small claims court a viable way to collect on small unpaid loans?

[RoundGuy]

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Sorry, only if the defendant doesn't show up does he get arrested. If he keeps coming, I think on the third trial or so they garnish his wages or put liens.

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We're talking about small claims court. If he doesn't show up, he loses. He doesn't get arrested.

[highland]

If you just keep not paying and not showing up, eventually the judge will issue a bench warrant for your arrest. I stood in for my father in a case where this happened. The judge happily added the fee charged by the sheriff that arrested the defendant to the defendant's final bill. The bail money he posted was forwarded to my father.

See here under debtor examination phase about the arrest warrant. Maybe this is no longer technically "small claims", I don't know.

It looks like if you keep showing up, but never actually pay, they will start taking your stuff or garnishing your wages.

cheers,
-highland

[RoundGuy]

From your link:

"If the debtor doesn’t show up for the examination hearing, the court can issue a warrant for his arrest."

Interesting. I never knew this existed. So, really, he'd be arrested for contempt of court, rather than the fact that he's not paying the debt. But the point is, the OP could possibly get the deadbeats arrested if he wants to go through the trouble.

[knifeandfork]

thanks for the replys im gonna give em a few more weeks i suppose. it could be fun to try a new angle. as far as liking the guys i could take or leave them so not much of an issue there.

[Robin Foolz]

definitely try either judge alex or judge mathis for your small claims case.

[Lottery Larry]

[ QUOTE ]
The word is "schmucks", not 'smucks".

Option 1: To paraphrase Chaz Palminteri's character Sonny in Bronx Tale, "For $100 - $300 you are rid of that deadbeat for life." Just make sure to bug them whenever you see them, they will soon avoid you and you will be rid of them.

Option 2: If there is a Small Claims process, AND you want to bother AND you have the debt reduced to writing, it does work to bug the hell out of them. If it is NOT reduced to writing, i.e I owe knifeandfork $100, signed Schmuck, then see option 1 above.

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I thought many (all?) states except Nevada have laws stating that gambling debts can't be legally collected?

[Bill Haywood]

I once used small claims court to extract the security deposit out of an evil landlady. She brought five witnesses to the hearing before a nasty judge who did not think $300 was worth his time and tried to browbeat me into dropping the case without even reading it.

But I held my ground and collected (the tape recording of a lying psychotic tirade was very helpful). She probably spent even more than $300 on the lawyer.

Now that I know I'm capable of going through months of stress and standing up by myself to a roomful of snarling dicks, I no longer have to prove anything for a measly 300 bucks.