I object
I never got to tell you guys about my court case, part eleventybillion, because it was last Thursday, right before I headed out of town for the wedding.
Let me take the chance to remind you that because of the way I was raised, I have a deep DEEP, almost paralyzing fear of confrontation. The minute I even enter a verbal confrontation, my heart beat speeds up to the point where I can feel it thumping in my sternum. I begin to sweat profusely under my arms and on my palms. My mouth goes dry, and adrenaline fires though my system. If it's a prolonged confrontation, I start to shake. It's not me at my best.
I did a lot of research to prepare for my case, and I was at the court early in a very self-righteous and prim white sundress. Carey came with me and held my hand. Dirtbag was late. I actually thought she wouldn't show, and then she skulked through the door just in time.
We approached the bench when our case was called, which took awhile, because Dirtbag called "by the court," which means we have to wait for the one judge instead of half a dozen arbiters. This is when the shaking started; I'd been sweating since I entered the court. The judge got a sense of the case and then asked if we'd be willing to come to a settlement. Dirtbag offered 300 dollars "over time, because I don't have it," and I said no. I said I'd been willing to let them keep their agent's fee, which frankly I was regretting at that point. Everything we said was stricken from the record, once I refused a settlement, and we began the actual case.
I made my case first as the plaintiff. I told my story and entered into evidence the invoice from the agency, the invoice from the actual event, and a picture of me working at the runway show. I explained about asking for my money over and over, and getting deferred or ignored. Then it was her turn.
Her entire defense was that the company she currently runs isn't the same as the one that stiffed me. She said she had "differences" with the old one and started a new one. She is a criminal and a liar. I checked all of this out on the NY department of state website before the trial. Every few years, Dirtbag changes the wording of her company to keep outrunning people like myself.
Dirtbag Inc.
Dirtbag Partners, LLC
Dirtbag International Agents
Dirtbag International Agents Incorporated
That was the best part, actually. She trotted out these 2 NYDOS docs to prove she was a new company, and I trotted out 4 more and said "Actually, your honor, she dissolves and reforms her company every few years, exactly for this purpose." No strike that. The best part was when she tried to tell him he shouldn't allow into evidence a doc I brought form the Better Business Bureau. They argued for a moment and then she said snottily, "But you're the judge." and he snapped back "YES. I am."
Sadly, what she's doing is legal. She's doing it because she is a con-artist and a criminal. She effing evil, but she's not dumb. The judge suspended judgment upon further review and will mail us his decision. My parents have been to court many times as landlords, and they broke it to me gently that I've basically lost the case. He's mailing us the decision because he didn't want to face either of us when he told Dirtbag that she won, and me that I lost.
The day I get the judgment in the mail, her name and the agency's name will go ALL OVER my lj, the internet, and in the ears of every aspiring actor and model in New York. That's my cold comfort for losing 950$ of very hard-earned money. I know you guys will help me spread the word about Dirtbag being such a dirtbag.
Let me take the chance to remind you that because of the way I was raised, I have a deep DEEP, almost paralyzing fear of confrontation. The minute I even enter a verbal confrontation, my heart beat speeds up to the point where I can feel it thumping in my sternum. I begin to sweat profusely under my arms and on my palms. My mouth goes dry, and adrenaline fires though my system. If it's a prolonged confrontation, I start to shake. It's not me at my best.
I did a lot of research to prepare for my case, and I was at the court early in a very self-righteous and prim white sundress. Carey came with me and held my hand. Dirtbag was late. I actually thought she wouldn't show, and then she skulked through the door just in time.
We approached the bench when our case was called, which took awhile, because Dirtbag called "by the court," which means we have to wait for the one judge instead of half a dozen arbiters. This is when the shaking started; I'd been sweating since I entered the court. The judge got a sense of the case and then asked if we'd be willing to come to a settlement. Dirtbag offered 300 dollars "over time, because I don't have it," and I said no. I said I'd been willing to let them keep their agent's fee, which frankly I was regretting at that point. Everything we said was stricken from the record, once I refused a settlement, and we began the actual case.
I made my case first as the plaintiff. I told my story and entered into evidence the invoice from the agency, the invoice from the actual event, and a picture of me working at the runway show. I explained about asking for my money over and over, and getting deferred or ignored. Then it was her turn.
Her entire defense was that the company she currently runs isn't the same as the one that stiffed me. She said she had "differences" with the old one and started a new one. She is a criminal and a liar. I checked all of this out on the NY department of state website before the trial. Every few years, Dirtbag changes the wording of her company to keep outrunning people like myself.
Dirtbag Inc.
Dirtbag Partners, LLC
Dirtbag International Agents
Dirtbag International Agents Incorporated
That was the best part, actually. She trotted out these 2 NYDOS docs to prove she was a new company, and I trotted out 4 more and said "Actually, your honor, she dissolves and reforms her company every few years, exactly for this purpose." No strike that. The best part was when she tried to tell him he shouldn't allow into evidence a doc I brought form the Better Business Bureau. They argued for a moment and then she said snottily, "But you're the judge." and he snapped back "YES. I am."
Sadly, what she's doing is legal. She's doing it because she is a con-artist and a criminal. She effing evil, but she's not dumb. The judge suspended judgment upon further review and will mail us his decision. My parents have been to court many times as landlords, and they broke it to me gently that I've basically lost the case. He's mailing us the decision because he didn't want to face either of us when he told Dirtbag that she won, and me that I lost.
The day I get the judgment in the mail, her name and the agency's name will go ALL OVER my lj, the internet, and in the ears of every aspiring actor and model in New York. That's my cold comfort for losing 950$ of very hard-earned money. I know you guys will help me spread the word about Dirtbag being such a dirtbag.