Small Claims Court

Motion for rehearing/or amend a judgement?

Mr.T007 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:43:45 GMT

Hi,

In Florida, is a 28.10% interest rate unlawful to be granted in a default judgement from time of charge-off til Final Judgement by a creditor?

Secondly, would undergoing chemotheraphy for cancer be excusable neglect to request a rehearing?

Thirdly, does a defendent need prior notification before entry of final judgement in a default ?

Also, Could I claim lack of jurisdiction based on, I live in this county now, but I didn't when I made payments to this creditor?

Thank You, any help would be appreciated. I didn't go to court because I spent 9 months fighting cancer,but now I want to fight it because the creditor got the judgement doubled charging me an outrageous interest rate!

Small claims bumped to GA State Court?

HeatherDW — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:14:16 GMT

Please take a minute to read this. I really could use some advice folks. Thanks.

Almost a month back I filed a claim against my former LL in Magistrate Court for three times the remain balance of my security deposit that he owed me as well as pro-rated rent since he wanted the property early and I turned it over to him. Without going too much into detail I can safely say that just based on evidence alone I can prove my case.

He asked me to call to "work something out" and he immediatly began grilling me on what I had that made me think I should go forward with this. I explained my side and he proceeded to vaguely threaten me(?) to some degree. He made mention of dragging my nine yr old and ex-husband into court, (we get along just fine..) Said that some "revealing" pictures about my "lifestyle" would come out and I might want to be careful about my "vulnerabilities". This stems from an incident where in the middle of taking care of my daughter who had the stomach flu and while I was in the middle of packing he decides to show up for a inspection of the property that he insisted on, not only that but he arrives four hours late at dinner time. He proceeded to take pictures of the clean laundry on my bed that needed to be folded, the dishes from where we had dinner and *gasp* a dirty air filter which he declared is the reason my child is sick. He did this to inspect the place supposedly...I am sorry after a weekend of a child throwing up all over the place, trying to pack and getting very little sleep my house was not going to be a canidate for a "home" magazine. He then told me in a threatening email that the authorities would be interested in all this. Then he proceeded to tell me the stuff he wanted done to the place.

So tonight during this call he brings that up again, and in the middle of all this out of no where asks me if I am "comfortable" at my new place, and then quickly added because he wanted to be able to send me mail there. Creeped me out. Then he added that he would not be dealing with this in Cobb Magistrate Court but was going to have it "bumped up" (his exact words), to State Court because he wanted his lawyer involved and then advised me I would need one too and it was going to be very expensive, (I already knew I would need one in State Court.) Is he able to do this? Just get the case bumped up so he can make me get a lawyer for it? He also said he was going to sue me for things that he had decided not to charge me for previously because he was being nice. And I guess I will have to address a post to a different board because I think this loser is going to be either filing a false claim with CPS on me, (which I will have no trouble defending myself against as I take good care of my little girl), or even worse.

Once again, thank you for your time.

New Jersey Writ of Executions and Execution against Wages

gm1982 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:46:26 GMT

Hello everyone,

I purchase judgments for a living here in NJ. I have been in the business for about 8 years now. I know some attorney's don't like the profession I chose. But I do have a question. There are two main ways of enforcing a judgment in NJ, through a Writ of Execution and Execution against Wages(I am going to call it a wage garnishment from now on). I have a few questions first regarding a wage garnishment, you get the order, you have it served upon the employer. Assume service is good. Now the garnishee just ignores the order, what do you do? Motion to Show Cause? And what if they don't show up? Other than sanctions, do you think that a judge would grant a motion for summary judgment against the garnishee for the amount of the judgment?

Another question comes, in New Jersey, when you want to do a bank levy, you have to have the Sherriff serve the bank. And the bank is supposed to freeze the account. I had a judgment about a month ago, where the bank claimed they were never served. However, the Sherriff served the bank and then obviously sent a letter to the Judgment Debtor stating that their bank account has been levied upon. Because the bank said they were "never served" there was no freeze on the account. I had to fax over a copy of the Writ of Execution to their levy department, and they basically said tough luck. Now I would love to see how much money was in that account the day the bank was served. However, subpoena duces tecums in New Jersey are not available post-judgment. I have written to the bank asking for statements of what the account balance was on that day certified Return reciept requested and regular mail simultaniously. But obviously they won't respond, they have no legal obligation. In this type of situation what would you do?

