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View Full Version : Anyone here ever been to small claims court?



SOONER44EVER
11/4/2003, 01:44 AM
I'm thinking about going. One of my renters totally trashed my rental property. I want to sue him, garnish his wages and make his life a living hell!! Is going to small claims court a pain in the ***? What are my chances of winning? HELP!

OUthunder
11/4/2003, 11:09 AM
NO! But from what I understand the business owner usually loses because you REALLY have to prove that there was wrong doing!

Document & Photo EVERYTHING!!!!

Its cheap and easy! You'll be lucky if they even show up!

Frozen Sooner
11/4/2003, 12:09 PM
It's pretty easy and painless.

As thunder pointed out, bring photos of the place trashed out-or at least receipts from the cleaning crew putting it back together again. Make sure that you have a copy of the lease where it shows that all damage is the responsibility of the tenant, and the pre-move-in inspection sheet.

It'll probably be a pain in the butt to collect though. I don't think that OK allows garnishment of wages, and the dude probably doesn't have a whole lot in the bank to execute on. Basically, you'll just mess up his credit until he pays you.

GDC
11/4/2003, 02:57 PM
its not worth the effort-just hire somebody to rough them up or make them disappear like soonerwill did

salth2o
11/4/2003, 02:58 PM
Wapner is on ....gotta watch Wapner...

OUBabe
11/4/2003, 04:15 PM
They might try to get ya to go through mediation first

SOONER44EVER
11/4/2003, 06:34 PM
I think the most I can sue for here in Oklahoma is $4500. I came up with about $9000 just off the top of my head. If I wanted them roughed up I'd do it myself. Why pay someone when I could have the pleasure of doing it myself? Only I'd get caught and thrown in jail. The guy has to have good credit, he just bought a house. I want him to be paying me until the day he dies.

Frozen Sooner
11/4/2003, 07:06 PM
Oh, cool. You've got a good one, now. If you get a judgement, you can get a mechanic's lein on the house. If he ever sells the place, he's got to pay you off.

Penguin
11/4/2003, 08:47 PM
Go over there and trash his house and call it even.

SoonerInFla
11/4/2003, 09:39 PM
Can't you take him to a court that enforces judgements over 4500? I mean, why let him slide for half of what he screwed up?

Frozen Sooner
11/5/2003, 12:40 AM
SiF-you kinda need an attorney in big boys court.

One4OU
11/5/2003, 08:31 AM
I sued a dry cleaneers one time, it was fairly simple. The ruined a $300 dollars suit of mine and I took them to court. I won, then the dry cleaners went out of business so I never collected a dime. If you want to go to small claims court to represent yourself that is good but why settle for half the damages? Couldnt you just add the cost of an attorney into your dmages and let them handle it that way you can sue for the total amount?

SOONER44EVER
11/5/2003, 12:29 PM
The $9000 I came up with is if someone else does all the labor. I usually do my own labor. If I get a lawyer I have to pay him. If the guy never pays me I'll be out the money for a lawyer. As far as a mechanic's lean goes I could only do that if I performed work on the new house he bought. I can't trash his house because I don't know exactly where he moved. Besides, the probably trashed it already. They've been there almost a week! I've seen a lot of rent house look pretty bad after someone moved out but this is the worst by far. Some examples of things they tore up or are missing are:
Missing:
front and rear storm doors.
2 closet doors
1 bedroom door
3 globes off light fixtures
toilet tank lid
numerous switch plates

Ruined:
all 14 mini blinds
stove
refrigirator
back door
5 broken window
every window screen
garage door torn off
22, yes 22 holes in the walls, ranging from baseball to beachball size
hardwood floor ruined not even resandable
all carpet
kitchen countertop
bathtub
bath sink
20' section of chainlink fence
25' section of chainlink fence
chainlink gate
and much, much more!

There are at least two 16' trailer loads of trash in the yard and interior.
Infested with mice and roaches

You have to wear a mask just to go inside. It smells like a combination of dog/cat urine/feces, dirty laundry, rotting food, roach crap, mouse crap, cigarettes.


I've taken plenty of pics and the fun is about to begin.

How can I post the pics here? I'd like to put them on a site along with his name, phone number, new address etc. But I doubt he'd really care.

wahoosooner
11/5/2003, 10:27 PM
I would take him to court.

If you really want to find out where he is living now shoot me an email at [email protected] and I will find his new address for you. That will be handy if you need to serve him papers, etc...

SOONER44EVER
11/6/2003, 09:25 AM
Thanks Wahoo. I need to go through my papers and get his SS# and that stuff. I don't think he is actually married and most of the stuff might be in her name. But I do know where he works. If I have to I'll follow him home. I always wanted to see what is was like to be a stalker! If that doesn't work I'll email you.

OU4LIFE
11/6/2003, 09:46 AM
man this is getting good.

This could rival BSG's lazy neighbor very quickly.

Penguin
11/6/2003, 12:09 PM
I don't mean to be a smart ***, but don't you ever check up on your rental houses? I doubt all that damage was done on the last day of his lease.

