Hi all,
I'm DESPERATE! I took a flooring company to small claims court in May. We live in a VERY RURAL area, and the small town court that I had to go to has two Justices of the Peace, one of whom is related to and close friends with the owner of the company I sued! The store owner counter-sued me for, among other things, $499.87, which was the balance owed on my account that I have withheld paying until the job was completed and repaired, which still has never happened.
Obviously, the case was heard before the other Judge, who, after 28 days of deliberating, found in my favor, stating that the work was not done in a timely manner, and was of substandard workmanship; he DISMISSED the counterclaim as "being without merit". I sued for the replacement costs of the flooring, which was originally installed in 1999, and has been replaced in whole once, in part twice, and is still installed incorrectly. From the photos I presented, the judge found that the flooring "has deteriorated considerably, and continues to deteriorate." BUT, instead of awarding me the maximum allowed, $3,000, which does not completely cover the amount of the estimates that I submitted, he took the 1999 value of the flooring, $2,281.90, divided that in half for the use that I had of the flooring over the past 5½ years, and set the judgement at $1,155.95. This made no sense to me, as he seems to have found the company to be wholly responsible for the condition my floor is in, but only fractionally liable??
I followed the letter of the law in pursuit of collection, waiting three weeks after receiving the judgement before writing a letter requesting payment within thirty days. There is a 30 day appellate period in NY, so by the time I was allowed to proceed to the income execution phase, the appellate time had been expired for three weeks. Five days before the date I could begin the income execution, I received a letter from the defendant, stating that he had contacted the court and was arguing the amount of the judgement, claiming that the $499.87 that was still due on the account, should have been deducted from the judgement. He included a check in the amount of $656.08, which I RETURNED to him UNCASHED. Two days before I was to begin income execution, I received another letter from the defendant, which included a copy of a letter from the Judge, which stated that the $499.87 was not part of the lawsuit, and he had the right to pursue collection from me??!!!
I called the court and was told by the clerk that the judge made a mistake in that letter, and that the judgement stood as previously stated. Two days later, THE day was supposed to be able to begin further pursuit of my judgement, I received a letter from the court, stating that I was NOT to proceed to the income execution, and that I was to appear before the judge again today, 9/8/2005, to clarify his judgement. Today, I was handed an amended judgement which now states that the court finds in my favor in the amount of $1,155.95, "but allows the counterclaim of $499.87 for charges not paid in 1999"!!! AND, the $499.87 is being deducted AFTER the prorating, which lowers the judgement by another $234.94! When I asked if I could explain why I believed this to be wrong, I was told that I COULD explain anything I wanted, but that the judgement was made.
SO, the original judgement was set aside in favor of this new one, WITHOUT a formal appeal, but rather in response to letters written by the defendant to the court, no copies of which were sent to me! Correspondence regarding this debate from the court to the defendant were not sent to me as well. AND, the appellate time had expired, so HOW can this have happened?? Can the judge hear, what amounts to testimony, from the defendant, outside of my presence, without my knowledge or even any notice from the court, and without me being given ANY opportunity to rebut or refute that evidence? Does the judge have the legal right to just change his verdict two and half months later, and six weeks AFTER the expiration of the appellate time, and when NO formal appeal was made?? AND, WHY would my judgement be prorated from the original invoice amount, and then the $499.87 taken off that, instead of taking the $499.87 off the top, and then prorating the judgement based on what I ACTUALLY paid? And lastly, HOW can the judge write in his decision that the work was done poorly, is still incomplete, and that he owes me money in restitution....BUT, that I have to pay the remainder of the bill first?!!!!!
I intend to pursue an appeal, but I would GREATLY APPRECIATE any input anyone might have on HOW this can legally have happened!!!
THANKS SO MUCH!!
Joan
I'm DESPERATE! I took a flooring company to small claims court in May. We live in a VERY RURAL area, and the small town court that I had to go to has two Justices of the Peace, one of whom is related to and close friends with the owner of the company I sued! The store owner counter-sued me for, among other things, $499.87, which was the balance owed on my account that I have withheld paying until the job was completed and repaired, which still has never happened.
Obviously, the case was heard before the other Judge, who, after 28 days of deliberating, found in my favor, stating that the work was not done in a timely manner, and was of substandard workmanship; he DISMISSED the counterclaim as "being without merit". I sued for the replacement costs of the flooring, which was originally installed in 1999, and has been replaced in whole once, in part twice, and is still installed incorrectly. From the photos I presented, the judge found that the flooring "has deteriorated considerably, and continues to deteriorate." BUT, instead of awarding me the maximum allowed, $3,000, which does not completely cover the amount of the estimates that I submitted, he took the 1999 value of the flooring, $2,281.90, divided that in half for the use that I had of the flooring over the past 5½ years, and set the judgement at $1,155.95. This made no sense to me, as he seems to have found the company to be wholly responsible for the condition my floor is in, but only fractionally liable??
I followed the letter of the law in pursuit of collection, waiting three weeks after receiving the judgement before writing a letter requesting payment within thirty days. There is a 30 day appellate period in NY, so by the time I was allowed to proceed to the income execution phase, the appellate time had been expired for three weeks. Five days before the date I could begin the income execution, I received a letter from the defendant, stating that he had contacted the court and was arguing the amount of the judgement, claiming that the $499.87 that was still due on the account, should have been deducted from the judgement. He included a check in the amount of $656.08, which I RETURNED to him UNCASHED. Two days before I was to begin income execution, I received another letter from the defendant, which included a copy of a letter from the Judge, which stated that the $499.87 was not part of the lawsuit, and he had the right to pursue collection from me??!!!
I called the court and was told by the clerk that the judge made a mistake in that letter, and that the judgement stood as previously stated. Two days later, THE day was supposed to be able to begin further pursuit of my judgement, I received a letter from the court, stating that I was NOT to proceed to the income execution, and that I was to appear before the judge again today, 9/8/2005, to clarify his judgement. Today, I was handed an amended judgement which now states that the court finds in my favor in the amount of $1,155.95, "but allows the counterclaim of $499.87 for charges not paid in 1999"!!! AND, the $499.87 is being deducted AFTER the prorating, which lowers the judgement by another $234.94! When I asked if I could explain why I believed this to be wrong, I was told that I COULD explain anything I wanted, but that the judgement was made.
SO, the original judgement was set aside in favor of this new one, WITHOUT a formal appeal, but rather in response to letters written by the defendant to the court, no copies of which were sent to me! Correspondence regarding this debate from the court to the defendant were not sent to me as well. AND, the appellate time had expired, so HOW can this have happened?? Can the judge hear, what amounts to testimony, from the defendant, outside of my presence, without my knowledge or even any notice from the court, and without me being given ANY opportunity to rebut or refute that evidence? Does the judge have the legal right to just change his verdict two and half months later, and six weeks AFTER the expiration of the appellate time, and when NO formal appeal was made?? AND, WHY would my judgement be prorated from the original invoice amount, and then the $499.87 taken off that, instead of taking the $499.87 off the top, and then prorating the judgement based on what I ACTUALLY paid? And lastly, HOW can the judge write in his decision that the work was done poorly, is still incomplete, and that he owes me money in restitution....BUT, that I have to pay the remainder of the bill first?!!!!!
I intend to pursue an appeal, but I would GREATLY APPRECIATE any input anyone might have on HOW this can legally have happened!!!
THANKS SO MUCH!!
Joan
