Small Claims Court - it's easy sm
Posted By: Jamie on 2008-09-13
In Reply to: Anybody hired a lawyer to get money owed from MTSO? - BrokeMT
a few years back, i worked part-time for a one-woman company who had a psych hospital account. All was great until she went through a mid-life crises, kicked her husband out, got a tattoo, changed everything about her, and then had me doing all the work... the last month i worked for her, she owed me $3,300 and refused to pay... wouldn't answer my calls or her door... so i took she and her company to small claims court... she didn't show up for that either and i was awarded the judgment via default. I filed a wage garnishment with the psych hospital and they promptly terminated her contract... so then i filed a lien against her house and 3 years later when she sold it, i got paid... I did all of this without any help from an attorney - piece o' cake...I had the sheriff's department serve her, which was like $25 or so, and then whatever filing fees, which were minimal... good luck to you!
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Small claims court
Write a final demand letter, registered, signed receipt requested and tell them that you are seeking legal action against them and will be seeing them in small claims court. Whatever state their business name is registred, go online and see who are the registered owners and their addresses, etc. and send copies of letters to all. Give then 14 days (10 working days) to respond and if they don't file in small claims court. Hopefully you have a copy or can get a copy from your back of the checks you deposited so that you can put a lein on their checking accounts when you win in court. Check on line with your state for small claims court as if they are located in another state -- I don't know if that makes a difference. But check it all out. If you can't afford an attorney -- seek legal aide in your city. Good luck.
Try Small Claims Court.
I would definitely file in small claims court
against her. Not sure about the subpoena part - I do not know how that works. Believe once you file it is up to the court to notify her. You may not get your money even if you win the judgement but you can then let the credit bureaus know, etc., and eventually it will catch up with her. Best of luck and so sorry you are experiencing this!
Agree with Small Claims Court.
//
Got pictures? If so, take 'em to small claims court!
I took my pics and the signed walk-through with me. They were smug throughout, but I won and they had to return a BUNCH of my deposit! It pays to have a rather suspicious minds these days, I guess!
could you at least file in you local small claims court?
where the employer is located. My local county charges $50 for serving out of state notices on small claim issues. You would stand a greater chance of obtaining a judgement as the chances of the owner coming to your state would be small. Once you get a judgement and failure to pay, you can file a lien against the company. If they ever want to buy anything on credit, it would show up and they would be denied until they paid you, then another 7 years to roll off the credit report.
Sue him in small claims court for breach of contract
x
File a suit i Small Claims Court! -nm
*
Anyone with experience with small claims court in NJ??? I guess I am going to have to go that route
to try and get money that is owed me and to complicate things I don't live in that State. If anyone has any info to offer I would greatly appreciate it. I know times have been tough for some of us but after 9+ years I can't believe it has come to this. Thanks in advance for any help or words of wisdom you can offer.
Why not sue in small claims (sm)
You have a business contract with them. It's not a paycheck we are talking about. It's payment for services rendered. Are they going to send someone to your state to defend it? Probably not!
Small Claims
If you go down to the courthouse they will help you step by step. Or perhaps by now it is on line in your state. If she is an MSW or LCSW the state will have a copy of her license and you can also get her address that way. You make out the papers, at least I did, and provide the address to serve her at and they will mail them to her place of employment if that is the only address you have. But the courts are helpful, at least they were in Oregon, and showed me how to do the business as well as personal. Good luck. May I ask why she said she wasn't going to pay you? Just curious.
Small claims
You have a right to be paid for services rendered. If I were you, I'd go ahead and work until the date that you have already told them and then take them to small claims court for the amount they owe you. Of course, this is assuming that you have kept accurate records. You would need those in court. And, I'd also tell your other clients ahead of time what is going on to reassure them that you are doing this as a last resort.
Small claims does not mean anything
in Atlanta. I do not know how it is in your town but I filed 1 and told right up front it was up to me to collect, even if I won. I think it was a complete waste of my time- the fellow had no checking acct, no home in his name, nothing that I could go after.
Small Claims
Don't forget to ask for filing fees and court costs. The judge can't give them to you if you don't ask for them. And you will win.
Small claims will not help you sm
I've wasted my time with that - after you win nobody makes them pay you.
small claims SM
Don't waste your time and hope. No one makes anyone pay anything from small claims.
Thank you both! I am going to file in small claims. nm
x
Unless local, and can pursue in small claims, then she will end up sm
spending more money that she will ever get back. Write if off. Move on. Learn from the experience.
Question regarding small claims and ex-employer.TIA
Has anybody ever filed a small claims suit against an employer that was in a different state? I need to file small claims suit for wages that are owed, but I am in a different state as the company. Does anybody know how to go about this?
You could take him to small claims to get expenses and pain and suffering.
:+
I agree. Bean-counters desperately wanting to believe the exaggerated claims for SR make them easy
x
Used it with a small service. Didn't find it as easy as ExText. nm
s
Has anyone had court reporter training or looked into court reporting?