Also, this is not small claims court, I am talking about special civil and law division including docketed judgments

On a side note, in New Jersey, from what I have read I have not found any time limit for a garnishee to respond to a levy...which is kind of weird..

Would this be considered a breach of contract?

Agraves — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:28:18 GMT

On october 5, 2009 i bought and paid for a vehicle, because I didn't have a valid drivers license, I put the vehicle in a friends name. On october 8,2009 i typed an agreement stating that her name would stay on the title of the vehicle until i could get my license re-instated or until other wise told by me. On october 12, 2009 she kicked me out and refused to sign my vehicle back over to me. In early November, I took out a small claims against her for the truck or $2000.00. On November 13, 2009 she was served and notified of the court date, on the following monday (11/16/09) she took the title out of state to tenn( we live in NC) and got a title loan for $1403.00 and if a payment isn't made by dec. 15, the loan company will comae and take the truck. She even admitted it to the judge that she took on a loan against the title. On November 20, 2009 we were both in court, and the case was dismissed. I have a few questions.

1) would this be considered a breach of contract

2) How do I go about writing an appeal letter to file an appeal to take this back to court.

3) Do i stand a chance in recovering my vehicle, and making her pay the title loan so that my vehicle doesn't get taken by the loan company?

Expense Reporting

02GTom — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:23:54 GMT

Mods, feel free to move this to another forum if this qualifies under some other category.
I will try to make this brief, but am in quite the unique situation.

At the end of September, I (live in Texas) was contacted by a senior level manager above me and requested by a Vice President of our Corporation (Very large corporation) to take a temporary assignment in Fairbanks, Alaska to help a project that needed it.

At 3 days notice I was on a plane, and assured that all of my expenses would be reimbursed in full. I arrived and went to work. All costs on my personal credit card, which is the corporations policy. I helped a project that was in dire need of it, and fixed a lot of problems. Vice presidents, senior managers and my direct managers all have in writing thanked me for a job well done. They extended my stay in Alaska and I ended up being there for almost 2 months.

After the first month, a senior level manager asked me if I would like to return back to Texas to visit my wife/family or if I would like my wife to come out to Alaska. I responded that since it would cost more for me to return to texas, then fly back to Alaska, then fly back to Texas that if my wife could visit me in alaska, it would be cheaper , and she would enjoy it. I was then Verbally told that this was acceptable to be reimbursed in full, I also have the approval in writing.
I also brought up that my dogs would need to be boarded and that I was not interested in having my wife come visit if this was not taken care of. I was also assured Verbally and in writing that this was ok by senior level management. I brought up that normally this isnt reimbursable, but was told it would be an exception.

Further, I was also told, and approved in writing, that clothing and meals would be reimbursable for myself, as well as my wife. It was justified by the fact that Texas was 85 degrees, and alaska was negative 10. Senior level management approved this.

To keep it short, there are a few other small items that are also being contested, however I have approval on all of them.

The bottom line is, I have my supervisors approval, senior level approval and VP approval of my expense report. However, when I submitted my detailed expense report to be reimbursed (November) I am being told by the treasurer of the Company that these items are personal and not reimbursable. And, if they WERE to reimburse them, they are taxable income.
The problem here is, I have the approvals of all my supervisors and individuals in upper management. I asked prior to purchasing anything if the items would be acceptable, and was told they would be. I also have in writing the approvals of the highest individual needed. But now they are all telling me that I will either not be reimbursed for the items above, or they will be taxed.
I would not have purchased anything had I known they were not going to reimburse me in full. I was told they would make an exception.

The dollars add up to approx $2,500 that is being contested. The total report was $8,000

What do I do???

civil case

mcsolut — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:47:41 GMT

I'm a contractor and had received papers from a customer stating that they are suing me for work that was performed on her home. The papers read customer vs. my name of my company name. I no longer have that business for over a year. I lost the case because I was late today. I arrived as the judge was finishing up. He spoke to me briefly and stated that the customer won because I was not there. I filed a motion to appeal right away.

As a friend of the customer at the time of doing the work, I wrote a contract that was signed for doing the work under the business. The work was completed and the customer still owed money. She did not want to pay for the services that arose during the work which she agreed to do so. A month later she states that there are some things that need to be touched up. I stated that until she pays for the prior work we would not address her concerns.

The company doesn't exist anymore, but I'm concerned about the wording. Since the case was lost the business is responsible, or me?

Non Disclosure of Salvage Vechicle title

Swustrau — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:36:47 GMT

I am a newbie so pls forgive me if I am not posting in the correct area.

