Steve McCusker does not appear to take his obligation seriously, and the courts do not help
In settling my Adversary Proceeding in Bankruptcy against Steve back in 2011/2012, I made him a sweet, sweet deal: Although he owed me approximately $120,000 (it never would have grown to that high an amount had he not filed the protection from harassment complaint----see this book's Chapter 3), I agreed to take a judgment of 50 cents on the dollar ($60,000).
I also agreed that if he paid me monthly installments of $200 a month for 10 years (at 0% interest, making that $200 worth very little over time), I would forgive the rest of the debt. In other words, he could pay me $24,000, over a 10 year period, and I would forgive $36,000 in addition to the $60K I'd already forgiven. Is that a sweet deal or what!
We were both represented by lawyers, and after making our agreement actually went into the federal courtroom and were sworn in before being asked if we understood the agreement and were entering into it freely. We both swore that we did and were.
The deal was, however, predicated on his actually making the payments. If he defaulted on any payment (beyond the grace period which he'd asked for and I'd agreed to), the actual Judgment amount (i.e., the $60,000) would automatically be due and payable.....with interest and costs of enforcement.
I could not imagine he'd default. It was too good a deal. But while on vacation in the summer of 2014 I got a call from my office saying that indeed he had, missing two payments. When I called my attorney Randy Creswell, Randy was incredulous: "Who would screw up an incredible deal like that?" were the first words out of his mouth.
Well, Steve.....or maybe Liz....would be that person. It came out that right at the time Steve was not paying me, they had rented a lakefront vacation home.
So it was back to court.....which of course, this being Maine, took forever. I believe Steve's defaults were July and August; but between an error by the County Sheriff (who had copied the McCusker's address incorrectly and thus had trouble serving him) and the court's clogged-up system, we weren't in court until December or January.
Liz appeared in court with him (not sure why as she was not a party to the bankruptcy) and she proved to be, as one wag put it at the time, "a pimple on the ass of progress" [As a side-note, she acted very crazily, stating in front of Randy CreswelI that she "should have appealed" the Defamation Judgment against her------an interesting concept considering she agreed before Judge Cowley that she had indeed committed the defamation, and entered into a settlement with me]. Of course she had no right whatsoever to "appeal", but there's that Liz-geniusness again!
Apparently Liz couldn't process the concept that one can't "appeal" a Judgment to which one has agreed. Given that crazy statement, it's hard for me to understand what she meant by what to Randy and me was just a nutty statement.....Randy and I kind of backed out into the hall and looked at each other, wondering what to do about Liz who seemed to not understand what was going on. Thus it was very satisfying to Randy and me when Steve growled, "Shut up for a change, Liz"].
I wanted to work something out, but had Randy do the talking. We did agree to a payment plan, and Randy told me that when Steve came to his office to sign it, Randy told him [this is a direct quote], "Look man, you've really got take these payments seriously. Make sure you pay her FIRST, before you do anything else". Randy said Steve appeared to understand this.
So why is it that as of today (October 10) I haven't received a payment since the one due on June 1st? [I have actually received cheques for the July 1 and August 1 payments, but was told by Steve I should not cash them because funds aren't available]. Of course he's also in default for September and October. Four months of no payments!!! Additionally he owes me $2618 in a back-payment that was due this past winter from his tax-return.
At this point it appears.....again....that he doesn't take his court-imposed obligation to me seriously. As part of our agreement, I said I would not do anything to enforce the judgment until after December 15. However at this point, the only courses left to me on December 16 are to ask the Court to garnish his wages, or send him to jail for Contempt of Court.
I don't think jail helps anybody, but at this point I feel that my trust has been severely abused. It appears that his promises to me when we met in person were lies. In my opinion Steve is a really smooth operator who could sell ice to eskimos. The fact that he is so far in arrears only a few months after making the latest agreement (in June!) is telling me that he did not mean what he said in our agreement. I want to be kind to an old friend, but this is beyond the Pale. I just don't think he intends to pay me, or perhaps things like renting a lakefront vacation home are once more getting in the way.
This is not a matter of his not making enough money-----he still makes high-5-figures and his only dependent is his wife. His income is more than 50% higher than Maine's average income. His debts were discharged by the Bankruptcy Court. Once again I note that they are paying far, far above market for their rental home, which as usual is much larger than their needs. I feel he just doesn't take his obligations seriously----perhaps because the bankruptcy filing taught him that there is a way to slide out of anything. The problem is, his debt to me is non-dischargeable (because of the nature of my prevailing in the Adversary Action in bankruptcy in 2011), even if he were to file bankruptcy again.
