I hired this person in 2007 as a voice over talent sub contractor. The work involved doing gay voice talents for a popular social networking phone company, Pilgrim Telephone of Lexington, MA
Mr. Smith performed the work as requested. As the main contractor for Pilgrim Telephone I would have to wait to get paid from Pilgrim in order to pay Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith understood this as part of the sub contract. During the end of his tenure, Pilgrim Telephone was late in paying me monies due for my work and that of Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith did not understand this and on 7/2 he filed a civil small claims suit, docket # 200787SC000336 for damages of $600.00 in past work wages.
On July 4th, I had broken my knee and was in an imobilizer for most of the summer and was told not to walk on the knee for at least 60 days. I got a summons for court to appear on August 22 that Mr. Smith was suing me for the money owed to him.incidentially, the money was OWED to him rightfully, but the story gets better.
The day I got the summons, I wrote to the clerk of Natick District Court. The woman's name was Sally and I explained to her that I could not make it and attached a doctors statment. She returned my letter stating that Mr. Smith did NOT want to postpone the hearing as he did not believe my injury.
Against my doctor's advice I had to take the commuter rail 30 miles to the court house to have the default removed. The head clerk saw me in the cast and the doctor's note and he granted the motion to remove the default and continued the case to October 4. The clerk told me that he had to call Mr. Smith and inform him. I overheard the conversation and I could hear Mr. Smith screaming that "he won" and no one can take away a judgement. The clerk was calm with him and told him I was standing in the lobby and he saw me in the cast with the doctor's note and that seemed to annoy Mr. Smith and he hung up on the clerk.
On October 4, again I had to travel all the way to Natick District Court. The clerk that was in charge that day heard Mr. Smith and told him that I was always late with my payments and that he needed the money so he didnt complain. When I told the clerk that I did owe Mr. Smith the money and needed a payment plan that I presented to Mr. Smith without any legal involvement, Mr. Smith refused. The clerk asked what I could afford, I told him I was on SSDI and that under the law, I did not have to pay if that was my only source of income. The clerk agreed and allowed me to pay VOLUNTARILY. I told him I would try to pay between $50-$100 per month for a year. Everyone agreed and we left.
I started paying Mr. Smith the monies via money order and certified mail from October September. If I was late with a payment I would email Mr. Smith and he would usually be cordial and tell me that it was "OK". At one point I could only afford $50.00 per month and he told me that if I could only afford $50.00 to pay off it would be fine with him.
On September 3 after getting my SSDI payment, I got a money order for $50.00 to pay the debt off, an additonal money order for $10.00 to cover any time and notarization that needed to be done to show the courts that the debt was paid as it also appears on my credit report. I mailed a complete package to the address that was on file with the courts and the usual address I mailed them to: 25 Fairway Circle, Natick, MA 01760.
I emailed Mr. Smith that the final payment was on its way to him and it would be there via USPS Priority mail. He emailed me back stating he moved to his new address and DID NOT inform the post office in Natick of his change of address. He said it was MY responsibilty to find out his address and be more responsible for my paying of my debt.
After the post office going out of their way to get the package pack so I could resend it to his new address, I did that on September 16. Guess what? The new package is sitting at his new post office as of today, September 25. He states that when he feels like getting it he will and he has NO obligation to get it. He further stated since I put him through a misfortune that he is returning the favor in kind.
This man is using the law in his own hands to make me look bad. The poor clerk Sally at Natick District Court got my copied package and just closed the case.
Now I am out all of the fees of mailing him, the court, having to remail it to his new address. I think Mr. Smith might respond when on October 4, the anniversary of our court date that I sue him for all of the money order fees to pay him, the certfied letter fees to send the payments and the priority mail postage to send him TWO TIMES the package to him and I sent him a POSTAGE PAID envelope to send me back any paperwork that he needed to send me back to boot.
This man needs to STOP being the victim all the time and you think that the court systems had a link of all the times he has filed similar suits against former people he has contracted or sub-contracted for. Did anyone know his wife Hali was a SCHOOL teacher and knew her husband was doing GAY voice overs for a gay dating chat line? HMMMMMMMM. Now we do.
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