In the process of negotiating money that someone owes me, and I've provided facts for why he owes me the money (actual work not completed, actual fraud in not being qualified--licensed--to perform task for which he was hired) and I am requesting that we settle out of court for the actual losses we've had is it extortion if I add that if he doesn't agree to settle I will continue to pursue other means of collecting my money, such as filing a comlaint with the attorney general, bringing a small claims suit, communicating with other clients with similar complaints to bring together a pattern to the attorney general, etc.

Second question: Is it extortion if I also find other wrong doings he's guilty of and report them to the proper authorities along the way of me filing my complaints that are intended to help me get a settlement? In other words, if in filing a complaint to the engineer licensing board if I discover this guy also has another aspect of his business that violates fair housing laws, and I take it as my duty to report it, is it a threat or extortion to tell him that since the last time I asked him to settle and he refused to negotiate I found this information and reported it?

Third question, is it extortion if I also tell my story to the media who is interested in the matter as a consumer protection issue?

I've never told any lies. I've never asked for any money beyond what I have actually lost.

This guy won't even talk to me, nor will his lawyer, every time I contact them.

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Originally Posted by wallabee4

In the process of negotiating money that someone owes me, and I've provided facts for why he owes me the money (actual work not completed, actual fraud in not being qualified--licensed--to perform task for which he was hired) and I am requesting that we settle out of court for the actual losses we've had is it extortion if I add that if he doesn't agree to settle I will continue to pursue other means of collecting my money, such as filing a comlaint with the attorney general, bringing a small claims suit, communicating with other clients with similar complaints to bring together a pattern to the attorney general, etc.?

Second question: Is it extortion if I also find other wrong doings he's guilty of and report them to the proper authorities along the way of me filing my complaints that are intended to help me get a settlement? In other words, if in filing a complaint to the engineer licensing board if I discover this guy also has another aspect of his business that violates fair housing laws, and I take it as my duty to report it, is it a threat or extortion to tell him that since the last time I asked him to settle and he refused to negotiate I found this information and reported it?

Third question, is it extortion if I also tell my story to the media who is interested in the matter as a consumer protection issue?

I've never told any lies. I've never asked for any money beyond what I have actually lost.

This guy won't even talk to me, nor will his lawyer, every time I contact them.

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I'm going to answer your questions with one question - why don't you just file a claim against him, go to Court, get your Judgment, collect what he owes you?

It's not your duty to report him and if you take any of these steps you could very well talk yourself right out of your money.

And, no, it's not extortion to say ONCE I am taking you to Court if you don't pay me. After that it can very well be harassment.

The other person's attorney does not have to talk to you any longer. They are just waiting until you file your lawsuit in court. So go file already and collect the money owed to you. You don't have to report this person in order to get your money to the above named agencies if you don't want to. You can report him but it is not necessary.

I already took him to court and he lied about having an arbitration in process so the small claims judge dismissed our case without prejudice saying we needed to finish with arbitration first. (I'm in the process of explaining that to the judge, but I suspect I need to pay new fees to file new cases now... ) Arbitration costs $3250 to prove fraud in inducement (which I can prove, but don't have the $ to get started.) I asked for my money back first and foremost. Then got no reply except a lien slapped onto my own property for money he still wants us to pay him (but he was past the time limit of when he last provided services to us to do so, so I'm just waiting out the lien period to expire if he doesn't push for enforcement within 8 months rather than contest the lien) and so I filed my complaints to the licensing boards, hoping they could get our $ back and the AG wanted a pattern so I searched for other clients and now hope the AG can get everyone's money back since we've found out we're hardly alone. It's past wanting my money back, I want to protect other consumers the way I was not protected. If the other clients had been more vocal, I might have known not to hire this guy. Now I get a letter from the lawyer suggesting I'm guilty of extortion.

Often people talk thierself into more legal trouble than they should,

You are either settling out of court or you are not, and in some states, if you threaten to take criminal charges out on them if they don't settle for money that is illegal, but if your attoreny does it that is negotiation.

In the end you have to do one thing and stict with it, I would advice stop talking to anyone but an attoreny and let them do it.

No offense, but isn't being a lawyer just like being an accountant? You reply upon fear and stupidity for your marketing. I can do my own taxes, why can't I fight my own legal battles?

I know the old quote about a lawyer representing himself has a fool for a client, so please don't quote it...

