hi ilcuda65,
i'm sorry to hear you have not resolved your dispute yet. for some reason, i was not aware that your "defendant" lives in california. in my legal career, i have not had very good results dealing with officials in california. if he lives in los angeles county, you will have additional problems. i once chased a child support guy from pittsburgh who moved to L.A. who had never paid his kid's mother a dime of some $27k child support ordered by the allegheny county court of common pleas. the L.A.'s district attorney's office (who were responsible for child support at that time) basically told me to "take a number" and "wait - probably several years."
however, i think there is a way to short-circuit your friend. go to your local "small claims court" - district justice, magistrate, whatever illinois calls it. file a suit for your $2800 for unreceived goods as well as reasonable attorney fees, costs of prosecution and any other damages like lost wages, service of lawsuit costs, etc. that the state will allow you to add. send that suit to your friend by regular mail and by certified mail, return receipt requested. if you do not get the signed "green card" back from the post office showing that the defendant accepted the letter, then find a "process server" for your friend's address. just google "process servers" for his zip code. getting someone to serve this guy should not cost more than a couple of hundred dollars at most.
the magistrate will give you a hearing date. if the guy does not show up for the hearing then the judge will award you whatever amount you put in the suit. that judgement becomes "final" if it is not appealed within 30 days. on about day 32 after the hearing, call the court house where the defendant lives and ask for the court administrator's office. then ask then how you "register and enforcement a foreign judgement." tell them that you have a final judgement that was not appealed. the court person should be able to tell you how to do this. costs should not be more than $100.
it is very difficult to stop a judgement that has not been appealed and which is final. the california sheriff's dept. should then serve the defendant with a notice that he has a certain number of days to respond or his property will be seized and sold at a sheriff sale. your friend probably owns something - a car, a bank account, something. whatever he has will be sold and your judgement will be paid out of the proceeds.
your other course is to call your local FBI office and ask for the internet fraud division. they do have a unit that prosecutes internet fraud. whether they will help you or not is unknown.
finally, you could also go to your local courthouse and talk to an assistant district attorney (or prosecuting attorney) and ask them if they will file a complaint or if they will allow you to file a complaint with your local police. the problem here is that for the state of illinois to prosecute mr. mark, they have to "extradite" him from california back to your home town for trial. most prosecuting attorneys will not do that unless the charge is a violent crime or the amount of theft is significant.
if you have further questions, email me at jimharvard at aol.
good luck.
jim coster
i'm sorry to hear you have not resolved your dispute yet. for some reason, i was not aware that your "defendant" lives in california. in my legal career, i have not had very good results dealing with officials in california. if he lives in los angeles county, you will have additional problems. i once chased a child support guy from pittsburgh who moved to L.A. who had never paid his kid's mother a dime of some $27k child support ordered by the allegheny county court of common pleas. the L.A.'s district attorney's office (who were responsible for child support at that time) basically told me to "take a number" and "wait - probably several years."
however, i think there is a way to short-circuit your friend. go to your local "small claims court" - district justice, magistrate, whatever illinois calls it. file a suit for your $2800 for unreceived goods as well as reasonable attorney fees, costs of prosecution and any other damages like lost wages, service of lawsuit costs, etc. that the state will allow you to add. send that suit to your friend by regular mail and by certified mail, return receipt requested. if you do not get the signed "green card" back from the post office showing that the defendant accepted the letter, then find a "process server" for your friend's address. just google "process servers" for his zip code. getting someone to serve this guy should not cost more than a couple of hundred dollars at most.
the magistrate will give you a hearing date. if the guy does not show up for the hearing then the judge will award you whatever amount you put in the suit. that judgement becomes "final" if it is not appealed within 30 days. on about day 32 after the hearing, call the court house where the defendant lives and ask for the court administrator's office. then ask then how you "register and enforcement a foreign judgement." tell them that you have a final judgement that was not appealed. the court person should be able to tell you how to do this. costs should not be more than $100.
it is very difficult to stop a judgement that has not been appealed and which is final. the california sheriff's dept. should then serve the defendant with a notice that he has a certain number of days to respond or his property will be seized and sold at a sheriff sale. your friend probably owns something - a car, a bank account, something. whatever he has will be sold and your judgement will be paid out of the proceeds.
your other course is to call your local FBI office and ask for the internet fraud division. they do have a unit that prosecutes internet fraud. whether they will help you or not is unknown.
finally, you could also go to your local courthouse and talk to an assistant district attorney (or prosecuting attorney) and ask them if they will file a complaint or if they will allow you to file a complaint with your local police. the problem here is that for the state of illinois to prosecute mr. mark, they have to "extradite" him from california back to your home town for trial. most prosecuting attorneys will not do that unless the charge is a violent crime or the amount of theft is significant.
if you have further questions, email me at jimharvard at aol.
good luck.
jim coster
