This guy was sued because he booked me and I showed up finding another guy playing, guy wouldn't discuss it afterward, nor admit his mistake. He signed off on a counterclaim which was a fabrication and was defamatory under the law, so now he gets to start paying $200/hour for a lawyer instead of just paying me the night's pay of $125.
The lawsuit reads as follows:
Gregory M. Field, plaintiff ) Hartford District Court
)
V ) At Hartford CT
Steven Turner, DBA as the River Walk )
Restaurant, defendant ) March 28, 2011
Return date April 26, 2011
CIVIL COMPLAINT
The plaintiff in this matter Gregory M. Field of 41 Nepaug St Hartford CT 06106 brings this action before this court seeking damages from the defendant Steven Turner DBA the River Walk Restaurant of 14 Holmes Street Mystic, CT 06355 for the reasons set forth herein
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
1.) The plaintiff Field is a professional musician, singer/songwriter/pianist/guitarist who works locally, throughout New England, the US, and several foreign countries. The plaintiff has been engaged in this profession as his main livelihood for approximately 30 years
2.) The defendant Turner operates a restaurant in Mystic Ct, known as the River Walk, located a 14 Holmes St. and features live music at that location
3.) The plaintiff relies mainly on telephone contacts with new venues to acquaint potential clients with his services. Through such contacts the plaintiff typically provides song samples by CD or through mp3 files online and then follows up a few days later.
4.) On several occasions in September 2010 plaintiff contacted the defendant about performing in his restaurant, provided a CD and was ultimately told to call in December at which time defendant would be booking January dates.
5.) As per defendants directive plaintiff contacted defendant at 9:23AM December 11 2010 and was given by the defendant the date of Friday January 7, 2011 to perform from 8PM to 11PM for a fee of $125. This date was logged into plaintiff’s computer.
6.) Upon arriving at the River Walk at the appointed time plaintiff discovered that another performer has been scheduled to perform, and was expected by the staff, in spite of the agreement made by the defendant on 12/11/10.
7.) The next Morning, 1/8/11, plaintiff called the defendant to discuss what had happened and to negotiate some compromise as to payment or to book a makeup engagement sometime in the near future. Defendant spoke briefly, excused himself and put the phone on hold, leaving it until the call was disconnected. Plaintiff suspected this was deliberate.
8.) Plaintiff tried several times over the next few days to speak to the defendant to try to persuade him to accept some responsibility for his mistake, perhaps to book a return date, to no avail. On the last occasion defendant told plaintiff not to call again, and so plaintiff ceased from all calls.
9.) Whereupon plaintiff in this matter filed suit in small claims court to seek compensation for his lost income due to the defendant’s negligence.
10.) Upon being served with the small claims writ the defendant responded with a counterclaim, in which he stated, by numbered item:
1.) The plaintiff was never booked/hired to play at his restaurant
2.) The plaintiff had tried to extort money for several weeks for services “we never engaged”
[3 - 6 are irrelevant to this case.]
Pertinent to this case:
7.) “Frankly we are tired of the harassment by the claimant and request monetary damages from the claimant for the following reasons:
a. Undue harassment for fees not owed
b Travel to court for same
c. Distress in dealing with the claimant’s unsubstatiated [sic]allegations
d. We respectfully request the honorable cour [sic] to award damages in the amount of $2,000 from the plaintiff for undue stress, harassment, and libel of our restaurant
Defendant’s claim in its entirety is a fabrication and is in fact a perjured statement before the court of small claims. It is clearly designed to impugn the integrity of the plaintiff in the eyes of the court. Defendant’s claim ignores the fact that the small claims court does not award damages for “extortion”, “harassment”, “Travel” , “Distress”, or “libel”. As such defendant’s counterclaim is frivolous, without legal merit, and has been filed solely to distress and intimidate the plaintiff.
11.) Plaintiff never engaged in any activity other than his usual cordial and professional contact and conversation regarding his services for hire. Plaintiff ceased all contact when directed to do so.
