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If Donald Trump (or Another Business) Fails to Pay You, Sue!

One of the stories in this election is the accusation by various people and companies that Donald Trump doesn't pay his bills, that Trump often "stiffs" companies he does business with.

A now-retired owner of a music store in New Jersey wrote an article for the Washington Post saying that in 1989 he had a contract to provide pianos to Trump's Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. He said that he provided the pianos, but later the casino told him it was short on money, it couldn't pay the full $100,000, would he take $70,000?

This gentleman says he was forced to accept the $70,000, taking a loss of $30,000. He said he couldn't afford to hire a lawyer:
They would pay 70 percent of what they owed me. There was no negotiating. I didn’t know what to do — I couldn’t afford to sue the Trump corporation, and I needed money to pay my piano suppliers. So I took the $70,000. 
Well guess what? There are people who do business like that! There are people who do that in every deal they make. I've seen it. And if you think you've been wronged, you have to be prepared to pursue and vindicate your rights.

The gentleman says he could not afford a lawyer, but he could've afforded me. I would represent him at my (current) hourly rate of $200/hour. I would do only as much work as would make financial sense for the client. I would sit down with him and say we can do a, b, and c, and it will cost this much money, or we can do x, y, and z, and it will cost that much money, what do you want to do?

Or maybe I would've looked at the facts and said this is the kind of case I'll take on contingency (1/3 of any eventual recovery).

Or maybe the case could've settled after a few letters between lawyers, and no lawsuit would ever have to be filed. That often happens. When businesses get letters from lawyers, they tend to realize things are serious.

Whether Trump has a habit of this or not, I don't know. But it does happen. People and businesses breach contracts every day. If you feel like you are on the losing side of a bad deal, contact me, and we'll talk about it.


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