Hello! A scummy landlord took 1350 out of 2450 security deposit and I sued them in small claims and won. Now I gotta notice that they wanna cancel the ruling and I’m supposed to show up to trial 7/1/26. I think they’re trying to drag it out as long as possible until I give up so looking for a lawyer who can get my money back+ask for all the legal fees on them. Thanks! :D
I sued my cousin and her boyfriend a year ago because when I moved across the country to help them with their newborn they stole my French bulldog and threw him in a field. I never saw him again so I sued for 5k but what I paid for him was 7k. I did file a criminal lawsuit (which we are still in the process for going through) the prosecutor is asking them to pay the remaining balance of 2k upfront or become felons and go on a payment plan through probation but they haven’t started paying me the 5k they owe me. So my question is how do I get them to start paying me the 5k from the small claims suit I filed? Her boyfriend has moved jobs and I’m not sure where he works now. My cousin is a full time mom with my income coming in at all.
I’m in a limbo. I have worked for this big company for several years and I’m being discreet because I don’t want this post to come back to bite me in the ass. Basically, I schedule a LOA in late March 2026 . I called HR and canceled my LOA a week before taking it because I no longer needed it.
I’m charged health insurance biweekly and my price of health insurance doubles when I’m on a LOA. I was getting bills in the mail as if I was on a LOA. I called HR 2 days after my ‘initial LOA’ date and I reported that I haven’t missed any days of work and I’m not on a LOA. They told me to disregard the bills.
in April , one of my checks was incorrect but I was unaware of that at the time until when my next check was supposed to come, it never came. I went and checked my paystubs and I was charged health insurance 3x the normal amount. And recently charged me again taking 90% of my check. No notice , nothing. I called department dealing with my benefits and they said there’s no reimbursement. They messed up so they’re getting what they owe. if they would have notified me , I would have quickly paid it. Now, I’m behind on bills and likely would be put into debt. What could I do ?
TLDR: health insurance from my company didn’t take out their portion on my check , overcharges (X3 the amount) me with no notice. I’m going to be in debt. No ,my health insurance premiums did not change.
Location: LA County, California
I don’t need to be told what an idiot I am for Zelle so much money so please be kind..
I agreed to terms with a landscaper (whom I will refer to in a fake name as Mike), that I found on Yelp with zero reviews and took a chance on him to redo our backyard. He gave me a copy of his LLC license which seems legit according to the Secretary of State of California. I called to verify and his name is on the license. There is also an itemized list online of what work was to be done, material costs and breakdown. The total cost of the project was $15,025.
In short Mike nor his guys hasn’t shown up on time and hasn’t competed very much work. He claims he’s in and out of the hospital with lung issues but is acting in very poor faith to not respond in a timely manner via text or phone call. I get spurts of messages from him then silence and no shows.
In the beginning Mike claimed the work would be done in about 3-4 days. This was almost two weeks ago. After giving him a deposit for the concrete material He came in the very next day to demo the back and front yards as agreed to.
Mike asked for more money to get the material and have a dumpster arrive for pickup of all the debris. He didn’t show up the next couple days claiming his kid was sick. I get it. Life happens. Then he himself came back to do more work himself and a buddy and finish demo and haul it away. The dumpster did indeed come and he did some of what was expected.
Then he was to start some of the forming of where the concrete would go. My existing concrete just has a huge chunk missing and the forming and rebar aren’t done. In between these days I kept Zelle him more money for materials as he said he would show up and do the work. Not all of the materials I paid for like sod and concrete have been delivered.
Mike hasn’t shown up for a couple days now and barely responds via text. He doesn’t answer my calls anymore. The machine to tear up the yard had been left at my house has now been picked up by someone else while we were out of the house. Also the dumpster man claims my Mike got him off of Facebook, lied to him, paid him less than agreed, and had to dump the palm trees back in my yard. All the while I’ve been told by Mike that he’s is in and out of the hospital with lung issues.
He got mildly upset that I was questioning his ability or if he was legit when I asked in the most professional way possible, where is he and the material and all the promises about finishing or coming down to finish? All met with that he’s still unwell.
As of writing he was suppose to come down and finish forming and clearing out more debris today but I had not heard from him at all.
