I am taking a company to court over unpaid services.
I keep pretty meticulous records and unless something bizarre happens, it’s a pretty open and shut case.
What can I expect to happen? What should I bring with?
Bring any/all evidence you have. However, in so many cases the defendants are dirtbags. It’s not difficult to get a judgement, but collecting on it can be problematic. If, on the other hand the defendant is a responsible person/entity with non-hidden assets, you might actually be able to collect.
This may depend upon your state, but after a short waiting period, you might be able to get a judge’s order to attach the delinquent’s assets. Assuming he doesn’t pay up right away, of course.
I once threatened to attach a multi-millionaire hotel owner’s fancy-schmancy limo in order to get paid a $500 judgement in California. The check was delivered so fast it was almost on fire. Apparently having his wheels publicly towed to an auction was more embarrassing than losing a case to a nobody.
This.
YMMV depending on your location but in many places people are shocked to find how hard it is to collect. The courts and the county Sheriff can be more than useless. But like I said, YMMV depending on where you are.
Your case involves a business so hopefully they don’t want any bad publicity and will pay up if you win.
You’ll most likely meet with a magistrate and the defendant. Their goal is to get you and the defendant to come to an agreement rather than taking up a judges time. If you have the appropriate documentation and the facts are not in dispute it’s rather simple. They’ll ask the defendant and you to agree to terms of payment, the document gets forwarded to the judge for approval.
If the company disputes the claim or both parties can not agree to a payment plan you’ll need to go before the judge, depending on how busy the court is it might require you come back again to do so.
Most small claims can easily be resolved in front of the magistrate.
My thread on my experience is here.
I will note that although I am getting my check for this month the dipshit has apparently skipped town as of a couple weeks ago so I might not be getting any more than that. Oh, well, I’m still money ahead.
A couple of things, first off-- You said it’s a company, so are they in the same town/county that you’re going to court in? Will they even show up? If you get a judgment, are they local? I’ve been involved in small claims with local and out-of-state entities. Around here, there are ways you can enforce the judgment with garnishments/liens if the loser is local. If the loser is out-of-state, or even out-of-county, there’s more work involved, especially with a scumbag. IANAL.
OP, are you yourself a company, or representing a company? Or are you just an individual natural person taking a company to court?
Here’s the thing about taking a company to court: A company is not a living, animate, humanoid, bipedal entity that can come to court to make its case. So when you take a company to court, the company will send a live human representative to present its case before the court.
Now you probably know that litigants in small claims court can’t have lawyers. (Of course, anyone can consult a lawyer ahead of time, outside of the court, for advice.) But when a company picks one of its staff to speak for it in court, nothing stops it from sending the corporate counsel to do the job. So officially the company isn’t represented by a lawyer, but in fact it is.
Or, similarly, the company may know its business, and may have people in its employ who are well-versed in whatever topic your complaint involves. That person may be able to talk circles around you.
Example: My one-time housemate took his car to a fast-oil-change place. They screwed the oil filter on wrong or too loose and it fell off later and all the oil ran out, and his engine was totally ruined. He took them to small-claims court over it.
The company (a major region-wide, or maybe nation-wide chain) sent their “expert” – a guy who does nothing all day long but travel around the state defending the company against cases like that. Of course, he knew every talking point forward and backward. He had a stack of pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back explaining what each one was. He knew the relevant points of law and rules of evidence in detail.
Who do you think won that case?
Be sure to check out the Small Claims Court information published by Nolo Press.
They publish plain-English legal self-help books on many topics, including Small Claims Court. They update them fairly regularly. I think they even have separate books for every state, or at least most states.
Check out the above link. I haven’t looked too closely at it myself – it appears to be an on-line exposition of the subject, but it might just be an elaborate advertisement for their books. Take a look.
ETA: Just took a quick glance at the site. There’s more there than just advertisements for their books.
Also, google for Nolo Press Small Claims Court to see what other of their pages you can find on the subject. That will include pages selling their books as well, plus whatever other information they have out there.
Actually, in most states you can bring a lawyer to Small Claims Court. Cite (another nolo dot com link)
And don’t be intimidated if the company you’re suing does bring a lawyer. If it’s an open and shut case as you say, the judge will rule in your favor. Just make sure you do your research, cover all bases and have written copies of everything.
I once sued a lawyer* in Small Claims Court and won because the facts and evidence were on my side.
*He was my landlord; I didn’t know he was a lawyer until I filed the case.
Since the OP is looking for advice, let’s move this to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
This is not universally true. It depends on the law of the jurisdiction where the court is located.
Which is why in many jurisdictions you can be represented by a lawyer in small claims court.
Make sure you have the correct and precise name of the entity you are suing. Cases get tossed all the time because people misunderstand the proper legal identification of the entity (personal/corporate etc) they should be suing.
A friend sued a major airlines and won a $1000 judgment when they didn’t respond. The airline ignored the judgment until they threatened to get a bailiff put a seal on an airplane. They got paid. It helped that her son was a lawyer and wrote a “lawyer’s letter” to them.
What would have happened had the bailiff’s warrant met airport security?
Even if you do choose to represent yourself in court it still might be worth your while to speak with a lawyer to make sure you understand the process for your jurisdiction and get some solid advice on how to present yourself. It’s certainly not required, but sometimes it’s worth paying an expert for expert advice.
Be careful. dont say anything to NOBODY when you get there. Not to a person in the parking lot, hallway, or anywhere nor online. Dont post on Facebook.
Remember its not like on tv.
My very first time in small claims court I was surprised how much narrative I had to give about my case.
Now in hindsight I was probably pretty naive, and I can see how in the vast majority of cases explaining your case would be very expected.
My particular case was against a tenant who was about 3 months late on rent by the time we got to court and I wanted a meaningless monetary judgement for the late rent and an order of possession so I could get them out of my house.
When the judge told me to make my case I was thrown for a bit of a loop because what else is there to say except “they won’t pay me or get out of my property”?
These days when I have to sue deadbeat tenants I just say that with about 5 times as many words as necessary.
If you are suing an out of state corporation, you must sue their local office or agent. Otherwise, they will ignore you. I have had three cases in SC court-and in all cases, the firm settled with me before the court date. They did this because it would cost them more to send a lawyer in. In all cases, they called me in advance, and offered to settle. So it worked out for me.
Out of curiosity, how do you go about attaching someone’s car?
I’m assuming you need to prove he owns the car first, right? How do you figure out something like that?
as above it all varies where you are.
wear suspenders no matter where you are.
ianal