Getting stiffed for editing video project

[Akburris]

I am a Writer/Producer/Editor and I edited a segment for a local television show about the arts. I had a contract with the show's producer (who also happens to be an attorney) for a $50.00 per hour fee.

After she gave me all the materials I would need, including a computer drive, I got started on the piece. I worked very hard to make the most out of very amateurish material and with very vague instructions.

A week and two days later she asked about the status of this project (which had no deadline originally). When I told her I had already invested twenty hours into her piece, she had a fit. We spoke on the phone the day I received her e-mail and I told her I would only bill her for ten hours because that was what she had expected to pay. At the time I figured I should bend over backwards to make her happy in order to maintain this client relationship. She was very agreeable to this deal.

When I sent her the finished piece, she had another fit and wrote me insulting e-mails about the quality of my work. She was very unprofessional and disrespectful towards me even though I offered to make any changes she liked. Her response was that she couldn't justify me spending anymore time on the piece unless I agreed to call it a "training exercise". I took that to mean she didn't plan to pay me even for the ten hours we had agreed to over the phone.

When I told her I would still make her revisions, but I wanted to be paid my $500.00 for the ten hours I'd spent on the piece, she demanded to get her equipment back and she would then give me a check.

So last night my husband and I drove an hour to her home/office and I returned her equipment in the same good shape she had given it to me. In return she gave me a starter check.

This morning I went to the bank to cash the check. But I first asked the teller to find out if there was a stop payment on it. And just as my husband and I suspected, she had cancelled the check.

I wrote her and called her today to say if she doesn't pay me that $500.00 for real, I will sue her.

As expected, she wrote me two very insulting, nasty e-mails and accused me of doing terrible work and having the nerve to expect payment for my time. She also said in both e-mails that she would take a look at the drive I returned and make sure I didn't do anything to damage it. Then in two weeks she would consider paying me, but if she did pay, it would be "charity" at best.

I do not trust this woman because she's already given me a bad check. So I don't feel it is in my best interest to wait those two weeks. And I think I should begin the paperwork for small claims court.

But in my research for filing a claim, I've read that it could be a good idea to have a lawyer present. And since this woman is a lawyer herself, I am wondering if I should have a lawyer as well. She obviously knows a lot more about the legal system than I do. So she might find a way to get out of paying me the money she owes. If I have a lawyer, perhaps I will be better equipped to counteract her games.

Your advice is very much appreciated.

You may file in small claims court and you will likely prevail. The pay was not optional even if she did not like your work.