My thing is he’s clearly not acting in good faith with the lack of communication. If he’s a legit LLC where are his employees or is he hiring day laborers? He said he had a right hand guy and I even asked okay well, how come he isn’t taking over? I mean, Is he actually sick? I would have thought that after asking and me Zelle so much already over $13,000 of the 15,000 wouldn’t he have dipped and left me on read long ago if it was a scam? I still technically owe him a final $1,700 which I made clear to him a few days ago I would not pay anymore until the work is totally complete. He’s messaged me since then saying he wants to earn my trust back and will finish the job.
Today is Monday. I spoke with him Saturday. He was most recently at the house the Wednesday prior. If he doesn’t show up tomorrow I think I’ll ask for the money back? I’m just at a loss what to do.. the last text I sent him was today basically saying look.. you haven’t answered me and clearly no one is coming today so if you’re actually sick and not gonna finish the job at all just tell us.
Other info, there’s no agreed upon date of completion. Every Zelle has a memo for what he asked for. I got all the texts of every payment he asked for and screen shots. I also have texts with his claims that it would be finished by Wednesday etc. at this point I don’t think I want him to finish anything.
Any help would be nice. I’m crashing out.. I’m not totally financially ruined but we did save up for this and I just feel like a complete idiot for taking a chance and chasing the deal.
I filed a small claims case in Los Angeles County for an unpaid promissory note (around $10,000). I have his last known address, and all his personal information, but I’m not sure he still lives there. I also have a possible family address, phone number, and email.
What should I do if I can’t find him to serve the papers? Is it worth hiring a process server for skip tracing / multiple attempts? And if they still can’t serve him, do I just ask the court to push the hearing date back?
Location: California / Los Angeles County.
Location: I’m in ohio and he is in Mi.
Was with the ex almost 6 years. He had ben paying me back here and there. He tapped out two of my credit cards and almost a full 5,000 out in my savings. Recently he started being a whole lot different and now has a girlfriend and has blocked all contact with me. Is there anything i can do?
I’m losing my mind and my life seems like it’s going to be ruined and I don’t know what to do.
I was parked in a parking spot at my new job. I was in the lines. I looked to see there was no one in the parking spot next to me or pulling in as per habit (obviously as you do when you are making sure that you do not open your door into a parked car or a car trying to park. Just cars driving in the parking lot, you know. I open my door fully, grab my drink and my purse, in what I can only describe as a normal amount of time. I wasn’t taking my time, but I wasn’t scrambling either. It was 8:45am so I was simply getting out of my car.
As I am stepping out, a car rams into my door, pushing my parked car forward, and I fall back into the car from the force and hit my head/neck area, spilling my shit, etc.
The guy gets out and starts screaming at me that I need to watch where I am going and be aware of my surroundings and I am reeling from hitting my head and being jostled around suddenly. One of my new coworkers who is parked in the next spot says from her car “excuse me sir, but you were going \*very\* fast!” And honestly my initial thought after he stopped and I processed what had just happened was that he was going really fast! Like it seemed like he was pulling through one spot to pull into the front one (which he ended up parking in after everything was over and done with).
I called the police, they took a report, the witness gave the exact statement she had said. My car door would not close—the hinge was completely broken and the outside part of my door was crumpled (not like the paint in the outside as if he had swiped the door. Like my door was bent backwards because it was open.) the witness said she thought he had hit me or crushed my leg with how loud and fast the whole thing happened as she saw I was getting out of my car, but did not \*see the crash itself\* as she was also turning to grab her purse to go into work at that exact moment but was incredibly startled by how aloud this was (her words). But she did see him coming in that direction hot, but obviously did not assume that he was swiftly pulling into a parking spot
My car had to get towed. I don’t know what it’s gonna be fixed. My insurance does not cover rentals and I am paying 51$/day. I’ve already spent almost 500$ and this happened Tuesday. My deductible is 2k.
My insurance company (progressive) said to me that they are funding him 100% liable and that “it’s very obvious just from the damages in the photos.” And that they were fairly certain his insurance company (Plymouth Rock) wouldn’t disagree. I filed a claim with both.
