r/Smallclaims

​TL;DR: AA promised me 4 days of compensation for a cancelled flight over the phone, but later reneged. I took them to Small Claims Court and learned the hard way that "he-said, she-said" doesn't fly in civil court without recordings or written proof.

​The Background:

I had a claim against American Airlines after a flight cancellation. During my initial calls with their customer service, they explicitly promised me compensation for the full 4-day delay. However, they later changed their stance, claiming they are only legally required to compensate until the "first flight availability," regardless of what was said on the phone.

​The Court Experience:

I went to Small Claims Court today, and the judge’s ruling was a wake-up call. In Civil Court, the burden of proof is on the plaintiff (me).

​The judge essentially told me that without a recording or a transcript of the conversation where the representative made that 5-day promise, there was no way to prove the agreement existed. I was told that I should have kept the recording.

​The Corporate Defense:

Interestingly, after we stepped out of the courtroom, the AA representative told me that even if a staff member did say it on the phone, airline policy and specific laws regarding carriage might still make that oral promise unenforceable.

​The Outcome:

They did offer me a decent out-of-court settlement, which I am most likely going to accept to put this behind me.

​Lessons Learned for the Community:

​Get it in writing: If an agent promises you extended hotel stays or meals, ask them to email you the confirmation right then and there.

​Record (if legal): If you are in a one-party consent state, record your customer service calls.

​The "First Available" Rule: Be aware that airlines will almost always try to cap their liability at the very first flight they could have put you on, even if that flight didn't work for your schedule.

​Hopefully, this helps someone else avoid the same headache!

Long story short, this business owner is charging a loved one (we can call her Emily) for services he said he would provide but never did. Verbal agreement only for 2 week use of an item that was only used for 2 days (unsuccessfully) before Emily cancelled on him because this guy did not follow through with what he said he would do. She agreed to pay him his initial fee of $75 but he is charging her for the rest of it anyway. Nothing is in writing, it's all verbal. He didn't discuss any kind of refund policy with her initially either. I know I'm being extremely vague, and that's intentional since this case is open currently. I'm just so pissed that some asshole is trying to take advantage of my loved one and might actually get away with it. Since there was no written contract, it's basically a he said/she said. What tends to happen in these cases?

So i let someone borrow money and honestly he agreed to pay he isn’t. I have all evidence and pre prepared with the evidence and speech and filing. I went chronological order on what’s going on very simple and straightforward. Just dates of the transaction and the agreements. Now should i just file and do this on my own in small claims or should i hire a debt collector and sell my debt to him or her? I re searched and if i do this i will lose 50 percent of the money. But i am nervous i never spoke in front of the judge and i am the victim of this. Am in the state of Michigan if that helps. I just don’t want this stress like i want my money back without the stress.

I’m in California and already won my small claims case as the plaintiff, but now I’m trying to enforce the judgment and could use advice from anyone familiar with collections/judgment enforcement. Almost one year ago, a man hit my parked car at night and initially acted cooperative. He gave me his name and number, claimed he was “famous” (he does have a decent social media following and looking his name up showed consistent recognition, tbf), and promised he’d pay for the damages himself. He also claimed he didn’t know his insurance information at the time of the accident, but of course, I took the bait /:

For months, I tried handling it privately through texts/calls. He kept stalling, making promises, and never actually paying. Eventually I filed in small claims court. He was properly served at his home (took me forever to find his address online, as well as his birthday for locating and identifying him for the dmv accident report), showed up to court, and judgment was entered in my favor for $8,500.

After the 30-day waiting period passed and he still didn’t pay, I scheduled a Judgment Debtor Examination and subpoenaed him to provide insurance information from the date of the accident, financial/account information and whatever other relevant documents/assets. Part of why I requested the insurance information is because I became concerned he may have tried to report his own vehicle as a hit-and-run since he mentioned the idea to do so to me after the accident, but he kept switching his story up.

Unfortunately, the sheriff’s department failed to serve him in time before the exam hearing, despite having about 3 weeks to do it. They only attempted service once at his residence. But during this time, he and I were still in communication and he told me directly he would attend the hearing so that he can pay me there in front of the judge, something about because I just can’t be trusted so he’s not taking any chances on me somehow getting over on him. Idk…

I’ve now refiled for another debtor exam date and requested service again. This time I plan to follow up with the sheriff’s department constantly to confirm service attempts are actually happening. I also filed a request to correct the Entry of Judgment because the original judgment did not have the box checked indicating the case arose from a motor vehicle accident. From what I understand, if corrected, I may be able to submit paperwork through the DMV to suspend his license until the judgment is paid. The evidence I provided during the case had a police report, DMV accident report, and photos of the vehicle damage, all of which will be used to make the decision to correct if the debtor fails to object or agree within ten days after receiving my request in the mail.

Honestly, this entire situation completely derailed my life financially. Losing my car eventually caused me to lose my job because I couldn’t reliably commute anymore. I’ve been surviving on unemployment and thankfully my landlord has the patience and ability to allow my rent to be late every month since losing my car. Literally have been barely scraping to get by.

At one point, before going to court, I posted publicly about the situation on social media and it gained a lot of attention. He definitely saw it and started accusing me of defamation and slander, so I deleted the posts to avoid things escalating further and getting messier than it already was.

At this point I’m mainly looking for advice on:

- best ways to enforce a California small claims judgment

- how effective DMV license suspension actually is (this was something that has already been done but somehow resolved by him after I filed the dmv accident report and he did not provide his insurance information which was a requirement since damages exceeded $1,000. He texted me and asked me to amend the report and change the date to “make things easier for him”)

- whether anyone has experience collecting a judgement from someone trying to avoid paying, I know it happens often and how common it is for people to avoid it all together. I am hoping my consistent approach will pay off soon/:

Any advice is appreciated.

