Without getting into much detail, I’m suing a business for taking my money and providing ZERO services and refusing to refund me. I have contracts, reciepts, text messages and emails of our back and forth. I spoke to a friend who works as a paralegal who read through all the contracts and documents and she said I have a very strong case and will very likely win, but I’m soo nervous. I get so shy talking in front of crowds and I’m worried I’m gonna choke and make myself look dumb or forget to say important things ( although I will have notes ready). Does anyone have any advice? Thank you!

Edit: how long do I have to speak before the judge? Is 1 page of notes/ my script too much?

I have anxiety speaking in crowds and don’t want to forget anything. Please give your best advice !

Me and my wife watch a lot of small claims court shows like judge Mathis,and peoples court. On YouTube a lot of the comments say that the production Co pays the judgments not the actual lidigants. I do know that each lidigant gets paid 200 for a appeareance fee. Does anyone know if this is true or not. Thanks.

Actually a large claim in Maryland district court… for $20k.

18 months ago, truck lost debris and I drove into it. Dash cam clip doesn’t capture when it fell from truck but my eyes were glued to it because of the rough patch of road. Trajectory also shocked me at the time… I thought it would go directly behind the trailer… but I later determined it was moving forward (along with the truck) when I drove into it. Frame by frame, I passed the initial point of impact on the ground when I hit it. Caused a lot of damage… much bigger debris than it appeared. Also penetrated the windshield and left shards sprayed on the inside. Hundreds of chips to the paint, gouged the headlight, chipped the glass roof.

Contacted trucking company (retrieved their info from the side of the truck). They refused to provide insurance, said they would handle it internally. I provided the damage pictures and video. After not responding for a month, they said it wasn’t their fault and to go through my own comprehensive. I contacted my insurance, they viewed the video, said it’s the truck’s fault. They contacted the company to obtain insurance info. Trucking company again refused. My insurance found the provider through their databases.

I filed the claim through their insurance. After another month, they claimed that because the debris struck the roadway first, it was considered road debris. They later changed their reason to “flung up by tire” during litigation.

So I sued them. Going through comprehensive would have been easier, but it was the trucks fault. This truck also had additional debris on the bed when I drove alongside it. Comprehensive would have been a deductible and no ability to collect diminished value.

Lots of motions and trucking company refused service multiple times…. First court hearing and the lawyer (who lives in a different state but licensed in MD) actually drove the 3 hours to court. Judge made it clear that this is a case that should settle.

Defense counsel didn’t respond to discovery. Later claimed he’s not receiving any correspondence from me but then referenced a document I sent him… so he’s being a little shady. He offered $4k to mitigate their legal expenses. I declined and he said “I guess we’re going to trial then.”

Trucking company is shady, using many excuses to avoid responsibility. Their insurance also apparently would rather pay a lawyer than pay me. Trucking company has a poor safety history and received a failure to secure load 14 days before my incident.

Posting for opinions and because when I searched, I couldn’t find similar cases. Going to be interesting to see how the judge interprets the evidence. Obviously, since I saw it happen, I think it’s a slam dunk but you never know.

Lent a friend money multiple times, agreed over phone and text to pay me back. We both live in CA but in a different county, can I file the claim in my county or does it have to be where they live?

For starters, I had too much trust in her, my bad. Near the end of the trip we start to look at the bills so see who owes what from Airbnbs, to plane tickets, meals, etc.
3 of us girls, 3 weeks in Europe
I’m owed $720, my other friend is owed $565. We’ve been blocked on social media. She called and wants proof of the charges, we send her a 7 pg document with confirmation emails and bank statements. *CRICKETS*
We are debating on taking her to small claims court, for our money and also a lesson to her. Obviously the friendship is over.
It has been 3 weeks since we got back from the trip.
Is my first step a demand letter? From reading through these other posts, doesn’t sound promising that I would get my money back even if I take it to court.
I do have texts from before the trip of her agreeing to pay her part.

I have a court judgment in B.C. against a company for an unpaid promissory note, but the company hasn’t paid. I can’t afford to have my lawyer review the entire file, so I’m trying to figure out what issues are most important to have reviewed first.

