Something similar happened to my family business in Canada, too. We installed a $50,000 audio & video system in the new home of a lawyer in our city (also a government town). He never paid his invoice. We tried to collect for quite a while and then took him to court. He and the judge greeted each other like old friends - because they were! They hang out together, golf, cottages, etc. The judge ruled against us - he said we took too long to collect. We had tried but the lawyer had just ignored us from the get-go!! I guess if you just ignore your debts long enough you get away with not paying for anything and feel no guilt about hurting local small business, as long as you're friends with the legal system.