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Subject:Re: Client won't pay -a case history From:Sheila Brennan <sheilab -at- BERLIOZ -dot- NSC -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 25 Oct 1996 11:11:52 PDT
Techwhirlers-
For your general info here is a case history of a client
made to pay up. This is kind of long, and I wish I could
just send it straight to the archives so it would be there
for anyone who needed to see it. But I can't, so here it is.
My husband was working on a 1099 basis for a firm in SF.
The client did not pay him for one month, and then claimed
that he wasn't sure (!) if he had paid or not because his
books were messed up (!!) and therefore refused to pay.
My husband filed a claim with the CA labor commission.
The labor commissionor ruled that my husband was actually
an employee because he worked on site, at hours set by the
client, and was paid on a monthly (as opposed to piece work)
basis. This meant that the case could be heard by the labor
commission and that they had to pay back social security tax,
etc.
The judge further ruled, based on our invoices and bank records
and the client's lack of documentation, that the client did
indeed owe my husband the one month salary. The client was
also fined for violated some labor code (I'm a little foggy
on this) having to do with paying an employee's taxes.
I filed a copy of the judgement with the county clerk and I
bought a book called "How to collect your court judgement".
I sent a copy of the judgment and $25 to the county sheriff
along with a letter telling them the clients bank and account
number and asking them to wait for a call from me telling
them when the money was there.
I called the bank every morning for over six months and
asked to verify funds on a check to see if the money was
there. When the money was finally in the account, I called
the sheriff and they served the judgement-writ-thingee on the
bank. One month later we got a check in the mail for the
full months salary, plus 10% interest, plus reimbursement for
all the money we had spent on court stuff.
We found out later that this guy had a rep for ripping off
contractors and happily supplied advice to several people
who took him to court to get their money.
Ruthlessly yours,
Sheila Brennan
sheilab -at- berlioz -dot- nsc -dot- com
