I live in Fort Wayne, Indiana and I entered into a breeding loan contract with a person in Coral Springs, Florida. I am now looking at taking him to small claims court because he breached the contract and will not agree to what I think is the fair way to resolve the issue.
The contract states that he will hold my male and all babies sired by him until breeding has finished and all babies have hatched. We are breeding crested geckos which have a long breeding season, so he has had my male for almost two years. Eight months ago, he said he was running out of room and wanted to go ahead and pick from the babies that had hatched at that point so he could ship them to me. I wanted to help him out, so we started picking even though all of the babies hadn't hatched yet. We got almost all the way through picking from those twelve when I stopped and asked if I would get the first pick of the second batch since he was getting first pick of the first batch. He said no, he would pick first twice. I told him that if he wasn't going to hold all of them until the end (like the contract states) that I wanted first pick of the second shipment. So, he agreed to hold them all and said he would just get more cages.
We are at the point now that all of the babies have hatched and we will both take turns picking from all of the babies, with him going first. He sent me the pictures of all of the babies so we could start picking, but there were two missing. When told him there were two missing (and sent pictures of them), he said he sold the first one and the second one was there but I just didn't see it. When I asked him to point out the second one because I still couldn't find it, he said oh it actually died. Hmm... I asked for proof that it died and he doesn't have any. He also claims that he sold the first one while it was "his" because we started picking in January. He forgot that he agreed to hold them. I think I finally got through to him that that gecko was never his to sell (he still thinks it was a misunderstanding on both sides).
So, his offer was to send me two babies from some other breeders he has and I told him I only want babies from my male. My solution was that he has to choose the two missing babies as his first two picks, but he refuses. We went back and forth for a while and I told him that if we started picking, I would choose them as my first two picks and then he will have stolen them from me. I told him he would not only have committed a crime but he would also owe me money and he would not be the one putting the value on my animals. He decided to make his first pick anyway (he picked a different baby) and so I chose the missing one he sold as my first pick. I told him I valued it at $1200, which is a lot higher than what most people sell them for. But occasionally one will go for that much and I was also taking into consideration that it could have been a breeding female for me in a few years. He told me that value was ridiculous and he would not pay it. He claims he sold it for $80 and said he'd give me that. I re-stated my value of $1200 and I let him choose if he wanted to start over and pick it as his first pick. He refused and made his second pick anyway, so I chose the missing baby that "died" as my second pick and valued it at $1200 also.
We're now 18 babies into picking (there are 47 including the missing two) and I asked multiple times when he would pay me the $2400. He said he isn't going to pay it, so I suggested that a judge decide since we can't come to an agreement. Now my plan is to stop picking and file a claim with the courts in his county. Before I do that, I just wanted to see if everyone else thinks that the judge will side with me and that I'm being fair. It will be small claims court and most likely just me vs him. All of our conversations are in writing, so I will have no problem presenting my evidence.
The contract states that he will hold my male and all babies sired by him until breeding has finished and all babies have hatched. We are breeding crested geckos which have a long breeding season, so he has had my male for almost two years. Eight months ago, he said he was running out of room and wanted to go ahead and pick from the babies that had hatched at that point so he could ship them to me. I wanted to help him out, so we started picking even though all of the babies hadn't hatched yet. We got almost all the way through picking from those twelve when I stopped and asked if I would get the first pick of the second batch since he was getting first pick of the first batch. He said no, he would pick first twice. I told him that if he wasn't going to hold all of them until the end (like the contract states) that I wanted first pick of the second shipment. So, he agreed to hold them all and said he would just get more cages.
We are at the point now that all of the babies have hatched and we will both take turns picking from all of the babies, with him going first. He sent me the pictures of all of the babies so we could start picking, but there were two missing. When told him there were two missing (and sent pictures of them), he said he sold the first one and the second one was there but I just didn't see it. When I asked him to point out the second one because I still couldn't find it, he said oh it actually died. Hmm... I asked for proof that it died and he doesn't have any. He also claims that he sold the first one while it was "his" because we started picking in January. He forgot that he agreed to hold them. I think I finally got through to him that that gecko was never his to sell (he still thinks it was a misunderstanding on both sides).
So, his offer was to send me two babies from some other breeders he has and I told him I only want babies from my male. My solution was that he has to choose the two missing babies as his first two picks, but he refuses. We went back and forth for a while and I told him that if we started picking, I would choose them as my first two picks and then he will have stolen them from me. I told him he would not only have committed a crime but he would also owe me money and he would not be the one putting the value on my animals. He decided to make his first pick anyway (he picked a different baby) and so I chose the missing one he sold as my first pick. I told him I valued it at $1200, which is a lot higher than what most people sell them for. But occasionally one will go for that much and I was also taking into consideration that it could have been a breeding female for me in a few years. He told me that value was ridiculous and he would not pay it. He claims he sold it for $80 and said he'd give me that. I re-stated my value of $1200 and I let him choose if he wanted to start over and pick it as his first pick. He refused and made his second pick anyway, so I chose the missing baby that "died" as my second pick and valued it at $1200 also.
We're now 18 babies into picking (there are 47 including the missing two) and I asked multiple times when he would pay me the $2400. He said he isn't going to pay it, so I suggested that a judge decide since we can't come to an agreement. Now my plan is to stop picking and file a claim with the courts in his county. Before I do that, I just wanted to see if everyone else thinks that the judge will side with me and that I'm being fair. It will be small claims court and most likely just me vs him. All of our conversations are in writing, so I will have no problem presenting my evidence.