12.) In spite of his allegations in his counter claim defendant never filed a police complaint for harassment or for extortion against the plaintiff.
Defendant by means of his counterclaim is attempting to perpetrate a fraud upon the court and in so doing has committed perjury. He is attempting to evade responsibiliy for his mistake by throwing fabricated accusations at the plaintiff. His statements and unsubstantiated accusations are blatantly false and designed to impugn the integrity of the plaintiff in the eyes of the court and to defame him publicly and on the record which is accessible to the public. Defendant’s counterclaim is entirely without basis and is brought in a vexatious manner with the intent to retaliate, seek revenge, and cause personal distress over the threat to the plaintiff’s reputation
WHEREFORE
Plaintiff seeks damages for the following:
COUNT # 1.) VEXATIOUS LITIGATION
According to CT Statutes, Sec. 52-568. Damages for groundless or vexatious suit or defense. “Any person who commences and prosecutes any civil action or complaint against another, in his own name or the name of others, or asserts a defense to any civil action or complaint commenced and prosecuted by another (1) without probable cause, shall pay such other person double damages, or (2) without probable cause, and with a malicious intent unjustly to vex and trouble such other person, shall pay him treble damages.” Defendant’s counterclaim, a clear and provable fabrication, shows defendant to have committed vexatious litigation as set forth in Sec 52-568.
COUNT # 2.) COMMERCIAL DISPARAGEMENT/TRADE LIBEL
Defendant’s statements represent an injurious attack on the integrity of the plaintiff’s business and constitute willful harm to his professional standing and reputation for his services.
COUNT #3 DEFAMATION
Defendant has in his counterclaim knowingly stated a provably false assertion of facts and has published derogatory and unfounded statements and accusations of unprofessional and criminal behavior which serve to harm the plaintiff’s standing and reputation with regard to his profession and to his community, cause financial loss, and has caused him emotional distress.
The requirement for a finding the a person is the victim of libel are as follows:
1.) The defendant by writing, printing or orally made a defamatory statement about the plaintiff; (evident on the face of the counterclaim)
2.) The defendant published the defamatory statement; (by way of filing his counterclaim in the public record)
3.) The defendant:
a. knew the statement was false and defamed plaintiff; or
b. published the statement in reckless disregard of whether the matter was false and defamed plaintiff; or
c. acted negligently in failing to learn whether the matter published was false and defamed plaintiff;
4.) Either the publication caused plaintiff to suffer special damages, or the statement was defamatory on its face. Reckless disregard for whether the matter was false and defamed plaintiff means that the defendant must have had serious doubts about the truthfulness of the statement at the time of the publication.
The defendant published statements he knew to be false and defamatory on their face and were made with reckless disregard to the potential harm to the the plaintif, and in fact were published purposefully in order to cause harm and distress the plaintiff and to chill him from his legitimate attempt to recover funds owed to him.
COUNT #4) INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS
Defendant clearly brought his counterclaim with its false assertions in order to intimidate, harass, vex, cause harm to reputation, and impugn his standing in the music community, as revenge and retaliation for the legitimate attempt on the part of the plaintiff to collect funds lawfully owed to him. Plaintiff has suffered stress and anxiety, and insomnia, and impaired ability to utilize interpersonal skills necessary to his profession. This matter continues to occupy plaintiff’s mind and distract him in the course of his day.
COUNT #5 NEGLIGENT INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS
Plaintiff had budgeted the expected fee very specifically to pay utility bills that week and was unable to do so, and experienced a great deal of stress and anxiety over his general financial situation as a direct result of the defendant’s negligence.
COUNT #6 BREACH OF CONTRACT
Defendant committed breach of contract by failing to abide by his agreement to engage plaintiff’s serves and failing to provide a reasonable remedy or acceptable compromise.
