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Won in small claims court, splitting settlement with other plaintiffs

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jets200

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

Two friends and I rented a house over the summer and paid a $1400 security deposit (we paid $467 each). We just received the refund of the security deposit (after suing the landlord in small claims court). The only damage that was deducted from the security deposit was $378 to refinish the landlord's kitchen table, which was burned from a candle that one roommate lit and left unattended. She does not believe she is at fault for the damage, but I and the other roommate believe she should pay for the cost of refinishing the table.

The refund check was made out to me, so I have control of the money. Can I legally give her $89 and keep $467 for myself and our other roommate? Is it an assumption that the judgement will be split evenly among the plaintiffs? If I only give her $89, would she have a good chance at winning in small claims court if she turns around and sues me?

The roommate responsible for the candle is no longer friends with the other roommate or myself, so severing the friendship isn't a concern (as awful as that sounds).
 


Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
If you do that, then your ex-roommate's option is to sue in small claims court.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Thanks for the quick response. Do you think she would win?
Without knowing the strength of evidence involved, there is no way we can predict that. Going only by what you said, it sounds like you have better than even odds of prevailing if the former roommate were to sue you. But, again, there's no way we could predict that.
 

You Are Guilty

Senior Member
The refund check was made out to me, so I have control of the money.
What did the small claims decision/judgment say about it? Absent anything to the contrary, all three plaintiffs would be entitled to an equal share.

Whether all three actually "deserve" an equal share is, obviously, debatable and for possible consequences of not splitting it equally, see Zigner's posts.
 

latigo

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

Two friends and I rented a house over the summer and paid a $1400 security deposit (we paid $467 each). We just received the refund of the security deposit (after suing the landlord in small claims court). The only damage that was deducted from the security deposit was $378 to refinish the landlord's kitchen table, which was burned from a candle that one roommate lit and left unattended. She does not believe she is at fault for the damage, but I and the other roommate believe she should pay for the cost of refinishing the table.

The refund check was made out to me, so I have control of the money. Can I legally give her $89 and keep $467 for myself and our other roommate? Is it an assumption that the judgement will be split evenly among the plaintiffs? If I only give her $89, would she have a good chance at winning in small claims court if she turns around and sues me?

The roommate responsible for the candle is no longer friends with the other roommate or myself, so severing the friendship isn't a concern (as awful as that sounds).
It is not “assumption” that money paid in satisfaction of the judgment is to be “split evenly”. Unless the court assigned the judgment disproportionately, it is a “reality”!

Hence, you hold that money in trust and cannot divvy it up, as you arbitrarily deem fit.

Then, perhaps if you had paid the utility bills, there might not have been need for a candle. And why didn’t you blow it out?

Anyway, I doubt that the “keeper of the candle” is loosing much sleep over the “severed” friendship. I’m sure that if she ever feels the urge to hang with another parsimonious pinchpenny, she’ll have no difficulty there.

[SUP](I’ll lay odds to anyone that wants to bet that this is not an all girls show! Just like the dinner check, they can never settle up without a pocket calculator. Besides, if it it had been boys, the kitchen table would have been the only survivor.)[/SUP]
 

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