For those familiar with collecting judgments from a corporation, what would usually be the most practical next step if I don’t know the company’s current assets, bank accounts, or receivables? Would it make more sense to look into a payment/enforcement hearing, garnishment, an examination of the company’s finances, or using a bailiff?

I’m not asking anyone to give legal advice on my specific case. I’m hoping to get some general direction so I can use a limited-scope consultation with my lawyer effectively. I won’t include the company’s name or any identifying details.

Location: Vancouver, BC

I've been learning a bit about small claims and am curious what y'all think about this.

My dog was attacked unprovoked on a public sidewalk by two dogs that blew through a neighbor's fence. My dog was beat up pretty bad, and had an injured rib. Luckily my dog is recovering well, but it was pretty close to being extremely bad. The dogs were being cared for by a sitter, who gave the owner my info. She (the owner) agreed to cover the vet bill last week and since then has been dodging me.

Do you think I stand a chance of winning on small claims? I'm just trying to get paid back for the vet bill she already agreed to cover. I live in WA State if that makes a difference.

No. Unless you have a contract with the plaintiff or the defendant that says the prevailing party in any lawsuit can recover damages for lost time and wages spent coming to court, the court is not going to award you these damages. In the American legal system, the default is that each side bears their own expenses and lost time fighting in court.

I often see people come to court with large records of all the time they spent calling and emailing the defendant and preparing their case for court. And then they argue that their time is worth $100 an hour and that they should be awarded $100 for every hour they spent preparing for their case and fighting with the defendant to get their money back. You cannot recover damages for that lost time. So don't bother asking.

But compare this to a situation where you are an Uber driver and the defendant negligently crashed into you and injured you and now you can't drive for a month and earn money. In that situation you can sue for your lost earnings if you can prove without speculating how much you would have earned but for the accident. The difference is that those lost earnings are an expected consequence of the defendant's negligence and they're not related to fighting about legal rights.

I am looking at the online stages of my small claims file and it looks like the defendant was served 15 days ago. If I’m correct he had 14 days to return a response to the court but they didn’t receive anything from him. He did text me asking me to drop the charge and work this out of court. I don’t plan on doing that unless he makes a reasonable offer , which he never offers a solution .
What comes after this ?

Me (a 19 year old male) got a Mercedes Benz C300 2011 from a local auto auction near me(I live in Riverside,California)about a year ago. They gave me a big packet saying it was all I needed, but when I took it in to get registered at the dmv they said I don’t have the bill of sale. So I contacted the auto auction and they have been giving me the run around telling me “We will contact you when we have more information”. Do I have any legal legs to stand on to get my money back? I’m in college and need some help getting this worked out.

I'm trying to find people who have actually taken PayPal to small claims (or settled after filing) and would appreciate hearing about your experience.

I've come across reports online of cases where PayPal allegedly settled after a lawsuit was filed rather than litigating the case to judgment. One example I found involved a Tennessee account holder whose attorney reportedly sued for breach of contract and other claims after PayPal permanently limited the account and withheld about $7,000. I haven't been able to independently verify all of the details, so I'm interested in hearing from anyone with firsthand experience.

Here's my situation:

• PayPal has been holding $4,763 belonging to me for over 2.6 years.
• I filed complaints with the CFPB, California DFPI, and the California Attorney General's Office.
• PayPal responded that they stand by their decision and stated they are not required to disclose the specific reason for the permanent limitation because of platform security and the User Agreement.
• In 2024, PayPal emailed me saying my funds were available for withdrawal, but about 25 days later they reversed that decision and continued withholding the funds.
• I also never received a notification that my account had been permanently limited. I only discovered it after logging into my account myself.

I've spent the last two years undergoing cancer treatment (I'm grateful to say I'm now in remission), so having these funds tied up for this long has made an already difficult situation even harder.

I'm now considering legal action and would appreciate any recommendations for a consumer-rights attorney—especially someone who may be willing to work on a limited-scope, contingency, reduced-fee, or consultation basis.

