I’m looking for advice from anyone familiar with D.C. Superior Court and enforcing small claims judgments.

In 2024, I worked as an independent contractor/remote campaign worker for a D.C. City Council candidate. I was promised $3,250 but was never paid. He later tried to get me to take a "honoraium" of $700 and of course I declined because I worked hard and this was not the original agreement.

I filed a small claims case, properly served him, and the court ultimately entered judgment in my favor. He did not appear at any of the court hearings, which obviously helped me obtain the judgment.

The judgment was entered in 2025, and I currently am owed about $3,295 with interest.

Unfortunately, life got extremely busy after the judgment and I put the collection process on the back burner. Now I'm finally trying to deal with it.

The last time I contacted the court/same-day processor, I was told I would need to identify an asset in D.C. in order to pursue a writ of attachment — either his employer for wage garnishment or his bank.

Here's my problem: I don't know his employer or bank. I met him and took on this job through a so-called "mentor" at the time.

I have his name, address, phone number, and campaign email, but that's it.

I was previously told I could hire an asset searcher to locate employment/banking information, but the person I contacted didn't provide that service.

Also, this person has been extremely difficult to reach from the beginning. He didn't appear for any of the court hearings, and attempts by family members to help me contact him/the campaign staff from different numbers were also unsuccessful. So I'm not particularly confident that asking him to voluntarily cooperate or provide information will get me anywhere.

There was also a coincidental in-person encounter with him in 2024. I approached him simply to ask about the unpaid money, and his response felt threatening/confrontational, including repeatedly asking whether I wanted to “go (as in fighting I assumed)"when I was only trying to ask a question. I ultimately disengaged and told him I would handle the matter through the courts. Because of that experience, I would strongly prefer not to have unnecessary direct contact with him.

So, what do I do now?

• Is it too late to enforce a D.C. judgment from 2025?
• Should I pursue an oral/debtor examination, or is there another step I should take first?
• Do I actually need to hire an asset searcher to find his employer/bank?
• If so, how do I find a legitimate one without spending a fortune?
• Once I identify an employer or bank, what exactly do I file to get the judgment collected?

I really just want to collect what the court has already determined I'm owed. I know I should have followed up sooner, but life got busy and I'm finally able to address it again.

I'd really appreciate advice from anyone who has experience enforcing a D.C. small claims judgment. Please explain it in layman's terms if possible because I'm representing myself and I'm not very familiar with the court/collections process.

I'm not asking for advice on the underlying case — I already won the judgment. I'm trying to figure out the enforcement/collection process.

6 year relationship (unmarried, not engaged)

Location: Florida
I’m not new to Reddit, but new to having an account

My ex boyfriend and I recently broke up about 4 months ago after a 6 year long relationship, including living together for the last 2 or so years. When I moved out into an apartment post break up, I took as much as I could at the time and only took what was obviously mine (ie girl items and boxes with my name on it). However, there is some of my stuff that he still has that he gifted to me over the years (unconditional gifts) which I wasn’t able to take at the time or could not locate when moving. I recently spoke with him the other day about what items I’m looking for and when I can stop by to get them. These gifts include a diamond necklace, nice blanket, and a longboard (gifted from him), and well as a weighted blanket (gifted from MY parents to me). I had also at some point gifted him with an expensive watch, which I did NOT intend to get back from him. He told me that he will not be giving me any items back, and that the most he would do is give me $200 dollars in return and that’s it.
When the breakup first happened, the initial agreement was that I take a small tv that we split cost on, and he would keep a larger tv that we split cost on, as well as him keep a Nintendo switch (and games!) among with other household items we split costs on, and he would pay me the half of the amount for everything we split except the tv. When I was going through a tough time mentally, I told him I wanted the (small) tv, and to not bother with the repayment of money because I didn’t want to deal with everything anymore. Now, these other items that were given to me as gifts I remembered I don’t have them already, which I’ve had for up to 5.5/6 years of the relationship, I want back what is only mine. I tried to only ask for those items (necklace, etc), but when he said no I then tried to negotiate, saying he can keep them if I at least get back only the nice watch (expensive gift for expensive gift exchange in a way). He is also refusing that.
Do I have any legal grounds to at least getting back the gifted items that are mine? Im not sure trying to sue is even worth it either. I’m basically asking for either payment for MY gifts, or receiving the gifts themselves, nothing more. The 200 is not even close to what they cost, even if I were to not ask the full amount.
Any advice is appreciated, I can clarify what may not make sense. I have been through a lot with this man over the years and am struggling in many ways at this time trying to adjust to a new life. I just want things to be fair, but due to mental illness I am stuck on the what ifs and lack of fairness of this situation.
If there’s a possibility I may be able to make a case of this, I’m not even sure of where to look/go to.
Thank you

