I don’t know if this is the proper forum for this but I’d like to hear some personal doper experiences of suing in small claims court.
I’m preparing to sue my neighbors for nuisance and was hoping some of your stories could give me insight on what its like.
State laws vary… your location may be helpful.
Otherwise, it goes something like this…
File a written complaint
Court issues summons
Serve Summons and Complaint on defenant(s)
They have time to file a written answer
A hearing is scheduled
Appear at the hearing with every witness and scrap of evidence you have
The judge will guide the trial… LISTEN TO THE JUDGE
The judge will rule on the spot or may take it under submission to issue a ruling later
Judgment entered
If judgment is in favor of plaintiff, usually defendant may appeal to the next higher court
If no appeal, begin enforcement of judgment procedures (wage garnishment, bank levy, etc.)
If the defendant doesn’t show up for the trial, then the defendant’s default is taken and you should get a default judgment in your favor.
That’s the basic nutshell reply.
I don’t know what state you are in but in almost all cases, small claims courts only allow suits for specific damages. Unless you have suffered a loss because of the nuisance, you will have to sue in a higher court. An example would be if your neighbor’s dogs bark all the time. You could not sue in small claims court. Now if the barking dogs also ruined your fence, you could sue for the damage to your fence.
Have you checked to see if the nuisance is a violation of any laws? It may be possible to settle the problem with a report to the police instead of filing a lawsuit.
I live in California and have my county’s municipal codes and yes, they have and even after giving them the laws, are still violating them (my neighbors). I have video evidence and documents from the security company and police reports of complaints made against them. Tomorrow I am going to the management with everything and if they still do nothing, it’s off to the courthouse I go.
I never have sued anyone, personally. Through work, yes. However, this is a new country with new rules, and I look forward to reading everyone’s advice, since it would appear that we’ll be suing someone within the next little while. I really hope it doesn’t get that far.
Good luck to you GingerOfTheNorth. I hope things work out for you.
My grandmother was a landlord for years, and I can say from personal experience that suing and getting a judgement in your favor is one thing; getting the people to PAY the judgement is quite another.
If they don’t pay, you can take them back to court and get a contempt of court judgement, but they still might not pay. You can take them back a few more times and get their wages garnished, but only if their employer will do it. Then, if they quit their job to avoid payment (which, trust me, some people will do) you’re back at square one.
You might end up being out more money than the judgement’s worth.
I agree with you, Dreamer; I live in Los Angeles County.
Wherever you live, go to the main Superior Court in your county and, if nothing else, find out what local court, if any, is proper to file in. This is known as “venue.” If your Defendant lives in such-and-such district; or if the actionable incident took place in such-and-such district; and you have such a local district, you have the option, at least according to the law I’ve known, of going to the local courthouse or the main civil courthouse where you live. For me in L. A. County the main civil court is in downtown Los Angeles; and there’s a courthouse on Maple in Torrance. One thing which can cause you to lose is filing in the wrong venue. (I once filed a case against a tow-truck company; the incident occured in Topanga Canyon; the tow company’s office is in Canoga Park; I filed in the courthouse downtown. It got on People’s Court in 1986.)
Lissa has a good point.
In college, one roommate & I sued another roommate who violated the lease. We went to small claims court and won, but the guy didn’t pay up, and it would have cost us money and time to pursue the matter. There seems to be no enforcement of small claims court decisions; the guilty are not punished for not paying up.
I sued in South Carolina a few times.
The importance is written proof. I was able to show in court that I attempted to collect the debt by writing letters. I had proof that the person received the letters because I sent the letters certified, return receipt requested.
I sued in two different counties. In one, once the person was served, they had 30 days to respond. If they didn’t I won by default and didn’t even have to go to court.
In another county, I showed up with reams of documents, nervously stated my case, and the defendant threw up his hands and said, “She’s right, we owe the money.”
You can add court costs to what they owe you.
Now, we never actually collected the money except in one case, but a judgement is in place that shows up on their credit. In the one case, the bank foreclosing on the man’s house had to pay us before they could complete the foreclosure.
I called a “Mediator” that turned out to be a lawyer who says he has experience in these types of cases. He told me that my case isn’t against my neighbors, but against my landlord. In everyone’s lease there is a “quiet enjoyment” right and since my landlords or apartment managers said they will not be a part of any neighbor disputes, then I need to go after them.
I’m going to get a second opinion tomorrow but so far the apt. mgt has denied getting me copies of the security incident reports even after I called the security company myself and they said it’s no problem to give them to my apartment mgt and they can give them to me.
The lawyer advised me to make a chronological account of everything that’s happened, fax it to him and he would write up a legal letter to my apartment mgt. demanding then to fulfill the obligation of the lease.
