My girlfriend and I are California residents, looking for some legal advice before we go to small claims court this fall. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Here are the cliffnotes...
January 15 2009 we are leaving for Vegas for her 21st birthday. 8 people going with us split in 2 cars; mine and hers.
Since she wanted to ride with me in my car, she arranged for her friend/roommate, which I will refer to as "Sam", to drive her car.
Sam assures my girlfriend that she has insurance. We are getting into both cars parked 30 ft or so apart on the curb to leave. As we are leaving, Sam puts my gf's car in the wrong gear and rear-ends a parked vehicle on the street. Bummer.
We continue on to Vegas with the same driving arrangement after being assured by Sam she would pay for damages.
As it turns out, Sam has no insurance and is a total pain to deal with.
She had agreed to pay the $500 deductible my gf's insurance would charge to fix it from our end. So we repaired a ~$3000 dollar problem and she only owed $500. Still no money.
Over the course of 2 years she has promised payment many times, gone as far as writing a check (which she later said not to cash, we still have the check). Long story short lots of hassle and no money.
At one point a year ago my gf called her parents and left a voicemail in an attempt to get them involved. She then received threatening phone calls back from Sam's older sister and friends.
I have a couple questions...
1)What are our chances to win in small claims court?
2) The bill was $500 (deductible), what could we ask for in court?
3)What type of documents should we bring to court? Besides the obvious bill, uncashed check, etc....
Thanks for reading, any advice is appreciated.
Here are the cliffnotes...
January 15 2009 we are leaving for Vegas for her 21st birthday. 8 people going with us split in 2 cars; mine and hers.
Since she wanted to ride with me in my car, she arranged for her friend/roommate, which I will refer to as "Sam", to drive her car.
Sam assures my girlfriend that she has insurance. We are getting into both cars parked 30 ft or so apart on the curb to leave. As we are leaving, Sam puts my gf's car in the wrong gear and rear-ends a parked vehicle on the street. Bummer.
We continue on to Vegas with the same driving arrangement after being assured by Sam she would pay for damages.
As it turns out, Sam has no insurance and is a total pain to deal with.
She had agreed to pay the $500 deductible my gf's insurance would charge to fix it from our end. So we repaired a ~$3000 dollar problem and she only owed $500. Still no money.
Over the course of 2 years she has promised payment many times, gone as far as writing a check (which she later said not to cash, we still have the check). Long story short lots of hassle and no money.
At one point a year ago my gf called her parents and left a voicemail in an attempt to get them involved. She then received threatening phone calls back from Sam's older sister and friends.
I have a couple questions...
1)What are our chances to win in small claims court?
2) The bill was $500 (deductible), what could we ask for in court?
3)What type of documents should we bring to court? Besides the obvious bill, uncashed check, etc....
Thanks for reading, any advice is appreciated.