bad tattoo/ sue artist?

I,ve been trying to find information.... First off I got duped by an artist ( I don,t think he is LEGAL) who did a crappy job on my shoulder tattoo -- lines messed up, color past the outline, color not completly filled in, the flowers do NOT look 3D-- was supposed to get shading but I wouldnt let him go that far...I had to go back 3 times and now I have to get it redone by another arttist. The first guy charged me 300 and the new artist says it will cost at least 400 to get it fixed.. my question is.. Can I sue the first artist to get my money back to use to fix it?

No, no one made you sit in the crappy artists chair, your responsible for the tattoo you got. And Americans are the ones who are supposed to be lawsuit happy! Hopefully you have learned your lesson, make sure the next guy is SLAMMING.

YES!! You can sue anyone for anything, that doesn't mean you will win...in your case if the artist was NOT legal and represented himself as such you may have a stronger case, consult an attorney

well, yes, I guess you can sue anyone for anything. I dont think morally you have a case at all, though. I guess if you were underage then the artist is in the wrong, but you pay someone to sit in their chair, you shouldnt blame anyone else but yourself for the crappy tattoo (and maybe a crappy educational system/culture if thats your case). People should take responsibility for their own actions. That said, when said crappy artist gets their ass kicked cause they #$^ed up the wrong person, you wont see me shedding a tear for em...

Please protect me government not only from bad people but also myself, PFFFT Instead of trying to sue for your own stupidity, Just sock yourself in the head !!! The world is round, Maybe its just catching up to you.

Gabe you are KINDA right, but if the artist CLAIMED he/she was licensed and indeed was not then legal culpability would remand to the artist, at least in America, not sure about Canada. I do agree that the person being tattooed should have made sure the artist was licensed and researched the artists ability to perform tattooing beforehand.

The poster is not talking about suing because of health reasons, she is talking about suing because the guy sucked so she can get her money back. Whether he is tattooing legally or not is a technicality to this case, shes pissed cause the artist sucks and its her own fault for going to an artist who blows.

BUT she mentioned that he may or may not have been licensed and as I said that throws the legal ball back at HIM skill notwithstanding his skill representing oneself as a licensed artist is FRAUD. Case being that if he HAD told her that he was NOT licensed her decision to be tattooed by him/her could have been affected by that fact. IF he WAS not licensed and represented himself as such the legal culpability would remain with the artist and she can sue for misrepresentation and/or fraud. At that point his/her skill level would bge moot as she has a reasonable expectation as to profesional skill due to license. We both know that a license to tattoo means nothing in the real world but it does in the judicial world.You seem to be implying that its ALL on the customer and it just is not, a client has every right to expect a resonable skill level. We also both know that her problems with the tattoo could very well have been HER fault ie aftercare, after the fact comtamination etc etc etc.

I got it... However I saw his portfolio and that's why I went with him and now I m thinking it's not even his work... and the fact that he made me pay FULL before it was even done!! You are right , no one made me sit in that chair but who gave him the right to bullshit me and do a crappy job on me!!!

GABE-- actually I m not suing becuase he sucked I m suing because he didnt do what I asked!! AND the fact that I have to pay MORE money to get it fixed!!! as for the girl who's going to finish it up, nothing is going to be covered up except for a couple of leaves, what she plans to do is get more color added, shading added, -- actually pretty much fill out the tattoo

Kristine, MOST studios do collect up front thats not the point, you got screwed and I am sorry you had a bad experience.Hopefully your new artist will do a great job for you, good luck!

Actually, Gabe seems right. Live and learn. However, the first thing you should do now is go to a bunch of different artist and check them out. Don't just go to the first one that says they can fix it. Check out their portfolios and then see if they can produce any healed tattoos. If you aren't comfortable with them or their style, run away. You've been duped once, be a little more picky in the future. Also, at least in every shop I've worked in, you have to sign paper work stating you don't hold the shop or the artist liable. Keep that in mind when you get your next piece. Take your time to find who you want to do the work, you have the rest of your life.

Please take note that I was not asked to sign anything...and this means I can hold him responsible for not completing the tattoo?

its been awhile since i bothered lookin at this forum, but gabe you certainly have gotten much more aggressive, its really funny. But i dont blame you honestly.

Sucks that some shite artist did some bad work on you, but honestly the only thing you can do is save up a bit and have the thing covered. Sure you could sue him, but thatd mean putting a lawyer on retainer and believe me you could pay for a full body suit with what that lawyers going to charge you. it really does suck but the best you can do is find an a better artist, make sure you thoroughly go through their portfolio and ask around to get some info or reviews on them. It really does suck that the hacks can outnumber the real talent sometimes but you just have to be more scrutinizing when picking someone to mark you permanently.

I cant stand people that try to sue because of there bad judgement.There are many things in life that are not what they seem.Products that dont work that should.But the balance is off on this.It sucks that you got jerked but c'mon this is a life long piece of art.I bet if you went to buy a car you would have found out more info then you did on your tattoo.You made a mistake license or no license except what you did and go on.If he had a license he still would suck then what.

You know what I had to do the post to convince my husband (thank you-- for the posts!!!) that it wasn't the way to go and I always said that I accept what happeend and that all I have to do is just bite the bullet and pay for my errors even tho` he duped me and that that,s how it is when you get a tattoo. Once again, thank you!!

What about a 16 year old who leaves the u.s. and goes into canada and gets a very large tattoo on his chest without consent of his parents. I feel that the tattoo artist was really negligent. Do I have any legal recourse?