What do I do?

[What do I do?]

What is the name of your state? California

Hello, I have a situation that I'm not sure what I'm suppose to do now.

In February a co-worker ended up in a bad situation. I felt badly for him and in a moment of stupidity I thought I would help him out. Everything was good for 3 months, but things went bad after that. I rent the lower half of a duplex and this guy needed a place to stay. I offered an extra room to him on the condition he help out with the expenses, such as utilities, food and such. He agreed and it went fine until the first week in May. He started having money problems and wasn't always able to pay his portion of what he owed on time. I was alright with that until it started to be more than I could handle. I confronted him as to what he was going to do about it. He got mad and left a few weeks later. He didn't take all of his things so I wasn't sure if he was coming back or not. I found out from another office worker that he moved back in with his parents. He still owes me a small amount of money (about $225.00). He no longer works at my place of employment and I'm not sure if he is working at all. I don't feel I should have to pay for all the expenses that both of us created. He hasn't talked to me about the things he left behind and I don't think he is coming back for them. Some of the things have some value and if I sold them I could apply that to the money that he owes me. I was told I couldn't do that. So I'm stuck with not knowing what to do. If someone can give me an idea as to why I can't recoup my losses by selling the things he left behind I would be grateful. It's been long enough and he isn't doing anything about it. So what do I do? Did I write this in the right place?

 

[BelizeBreeze]

You sue him in small claims court, (maybe) get a judgement then ask the court for permission to sell the personal items to recover.

 

[What do I do?]

Thank you!

I will look into that.

 

[What do I do?]

This is what I found out from a self-help site.

I would need to hire a process server to give him notice that I'm sueing.

Any idea on what that would cost?
How do I find out what his parents' address is?
If I am able to find it, does the process server have to serve him personally?
What other option do I have other than going through a process server?
Is this really worth the trouble?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me.

 

[Ellerge]

Good Deed

You said "I thought I would help him out." This just goes to show that no good deed goes unpunished.
I don't know what a private processor costs in your area, but here it costs about $50.00. I don't know what your filing fees would be, but, be prepared to pay $100.00 to $300.00. And then take a day off of work to go to Court and then be prepared to take another day off if he asks and gets a posponment.
No, you CANNOT just sell his "stuff" and apply it to what he owes you. You will have to go to Court first and get a Judge to sign off on the deal. If he does not, get an Attorney (it will only cost you apprx $500.00) to represent you.
Do not just sell his 'stuff'. That's against the Law. If you do sell his belongings, he can go to Court and prove that he owned the 'stuff', and that you sold them, and that he owed you no money, and that he is of good character, etc. and get a judgment against you. If you say that you do not remember what he left, he can produce receipts to prove that he purchased the 'stuff' and then he may produce 3 witnesses and the Pope plus the Mayor to prove he left the 'stuff' at your house and you agreed NOT to charge him storage fees.

 

[What do I do?]

I know, I learned my lesson.

Thankyou for the information.

I don't think I'll do it that way. It doesn't seem worth it to me. If I did win, I have been reading that you still might not get the money from him.

I also will not sell his property, I wouldn't want to get into trouble.

I still haven't heard anything from him.

My lease is up at the end of August, if he still hasn't contacted me about his possessions, what do I do with them?

Leave them?
Throw them?
Take them with me?

Seems like I could get into trouble if I did any of those things.