I will ask the most important question before I get into great detail because unfortutely I was unable to do anything about it until now.

Is there a statue of Limitations for suing a small car lot for nondiscloser of Salvage Title on Vechile?

Thank you so much for any and all insight and advice.

filing in PA

jasminepjackson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:25:53 GMT

I live in California but I need to file a small claims lawsuit in PA. After completing the paperwork, do i need to file the paperwork in person at the courthouse, or is there any other way (email, regular mail) that i can file the claim?

Ex girlfriend lied about me being the father and used me for

Jobelaw — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:39:25 GMT

I am devistated and i am sure and have a feeling that i wont be able to do anything, i wont make this long we lived together for about a month then we separated and after a month she looked for me and said she was pregnant and she said it was my baby

Throughout the pregnancy i supported her financially, i truly thought it was my baby i covered utilities rent payment EVERYTHING I THOUGHT it was the right thing to do if she was having my baby "at the time of the pregnancy she had some other boyfriend" "i know"

I got her an apartment that i paid for 7 months while she was pregnant, I never lived with her i was out working in colorado sending her money she supposdly needed,. I bought the baby so much clothes, I have receipts, i bought food i supported her throught the wholeeeeeeeeeeeeee thing. I have proof of absolutely everything that i spent

Then on the day the baby was born, she shut me out of the hospital room and said to leave that i wasnt the father........i dint believe her, i got an attorney, spent lots of money and did the paternity test

Got the results today and i am not the father,

i am emotionally broken,truly thought baby was mine, I cant even go in to the nursery room i built for my little girl she lied and i feel horible, i truly wanted the baby,

should i sue her? can i sue her for fraud? i know i sound stupid, tell me what you think i dint have a clue she chated on me

Owning more than one business

sunnij05 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:53:06 GMT

The person I work for actually owns many different businesses. My question is related to the 25 small claims a year. Can he file 25 small claims per business, or 25 small claims total?

small claim filed in Nov. hearing in Jan.

sunnij05 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:51:49 GMT

I filed a small claim today but the court date is not until January. I know you can only file 25 small claims in a year, so my question is, does the small claim I filed today count for 2009 or 2010 since the court date is in January?

Small claims advice for multiple checks

seanjohn — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:59:11 GMT

An old friend owes me about 10K. He was supposed to pay this to me every month but I see he is not very worried about it as i gave him extra time due to his health problems.

So I have his checks in hand, each $1.5K and made payable on different dates. All checks are past due now. I am considering the best way to get this money from him.

NY small claims has $5K limit. I was thinking that claim can be splitted since I have seperate checks. Can this be possible?

Otherwise what should I do? Do I need a lawyer and follow a regular court process? Please give me an advise. Law says different contracts can be used for splitting claim so i am not sure different checks would constitute as different claims.

Thank you in advance.

MOTION TO DISMISS

mackykam — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:48:17 GMT

I live in NJ and have filed a case against a builder who did work on my house. The defendant's attorney has filed a motion to dismiss claiming the contract has a mandatory arbitration clause. Final payment was received by the builder, though not by me but by his foreman who was leaving his job and wanting his bonus. In the 2 1/2 years I've been in dispute with this builder he never once mentioned arbitration in response to my letters threatening to sue.

How do I go about asking the court for a hearing on this motion as opposed to sending papers. As I am not an attorney I don't know how to file a response, what is permitted, or necessary to fight this motion to dismiss.

Thank you for your responses.

Church Giving out presonal information

mitchama — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:17:14 GMT

Normal 0

Hello,

I live in the South Carolina with my fiancé and my son. We starting looking at churches to attend as a family last year, a month or two after our son was born. We looked up information about churches and decided to attend Ultimate Life Church off of Carowinds Blvd. We met with the Pastor and his wife and filled out some information. We were not really happy there so we decided to leave and try another church. On our last day at the church we ran into the best friend of my fiancé’s ex-girlfriend whom he has a child with.

We never thought anything about it until about a week ago, Tuesday, November 10, 2009, when I get a phone call from my fiancé’s ex-girlfriend who left me a message to have him call her. I asked him how she got my number because it is a out of state cell phone number that she could of not got because she has never met me and does not even know my last name. He called her back and they talked. She told him that she got my number from the Ultimate Life Church. She lives in Wisconsin and decided to move to South Carolina to live with her best friend that went to the same church as we did. She told me she had no other way to get a hold of him so she asked the church of our information. We both know that is not true because she has his mother's home phone number and his cell phone number that have not changed since the last time she talked to them.