A couple weeks ago I received an email from gladstone municipal court stating that I owe two different debts or tickets. Their website does not show what they are for, where they are from, or what vehicle they are on even tho im logged into my account. The only options are to pay or dispute, and ive sent two dispute claims already saying they need to tell me the info or I wont pay, and i haven’t received anything. The only sort of contact i got was from their ai agent and from there i was able to figure out they were from parking (and then it said it had to connect me to a person but still nothing) but that was it. Apparently i had a violation September 4th 2025 (as far as i know in another city), and my first sort of communication from anyone about it was July 27 2026. And apparently i have another one from two months ago but it costs the same amount? They’ve both collected interest, and both while i was in a completely different city than where they are located (again, they haven’t told me where they were from).

What should I do? Is there a way I could not pay these because of how I’ve been treated/lack evidence and info shown?

Edit: You should have your Remind Me's set past 30 days based upon the date for the next hearing. Don't want to give too much information on the exact date, but the court is backlogged right now and 30 days won't be enough.

This is a long story and I am a very rambly person, but if you're interested, fasten your seatbelts and live vicariously through me and my attempt to hold Google accountable.

Let me preface this by saying that I am not a lawyer/barrister/solicitor, I am not giving legal advice, and I'm just an average person that is sick of companies screwing over customers and getting away with it. I also have made this intentionally vague for anonymity purposes while this plays out.

As you may be aware, in June Google notified customers that they were going to be updating the privacy settings by retiring the "Web & App Activity" settings in favor of "Search Services History" and "Personalized Recommendations." In the email for this notification Google expressly stated:

>"If [Web & App Activity and Search Personalization settings] are currently on, these new settings will stay on. If they're off, the new settings will be off."

The email continued on to say that these changes would be coming "in the next coming days."

Well...me being me, and having a near rabid mistrust of companies immediately went into my Google Account to ensure the settings were off and I'm sure that you can guess what happened. The settings not only had already changed prior to the email notification (and not the coming days as stated), but I was also opted into these settings, when for years I have opted out of them.

I. Was. Pissed. I immediately opted out (something I never should have been opted into) and let sleeping dogs lie. After a week this topic was brought up on a Discord I'm in and that's when I looked at what data had been pulled and noticed that applications like Phone, Messages, Signal, Terminal, and others had been included in the most recent information sent to to Google.

Before the settings change, almost no data had been transferred, 0 bytes received, less than 300 bytes transmitted. From June 9th to June 17th, hundreds of thousands of bytes. Now, I'm not a person that puts stock into coincidences, and of course, correlation does not equal causation, but something was off.

Late June my phone was stolen so I ordered a new one as a stop gap while I decided if I wanted the Fold 8 or the Razr Fold to replace my Fold 7 and it arrived the next day. Since I just setup the phone, I pulled the phone's files again and the amount transferred had increased even more. This was a new phone, with less applications installed and not even 20 days after I ensured that I was opted out of the new privacy settings. This was my tipping point and I began drafting my documents and gathering my evidence and logs.

(A quick time out and let me make something clear here: I do not know exactly what data was transmitted. That's actually what I told the court. The server-side content and destination are Google's records, not mine. In my rider to the lead document, I wrote the following:

>Because the precise content and ultimate destination of the data reflected in Exhibit H is recorded on, and known only to, Defendant's own servers and infrastructure, Plaintiff respectfully requests that this Court direct Defendant to produce records sufficient to identify the destination, content, and purpose of the network transmissions reflected in Exhibits H and M occurring on and after June 9, 2026.