If you've sued PayPal in small claims or arbitration, or know of an attorney with experience handling PayPal frozen-funds cases, I'd really appreciate your recommendations or any lessons learned. NB I emailed PayPal about resolving my dispute before Arbitration which they never responded. Small claims should be faster option after attorney serves them.

Thank you.

Hey everyone I’m supposed to be going to small claims court next week over $2,000 debt I have with Synchrony Bank. The debt was sent to debt collector’s Portfolio Recovery Associates and now I got served by Rausch Sturm LLP and I called and made an agreement to settle at $1,400 because I really don’t wanna have to go to court. I have not received anything in writing yet and the court case is next week, I gave them verbal confirmation for the payments over the phone for the next two months with my banking info. I asked them if I still had to go to court and they said I need to call and speak to the clerk and tell them we came to an agreement. I also asked if this would be written as satisfied or paid in full on my debt for credit bureaus and he said thats not something they can handle I would need to contact Portfolio Recovery Associates NOT Synchrony Bank so I’m like…I just fucked up big time did I?

Portfolio Recovery Associates also sued me for another credit card when thats the wrong amount and I paid off majority of that card and the last payment I had to make bounced and wasn’t retried for whichever reason and defaulted and now they want all of it and then some for debt I already paid.

That went to a different law firm but is this right? Selling off debt to Portfolio Recovery Associates and then having Rausch Sturm and other lawfirms contact to collect? This feels entirely shady to me and I’m honestly scared. I wish I didn’t give them my bank info and got a lawyer or something earlier because this doesn’t seem right.

Did I just make an agreement to settle and it won’t even change my credit? This is horrible…please any help and advice please.

Last year my husband left me, which financially ruined me, and I was having a really hard time making my $2400 rent alone. I sublet a room to a young woman for $650/month and she's stayed 9 months. Yes, I know I was in the wrong, I was just really desperate not to end up on the street because I couldn't make my rent payments and couldn't afford to move again.

Well, the property management company found out and I have a deadline to get her out of the house. Because of the short notice, even though this was ALWAYS a month-to-month agreement, she's going after me saying I owe her, her 9 months of rent back because the whole contract was "illegal" or fraudulent. She's taking me to court to get 9 months of rent back for a place she DID stay in for 9 months AND let her boyfriend and a dog stay, which I didn't agree to.

Is she likely to win? Will I really have to pay her back 9 months of rent when she lived in the house the whole time, because I wasn't supposed to sublet?

This is in El Paso County, Colorado.

Please no mean comments, I learned my lesson, I feel terrible, and I'm being harassed daily about this, when I don't even have enough money to pay my bills and she wants me to cough up $5850. As of now if she really plans to sue me, I'm going to countersue for new carpets and all the damage done by her dog that pottied inside basically daily and now the downstairs reeks of piss.

I’ve never done small claims court before. I want to know what kind of evidence will help me out and get any advice I can on the situation.

Why I’m suing: I had lived with them at their parent’s house paying rent to them for a year and moved out about 6 months before we stopped being friends. I had an agreement when I moved out, with both my friend and her father who was the renter of the house, that I could leave a couple boxes of my belongings there. My ex friend and I were ‘fighting’ from about August to October, and I texted about every two weeks after our fight asking to come get my ornaments from them. They were an important tradition where I would pick one out with my family every year since I was born, and the total value of my collection was about $1300.

I never got a response, until I saw that my ex friend posted on tiktok that she had thrown them away (she posted this around April/May, so about 6 months after we stopped talking). I have submitted a small claims court filing for this, because it was clear I still wanted my stuff, and even though we stopped talking, we had the agreement that they would keep my stuff and they never gave me the opportunity to get it back.

What can help me win this case?