Location: I live in Atlanta, GA, the McKenna is in prison now, and he doesn’t get out until next year this happened roughly a year ago, and I had to save and work to save up to get my truck fixed however i have a 1992 Chevy Silverado, a truck my grandfather owned before he died. I’m fixing it as a side project. I found a mechanic with good reviews on Google who charged over $5000, less than others' $ 10,000+ other than other mechanics.

- the mechanic changed me $3000 for labor and $ 2,400 for parts. Timeline:-
May 23, 2025: Quoted $2,140 for engine and transmission, $300 for shipping, $3,000 for labor total $5,440.
He was rushing me to hurry up and get the engine and transmission before it's sold. I Paid him $2,500 upfront, including $60 over for a U-Haul, though the agreement was $300 for shipping labor to be paid after completion. He said that he thought I was giving him a tip for picking it up with the $60 overhead.
- May 30: he confirmed the engine and transmission were paid for and ready but didn't have my truck.
- June 2: he picked up engine and transmission without my truck to verify fitment.
- I asked him to come look at my truck for inspection earlier but was declined, delaying progress he told me all he need was the make and model and vin number.
- June 9: I towed truck to him; he had engine and transmission for 7 days before inspecting.
- June 12: the Warranty on engine and transmission was only for 60 days.
- June 13–14: he said engine and transmission didn't match and had issues with exhausted manifold as in he did not want to replace the new exhaust manifold on the engine because he didn’t want to break the exhaust metaphor because I have a O2 sensor that is connected to the exhaust manifold and transmission was a 4L 60 E and I have a 700R4 Transmission; he failed to verify before starting work.
- June 15: Discussed delays and shortcuts; with lying as well saying that this job is more than what he handled and he said it would be done within four days.
- June 16: i Verified the new en and get my old transmission rebuilt gine and transmission and it didn't match my truck; I canceled the project, paid $1,500 for partial work, and handled the return of incorrect parts myself, incurring extra costs. then when I sent it to A New mechanic, they told me that he did not resell the new engine and I had to go and return the new transmission and get my old transmission rebuilt.

Issues
:- Job incomplete, parts not installed or sealed.
- Failed to process returns or warranty.
- Extra costs and lost warranty time.
- Misled with false info.

My demand

:- Refund for unperformed work.- Compensation for extra costs, including towing and rebuilding my transmission.

Location: Colorado

Our neighbor recently had his 12-year-old apply water-based fence stain to our shared fence, unsupervised. As you may guess, the child overloaded the roller on a windy day, and it splattered all over our long, 1.5-year-old sidewalk and all over the side of our house. It baked in over the course of weeks, unbeknownst to us as we were out of town.

He claimed he is a “concrete expert” and said he could clean it off. He then attempted to clean the spots off by taking a wire brush attached to his drill, and scraped off the top layer of our cement, making it look even worse than before, and it is now splotchy all over and has lost texture.

We have done our due diligence to explore all solutions with actual concrete contractors, but it will be very expensive to get it anywhere close to its original state. We plan to present the estimates to our neighbor, but we are preparing for an uncooperative response.

If you go to small claims court, do you have to bring actual bills that have already been paid? Or is it sufficient to bring multiple quotes/estimates showing the amount you’re requesting is only the lowest cost to actually replace the damage? (We have sufficient photographic evidence of all the damage and plan to get at least 4 quotes, including from the original concrete installer we used). We paid thousands out of pocket to get it installed in the first place, and we really don’t want to have to front those costs again if we don’t have to.

Any advice or words of wisdom are greatly appreciated. We are truly hoping this can be resolved amicably, but we want to be prepared as the husband had the audacity to be annoyed that we were unhappy with his botched clean up job. (And side note: we are offering to have our house painted, so he doesn’t even have to incur that cost.)

Hi everyone, first time posting here so bear with me.

I’m owed a little over $2,600 from a former coworker/friend who I lent money to over the course of about a year and a half. We stayed in contact after I left that job and he kept promising to pay me back, but the last few days he’s been ignoring my texts and calls completely.

I know lending that much money was dumb in hindsight. He did make a few payments early on totaling a couple hundred dollars, and I also have multiple text messages from him acknowledging the debt and promising to repay me. I don’t have anything officially signed though.

I have his full name, phone number, and current employer, but I don’t know his address. One thing I’m worried about is that he’s not the most financially fit person and works a lower-paying retail job, so I’m not sure how much that affects my chances of actually collecting the money even if I won.

I’m mainly trying to understand how small claims court works in Louisiana, what my first steps should be, and realistically how likely it is I’d actually collect the money even if I won.

Sorry if this was too long. Just looking for advice from people familiar with the process. Thanks.

Hey guys! I am the creditor for a bank levy for someone in California. I am not from California but the court decision was made in small claims court in California and the debtor is located in California. I am trying to figure out how to go about performing the bank levy on the debtor? I have the court decision and am past the 30 day wait period. How do I go about the bank levy? I have the debtor’s bank information as well. I’ve tried contacting the court but am unable to reach them at all. I am also out of state so I need to know if I can do this online.

I know it’s very limited time, but as plaintiff after you swear in do you just.. ramble everything? The timeline and advanced evidence can be lengthy. Is there supposed to be a brief “opening statement” where we don’t go into details, and then after both parties give their intro do we get a chance to give a more detailed timeline? Or should we just give the lengthier timeline as soon as we start?

This is for NYC