Here is the first of two articles that ran at
The Splash.
Reprinted with permission of the author.
FREELANCER WINS SUIT AGAINST THECOMICSTORE.COM!
PRICE MOVES TO GARNISH CMI ACCOUNT!
April 29: Freelance comics journalist, Howard Price, has been awarded $3575 in a lawsuit against Ross Rojek's CMI Holdings. The suit concerned unpaid invoices for freelance reviews, interviews, and feature articles Price wrote for the e-commerce site The ComicStore.com. The suit was filed in Faulkner County Arkanas Small Claims court.
Price told the SPLASH: "I was paid at a rate of $25 per review and $75 for interviews and features. My last payment for this work was in March of 2001, in the form of a transfer of shares of CMI Holdings (CMIH), the parent company. Repeated requests were made during the course of the year for further payments, during which time I continued to write articles--relying on the good faith of the company and because I personally liked the editor (whom I still count as a friend and am working with part time producing the Pictographic Revue email 'zine.) When no payments came by October, I ceased writing for TheComicStore.com."
Price said he filed suite in December of 2001, "for a total amount of revenues owed of $3,575. On January 16, 2002, the Small Claims court of Faulkner County found a judgment in my favor for the above amount, plus the $33.00 of court costs, said judgment to accrue interest at the rate of 10% per year. 30 days after the judgment was served, there was no response from Ross."
Price said: "On March 5, 2002, I filed a Writ of Garnishment (incurring another $14.00 in court costs) with the bank on which TheComicStore.com LLC checks were written. In April, I received notice from the courts that the bank in Sacramento could not comply with the Writ because the Arkansas court did not have jurisdiction, and that I would need to register my judgment in Sacramento county and get another Writ on the new case number to make it enforcable. I contacted the courts in Sac county, and obtained the 4 documents necessary to register the judgment. They will be sent in soon, along with another $97.00 incurred court costs. (Additionally, there is a $5.00 for getting a certified copy of my judgment, and another $7.00 for the new Writ.) Once Sacramento County has registered my judgment and given it a case number, I will be able to apply for a new and enforcable Writ of Garnishment."
In addition to the Price case, the SPLASH Has learned that at least one other freelancer is awaiting payment for articles submitted and published to thecomicstore.com site. Don Markstein told the SPLASH: "I also wrote some reviews and features there, tho I didn't let the outstanding balance get out of hand. If you're interested, they still owe me $75 for the last feature I wrote there. Also, they "reprinted" one of my features without payment or even notification, but since there wasn't
any contract specifying payment for that, let it go."
Ross Rojek, CEO of CMI Holdings, which owns the Comics & Comix stores, the Beyond The Pale distribution company along with Internet sites TheComicStore.com and AnotherUniverse.com., did not respond to requests for a statement.