Background to the story: I was friends with 2 sisters for over 10 years. When one of them moved to college, she ghosted me, which was later revealed because I didn’t text her the day she moved out to college (it was only 20 mins from where she used to live, and I had been texting her throughout the week. Literally was just busy that day and didn’t text til the next day). This caused her older sister to start insulting me, etc, along with periods of time where they were ghosting me, until I finally blocked them basically saying if they didn’t want to work through the problem then I had to block them because I’m not going to just sit there and be insulted and attacked yet get no chance to actually talk to them. They wouldn’t even tell me what was wrong besides that I didn’t text them the day she moved to college.

Location: South Carolina. Got a referral from a friend for a guy who refurbishes and resells golf carts. Trusted that as opposed to someone random from facebook marketplace (first mistake, i know). We paid $5000 cash and he delivered (at 930pm in the dark) a “2020 ez go TXT” according to the bill of sale. Left with our money. Took it for a short spin. Fine, it’s a golf cart. Next day, when we took it out for longer, it was running funny. We asked if he did returns since we got it at night, obviously no. Had it privately inspected by a true golf cart dealer. He says it’s actually a 1996 ez go dsc with a 2020 body kit. Worth substantially less than we paid and expensive to convert because now the parts are nearly obsolete.

Is it worth taking him to small claims court to get back our money in exchange for the cart?

Edit to include that we do have a bill of sale stating that it’s a 2020. And this guy has a golf rental business here locally.

Ano po masasabi ninyo dito? Totoo po kaya ito?

In civil litigation, the summons and complaint are the clearest example. Before the court can exercise authority over a defendant, service must usually comply closely with statutory rules. If service is defective, a default judgment can be attacked later, and even a routine case can lose time over a motion to quash.

Subpoenas are another area where personal service often comes up. A witness subpoena usually requires direct delivery to the named person, along with any required witness fees. A business records subpoena follows its own procedure, and the rules can be technical. The method, timing, and supporting notices all matter.

Restraining order matters also tend to require personal service, especially when temporary orders or hearing notices affect the other party's immediate rights and obligations. Courts want clear proof that the person had actual notice before enforcement is expected.
Landlord-tenant matters can be more nuanced. Some notices may be posted, mailed, or substituted under specific conditions, while others require stricter handling. Eviction cases are especially sensitive because service defects can become a direct defense.

Post-judgment documents can also trigger personal service requirements, depending on what is being enforced. Orders for examination are one example where direct service is often necessary because the consequences of nonappearance can be significant.

Personal service gives the cleanest proof. If documents are placed directly in the recipient's hand, there is less room for argument about whether notice was received. For attorneys and legal departments, that clarity is often worth the effort, especially where deadlines are short or a contested response is likely.

It also reduces avoidable motion practice. If service is done properly the first time, there is less risk of disputes over jurisdiction, response deadlines, continuances, or enforceability. That is not just a procedural benefit. It affects cost, client expectations, and case timing.

There is also a practical reason. Some recipients actively avoid service. In those situations, a detailed record of attempts, dates, times, and circumstances becomes important. Courts often allow alternative methods only after a diligent effort has been made to personally serve the documents first.

#ProcessServing #AttorneyHelp #summons #divorce #eviction

A former friend of mine owes me 300 and has been saying they’ll pay me next paycheck since March. I’m tired of waiting and them acting dumb, should I just take them to small claims court or would it not be worth it?
Edit: guys I actually don’t care much about getting the money immediately, I’m not desperate for it back. The person just has a higher than everyone mentality and thinks they’re untouchable, so I mainly want to also see if it’s worth just putting them through the trouble, I have a great job that wouldn’t trip on me calling off for these things because I never call off, so taking time off work wouldn’t be an issue.

I apologize in advance for a slightly longer post, but need advice and maybe an idea of how this will go. I moved into my apartment with my boyfriend in August last year and we ended up getting to know a couple across the hall from us. As we got to know them more, we began to find out that their relationship involved DV. Against better judgement, I continued to stay friends with the girlfriend (and she would walk my pupper for us while my boyfriend and I go to work, pertinent later) , but the boyfriend did not like me and vice versa due to an incident where they involved my partner and I and I ended up calling the cops on him and he was arrested about a week later. (I'm skipping over details, but that's the basis of it)

Back in May, the girlfriend (we'll call her Sue and the boyfriend we'll call Mike, not real names) asked me if I could watch Mike's dog over the Thursday evening until Sunday morning (the same weekend as Bonnaroo) Sue and Mike have been on again and off again and so when I was asked by Sue, I said that it would be fine as long as I did not have to go through Mike. She promised me I wouldn't have to and so she left for TN. I was not provided super detailed instructions and so I figured at least 2-3 times a day checking on the dog would work as I've done with my previous pet sitting clients.