WHEREFORE
Based on the foregoing description of facts and events plaintiff seeks compensatory and punitive damages in the amount of, but not limited to, $50,000. Additionally, if the court finds that defendant’s counterclaim was made without probable cause, and with a malicious intent unjustly to vex and trouble the plaintiff, plaintiff requests he be paid treble damages as allowed under CGS Sec. 52-568.
By the plaintiff,
___________________________
Gregory M. Field 3/25/11
41 Nepaug St 06106
860-953-0029 outerrealm13@sbcglobal.net
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
SCAM! email large files for free - bait and switch
dropsend.com scam
sendspace.com scam
largefilesasap.com scam
pando.com scam
Google on how to send large files by email and you will get a whole slew of websites that purport to offer a free means to send/upload large files as big as 100m to 1g for an email recipient of your choice. What you get instead of what they promise is in some cases a nonfunctional window that misleads you and is designed to frustrate you into buying an "upgrade". In other cases their "free offer" requires your credit card # as they bet that you'll forget to cancel for at least the first month after your "free" period expires. Dropsend is hilarious, they lead you through the "upload" process, and show you a fake window that stays at "1%" while the caption below says for faster upload buy the upgrade. Pando lets you think you sent something but your recipient can't get it unless they buy. I sent something to myself as a test, and even though I supposedly have the Pando app the file still wouldn't open - SURPRISE! It's because I didn't BUY it! And, their "support" is available, guess what, to PAYING customers only. If you happen to read good reviews rest assured they're planted by shills working for the company
Some are simply designed in such a labyrinthine manner as to thwart the average user, to whom the phony free offer is targeted.
sendspace.com scam
largefilesasap.com scam
pando.com scam
Google on how to send large files by email and you will get a whole slew of websites that purport to offer a free means to send/upload large files as big as 100m to 1g for an email recipient of your choice. What you get instead of what they promise is in some cases a nonfunctional window that misleads you and is designed to frustrate you into buying an "upgrade". In other cases their "free offer" requires your credit card # as they bet that you'll forget to cancel for at least the first month after your "free" period expires. Dropsend is hilarious, they lead you through the "upload" process, and show you a fake window that stays at "1%" while the caption below says for faster upload buy the upgrade. Pando lets you think you sent something but your recipient can't get it unless they buy. I sent something to myself as a test, and even though I supposedly have the Pando app the file still wouldn't open - SURPRISE! It's because I didn't BUY it! And, their "support" is available, guess what, to PAYING customers only. If you happen to read good reviews rest assured they're planted by shills working for the company
Some are simply designed in such a labyrinthine manner as to thwart the average user, to whom the phony free offer is targeted.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Pissed off at Craigslist?
Greetings, Welcome to my new blog, taking further steps into the 21st century.
Celebrating the new year and hoping the pubs, restaurants, and clubs which feature live music can hold their ground in this economic climate. For those of you not familiar with what I do (all of you) I have been a professional pianist, guitarist, and singer entertaining in solo one man band style in pubs, clubs, and restaurants since about 1989, the year I got fired from the post office. You can check out my music at www.gregfield.com. My band, Sonic Blue Sound Revue can be found at www.myspace.com/sonicbluesoundreview
Now, a topic which will no doubt be of interest to the thousands of people who are pissed off at craigslist for arbitrarily removing ads and blocking accounts with no explanation. As we all know their support contact is a farce, as is their phone number which only gives a recording. And, as I also think most of us know, the company is worth millions if not billions (numbers these days are accumulating zeros beyond normal comprehension) of dollars, and so if they really wanted to they could make the necessary improvements and hire adequate staff. Well, here's what I did: I sued Craigslist Inc. and CEO Jim Buckmaster in a small claims court action, for $5,000 for money lost because of the blocking of my ads. I just got a legally complex response from a local law firm, giving me my first nyuk nyuk moment, costing them a certain amount of time and money, although it may be that craigs keeps an attorney in each state on hand for a modest retainer in case of such things. Now here's my idea: all of you out there who would like the satisfaction, do the same - file a small claims action against them and CEO Jim Buckmaster, you have the papers served at this address, 1381 9th Avenue San Francisco, CA 94122. States other than California will likely require that you have a sheriff serve the papers, but sheriff fees can be as little as $30-$40 if you find one close to their address. For each state you just google small claims court forms and your state and you usually find a fillable pdf form which you can type your info into, as your reason you just state as I did, that you lost income because they kept deleting your ads and refused to respond to their support email. In California you can probably have the court mail it. I must point out that out of state lawsuits might be dismissed on a technicality that they don't have a physical location there, but the point is to bombard them to the point where they give in and install a functioning customer support. Californians in particular are important because in that state they will have to go to court, and as soon as you make an attorney for them actually appear in court it starts costing real money in attorneys fees. Now imagine a few hundred $5000 lawsuits and all those legal fees! Don't you just love it?