Soonerfan85
11/6/2003, 12:19 PM
Penguin is right. You should let renters know up front that you'll be stopping by each month to replace the filters on the ac/furnace. Not only does it insure that the filters get replaced and prolong the life of the units, it gives you an opportunity to check out what's going on with your properties. If you are an out of town owner, pay a real estate firm to manage the property.

Good Luck.

RedstickSooner
11/6/2003, 12:47 PM
Penguin is right. You should let renters know up front that you'll be stopping by each month to replace the filters on the ac/furnace. Not only does it insure that the filters get replaced and prolong the life of the units, it gives you an opportunity to check out what's going on with your properties. If you are an out of town owner, pay a real estate firm to manage the property.

Good Luck.

I dunno, man.

I've been a renter, and now we rent out our old house. While I can see where you're coming from, I don't like the idea of going into the place once a month -- because I feel like they should have that space to themselves, y'know? If I've got reason to suspect they're damaging the place I can go in whenever I want... But I remember as a renter that weird feeling of not belonging... Any time the landlord showed up, it only made the feeling worse.

It's a thorny issue, for sure. And you've got to find a way to keep some tabs on your property. Me, I figure I'm fairly safe because we tend to drive past the old house fairly often (we've got family in the area) so we get a good look at the outside, and our pest contract means the exterminator crawls around it every four months or so. Even if he doesn't go inside, he'd notice if things were *really* bad.

I assume you've seen Pacific Heights? The number the dude did to your property reminds me a *lot* of the movie.

Document the heck out of it. It's sounding like it might be a job for "real" court -- although as you said, there's lots of reasons why real court could prove prohibitively expensive. Do you know how to get in touch with your last renters prior to the *********? If you could get a sworn statement from 'em saying (basically) that the house was livable when they moved out, it might help your case...

G'luck with that guy -- hope you hang him out to dry.

SeattleOUstudent
11/6/2003, 01:38 PM
POST THE PICS!!!! I want to see what this mother did to you!

I was affraid it was going to be someone doing some minor stuff to the house but this sounds like a full-blown rage party or something. Did they not like you? Did you have a confrontation before?

I would follow him home from work to see where the bastard lives!

Joe
11/6/2003, 03:19 PM
I took a business in Oklhahoma City to court close to 5 years back. It was a computer business (I'll get the name of it here in a bit off of the court papers) in one of the malls there, I think Quail Springs.

Here's what happened in my case:

I wrote a $130~ check as a downpayment for the business to build my computer. About a week later I called back and one of the employees said that they hadn't started on the computer yet. I asked him if they had cashed my check and he told me that they hadn't. I told him to tear the check up. I had gotten tired of waiting and was going to buy a computer through the mail.

About a month later I found out that the check that I thought the hadn't cashed, was cashed, and was cashed after I had told them to rip it up. I had about $500 of bounced checks because of it as well.

I called the place up and talked to the owner. I asked him if he was going to pay for the original amount plus the bounced checks. He said hell no. I took him to small claims court.

To make a long story short, the owner never showed up, I won the case, the owner still wouldn't pay, and since I lived in a different county the Sherriff couldn't confiscate his property at the business he owned.

I still haven't been paid. I could have a certain writ (at least I think it's a writ) put out on him in where if he is ever arrested he'd be put in jail until he paid the claim. I really need to get down to the courthouse and ask them what else I can do about the claim though. I was only 18 at the time and had very little clue as to what I was doing.

Anyway, make sure you cover everything if you take him to small claims court. If I were you I'd probably get a lawyer. Nine thousand dollars is an awful lot of money to not get paid because you screwed up along the way.

TheHumanAlphabet
11/6/2003, 05:39 PM
If you have a judgement, you can place a lien on the house and he can't sell it until he pays you off. I he is going to be on the property for 30 years it may not be fun...But if he sells ina couple of years, what a surprise he will have! You don't have to inform him or anything, the clerk can place the lien on the property with the judgement. When I bought my current house, someone in texas with the same first and last name as the guy I was buying from had a property lien that popped up on the first go 'round on the title. A quick investigation found that it wasn't the person who I was buying from, but he did sweat bullets a couple of days trying to figure that out...I also want to see picks. Reminds me of the time that my pastor decided to help a guy out of jail and put him up in the apartments next to (I lived near the lambda chi house) when we finally kicked him and his live-in girlfriend (these were church apartments mind you) out , the place was covered in dog feces, carpet ripped and holes punch in the wall. They must have lived in the place letting the dog carp all over the place a couple of weeks before they moved out...How can someone live in that???

P.S. if there is mouse carp all over the place, where a respirator! You don't want to get hanta virus from this...