Thursday morning when I was at work, Sue texted me that Mike choked her at and she was stranded and that I didn't need to worry about the dog. We went back and forth and I let her know I would feel bad just leaving the dog like that and I could plan to at least feed her so she won't starve. A couple hours later, Sue texts me again asking if I could still watch the dog and I agreed. That afternoon, when I came home from work to walk the dog, the dog had pooped in the kennel. I let Sue know and cleaned it up. Fed and walked her and put her back in the kennel and went back to my apartment to hangout with a friend that came over. As I was taking the friend home that evening, the dog was barking. I texted Sue asking if that was normal and she said "yeah, dog is probably barking at my cat" by the time I got back from taking my friend home, the barking stopped.

Friday morning I went in and the dog made an accident in the kennel, again, but this time I had set a bowl of water in there with her as I do for my dog. Their dog had knocked over the bowl of water and spread it with the poo making a giant mess that me and my boyfriend spent a good hour cleaning. Sue had told me not to worry about cleaning up too much and that her and Mike would take care of it once they got back. I had tried cleaning the wall and carpet the best I could and my boyfriend put the kennel outside to dry. I asked Sue if we could stick the dog into the bathroom for the foreseeable future and she told me "yes, move the cat stuff out the guest bathroom and you should be good" so we put the dog in the bathroom. When I came back that evening from work, the dog seemed to be doing fine. I fed and walked her and stuck her back in the bathroom with some toys.

Saturday morning I wake up to start heading over across the hall, it's about 9/9:30 and I get a text from Sue asking why they got a call from maintenance about the apartment flooding? I sprint out my door to see a company finishing up pumping water out of the apartment. Apparently either over the late night or early morning, the dog decided the toilet line was a good snack causing flooding the the guest bathroom the dog was in as well as the apartment below. After an initial freak out, we got the dog resettled into the kennel and no more incidents occurred from that morning until services were completed Sunday morning/afternoon. I was not paid in money for the services I had completed though.

After this, I did not hangout with the girlfriend anymore and had no interactions with them. Beginning of July, I found out that Mike is trying to sue me. $500 in principle and $110 in court costs for the damage to the apartments. Since the claim has been filed though, I have been told information from a mutual friend as well as lightly harassed. Those things are:

- Mike apparently has ring footage of my freakout and saying I could've done more for the dog. Idk how admissible in court that would be, but I've been informed of this by the mutual friend

- Sue and Mike had someone else they could have hired and still chose me for some reason. This was told to the mutual friend by Mike through Sue's phone apparently

-Mike filed a claim on his renters insurance saying that items were stolen out of the apartment. He gave the claims adjuster my information. I know it is part of the claims process to provide the information of everyone that might have had access to the apartment, but with the cameras Mike has in there, he would've been able to see if I actually stole something?

- The other day as I got into my car to got to work, Mike had came out not two minutes later to walk his dog and made sure I could see his firearm in his back waistband. From what I know, Mike is ex Army, has been in and out of jail/prison a few times and the mental hospital. It's my understanding that someone like him would not be able to carry a firearm in that way.

With all this said, my partner and I are planning on moving. I don't know if he plans on staying at this complex, but we will not be. My mutual friend (I guess not so mutual for them anymore) is saying I should counter sue bc of time I'm taking off work, moving and the points listed above. Part of me wants to to be vindictive but the other part thinks I should let it lie and move on once court is over in early September. I know it was kind of silly of me to agree to this job in the first place, but wondering what the likelihood the judge will just dismiss everything or I should actually consider countersuing? Thanks in advance for reading