Yet another question......

Talk to a lawyer.

I've gotten myself into a few pi$$in matches....Bennett and Landstar were a couple big matches where I took the freight for a few days. You see the consignee doesn't want it yet so they are more than willing to let you store it. Problem comes when you want more money to deliver.

Another guy didn't pay me at all.....owed me $1300. Took him to court and won. That cost $800 IIRC. But then I have to spend more money to get him to pay. Even when you win you don't win.

Problem 1 is you sign all of your rights away in the broker packet.
Problem 2 is you need a drop yard or something where you can take the load to.
Problem 3 is it's a game of who blinks first. If you only have 1 trailer and/or no way to off load then you are going to blink because you ain't making money with their fright on your trailer.

 

On the subject of getting him to pay....at least here in Canada (probably similar in US since we're both British common law systems I think).

Step 1 is to file a claim in small claims court. I did this at my local court. If I signed a broker agreement with this broker (which I did not), then I would have agreed that all legal action be taken in their jursidiction. Using my pals Landstar as an example, I would presumably have to file in Jacksonville, FL.

Step 2 is to have the case heard by a judge. My guy didn't show up so I won. Landstar would either ignore the matter altogether (they are American, what do they care what a Canadaian court thinks) or they would ask the court to quash my claim because when I signed the carrier agreement, I agreed that I would file in Jax.

Step 3 is to get them to pay. You need to either file a lien against them, guaranshee wages or seize property and sell it.

The guaranshee route only works if they have an employer because it's the employer that hold the money out of his paycheck and sends it to you. Not an option here.

So you can file a lien at the court house but what will you put a lien on? First you have to do a title search to see if he owns anything. Everything might be in a corp or in the wife's name or in a trust. Anyway, you need to hire a title searcher where he lives to find out what he owns. If he owns anything you can put a lien on it and if that item ever gets sold in the future, you get paid.

Fun huh?