Can I take my brother to small claims court?

[coytoered]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Indiana\

My brother and I rented a house together for several years. He finally moved out, but after he moved I received an electric bill for over $3500. The Electric Utility stated that my meter was defective and was reading half of what it was supposed to for over 2 years. I tried to fight it but an attorney told me that I was going to be responsible since it was a public utility, so I paid it. My brother lived with me during that time. I have all the paperwork and deducted the time he was with me until he moved out and found that he owed $837 of the bill. He refuses to pay me, claiming that he left a large part of his junk with me when he moved and that pays for his share, even though I didn't want any of it and threw most of it away and donated the rest to the prison ministries.

Since he still claims we're even, and won't pay me, can I take him to small claims court? I really hate to do it though.

 

[Zigner]

Did he agree to pay half of the new bill that you agreed to pay to the utility company without consulting with him?

 

[moderncat]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Indiana\

My brother and I rented a house together for several years. He finally moved out, but after he moved I received an electric bill for over $3500. The Electric Utility stated that my meter was defective and was reading half of what it was supposed to for over 2 years. I tried to fight it but an attorney told me that I was going to be responsible since it was a public utility, so I paid it. My brother lived with me during that time. I have all the paperwork and deducted the time he was with me until he moved out and found that he owed $837 of the bill. He refuses to pay me, claiming that he left a large part of his junk with me when he moved and that pays for his share, even though I didn't want any of it and threw most of it away and donated the rest to the prison ministries.

Since he still claims we're even, and won't pay me, can I take him to small claims court? I really hate to do it though.

Your brother sounds like a you know what. If your brothership is worth more then 837 I would leave it alone. He is jerk and he is responsible for 1/2 of everything and responsible for removing his stuff. If you still want to keep the friendship/brothership forget it but if you are not planning to talk to him again take him to court.

 

[quincy]

Your brother sounds like a you know what. If your brothership is worth more then 837 I would leave it alone. He is jerk and he is responsible for 1/2 of everything and responsible for removing his stuff. If you still want to keep the friendship/brothership forget it but if you are not planning to talk to him again take him to court.

We really know little about the brother and his reasons for not paying but I agree that taking the brother to court is liable to hurt any relationship the brothers have.

And there is the small matter of proving the brother actually owes the $837.

Instead of demanding the full amount at once (which is a rather hefty amount), coytoered might want to see if the brother is amenable to a payment plan, reducing the amount a little at a time.

 

[single317dad]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Indiana\

My brother and I rented a house together for several years. He finally moved out, but after he moved I received an electric bill for over $3500. The Electric Utility stated that my meter was defective and was reading half of what it was supposed to for over 2 years. I tried to fight it but an attorney told me that I was going to be responsible since it was a public utility, so I paid it. My brother lived with me during that time. I have all the paperwork and deducted the time he was with me until he moved out and found that he owed $837 of the bill. He refuses to pay me, claiming that he left a large part of his junk with me when he moved and that pays for his share, even though I didn't want any of it and threw most of it away and donated the rest to the prison ministries.

Since he still claims we're even, and won't pay me, can I take him to small claims court? I really hate to do it though.

You probably should have spoken with another lawyer before taking the steps that you did. While you would have been responsible for (likely all of) the additional bill, you needn't have paid it all at once. Utility or no, no one can simply say "Hey, a funny thing happened today; I figured out I haven't billed you enough for the past two years! You need to pay the full amount by next week." Neither should you demand this full amount from your brother due and payable immediately. While your agreement to share the domicile might have included an agreement to split utilities, the assumption would be that the bills would come regularly, be of a semi-consistent amount, and that once paid the bill was satisfied. While he may well be liable to you for the additional charges (as you were to the utility), it's not reasonable to expect him to cough up such a sum immediately.