OK, Time In)

Where I live, we have ridiculously strong consumer protection laws, including one under which plaintiffs are eligible for the cost of the violation or a large amount per violation, whichever is greater. So with multiple dates that it seems this has been an issue I filed for the maximum amount allowed under small claims. Since I'm just an average person, it took me multiple tries to get the correct paperwork submitted, but the paperwork was finally accepted, Google was officially served, and the case was scheduled.

Fast forward and Google requests to postpone the hearing another 45+ days in order to research and "contact the Plaintiff" (spoiler alert: they never did). This was not acted upon by the court and no communication had been sent by Google to either me or the court during this period. But then six minutes before the courts closed for the day and the night before the case was scheduled to be heard Google submitted a motion to dismiss. In their motion Google stated that based on the Terms of Service dated July 30, 2026:

1. This is not the parties' agreed-upon forum
2. Google did not violate the consumer protection law or commit unlawful trade practices as Plaintiff does not identify what data was transmitted, the destination of each transmission, or a use prohibited by the cited settings.
3. Google's Terms of Service limit the company's liability to [paltry small amount].

I responded that night with the following (I'm just going to paste it near-verbatim with small edits for anonymity and flow, apologies):

• Point 1

>Google has not established that the cited forum-selection clause was in effect at the time relevant to this dispute. Google's own Exhibit A is expressly dated "Effective July 30, 2026;” a date after the conduct alleged in the Complaint, and after the Complaint was filed. Google bears the burden on its own motion to establish that this version of the governing-law clause, rather than whatever version was in effect when Plaintiff's account was created in 2014 or when the conduct at issue occurred, actually applies. It has not done so.

• Point 2

>Google faults Plaintiff for lacking information that, by Google's own admission, exists only on Google's own servers. Paragraph 14 of the Complaint expressly states that "the precise content and ultimate destination of the data reflected in Exhibit H is recorded on, and known only to, Defendant's own servers and infrastructure," and asks this Court to direct Google to produce records identifying that destination, content, and purpose. Google opposes that very request while simultaneously arguing that Plaintiff's failure to supply the same information warrants dismissal. A defendant may not convert its own informational advantage into a pleading deficiency for the plaintiff.

• Point 3

>As with the forum clause, Google relies on a Terms of Service exhibit effective July 30, 2026, without establishing that this version, or this cap, applied to conduct occurring [previously].

>The private right of action provides an independent statutory remedy: a prevailing consumer is entitled to "[t]reble damages, or substantial amount per violation, whichever is greater," plus reasonable attorney's fees and punitive damages. This is a legislatively created remedy, not a contractual one, and a merchant's own form contract cannot be used to override a statutory consumer remedy.

I then further continued in my response:

>In any event, the Complaint is not conclusory. It identifies specific system packages (com.google.android.as and com.google.android.as.oss), named background services ("EchoJobService," "HeartbeatService," "AstreaGrpcService"), specific timestamps, and byte-level network transmission logs. Most significantly, the Complaint alleges that the same background operation recurred approximately forty minutes after Plaintiff disabled the relevant setting, and that the pattern repeated over the following eight days and was independently corroborated on a second device. Google's motion does not address this sequence.

>This pattern is consistent with conduct Google has previously resolved through state consumer-protection enforcement, including in this jurisdiction. Between 2022 and 2023, Google settled a series of state actions alleging that account settings displayed as "off" while the underlying tracking or personalization continued: (chart of six relevant settlements totaling over $600M in the US, as well as other fines worldwide)

The next day, we log into the court session and I'm ready to go after staying up late going through everything again and again. Google is present, I'm present, and judge is present, but the judge notes that there is a motion to dismiss, opposition to the motion to dismiss, and a request for a continuance. The judge says no to the continuance; however, because the judge was not prepared to rule on the motion to dismiss that came in the night before and has not had an opportunity to review the motion or the plaintiff's (my) opposition to the motion there is now another hearing on this set for the future.

I'm quite surprised that Google has fought this much on a small claims case that would have just been under the radar and never known until they started playing lawyer-ball, and in the words of Hank Hill, "don't play lawyer-ball, son."

I'll update if people are interested but wanted to share my story...