Plymouth said to me he claimed that I opened my door in a split second as he was entering the parking spot \*which is absolutely NOT true.\* in the time that I opened the door and proceeded to get out, there is absolutely no way that he was pulling into a parking spot and I just whipped my door wide open. I wouldn’t have had time. He would’ve immediately hit me. But I read that his insurance could say I was creating an obstruction. It sounds like they’d argue I’d be at fault if I opened my door as he was pulling into the parking spot and he scraped it, and that even with my door stationary, it’s still my fault. I don’t understand how you possibly couldn’t see my extended door and have time to stop with the time frame. Like there is absolutely no way unless you were speeding (which it seemed like he was with how fast he flew in and how hard he hit me) or you were absolutely not paying attention. I understand that this is all my perspective, but as I am posting it, I am absolutely certain this is what happened.
His insurance said today they will not be paying for anything regarding my car, deductible, claim, rental, nothing. They found me at fault. Before this I went to urgent care because 24 hours later I was having pretty bad head neck and shoulder pain where I was hit. It got so bad I took way too much ibuprofen because I didn’t want to call out of a job I just started. I went to urgent care and the doctor gave me a neck brace and was insistent I go to the WR because of how much pain I was in. I went, they did a CT scan, and they said I have a cervical strain which I could’ve told anyone. I’ve had whiplash before. It was just really painful this time and everyone was saying that I should get it checked out and it was pretty unbearable at that point.
My insurance is telling me if my health insurance doesn’t cover my hospital bills for this then they can become the primary insurer. But I will be paying a 1k deductible and an 800$ copay. I missed a day of my second job because of the car situation. But I was also in a lot of pain and I work with autistic kids and I just couldn’t continue on to my part time job. I did not express that part though because I didn’t want them to tell me not to come in, because I need the money.
I am incredibly worried about the economic side of this. I am so upset. All I was doing was getting out of my car to go into work, minding my own business. I wasn’t reckless. I wasn’t oblivious to my surroundings. I didn’t just fling my door open, and it wasn’t split second. And I’m pissed because he could have seriously injured me if I had been any further out of my car and I am incredibly lucky that he didn’t crush my leg or pin me to my door. But I am now going to end up paying most likely 4k plus which I don’t have because this happened. The value of my car has gone down. My insurance is going to go up.
I cannot conceptualize how on earth this is my fault or how his insurance company could find me at fault. I am terrified I am not going to be reimbursed for any of this and I don’t have 4k. I don’t even have the 2k to get my car back with the deductible. I can’t finance through any type of credit. Am I wrong here? Like I just don’t understand. What can I possibly do to get these expenses paid for? Im scrambling to figure out what I can possibly do. Do I go to small claims court? If his insurance company is finding me at fault I am scared a judge will too. I just really do not believe that I should be paying anything at all just because I decided to get out of my car. This is going to absolutely ruin me.
Some moron in my last class period had a ziplock bag full of water and he walked over to me (unbeknownst of his stupid ass) and he hung it over my macbook M4 air 24gb ram and it just exploded. water got all over it. i did everything i could to get water out and it accidentally turned on, and for a split second it flashed “this selected macbook need disks reinstalled” or something like that. what can i do. it’s cooked now. 8th grade.
I have a little side business that we do renting out a skid steer. We have renters sign paperwork stating that they will pay $700 plus cost of repairs. Have renters flip machine off trailer due to negligence resulting in $30k in repairs for new engine and other components. My insurance deductible is $1,800 for this repair. The renter thought it was going to be a $200 deductible because he spoke to the dealer tech that was trying to fix the machine and thought our deductible was that much. After we sent him a copy of the invoice and was ok if they just cover our deductible so it not a big financial hit for them as they are a small land clearing business. They have not responded to calls or text messages and it’s been almost 2 months since this incident has happened which resulted in my insurance costs going up leading to my monthly payment for the machine jumping up $300. Should I start a small claim for the deductible amount or just go and get a lawyer to go for the entire $30k repair amount?
Machine is only 6months only at this point with low hours.
I'm wanting to file a small claims case, but the offending party is located in another country. Does anyone know if it's still possible to file a claim? I tried calling my local courthouse several times, but apparently no one is available to answer my question, and I'm on a bit of a time crunch.
Adding some additional context, in case it's helpful to better understand the situation: The reason I want to file a small claims case is because I am an Etsy seller who sells digital wall art. My bestseller (100% original artwork) was recently stolen by someone on the platform. They are now selling my original artwork and claiming it is their own.
I informed Etsy of the IP infringement, and Etsy initially took down the listings, but the offending party had the audacity to file a "counter notice," essentially claiming it is not copyright infringement. (It is 100% copyright infringement and my original artwork, no doubt about it.)
Etsy sent me the following email: "On May 5, 2026 you provided Etsy with notice of alleged copyright infringement. We're notifying you that Etsy received the following counter notice, as set forth by the DMCA and our Intellectual Property Policy.
Unless you notify us of a court action seeking a court order against the allegedly infringing member, the member may reactivate or repost the material specified in the counter notice in 10 business days, on May 19, 2026. Since Etsy is a venue, we’re not in a position to make legal determinations on infringement allegations or take sides in these matters."
I tried to file a claim through the Copyright Claims Board, but I am not able to do so because both parties are not located in the United States.
I was hoping maybe I could file a claim with the small claims court in my county. The end goal is not to collect money from the offending party. It is to be able to notify Etsy that I have filed "a court action seeking a court order against the allegedly infringing member," in the hopes that this will meet the requirements Etsy set forth, and they will remove the copycat listings.
Thank you!
Location: Chicago, IL
TL;DR: AA promised me 4 days of compensation for a cancelled flight over the phone, but later reneged. I took them to Small Claims Court and learned the hard way that "he-said, she-said" doesn't fly in civil court without recordings or written proof.
The Background:
I had a claim against American Airlines after a flight cancellation. During my initial calls with their customer service, they explicitly promised me compensation for the full 4-day delay. However, they later changed their stance, claiming they are only legally required to compensate until the "first flight availability," regardless of what was said on the phone.
The Court Experience:
I went to Small Claims Court today, and the judge’s ruling was a wake-up call. In Civil Court, the burden of proof is on the plaintiff (me).
The judge essentially told me that without a recording or a transcript of the conversation where the representative made that 5-day promise, there was no way to prove the agreement existed. I was told that I should have kept the recording.
The Corporate Defense:
Interestingly, after we stepped out of the courtroom, the AA representative told me that even if a staff member did say it on the phone, airline policy and specific laws regarding carriage might still make that oral promise unenforceable.
The Outcome:
They did offer me a decent out-of-court settlement, which I am most likely going to accept to put this behind me.
Lessons Learned for the Community:
Get it in writing: If an agent promises you extended hotel stays or meals, ask them to email you the confirmation right then and there.
Record (if legal): If you are in a one-party consent state, record your customer service calls.
The "First Available" Rule: Be aware that airlines will almost always try to cap their liability at the very first flight they could have put you on, even if that flight didn't work for your schedule.
Hopefully, this helps someone else avoid the same headache!
So i let someone borrow money and honestly he agreed to pay he isn’t. I have all evidence and pre prepared with the evidence and speech and filing. I went chronological order on what’s going on very simple and straightforward. Just dates of the transaction and the agreements. Now should i just file and do this on my own in small claims or should i hire a debt collector and sell my debt to him or her? I re searched and if i do this i will lose 50 percent of the money. But i am nervous i never spoke in front of the judge and i am the victim of this. Am in the state of Michigan if that helps. I just don’t want this stress like i want my money back without the stress.
Long story short, this business owner is charging a loved one (we can call her Emily) for services he said he would provide but never did. Verbal agreement only for 2 week use of an item that was only used for 2 days (unsuccessfully) before Emily cancelled on him because this guy did not follow through with what he said he would do. She agreed to pay him his initial fee of $75 but he is charging her for the rest of it anyway. Nothing is in writing, it's all verbal. He didn't discuss any kind of refund policy with her initially either. I know I'm being extremely vague, and that's intentional since this case is open currently. I'm just so pissed that some asshole is trying to take advantage of my loved one and might actually get away with it. Since there was no written contract, it's basically a he said/she said. What tends to happen in these cases?
