# Small claims court



## kblack (Feb 2, 2011)

I am ready to take someone to small claims court. Will it hurt my business to take someone to court. 


I have a customer that gave me a bad check. I called her 4 times and left messages with her, that her check was bad and to please come in and make arrangements to pay me. She never returned my calls. I saw her walking down the street one day and stopped her to talk..she promised to stop in and pay me...still no payment. It is almost 90 days late. I emailed her today and told her I had no choice but to take her to small claims court. She asked me if I could wait till the 30 when she gets paid..I told her she has till the 5th and then we will go to court and the court fees will be on her...

What burns me the most, is she collected money from each person for these cancer benefit tee shirts and spent it...

Has anyone had to go to small claims for a payment? And did it affect your business?


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## rshipe1088 (Mar 9, 2013)

If the check is over $100.00 take it to the prosecuting attorneys office they can help you and this may not be the only bad check she wrote


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## kblack (Feb 2, 2011)

I think she wrote me a check from a closed account..I will have to try the prosecuting attorney,


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

If you win, does she have the means to satisfy the debt?......Nothing spoils a good win more than the person you sued not having a pot to piss in....Good luck....


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

kblack said:


> I think she wrote me a check from a closed account..I will have to try the prosecuting attorney,


If she did that it is a criminal act, and you should definitely pursue it.

Also to answer your question, filing criminal or civil charges when warranted will not hurt your business.


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## kblack (Feb 2, 2011)

royster13 said:


> If you win, does she have the means to satisfy the debt?......Nothing spoils a good win more than the person you sued not having a pot to piss in....Good luck....


I don,t know if she will pay me if I win..but she does have a job. And she Olso has a massage business.


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## ajspin (Apr 10, 2008)

It Should get her attention.. She can go to jail for that...


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## GordonM (May 21, 2012)

The states differ, but many provide for treble damages on bad checks; that means you are entitled to three times the face value of the check. Depending on where you live and the filing process of your state, you may not need to go to small claims court. The filing is required at the state level.

Certain limitations apply -- in California, for example, the debt must be more than $100, but less than $1,500. You must show specific good-faith efforts to collect the debt, and allow repayment. You can include late fees, but they must be reasonable, etc. Go online for your state and research their bad check laws.

Finally, if you cannot collect the IRS will (under specific rules) allow you to write off the amount of the bad debt. So you're not totally holding the bag. (Check with your CPA before taking any such deduction, however.)

The above is not legal advice.


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## proworlded (Oct 3, 2006)

This might be of interest: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=609.535


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## Corel Whisperer (Sep 1, 2010)

kblack said:


> I think she wrote me a check from a closed account..I will have to try the prosecuting attorney,


You can call the bank the check is from, ask for the Manager and tell them what has happened. Ask them to check the account to see if it is still open and if there are enough funds in the account to cash the check? They can't tell you how much she has but can tell you if the check is good. The last thing you want her to do is give you another check from a bad account. If she is telling you she gets paid on the 30th (Sunday?) I would be at the bank first thing Monday Morning to cash the check. If you call the bank make sure to get the name of the person you are talking to. I had to do this once...wasn't pleasant, but I did get my money.... 
If this was for a fund raiser, do you know anyone else that was a part of it...if you don’t hear back from her but the middle of next week I would suggest trying to get a hold of the group and let them know you have not been paid.


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## kblack (Feb 2, 2011)

proworlded said:


> This might be of interest: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=609.535


Ed, I printed this page yesterday..I might have to send the link to her too..

It really makes me Un easy taking checks. I have have bad checks in the past, but the person always came up with the money.


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## jack3b98 (Nov 22, 2010)

I would advise anyone trying to collect on bad checks or past due accounts to keep a written record of all your communications. If you do have to go to court the last thing you need is "She said and then I said" and then asking the court to decide who is telling the truth. A paper trail is your best friend in court.


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

In California bouncing a check is triple damages up to $1500. If they don't pay after they lose then we can file for a statement of assets and the court seizes their property and sells it to satisfy the judgement. If they don't show a bench warrant is issued for their arrest. Pretty simple. 

Even better, all the filings can be done via Turbo Court TurboCourt - Legal Paperwork Assistance


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## strike3sports (Jun 24, 2013)

Gotta get paid. Nothing worse than someone not honoring a payment and not returning phone calls. You are totally in the right to try and get your payment. It will not hurt your business reputation at all. Good luck hope you get it.


