In August of 2000

BUSA 2106 - Summer 2003

Student paper on Small Claims Court Experience

In August of 2000, I moved into my first apartment with my best friend from high school. She and I were off to college in a town twenty minutes from the small town we grew up in. We signed a joint 12 month lease for a two bedroom, one bathroom apartment for $650 a month – each of us paying half. We lived there for only two months before she decided to leave. October 3 of 2000 was when my roommate went back to her father’s house. That was also the day I started gathering information on how to make her pay her half of the rent. I soon realized my only option was to file a lawsuit.

I first had to find out where I needed to file the paperwork to begin suing her for her half of the rent and her half of the utility bills for the rest of the year. I was told the Magistrate Court is to hear any case for less than $15,000. So, I called the Magistrate Court in Bulloch County because that was where my apartment was located. After explaining to them the situation, I was told to file the lawsuit in the county where the defendant lives. I had to file a lawsuit against her in the county we had both grown up in.

The process was very easy. All I had to do was fill out some paperwork with exactly how much rent she would owe me and an estimate on how much her half of the utilities would be. I had to make a copy of the lease she signed with me and all other documents with her signature on them saying that she would be responsible for her half of the rent. Luckily, I was not too trusting when it came to the utilities either. I put everything in my name to make sure there were no late payments on my credit. However, I made my roommate sign a typed document stating that she would pay half of the electric, water, cable, and phone bills until August of 2001. I made copies of that document and added it to the growing evidence I had against her.

She was served at her father’s house one afternoon about two weeks later. I got a letter and a copy of the summons she received in the mail that day as well. The summons stated the date the lawsuit was filed, the plaintiff, the defendant, the amount I was suing for, and the date by which she must respond to the summons. It also explained that if she did not respond the plaintiff would win by default. The amount I thought was appropriate to sue for was $4,000 total. The summons did not break that figure down as to what was included in that total. The only way for her to find out the exact figures would be to respond to the summons. That is exactly what she did.

I received a copy of a document from the Magistrates office that was a filled out by the defendant, my ex-roommate. This document stated was that she was not willing to pay me anything. She had to give her defense for breaching the contract we signed in August of 2000. Her reason for leaving was that I would not allow her to have people over and I allowed her make none of the decisions as to what furniture to buy for the apartment. She also stated that she should not have to pay for the utility bills since she no longer lived in the apartment. There was no tangible evidence attached to the document to back up her reasons for moving out. Although she had no case, she wanted to take this to a judge.

On February 3, 2001, the lawsuit that I had filed against my long time best friend was heard in the Evans County Magistrates Court. There were no lawyers involved and our parents were asked to leave the courtroom while we told the judge our case. I think the judge was afraid they would interject with their opinions. The first thing the judge said to us was that we were wasting his time. He had grown up with my ex-roommates father and my mother. He gave us a lecture about friendship and being trustworthy for the first twenty minutes we were in front of the court. Finally, the judge asked me if I wanted to continue with the case against the defendant and I said yes.

My side of the case was very easy to present. I had all the documents with my ex-roommates signature on them. I explained to the judge that no one forced her to sign the lease to our apartment. I then showed the document that I typed concerning the utility bills which also had her signature on it. I showed him how I came to the figure of $4,000. I expressed to him the difficulty I was having paying the full rent each month and the utility bills as a college student with only a part time job. When I was finished with my case, the judge asked the defendant to explain her reasons for breaching these contracts.

As soon as my ex-roommate started to speak, the judge started laughing. He looked at what she had written for her reasons for leaving and asked her if she really thought she had to take no responsibility. He shut the file and started writing. The defendant tried to go on with her reasoning and the judge asked her to be quiet. He told her she had no case. He also told her never to sign a contract again, he was half joking half serious.

My day in court was a success. The judged ruled in favor of me, the Plaintiff, for $4,000. He explained to me that he could not make her give me the total amount all at one time. He was going to let her pay me in payments of $50 month for however long it took to payoff the $4,000 debt. She would not send a check directly to me either. She would send her check to the office of the Magistrate and they would make sure I received a payment every month.