Reply #9: I had to take a guy to small claims court aka jp court once.

[DemBones DemBones]

And it was a trip! The jp held court in a back room of a lawnmower shop. The guy I sued backed into me in a parking lot of a store -- looked right at me while he backed into me. I got out and demanded to see his license and insurance card. Guess what? No insurance. "I'm out of work right now," he said. I said "Well, you'll just have to come inside with me while I call the police." And he did! This was fairly amazing since I was only 25 or 26 at the time and people often thought I was ten years younger. The guy was probably 30, tops, but rough looking.

He was begging me not to tell the cops about his lack of insurance but when they said they didn't come to accidents on private property, I told them he didn't have insurance and they showed up. The guy said he'd pay but he welshed on that. So I filed suit.

The justice told me by phone not to bother to come to court because the guy wouldn't show up and I'd win by default. . . So he showed up and got the case postponed for a month. Grrr. Stupid judge. Stupid guy.

So then I learned you can subpoena the cops who came to the scene to appear in court -- and if they claim they can't do that, you call the top cop and he'll make sure they show! So I had the cops show up plus I took along my father, a distinguished-looking silver-haired man, who wore a suit and carried a legal pad (his idea.) The justice almost had a coronary! "Is that your lawyer?" she hissed. "This is my father, Mr. _______, " I said. She looked pale. I didn't know that my father was a dead ringer for a local attorney with the same last name!!! The cops told us this after court -- they thought he was the lawyer, too.

Oh, the guy didn't show up the second time so I should have gotten the judgement by default but the jp was so flustered she had us all testify. Me and the cops, that is, not my dad. He just sat quietly and occasionally wrote something on his legal pad! LOL He had a blast impersonating an attorney! (Note that we never said he was an attorney and anyone can own a nice suit and a legal pad!) Some rough characters stood in the next room and watched everything -- that's why I took my dad along, you don't know what kind of friends someone might have. Of course no one messed with me, surrounded by my dad and the police.

After I won my case, the guy still welshed on promises to pay so when he finally went back to work, I had his wages garnisheed. Know why he was out of work? He was having trouble with his eyes!!! Could have been too much :smoke: