Is it too late for small claims? (flat fee, for rent)

[marks448]

Hello, hope everyones doing fine in this heat. Came here cause it's my first time taking someone to court and would like to know if I'm going about it the right way. Few years ago I lent a friend money for rent to help him in his situation. He promised to pay back in a month and told me he was gonna be sent money from his mother which turned out to be a total bluff. I've been asking every week for the past 3 years and I've only gotten him to pay me a 1/3 thus far but he's stopped again and its been another year. Today I decided enough is enough and was thinking of small claims. If I do, can I ask for bit more of what I lent as interest and for the trouble he has caused? I don't have written proof (signed agreement) because he was a friend I was close to and thought he would pay back in a month as he said, but I have many text messages from him and also his girlfriend.

I don't have messages that go far back as 3 years though, only the last few months currently. I can maybe try checking old iphone back ups. But if I don't, would that deem the case useless?
Is 3 years too late for small claims?

Thank you in advance for anyone that throws any advice.

[jory425]

Sorry to hear about it . Man . Especially he is the friend close to you. I'm not sure if it is worth. It depends on how much you lent to him.

The answer is i think you can. you can always ask small claim court to see if you can file the small claim. They should have the correct answer for you.

[camaro69]

With nothing in writing, it's your word against his.

Life experience. Learn from it and move on.

[zhelder]

You haven’t got a chance. I lost my best friend from college because I gave him money (twice!) to help him out even though I was destitute myself at the time. He never thanked me or paid me back, even when he was able to do so.

I dealt with an even bigger problem several years later. I moved, and left my phone active a few extra days at my old residence (with roommates, so the house was still occupied). The derelict guy that moved in to take my place rang up several international phone calls on my account. I won’t embarrass myself by stating how much the bill came to, all I’ll say is that it was a very substantial amount of money.

I couldn’t afford to pay the money back, and my credit was destroyed. I eventually got Verizon to work out a payment plan with me and remove the derogatory marks from my credit report, but it took a few years to climb out of that disaster.

Sue the derelict? The miscreant had no job and no money (as my old roommate, who I’m still very good friends with, quickly found out).

Do not ever give money to anyone unless you plan for it to be a gift or you have a written contract.

“If it’s not in writing, it doesn’t exist.”

[jaymoney]

Small claims also has monetary limits, so depending on how much we're talking about it might not be worth it. However, anything you have in writing is going to help, even if it's a text message saying "I can't pay you back the five hundred I owe you."

[subban]

Another thing to consider is even if it does go to small claims court and the guy never shows ups for the case and you win a judgment against him, there is really no enforcing that judgment forcing him to pay you your money back. I guess you could have a some retribution back in knowing there will be probably a hit to his credit with him defaulting the judgment showing up on his credit report and debt collector's hounding him for the judgment with phone calls. But, I doubt you see the rest of your money ever again! I know it sucks as its happened to me getting conned from people I assumed were my friends but were really scumbags just pretending and using me for their own ends.

[jaymoney]

Even if he does show up there's no way to enforce it. You can't garnish his wages, you can only know you're in the right.

At the same time, if they owe you money they'll probably never call you again. I'd pay a few hundred bucks to make sure some people were out of my life forever.

[SeventhFloor]

Go on Judge Judy or Judge Mathis

[midnight_thunder]

How much money do they owe you? You are still within the statute of limitations (6 years). It's not a dealbreaker that you don't have a signed agreement. Those text messages (if the person says, "I'll pay you the $100 on Thursday") could be evidence of the oral contract. If you can afford to sue in small claims, go ahead. At least it's a chance to mediate the matter. If the person never shows, you'll have a default judgment to hang over their head.

[subban]

Originally Posted by SeventhFloor

Go on Judge Judy or Judge Mathis

That's not a bad idea. I was on People's Court in the late '90's with Judge Ed Koch. The TV company pays both of you a flat fee to appear (I forget I think its like $200) and the TV company will pay the judgment out to whoever wins. Its more like a TV game show, where contestants are competing for money. I think its only for cases less than a $1K. I doubt the TV corp is interested in paying out huge lump sum judgments.