This happened in West Virginia at a privately-owned river resort. While on one of our visits I had a medical issue. The two main ideas from the other campers were that I was either having a heatstroke or very, very drunk. I don’t blame them, I was rarely seen without a drink in my hand.  P.S. Drinking is allowed.

My memory of the events are; arriving at the gathering, breaking out in a cold sweat, trying to drink water and throwing it up, then nothing until I woke up in an ambulance.

My wife was with me, She told me that I was constantly trying to get away from people, screaming don’t touch me, but she said the only times I would scream was when people were checking my vitals (a doctor was another guest helping).

911 was called and my actions were described with the word  combative so the police were also on site. I was told that I wrestled with 2 paramedics, 1 cop, and our friend that was helping.

When I was in the Emergency Room my wife called to check on me. She told me the owners had trespassed us. The police came to her as I was being loaded into the ambulance, said the owners wanted us trespassed. That we were not allowed back on the property. She spoke with the police who then spoke with owners, she was allowed to stay until morning to get our belongings. She loaded up our cars, as I came a few days after her and had 2 friends help, 1 friend drove my car, the other followed to give her a ride back.

Monday, I sent the owners an e-mail with my drug screen from the hospital that showed the only drugs in my system were the ones given to me by the paramedics. I was even surprised that no alcohol was in my system, none. I asked the owners for a conversation. We got a phone call, I asked exactly what happen, I was told to ask friends and the police that the trespass stands and that we had 30 days to get our camper out.

Had drugs been in my system, that would mean, I had been drugged and as psychedelics were not tested for in the hospital, and very hard to test for, is not impossible that I was drugged As in they trespassed the victim of a crime and protected an assailant.

Almost forgot, the contract says any tab not closed before you leave will be closed on the following Monday, and a 20% tip will be added. They added an 87% tip after making it impossible for me to close the tab as I was trespassed.

 

Questions

I know I cannot do anything about the trespass, I do not want to. I have no desire to be where I am not wanted. Also, I know that my best bet would probably be small claims court.

First, I broke no rules according to the contract I signed.

Since I broke no rules, could I sue the LLC for the 6 months of unusable “rent” I paid for my camper spot? (they require the full year to be paid in full at the beginning of the year.) Unfair enrichment?

Since I did not have enough time (30 Days) to mitigate my losses I had to hire a construction company to remove my camper. Can I sue the LLC for that cost? I was not given the opportunity to sell my site / camper, I did not have enough time to get my friends with heavy machinery.

Would I be able to sue the LLC for loss of reputation as the others only saw me acting peculiar and then trespassed? I had no opportunity to clear the air and I think drug use was mentioned more than once.

Long stretch, but would I be able to try and use: Pain and Suffering, or Emotional distress, or Stress as another method to sue the LLC.

 

TLDR: I broke no rules and was trespassed from a campground. Can I sue for prepaid rent and the cost to move my camper since I didn’t have time to get my friends and had to hire a contractor? Also, it is not impossible that I was drugged and the victim of a crime.

 

Thank you all in advance for all your help.

For context, my ex and I divorced back in may of this year, I agreed to pay her $500/month in alimony, we have no kids or anything, it was a mutual agreement based on our situation. On the Judgement it says that that
“My name” shall pay contractual spousal support to “Ex’s name” in the amount of
FIVE HUNDRED AND NO/100 DOLLARS ($500.00) per month, for a period of five (5) consecutive years, commencing on the 15th day of the first month following the finalization
of the Judgment of Divorce, and continuing on the 15th day of each month thereafter.

She has now officially remarried!

For a little more context, I did not have a lawyer because I could not afford one, so I had to represent myself, but she had a lawyer. Prior to the finalization of divorce, her lawyer and her both expressed that if she got married it would terminate my obligation to pay her, but it doesn’t say that on the judgment. But, under Louisiana civil law article 115, it basically says that if she gets remarried then I am not obligated to pay any more. My argument is that even though it says “contractual” it doesn’t specify that I have to pay her regardless of her getting married or regardless of anything els, what I typed is verbatim what it says In the judgment.

With that being said, what should my next move be? I’ve read that I have to go to the courthouse to get it recognized? I just have no idea how to go about getting it recognized now that she is now legally remarried. Should I consult a lawyer myself? Or maybe speak to the lawyer she used? Any advice would be awesome!