The every next day after I got out of work, Wednesday November 11, 2009 at 4:00pm, I went to the church so that I could talk to the Pastor. I went to the office and asked of him or his wife and his secretary said he would not be there until services that night around 7pm. I briefly asked her why my personal information was given out and who gave it out? She said that she would not do that and she did not do it. I told her that I would like to sit down with the Pastor and have a meeting to resolve the issue and I left my name and phone number to call me to set that up. He has yet to call me and it has been 6 days.

I need to know what I am supposed to do because they gave out my personal information. The forms that we filled out of the church had my full name, date of birth, phone number, address, email, and most importantly my son’s personal information. This should have never happened and the Pastor will not even discuss anything with me.

trying to obtain car title through small claims court

Darinj22 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:14:56 GMT

I had bought a car from a private seller and was given the title, but I did not realize that he never had it retitled in his name, but he had filled in the purchaser information. I went to the license branch and they would not issue me a new title etc. I tried to contact the person I bought the car from and the person they had bought it from, but was unsuccessful. I was told I would need to go to small claims court which it cost me $136 to file to have the hearing. To get the judge to sign off on it I guess. Anyways the hearing is this afternoon and I am unable to make it due to being at work. I work for the railroad and have a crazy schedule and I am currently over 200 miles out of town. I faxed a motion to get the hearing postponed or to allow my wife to represent me in my place. I found out this morning that the request was DENIED. It is not worth it for me to miss work to do this. This is not a expensive car. I was told to call back after the hearing to find out what went on and how the judge ruled I guess. The car is sitting in my driveway and I have the title in my house. I really hate the court system as I believe I have been screwed over before. Any thought and insights would be helpful. Thanks.

Im confused

blanchard — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:37:08 GMT

hi, back in 2003/04 I was caught up in an internet scam,at the same time I had my car in the shop having alot of work done to it 4600.00 worth well I wrote a check for the repairs and before they cashed it there was a freeze put on my accounts,and even though I proved that at the time I wrote the check i had 11,000 dollars in m y account I was takin to court by the car co. and of course I lost so now the 4600.00 bill with the loss of the court case comes up to like 13,000 in the end,and now I am looking back at the papers and it also says there is a 9% charge per anum until fully paid, well I am on disability and I will never be able to pay for this and also I am sick under a doctors care for a chronic disability, and this just bothers the heck out of me on a daily basis and it has since day 1 I am wondering is there anything I can do to put this behind me because it is just too stressful, and also I offerred to pay these people 100 or 200 per month when it was just my bill of 4600.00 and they refused, and it really makes me mad because if they would have let me just pay that way it would have been paid off by now, but instead I have this bill just accumulating every year and I cant take the stress of it anymore, is there anything that I can do- can I do bankruptcy or anything I mean i cant even afford that I live on 765.00 per month and right now I am trying to be retrained to something sitting down because I have had knee replacements and cant do the work that I had always done? any suggestions would really help, thanks I cant really understand why they havent been in touch with me,since this first happened I hav ent heard from anyone,but I do have these papers that says 9% until fully paid! that really worries me,if there is anyone with any kind of advice please let me know, thank you for your time ... Kevin Blanchard also this thing says small claims a minimum of 5,000 in oregon and I only owed the plaintiff 4600.00 dollars so im confused and also I was in court but I wasnt allowed to say anythign they just screwed me and then the 4600.00 turned into either 11,000 or 12,000 I forget so what the heck am I supposed to do I cant stand this stress any more ... thanks kevin

Car accident injury

coody — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:08:41 GMT

This is regarding to the GA small claims court. What type of the damages can the judge award in an auto personal injury case, medical bills, wage loss, pain and suffering, future medical and wage loss or more?

Take a giant like HP to small claims?

poweruser — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 19:12:30 GMT

Wondering what is the possibility of taking a giant company like HP to small claims court for selling a defective laptop computer they refuse to take back (it is only a little over 2 months old). It's in repair for the 2nd time but I am not very optimistic. On top of that, I purchased through hp.com so I don't even know who I would even serve papers to(?)

'Answer and Counter Claim 'Attorney letter

zaki73 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:11:12 GMT

I have submitted a small claim against my past apartment company management because they did not return my $500 deposit. So I wonder if you could help me with some advice. So here is my story!

