Best Business Practices for Photographers [179]
What to Expect and How Long It Will Take
You can expect that the defendant will do everything in his or her power to diminish your claim, attack your credibility, seek a pre-trial dismissal of the suit, and, usually at the eleventh hour, seek a settlement. Settlements can occur in as little as a month, and trials can take several years, especially in complicated cases. And, at any point during the trial, up to the moment before the jury has reached a verdict, both parties can come to settlement terms and the case ends up being dismissed.
In fact, many states have mandatory arbitration/settlement talk requirements before a judge will even see you. In this situation, you and those you are suing (or their representatives), will sit down with an impartial mediator who hopes to get both of you to come to an agreement. If this occurs, in many instances the court will enforce the settlement agreement as if it was a decision of the court following a trial.
The first thing you'll do in small claims court is to file your claim. All small claims courts have easy-to-follow forms and instructions, and your total cost to file the claim will likely be less than $50, recoverable plus interest should you be the prevailing party. The defendant will respond, and a court date will be set. Usually after the date is set, an attorney for the other side (if a company) will likely reach out to you to try to settle the case. If it is another individual— say a bride and groom who haven't paid you—you'll likely just wait for your day in court.
Absent something very unusual, your case usually will be resolved the day it is heard. You will present your contract, signed by both parties, and the defendant will have a hard time outlining a material or fundamental breach of the contract that would allow him to not pay you or to try to force his contract on you after yours has been signed. There is no jury in small claims, and it's up to the judge to understand the case, ask thoughtful questions, and render his decision.
When the case is decided in your favor, the judge will order payment terms, which include court filing costs and (in many states) interest from the date you filed your claim. Typically, this is a 30-day term, sometimes within seven days, and other judge-stipulated timelines can be imposed. If necessary, you can return to the court to order liens placed on property owned by the parties who owe you money. A nominal fee usually totaling less than $50 will allow you to have an Abstract of Judgment-Civil issued, as well as cover the cost to send that Abstract of Judgment to the County Recorder's office in the county where your debtor owns, or is likely to own, real property. Although you will not automatically be paid, interest will continue to accrue on what you are owed. Whenever your debtor tries to sell or refinance that property, your lien will stop that entire process in its tracks. The debtor must pay you, and you must then remove the lien before the sale or refinancing can take place.
Case Study: A Textiles Company
One year, I was contracted by a magazine to produce a portrait of three owners of a major textiles company in Washington, DC, for an article on this family-run business. Following the article, for which I was paid, the design company for the subject's company contacted me to review the transparencies from the assignment. I personally delivered the images, along with a delivery memo. While the delivery memo was never signed, the design company's actions—specifically, having seen the delivery memo and not objecting and returning the images to me—accepted the