Hi, lawyers! I desperately need some advice.

An old friend from another department owes me and several of our other colleagues money. Collectively, the amount is almost half a mil.

In my case, she borrowed money from me and said she would return it the following day. I agreed because we had a common friend whom she had previously borrowed money from and actually paid back as promised, so I trusted her.

However, it has now been several months and she still hasn't paid me. Whenever we follow up, she keeps making excuses, and recently she even told me to proceed with the case.

Since several employees from the same company are involved, I'm wondering:

1. Can HR get involved in this situation, considering that multiple employees are affected? Or would HR generally consider this a purely personal matter between employees? If HR cannot intervene, where should we raise this complaint?
2. Would we have a chance of recovering the money through Small Claims Court, especially if we have proof of the loan, messages, bank transfers, and her acknowledgment that she owes us?
3. Since there are several people she owes money to, can we somehow file or pursue this together, or would each creditor need to file their own claim?

I know borrowing money is a personal matter, but since this involves several employees and a significant amount, I'm wondering if there is any other appropriate avenue before going straight to court.

Any advice, especially from lawyers or people who have gone through a similar situation, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Location: Newark New Jersey

Hello , so I was involved in a car accident where I rear ended someone . We decided to handle it amongst ourselves without insurance big mistake .

I had Zelle’s this individual money noted for car repairs after he showed me a quote given by a body shop on the 7 of July. After all the damage for both cars were estimated I realized it was way too much and decided to go the insurance route .

Fast forward he is consistently telling me once the process is over he’ll return the money and so I give him the benefit of the doubt over text messages. About a month and half passes by and still
Nothing after repeated attempts. He claims the autobody is filing a reclaim on July 14 , it is now August 18 and I Confirmed with Geico that no reclaim supplementary check request was recieved from the body shop nor him . The claim was actually closed . Everyone I reach out it’s just vague answers “ once it’s processed I’ll return the money “ so now I’m at the point where I have text messages between me and him saying he’ll return the money the Zelle payment with the note intended for car repairs, and written confirmation from Geico that states no other repayment is even on file and the claim is closed .

My question is do I have enough grounds to file a small claims . I live in New Jersey and although I know I may not receive my money back i just can’t let this go without trying to involve legal enforcement .

I’m a freelance video editor/content creator, and I’m dealing with a client who currently owes me $1,440 for work I completed for him.
The client has 300K+ followers, and this was not some random one-off interaction. We had an actual working relationship, I completed and delivered the work, and he repeatedly acknowledged that he owed me.
The payment has now been outstanding for around 6 months.

I have extensive documentation, including:
• Screenshots of our conversations
• Proof of the work I completed and delivered
• Messages where he explicitly agreed/promised to pay me
• My follow-ups asking about the payment
• Screen recordings documenting the conversations
• Evidence of his subsequent responses/behavior after I continued asking for payment

He promised me twice that he would pay, but never actually followed through.
Eventually, he stopped properly responding. When I continued following up, his responses became dismissive/trolling rather than actually addressing the $1,440 he owes.
I’ve already told him that I intend to escalate the matter if he doesn’t resolve it.
At this point, I’m looking for someone who can help me figure out the most effective legitimate way to put pressure on him and recover the money.
I’m particularly interested in connecting with:
Someone experienced with unpaid invoices/debt collection
A lawyer who handles freelancer/client disputes
Someone familiar with this person’s industry or professional network
Someone with a legitimate platform/audience who can contact him professionally and ask him to resolve the dispute
Anyone who has successfully dealt with a similar situation
I’m NOT looking to harass, threaten, dox, or fabricate anything about this person. I have evidence of the actual dispute and I’m prepared to provide it privately to anyone who genuinely wants to help.
If you’re able to connect me with someone who can either help recover the money, communicate with the client on my behalf, or advise me on the best escalation route, please DM me.
I really just want to get paid for the work I already completed.

I am from Pakistan, my client is from the US

As I am filling out the Interview to file my claim online, I am being asked if I am open to using a mediator. Do I have to select "Yes"? What happens if I select "No"?

I think my case is cut and dry. I am simply asking for a refund. I don't see the point of a mediator.

