You say you have a promissory note from him. That helps a lot, if you go the legal route. What's the date of the note, and what terms did the note specify for payment? Your statute of limitations would run, as I understand it, from the time a payment was due and was not made. It is important that you document everything that happens, with dates, amounts, dates and times of phone calls if possible, copies of letters you may have written to him or received from him.

I don't know the laws of your state or province, but it is typical for the statute of limitations to be perhaps two years, and if you let that time go by you give up your legal right to sue--or rather, to collect if you do sue. The time on the statute of limitations could be as short as one year. FIND THIS OUT RIGHT AWAY!

The advice about putting an ad in the paper given above is a bad idea, in my opinion. You have to be VERY careful not to give him grounds for a libel suit. Yes, truth is a defense to libel, but you'd better be really sure you can document every allegation you make.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and the above should be taken merely as an opinion of a layman. However, I have worked in court for forty years, and rubbed shoulders with lawyers for that time, and I think the above and my previous message (as GUEST on 11/24) are pretty well founded.

Dave Oesterreich