But I'm sincere, not sarcastic. I stop in here once in awhile for some guidance, but I usually find the caselaw/legal precedent I need on my own. I knew this jerk wouldn't cough up the money frm square one, but I have the time on my hands to help make sure other consumers won't have to face what we did. No different than reporting a child molester in your own family. You know everybody is going to hate you and the molester will deny it. Takes some guts and hard times, but it's well worth it when you think of the kids you've protected... (I actually had to do that, too!) I realize your advice is based upon what YOU would do, but I'm actually looking for what a lawyer could say.

It sounds like you may have committed a crime by knowingly entering into an agreement with an unlicensed contractor. I have no doubt his attorney does not respond to you. He cannot be part of a criminal act as an officer of the court. You probably need to go to court and let a judge make a ruling on this. I think that you may be in for a surprise in court and his attorney is waiting for you to be blindsided. Just a thought.

If you are represented by a lawyer and lose, you can always appeal and say you had ineffective counsel, and some lawyers only charge if you win money. If you represent yourself you can't do this. May be hard to find a lawyer who will take a small claims case for a small amount of money

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Originally Posted by cottoncandy

If you are represented by a lawyer and lose, you can always appeal and say you had ineffective counsel, and some lawyers only charge if you win money. If you represent yourself you can't do this. May be hard to find a lawyer who will take a small claims case for a small amount of money

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I don't think you can appeal claims for monetary Judgments on the grounds of ineffective counsel, at least not in NYS - I have no idea where the OP is.

And Attorneys are not allowed to represent Plaintiffs in Small Claims in many States - Small Claims Court in theory does away with the need for an Attorney.

If there is an extortion charge, wouldn't that mean criminal court? I meant as an answer to a lawyer who represents himself having a fool for a client.

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Originally Posted by cottoncandy

If there is an extortion charge, wouldn't that mean criminal court? I meant as an answer to a lawyer who represents himself having a fool for a client.

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Now I get it - me slapping myself in the head for my slow uptake.

Great, great one liner - if I use it in my personal life I promise to give you credit.

Come back and post often -

As far as the OP, I don't know if we're talking Judgment, criminal court, civil court, just where this is at the moment.

Again - great one liner, up there with the classics.

Hello w:

I think acting as your own attorney is a GOOD thing. However, you need to ACT like an attorney, and you're not.

You need leverage. You ain't got none. You're threatening to GET leverage, but that doesn't intimidate anybody, as you're finding out. So, go GET the leverage if you truly have it, and let them come to you.

But, you want them to negotiate with you because you think they should. It don't work that way.

excon

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Originally Posted by westnlas

It sounds like you may have committed a crime by knowingly entering into an agreement with an unlicensed contractor. I have no doubt his attorney does not respond to you. He cannot be part of a criminal act as an officer of the court. You probably need to go to court and let a judge make a ruling on this. I think that you may be in for a surprise in court and his attorney is waiting for you to be blindsided. Just a thought.

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I'm really not sure where you came up with this. I didn't get updates on this post for awhile, so missed this...

I never hired any unlicensed contractor. I never knowingly hired any unlicensed anybody. I hired an architect/engineer who I later found out (when I started questioning why his plans were lacking structural details even I knew about) was licensed as an architect but not as an engineer, despite his ads and logos and our house plans identifying him as an engineer. He has actually violated the criminal law here by doing so. And I am not alone. I've found several other clients affected by this as I've been doing my research along the way

Hey, excon:

I started to think, because actually this lawyer had only ever answered me with this extortion 'threat' when I had sent him a copy of his client's correspondence about the arbitration he had lied about and in the same letter where the lawyer 'suggests' I'm committing extortion, he also had to come out and admit that his client had lied about the arbitration (the lie had happened before he was hired as the guy's attorney). So, maybe I had a bit of leverage there and that's why he finally answered me? Also, I've done my research on applicable caselaw here and I rest fairly-assured I'm not guilty of extortion, so that was the lawyer posturing in response to my leverage, huh?

Have been reading online about this. How did u serve the papers? You said you had trouble. Also why need extensive plans for such a small house, about as big as a trailer park house? You say in December 28 's posting about building it?

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Originally Posted by cottoncandy

have been reading online about this. How did u serve the papers? You said you had trouble. Also why need extensive plans for such a small house, about as big as a trailer park house? you say in December 28 's posting about building it?

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Service doesn't matter - it's already been to Court (from what I read) but nothing more can be done until after arbitration.

The plans and the need for them are unrelated to the legal issues.

I also note that this is an argument between two people on another thread, carried into this thread. Pleae don't carry other arguments on other boards onto the legal boards. We have enough problems as it is!

This is a relatively old thread, everything has been said, should be closed down.

Sorry Judy didn't mean to mess up your board, I think I answered the wrong post by accident.