{"id":8919,"date":"2012-06-01T19:29:59","date_gmt":"2012-06-01T23:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=8919"},"modified":"2012-07-13T14:25:31","modified_gmt":"2012-07-13T18:25:31","slug":"a-funny-small-claims-court-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=8919","title":{"rendered":"A funny Small Claims Court story"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve told you this story previously, a few years ago, but now that I’m in Small Claims Court myself, I thought you’d enjoy a Friday repeat. As always, the terrific names are from Damon Runyon. I call the enterprising litigant Feet Samuels. In reality (I mean, real<\/em> reality, not TV reality, although as a new invitee to The People’s Court, I’m getting a little confused about the distinction), Feet was and still is my brother. Here’s the story:<\/p>\n

When Feet Samuels, a musician, played a gig for contractor Scoodles Shea, he hadn\u2019t been warned by his union that Scoodles made it his practice to run out on his debts. (Which is why Feet got involved in union politics but that\u2019s another story.)<\/p>\n

So Feet sued Scoodles for the 90 bucks he was owed for the gig. Feet reasoned that retaining a lawyer to go after $90 was perhaps overkill and sued pro se<\/em> (handled everything by himself), in Small Claims Court.<\/p>\n

This happened a number of years ago, back when a gig could command a fat 90 buck fee. It was also back when Small Claims Court required the plaintiff to perform service upon the defendant himself. (Now the court serves your complaint for you.)<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s the creative way Feet served Scoodles: Feet\u2019s fianc\u00e9e and her father, Frankie Ferocious (his persona, not his reality), phoned Scoodles, told him they were thinking of booking his combo for her wedding. Could they come to a gig he was playing just to sample his combo\u2019s wares? Of course, said Scoodles, eager for a new client.<\/p>\n

Frankie Ferocious and his daughter showed up at the wedding, nibbled at the buffet, and then served Scoodles with Feet\u2019s lawsuit. (I don\u2019t have to tell you that they did not hire Scoodles for the wedding. In fact, the wedding took place at City Hall and then we all walked over to Feet’s Chinese restaurant \u2014 every musician in New York used to have his own Chinese restaurant and many, many funny stories have emerged from that fact \u2014 and stuffed ourselves. No band was required.)<\/p>\n

The lawsuit proceeded. Scoodles never showed up for the hearing so Feet won, by default. The deciding judge looked down upon the head of Feet and pronounced, \u201cYou know you\u2019re wasting your time with this guy \u2013 you shouldn\u2019t bother,\u201d but Feet replied, \u201cNo, it\u2019s fine, it\u2019s kind of my hobby,\u201d and the judge said \u201cOkay,\u201d and signed whatever she had to sign to get Feet out of there.<\/p>\n

By this time Scoodles had made himself totally, legally invisible. He couldn\u2019t be found and he\u2019d handed all his assets over to his wife. Feet, however, was determined to serve Scoodles with the judgment, so he tied on his running shoes and jogged over to Scoodles\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

Scoodles himself opened the door. Feet served him. Scoodles look embarrassed and said, \u201cOh, you shouldn\u2019t have to do this.\u201d But wasn\u2019t embarrassed enough to pay up.<\/p>\n

Feet got otherwise musically occupied and didn’t further pursue Scoodles, but that was the last time he let anybody off the legal hook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve told you this story previously, a few years ago, but now that I’m in Small Claims Court myself, I thought you’d enjoy a Friday repeat. As always, the terrific names are from Damon Runyon. I call the enterprising litigant … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1175],"tags":[492],"class_list":["post-8919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-facts-of-life","tag-small-claims-court"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t