Getting My $10,000

Thanks for the help since I do have some trees remaining and another logger has his boom here. Based on what the second logger has done so far, taken a load without having signed a contract, verbally agreed on a 50/50 split and then, having loaded his trailer, sidled up to me and said, "You remember, I'm going to give you $100 a load for these pines," I get the feeling he is taking a leaf out of the operations manual of the first logger! He has already taken since last april to get here. Maybe the first guy sicced him on me but it's starting to look like deja vu already!

Mistletoad said: " So did he take out more than 25 loads?"
Yes, lots more (all of which I do not know because he gave me no accounting and I was off working, not following him around with a clip board).
"and would it be more of a problem if he were white?"
NO, absolutely not. To the contrary because then I wouldn't have had the heavy duty guilt trip laid on me about the poor oppressed southern sepia skinned peoples who were so badly treated and not allowed to go to school or received only very inferior education. Remember, I'm a Yankee at heart, even though I live below the Mason-Dixon Line.

To my knowledge, I have only met two other white people who could not read. I used to read a book a night so this inability is impossible for me to grasp. I met two white southerners who could not read but they were mentally sub-par or what used to be called "afflicted." Joe, by contrast to them is a genius.

I also never met anybody

who couldn't read but also had his own business. And ENORMOUS machines which clearly cost a lot of money but were always breaking down requiring great ingenuity to fix. And don't forget I am old. Us old geezers had different brainwashing than the younger generation (what would my parents have thought of astonishing confabulations like "sexual preference"??) so even though I am a Yankee genetically and by upbringing and believe in freedom and equality, as a responsible person I have to be aware of the possibility of "politically incorrect" programming I've had so I try to overcome it by bending over backwards to be fair when I am dealing with a "socially disadvantaged person." This made me a sitting duck for Joe since had he been a white guy he never ever would have gotten away with the things he did.

Now my challenge is to find out how much money he ripped off and get it back. Agmanto is correct to warn me with the sad saga about the lawyer. I make $250 a week. Lawyers hereabouts charge $250 an hour. Actually this is a criminal matter. It's timber theft so the commonwealth attorney should handle it. I am gathering data like what mills Joe took my trees to and what he was paid. The forester recommended him and was here while he was on the job so I have a witness. I took photos at the time and thanks to advice here, I'll go take more.

Now if some other person who got ripped off by a logger has any success stories of how they got their money, I sure would like to hear them! Well, read them!
Thanks.

I've made mistakes before. Some were minor, some major. On the minor mistakes, I occasionally repeat the mistakes, as the pain is minuscule. Major mistakes usually cost money and I remember them forever.

I got burned trusting loggers on a road issue, and realized quickly how the business model worked. When they logged my land, I was there every day to count the loads, have them avoid certain areas, make loading areas in certain areas, and generally keep them honest. They were. I didn't need a contract, as I was going to be watching them, and on site to attach property if the checks bounced or never arrived. Final check arrived before equipment left the property.

IF you or anyone else had asked on this forum for advice on loggers and logging, you wouldn't be having this issue now.

I graduated college 30 years ago. The cost was amazingly low, compared to some of my 'educational fees' I've received since. When I have a major clusterbumpkus occur, I chalk it up as an educational expense. It sounds like you (Navotifarm) have just gotten a graduate level class in logging operations and theory. You didn't have a Timber Deed filed in the courthouse. You didn't require a bond to be posted. (Both of these were offered by my local logger, I declined as I knew where he lived, and I was keeping an eye on him). Timber sometimes is worth more money than the land... you should never have let anyone on your land, without a way of collecting. Bond ahead of time would have worked.

I sincerely think you are SOL. You can sue to the cows come home. Spend a few hours in the courthouse and search through bankruptcy filings... Loggers go bankrupt at the drop of a hat. Your chances of getting ten cents out of him are almost nil.

The Only recourse you have is to get his rig back on your property, and at that point have the cajones to seize the rig, and hold it hostage for your 10K. Odds are, he calls the sheriff, he comes out, and give you a cease and desist, if not outright arrest.

In the end, you've had a lesson. You could easily spend more money on lawyers than you'd ever receive.

I've taken some financial 'derriere' whoopins before... took it but didn't like it... didn't pour salt in the wound by trying to get the money back, by giving more money to a lawyer... double negative whammy.

Even if you had a piece of paper in your hand, it's not worth much, unless its legally filed in the courthouse, and even then, loggers usually have a lawyer relative on call with a ready made bankruptcy form, ready to sign and file.

but, courtesy demands I say Good Luck.

__________________
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

Texican you are so right about the bankruptcy scheme. The sad part is no lawyer will take that on contingency. They'll want a retainer up front. Once they get a judgement, the logger files for bankruptcy and the person who got screwed by the logger and by the lawyer gets a double lesson.

There's a local logger around here that did that for years. One of our parcels was bought straight from the bankruptcy court. And no I've never dealt with loggers, nor will I. If I have to, I'll cut and skid the logs out to where my neighbor with a truck w/ loader can haul them out.