Coming up next, small claims court in general as a remedy when you get generally screwed, and as a means to stick it to your bank, cable, satellite company, etc. when they fail to deliver on customer support and other obligations for which you pay. Also good for entertainers who get screwed through last minute cancellations or other forms of negligence.
I have probably brought between 20 and 30 (and counting) small claims actions in my day, including two appearances on Peoples Court (Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch presiding at one and Marilyn Milian at the other). I have won about 95% of them, including the two on Peoples Court.
Each state has its own particular rules as to forms, process, and fees. The maximum you can sue for also varies. You can simply google small claims court forms and instructions for your state and you are on your way. It's not hard to win, as long as you understand the relevant law and have a valid and provable case.
Briefly, on the subject of clubs and others who rip off musicians by not paying, double booking and hiring another musician in their place, last minute cancellations leaving you out a night or weekend's pay, etc., first thing to be aware of is that a verbal agreement is just as binding as any contract. It's not as easy to prove as a written one, but if you are in front of a judge and you can provide enough circumstantial evidence that you had an agreement, sometimes just your own credible testimony against less than credible testimony by your opponent, that's enough. Word of mouth might seem like the status quo in some cases but even an email of conformation sent to your purchaser will serve as tangible evidence of an agreement. Absent that, you can retrace your phone records to show when a booking took place, you can produce notices to friends and fans, your calendar, all of this would be convincing circumstantial evidence
Corporations can be sued in small claims court for violating implied and express warranty laws in that they have an obligation to provide prompt and expeditious customer support when needed, and if the customer wastes substantial portions his or her time in futile attempts to get problems remedied he can seek to get paid for his/her time. This would also fall under breach of contract, since it is their presumed contractual obligation to provide prompt and efficient service. To date I have sued Comcast twice, $500 each time into my pocket, and my mortgage company Citimortgage to the tune of $400, all for the same thing: customer service that was beyond bad to the point of absurdity. I have my aforementioned action against Craigslist pending.
UPDATE:
Cased was dismissed on the technicality that Craigslist's user agreement, which we all must agree to if we sign up, requires that all legal actions be filed in California. Cost them quite a bit of money to send a lawyer into Hartford to bring a voluminous and very wordy argument before this court just to get this action kicked out. I've pretty much gotten over my beef, but I still encourage California residents to go to small claims court if the feel like doing so.