SOONER44EVER
11/6/2003, 10:22 PM
I don't mean to be a smart ***, but don't you ever check up on your rental houses? I doubt all that damage was done on the last day of his lease.
Yes I check on the rental houses often. I knew they live like pigs but technically there is nothing you can do about that. When the lease was up the first time I raised the rent $150 hoping they'd move out. They didn't and they continued to pay on time for the next year. When their lease was up the next time I informed them I wasn't renewing it and they'd have to move. I should have done this the first time their lease was up. I've been doing this 13 years and never had a problem like this. I've never even had to evict anyone. I have about 20 rental properties so that is a pretty good record for 13 years. About the $9000, that is the approx cost if I hire out all the labor and buy everything new. If I do it myself, which I always do, and use as many spare parts as I have, which is quite a bit, the cost should be somewhere around $2000. I think I'd rather take my chances and just sue him for the max of $4500 and not get any lawyers involved. I've heard if they garnish his wages I will probably get around $50-$75 a month. This is such a pain.

SeattleOUstudent
11/6/2003, 11:13 PM
But he would be paying for a long time!

Pics soon?

stonecoldsoonerfan
11/7/2003, 07:04 AM
you REALLY should get a video camera and tape it. it's MUCH more persuasive in court than pictures.

do whatever you have to do to put this guy in his place, even hiring a lawyer. don't let it go.

SOONER44EVER
11/8/2003, 03:56 AM
I have taken about 35 pics. The pics make it look bad but not as bad as it really is. I kept looking and there was something missing. Then it hit me. The smell! There is no smell on pictures. Well I'm gonna do something I bet nobody has ever done. I'm going to get a big zip-loc bag and cut a hunk of that rancid smelling carpet out and seal it up tight for the judge! The aroma in the bag alone ought to win the case for me. I picked up the papers today and will file on Monday or Tuesday hopefully. As far as posting the pics goes, I don't know how. I could email them to someone who does.

SeattleOUstudent
11/11/2003, 10:12 AM
great idea!

SeattleOUstudent
11/19/2003, 03:54 PM
what ever came of this?

DrunkCajunSooner
11/19/2003, 04:16 PM
$20 and I take them out......

Oldnslo
11/19/2003, 10:47 PM
I hadn't seen this.

You're right about the 4500 limit to small claims court. The next step up, the CS docket, is run by a magistrate in bigger counties, and goes up to 10k. If you're going to allege over 10K, you get the full cleveland.

feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]

Remember, attorney fees are recoverable in property damage cases. :)

Gandalf_The_Grey
8/7/2006, 04:58 PM
Well what happened????

BeetDigger
8/7/2006, 05:12 PM
All this build up for nothing. If a thread could have blue balls, this one would have them.

Okla-homey
8/7/2006, 05:43 PM
I bet he wins but still doesn't collect the judgment because the defendant is a bum. Just saying.:O

BeetDigger
8/7/2006, 06:13 PM
I bet he wins but still doesn't collect the judgment because the defendant is a bum. Just saying.:O


Check the date Homey. If he went to court he would have a judgement already and either collected or sent Rocko and Freddy over to have the guy roughed up. It's been nearly three years since this was posted. I know a guy who has been married and divorced twice since 2003. In fact, he's told me stories about an place he rented once where he totally trashed it before moving out.

Okla-homey
8/7/2006, 06:21 PM
Check the date Homey. If he went to court he would have a judgement already and either collected or sent Rocko and Freddy over to have the guy roughed up. It's been nearly three years since this was posted. I know a guy who has been married and divorced twice since 2003. In fact, he's told me stories about an place he rented once where he totally trashed it before moving out.

All I'm saying is winning don't necessarily mean payday. Some cats are judgment-proof because all they own are the clothes on their backs.

StoopTroup
8/7/2006, 06:55 PM
Dear Property Owners...

Thanks for being such a nice guy and not stopping by to check up on us. Our meth business is really cranking up and since you don't seem to care whether we trash the place...we're gonna stay here until the heat comes down on us. Man...you must have some good insurance...this is gonna be like cleaning up an EPA Supersite.

Again...thanks!

Your Renter

BeetDigger
8/7/2006, 09:08 PM
All I'm saying is winning don't necessarily mean payday. Some cats are judgment-proof because all they own are the clothes on their backs.


I know. I was just messing around. I would like to know what happened however. The suspense is KILLING me.

BajaOklahoma
8/7/2006, 09:57 PM
So PM him.
I wonder how many he will receive before he answers.

TUSooner
8/7/2006, 10:44 PM
I took a little "pro bono" case a few years ago and ended up getting a nice default judgment for my client. The hardest thing was finding the defendant to serve him. He kinda lived under the radar. I finally played Rockford Files and did an early morning stake-out.
After that, it was a piece of cake, except for collecting: The loser was judgment proof (i.e., no money or property).

SOONER44EVER
8/7/2006, 11:22 PM
Sorry for the delay in replying. I must have missed the thread. I went to court but couldn't find the guy. I finally found him living in Arkansas, divorced and unemployed. I have no idea where his ex wife and kids are. I never received a penny. The real estate market went up so I sold the house as is and actually made a pretty good profit. The people who bought it from me spent about 25K to totally remodel it. They worked on it for about 3 months, sold it, and only made about a 5K profit. I guess I came out ok.

OU4LIFE
8/8/2006, 07:30 AM
worst ending EVER.

that'll never make a movie.