Location: I live in Atlanta, GA, the McKenna is in prison now, and he doesn’t get out until next year this happened roughly a year ago, and I had to save and work to save up to get my truck fixed however i have a 1992 Chevy Silverado, a truck my grandfather owned before he died. I’m fixing it as a side project. I found a mechanic with good reviews on Google who charged over $5000, less than others' $ 10,000+ other than other mechanics.
- the mechanic changed me $3000 for labor and $ 2,400 for parts. Timeline:-
May 23, 2025: Quoted $2,140 for engine and transmission, $300 for shipping, $3,000 for labor total $5,440.
He was rushing me to hurry up and get the engine and transmission before it's sold. I Paid him $2,500 upfront, including $60 over for a U-Haul, though the agreement was $300 for shipping labor to be paid after completion. He said that he thought I was giving him a tip for picking it up with the $60 overhead.
- May 30: he confirmed the engine and transmission were paid for and ready but didn't have my truck.
- June 2: he picked up engine and transmission without my truck to verify fitment.
- I asked him to come look at my truck for inspection earlier but was declined, delaying progress he told me all he need was the make and model and vin number.
- June 9: I towed truck to him; he had engine and transmission for 7 days before inspecting.
- June 12: the Warranty on engine and transmission was only for 60 days.
- June 13–14: he said engine and transmission didn't match and had issues with exhausted manifold as in he did not want to replace the new exhaust manifold on the engine because he didn’t want to break the exhaust metaphor because I have a O2 sensor that is connected to the exhaust manifold and transmission was a 4L 60 E and I have a 700R4 Transmission; he failed to verify before starting work.
- June 15: Discussed delays and shortcuts; with lying as well saying that this job is more than what he handled and he said it would be done within four days.
- June 16: i Verified the new en and get my old transmission rebuilt gine and transmission and it didn't match my truck; I canceled the project, paid $1,500 for partial work, and handled the return of incorrect parts myself, incurring extra costs. then when I sent it to A New mechanic, they told me that he did not resell the new engine and I had to go and return the new transmission and get my old transmission rebuilt.
Issues
:- Job incomplete, parts not installed or sealed.
- Failed to process returns or warranty.
- Extra costs and lost warranty time.
- Misled with false info.
My demand
:- Refund for unperformed work.- Compensation for extra costs, including towing and rebuilding my transmission.
I’m in California and already won my small claims case as the plaintiff, but now I’m trying to enforce the judgment and could use advice from anyone familiar with collections/judgment enforcement. Almost one year ago, a man hit my parked car at night and initially acted cooperative. He gave me his name and number, claimed he was “famous” (he does have a decent social media following and looking his name up showed consistent recognition, tbf), and promised he’d pay for the damages himself. He also claimed he didn’t know his insurance information at the time of the accident, but of course, I took the bait /:
For months, I tried handling it privately through texts/calls. He kept stalling, making promises, and never actually paying. Eventually I filed in small claims court. He was properly served at his home (took me forever to find his address online, as well as his birthday for locating and identifying him for the dmv accident report), showed up to court, and judgment was entered in my favor for $8,500.
After the 30-day waiting period passed and he still didn’t pay, I scheduled a Judgment Debtor Examination and subpoenaed him to provide insurance information from the date of the accident, financial/account information and whatever other relevant documents/assets. Part of why I requested the insurance information is because I became concerned he may have tried to report his own vehicle as a hit-and-run since he mentioned the idea to do so to me after the accident, but he kept switching his story up.
Unfortunately, the sheriff’s department failed to serve him in time before the exam hearing, despite having about 3 weeks to do it. They only attempted service once at his residence. But during this time, he and I were still in communication and he told me directly he would attend the hearing so that he can pay me there in front of the judge, something about because I just can’t be trusted so he’s not taking any chances on me somehow getting over on him. Idk…
I’ve now refiled for another debtor exam date and requested service again. This time I plan to follow up with the sheriff’s department constantly to confirm service attempts are actually happening. I also filed a request to correct the Entry of Judgment because the original judgment did not have the box checked indicating the case arose from a motor vehicle accident. From what I understand, if corrected, I may be able to submit paperwork through the DMV to suspend his license until the judgment is paid. The evidence I provided during the case had a police report, DMV accident report, and photos of the vehicle damage, all of which will be used to make the decision to correct if the debtor fails to object or agree within ten days after receiving my request in the mail.