The lease states "Resident shall, and shall cause Occupant and any Guests to: show due consideration for neighbors and not interfere with, disturb or threaten the rights, comfort, health, safety, convenience, quiet enjoyment and use of the Community by Lessor and Lessor shall be the sole judge of acceptable conduct".
Now that last sentence says basically that the management is in charge, right? So they have to at least step in and try to help, right? I’m really confused and don’t know which way to go now. The lawyer said that if the mgt. does nothing then I can withdraw my rent and they cannot do anything under the “retaliation eviction” law in California. Is that true???
Lissa has some misinformation in her post. If you win a judgement in court, it is a court order that allows you to collect a debt. The loser is not under court order to pay the debt and cannot be held in contempt of court if the debt is not paid. She also states that a garnishment will only happen if the employer wants to do it. The employer has no choice in the matter, they are required by law to comply with a writ of garnishment or the employer can be forced to pay the judgement. And in almost all cases, a judgement allows you to add all costs of attempting to collect the money. In one case of mine, I sued for $750 and court costs. I was awarded a judgement of $892. When the respondant did not pay in 30 days, I went back to court and obtained writs of garnishment and property attachment. I kept track of all expenses and 9 months later when the debt was fully paid, I received $1140. Because my claim was a result of a traffic accident, I was able to have his driving priveliges suspended. Besides paying me to get his license back, he had to pay a $240 ticktet for driving on a suspended license too. Watching someone grovel while handing you a wad of cash can be very satisfying.
I only wish I could see that racer72, I can only imagine the satisfaction and knowing justice was served.
**
Perhaps I should have been clearer.
IIRC, what happened was that when the guilty party refused to pay, grandma had to take them back to court, and then a contempt of court judgement was made for the guilty party ignoring the judge’s ruling.
**
Perhaps laws vary from state to state, but I remember her having a hell of a time getting this accomplished. I could be wrong, but I believe that if the guilty party works for the state, their wages can only be garnished for things like child support. Other employers dragged their feet. Sometimes, when she actually accomplished a garnishment, the person just quit their job in order to avoid payment.
No one ever told us this. After lengthy struggles, and repatedly going to court, my grandmother gave up in a lot of the cases. Trying to enforce the ruling was more expensive than the orginal judgement. The people just flat-out refused to pay, and the courts either lacked the power, or the interest in persuing them.
Because my SO is the original Mr. Gullible, we have been to small claims court a few times. Make sure you have all documents pertinant to the case with you when you go to court. Dress neatly and conservatively. Be polite to the judge and the baliff. Sit up straight, do not read a newspaper or book while waiting your turn, make sure your beeper/pager/phone is turned off - they hate that! Oh, be on time!
In the cases we were involved in, when we were called, we went before the judge, the defendant stated his/her case, I calmly and quietly shot down all of his/her points, he/she got mad and started to raise his/her voice - at that point the nice judge tells us that he is ruling in our favor, we are awarded X$ plus court costs, we say “Thank you, Your Honor”, and leave.
then for the kicker…
The defendant then moves to a different state, leaving no forwarding address, and we never collect a dime. On paper we have “won” quite a chunk o’ change. It’s almost worth it though, as the defendant usually makes an ass of him/herself :wally and gets yelled at by the judge.
When this thread was asking what it was like to go to small claims court, it’s fine.
When the OP now asks whether the advice received from a lawyer is accurate, we’re into Never-never land here.
“My doctor says I have a skin cancer that should be removed by surgery. What do you all think on the Message Boards, is my doctor right?”
Good grief.
If you don’t understand what the lawyer has said, ask him/her to explain it again. Comments from people on the Message Boards, however, well-intentions, have NO legal status, and are likely to be misleading and inaccurate for your state and situation.
Why don’t you simply move? If the apt. management won’'t handle the situation it might be less hassle in the long run simply to find less obnoxious surroundings.
I take it that CK trusts everyone they talk to on the phone then and believes every word they say? I used to think this message board was somewhere you could go for help and advice about anything, no matter if you believe the advice dopers give or not. Obviously that is no longer the case.
Thanks everyone else for your thoughts.
dreamer, please note that CK didn’t close the thread. He merely clarified a few things to try to steer the discussion away from Never-never land.
That means the thread can continue, but that people should be more mindful of what they post – staying away from giving legal advice.
CK, good advice. Dreamer, you should listen to CK. It’s unlikely that you will, though. You’ve started, what, 3 threads on this issue? It looks like you intend to keep posting until you get an answer you like.
I hope I’m wrong about this, because I’m very familiar with the type of client who opinion-shops like this, has firmly-held beliefs about the complete rightness of his position, fails to follow advice, and is always unhappy with the advice and results.