A Craigslist sale of an allegedly malfunctioning printer has been winding its way through the courts for nearly seven years, and there appears to be no end in sight for the paper filings.

According to news reports, Doug Costello sold a used Brother laser printer/fax/scanner machine to Gersh Zavodnik for $40 in 2009. Unbeknownst to Costello, Zavodnik had been described by the Indiana Supreme Court as a "prolific, abusive litigant" in light of the dozens of high-priced lawsuits he has filed over online transactions. Costello now seems to have had a duplicate experience.

Over the last six-and-a-half years, Costello has spent nearly $12,000 in lawyers' fees defending the case filed by Zavodnik who claimed the printer did not work when he received it. Zavodnik's original suit, which was filed in small claims court, was dismissed because Zavodnik had thrown away the printer. A year later, Zavodnik filed again, this time seeking more than $30,000 in damages for breach of contract and fraud. After that case was dismissed, Zavodnik made several more attempts, seeking between $300,000 and $600,000.

After more than 5 years, a judge ruled in favor of Zavodnik, awarding him $30,044 in a breach of contract judgment. Costello appealed the case, and it was swiftly dismissed. But Zavodnik isn't giving up the fight. Later this year a panel of judges will decide whether the case should have been dismissed.

“Gersh [Zavodnik] is not normal,” Costello told The New York Daily News. “It's been a practice in zen mindfulness and non-attachment.”

—Source:  nydailynews.com