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Man sued for $30,000 over $40 printer he sold on Craigslist.

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posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 04:09 PM
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Man sued for $30K over $40 printer he sold on Craigslist.


INDIANAPOLIS --- Selling a used, black-and-white printer through Craigslist seemed simple and straightforward to Doug Costello. It wasn't.

What the 66-year-old Massachusetts man didn't know then is that he would spend the next 6 ½ years embroiled in a complicated and confusing legal dispute in Indiana over that printer, which, according to its buyer, was broken.

He would find himself liable for about $30,000 in damages. He would pay a lawyer at least $12,000 in his battle to escape the legal mess. And it all started with a piece of hardware he sold online for about $40 in 2009. With shipping and other costs, the total was less than $75, according to court records.

The printer's buyer was Gersh Zavodnik, a 54-year-old Indianapolis man known to many in the legal community as a frequent lawsuit filer who also represents himself in court.

The Indiana Supreme Court said the "prolific, abusive litigant" has brought dozens of lawsuits against individuals and businesses, often asking for astronomical damages. Most, according to court records, involve online sales and transactions.

Zavodnik, a native of Ukraine who moved to the United States in 1987 under a grant of political asylum, sued Costello, accusing him of falsely advertising a malfunctioning printer with missing parts, and pocketing Zavodnik's money.

According to court records, Zavodnik initially filed a lawsuit in Marion County Small Claims Court, where he asked for the maximum damages of $6,000. Zavodnik lost because he had thrown away the evidence (the printer), court records said.

Costello said he thought that was the end of the legal fight, but Zavodnik filed another lawsuit in Marion Superior Court, where he requested damages for breach of contract, fraud, conversion, deceptive advertising and emotional distress.

"I figured that's it," Costello said of his victory in small claims court. "But no, no, no. Now I'm in another twilight zone."

You can read the entire story at the link above but this is crazy.

The guy apparently sues everyone for everything.

And most of the lawsuits are from purchases done online.

My guess is that he does this by design so that someone living on the other side of the country is unable to defend themselves and loses simply because theyre unable to attend.

The guy is probably an agent for ebay.


edit on 6-6-2016 by gladtobehere because: title


+8 more 
posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 04:19 PM
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a reply to: gladtobehere

People like this make me sick. For one he could have bought the printer and made a part disappear. Nice thread. What a terrible person.



posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 04:22 PM
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a reply to: gladtobehere

Geez - there should be something in place - universally throughout the US, which requires abusive litigants to cover all legal fees plus damages for the person they tried to sue. Mr. Costello should get a minimum of $100,000, plus every dollar he spent on these cases, plus every dollar of missed earnings (or used paid time off) replaced by the slimeball Zavodnik. If he cannot pay immediately, he should be forced to sell all of his posessions, give up his shelter, and work at least 2 jobs until he pays the full amount, with interest. If he does not, his organs should be sold.

I'm not being hyperbolic, I think this should be the law. I would much rather have someone steal $30k from me, than to cost me that much money PLUS stress and time. This is far worse than robbery and torture combined, and should be treated as such (if it's even allowed in the first place.)


+9 more 
posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 04:23 PM
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Ugh. Send this idiot back to the Ukraine.



posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 04:24 PM
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a reply to: Atsbhct

I second that!!! Great point!



posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 04:24 PM
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a reply to: dogstar23

Which is why I advocate for a loser pays style system to help prevent these frivolous cases.



posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 04:28 PM
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a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

This is usually the case in Canada, you don't see many frivolous lawsuits up here.

And our courtrooms are run by Walruses. Who wants to deal with that.



posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 04:31 PM
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a reply to: Atsbhct



Coo coo ca choo.



posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 04:31 PM
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Why would anybody buy a printer off of craigslist? They are cheaper than the ink inside of them brand new. Stupid scammers.



posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 04:34 PM
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a reply to: gladtobehere
After he lost in small claims, the second judge should have thrown the case out, and jailed the guy for contempt of court, especially if the judge knew the mans background.



posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 05:00 PM
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originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: dogstar23

Which is why I advocate for a loser pays style system to help prevent these frivolous cases.



Because that way Monsanto can bankrupt every farmer in the US by suing them and then overwhelming them with battalions of lawyers, right?



posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 05:12 PM
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Wouldn't this be a case of caveat emptor, buyer beware? We need Judge Judy on this one, she would have put this fool in his place !



posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 05:19 PM
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a reply to: gladtobehere

Sometimes I think of how I could sue people in ridiculous ways. Not that I WOULD but I just like figuring out a way to make the most ridiculous situations sound legally acceptable. I could think of several situations in which one could sue over a printer...including the fact that printers have a system that collects everything ever printed. People actually buy used printers from business warehouses to extract the information and commit fraud.



posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 05:29 PM
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originally posted by: F4guy
Because that way Monsanto can bankrupt every farmer in the US by suing them and then overwhelming them with battalions of lawyers, right?


Huh? What is to stop them from suing anyone now?

If you end up paying the cost of a knowingly frivolous lawsuit then you will most likely not bring it.



posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 05:38 PM
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The printer's buyer was Gersh Zavodnik, a 54-year-old Indianapolis man known to many in the legal community as a frequent lawsuit filer who also represents himself in court.

Dude should appeal. Used inkjet printers have been sitting and the jets themselves usually become plugged with dried ink making them useless. Everybody knows that.

Nobody with any smarts buys an old used printer. Unless you're trying to scam the system for a settlement. Or the system was in on it.



posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 05:39 PM
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a reply to: dogstar23


Geez - there should be something in place - universally throughout the US, which requires abusive litigants to cover all legal fees plus damages for the person they tried to sue.


Yeah, and then the scam would be to troll someone until they sue, then sue them back under this new law. There's just needs to be some rational thought and the allowance of judges to exercise rational opinions/judgements when stuff like this is presented to them.

Nah wait, then you have corrupt judges abusing that instead.

Kill all the lawyers? (Sarcasm of course)



posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 05:45 PM
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Gersh needs his arse beat.



posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 06:00 PM
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originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: dogstar23

Which is why I advocate for a loser pays style system to help prevent these frivolous cases.



So you want to enable Monsanto to bankrupt every farmer by overwhelming them with battalions of lawyers to the point where they have to give up and pay Monsanto millions, right?



posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 06:01 PM
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a reply to: F4guy

You just posted the same thing twice.

What is to stop Monsanto from suing everyone into oblivion now?



posted on Jun, 6 2016 @ 06:25 PM
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originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: F4guy

You just posted the same thing twice.

What is to stop Monsanto from suing everyone into oblivion now?



Nothing stops them but at least they have to pay their own lawyers now. And in Federal Court and in most states there is a provision called Rule 11 which provides for the imposition of sanctions, including legal fees and costs, for filing a frivolous or unsupported suit. See federalrulesofcivilprocedure.blogspot.com...
edit on 6-6-2016 by F4guy because: Add info




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