Getting Screwed
Written by Dick Hodgin --  m80@nando.net

Question: My band went to play a gig in another city and the club 
wouldn't  pay us the money he said he would.  Is there anything I can do
about it?
 
 
There are lots of things you could do but I'm only going to talk about 
the legal ones.  
        
        First.  Did you have a signed contract specifying the terms and 
compensation very clearly?  If not, there it's going to be tougher for 
you to document and prove the existence of the oral agreement.   If you 
do have a contract  it's easier to force the club to live up to it's end 
of the bargain.
 
        The first thing I recommend is to try to negotiate with the 
signer of the contract (or whoever you arranged the deal with).  Why did 
they not pay? Was there a disagreement about the terms of the gig?   Did 
your band hold up every part of your side of the deal?   More than 
likely, if there was a mis-understanding, there is usually some middle 
ground in which to wrestle out a solution.  If the club just suffered a 
bad night, perhaps you could arrange to play on a better return gig and 
get compensated a bit better for that one.  If your band had problems 
i.e.: didn't play the full set (s) didn't show up on time, played too 
loud, damaged something,  blah, blah blah,,,, then maybe you could work 
out a settlement for not quite ALL that they owe you.  Be flexible and 
business like......Don't get personal!
 
        If the club just plain screwed you,  then you have to ask 
yourself a question.  
 
                "Does my band ever want to play this club again?"
 
If the answer is "yes", then you've got a tough pill t o swallow.  About 
the only thing you can do is to try to reason with them . If that doesn't 
work, just make sure that the problems are addressed and remedied for the 
next engagement.  There is no stone-cold-iron-clad way to keep yourself 
from getting ripped off!  Setting the stipulation that you'll be paid in 
full before you take the stage can be tricky.  You might face that 
showdown right before you go on-stage and have to make the decision of 
playing for your fans or sticking to your guns.  If you go over all the 
terms of the agreement again, including the ones that were the problems 
last time, then the club knows your on the case and that you'll be 
"looking"  for any problems.  If it looks like it's getting squirly, you 
can pull out before the gig.
 
        If the answer is "NO, we don't ever want to play this place 
again," then you have a few more options.  You can sue them.  You can 
hire an attorney to take care of it for you. Most attorneys will only do 
this for a flat fee,  although you  may get one to do it for a percentage 
of the amount you settle for. 
 
        If it's less than $3000.00 in North Carolina, you can sue them in 
small claims court.  Contact  the courthouse in the county where the club 
is located and get the paperwork to fill out for a small claims action.  
You'll have to pay a filing fee ( usually less than $40.00 ) and a fee 
for the sheriff to serve the papers. (About $5.00)  You can add these 
items in on the amount your claiming.
 
        Make sure that you fill out the forms correctly.  If you have a 
family lawyer or someone that knows about such stuff that will help you 
fill out the forms for free (or very little) then do it. That way you'll 
know that the details are taken care of.  I once sued a club in Small 
Claims court only to have it thrown out because I didn't list the name of 
the corporation that owned the club correctly.
 
        One of the most important things about contracts is to make sure 
that the person that is signing the contract has the authority to enter 
into the agreement.  If they are only an agent of another person, you 
should make sure the agreement is between you and the person who is 
actually going to be respoinsible for paying you.  You have to remember 
that you're contracting to play FOR someone.  The place that you play is 
just the location.
        
        Once you've filed the claim, you'll have an opportunity to go in 
and tell your side of the story.  Small claim court judges and 
magistrates are usually very receptive to the non-legal side of these 
proceedings.  This system was set up specifically for settling claims 
without the lawyers getting involved.  It's very informal, although  I 
was still pretty nervous the first time in.  If the person you're suing 
doesn't show up,  or you win your case, you get a judgment  against 
them.  That doesn't mean you get your money. It just means that you won 
the judgment.  There are a few other steps that have to be taken to 
actually collect.  ( and you may actually NEVER collect) The best thing 
is that a judgment goes on the credit record of the person who it's 
against, and it's a powerful weapon in the credit world. the judgment 
stays on the credit report for SEVEN years!  If they didn't have shitty 
credit before, they do now.  One of the best rewards to this action is 
that the word will get around that you don't let this shit slide!
        
        There are some other actions that you can put into place. I 
picketed a car dealership one time for 5 days after they jerked me around 
on a deal,  and then  changed the numbers at the last second.  It looked 
pretty stupid at first for me to be out there, but the dealership that 
 started out laughing at me on Monday , had not sold a single car by 
Friday.  Picketing a club won't make many people stay away, but it does 
raise awareness of your plight ,  and it warns other bands as to what 
happened to you.  Make sure you call the police department and tell them 
before you just show up.  There may be some ordinances that you have to 
obey.  
 
        The other thing you can do is to get real big in that town and 
play the competition.  Or better yet, make the club that screwed you 
realllllly beg before you give them the date.  About the only thing 
you'll get from this is some self satisfaction.
 
questions, taunts, slurs   >>>  m80@nando.net