Who's not paying you?

[RAMONA REINHARDT]

Who are the attorneys who do not pay you?  What are the agencies that do you pay you?

[Kerry F]

Did you let the attorneys in the case know the reporters never paid you?

[Anne E Pothier]

No, I never did.  It is a large attorney firm who handles all the litigation for Macy's nationwide.  The attorney has nothing to do with the billing and, quite frankly, has more important things on his plate than a reporter getting screwed by an agency.  At least that's what I am surmising his mindset is even though mine is not.  My mom is an attorney, and she basically said the same thing.  Large firms are so removed from the financial happenings on with the firm other than their own billable hours, that it is really a moot point.  I just moved and am slammed with work right now.  Once I get settled, I might go ahead and start filing complaints.  Like I said, they are a corporation, so that removes the personal liability from the business entity.  The best thing we can do at this point is probably spread the word until I get to a point I have the time to focus on taken this agency to task.  Nice to hear to much support for my colleagues.  God bless you all.

[Kerry F]

Yes, but that reporting agency wouldn't want a client of theirs like that to know that the reporter never got paid.  But corporations do have to answer to agencies in the state the do business in.  And I believe you could have them served by filing in small claims or county court "where you live" and they'd have to come there because that's where you did the work.  They might not want a default judgement on their credit.  I've always been pretty luck in getting paid.  But I have great agencies I work for.

[Anne E Pothier]

I appreciate all of your insightful suggestions.  I already sued them in small claims court here in Santa Ana, California.  The judge dismissed the case without prejudice citing the CCP.  I either have to go to Jersey to file a small claims case or I have to to file a Superior Court case here in California.  Like I previously said, with my mom being a lawyer here in California and hiring my own lawyer in New Jersey, I have exhausted all of my short-term legal options.  Thank you again for your sage advice.

[Kathy Kelty]

You can sue them in Superior Court, not Small Claims, but then you have to pay the filing fees.  Most states honor the judgments, which you can then have enforced in their state.  You just have to check for the ones that don't.

[Anne E Pothier]

I'm not going to do the Superior Court route.  Too expensive and time-consuming.  It's hard enough to keep the engine running.  It's easier to write the $1600 off on my taxes as a business loss.  Don't forget.  Once you get a judgment, they are good for 10 years.  You file the judgment in each county and renew it every 10 years in each county.  The interest does build up and shows on the company credit.  Since this is a corporation, it will show up on the corporate credit and not the individual credit.  Unfortunately, the judgment showing up on a corporation is not as bad as showing up on an individual's credit.  Now we know how this agency stays in business.  Bad, bad practice.

[RAMONA REINHARDT]

ne,  My situation involves an instate agency, but the same runaround.  I have gone to Small Claims court on this agency.  It has been continued to Jan 4 2016.  I have no lawyer to represent me.  I found out about this dodging tactic of corporations.  The judge didn't sound promising when he said, "Well, who are you suing?  The corporation or the DBA?  Why did you sue the person in the DBA who told her bookkeeper to not pay?" 

The legal dodging on this is for lawyers, I can only do court reporting. 

I'm not sure if I made my first legal mistake by suing the wrong entity.  Is it a DBA or the corporation?  This is not like Judge Judy on TV, believe me.  You have to be a lawyer.

[Anne E Pothier]

Well, you all won't believe this.  Cathy Kane with Rosenberg & Associates, Inc., was recognized by WPEO as the 2013 Outstanding Women's Business Advocate from the New York Region.  Per her LinkedIn account, she is the VP of Operations.  Cathy Kane is the one who reached out to me on 11/26/13 for the depo on 12/11/13.  The day of the depo, as she sent me the info for the depo, she responded with "We appreciate your professionalism and look forward to a continued relationship."  Of course, they want a continued relationship.  By not paying me, it keeps them in business.  Once I am settled in my new place and caught up a little, I just might fire off some e-mails, including to WPEO.  Recognizing fraudulent non-payors is not my idea of an outstanding women business owner.  Just type in "Cathy Kane" WPEO to see the article.  She is one of seven recognized women business owners.

[Lucy Carrillo-Grubbs]

ramona please email me we need to talk ASAP  i have some questions because i too will be filing small claims......

[Janiece Young]

Another option is to offer to take the job, produce it and bill it out yourself.  That way the checks come from the firms to you and there is no middle man.

[Rebecca Erhardt]

Ramona, I've had this happen with an out-of-state reporting firm.  After months of excuses they left me no choice but to contact the attorney who took the dep.  I explained that I hadn't been paid for the job, so needed to follow up.

Despite what you might hear, they were helpful and called the reporting firm.  It caused concern for the law firm because they wanted to verify the CRF had received their payment.

Reporting firm contacted me and paid up.  Once the attorney/paralegal/secretary got involved, it was a whole new ball game.  

Hits the CRF at the source -- their client.  Imagine getting a call asking why you're not paying your reporters.  Explain that one.  

Law firms don't want to be involved with a CRF like that either.  Causes problems for everyone.  So the CRF either pays or potentially loses much more than your bill -- their reputation, their clients.  Believe me, attorneys/paralegals/secretaries do talk about this kind of stuff, especially if firms are stiffing their reporters, so word travels.  

Also like the suggestion of contacting the CRF licensing board in New Jersey.  That's what they're there for, hopefully.  

Stay pleasant, professional, but persistent.

Good luck!

[Amanda Leigh]

Completely agree.