Sued for third time - Auto repair

[automan1]

About a year ago I painted a car for someone. He returned several weeks later with complaints and I repainted at no charge. He then returned several weeks later with complaints and I again repainted at no charge. A year later he returned with complaints and I repainted at no charge. All of this as an act of good faith. After accepting the car for the third time he filed a complaint in civil court for $6600 (original amount charged $600). When we went to court the told the judge that unless i agreed to pay the entire amount right then he was going to take it to state court and sue for $12000. The judge issued an continuance of 90 days allowing him to do so. Over 100 days later I received a summons to appear for a trial in the original magistrates court (never anything from the state court he claimed he was taking his case to). What should I do at this point. I have honestly tried to do everything I can do to make this customer happy but he is relentless. He has even gone to the extent of calling on a recorded line trying to get me to say something untrue and hoping to catch me in a lie. It seems to me he is bordering on harassment. Can he do this? Can he shop the courts for the best deal? Any help will be appreciated

 

[ecmst12]

I'm guessing you don't have proper liability insurance for your business. So you need to hire a lawyer to defend yourself from this lawsuit.

 

[Mark Maroon]

About a year ago I painted a car for someone. He returned several weeks later with complaints and I repainted at no charge. He then returned several weeks later with complaints and I again repainted at no charge. A year later he returned with complaints and I repainted at no charge. All of this as an act of good faith. After accepting the car for the third time he filed a complaint in civil court for $6600 (original amount charged $600). When we went to court the told the judge that unless i agreed to pay the entire amount right then he was going to take it to state court and sue for $12000. The judge issued an continuance of 90 days allowing him to do so. Over 100 days later I received a summons to appear for a trial in the original magistrates court (never anything from the state court he claimed he was taking his case to). What should I do at this point. I have honestly tried to do everything I can do to make this customer happy but he is relentless. He has even gone to the extent of calling on a recorded line trying to get me to say something untrue and hoping to catch me in a lie. It seems to me he is bordering on harassment. Can he do this? Can he shop the courts for the best deal? Any help will be appreciated

If you give your state, then perhaps someone else can comment on specific legal procedures for your state, but I don't see that the plaintiff has done anything illegal (unless he recorded the telephone conversation with you without your permission in a state that prohibits that act).

You have to go to the court again and plead your case/defense. Hopefully you took some pictures of the plaintiff's car after the third painting, to show what a nice job you did. Bring all receipts and any other evidence you have of the 3 paintings. Also bring any evidence you have of how you do good work in general (although it won't prove that you did good work on the plaintiff's car it might counter his claim that you do ****ty work in general).