Personal loan to a friend

[spill]

I gave an amt of $8000 to my friend as loan in Sep '03 for a week days adjustment. And he did not reurn the money as he promised after one week. I waited for almost 10 months to see if he returns the money as I never wanted to break the friendship. Infact was listning to all his lies for 9 months. Everytime he would give a date and do not respond or mail on the same date. He did that for 100 + times and finally admitted everything in his mail with the final confirmation date.

And after sending a mails and making calls regularly he sent a check for $8000 which bounced last month. Living in VA. Tried calling small claims to check the details and they adviced me to cosult an attorney as they do not cover amount > $2000.

Proof of documents I have with me:

1. My Bank statement with wire transfer details to his account.
2. His check which bounced last month with overdraft fee details from my bank.
3. His admitting to return the money on many occasions.

I think he does not care about what I do now.Very reckless person who is assuming that he can do whatever he wants.

I want to proceed legally. How? Any help/advice would be
highly appreciated. Thanks in Advance!"

 

[NYClex]

well, it sounds to me you have a pretty good case against the guy. You could of course go to an attorney and sue the guy. You also could try to do it without an attorney, what is called "pro se", but you should get informed very well if you want to try that. There are some books on the market how to proceed. Usually it is better to let an attorney handle that.

But before you sue, you should consider one question: Does the guy have the money? Is there any chance he will have money in the future? For, if this guy is hopelessly broke, you might end up with a judgment you cannot enforce and then you only have paid a lot more in legal fees. It is a tough decision to make, but one that should at least be thought through.

 

[spill]

NYClex,

Thanks for the quick response and providing me with some basic info.

Coming to his financial status, I am pretty sure that he has money and doing this intensionally thinking that I am alone and may not pursue this case legally. Let us assume the following scenarios:

1. If he has money: What is the procedure to handle this case thru an attorney with minimal expenses as I cannot afford to spend more money. I live in VA and he lives in PA. This transaction happened when I was in MN. I did approach district court in VA for details and they told that they would not handle the cases if the transaction accured in a different city/state. IS this the right info? If not, to start with in which city/state I should start my case?

Even if I am ready to spend money is there a way to include the expenses in the case? what are the chances of regaining the fees and other expenses from my friend?

2. If he does not have money: There is not way that I can collect the money from him knowing that he owes me money which is a huge amount.

Why should I pay the price even if he does not have the money. There should be some legal clause to collect the money from the defendant provided the plaintiff provides all the required docs.
Please advice.

Thanks!


Note: I did find that the small claim court in Philidelphia handles amts upto $8000. Can I approach small claim court? If so, it is advisable?

 

[NYClex]

If this guy lives in PA then you are kind of lucky, because you can sue for $ 8000 in Small Claims Court.

The only thing is, you need to sue him where he lives, so you have to travel there probably twice (once for filing the suit and once for the hearing).

In PA the SC courts are called "district justice courts". Here is a good explanation of what you need to do:

http://www.munley.com/Bringing a suit.htm