Legal Help

Blake T

Even if it does go to court and you don't have logs, the judge should be able to see the bullshit since if you were splitting the utilities you'd owe her $75 dollars every month and she didn't ask for this for over ten months? (assuming $700 owed) you'd think after 10 months she would say something .

This along with a verbal agreement should put you in the clear from the get go.

Everywhereasign

Blaket wrote: »

Even if it does go to court and you don't have logs, the judge should be able to see the bullshit since if you were splitting the utilities you'd owe her $75 dollars every month and she didn't ask for this for over ten months? (assuming $700 owed) you'd think after 10 months she would say something .

I think he said it was closer to $150 a month for his share, but the point is an excellent one. The first question out of the judges mouth to her will be, "Why did you wait until now to collect it?"

To cement this further, include that in your kind letter to her. Something along the lines of, "If this housework/util agreement is not what you remember, I'm unsure why you didn't approach me earlier to try to settle this debt."

Bringing a copy of this to court will show that she's just being an ass-hat and is looking for cash.

Given what you've said about her, it sound like posturing. She's going to back down once you're not around anymore. (You might want to warn your friends though). But building a case, and keeping a print out of everything will make sure you're prepared in case she decides to go for it.

Like others have said, It's good you're getting out when you are.

Xaquin

Thanatos wrote: »

FyreWulff wrote: »

print them out and get them notarized somewhere. If you have a bank account, they will more than likely notarize it for free.

this is mostly to mark the date so she can't just say "oh he probably just made those up a week ago" if she ever takes you to court.

I doubt notarizing them will do much good. You still could've just made them up.

But yeah, definitely better than nothing.

the files should still have a 'created' date. right click the file and it should say (near the middle or bottom):

created: whevever it was created

modified: whenever you last edited it

accessed: whenever you last looked at it

it's accurate down to the second.

Marathon

About the tattoo question. A full back piece with color done by a high quality artist could easily clock in at over a grand. I have one between my shoulders thats about 4x4 or maybe a bit bigger with color and it cost about $250.

So you're probably right, she blew her cash and is now panicking and trying to shake you down.

SkankPlaya

I realize that $700 is a lot of money to some people, but it always strikes me as odd to hear that someone would sue for that much. If you consider the time, effort, and energy it costs to get back that much money, you're really getting back maybe 1/4 of that, especially if you do work to get evidence and prepare.

Everywhereasign

Not in small claims court. At least not around here. You pay 50 bucks (which you can get back if you include in the suit) and fill out some pretty simple paper work. You're given a date, usually they try to get a moderator involved to call both parties and try to work things out.

Then when you show up. It's not lawyers doing the work, it's ordinary people, they say their thing one at a time, the judge asks questions, reads paperwork, and decides. Small claims is really easy and cheap. Perfect for this type of thing, if she actually had a leg to stand on.

EDIT: for lazy fingers.

Yar

Stop with the tech talk. I said "print them out" for a reason. 99% of judges are not going to understand you, and likely start not liking you, if you start trying to tell them about time/date stamps on files and shit. This isn't a forensic investigation. Print the shit out and say on your honor that it's legit. To most judges, documented evidence = stuff that's written on paper. Don't bother working yourself up over how "illogical" this may seem or how easy it is to forge. Your word that the print-outs are real is what will count. Someone else will have the burden of trying to reasonably prove otherwise.

It's up to her if she really wants to attempt to claim that you forged it all, and also up to her to produce something that is equally or more convincing, indicating that your arrangement was something else than what you claim. She's risking lying to a fucking judge at that point, among other things, and will have to actually forge some stuff to accomplish this, and at some point in all this mess the judge is likely to realize who is full of shit.

"Subletting with utilities included" isn't really a defense, it's just how one might describe the situation. A judge isn't going to go O_o like Doc does, because it is pretty common. Like I said, if you're really worried, write her a letter, explain what you believed the arragnement to be, why you beleived it to be that way, the fact that no request for additional monies were ever made to you until you began moving out, and you apologize for any misunderstandings, but you believe that your responsibilities as a tenant were fulfilled completely. Something brief, official and polite, and above all, honest and sincere. Don't use the letter to stage a logical argument or a case or whatever, just state what you believe the situation to be. Date it and keep a copy.

siliconenhanced

Yar wrote: »

Good stuff.

I agree with you much more here than in D&D Yar. Thanks!