How do you think it will go in small claims court?

Question

I am being sued for rent money. here is what happened

- me and one other girl go sign lease for a 2bed 2bath apt. give the company the name of the others that will be on the lease so they can come in and sign when they get a chance.
- one of the others signed but the other didnt (we will call her M)
-all four of us payed first and last months rent and a security deposit
- M decides that she doesnt want to live with us and lets us know that on June 13th (move in date is June 29th)
-M asks for all her money back. since she didnt sign the lease she didnt have to deal with rental co
-the three of us decided we didnt want to find a stranger to live with us so we would just have 3 people living with us.
- we give M back $800 of the approx $1800 that she paid
- she is now suing me for the other $1000(i am the one who recieved checks and wrote one to rental co.)
deposit = 612 and 2 mo rent = 1200

Do you think she will win in court? Should she have gotten all her money back??

Answer 1

I think she might win because she never moved into the house and she never signed the lease so she was correct in asking for her money back and I think a judge would definitely think so too.

Answer 2

You will probably prevail here. Apparently the check was made payable to you personally, and you in turn paid the rental company. How is the judge to know what this payment is for ? If she has no written evidence (signed agreements, leases, etc.) she well may be told "tough luck".

Answer 3

Yes, she will win the case. She didn't signed anything. Not even an agreement between the four of you. You have no proof but she does - her cancelled check. Don't waste your precious time in court and miss other things in your daily life. Give her money back and you will sleep tight and peacefully at night. Not like now that you are thinking about the case and who will win. It's not worth it. Refund her money. Friendship will last like this. Good luck.