Morningstar88
commented
4 months ago Yes.
A builder took me to small claims court.
I had used him to build an extension to my house. Just after the extension was completed, water stains started to appear on the ceiling (expensive birch-faced ply).
I had kept back the final payment for the building work as I wasn't happy with some of the work done and wanted to wait until all 'snags' were sorted. Phoned builder to ask him to take a look at the roof. Wouldn't pick up phone. Wrote to him; he didn't contact me. Wrote again, describing the problems. No response.
After 6 weeks, I got a roofing firm in. The roof hadn't been laid properly. They relaid it and wrote a report detailing the issues.
Builder contacted me, demanding his money. I refused to pay, saying he hadn't remedied the roofing problems, resulting in my needing to pay someone else to fix it.
He took me to small claims court.
In the court I presented photographs of the damage, the report from the roofing firm.
The judge dismissed the builder's claim, saying that I'd given him ample time to respond and remedy the issues. Since he hadn't responded, I was within my rights to withhold the money. He awarded costs against the builder.
I Was small claims court judge for several years. About half of the parties who appeared in my court were successful. I ruled in favor of:
tenants recovering unrefunded security deposits, and landlords making deductions for damages and unpaid rent;
unsatisfied customers at car repair shops, and unpaid car repair shops stiffed by customers;
Brides unhappy with wedding vendors, and wedding vendors stiffed by unhappy brides;
Dental patients, and dentists;
Family members who loaned money to family members, family members who borrowed money from family members.
I think you get the picture. In every case, I tried to be fair and to listen to all of the facts. Very few cases involved a difficult legal issue, so the facts and the presentation of the facts is crucial. On many days I would have 30 or 40 cases on a morning calendar, allowing for an average of about 6 minutes per case. Focused brevity is a plus.
I would help those who appeared to be confused, nervous or overwhelmed while attempting to keep them on track in developing the facts of the case. On the other hand, I expected my direct questions to be candidly answered. Evasions, feigned misunderstanding, or less than candid answers would almost always doom that party’s case (there was a reason I asked the question).
Often defendants agreed they either owed the money or owed some money just not as much as the plaintiff was demanding. In those cases, I often was able to either arrange for an agreement for installment payments, a compromise settlement, or could bring the plaintiff’s demands down to earth. In those cases, both parties considered the matter successfully resolved.
In summary, the best way to be successful is to have facts supporting your case and an organized and succinct way to present those facts to the small claims court judge.
My service as a small claims court judge affected the way that later I presented evidence in courtrooms as an advocate for my clients.