Celebrating the new year and hoping the pubs, restaurants, and clubs which feature live music can hold their ground in this economic climate. For those of you not familiar with what I do (all of you) I have been a professional pianist, guitarist, and singer entertaining in solo one man band style in pubs, clubs, and restaurants since about 1989, the year I got fired from the post office. You can check out my music at www.gregfield.com. My band, Sonic Blue Sound Revue can be found at www.myspace.com/sonicbluesoundreview
Now, a topic which will no doubt be of interest to the thousands of people who are pissed off at craigslist for arbitrarily removing ads and blocking accounts with no explanation. As we all know their support contact is a farce, as is their phone number which only gives a recording. And, as I also think most of us know, the company is worth millions if not billions (numbers these days are accumulating zeros beyond normal comprehension) of dollars, and so if they really wanted to they could make the necessary improvements and hire adequate staff. Well, here's what I did: I sued Craigslist Inc. and CEO Jim Buckmaster in a small claims court action, for $5,000 for money lost because of the blocking of my ads. I just got a legally complex response from a local law firm, giving me my first nyuk nyuk moment, costing them a certain amount of time and money, although it may be that craigs keeps an attorney in each state on hand for a modest retainer in case of such things. Now here's my idea: all of you out there who would like the satisfaction, do the same - file a small claims action against them and CEO Jim Buckmaster, you have the papers served at this address, 1381 9th Avenue San Francisco, CA 94122. States other than California will likely require that you have a sheriff serve the papers, but sheriff fees can be as little as $30-$40 if you find one close to their address. For each state you just google small claims court forms and your state and you usually find a fillable pdf form which you can type your info into, as your reason you just state as I did, that you lost income because they kept deleting your ads and refused to respond to their support email. In California you can probably have the court mail it. I must point out that out of state lawsuits might be dismissed on a technicality that they don't have a physical location there, but the point is to bombard them to the point where they give in and install a functioning customer support. Californians in particular are important because in that state they will have to go to court, and as soon as you make an attorney for them actually appear in court it starts costing real money in attorneys fees. Now imagine a few hundred $5000 lawsuits and all those legal fees! Don't you just love it?
Coming up next, small claims court in general as a remedy when you get generally screwed, and as a means to stick it to your bank, cable, satellite company, etc. when they fail to deliver on customer support and other obligations for which you pay. Also good for entertainers who get screwed through last minute cancellations or other forms of negligence.
I have probably brought between 20 and 30 (and counting) small claims actions in my day, including two appearances on Peoples Court (Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch presiding at one and Marilyn Milian at the other). I have won about 95% of them, including the two on Peoples Court.
Each state has its own particular rules as to forms, process, and fees. The maximum you can sue for also varies. You can simply google small claims court forms and instructions for your state and you are on your way. It's not hard to win, as long as you understand the relevant law and have a valid and provable case.
Briefly, on the subject of clubs and others who rip off musicians by not paying, double booking and hiring another musician in their place, last minute cancellations leaving you out a night or weekend's pay, etc., first thing to be aware of is that a verbal agreement is just as binding as any contract. It's not as easy to prove as a written one, but if you are in front of a judge and you can provide enough circumstantial evidence that you had an agreement, sometimes just your own credible testimony against less than credible testimony by your opponent, that's enough. Word of mouth might seem like the status quo in some cases but even an email of conformation sent to your purchaser will serve as tangible evidence of an agreement. Absent that, you can retrace your phone records to show when a booking took place, you can produce notices to friends and fans, your calendar, all of this would be convincing circumstantial evidence
Corporations can be sued in small claims court for violating implied and express warranty laws in that they have an obligation to provide prompt and expeditious customer support when needed, and if the customer wastes substantial portions his or her time in futile attempts to get problems remedied he can seek to get paid for his/her time. This would also fall under breach of contract, since it is their presumed contractual obligation to provide prompt and efficient service. To date I have sued Comcast twice, $500 each time into my pocket, and my mortgage company Citimortgage to the tune of $400, all for the same thing: customer service that was beyond bad to the point of absurdity. I have my aforementioned action against Craigslist pending.
UPDATE:
Cased was dismissed on the technicality that Craigslist's user agreement, which we all must agree to if we sign up, requires that all legal actions be filed in California. Cost them quite a bit of money to send a lawyer into Hartford to bring a voluminous and very wordy argument before this court just to get this action kicked out. I've pretty much gotten over my beef, but I still encourage California residents to go to small claims court if the feel like doing so.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)