I am thinking about taking a distance learning course in court reporting and I was just wondering if anyone has tried it, done it, looked into it and what they have found out. If you have gone to school for it or are going to school for it or know anything about court reporting could you share what you know with me? I have been in the transcription field for 15 years and I thought that might be something that I could bridge over to pretty easily, but not sure. Any comments on this idea? Thanks everyone for your help! 
last time I was in court -- no court reporter
I have taken my ex back to court a few times in the past couple of years and there was no court reporter in the room... In fact it was mentioned that they make a recording of the proceedings and then it is transcribed... I just asked a simple question if anybody knew if this job could be done at home and based on my experience it would make sense that it could be. No need to get nasty.
small mentality usually means small pocketbook
Still make more than you and I but that is deserved. They've put the effort forward and educated themselves.
The easy answer, taking all the easy work and
x
I do not know how he claims everything, but
I just know he does. He is also a great accountant that has been doing some of my family members' taxes for years as well. I trust him. He gives a guarantee he will back you if you get audited, so I cannot see him doing anything illegal.
Someone there who claims to be a
CMT and she is not either. Scary place.
It claims to be used for tapes, can this be used for wav files also? nm
x
Insurance claims manager...
x
I do insurance claims work
I've been doing it for over 8 years, but unfortunately I'll be losing it to a company who's going to do it digitally (I do tapes) in July. I sort of just fell into it. I knew someone who worked there that knew I needed a part-time job. Have you thought also about just general transcription. There's a board that I frequent that has a lot of companies that do general and legal work. The good thing about a lot of these companies is they're very, very flexible. There are some that don't require any number of lines, reports, etc. If they have work they ask if you'd like it and you can say yes or you can decline. I plan on sending out a lot of resumes to these companies when I'm through in July with insurance work.
so he claims, but kennebunkport, ME and CT is true home...nm
x
Wow, are you dense or what? He claims a bunch of stuff but
you have against thinking that maybe Sherri (SHE) might be telling the truth? It sounds like you have a grudge or maybe you're the guy who took over?
I type fire claims/investigation reports
It's really easy work and pays pretty good. It's also nice to have a break from medical, but some of the reports are really sad to type. I do the work for a local fire chief that has a side business and he investigates a lot of car accidents when the car catches on fire. A lot of times there are fatalities involved, and they usually involve children too. They can get pretty gruesome when they go into detail though. I get paid by the page and most of the time I type depo summaries, which are just highlighted parts of the deposition that I type into a summarized report. I actually put an ad in the local paper for transcription work and got this account. It's only about $400/month, but I do MT part time too.
Well, Word is easy to buy and easy to install. Word 97 works great. Cheap. SM
I still would not work anywhere I could not use a spell checker with grammar checker and a Steadman's Medical Spell Checker.
IF they want people to TRANSCRIBE MEDICAL REPORTS, then I guess they better get the programs they need.
It's like probably 110% easier to buy and install Word 97 than to try to program their own programming. And, yes, I do mean Microsoft Word 97. Why? Because you can install it unlimited times, in case you need to install the operating system again. And it has a few features that Microsoft, in its un-wisdom, took away in Word 2000 and 20003 and 2007. So, yes, I'd go with Word 97 for its cheapness and it works better than the later versions. Just my opinion, with 20 years experience being an MT. So what if they "don't have it" on their computer? It's easy to get.
Instant Text claims compatibility with all word-based programs
I have used it with Word, PowerScribe, ExText, and a program based on MS Office online, the name of which escapes me. Works great.
Court?
Thought I had a great, lengthy report the other day, for it to be over 7 minutes of one physician talking with another about getting sued by a patient due to overmedicating - the patient overmedicated, but the doctor prescribed the meds. Anyway - have any of you ever had to go to court and testify? This, along with Dr.Infection (almost every report I get is someone who has had surgery and now is infected - and this is not an infectious disease physician but the surgeon), I am wondering if I will ever get called in. I can't believe that none of these patient's are suing. Just wanted to vent and get someone's take on this.
DMV/Traffic Court
Out here in CA, if you have unpaid tickets, a warrant is issued. So when you show up at DMV or the court house, you most probably will have to pay right away or explain to a justice why you need an extension to pay. They probably wont want to hear the argument that it was your sister cause you dont have proof. You will be responsible and then you can kick your sisters butt or sue her. I have a friend who had outstanding speeding ticket and the cops came to her house, arrested her and she had to spend the weekend in jail till Monday when her boyfriend was able to bring the money to the court house.
Out here, we have cameras at stop lights and on different roads..So when someone is exceeding the speed limit or goes through a red light, the camera takes a picture. You never see an officer, you receive the ticket in the mail and they have the picture for proof. Good luck to you.
