collecting mioney...never tried this before

Just for something different, I thought I'd try the legal system this time. Just to give us something to talk about here.

I moved a load of bricks from PA to ON. Never used this broker before. We agreed on $1300. I picked up and delivered on time, solved some broker oversights at my expense (as usual). No major problems. This was march 2012 I think. I'd been calling him for months and keep getting the promises you know then finally he stops returning my calls. So I google him and do a www.411.ca and manage to get his home phone number, which I call. No answer but his wife's voice is on the answering machine. I leave a message...."Hi Mrs. X, my name is Y and I am calling in regards to the $1300 that your husband owes me. I see you live at this adress here, would you like me to come over and get a check?"

Next AM buddy calls. Wife must have read him the riot act. He tells me a shipper stiffed him for $40K and he is out of business but he will pay me if he can. He is Canadian and therefore has no bond (wouldn't do any good anyway even if he did).

Dec 2012 still haven't received a nickel so I call a lawyer type. Give her $500. She puts together a claim and files it at my local courthouse. She sends it to broker via registered mail. Wify signs for it. He had 20 days to file a statement of defense which he did not do so I won a default judgment. In the meantime, the lawyer type contacted a title searcher in the broker's jurisdiction to find out if he owns his house in case we decide to put a lein on it. At this point my counsel has notified me that she spent all the $500 plus another $125. Plus I have to pay $35 to the court to get the default judgement. So know I'm in for $660.

After I get my default judgement this coming week, we proceed to "examination for discovery". This is where my lawyer type gets to ask him what he owns, where he gets money to live etc etc. With this info, we ask the court to force him to sell some assets so he can pay me.

I expect when he gets his first summons to appear in court, he will offer to pay $1300 + my legal fees but we will see. If he fails to appear the 1st time, they will schedule another date and if he fails to appear again they will issue a warrant for his arrest.

 

I can't say that I know the law on that, but I don't think that is correct. I always thought it was where the broker was domiciled.

 

Yeah, but in the long run, I thought it would benefit me to understand how the legal system treats such matters. I thought this would be a good way to learn since he lives relatively close to me. I wanted to learn how to navigate the courts. Benn there done that the other way and that gets old too. I'd like to think there is a better way.

 

Good question sj. He registered the company name in Ontario and it was a sole prop.