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## kblack (Feb 2, 2011)

I found out she lied about when she got paid. She was paid on the 27 th and picked up her check. I called the place she works to see when they get paid.

In Minnesota anything over 100.00 can be a criminal offence. 

I left her an other message last night and she texted me this morning and said she will meet me tomorrow to pay me...we will see if she shows up or if she comes up with an excuse to show up...


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## sben763 (May 17, 2009)

I use to have sympathy for people and try to work with them. If she doesn't show up have them prosecuted. A few years back I was owed about $10000 on my other business either due to bad checks or no payments. Word got out I was taking people to court and having people prosecuted for bad checks and the payments came flooding in. Never hurt either business.


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## kblack (Feb 2, 2011)

sben763 said:


> I use to have sympathy for people and try to work with them. If she doesn't show up have them prosecuted. A few years back I was owed about $10000 on my other business either due to bad checks or no payments. Word got out I was taking people to court and having people prosecuted for bad checks and the payments came flooding in. Never hurt either business.


I live in such a small town, so I was glad to get feed back about this not hurting my business. If she doesn't show up tomorrow I will prosecute.


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## sneakers (Jun 9, 2012)

I also live in a small town and had a similiar problem. A business owner bought some extra displays that I had and wrote the check from a closed account. I found out he was bouncing checks all over town but nobody wanted to go after him. I had him arrested and so I got my money including all of the fees and costs involved. I am not sure if anyone else got money from him but he soon moved away.

Good luck
Gary


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## kblack (Feb 2, 2011)

Well, I was told she would meet me at 4:00 today. I sent her a text and told her I was at my shop and hoped she was still meeting me as planed...about 4:10 she sent me s tex that she got called to work really early and should of told me....but she left the money under her door mat, and I could go get it...so I went buy her apartment and it was under the mat...she must of been there because the TV was full blast..I was paid plus bank charges....

FINALLY PAID!!!

I even used a counterfit marker on the bills to make sure they were real..lol

I talked to an other business owner today and she is registered through a company that covers her bad checks..if she get a bad check, they pay her in full and they collect or go after the person...she said it is a free service..she couldn't,t remember if it was though her credit card company or separate..I will be calling to find out on Monday.


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## Viper Graphics (Mar 28, 2009)

Kathy, glad everything turned out with a payment! Shame you had to go through all that to get paid. I had a similar instance a couple years ago with a dance academy and had to just write them off since I relocated out of state. Since that day I charge half up front and balance on delivery, no exceptions. If I get a check it is deposited and cleared by their bank before I even start the job. Just don't need the aggravation! Good luck going forward.


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## GordonM (May 21, 2012)

kblack said:


> if she get a bad check, they pay her in full and they collect or go after the person...she said it is a free service


It's not really "free." This sounds like accounts receivables factoring, where they take their cut -- and a hefty one -- doing the collecting for you. 

Most bad checks are eventually recovered, though it takes work. Whether you pay the 30-50% (or thereabouts) cut or try collecting yourself really depends on the average check amount. You wouldn't want to do this if your average bounced check is $300-500+.

One problem with using a factor is that, in most states, they aren't the aggrieved party, and so they cannot collect treble damages. They are limited to collecting only the face value, plus reasonable interest. They then divvy that up with you. Most states let you collect up to 3X the face value of the check.

The above is not legal advice.


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## Celtic (Feb 19, 2008)

I'm so glad that you got paid. 
Also, the other thing that struck me is that she was defrauding the people that gave her the money for their shirts. I'm sure that they wouldn't like to hear that she handled their money this way.


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## kblack (Feb 2, 2011)

I found out today that this has become a big problem in our area. The county Attorney's Office has a bad check diversion program. You don't get paid till they get the money. IF they don't get the money you can choice to prosicute them. You have to post a notice in your store ($30.00 charge for returned checks). This 30.00 is what the program gets and you get your full check amount if they are able to collect anything. 

This program tries to work with the people to make payments or pay in full. If not paid it goes on there critical record. 

You used to be able to bring them to the sheriffs department and they would serve the payer with a warning to pay the check. In Minnesota it is a crimal offence for anything over 100.00. If the check is 500.00 or more you have to bring it straight to the sheriffs department.


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## lucubrate (Sep 26, 2011)

If you don't mind being on television, contact one of the court tv shows like judge Joe Brown, if you when, the show will pay you, also look into suing for pain and suffering that will get you more money for your troubles


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