Opening a litigation File on a Non Paying Client

On June 6, 2009 I did 27 notarizations in Springfield VA. The agreement was $5 per notary act plus travel ($25). The representative of the affluent wealthy civic association has refused to pay the $160 and there appears to be no administrative remedies. Consequently, the options are to bill each signer independently or litigate against the the unincorporated entity that does not appear to have an registered agent.
The first step after opening the litigation file is to document all communications and identify all parties and witnesses. After giving notice of the breach contract, one needs to thoroughly check the background from public records civil and criminal.Once the decision has been made to litigate, request for admissions, bill of complaint (warrant in debt) interrogatories, request for production of documents and possible depositions. Deposition sites need to be located. Modern technology is such that deposition can electronically recorded. Before one launches a litigation, one must be totally prepared with written briefs supporting your case. If I want to alert the media so the issue will receive appropriate coverage.Certainly, the smaller media outlets may have interest in a notary who did not get paid by wealthy Springfield Homeowners Association that will benefit thousands of dollars by a successful rezoning case.The bad news for the defendants is that I am GW trained legal assistant with extensive legal ability.

Breach of Contract Non Payment of Notary Fees

Facts:A representative of an extremely wealthy homeowners association in Fairfax County contracted with me to notarize their member homeowners on documents to be filed in Fairfax County.The rezoning may create a thousands of dollars of profit when the wealth homeowner sell their homes!!!!! The agreement was $5 notary act and $25 travel. I completed 27 notary acts. I also agreed to be there between3pm-7pm In many of these cases I had to check 2 people's government id since they were signing as joint owners.I told the representative my bill was $160. This fee is consistent with guideline of the VA notary handbook She presented me with a check substantial lower and I have decided to not process the check.
Discussion:This has not happened to me personally in the past. Notary signing agents regularly complain that they are not being paid by mortgage companies. Clearly, there is a situation that needs to remedied. Unfortunately, the remedies are limited. Exhaustion of Administrative remedies is limited to contacting the attorney or registered agent of the corporate wealthy homeowners association The agreement of representative of the wealthy homeowners association can easily be imputed to the wealthy homeowner association. Fairfax County will be disinterest in the dispute. The only other remedy will be the Fairfax General District Court since a wealthy corporate homeowners association may not be sued in Small Claims Court. Limited discovery is allowed in General District Court. Notary signing agents may want to explore this link http://www.123notary.com/howto-get-paid-signing-agent.htm
The Commonwealth of Virginia will not get involved with notaries collecting fees. In the future each person should pay the individual notary fees since I can no longer trust very wealthy home owner associations to pay my fees nor should any other notaries working in zip code 22151. You can collect you travel fee on arrival from the entity that requested your services.
Conclusion: While I do have written communication via emails, I think a more formal contract for multi-notarizations is a good idea. However, a better idea is to collect the notary fees from each signer. Legislation needs to be passed to make it a crime to assault, threaten or defraud a notary. Notaries are public official who need to be protected from the occasional errant adult juvenile delinquent!!!!! Clearly this very wealthy homeowners association needs to be given a major legal message.