# Small Claims Court Ontario Tips?



## gruegoo (Dec 28, 2004)

Hi all,

Don't want to get into details but I might have to take a matter into small claims court soon. I'm in Toronto. Basically I'm owed money (couple of thousand) but the other party isn't paying up.

Any tips or procedures I should be aware of?

Or any good books I can buy to research?


Thanks for your help!


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## MacNutt (Jan 16, 2002)

Here are my thoughts on this. Take them for what you will...

Do this:

Drop by the offending party's place of work or abode unexpectedly, and sit down to have a chat with them on this subject. Move slowly and with great determination. Pull up a chair and sit yourself right in front of them. Look em straight in the eye, and ask them why are they doing this? Ask them why they don't want to resolve this situation at their earliest convenience? Just to make it all right?

While you're posing these questions to them, look them straight in the eye at all times....and don't ever blink. And don't say anything that might incriminate you or make them think you are threatening them. Just overwhelm them with your presence. Be in their face all of the time that you are there. Dominate them. Completely.

Your eyes are your best weapons. They are laser beams. Burn em straight through the back of the guys head. Smoke him where he lives. Never let up. The effect will be amazing (trust me on this).

If you are a wussy type, it might help to have a friend or two along for the ride. A big guy will help you to make your point. Two or more are even better. But they just need to BE there...without ever having to say or do ANYTHING. In fact...it's much better if they DON'T. Silent muscle is wayyy more threatening.

Let the silly ratf**k fill in the blanks for himself. His imagination will be running wild by this time. And he'll probably mortgage his house or sell his car to pay up and get you out of his life, ASAP. Nine times out of ten.

Small claims court, on the other hand, is an excersize in frustration. And barely worth the time. Most people who end up with court judgements against them NEVER pay up! They just laugh at you.

My method, on the other hand, almost always gets results.

Fear is a primal motivator. A basic human response. Use it. 

It works.


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## Carex (Mar 1, 2004)

Above scenario works best if your friends are large smelly biker dudes with long flowing beards and tatoos. 

I like the laser beam thing though. I've always wanted a 'laser' and now it appears I have one.


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## MBD (Sep 1, 2003)

Keep in mind that there is a cost now I believe in Ontario to file but you can recoup all costs if you win the case.

If it's a couple thousand, best to try to get the $$ in other ways a la MacNutt and/or writing legal letters. Sometimes a letter from a lawyer makes a big difference. I was being harrassed at my work and had a lawyer help me write up a letter (at no charge too as I wrote most of it - he just proofed) and the HR guy who was part of the whole old boys club fiasco who was protecting his buddy looked as if he had to change his pants after I handed it to him.  

A nice combo is to do the MacNutt approach above then hand the letter at the end. Heh heh.


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## Joe Northcliffe (Apr 22, 2003)

*small claims court*

Hi,
You've already probably settled the matter but I have been in a small claims court case as the plaintiff for almost two years now. It is very draining both emotionally and financially.My best advice would be try to settle out of court to save time and money. Even if you win the judgement, you have to try to get the money. If the person is broke, you've had it. If the person has a house you can put a lien on it. But if he or she has put the house in their mate's name, you'll be at a dead end. Best advice I received (but didn't listen to) was get what you can and next time don't extend credit. Get paid as a percentage of completion.
Good Luck,
Joe


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## goobertech (Jan 24, 2005)

Ignore Macnutt..

I wave my private parts at your lasers 

this may help

http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/courts/scc/sccbook.asp

There is a motion ( this is second hand knowlage so take it for what it is worth) that you can obtain before winning the judgement .- it is latin "mar le??? Mar ve??? " or something

If the person has no assets to seize
(you can't seize any thing with a morgage or has car payments) You ask that the person's bank account be frozen , ( rarely done ) but you can be a nice guy , and say that the debtor can draw up a list of of persons that are needed to pay for day to day living (hydro, water, etc) and withdrawls or cheques can only be made to these persons for amounts not exceding a certain figure. If you spell out that the person will not have any assets to sieze in the near future and you have tried every avenue to settle this before it came to this . the judge may grant it , even better if the other guy is a no show , make sure to have a small claims date before the motion hearing 

It has been my experiance that it will cost you about 50% of the debt to collect it ( this is including your time , travel , court fees etc.)


