Jordan Punchinger, Founder and CEO of SilverJax, received some good news the other day, he won his court case against an unsatisfied customer.  For those of you who don’t remember Jordan he called in during TWiST 31 seeking advice on how to deal with legal issues.  Jason and Jack Andrys suggested it is best to take the highroad, deal with the small claims hearing and move on.

Jordan in the most basic sense did just that; he asked for court documents and started compiling all the paperwork and documents relating to this client.  Important to his case were all contracts, emails, bank statements, invoices, and server time stamps.  He searched the internet, contacted friends and multiple attorneys for advice.  A great deal of time was spent going over the paperwork, looking for discrepancies, errors and blatant tampering of evidence, not to his surprise he found all of the above.

Next was his day in court, knowing he had nothing to hide and had done his homework, provided an ease of mind and a calm approach.  Knowing that the plaintiff was a hot head worked to his benefit, he never let himself get worked up, he stayed calm cool and collected, presented his case and won.  If you are interested in a very detailed course of events check out Jordan’s blog.

I contacted Jordan to get some insight into the course of events after his call:

You hang up the phone with Jason now what?

Being given advice from a successful entrepreneur such as Jason or Jack is always reassuring. They provided me with a sense & idea that by taking the high road with my cards in order that things will be fine. Ultimately left with a sense of assurance that being the bigger will prevail. Exactly the case.

What is your state of mind before and after the hearing?

Immediately after the call, the assurance from Jason & Jack obviously felt great.  However fighting the mental demons of something potentially not working to plan is heavy.  After the conclusion yesterday, yes.  Wow, I cannot express the weight that has been lifted off and the greater sense of accomplishment. Taking the higher ground and not breaking down to their pathetic bate as suggested by Jason definitely left me with a greatest feeling.

Did the call help solidify a plan of action?

Most definitely, I’m in most instances an inch for inch guy, I’ll bite if I’m bitten. In this case I took the high road, sat back let him dish out the incorrect statements & carried through with a higher sense of pride & respect than I may have not being given the advice.

What happened in small claims court, can you describe the events? This took place in Canada correct, is Canadian small claims court any different than ours, if you are familiar with our process.

It did occur in Canada – correct. Canadian Small Claims & US Small Claims are in essence very similar. However, there are jurisdictional differences between province-to-province, and state-to-state. Biggest difference primarily is that Canadian Small Claims goes all the way up to $25,000.00 whereas most commonly in the United States it’s only $5,000.00.

I kept my cool, the plaintiff gave many reasons & almost taunted me to argue and fight back with him. Being 20 years old, having just a small company and no representation it was at the very least intimidating at first going against a multi-million dollar company with their lawyer. But at the end of it all I took again, the higher road and kept my cool. I brought all evidence with me that I possibly could & refused to take their bate. With this being said, I stood my ground and would not allow the plaintiff to strong arm me – in defense when a false statement was made and I had an argument, yes I corrected him with my knowledge of the situation but I never fought back.

There were multiple false pieces of evidence and numerous different ways they, in lack of better words, “skipped around” what would have been legitimate evidence.

What was the result of the court ruling? Did the other guy have to pay any damages over dragging your name in the mud in the papers?

All claims were dropped in lieu of the evidence I was able to legitimately provide right there. Having said this it took a lot of hours to put all the pieces together, but it was worth it. In terms of financial loses or gains I’d rather not comment.  However, I will tell you that part of the negotiated agreement I made with the plaintiff was that he must publish an article in all publications he posted previously claiming his apologies and that all claims have been dropped.

Did the paper do a follow-up with you to set things straight?

Interesting you should ask, no. Quite the opposite really. A few weeks back I went to do some marketing/advertising in the publications that posted the article and was actually refused due to the situation that had taken place. So, rather than ask my side on what happened, the outcome etc they’ve banned me from using their services. Given the print media industry is collecting every nickel and dime they can, I found it interesting they’d turn down my money.

Have you changed the way you communicate with new clients in lieu of this situation?

Absolutely. In fact I’ve rewritten & created new agreements & contracts that must be signed prior to me even accepting a check from the client. I want the process to be as painless & easy as possible; however, I’m not in business to end up in court with every client who’s bored and has a few extra bucks to spend on a law suit.

Any advice for TWiST listeners?

If you run a company, cover your assets with agreements that are of benefit to both parties. The contracts can’t just be one sided, but make sure you’re covering yourself.  If you do end up in a similar situation, get every bit of evidence you can, all written e-mails, agreements you name it and use a magnifying glass.  If you’ve done your due diligence you will be fine.  In addition, if you’re in mediation or court & representing yourself – stay cool, let the other party speak first & be prepared to answer everything, honestly. With that being said, take the high road & be the bigger man – you’ll come out ahead no matter the end result.

For clarification this was not a case against SilverJax, it was a prior company.

Lessons learned: take the highroad, be truthful, don’t tamper with evidence and do your homework

Does anyone have any additional advice on how to protect oneself against situations like these, if so please comment?

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