If there is a chance that some of the losses can be retrieved, it is better to just turn the whole thing over to a lawyer. For me, it was fun to just sit back and follow proceedings as if i were unrelated to the problem.
My neighbor was living in a house with only about two feet of crawl space with only a dirt floor. He wanted a walk in cellar and asked if I could do the excavation for him. I had a small skid-stead with a small backhoe mounted. I did the digging and he wanted to do the poured foundation. I agreed to purchase the concrete (he was to pay for the material). I suggested that he should call me before ordering the concrete so i could be sure his form work was ok. He called and i took one look. The whole thing would have collapsed with the first shot of concrete down the chute. I went to work and reinforced the entire form work. I told him I would fix the forms and pour the concrete as a good neighbor, but he owed me for the digging, grading and doing the block work to close in the opening and all materials involved.
When finished and the job closed in, he refused to pay me anything. I was a tad upset and let him know. My wife even more angry, so i sort of downplayed my own grievance and told her I would eventually get even with the guy. But i was boiling inside. a couple of nites later, i was awakened to my wife's yelling at me. I must have been dreaming as i had given her a hard kick in the butt. We both went back to sleep, but on my part, i was even more aggravated. Two nites later, i was again awakened by my wife's rather loud complaint. I wouldn't say she was screening, but she was using language in a way i was not used to hearing from her. I must have been dreaming again, because I had the visual proof in front of my in the form of teeth marks in her shoulder. I had evidently bitten quite hard. I decide right then to call a lawyer before I did more damage to my poor wife. (today, she laughs about it)
As soon as I got an appointment with the lawyer, I became relaxed. In court, I was almost laughing as the neighbor told one lie after another. I don't think the judge believed any of what he was being told by my neighbor. We were sitting at a table in front of the judge and I was right between the two lawyers. After an hour or so of debate, my lawyer tore into the neighbor with a series of rapid-fire questions. The neighbor was becoming very flustered and trying to insist I was doing the job for nothing. I don't recall the question; but it was something about (very sarcastically) did he expect me to do the whole job for nothing.
My neighbor, by then was beside himself with confusion and he blurted out "No body does anything for nothing any more." His lawyer buried his head on the table with a long groan. The judge just about jumped out of his chair. My lawyer had a problem keeping a straight face. The judge said the case was closed.
There is a whole lot more to this story, but won't go further for now. The post script is:
A few year later, I got a phone call from somebody I did not recognize. He told me I sounded as if i did not know him. I agreed that was the case. He went on that a few years back, I had taken a neighbor to court over an unpaid bill. It seems that he was my neighbor's lawyer. My heart sank. Was he going to try to get hie money back or was he going to sue me for something else? No. the man wanted me to do a set of stone steps for him. Whew!!!
When i was looking over the job, I told him I was a little puzzled. He had spent two hours trying to prove in court that I was a total idiot, a cheat and various other uncomplimentary observations. His reply, "Obviously, we lawyers don't always believe what we are trying to prove."
I ended up doing the steps and a year or so later, I ended up taking care of his landscaping and snow plowing. The other funny thing about the situation, i also ended up doing masonry and landscaping for my own lawyer at about the same time.
So, after nearly destroying my poor wife's faith in me, i ended up having fun (yes, I really did have fun) in court. I got my money. I made friends with both lawyers, neither of whom i had ever known before my court case and ended up doing work with my closing down masonry biz as well as a few years work in my landscaping biz for both of them. How much better could it be?
![[wink]](https://www.festoolownersgroup.com/Smileys/default/winksmiley.gif "Wink")
Tinker
PS: neighbor moved out, never to be seen or heard of again.