Honestly, this entire situation completely derailed my life financially. Losing my car eventually caused me to lose my job because I couldn’t reliably commute anymore. I’ve been surviving on unemployment and thankfully my landlord has the patience and ability to allow my rent to be late every month since losing my car. Literally have been barely scraping to get by.
At one point, before going to court, I posted publicly about the situation on social media and it gained a lot of attention. He definitely saw it and started accusing me of defamation and slander, so I deleted the posts to avoid things escalating further and getting messier than it already was.
At this point I’m mainly looking for advice on:
- best ways to enforce a California small claims judgment
- how effective DMV license suspension actually is (this was something that has already been done but somehow resolved by him after I filed the dmv accident report and he did not provide his insurance information which was a requirement since damages exceeded $1,000. He texted me and asked me to amend the report and change the date to “make things easier for him”)
- whether anyone has experience collecting a judgement from someone trying to avoid paying, I know it happens often and how common it is for people to avoid it all together. I am hoping my consistent approach will pay off soon/:
Any advice is appreciated.
Location: Colorado
Our neighbor recently had his 12-year-old apply water-based fence stain to our shared fence, unsupervised. As you may guess, the child overloaded the roller on a windy day, and it splattered all over our long, 1.5-year-old sidewalk and all over the side of our house. It baked in over the course of weeks, unbeknownst to us as we were out of town.
He claimed he is a “concrete expert” and said he could clean it off. He then attempted to clean the spots off by taking a wire brush attached to his drill, and scraped off the top layer of our cement, making it look even worse than before, and it is now splotchy all over and has lost texture.
We have done our due diligence to explore all solutions with actual concrete contractors, but it will be very expensive to get it anywhere close to its original state. We plan to present the estimates to our neighbor, but we are preparing for an uncooperative response.
If you go to small claims court, do you have to bring actual bills that have already been paid? Or is it sufficient to bring multiple quotes/estimates showing the amount you’re requesting is only the lowest cost to actually replace the damage? (We have sufficient photographic evidence of all the damage and plan to get at least 4 quotes, including from the original concrete installer we used). We paid thousands out of pocket to get it installed in the first place, and we really don’t want to have to front those costs again if we don’t have to.
Any advice or words of wisdom are greatly appreciated. We are truly hoping this can be resolved amicably, but we want to be prepared as the husband had the audacity to be annoyed that we were unhappy with his botched clean up job. (And side note: we are offering to have our house painted, so he doesn’t even have to incur that cost.)
Hi everyone, first time posting here so bear with me.
I’m owed a little over $2,600 from a former coworker/friend who I lent money to over the course of about a year and a half. We stayed in contact after I left that job and he kept promising to pay me back, but the last few days he’s been ignoring my texts and calls completely.
I know lending that much money was dumb in hindsight. He did make a few payments early on totaling a couple hundred dollars, and I also have multiple text messages from him acknowledging the debt and promising to repay me. I don’t have anything officially signed though.
I have his full name, phone number, and current employer, but I don’t know his address. One thing I’m worried about is that he’s not the most financially fit person and works a lower-paying retail job, so I’m not sure how much that affects my chances of actually collecting the money even if I won.
I’m mainly trying to understand how small claims court works in Louisiana, what my first steps should be, and realistically how likely it is I’d actually collect the money even if I won.
Sorry if this was too long. Just looking for advice from people familiar with the process. Thanks.
Hey guys! I am the creditor for a bank levy for someone in California. I am not from California but the court decision was made in small claims court in California and the debtor is located in California. I am trying to figure out how to go about performing the bank levy on the debtor? I have the court decision and am past the 30 day wait period. How do I go about the bank levy? I have the debtor’s bank information as well. I’ve tried contacting the court but am unable to reach them at all. I am also out of state so I need to know if I can do this online.
I know it’s very limited time, but as plaintiff after you swear in do you just.. ramble everything? The timeline and advanced evidence can be lengthy. Is there supposed to be a brief “opening statement” where we don’t go into details, and then after both parties give their intro do we get a chance to give a more detailed timeline? Or should we just give the lengthier timeline as soon as we start?
This is for NYC