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Home>Levelset Community>Legal Help>A customer cancelled after I delivered custom bookcases, sued me in small claims...and WON. I've requested a new trial.

A customer cancelled after I delivered custom bookcases, sued me in small claims...and WON. I've requested a new trial.

South CarolinaConstruction ContractDefectsLawsuitNotice of TerminationRecovery OptionsRight to LienSubstantial Completion

I built a library-style bookcase for a customer, actually two of them. The first time, built and delivered, she accepted. A few days later, she decides she wants to change the design. I sent her new price to build the new design, we agreed upon a March 17th completion date. I delivered the bookcases to her on 03/13/2022, with the plan to do the install the following week to meet the 3/17/2022 completion date. I requested progress payment on 03/14 prior to final install...she cancelled and said she did not agree to the new contract. Then would not let me get my tools, which required a civil standby. Even then, she kept materials and tools that were mine. I gave her many alternatives to cancelling the project, including me finishing it completely, then her making payments for the balance. All of which she refused...claiming "abuse of an elder", break of contract", and misrepresentation. I was obviously blindsided by all this! On 03/23, she sent me an email with a lawyer cc'd...telling me to make an offer...and that she was going to file at the end of the week, asking for $3000. She actually filed her complaint on 03/22, and I of course was trying to come up with ways to resolve whatever the issue was. She refused to meet me, she refused every attempt I made. Fast-forward to 08/02/2022, the trial. Well, it was terrible. I did not know people actually lied under oath! I was prepared to defend myself with the facts...but the lies, I was not prepared for. I lost...AND was ordered to pay her $2000! I filed a request for a new trial last week, based on "the discovery of new evidence that even with due diligence would not have been discoverable prior to trail"...the new evidence I discovered...the Customer's lies! A few issued with this: 1. She did not serve the registered agent I have listed for my business. But now that the trial has occurred, is there anything I can do to have it dismissed for lack of proper service? 2. She made false statements during the trial that I have evidence backing up that she is lying. Could this help me? 3. This is a frivilous civil suit, which is a crime in SC. She commited perjery, said that I was, "a liar and a cheat" during the trial. Accused me of all kinds of things with her lawyer copied. 4. The judges order made no mention of my counterclaim, which was for $7500 - this customer owed me $3500 when she decided to cancel, kept my tools, kept materials that are not part of the project, refused all attempts to settle this out of court, and gets to keep an 11ft wide x 9ft tall hardwood, custom-made, gloss white, built-in library-style bookcase. I was not prepared for trial, and the trial is over....there has to be something I can do to recover what is belongs to me. What should I do? What I want to do is:

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