“I have no choice but to dismiss the case,” the judge said. “You can refile if you want, but you may run into the same brick walls again. Or you can just let it drop.” After only a second of stunned silence I thanked her and left, hoping to make it back to the car before the tears came.
I’m certain that the law is meant to be logical but this felt only absurd. Originally I listed my ex-boss by title and business address as the defendant, reasoning that he was the one who hired me, fired me, and refused to pay me. I thought I was asking for him to pay me in his capacity as the president of EF.
Two court appearances ago the judge said I’d done this incorrectly. I amended the filing to show that I was requesting payment from EF, not from an individual person. I asked then if I needed to do anything else. “Just give it to the judge,” the clerk told me, so at the last court appearance I did. She accepted the amended form but we got no further with the proceedings because EF’s lawyer was missing one signature.
This time he had the signature but pointed out to the judge that the company had not been served. “You didn’t have them served?” the judge asked, looking coldly at me over her glasses. Of course I had them served, I said. Months ago. She shook her head no. I should have had them served again with the amended paperwork. But it would have gone to exactly the same place, exactly the same person, I protested. It would have asked for exactly the same payment. And that’s when she threw the case out.
I should have known, I told myself, weeping angrily while driving away. I should have known, or asked, or figured it out somehow. I felt too stupid to try filing again. I felt too stupid to deserve the money EF owes me. I felt too stupid to live.
After a few hours (and a visit from someone who cheered me up extraordinarily well with ice cream and orgasms) I realized I was being ridiculous. Cases get dismissed all the time. People who go to court every day for a living screw up in ways that make my misstep look brilliant. Even EF’s own lawyer failed to get a necessary signature. These things happen.
But what to do now? My mind’s not yet made up. I see the sense in re-filing the case with errors corrected, even though it means entering again into a system that I don’t understand and which might once again boot me unceremoniously out after taking more of my money. I also see the sense in releasing the debt to the universe and being done with the whole sordid mess.
I’ll wait a few days (or weeks) to let the emotions settle and then try to come up with some workable solution.
It is not necessary to accept everything as true,
one must only accept it as necessary.
good luck with making your decision… I personally would choose to refile, but only you can decide if it’s worth your time, effort and emotions…
REFILE
Is there anyone here who has some legal expertise and could help? Crossing the I’s dotting the T’s. Maybe in exchange for some swag?
I would refile, get what’s owed to you and leave it at that.
For me, I draw the line of principle at the amount of money–just *how* much money is one’s own choice, but you surely don’t want to end up spending more on this than they actually owe you…
And for the record, if it makes you feel any better, I was contacted by EF to start writing reviews–and I turned them down (politely and with my own given reasons) because of your negative experiences with them.
I’m sorry aag. It’s odd that the judge dismissed because they weren’t properly served. That happened to me once where I wasn’t properly served, but the fact that I showed up (basically just to say I wasn’t properly served – it was a nickel and dime case) made it irrelevant and the case proceeded. Maybe it’s just a California thing.
Only you can really decide if you want to proceed, but I can tell you that court cases can be very frustrating and expensive. Expensive not just in money, but in time and stress, which is not trivial.
For that reason, I’ve left a couple slam dunk copyright cases on the table because the headache of suing wasn’t worth the relatively small payoff.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t proceed. I’m just offering a perspective. Good luck with whichever way you go. I’m pulling for you.
This is a hard one to decide I’m sure. It would pretty much lie in how much the guy owed me…sounds like you have spent ALOT of time on this. Personally I would say keep going but you should give yourself a little while to rest up emotionally from it…a couple of weeks at least, maybe a month. Then I would hit him with both barrels. Maybe have a free consult with a local lawyer and find out what steps you have to do and in what order…every stinkin little detail. Oh…and send everything you mail to him return receipt…that way you have some record of having sent things.
Maybe there’s someone out there in bloggyland with some legal expertise who can help you if you refile. It might be worth it if they owe you enough money.
You’re on Twitter, right? Send out a tweet asking for help. You never know.
I would refile.
It’s the principle of it all. Those dicks owe you money, and if they see that after a couple missteps you will not continue to get the money you deserve, maybe they will say “hm, if one Average Jane is discouraged after a couple of mistakes, I wonder how many others will get discouraged…..” ..And then we’re in trouble.
Refile, hun. Its a pain in the ass, but that is YOUR money, and you’ll be able to hold your head up and look back and be glad you stood up for yourself.
I’m so sorry to hear this, AAG. Unfortunately the law just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense sometimes. Logic tells you that if they were in court arguing about not being served, they were served! But justice is blind, or so they say.
I have been a lawyer for approximately 42 seconds, and already I’m amazed by the emotional toll that small claims cases take on people. I wish I could give you some advice, but at this stage of my career I pretty much can only guess at things. I second what people above had said…. surely there must be a seasoned Michigan litigator amongst your fan crowd who could give you a bit of pro bono advice?
the other sides sole purpose in life is to delay, make it difficult and draw it out until you give up. That’s how they do it.. “forgot a signature”?? Hah – that was calculated to delay, the only reason they had it this time was they just felt the risk of being censored was too great to try another “forgot the signature” – this time its a technicality they can pin on you, next time it will be something else.
