Person At Fault Will Not Pay!

[joesrods]

What is the name of your state?New Jersey

Hello,

I live in New Jersey and a woman hit the back of my car while I was yielding. She told me not to call the police because her insurance company had recently dropped her policy. She assured me that she would take care of the damage. I did not get a police report. I got a couple of estimates and we decided that the cheapest one $2500 is what she was going to pay. She told met that she was in a very difficult financial situation, so I gave her a month to get me this money. After a month she said she was not able to get the money and sent me a fax explaining that she owed me $2500 for damage, and that she was not able to make it in time. She wants to set up installment payments, but I do not want to do this, I already had the car fixed with my own money and need the money back as soon as possible. If I take her to small claims court, is the court going to set up istallment payments, or are they going to make her pay me the full amount. Also can she be charged with any crime like theft by deception with the local police department? I know if the court or I set up installment payments with her she is going to be paying me about $25 a month, and that is just not acceptable and will take a really long time to pay all the money back. Is there anything I can do to get this money quickly?

Please help I do not know what to do!

 

[seniorjudge]

Let's start at the beginning:

How will you prove to the court that this person damaged you?

 

[joesrods]

Person At Fault And Will Not Pay!

Thank you very much for your reply. She faxed me a letter that she wrote herself and signed herself stating that she hit my car and owes me $2500 for the damages, and that she was supposed to have paid me this amount by 9/7/05, but she did not have the money and that she is in a bad financial situation.

 

[seniorjudge]

Thank you very much for your reply. She faxed me a letter that she wrote herself and signed herself stating that she hit my car and owes me $2500 for the damages, and that she was supposed to have paid me this amount by 9/7/05, but she did not have the money and that she is in a bad financial situation.

Sounds to me like you may have a good case. Go after her in small claims.

 

[joesrods]

Thank you again for your reply. I just want to know what I can do in terms of speeding up getting the money that she owes me back. When I win the suit in small claims, what happens nex? If she says I cannot and do not have this money, but I can pay installment payments and it will take me say for example 1 year to pay back. If I am not satisfied with this, what can I do?

Also, can she be charged with any crime such as theft by deception and be imprisoned? I do not want this to happen, but I just want to know my options. I feel like even if I win in small claims it will take a long time until I see this money that she owes me.

 

[seniorjudge]

Thank you again for your reply. I just want to know what I can do in terms of speeding up getting the money that she owes me back. When I win the suit in small claims, what happens nex? If she says I cannot and do not have this money, but I can pay installment payments and it will take me say for example 1 year to pay back. If I am not satisfied with this, what can I do?

Also, can she be charged with any crime such as theft by deception and be imprisoned? I do not want this to happen, but I just want to know my options. I feel like even if I win in small claims it will take a long time until I see this money that she owes me.

If she doesn't have money or a job, then you can get all kinds of judgments against her and they will be worthless. It's known as being judgment-proof.

It's best to get a judgment against her anyway.

Read these instructions thoroughly:

http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/prose/


Scroll down to the small claims part and study!

 

[joesrods]

Than you again for your reply. I read the link that you had sent me. It said that if she does not pay they will suspend her driving priveledges. At this point, I do not think that her car is in working condition, and I doubt that she fixed it. She does however have a full time job that probably pays decent. The problem is is that she has a lot of bills to pay such as rent and credit cards. Losing her license is not really that big of a threat to her. Since she has a full time job, would the court make her pay within the 60 days, eventhough she has all these bills, or is the settlement more important in this case for her to pay back and the court would make her pay the money?

Basically, since she has a full time job and I win in small claims and she fails to pay the money within the required time that the court gives her, what would the consequence be?