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## gruegoo (Dec 28, 2004)

Hey wow, thanks for all your suggestions. I'm still planning things out, but I'm hoping that once I threaten court, they might just pay up.


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## MasterBlaster (Jan 12, 2003)

.


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## goobertech (Jan 24, 2005)

*Few more things*

Record EVERYTHING ----

and be a "nice guy" ( you get to be an a**hole later , trust me)

If the deal was verbal , write down what was said etc , don't make it too wordy , think of the person reading it has a headache and does not like their job etc.
so just the facts , 
make that one sheet

second one is you completed the work and delivered it to them at this date your attempts to collect , phone calls , letters , e-mails your vists with the laser eyes etc. ( as I said , be nice , you do not want them to say they were going to dispute the amount but were afraid of you .) 
if you have a letter or e-mails from them good , if not it is still ok
sending a Registered letter is good , it also shows that they recieved it and might be claimed as a legal cost ( i don't know) but it is cheap in comparison to no money 
at the end of this section , note that in all your dealings (if it is true) that " Mr X" was aware of the debt ,never disputed the amount of debt ,the accounting there in ,or the work performed . 

Keep it short , date , time , who you spoke to ( don't call more then once a day and not after nine pm and not at dinner ( if it is their home) ) 
do not make it word for word , a short account of the conversation 

I.E. -----" On January 5 2005 I called mr X at home at 7;30 pm and discussed the debt at length. I made it clear he should pay it as agreed for i have delivered the work and he told me to fly a kite"----- or what ever , just none of this--- he said " bla", then I said" bla bla " then he said " bla bla bla" , so i said " bla b-bla bla bla bla " and then he yelled "BLA!!!!" -------

( the fun is later , a friend had a construction lien on someone's house for years then one day a lawyer calls, the people are selling the house , wants to know where he was . Could he drive over and hand him a cheque ( the money plus interest) , my friend( on his cell) puts him off saying he is washing his cat and could he call back later . , plays hide and seek with the lawyer for nearly aweek . Finally the debters wife shows up on the door step with flowers and in tears and the cheque , the guy who owed the money is sitting in the car , buldging vein in his temple, both hands in a death grip on the wheel , staring straight forward , looking like he was about to have a stroke... for my friend that was worth more then the money.)


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## JumboJones (Feb 21, 2001)

Dare I say spam?


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## iJohnHenry (Mar 29, 2008)

Sorry, but I smell a commercial, and I HATE commercials.

EDIT: Just saw your post. Reported as spamitoza™. :lmao:


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Spam reported.

And on a separate note, damn! That's why we miss MacNutt.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

MacNutt's post kicked ass.


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## JumboJones (Feb 21, 2001)

Wow, I'm glad I didn't owe him any money.


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## EvanPitts (Mar 9, 2007)

They do things different in BC...


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## guytoronto (Jun 25, 2005)

accesslawyer said:


> As someone who posts frequently in various forums I stumble across while surfing, I'm not sure what makes this spam - perhaps I am unaware of the true definition of spam. I simply think it's a good small claims site - does sharing that info make it spam? If so, I truly apologize and guess I haven't learned forum etiquette yet. No offence was intended.


BS.

"Posts frequently"? - This was your first post here. A hallmark of SPAM.

"Stumbled across"? - You fail the Internet. Nothing gets "stumbled across". You were googling stuff, looking for places to SPAM.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Here is a link I stumbled across on a public website while searching on the internet:



> link


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## Sonal (Oct 2, 2003)

accesslawyer said:


> I am trying to be civil here. I specifically stated I post frequently *in various forms*, of course it was my first post here! How can a first post be a hallmark of spam? I would say that if I made up some fake profile, did some post on MACS and then posted the link then THAT would be spam.
> 
> "Nothing Gets Stumbled Across"? Excuse me? I don't know about you but many a time (including yesterday) I have surfed the web for one thing and ended up somewhere completely different, and no I did not seek out forums looking to spam - I have better things to do with my time (although based on my defending myself here it would seem that i don't - but darn it, it's the principle of the matter!)


When your first post is to bump up something that is *3 years old*, your first post is to recommend a legal service, and your handle has "lawyer" in its name--yes, we are going to assume it's spam. (Especially when you are on a Mac community and don't seem to realize that it's "Macs", not "MACS".)

And if it is not spam, then you really should spend a lot more time lurking in forums before posting in them to learn a bit more about forum etiquette.


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