A gift given (rent) based on false statements

[sandyw82]

My roommate and I were having terrible problems so I decided to move out in mid-december. When I told her I would do this, she was very angry and proclaimed that it would not be possible for her to find a roommate. I told her that since it would cost us over $1000 each to break the lease if we both moved out, I would pay my half of the rent for January to help her. Before she signed me off the lease we found out that we would NOT have this fee if we both stayed in the complex. She decided to sign anyway and stay in the apartment. I thought that since she had the cheaper option to move out, there was no need for me to pay rent when I am not living there. She bullied me (by later yelling, cursing and guilt-tripping) into paying anyway since 'there was no way' for her to find a roommate. (We are both from out of town). She has a good friend in town who I suggested move in, but she said it was not possible because the friend had her own lease she couldn't break.

I told her (via email) upon my payment, that one of the reasons why I was willing to pay is because of the large financial burden that she would have in the coming months since she could not find a roommate. I was under the complete impression that she would not have a roommate as she told me numorous times.

I paid January's rent (for both my new apartment and the old) on Jan 2nd. I moved completely out by Jan 3rd. My old roommate then had her aforementioned friend move in on the 6th. I am outraged because I feel like I was lied to and manipulated so I would pay and now I am paying for her friend's rent. My intention was to pay to help her out for January since 'there was no way' she would be able to find a roommate and she never told me otherwise. I wrote her an email a week ago demanding the rent money back. She has yet to reply. I have proof that I paid it, and I have proof that I was under the impression she would be without a roommate. I would like to take her to small claims if she does not pay or at least compromise. Do I have a case? Is it fraud?

 

[seniorjudge]

The only way to tell if you have a case is to take her to small claims court and tell your side of the story.

If you do win, how will you collect the judgment?

 

[sandyw82]

This was not the reply I was expecting. I was hoping to get an idea of whether or not it would even be WORTH it to take her to small claims. I have checked my business law books and there it no clear rule about gifts given under misleading information. I just do not want to be wasting the court's (or my own) time.

As for collecting judgement, I would deal with that when it came to it.

 

[seniorjudge]

This was not the reply I was expecting. I was hoping to get an idea of whether or not it would even be WORTH it to take her to small claims. I have checked my business law books and there it no clear rule about gifts given under misleading information. I just do not want to be wasting the court's (or my own) time.

As for collecting judgement, I would deal with that when it came to it.

As I said, take your case to court. You have about a 50-50 chance, more or less.

 

[wcomp]

You have about a 50-50 chance, more or less.

Is that supposed to be a joke? Because while law-savvy readers may "get it", I think you confuse the heck out of everybody else when you make comments like that.

 

[seniorjudge]

Is that supposed to be a joke? Because while law-savvy readers may "get it", I think you confuse the heck out of everybody else when you make comments like that.

As I said, take your case to court. You have about a 50-50 chance, more or less.

Sounds crystal clear to me. Which word or words confuse(s) you?

 

[Duranie]

You actually broke your lease so in my opinion, you are not really entitled to your money back.

She has the obligation to look for another roommate and mitigate her damages, which she did.

But since you broke the lease in the first place, I don;'t believe she is obligated to give you the money back. Small claims court is cheap and informal so you could certainly file a suit asking for your money back but nobody knows your chances of winning.

You did live there for a few days, and the new roommate moved in on the 6th so you would not be entitled to the full 500.00 back, possibly some money back if you choose to pursue this.

 

[sandyw82]

She willingly (and gladly) signed to have my name removed from the lease, so I don't believe it was an agreement I 'broke.' And I have offered to prorate the amount she pays subtracting the few days that no one lived there, but she is ignoring my emails. I also found out lately that she's been keeping my mail that had not been forwarded to my new address. She eventually returned my mail after several weeks of keeping it.

My hesitancy to take this to small claims is because I work with her so it might be problematic in the future, and I don't want to waste the court's time.

I guess my question is more specifically: If someone gives someone else money, thinking they will be in a certain bad situation, and it turns out that the receiver lied about their situation to get the money, is the giver entitled to their money back? I know in contract law, contracts are not valid if they are made under false representation. But I wanted to know how gift-giving is different?

As you stated, "She has the obligation to look for another roommate and mitigate her damages, which she did." I agree, and I even told her I'd help her do this, but she refused help and one of her arguments as to why she deserved the money is because there was 'no way' for her to find anyone. This has shown not to be true and she had planned this the entire time.

But as the judge said, perhaps it could go either way, depending on how we each present our case and depending on the perspective of the Judge at the time. Since the burden of proof is on me, what exactly would I have to prove here?

 

[Duranie]

Think of it this way. She did not have to let you out of your lease and she could have not found a roommate and possibly would have take you to court for a month or 2 worth of rent.

You broke the contract here, so your rent was not a gift, it was owed to her.

If you take her to court, regarldess if you win or lose, you can pretty much consider this friendship dissolved and you will also have to deal with her at work.