A new twist on Higbee

[DrumGuy23]

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought that I'd give an update. First of all, I have to say what an amazing, supportive, and informative forum this is. Many thanks to the folks who run it, and also those who have the guts to post about their ongoing battles.
Several months ago, acting on info from this forum and advice of council, I decided to take the route of freezing the evil Higbee out. I haven't responded to him in any shape or form. I screen calls, so when the caller comes up as "unknown" I don't pick up. That is how Higbee's calls come in, BTW - he operates like any scam artist, hiding his name on incoming calls. On the two messages I've received I delete them as soon as I hear "This is XXX from Higbee and Associates, and I'd..." I don't plan on opening any envelopes, although I've only received the one so far, and I delete emails without reading them. If I get a registered letter, I'm going to refuse to sign for it. The first contact I plan on having with them is when a server approaches me and serves me with papers that they're suing me.
I don't know if that will happen, but as my attorney pointed out, they've done no research. They don't know that I don't have a lot of money, they don't know that I have screen captures of sites showing the alleged copyrighted photo, they don't know that there are STILL a number of sites giving their image away on the web, and in their package they never sent proof of copyright, they just said, "this belongs to our client, so pay us a thousand bucks."
I'm fully prepared to go to court, but in the end I think that it will cost them much more to do that than they can get from me (I don't have much). And as my attorney said, we'll immediately counter-sue so that should we win the day, they will have to pay for everything on my end.
I will keep posting status, but as of now, I'm expecting the next extortion letter with an elevated amount, and the third email that everyone seems to get. I'll read nor reply to either. But I've come to a place where I'm at peace with this - I'm no longer losing sleep or experiencing non-stop worrying, I'm ready to fight.
That's me, jousting windmills!

[icepick]

Appreciate the update. It sounds like you are in the stage a lot of us are at or have been through which is the post 15 day lawsuit filing threat. Higbee is crazy but I do think the longer you go without hearing from them the more time is on your side. I’ve seen some posts about him coming back on someone after a lull but I don’t know how common that is.

[kingkendall]

@DrumGuy23

This is the approach I advocate but not everyone can do.  But, like it was told to me by my attorney cousin of mine, nothing is real until and actual summons and complaint filed in federal court.  Until then it's just a lawyer asking you to pay money via threat and intimidation.  What sucks about it is that the situation last for three years.  But, here's the deal.  Three years goes by in a blink of an eye.  Especially if real life comes to play: taking care of kids, dealing with elderly parents, keeping a job, keeping a marriage together, how do I pay back this student loan, you know real life stuff that we all have to deal with.  So what's a letter or email or phone call from Higbee?  It's gum stuck on the bottom of your shoe.