I live in Georgia and my lease ended on August 30^th. I cleaned the apartment and handed my keys. The staff there told me that the manager will check the apartment for any damages and get back to me. I know, stupidly I did not force them to walk the apartment with me – a lesson learned. On September 17 I receive a letter from the apartment management saying I owe them $500 because of the damages I made to the carpet, counter top replacement, paint, etc., which is all lie! I lived there for two years with my wife and had no pets or anything. So I sent them a couple of letters asking to solve the matter friendly and I decided to take them to file a small claim court.

The apartment company received the court notice on October 20. However, I had been contacted by their debt collector and I replied by certified letter within 10 days to the debt collector informing them that there is a claim pending and they should stay from collecting the debt until the court decides.

Now a couple of days ago I received a letter from the apartment company’s attorney, which was basically copy for my information of ‘Answer and Counter Claim’ to the Magistrate Court in response to my complaint against them. The Answer’s defense summary is basically denial of my claim against the apartment company. The ‘Counter Claim’ briefly says I still owe them the $500 for the damages beyond wear and tear, which is not true.

My two questions are:

- &nbs... What is the situation with this ‘Answer and Counter Claim’ I had received? Does that mean the court will dismiss my complaint without even a hearing!

- &nbs... Does the Debt collector has the right to continue collecting the debt or report my to the credit bureau even though there is a court claim in progress.

Thanks you all for your help

my neighbors dog chewed up my bumper

dogissues — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:32:30 GMT

im in michigan an having trouble finding info in my state, what happened is dogs chewed up my bumper i called the police an when they came out tracked it to dogs down the road. i sued in small claims court went in front of the magistrate an won after reciving the notice of judgment in the mail a couple days later i got a notice that the defendant was apealing (motion to consider new evidence) when i went to court in front of the judge the only thing the defendent brought up was it could not be there dogs because they were not out when the damage happened ( all tho they had admitted to the officer that the morning it had happened there dogs were loose) and then talked about how they breed dogs an that they are dog experts and that dogs could not have done the damage, the judge then said that i had lost because there was no proof that the dogs had done the damage (i told the judge that i had a witness that actully seen the dogs do the damage) the judge asked where the witness was but they did not come to court that day an it was basicly to bad you lose, i came to court that day to argue the new evedance not to have a trial an was not preepared for a trial an never even had my side of the story heard. i know in small claims court i can not appeal but after doing some checking i found out i can file a motion to reopen the case but the cleark said they dont have a form for that an have never had that happen i feel like if a trial was going to be conducted i should have had a notice to appear for a trial not for a motion an im just trying to figure out what i can do so if you have any info that might help i sure would like it.

Out of State Claim

Lwtmob2005 — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:33:38 GMT

I used to live in Brooklyn, NY (Kings County) and have a former roommate who has filed a claim against me. I left Kings County at the end of July. I briefly changed my address to another county in upstate NY (my parents address) before moving to Arizona in October. I no longer reside, work, or conduct business in the state of NY. My former roommate has filed the claim in Kings County. A letter was sent to to me at my parents address (they have not opened it) from the Small Claims Court. They have attempted to deliver a certified letter to my parents address as well, but they have not signed for it. I do not have the money to fly to NY to take care of this in person, nor do I have the money to hire a lawyer. The claim is for only $500. Since I no longer live in NY and have not personally received the letter, what do I do?

Collection of appeals court judgement

moversfromhell — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:44:28 GMT

Hello. I have won a court case, an appeal and cannot collect. I filed for the writ of execution and paid $300 to serve the bank only to find out there is not any money in their 6 accounts that I have found. I can't seem to get anyone to help me figure out how to collect. I ordered the statement of operations from the sec of state and have all of that info handy. I have not been made clear how to go about going after the principals of the corporation. These guys I am trying to collect from our pros and know exactly what they are doing to avoid collection. Any advice? Thanks for all your help :-) "Moversfromhell"

Texas Small Claims Question

TexasStudent — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:53:06 GMT

Small claims plaintiff is suing defendant for damages sustained to his (plaintiff's) veh... when he (plaintiff) ran into defendant's vehicle which was legally parked in a restaurant parking lot at the time of the accident.

Defendant was not present at the scene of the accident. Defendant's wfie was exiting the car at the time of impact, the vehicle is registered to her, and she is on the insurance policy.

Question: Would defendant likely be successful in requesting a dismissal because he was not present at the accident and his name does not appearr on the vehicle title (but does appear on the insurance policy)?

Appealing a small claims decision - Landlord/Tenant

JodiG — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:55:40 GMT

Long story, trying to make it as short as possible...

