sandyclaus
Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? california
I am suing my roommate for overbilling me on my rightful share of cable bills. The agreement was for these bills to be divided equally between all roommates. Because all the accounts were in her name only, she was to provide an accounting of the shared amounts due, and this would be paid with the next month's rent.
Over the next 2 months, she provided me with a sheet of paper which showed what I owed for cable. The figures seemed high to me so I asked to see the bill itself. She would come up with some excuse for not providing it - couldn't find it, lost it, tossed it, etc. I just paid what she asked rather than make an issue of it.
On the 3rd month, however, I KNEW that she had received a sizeable credit on the bill (she had told me about it, because she had complained so much about bad services, and boasted that they were "paying her" that month to keep the cable). But when I got her accounting, it was still about the same amount I had been charged before. Plus, the sheet she used for accounting was the payment stub from the bill, and it showed a different total bill due for that month than what she divided up. When I pointed that out and demanded to see the full bill, she basically said no, and that I was to pay the amount she asked for or I would no longer be provided cable service. Reluctantly I paid, but with the warning that I reserved the right to see the bills before I paid anymore. This continued for 2 more months, and she finally just deactivated MY cable service because she didn't want to deal with me anymore.
Since that time, I was able to get a peek at some of those bills on my own (she left her bills file out one day) - and she was right about them paying her. They credited her $231 that month alone (her usual monthly bill was about $175), and almost $700 total while I was paying a share of the bills. On top of that, she had been behind on the account since June of last year, and suddenly in December she's all paid current - yet she hasn't made a single payment herself. I suspected that she might not be applying what I paid to the bill, so I've been paying my share directly to the cable company and can prove it. Apparently, she figured that she could just use those credits to pay her outstanding account balance instead of rightfully sharing with those who paid for the services.
Now I am suing for the overbilled amounts, and created a spreadsheet to help the judge determine what was billed, what was paid, and what is still owed. However, I do not have the actual bills - she has consistently refused to show them voluntarily or give me copies. Those bills will show the credit amounts that I never got benefit of, but I can't substantiate the amounts without either the roommate's cooperation or actual bills to document the figures. I don't have any confidence that she will cooperate with the subpoena that I served her with to produce those bills, since she has basically told me that she won't comply.
My problem is this. By my calculations on the credits she did receive based upon my sneak peek at those bills, I'm owed over $300 for the overpayments. But my calculations are based upon a sneak peek and not the actual bills, and she's not going to produce them. Without those, how do I prove my damages? What discretion does the judge have absent actual proof of those credit amounts on the bills, given the fact that I have seen but can't produce my own evidence that they even exist without her compliance to the subpoena? How else do I prove that the roommate owes me as much as I say she does, or can the judge just give it to me anyway based on the fact that she refuses to produce the subpoenaed documents?
I am suing my roommate for overbilling me on my rightful share of cable bills. The agreement was for these bills to be divided equally between all roommates. Because all the accounts were in her name only, she was to provide an accounting of the shared amounts due, and this would be paid with the next month's rent.
Over the next 2 months, she provided me with a sheet of paper which showed what I owed for cable. The figures seemed high to me so I asked to see the bill itself. She would come up with some excuse for not providing it - couldn't find it, lost it, tossed it, etc. I just paid what she asked rather than make an issue of it.
On the 3rd month, however, I KNEW that she had received a sizeable credit on the bill (she had told me about it, because she had complained so much about bad services, and boasted that they were "paying her" that month to keep the cable). But when I got her accounting, it was still about the same amount I had been charged before. Plus, the sheet she used for accounting was the payment stub from the bill, and it showed a different total bill due for that month than what she divided up. When I pointed that out and demanded to see the full bill, she basically said no, and that I was to pay the amount she asked for or I would no longer be provided cable service. Reluctantly I paid, but with the warning that I reserved the right to see the bills before I paid anymore. This continued for 2 more months, and she finally just deactivated MY cable service because she didn't want to deal with me anymore.
Since that time, I was able to get a peek at some of those bills on my own (she left her bills file out one day) - and she was right about them paying her. They credited her $231 that month alone (her usual monthly bill was about $175), and almost $700 total while I was paying a share of the bills. On top of that, she had been behind on the account since June of last year, and suddenly in December she's all paid current - yet she hasn't made a single payment herself. I suspected that she might not be applying what I paid to the bill, so I've been paying my share directly to the cable company and can prove it. Apparently, she figured that she could just use those credits to pay her outstanding account balance instead of rightfully sharing with those who paid for the services.
Now I am suing for the overbilled amounts, and created a spreadsheet to help the judge determine what was billed, what was paid, and what is still owed. However, I do not have the actual bills - she has consistently refused to show them voluntarily or give me copies. Those bills will show the credit amounts that I never got benefit of, but I can't substantiate the amounts without either the roommate's cooperation or actual bills to document the figures. I don't have any confidence that she will cooperate with the subpoena that I served her with to produce those bills, since she has basically told me that she won't comply.
My problem is this. By my calculations on the credits she did receive based upon my sneak peek at those bills, I'm owed over $300 for the overpayments. But my calculations are based upon a sneak peek and not the actual bills, and she's not going to produce them. Without those, how do I prove my damages? What discretion does the judge have absent actual proof of those credit amounts on the bills, given the fact that I have seen but can't produce my own evidence that they even exist without her compliance to the subpoena? How else do I prove that the roommate owes me as much as I say she does, or can the judge just give it to me anyway based on the fact that she refuses to produce the subpoenaed documents?