I friend of mine was evicted and then wrongly sued for back-rent. Though the money was not much, he had just received 6-digits from his mothers will and felt it was morally right to fight it. So he counter-sued. After 2 years and running through *all* of the money he was no closer to any kind of resolution, and the umpteenth time the judge threw it out on technical grounds he dropped it.
You have to look coldly at the situation and make a logical decision on cost versus “rightness” – but realize its VERY possible that you will NEVER have enough money/time to follow it all the way.
Refile – what’s rightfully yours is rightfully yours. So you made a mistake, the Courts are a mess anyway, nobody helps you figure any of their lingo out.
Still doesn’t change the facts, you did the work, you deserve to get paid for it. Don’t let them escape that responsibility over a simple mistake. Also, once you do this you will have the last laugh. =) good luck Aag!
p.s. when you refile, make sure you submit an affidavit explaining the reasoning for the refiling. Make sure you include dates, times, and conversations (with back up if you have… i.e. emails or registered mail)… this will make it alot easier on the judge, should you get a new one reassigned to you.
lol one more thing… technically if the other side filed something that was lacking signature, they too had to re-serve you the amended motion or response. So make sure you find out if they slipped and mention it as well.
OK finally done! =)
And please remember that the purpose of the courts is not to directly serve justice, to facilitate one side or another, or help you with your complaint.
Their purpose is to make sure the laws are adhered to, that each side is treated equally, and spend time deciding cases not being people’s legal resources (which some comments seem to presume!)
Imagine how upsetting it would be if they let your mistake slide? How would you feel if someone brought suit against you improperly yet was allowed to?
Finally around here, clerks are clear that they may not give advice. Following what one says doesn’t help you. For legal advice seek an attorney?
But even then expect mistakes and for things to be delayed and put off and go to an entirely different schedule then anyone in a productive environment could stay in business with!
Thankfully the law always makes sense, is always pedantic, it always requires specific procedural details, and you have already weeded out the first issue–now that you have gotten part of the way there, why not finish off instead of losing your investment?
Finally it’s not my place, but how is there “sense” in “releasing” the debt to the universe so to speak? I would phrase that as paying them to take advantage of you. Not having people account for the harm they do is toxic to the universe imo, and contributing to their perpetrating that behavior to harm someone else!
Oh, darn them, why not just be fair? I know there are always two sides to every story, but who the heck would devote this much time to something if they weren’t sure about their position?
I dropped my link to them awhile back, and told them to remove mine from their site when they contacted me about it. Not willing to support unethical people in any way, shape or, form. I would think you could do them quite a bit of damage on here and other places you write. Politely, of course, and always the truth. But if they’ll screw you, they’ll screw others. People take themselves wherever they go.
Energy is energy. Will be interesting to see how you end up deciding what the cost/benefit ratio is to continue.
There is a process that needs to be filed. It is to protect the innocent, but the guilty are the one’s who seem to take advantage of it.
If you are in the right (which I believe you are), refile. If you let him slide, you are encouraging his behavior. He will do it again. He will keep doing it until he is no longer cost effective to do it. You may want to call the lawyer and ask of there is a settlement offer. When there isn’t refile. They are counting on you quitting (which I think was the commenter’s consensus when you started this saga).
If you think you aren’t in the right, fold your tent.
Refile. It sounds as though someone offered an incentive and the case was dropped.
Offered an incentive? Explain?
My mother when through a long, drawn out, nasty law suit. The emotional toll was terrible on her. There were lots of shady dealings that when on, which surprised everyone considering the organization she was suing. In the end, she decided to just let it all go and dropped the lawsuit. The change I saw in her was immediate. A huge weight was lifted from her shoulders, and she instantly became a much happier person. Justice is a fine concept, but pragmatism can sometimes pay off more in the end.
I like your line about giving it up to the universe… Surely the universe has lovely business (so to speak) to send your way and EF has given you nothing but grief and they ain’t done yet.
That being said, I fought something in court to the bitter end and barely broke even. Was it worth it? Yep.
By incentive, I meant to imply that there is something shady about the way that the case was dropped. It seems that there was not sufficient reason to dismiss it, IMHO.
My advice to anyone is always not to sue if you can bring yourself not to — the process is horrible and rarely ends up providing the emotional satisfaction you seek, and only sometimes is the recovery worth the various costs of trial.
The specific problem of not having served the company is easily addressed, however, so maybe you want to try again. The law is at its most technical in regards to the rules about serving the initial complaint, so you may have better luck in the rest of the case.
If you didn’t have a case, that would be one thing but the fact that it got dismissed over *that* tells me you ought to re-file with a detailed explanation of WHY it’s necessary to do so.
FWIW, I really believe that letting this asshole get away with not paying you is wrong. Not because of the money, but because it reinforces his belief that he’s entitled to treat people this way.
Being dense here, but can’t you just hire a legal professional to do this “right” for you, and include the lawyer fees as part of the amount you are seeking?