Place of residence is Florida.
I know this will be a bit convoluted, please forgive me.
I'm an interior decorator. Not a designer, not licensed, and I have worked for a gentleman who owns a number of real estate holdings in the state of Florida, duplexes and apartments, houses, etcetera. My relationship with him is as an independent contractor on a 1099 basis. Basically, I've worked for him for the past three years and we’ve always worked via a verbal contract. I charge him per hour to run around pick out paint colors, tiles, window coverings, etcetera. Recently, I had been working for him and he refused to pay me. I believe he refused to pay me because I was picking out tiles and colors for him, and he would go behind my back after I gave him prices and go try to find the same things cheaper. It is common practice to go pick out materials, tiles and such (I have a tax id number as a dba) and mark it up 10% or so and bill for that as part of the job. He's paid me like that all along for three, three and half, four years, but we got into an altercation at one of the suppliers I use. I was there and he came in. He did not know I was in the back room. He was attempting to underbid me on tiles that I had presented to him. Again, I have gotten paid on an hourly basis for the running around and looking at jobs and as part of my compensation have marked up materials. He has cut me out before by taking my pricing and using it to get a better deal. After we had words about his sneakiness he refused to pay me about $2,000. He tried to give me half of this amount with the words “full and final payment” scribbled across the back of the check. I refused to cash it. I am aware of other people he has owed money to and has not paid because he lost control of the situation. I do invoice him and have hours, tasks etc. to substantiate billings and historical information that verifies how he’s paid me all along.
I took him to small claims court, and filed a lawsuit against him to get the money he owes me. Because we're talking about multiple properties, I did the best I could not being an attorney to sue the proper parties. Many times he's paid me with a check written against “one” corporation even if I did work for two properties that were owned by two different corporations that he own’s. It never dawned on me that I was working for the corporations he owned, but working for him personally. Well, the issues in court have come up that I'm suing the wrong party. Initially, I sued him personally because in my mind, I work for him personally for all of those years; never gave it a second thought that I was working for this corporation or that corporation because each one of his properties is owned by a different corporation he is Registered Agent of. The opposing attorney, I don't have an attorney, I'm doing it myself, presented a motion to dismiss because I was suing the wrong person. The Judge ruled against this but commented that I need to be certain of who I have a claim against since they can sue me back? As I mentioned in my mind, I've always worked for him personally.
The judge dismissed that motion and basically told me I needed to sue the right party. I researched the county tax records to find out who owned the building that I was working on and it was a name that did not exist on the Florida business website, corporations and fictitious names. The name of that entity could have been a misspelling because in the title, it used the word/title “Investment”. The corporation of his that had been registered was “Investments”. So, I then sued against the name of the corporation with “Investment” as part of the name because that was what was on the tax records as the owner of the building. The defendant also pulled a building permit against “Investment” without an S, so I am wondering if there is any legal findings that would dismiss a typo in the tax records, and I'm not sure if it was a typo, but I'm assuming that if he knew that it was wrong, it would have been corrected.
The corporation with the “Investments” title which had been dissolved a couple of years ago according to Florida’s Professional Regulation website. After the lawsuit was filed, but before the trial the attorney for the defendant said they reconstituted that corporation. However I noted that it is under another corporate number and a slightly different name?
At a second pre-trial I ended up suing him personally again because the property tax records reflect a name for an entity that, number one, did not exist as a corporation in the Florida records, number two, did not exist under a fictitious name. I need help but I’m currently unemployed cannot afford legal counsel and don’t want to have it thrown out and/or be countersued?
I have one other question and that is if I have filed against one of his corporations and him personally (2 properties are reflected in $2000 he owes), and we've been set for trial, I would like to know how I can go about or if I can change who I'm suing at this late date without getting into trouble? We are set for trial 60 days from now and again I don't know the answer to these questions and I don't have an attorney, but I would like to get some information.
Number one, can I change who I'm suing if the trial date was set? Number two, on the Florida tax records, if there is a name that does not exist as a fictitious name, nor a corporate registered name, am I legal in suing him personally because it does not exist? However, like I mentioned above, it could be a typo. It could be that the “S” was dropped off “investments” and it was just put in the property tax record as “investment” the rest of the name is the same. He did pull a permit against “investment”. Three, can he file a countersuit and what would I be responsible for? I would appreciate any help anyone can give. Thank youWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
I know this will be a bit convoluted, please forgive me.
