Thanks to all who gave us advice.

We went to court today, Judge David Somebody (of Placer County Small Claims) presided. After 6+ hours of watching what was essentially the same people you'd see on Judge Judy or People's Court, we presented our case, and won.

We were really well prepared, but there were a couple of potential (techncal) problems, we were close to the statute of limitations, and it was arguably not the right county to sue. Fortunately, he was a dumbass and, although he tried, he couldn't figure out how to get it dismissed on those grounds. Other than that, it was pretty mcuh a shoe-in.

He did provide some entertainment, though. First, he tried to claim that we "tricked" him by telling him that he would be doing a mainstream website, not an adult one... except that we were able to show that he had done other adult work for us, for which he'd been paid, before the date he acknowledged as the first meeting on this project. Then he perjured himself in several other ways, and he couldn't even keep track of his own lies. The judge saw through it in about 15 seconds.

The best part is, apparently he has (or can get) some money, because the judge asked how long it would be for him to pay, and he said a week. We were fully expecting him to cry poor and to have to do an asset search.

We weren't sure where he was living, so the way we served him was to have our process server show up at his movie premiere. Needless to say, he was pretty upset... and tried to tell the judge that we'd attempted to publicly defame and embarrass him, but the judge pretty much blew him off.

Just another dumb gay boy, I guess.

Anyway, we'll see if the check shows up next week.

Thanks again for everyone's input. Particularly given the way he lied, this would totally not have played to our advantage on any of the shows, even though it's fun to have thought about doing it, if only for a second.