-----

Are you willing to use a court mediator to try to settle this case?*

• Yes
• No

Small web dev/SEO agency here. Built a site for a client (excavation/paving niche) under a standard 50/50 deposit + final payment structure. Wrapped up revisions on a call July 30th, sent the final invoice ($1,150) same day, he said he'd knock it out "today or tomorrow." Cool, no issue.

July 31st comes and goes. I follow up — he says he's traveling, back "Wednesday." Fine, I say no rush, enjoy the trip.

Wednesday comes and goes. Nothing. I follow up again, politely. Nothing. I call, text, follow up again over the course of two weeks — dozens of attempts at this point, phone and text. Total silence.

Then I realized he's already put the logo I designed for the site into his company email footer before paying the balance that (per my own ToS) is what actually transfers ownership to him.

My terms are pretty clear: site doesn't go live until paid in full, ownership doesn't transfer until paid in full, and there's a clause where extended unresponsiveness puts the project on hold / eventually allows me to cancel and keep the deposit.

I'm about to send a formal final notice citing the terms directly, with a deadline, and flag that the logo use needs to stop until he pays. Planning to escalate to small claims if it goes past that.

Has anyone dealt with a client like this? Curious if:

1. This is the right move or if I'm missing a smarter play
2. How you've handled clients who start using unpaid deliverables before settling up
3. Whether it's worth trying one more direct call vs just going straight to the written notice + deadline

Appreciate any war stories or advice.

Someone I knew for a year asked me once if they could use my zelle to have someone send her money, I thought it’d be simple so I told her it’s just my number and name, she’d then have me cashapp that money to a cashapp account that also wasn’t hers it was a mans cashapp the name wasn’t familiar to me, I did it anyways. After that one time she would have people send me money every other week and I would have to transfer it to a cashapp account or to another zelle account. The thing is she would never ask me if someone can zelle me money for her she would always tell me after they had sent it. sometimes she would go days without telling me she would just text me out of no where and say “hey someone sent you money for me a couple days ago”. Now she had 2 people send me a total of $410 and my account went to negatives. I told her it’s going to take me 2 weeks to get that money back and shes now threatening to send me to small claims court. Would she be able to take any legal action? She would never ask me if someone can zelle money to me until after it had been sent.

I am 18 years old, I just graduated high school this year. About a month and a half ago my grandmother called me and she asked me for $3500. It was a huge ask for me, I’ve never let anybody borrow that much money for me before but she told me that she had some tax refund coming within the next week and she was going to pay me back in a week. She also told me that she would pay me back more than she brought for me, and I thought that would be great because the money I let her borrow with the money that I had saved for my car. I am getting ready to start college next week and I was planning on getting a car because I have no other transportation. It has been over a month and my grandma has not paid me back. I have been getting more frustrated overtime, because I was supposed to have my car by now. There are things that I need to pay for, especially that I am not about to start college and this is a huge issue for me. I told my mother(my grandma’s daughter) about the situation and she acts like it’s not a big deal. I love my grandmother but this is completely unacceptable and I need my money back. I don’t even think she has it. I don’t want to mess up my relationship with her but this is a lot of money and the only way that I think I could get it back as if I was to take her to the Small Claims Court. Please, I need advice

Location: Gainesville, FL

I’m in Florida and looking for general legal guidance about a van that has been left in front of my house by someone I know. I’m specifically trying to understand the lawful process for having it removed from my property without creating legal problems for myself.

Here’s the timeline as accurately as I can reconstruct it:

The van has been sitting in front of my house for months. I originally gave him notice that the van needed to be moved. I initially remembered that conversation as happening in May, but after going back through our text messages, I confirmed that I formally told him on June 14 that the van needed to be gone.

On June 14, I told him that, separate from the personal issues between us, the only remaining obligation connecting us was the van being in front of my house. He responded that he would make moving it a priority and said he would get it out of my way.

Later, he told me that he had some things to dig out and said he would be there during the second week of August to address the van. He also said he was trying to come earlier and wanted to have some money for me.

I subsequently gave him a specific deadline: August 13. I told him the van needed to be gone by that date and that, if it wasn't, I would make arrangements to have it removed by August 20. I also told him that if his plan to repair the van didn't work out, he needed to have an alternative plan for getting it off my property.

