Contractor delays final payment

mfarrauto · Post by **mfarrauto** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:13 pm

Here's an upcoming seminar that may be of interest for some of our Sacramento area surveyors.

sako · Post by **sako** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:46 pm

Mr. Woolley,
Thank you very much for this helpful guide.

land butcher · Post by **land butcher** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 12:42 pm

Thanks Dave

sako · Post by **sako** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 11:25 pm

Just to upate:
I waited for the snail mail to give him the certified letter until the day of court appearance. I went there, I was told I have to reschedule because the guy is not served. Now I have to hire a serving guy to do the job.
I should have gone with the serving company from the beginning and not waste my time with USPS.

Anthony Maffia · Post by **Anthony Maffia** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 10:57 am

I believe you can serve him personally, although he'll likely run away.

Did you request signature delivery? Then he signs when he gets it, and wouldn't that be proof?

sako · Post by **sako** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 11:57 pm

Anthony Maffia wrote:I believe you can serve him personally, although he'll likely run away.

Did you request signature delivery? Then he signs when he gets it, and wouldn't that be proof?

i can't personally serve him, it should be someone else. Apparently USPS didn't do the job, now I have to pay more.

Rob_LS · Post by **Rob_LS** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 5:52 am

Could one of your colleagues or friends in the area help you out. I've served papers for a friend before. Perhaps other surveyors in your area might not want to risk loosing work from him in the future, but I wouldn't want to risk working for him in the future.

sako · Post by **sako** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 12:25 pm

I hired a process serving company last week.I got a call from the contractor's office today, that he wants to settle. I told his secretary that I want to get my costs reimbursed, too. I haven't calculated it, yet. I want to ask you guys what I lawfully could collect from him. I am thinking of the cost for filing the case, hiring the processing company, appearing in court (wasting time),driving time of 2 hours, ...

E_Page · Post by **E_Page** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 2:17 pm

Very helpful guide, Dave. Thanks for making it available.

sako · Post by **sako** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:33 pm

Dave, I should thank you and Marisa for your time and help. I learned a lot from your manual. There is a form that I could fill out for costs, but this is after the judgment, this guy wants to settle before the court appearance. I want to know, for example if I can charge him interest from the day I delivered the topo map until now, even though I have no clause in my contract about it.
Also, how do I charge for the hours spent going to court and process server, do I charge my hourly rate, or just for the gas?

Jim Frame · Post by **Jim Frame** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 7:12 pm

If he wants to settle, you can negotiate anything you want, including interest. Whether he's likely to go for it or not is another matter.

I believe the only costs you can include in the judgment are direct expenses of filing the suit, e.g. process service. Your time isn't worth anything in the eyes of the court.

Once you get a judgment, interest starts accumulating at 10% simple from the date the judgment is entered, or the date an appeal is denied should he decide to appeal.

Collecting can be a bear if your client is savvy. I have an outstanding judgment from 2007 in the amount of $5,445.00. It'd be worth around $8k today, but the guy doesn't own anything in his name and I can't collect. Very frustrating...

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