Hopefully a simple question here. I needed some emrgency work done on our house last year and called in a plumber. He started the work, left it undone, then came back after 3 weeks (when I wasn't home) and completed it. I called him about an invoice and didn't receive an answer until a bill came in the mail for twice what he had originally quoted. (unfortunately the quote was verbal, my big mistake!) I attempted to communicate with him several times with no success. I then got a series of (what I consider) harassing phone calls for payment. Recently I received a summons I'm my mailbox from small claims court (regulat first class mail, no receipt, certification, etc.) looking for payment.

My own fault here, but I missed the court date, so (I believe) a judgement was entered against me. While I'm not happy about the situation, I really have no one to blame but myself for letting it go for so long.

My question is do I just pay the contrator directly for the amount he sued for? Should I wait for paperwork from the court? How does the judgment get removed? I live in a small rural community in NYS, and unfortunately everybody knows everything around here, so I just want to clean this up as quickly and quietly as possible. I'm not happy with the quality of work done or the price charged, but since I dropped the ball here I don't think there's any point in me prolonging the issue.

Thanks for any and all advice.

Check with the Clerk's office at the courthouse to see if a Judgment has been entered against you first.

Assuming a default judgement was entered, you don't get it "removed". All you can do is have it marked satisfied or paid in full.

Contact the court to a) make sure the judgement was entered and b) how to get it marked satisified. You will probably need to pay the contractor and get a statement from that that it was paid.

First class mail is not usually adequate to serve you with process.

Be that ias it may, if in fact a judgment has been entered, demand a satisfaction of judgment (http://forms.lp.findlaw.com/form/courtforms/state/nc/nc000495.pdf)from the judgment creditor at the time you pay him. Don't pay without getting this document, completed and signed by him. Then file it in court.