I currently reside in Oregon, but the rental property at the root of all this is in Washington state. I entered a year-long lease agreement with the landlord of said property...the lease came to an end July 20th of this year, at which date I vacated the premises. I left the property cleaner than when I moved in, and had full confidence I'd receive my $650 deposit back (I'd paid an additional $200 non-refundable "pet deposit").

26 days after the termination of the lease agreement, I received an expense sheet from LL listing $... in supposed damage repairs made to the property. Both Washington state law and our signed lease agreement state LL has 14 days to give a "full and specific" statement of status of deposit money. So not only am I shocked at the accusation of damages I did not cause while residing at the property, but the timing seemed more like LL had remodeled and sent me the bill...

I began to research what defense I had against her claims, and quoted to her sections of WA legislation (and sections of lease agreement) that back me up...including the 14-day law, and the required move-in/move-out walk-through inspection checklist to be signed by both tenant and LL (which LL never completed).

At 41 days, I receive ANOTHER expense sheet, with $2357.24 in charges. The same day I receive the second expense sheet, LL files a claim against me in an OR court (my county of residence, which is legal). I have no time to reply to the final charges, and am suspicious about motives in filing in an OR court after I quoted WA law...

I filed a counterclaim for my deposit money, and brought my current LL (who helped me move out of WA property and saw condition of property at move-out) to the hearing as a witness against LL's claims of damage. The judge never asked for her statement, nor aknowledged I'd brought a witness. I also brought pictures taken while I occupied the property that show cleanliness and definitely no signs of damage. I mentioned the absence of the required walk-through inspection checklist...all in an attempt to prove LL's claims of damage were false.

I brought up 14-day allowance for handling lease agreement, LL argued it took two months to paint and replace carpeting ...in an 800 square foot house, less than 600 of which is carpeted...

Judge ended the hearing saying he'd look into WA state law and let us know his decision in writing. Today I received the notice...LL won the case, and won nearly all the money. In the written statement, the judge does not even aknowledge I'd denied the damage and brought a witness and photographic evidence. The tone is set as 'the damage was fact'. The judge did not mention the walk-through inspection checklist (or the absence thereof) required by lease agreement and law (which I suppose would be the only thing that either LL or I could use as solid fact in arguing case).

He said she could not have gotten back to me within 14 days due to the dates on the carpet repair invoices (they were after 14 days) -- essentially waiving her responsibility. &... size of house??)))

And thus awarded her the money.

Everybody I've spoken to (including current LL) says I got screwed and the judge did not abide by WA law or the lease agreement, and did not factor in very relevant matters. I'd like to appeal the case, but the question is...

Are the points I've brought up (WA law including walk-through checklist, 14-day allowance, witness statement) things that are routinely ignored or worked around? Do they offer me a fighting chance if I appeal on those as the basis? Do you think I got screwed in this because it was an OR court, not a WA court?

Yes, she had carpet repair invoices, but the house smelled like dog when I moved in, so who knows what they found in the carpet pad...that's where it would've been nice to have the walk-through inspection...my opinion on that is she can't really prove I did the damage, so why do I have to pay for something that I think was pre-existing?

Am I right to be considering these things, or do I have way too much faith in fine print??

Thanks!!

Quick Small Claims Question

sp0269 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:38:23 GMT

We are heading to small claims court to dispute some contractor chargesand I wanted to put the story out here for opinion/advice.

We hired a contractor, through a referral, to do some work in our house. We agreed on a $25/hour rate + materials and we were told it would take 2 - 2 1/2 days. There is no written contract.

When he arrived and started doing the work he brought along a nephew of his to help him do some of the heavy lifting. This person was in and out of the house sporadically. During the job my wife spoke with the contractor about our budget (approx $500). At no point did any additional charges for the helper get discussed

After the work was done we received a bill for his hourly rate and materials, plus all of the hours his helper put in at $20/hour.

Immediately after receiving the bill we contacted him and told him we were surprised at the cost, almost double our original budget, and offered to split the overage 3 ways (us, him, and his helper). He declined, and in return he offered us a $50 credit.

We paid him for the work he billed us for plus all materials and did not include the additional labor. After returning from vacation we were served the papers.

Long story even longer, I was wondering if my case is strong enough to win, if there are any pointers that anyone can give, and if I should bring in an attorney (not sure if the $500 justifies it). He claims that we should have assumed that the helper would be an extra charge.

Thanks in advance