Any legally smart people here?

[Gina]

legal question:

did some work for a guy on his property last year,,,,,,,,,,,,,he didnt pay or took our calls.........

now out of the blue we receive a check and letter saying he hit hard times and added some extra $$  for our trouble.  Now this  guy is so slick, he has all kinds of bad deals on record ( I googled him )

Dahcor, Inc.

and

O'rane Cornish (black guy from Africa)

anyway, my question is, if we cash this check and this guy is being sued or something, can cashing that check draw us into his drama?  We provided a stamped survey to him.  or are we okay by cashing it?

He seems so shady to me that this check just seems too good to be true.  He called the extra $$ a "widows might".

[CG6468]

I'd cash it, but only AFTER telling the bank to verify that the funds are there.

Whether he's a crook or not, you did the work and the money's owed to you, since you did the work specified for the price you agreed on. The "tip" can be for a fee for late payment.

[Gina]

I'd cash it, but only AFTER telling the bank to verify that the funds are there.

Whether he's a crook or not, you did the work and the money's owed to you. The "tip" can be for a fee for late payment.

just worried that asshole is anticipating being sued or trouble and want's to have other people share his burden. 

[CG6468]

just worried that asshole is anticipating being sued or trouble and want's to have other people share his burden.

I don't see how you'd incur any responsibility for his problems.

You could endorse the check with a statement under your signature that says something like, "For payment of services rendered only.)

[Texacon]

I'd cash it, but only AFTER telling the bank to verify that the funds are there.

Whether he's a crook or not, you did the work and the money's owed to you, since you did the work specified for the price you agreed on. The "tip" can be for a fee for late payment.

If I were going to cash the check I would take it to HIS bank if at all possible.  Just because your bank verifies the funds the day they take the check does not mean he will have funds when the check hits his bank.

KC

[marv]

I got hit with a bad check once, and had to go to the issuing bank, stand in line to get my money - AFTER I verified the funds were available. If you haven't already, do that. You're not going to be dragged into any separate, unrelated business dealings the guy had.

[NHSparky]

Ditto the other folks--take it to HIS bank to cash it, or at the very least don't spend the money until it clears if you put it directly into your account.

He has no standing to draw you into a court battle if he's simply paying you for what you've already done.

[vesta111]

I got hit with a bad check once, and had to go to the issuing bank, stand in line to get my money - AFTER I verified the funds were available. If you haven't already, do that. You're not going to be dragged into any separate, unrelated business dealings the guy had.

Never know in today's world.

Daughter worked for a franchise that issued their pay checks out of state.   Daughter was very young and complained about going to the next state to cash her check.  Not just her but the rest of the staff car pooled it to get their pay.  For some odd reason the banks in this area would not except pay checks drawn on that account even to place them in a customers checking or savings account.----no reason given just bank policy.

Lots of hankie pankie going on here with businesses and the banks.   Now you worked as a contactor or sub contractor on the job ???

 Had the check been for the original price, no problem so far, but the extra money bothers me could this be considered another contract or even a bribe, or worse a tip that must be reported to IRS.

If the money is less then $1000 take the check to the bank, anything over that, ask questions of the people that issued you the check.  These people may be trying to get around tax laws and how do you explain the extra income to the IRS.

I worked for 8 months at as I thought a full time employee, came tax time I was sent a form that had me down as an independent contractor.   Nothing had been sent for taxes or SS, or state taxes. My pay checks had no accounting for anything but time worked and my pay.    I had to pay the IRS much money owed and learned a BIG lesson, this never happend again.

Good luck what ever you do and God Bless.  

[Wineslob]

Any legally smart people here?

No, next question.   














 

[debk]

Take check to his bank.

If it bounces at yours, you will have a bad check fee. 

[Rick]

We provided a stamped survey to him.

It sounds like he is lining up a law suite and will need to be in your good graces.

[formerlurker]

We provided a stamped survey to him.  or are we okay by cashing it?

He seems so shady to me that this check just seems too good to be true.  He called the extra $$ a "widows might".

Did you do the survey work, and if you did are you insured for that? 

I wouldn't cash it.

[rich_t]

If there wasn't a late payment fee stipulated in your original agreement with him, I would cash the check, keep what you are owed and return the difference.

[JLO]

I don't see how you'd incur any responsibility for his problems.

You could endorse the check with a statement under your signature that says something like, "For payment of services rendered only.)

That's true if it actually is exactly for the amount of service rendered; anything else - I'd be suspect.

From my legal secretary days, I recall this scam.  If the check is less than what is owed, they could also claim "Payment paid in full for services rendered" if it's cashed.

[BlueStateSaint]

No, next question.   














 

Illegally smart, maybe.

[Gina]

I was thinking returning it to him and tell him donate it to charity because his money is no good with us 

[DumbAss Tanker]

Not legal advice, get hold of an attorney licensed in your state if you want that, but in general this is the lay of the land:

As far as getting drawn into his drama, even if he goes bankrupt and the trustee tries to reach out for any disbursements he made before filing (Yes, they can do that), the worst case is you would have to fork over the amount of the check to the bankruptcy trustee.  If it was actually for work you did for which you could file a workman's lien on the property involved, that reach-back would likely not happen, since you'd likely become a priority creditor if you went through the necessary hoops in filing your own claim, but if you're only talking a couple of hundred bucks tops, it wouldn't likely be worth it to do anything like that.

The bank scam part is more of a problem, I echo what everybody else said about getting it straight into your hand from his bank.  Without getting into a long discussion of the law of negotiable instruments, if he is enough of a scammer and a crook to boot, there is even a possible way you could end up holding the bag for the amount of the check plus transaction fees from your own bank, which does become considerably more likely if his check is on some overseas bank and not one with local US branches.

Kind of all depends on the amount.  If it's just a couple of hundred bucks, might as well cash it (At his bank) but just hold the money back in reserve for a few months to make sure nothing goes south.  If it's four figures or more, you need to talk to a local attorney.