Anyone ever taken anyone to small claims court?
I'm dealing with a bullsh*t f*cking deadbeat client who isn't paying for some freelance work.
Not sure if its worth it to take him to court for less than a grand, or if I should just do what I can to make sure his studio doesn't get any more work..

The age old question, pull teeth to get paid legally or crush his business?

As long as you screw him over and dont lose any money, take his ass. Show a bastard that its not ok to treat freelancers like shit. What an asshole.

you have clients that actually pay for work?? i guess i put the 'free' in freelance

Yeah?
I've never done it but I cant see any way I would lose, I've got the work, emails with invoices and agreements and evidence that he must have just pocketed the money meant for artists on the project.


Haha I hear ya! I actually have two deadbeats right now, but the other I'm not as worried about, it came from a more legit source.
This guy just feels like a scumbag

they're all scumbags

I am pretty sure some are also superstars.

great white buffalo

Has anyone ever done the small claims court thing before?
Crushing him sounds like less work.. but it means I can't buy as many toys.

Ask yourself what your time is worth before you move forward...

It will cost you to file.
It will cost you to have him served.
It will cost you in time and gas to get the ball rolling.

Once in court if you prove your case and win, you still have to collect. Just because you win does NOT guarantee that you will ever get paid. Though I am a firm believer in setting precedents (I feel McDonald's should have gone the distance with that dumb I FART A LOT who spilled coffee on herself), small claims isn't going to do much in the way of creating a society of honest people. Court is stressful, more so for the plaintiff and it can get costly. So again, you have to ask yourself what your time is worth.

May be better to write the loss off on next years taxes and spread the word that he/she is a deadbeat *

Good luck either way you go



* not to be confused with that shitty little lump of wasted virgin vinyl

You should start now. You'll sue a lot of people in your life and the earlier you do it the better you'll be at it

Thanks! Yeah that's what I've been afraid of. The work already had a low budget, then all the expenses I've heard associated with scc and how winning doesn't necessarily mean you'll see that money.. sigh..
I hadn't thought of writing the loss off, thanks for that!

Here is the work in question, if anyone is interested. I did 95% of the animation on these. Not my best work, low budget.. but here they are:

Take him to small claims and if you are owed the money and can show it, you will get a judgment. There are many simple ways to collect, and he will have to pay those costs too, as well as the filing fees and service costs. Don't be seen as weak, as someone who values their talen and work so little that others can steal from you, because that is what it is.

Just be sure to show clearly that you have an agreement and what the terms are, that you fulfilled your part fully and that he did not and what you are owed because of it. Since this is for work, generally you can only include damages for what you are owed from him on the agreement with no money for the "pain and suffering" his failure to pay you has caused you. Pain and suffering is generally for personal injury cases, not failure to pay on contracts. Make sure you take copies of everything you want to show to substantiate your claim to the court (3 copies -- one for you, one for the court, and one for the dirtbag). And, most of all, be differential and and respectful to the judge. Don't speak over anyone. Since it is your case, generally you will speak first and only the judge can interrupt until you are done, then the dirtbag gets his turn without you jumping in. Wait until he finishes to tell the Judge all the ways he has lied to try to get out of paying you. This is life. Don't run from your responsibility to yourself to show him and the world that your time and talent is valuable and that you will not be ripped off. Others will respect you for this.
Good luck.

I can only speak for MA and I recommend filing ASAP!!!!

I did a bunch of work for a nation-wide car share service which will remain unnamed as a result of our settlement. They never paid me after my services were rendered and avoided all my emails and phone calls. Eventually I was so desperate I spent the $40-$60 bucks to file in small claims (this was probably 5-6 years ago).The catch in MA is you can only take them for a max of 2K and they owed me closer to 4K.

I had prepared for months and destroyed them in court. Unfortunately, I only got 2K of the 4K they owed me. However, I will say the gratification you feel when you verbally/argumentally destroy some asshole representing an poorly run national corporation is worth the 2K I lost. There were multiple instances where I got to stand up and shout "show me your documentation" which they had none. I still get a half boner when I think of that day in court!!!!!!

My word of advice is to always confront your enemy ASAP in clear legal terms. They'll never expect it!

I checked your profile, and it looks like you are in San Diego, so the small claims limit is $10,000. You have 2 years after breach of an oral contract to file, and 4 years after the breach (when the dirtbag refused or failed to pay) on a written contract. California makes it easy to do a small claims case, and even with cut-backs, there should be a small claims advisor available at the locale court. The the Superior Court website for the County you are in and read up. The forms should also be available on-line.

Crush his head.

And while it's true that the court can't actually make him pay you anything - you will have a judgement against him if you win. That judgement may affect his credit + make it hard for him to borrow money / buy a car or house / etc. (maybe even rent a apartment?).. So a good question to ask yourself is this - " Is he the kind of person who wouldn't want a judgement against him on file?" ..... It may take a long time, but you never know when he'll want to do something and can't because the money he owes you (plus interest) has not been paid. Then he will HAVE to pay you in order to clear the judgement off his record.

Thanks everyone for all the information! I do think I will pursue taking him to small claims court. The more I (and the other artists involved) have talked about this the more artists have come out saying that they have been stiffed by this guy too.
Because I'm dumb enough to have a conscience I am going to give him another week to settle, and then I am going to move forward with suing him. But this guy needs to be stopped so I am going to continue to do everything I can to raise awareness of his bad practices and his sham of a studio!
I'm wondering if, depending on the total amount he's scammed from artists, if we could also bring criminal charges against him. I know of at least 10 artists and 2 projects that he's dodged fulfilling his contracts.

Further, if any of you would like to share a post exposing this guy on FB you can go to my page https://www.facebook.com/nick.bane.507 and share the post we've been passing around about this. It's a couple posts down, you can read the comments on the original post to see the guy get reamed!
Or copy and paste this
"ATTENTION ALL ARTISTS! Beware of SwampApe studios and Von Kreep. I, as well as several other artists worked for him on a recent project of animated shorts and he has failed to pay us. We contacted the client directly and they told us that he had been paid already to which he then told us "you won't be receiving compensation" so he basically kept all the money for himself. Do NOT trust him. Stay alert guys"
If you don't want to share that's totally fine, just putting it out there!

Jon, that woman who sued McDonald's was totally justified. The true story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v. ... estaurants

Happens to me at least once a year with freelance clients. As long as you have records of phone calls and emails etc... then you should be fine. I started to use contracts a few years ago and that has come in very handy. I have even recorded conversations before and did let them know so they knew I was doing it and its funny in court when they then say they never said or agreed to anything then you produce the evidence... priceless

I have never not got my money back either but it is a pain and can get stressful and very time consuming but again it sometimes isnt worth the hassle if its only for a few $

Thanks for the info, yeah I'm going to start using written contracts, most of my jobs have me sign a contract before I start working even.. This guy is just a douche..
I have lots of emails, records of phone calls, copies of all the work, and even evidence that he's lied about where the money went. I may never see the money for this but I want to stop his bullshit.
Its pretty futile but I want to help put an end to abusive studio employers, doing what I can to bury this studio.