small claims court

[MoodyPianoInc@AOL.COM]

John,

Everyone has made some very valid points regarding your time spent servicing 
more pianos vs. your time traveling.  That would be a value judgement for you 
to make with your time.

We had a small claims issue 2 years ago for a storage customer that was 
SEVERELY overdue and although I'm sure state laws are different from state to 
state, hopefully some of this info may be helpful.

In our state we had the opportunity to file in our district or in the 
district of the customer so rather than force ourselves to travel to him, we 
filed in our own district.

The fee for filing was something like $15.00 - not much at all.

I would make sure that your case is solid before you decide to file.  Make 
sure that you have any paperwork (hopefully signed by the customer) and prior 
to filing I would make sure that you have sent the client a certified letter 
(and sometimes ccing it to your attorney just for effect, can help) informing 
them that if payment is not made by a certain date, you will be forced to 
file suit in court.

In our situation, we did have to file suit, but the client came and made his 
payment one day prior to the court date so as to avoid his name being 
published.

If you do win, the court in our area is able to set a deadline for payment.  
Although there is no definitive way to get the client to pay, if they don't 
make payment by the date the court sets they become in contempt of court and 
get fined by the court, etc.

In the end, $200 may be more profitable for you to take as a loss on your 
taxes, if applicable (check with your local accountant).

Hope this all turns out well for you.

~Lanie