Court Hearings
I have been offered a job to supplement my medical transcription job. The job is transcribing court hearings.
court reporting
I have a friend who did court reporting for many years. She made excellent money, but had back trouble and neck, arm and carpal tunnel problems. The machine she had to tote around is quite heavy, even in a roller suitcase, was not easy, especially if elevators were out and she had to be on the third floor. Of course, no one ever offered to help her with the suitcase. She did her own editing and printing out of all her depositions and made probably $70,000 to $85,000 per year attending all the courts and taking depositions. She gave it up because of her hands and back and is now a paralegal. after going to college for that. She loved it though and used to call me for medical words she was stuck on....
Court Reporting
I actually graduated from CR school in Iowa and use my machine to transcribe. I would never discourage anyone from trying, but be aware that is very difficult to learn and achieving speeds takes dedication and a lot of time and practice. It sure isn't as easy as it looks, but the payoff is great in the end. I couldn't transcribe w/out my machine!
COURT REPORTING???
Has anyone out there ever thought of going from being an MT to court reporting? I have been transcribing for almost 15 years now. I know that the pay scale is better for court reporters, and there are schools that offer on-line classes now. I just wonder what the job prospects were. I have only known 2 court reports and both of them were working as MTs. Any info, anybody? Thanks
court reporting
I often think about court reporting too. I was told just recently by a court reporter if I was going to do it to go into real time reporting, don't know much about it, other than it is doing caption work for live tv.
court reporting
She's right, there are no jobs...they're all held by people who have no intention of giving them up and the rest of the court reporters are doomed to working for services. How do I know? My daughter attended a local college for this, finished the course with excellent grades and looked for a job but could not find an opening within reasonable distance. Tuition is horribly expensive also, so she's now in debt to the tune of approximatey 14,000 dollars, luckily it's Sallie Mae and is at 2.12%. Don't do it! This job is just too hard on your body and mind (if you do get a job, all you'll be hearing is about murders, drug deals, divorces and child abuse), and who needs that? In West Virginia, a court reporter starts out at 13,000 a year -you could make that McDonald's, easy, without having to repay an education loan. The local college's ads say Make $60,000 a year your first year...that is also bs. It's more like $28,000.
why would YOU get called into court?
All you know is what is in the medical record. You have nothing else to do with it...
Court Reporting vs MT
Hello all ! Years ago I considered getting into court reporting, but back then I remember being told you only get paid PER PAGE/LINE, and not for your time in the court room when you're recording the cases. Recently I was told a court reporter gets anywhere from $3 to $5 per page.
Does anyone have any info on how payment for court reporters works? Is the above true? I thought MT was a better-paying position, as the whole go-to-work-and-jot-down-the-text part was eliminated - and we (used to) make good money doing MT.
Any info would be interesting! Thanks !
Court reporting (see m)
Hi - if you work for a court, you are paid an annual salary plus benefits, starting around 50k per year, just for sitting in court and taking down the proceedings and even if no one orders a transcript. On top of that, you also get transcript fees (if anyone orders a transcript) of $3 to $5 per page and more if you provide RealTime. Most court days come out to about 250 pages of transcript, so if someone orders even the cheapest transcript that's $750 right there.
Court reporting is much more lucrative than MT if you can get a full-time job with a court.
If you freelance and take depositions, then you can charge the parties an appearance fee for showing up, plus the transcript per-page fee, but it's usually a bit less lucrative than a courthouse position.
court reporting
thanks for the info! It's a better position than I was aware !
Court action
I am not sure what your limit is for small claims court, it used to be $3500 here but know it has changed. If it is more than one doctor in practice, you need to find out how they are listed through their business license, etc. through the state. They helped me at the courthouse how to do this as it had to be listed exactly. If you want to make a last ditch effort and make sure it isn't just the office manager that is not paying you, send a certified letter to each doctor that has to be signed by them and them only outlining what you will be doing and why. You can act as your own collection agency instead of paying someone a commission to collect the money from you. That is why I always keep on file a copy of their checking account number that they pay me on as I did sue once and we used it to collect the funds. Also if the 7K is over the amount of small claims, then perhaps breaking out each individual doctor is under the amount. But that is a pretty big amount and cannot believe that you let it go that high unless it is a large account and that is only one to two month's worth. But again, try to get the correspondence directly to the docs as sometimes they do not know that the bill is going unpaid. Good luck, let us know what happens. Hopefully you are no longer providing service to this clinic. Do some digging and get home address phone numbers if you are that gutsy and for that amount I would probably do it.
Again, good luck.
Court transcription
Most of court recordinds are now done on CD's during the hearings. If someone wants a transcript you can buy the CD. I have done some when they were on tapes and they are not wasy to transcribe with voices coming over voices, not being able to hear clearly, etc. A friend of mine works for an atty and she sometimes has to transcribe the CD's and she has torecord them over to tapes to transcribe -- now not sure if they would work with a .WAV pedal or not. But again, it is worse than insurance depositions or interviews as someone is always talking over someone else and it is hard to place the microphone where everyone that says something says it. And you never know when someone will want one transcribed. I acatually got a CD from my divorce hearing.
Court recordings
Well over half and probably 75% of court recordings are now on CD's as well as dispositions and are being transcribed only if necessary or requested and many times at home by some of us.
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