"friend" owes me money.

toa$t

toa$t

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very simple story. I know someone who owes me $800 (clean, legit etc). I am starting to lose faith. do I have any legal recourse short of going on judge judy? I have emails and facebook messages which confirm that he admits to owing the amount in question, but these are obviously not admissible. anyone have any advice on any legal action I could take, if there is any?

I live in Canada.

thx
 
If you have written records that show that you have legitimately performed an action or given him goods for the money (consideration of some kind), then he basically has a contractual obligation to give it to you. Not because he signed anything but because the contract is implied. The facebook messages and e-mails will help but written proof of your consideration will help in small claims court.
 
They police will not get involved in civil disputes. They deal with criminal matters only. Even if they had the resources, they would not be able to determine who has a right to what. That's what the court system is for.

Furthermore, do not threaten to turn him in to the police for a criminal offense that you know he is guilty of, if he doesn't pay you. That threat is itself a crime -- extortion -- and it's a felony.

As Water said, small claims court is the place for you. Here is a link from wikipedia (I don't know how helpful it will be):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_claims_court#Small_claims_courts_in_Canada

Don't assume that Internet postings aren't admissible. And e-mails most often *are* admissible. Gather all the evidence you can before filing your suit. That includes one or more witnesses, if you have them, that you can bring to court who will testify that they saw you lend the person money or that the person acknowledged owing you the money in front of them. If you have paper evidence, make a copy for the judge and a copy for the defendant (so you will need to bring three copies of each piece of paper, total).

But first it's considered good form (or possibly even required) to write the person a letter demanding payment by a certain date, and stating that a suit will be filed against him in small claims court for that amount plus interest and court costs if payment is not received by that date. Keep a copy of the letter you sent and include that in evidence.
 
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ok, i was put in a similar situation by a former roommate. he ended up owing me about $800, which i could have easily proven.
but, the person left the state and had no means to pay a judgement against him anyway. so, my loss was just chalked up to experience. what surprized me was the ultimate dishonesty of this person; he stuck me with his personal expenses.
 
Here's what will happen:

You'll go to small claims court. The court will issue a summons to appear. The guy will not show. You will get a judgment for $800 + expenses, good for 20 years (at least in NYS).

If you live in a small town, you might convince a sheriff or marshal to enforce the judgment.

If you live in a city like NYC, then the sheriff/marshal's biggest client is the city itself (mostly parking violation tow/impounds), and they will ignore your "little" judgment. They couldn't care less about you while they pursue the "big city" bucks.

At that point, you may be able to retain an attorney that will freeze the guy's bank account in return for 50% of the judgment. It's a lot of trouble to go through for around $400.
 
Im not sure about canada but in NZ if the case is in your favour then you can hand it to a debt collection agency who will pay you about half of the money and they will chase the debt themselves and keep the rest. They also can ruin his credit rating so he wont be able to loan money from anyone again.
 
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