He has known for well over a month that this deadline was coming. He also knew that he was paid weekly and had previously indicated that he expected to have money for me this week. However, when the deadline arrived, he did not have the $150 I had offered as an extension/payment arrangement and the van was still there.

At this point, I told him that my terms were essentially: $150 or move the van by midnight. I also told him that, going forward, I would only respond with payment information or information about where/how to leave the key.

He subsequently asked to call me and tried to reopen the discussion about the deadline. I declined because I did not believe there was anything further to discuss.

There is also a written agreement/contract that was previously proposed, but he never signed it. He had previously objected to the terms, so I am not relying on that unsigned agreement as the basis for what I'm doing now. I am relying on the deadlines and terms I actually communicated to him in writing.

There is an additional complication regarding ownership. My understanding is that the person whose name is actually on the title is the legal owner of the van, and that person may not be the same person who has been communicating with me about the vehicle. I don't want to make assumptions about ownership or do anything that could create criminal liability for me.

After the August 13 deadline passed, I tried to determine the proper procedure for getting the van removed.

I first contacted a towing company. I was told that they would need to run the VIN and determine whether the vehicle was stolen or otherwise had an issue before proceeding. I then contacted local law enforcement to ask about the situation. I made a report, although I had initially hoped to avoid creating a police report because I wanted to resolve the matter without involving law enforcement.

Law enforcement told me, essentially, that they would not come remove the vehicle simply because I want it off my private property. Their involvement would apparently be different if the vehicle were actually obstructing traffic or creating a traffic hazard.

I have also been researching Florida's private-property towing laws, including Florida Statute 715.07, and I'm seeing information suggesting that a vehicle parked without authorization on private residential property may be eligible for a private-property tow, with the towing company handling the impound/storage process and notifying the appropriate parties.

However, because of the title/ownership issue and because I don't want to accidentally cross the line into doing something unlawful, I am trying to get accurate advice before taking any action.

I am not looking for advice on how to retaliate against this person. I simply want the van legally removed from my property after giving him substantial notice and multiple deadlines.

My questions are:

Can I legally have the van removed through a private-property towing company under Florida law?

Does the fact that the person I've been dealing with may not be the titled owner change the process?

Am I required to provide any additional written notice at this point, given that I have months of text messages documenting the deadlines and his responses?

Does the fact that I have already contacted law enforcement and made a report change anything?

What documentation should I have ready for a towing company?

Is there anything I absolutely should not do myself to move or relocate the vehicle?

If anyone here is a Florida attorney familiar with private-property towing/abandoned vehicles, I would really appreciate clarification on the proper process.

I am trying to handle this through the proper legal channels. I don't want to damage, abandon, hide, or otherwise interfere with the vehicle. I simply need it off my property.

Location: Virginia

I hired a guy on next door to fix some hvac under our house. He had previously done some plumbing work for like $300 with no issue, so I hired him again. I sent him $1500 so he could buy materials and then I agreed to pay the rest when he was done.

Long story short, he took the money and disappeared.

I filed a civil lawsuit, he didn't show up to court, and I got a default judgment. The 10 days have long passed and he hasn't sent anything.

The civil court said my next step is to garnish his wages or bank accounts, but I'm mostly positive he doesn't have a W2 job, and I barely know this dude. I sent him money on cash app, and the app and my bank both denied the charge back. He asked if I had Chime bank when I was paying him for the first job, but I don't know if that's his primary money account or if he even still has it.

I spoke to a few PIs, but they want over $1000 for just a digital investigation. I know I can add that onto the dude's bill, but I can't afford that cost up front.

Should I just submit the paperwork for Chime's parent banks, wait the 6 months, and then do the post-judgment discovery/interrogations? What if he doesn't show up to that and just accepts the felony/jail? I did a background search during all this and it's not his first rodeo.

Thanks to everyone for all their advice! For people in similar situations, in your opening statement to judge make sure you speak FACTS only. What happened and WHEN. No emotion, no unnecessary details. If you have contracts or any necessary documentation, refer to them in your opening and highlight key points. Write notes so you don’t forget anything.
Do NOT interrupt when defendant is speaking and try your best to not get flustered. Stay calm and composed. Not only does that give you credibility with judge, but irks the other party so bad 🤣
And Be honest because if you’re caught in a single lie you will lose so much credibility.