I'm an interior decorator. Not a designer, not licensed, and I have worked for a gentleman who owns a number of real estate holdings in the state of Florida, duplexes and apartments, houses, etcetera. My relationship with him is as an independent contractor on a 1099 basis. Basically, I've worked for him for the past three years and we’ve always worked via a verbal contract. I charge him per hour to run around pick out paint colors, tiles, window coverings, etcetera. Recently, I had been working for him and he refused to pay me. I believe he refused to pay me because I was picking out tiles and colors for him, and he would go behind my back after I gave him prices and go try to find the same things cheaper. It is common practice to go pick out materials, tiles and such (I have a tax id number as a dba) and mark it up 10% or so and bill for that as part of the job. He's paid me like that all along for three, three and half, four years, but we got into an altercation at one of the suppliers I use. I was there and he came in. He did not know I was in the back room. He was attempting to underbid me on tiles that I had presented to him. Again, I have gotten paid on an hourly basis for the running around and looking at jobs and as part of my compensation have marked up materials. He has cut me out before by taking my pricing and using it to get a better deal. After we had words about his sneakiness he refused to pay me about $2,000. He tried to give me half of this amount with the words “full and final payment” scribbled across the back of the check. I refused to cash it. I am aware of other people he has owed money to and has not paid because he lost control of the situation. I do invoice him and have hours, tasks etc. to substantiate billings and historical information that verifies how he’s paid me all along.
I took him to small claims court, and filed a lawsuit against him to get the money he owes me. Because we're talking about multiple properties, I did the best I could not being an attorney to sue the proper parties. Many times he's paid me with a check written against “one” corporation even if I did work for two properties that were owned by two different corporations that he own’s. It never dawned on me that I was working for the corporations he owned, but working for him personally. Well, the issues in court have come up that I'm suing the wrong party. Initially, I sued him personally because in my mind, I work for him personally for all of those years; never gave it a second thought that I was working for this corporation or that corporation because each one of his properties is owned by a different corporation he is Registered Agent of. The opposing attorney, I don't have an attorney, I'm doing it myself, presented a motion to dismiss because I was suing the wrong person. The Judge ruled against this but commented that I need to be certain of who I have a claim against since they can sue me back? As I mentioned in my mind, I've always worked for him personally.
The judge dismissed that motion and basically told me I needed to sue the right party. I researched the county tax records to find out who owned the building that I was working on and it was a name that did not exist on the Florida business website, corporations and fictitious names. The name of that entity could have been a misspelling because in the title, it used the word/title “Investment”. The corporation of his that had been registered was “Investments”. So, I then sued against the name of the corporation with “Investment” as part of the name because that was what was on the tax records as the owner of the building. The defendant also pulled a building permit against “Investment” without an S, so I am wondering if there is any legal findings that would dismiss a typo in the tax records, and I'm not sure if it was a typo, but I'm assuming that if he knew that it was wrong, it would have been corrected.
The corporation with the “Investments” title which had been dissolved a couple of years ago according to Florida’s Professional Regulation website. After the lawsuit was filed, but before the trial the attorney for the defendant said they reconstituted that corporation. However I noted that it is under another corporate number and a slightly different name?
At a second pre-trial I ended up suing him personally again because the property tax records reflect a name for an entity that, number one, did not exist as a corporation in the Florida records, number two, did not exist under a fictitious name. I need help but I’m currently unemployed cannot afford legal counsel and don’t want to have it thrown out and/or be countersued?
I have one other question and that is if I have filed against one of his corporations and him personally (2 properties are reflected in $2000 he owes), and we've been set for trial, I would like to know how I can go about or if I can change who I'm suing at this late date without getting into trouble? We are set for trial 60 days from now and again I don't know the answer to these questions and I don't have an attorney, but I would like to get some information.
Number one, can I change who I'm suing if the trial date was set? Number two, on the Florida tax records, if there is a name that does not exist as a fictitious name, nor a corporate registered name, am I legal in suing him personally because it does not exist? However, like I mentioned above, it could be a typo. It could be that the “S” was dropped off “investments” and it was just put in the property tax record as “investment” the rest of the name is the same. He did pull a permit against “investment”. Three, can he file a countersuit and what would I be responsible for? I would appreciate any help anyone can give. Thank youWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?