If this were to go to court, what would entail? I owed my friend money, but I'm not paying her because…?
we're not friends anymore.
Okay so I know that sounds really childish, but you have to hear the whole story.
My 17 year old friend received 0 in Christmas money this year. We went to the mall together and I had no money. I put together a really cute outfit (a skirt and a top), but I didn't have the money to pay for it. Us being really close best friends, she offered to pay for it for me. She said "No problem! we do this kind of thing for each other all of the time! this is the kind of friendship we have where we can just pay for things for each other and not expect each other to pay back" She told me I didn't have to pay her back. The outfit was about . I bought some lunch but ran out of money, so she paid for my dinner too. She told me not to worry about paying her back at all.
Then she found out she was supposed to use her Christmas money to pay for car insurance and supplies. She told me, and because at the time we were very close, I was just like "Oh ok no problem! I'll pay you back as soon as I get my first pay check!" I owed her about but I told her I would just give her 0 to help her out because we were like sisters and that's the kind of friendship we had.
We are now not friends because she said something very hurtful to me and crossed the line, so I cussed her out and told her the truth about herself. Her dad called me asking about an agreement between she and I. I said I would follow through, but now I'm feeling like I won't. Why should I give my hard earned money to her when she doesn't deserve it anymore!? Technically, at the time she bought me dinner and the outfit, she said that I didn't have to pay her back. So I really don't have to give her money. I only said I would because we were such great friends and I wanted to help my friend out. But now, I don't care about her and the help she needs! Why should I be obligated to give her of my hard earned money to help her out when I don't have to??
I was just wondering, if this subject was to be taken to court, what would the process entail and what do you think the judge would think? What does the situation look like from an outside perspective?
Give her the money. This case is too small to go to any courts. I think it has to be at least $500 for small claims court, depending on your state.
Tell her you will pay her back $20 or so a month, or whatever you can afford. Pay her back for everything that she loaned you, and if you are in a good mood…add some interest
you said it yourself :
"I owe her money"
You had a verbal agreement with her to pay her back, which if you admit that you had an agreement , you will lose regardless of any excuse or fight that you got into.
It does not matter if you are friends anymore or not. I’ve taken out a lot of loans from people that are not friends, such as bank of america.
$75 is probably below the minimum that you can even go to small claims court for. Court costs are near that alone. If you don’t pay, you are just ripping off someone that you once respected.
I honestly dont think they would go to court about 75 dollars paying for a lawyer is about 30,000 dollers maybe more so it would be a waste of money to start with
Legally speaking, yes you DO have to give her money because even though you agreed that uou didn’t have to pay her back, you then retracted that statement and told her you would.If it was to be taken to small claims court (which nobody would need lawyer for, so I don’t know why it was brought up), she would win and she could possibly order you to pay court fees as well (the ruling would be up to the judge)
Sounds like you need to grow up.You said you would pay her, so pay her! it doesn’t matter what kind of immature fight you get into.She deserves the money because she bought you clothes and food and you told her you would pay her back.
How old are you? If you’re not even 18, she can’t even take you to court. But if you want the friendship to survive, you need to do what’s right. It’s up to you I guess. And if you agree to pay, or do not say you won’t pay after you turn 18, it could be considered a ratified verbal agreement, since you later said you would pay.
So do whatever you want, but you will probably lose a friend over it, and that’s sad since you guys were so close before.
wow the lack of understanding of the american legal system here is astounding.
If it went to court you would win. Because in contract law there is something called "consideration" that must exist in order to enter into a legally binding agreement i.e. there had to be a bargain where both sides got SOMETHING (even if of unequal value). Here, you got clothes, but she agreed to give them for free. There was no consideration, and hence no legally binding contract.
While you may have later agreed to pay her, (which was admirable), you received nothing in exchange for this promise. Thus, also, not a legally binding agreement. You owe her nothing.
You’d win in any court in the entire country.
That said, the friendly thing to do is to pay her back.