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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."
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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...
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?