Location: San Diego, CA

Hi all — looking for a referral to a consumer protection or contract dispute attorney in San Diego who might take a case on contingency (no upfront retainer).

Short version: I signed a 25-year residential solar lease in 2025. The sales proposal was built around NEM 2.0 program that had actually stopped accepting new customers almost two years before I signed — and it also assumed the wrong utility company serves my address entirely. As a result, my actual solar export credits are running roughly 85–95% below what was projected in the sales proposal.

I've since found out this isn't unique to me — I've compared notes with several neighbors in my subdivision (all built by the same builder, all with proposals from the same solar company) and we're seeing the same pattern across at least a dozen+ households.

I've already done a lot of the legwork myself: documented the tariff/utility mismatch, billing records, a timeline of communications with the company, and filed a CSLB complaint. I'm now looking for an attorney who'd be willing to take this on contingency, ideally someone with experience in consumer fraud, contract disputes, or mass arbitration (the contract has an arbitration clause with a class-action waiver, so I understand this would need to be handled as coordinated individual claims rather than a single lawsuit).

If you've worked with someone in San Diego for a similar issue — solar, contractor disputes, consumer fraud — or if you're an attorney who'd be open to hearing more, please let me know.

Thanks!

hey guys .. so I'm new here and not sure if this will be posted but genuinely I'd like to know AITH in this situation. So my girl well ex girl she cheated on me with someone else first time she's done it (i hope) we shared over a decade of our lives together neither one of us have really made it in life to where we would like to be although she recently got a promotion at work which i was so happy for i spent my last few dollars to take her out to celebrate not knowing her work bae already went above and beyond for her in that sense. So anyway I also not so recently lost my job and I've been struggling like really struggling to a point where she threw me out of the place we bought together . now I'm not the type of person who wants to involve a court or police to try to get my share of it back i mean she's done so much for me and supported me financially for months while i was trying to find work and at the end of the day i just really can't get myself to stop loving her so i don't want to do anything to hurt her or make the break up messy you know. but now I'm close to being homeless and I've asked her to just help me out with $200 since she's keeping the place and everything inside of it which at the time i was working i actually made more money then her so bought almost everything but now she ran to her new bae talking about i have a nerve to still be asking her for money after she helped me while i wasn't working etc etc which became a whole talk around town and as someone who has anxiety and is already depressed because of how hard it has been to find work plus the heartbreak of the breakup it just got me to the tipping point. I won't lie I actually tried to unalive myself but by the grace of god i survived and was given a second chance so i am trying my best to live a better life but now with me being close to being homeless i really need that $200 and the only way i can think of is to take her to court and have her pay me out for the property we bought together but i don't think it would be the godly thing to do and again i just don't want to make things more messy then what they need to be so wibta and does anyone have any advice as to other options, loans won't work cause I'm unemployed and i don't want to be the type of person to run up credit i know i can't pay

Location: Oregon, USA

Hey all,

I was t-boned Sunday night (09/08/26). My car sustained heavy damage to a door, rear bumper, and the frame is fucked up, but he was driving a lifted truck which seemed to have almost zero damage. The guy (J), older, probably around 60, stopped for me, but I was kind of dazed (and young and stupid) and only got his phone number, name, and plate before he left.

I texted him the next day to ask about insurance info, but he wasn't responding to my texts or calls so I made an incident report with my local PD on Tuesday, and it turns out he gave me a fake name & number. Since I had the plate, the PD was able to find the actual owner of the truck (B), who had let J borrow the truck. B gave the police J's contact info, and the police gave J's contact info to me. I texted J about the damages on Wednesday and asked him if he'd like to settle without insurance or let B's insurance take care of the damages. He responded the same day and asked me how much I'd want for the damages, and I gave him a price. J hasn't responded since, and I've texted him a few times to ask for B's insurance info if J wasn't willing to give me cash.

If J doesn't respond to me soon, will I have a good case to take him to small claims court? If he does respond to me and I get fairly compensated for the car accident, could I still take him to small claims court for initially giving me a fake name and number? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.