able to collect anything. They just have a judgement against them is all. My understanding and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
Judgement opens the doors.
Writ of execution
Also with a Till Tap....yes, I took money out of an active cash register....
Writ of garnishment
Writ of continuing Garnishment
To name a few.
And then there's also Moose and Rocko.
And if all is too much time....sell the judgement to a collection company and they'll go to town.
The one time I got truly burned, the client owned nothing on his own name.?ÿ I engaged a collection agency, but after a bit of research they told me he's untouchable.?ÿ I had to eat the sh|t sandwich, a $5k meal.
Yeah, people whom hide that way are showing a pattern of definably guilty behavior. A reasonable judge or even jury would be able to see through that tactic, but it's hard to not trust people. Unfortunately I have to relearn how to, because until you prove otherwise, you're not a trusted person esp business until I see or experience that proof.
That sucks you couldn't get results.
I engaged a collection agency, but after a bit of research they told me he's untouchable
Sounds like a loop-hole that needs closing.
I mean; if the word gets out, all of the dirt-bags will be doing it!
@dougie?ÿ
And or lazy collection company.?ÿ They want big profit too, and doing too much work burns them up.
The one time I lost after winning in small claims court was because the jerk died.
I did get the satisfaction of overturning his desk onto his lap at his office though.
Another time I thought I might never collect, but I was counseled to file an Abstract of Judgement which put a lien on everything he owned in the County.?ÿ Sure enough he needed to refinance his house and my lien was top of the list.?ÿ The measly $270 he owed me originally was repaid with 10% interest and all costs to the tune of $1200 after almost nine years.
I am sorry. Hopefully that will not happen again.
Historic boundaries and conservation efforts.
There are people who learn exactly how to work the system and then do so repeatedly.?ÿ Having np real estate on their own name is one.?ÿ Having no checking or saving account is another.?ÿ Having no employer is to their advantage.?ÿ One that got me was the inability to touch certain income.?ÿ In my case, both husband and wife were on full disability and I couldn't touch it.
Watch out for LLC and speculator clients.?ÿ They can be trouble.
@mike-marks I'm not sure what state you are in but I have been involved in two mediations here in NJ, one was very recent.?ÿ People are so litigious here in NJ that the civil courts are backed up beyond belief.?ÿ One of the mediations involved a friend's marital issues and I was to be a witness in court but when we showed up for trial the judge ordered mediation on the spot and none of us appearing as witnesses were allowed to leave the building until the two parties reached an agreement in case the matter went to trial.
The recent case I was involved with was a work related civil court matter as well.?ÿ A law suit was filed, the parties involved were sued and everybody lawyered up.?ÿ It took a year of sharing discovery back and forth, hiring independent experts and preparing for trial until the court order mediation in that case as well.?ÿ Neither case had the parties sitting face to face.?ÿ It was over 8 hours of lawyers shuffling back and forth between two rooms presenting offers and counter offers. What you said about all parties usually holds true, but, actually going to trial, regardless of what strong evidence you have to defend yourself is risky and very expensive.?ÿ People in this profession who face law suites and choose to go to trial need to understand that they are presenting their evidence to laymen who don't really understand the technicalities of what they are seeing and hearing.?ÿ No matter how iron clad our arguments may be, it's a roll of the dice to see how a judge and jury understand them.?ÿ Add to that, throughout the process, you will be schooling your attorney on the technicalities to present your case while he is billing you to educate him or her.?ÿ?ÿ
@bill93 If an action is filed, regardless of whether mediation is involved, the exchange of supporting information, facts and documents are required under the rules of evidence.?ÿ If they presented findings tome that I was unaware of, I would certainly take a very hard look and see if it changes my findings, revise the plan, reissue it and demand payment of the original contract fee.
If the information presented is useless, just say so with no further information or explanation.?ÿ Less is always better, hold your cards close to your vest.?ÿ If it goes to court and the useless evidence is presented, drop the bomb them and prove why it is.
Your closing statement is spot on.
I attended the mediation hearing today and it was insane. The client produced a bunch of photographs showing the edge of the pavement wanting to know why the corner was set so far back.
According to other documents he produced, including a copy of the assessor map and a mortgage loan inspection, he owns to the road. It was too confusing to explain how "the road", meaning the pavement is not boundary. The pavement is not as wide as the right-of-way, and that the pavement is not in the center of the right-of-way.
Before I left, I told everyone that mediation would work better if he hired another surveyor to check his boundary and then the two surveyors could compare notes. Other than that it is obvious that nobody in the room understands anything about surveying.?ÿ
Historic boundaries and conservation efforts.
I was a fly on the wall last night at Tony Nettlemans legal expert as a Licensed Surveyor presentation.
Don't encourage them to hire a Surveyor. Let them wallow in the future disaster, be sure to say nothing at all until you're lawyered up. They are going to be your Tar baby and sound like they don't care about wasting money even if they are wrong.
You've got no obligation to educate your adversary, only to vanquish the stupid, and get paid.
Stay the course, be open for advice from your side only.
Yuck.
Be wary of the type of client that would be fast to pay the down payment part and then would take forever to pay the final invoice. What I do know is to charge 50% of the contract amount up front before any work is done. This 50% would cover the cost of the work itself - labor, mobilization, drafting, research fees. So if he doesn't pay the final invoice, at least I am covered for the overhead expenses. Final payment is for taxes and profit margin.