So now I have to consider what to do.....ask for jail for Contempt of Court, or ask the judge to garnish his wages until I'm paid. The latter is probably the best way from my perspective, but he's specifically asked me not to do that. Is he using my old friendship once again, figuring I will cave in?
I also agreed that if he paid me monthly installments of $200 a month for 10 years (at 0% interest, making that $200 worth very little over time), I would forgive the rest of the debt. In other words, he could pay me $24,000, over a 10 year period, and I would forgive $36,000 in addition to the $60K I'd already forgiven. Is that a sweet deal or what!
We were both represented by lawyers, and after making our agreement actually went into the federal courtroom and were sworn in before being asked if we understood the agreement and were entering into it freely. We both swore that we did and were.
The deal was, however, predicated on his actually making the payments. If he defaulted on any payment (beyond the grace period which he'd asked for and I'd agreed to), the actual Judgment amount (i.e., the $60,000) would automatically be due and payable.....with interest and costs of enforcement.
I could not imagine he'd default. It was too good a deal. But while on vacation in the summer of 2014 I got a call from my office saying that indeed he had, missing two payments. When I called my attorney Randy Creswell, Randy was incredulous: "Who would screw up an incredible deal like that?" were the first words out of his mouth.
Well, Steve.....or maybe Liz....would be that person. It came out that right at the time Steve was not paying me, they had rented a lakefront vacation home.
So it was back to court.....which of course, this being Maine, took forever. I believe Steve's defaults were July and August; but between an error by the County Sheriff (who had copied the McCusker's address incorrectly and thus had trouble serving him) and the court's clogged-up system, we weren't in court until December or January.
Liz appeared in court with him (not sure why as she was not a party to the bankruptcy) and she proved to be, as one wag put it at the time, "a pimple on the ass of progress" [As a side-note, she acted very crazily, stating in front of Randy CreswelI that she "should have appealed" the Defamation Judgment against her------an interesting concept considering she agreed before Judge Cowley that she had indeed committed the defamation, and entered into a settlement with me]. Of course she had no right whatsoever to "appeal", but there's that Liz-geniusness again!
Apparently Liz couldn't process the concept that one can't "appeal" a Judgment to which one has agreed. Given that crazy statement, it's hard for me to understand what she meant by what to Randy and me was just a nutty statement.....Randy and I kind of backed out into the hall and looked at each other, wondering what to do about Liz who seemed to not understand what was going on. Thus it was very satisfying to Randy and me when Steve growled, "Shut up for a change, Liz"].
I wanted to work something out, but had Randy do the talking. We did agree to a payment plan, and Randy told me that when Steve came to his office to sign it, Randy told him [this is a direct quote], "Look man, you've really got take these payments seriously. Make sure you pay her FIRST, before you do anything else". Randy said Steve appeared to understand this.
So why is it that as of today (October 10) I haven't received a payment since the one due on June 1st? [I have actually received cheques for the July 1 and August 1 payments, but was told by Steve I should not cash them because funds aren't available]. Of course he's also in default for September and October. Four months of no payments!!! Additionally he owes me $2618 in a back-payment that was due this past winter from his tax-return.
At this point it appears.....again....that he doesn't take his court-imposed obligation to me seriously. As part of our agreement, I said I would not do anything to enforce the judgment until after December 15. However at this point, the only courses left to me on December 16 are to ask the Court to garnish his wages, or send him to jail for Contempt of Court.
I don't think jail helps anybody, but at this point I feel that my trust has been severely abused. It appears that his promises to me when we met in person were lies. In my opinion Steve is a really smooth operator who could sell ice to eskimos. The fact that he is so far in arrears only a few months after making the latest agreement (in June!) is telling me that he did not mean what he said in our agreement. I want to be kind to an old friend, but this is beyond the Pale. I just don't think he intends to pay me, or perhaps things like renting a lakefront vacation home are once more getting in the way.
This is not a matter of his not making enough money-----he still makes high-5-figures and his only dependent is his wife. His income is more than 50% higher than Maine's average income. His debts were discharged by the Bankruptcy Court. Once again I note that they are paying far, far above market for their rental home, which as usual is much larger than their needs. I feel he just doesn't take his obligations seriously----perhaps because the bankruptcy filing taught him that there is a way to slide out of anything. The problem is, his debt to me is non-dischargeable (because of the nature of my prevailing in the Adversary Action in bankruptcy in 2011), even if he were to file bankruptcy again.
So now I have to consider what to do.....ask for jail for Contempt of Court, or ask the judge to garnish his wages until I'm paid. The latter is probably the best way from my perspective, but he's specifically asked me not to do that. Is he using my old friendship once again, figuring I will cave in?