I filed a small claims suit against a landscaper...?
I filed a small claims suit against a landscaper who tore up my residential fence with his lawn tractor while cutting my neighbor's yard. He tried to deny it, but came clean to the police. Then he asked if he could repair it. I said if you can assure me it will be like new since the fence had no prior damage and is less than a year old. Him and his daddy tried to fix it but phucked it up worse. Yada, yada 75 days later I had a fencing contractor fix it and filed suit. Today I get a letter from an attorney demanding ( on lawnjockey's behalf ) proof of repair,cost,etc. I ain't sending him "chit"! I'll present it to the court upon my appearance. If the other side had any right to it the court would have had me submit it at the filing. Are there any lawyers out there who won't automatically side with this worm who can give me their two cents? Is this a-wipe posturing? The issue for the defendant is the price which is fair market. I had other estimates.
Answers:
In small claims cases, the other guy's lawyer can't demand anything from you, nor can you from him, however the judge will require definite proof of your claims, and I suggest you have witnesses or signed and notarized affidavits as to everything you plan to claim in court. Hand written notes and invoices that may or may not be real won't impress the judge, and you don't want it to come down to one guy's word against another's. Hopefully you had enough foresight to take pictures of the fence when damaged and when repaired by the landscaper and when repaired again by the third party.
Why torture yourself with court if they are willing to pay upon proof of cost?
You Will Win this round!
forget the attorney- don't show him nothing...
get to the courthouse and file a small claims court action against the landscaper. the landscaper cannot bring his atty to court with him...and you have proof...(hope you took pics of the damage as well). you also have apolice report.
i don't know what your limit is there...ours has been rasied to 15,000.
when you get the judgement, if he refuses to pay, you will have to a lien on his business, home, first born...what ever it takes to get your $$$ back.
good luck :)
I think the guy above me is right. If you submit the bill he may just pay it so he doesn't have to go to court. Remember...if you drag him to court he misses a day of work on top of having to pay you. So, if you really want to screw him wait till court...if you want to get you money back and get on with life...send the lawyer a COPY of an estimate (preferable the high one) and see if he bites...if he wants the proof of payment send him a COPY of the Invoice and let him pay that.
They may be wanting to settle out of court. You will have no advantage going to court. Give then a copy and put this behind you. That's all you wanted anyway.
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