Need Help from the OOT ppl (Law advice)

[Sykes]

Recently on Saturday Night (starting at 1am), I had 2 people over my house to just hang out.

One of the friends, is usually over the house on saturdays. The other is not. Although, the other, Let's call him, Mr. X, was away at college and just came back home.

Mr. X has a history of not paying back loans (to several people, including me which he owes roughly $450).

Mr. X asks to see my card collection (around 2:30)(which I have no problem with, also, he knows the values of every card I own)

I put the cards back at around 3.

Mr. X leaves around 4. For some reason, call me paranoid, I go back to where I placed my cards, and one particular card is missing. Now if it was a card that was valued at $20ish, I could care less about it, but the card is worth around $350-400, and is quite rare.

I confront Mr.X, and he gets jittery and looks like he's about to cry because he can't believe I'd accuse him of stealing.

Mr. X is like, I'll empty out my pockets, which he does (but honestly, you can hide a card anywhere..)

Mr. X leaves.

I search for the card.. Still can't find the card.

Ask for Mr.X to come back the next day to search for the card(sunday or monday) and doesn't. Leaves town to go to work on Tuesday..

Leaves me a voice mail message on my cell where he says he'll pay me $800 (previous debt+price of card) if I really think Mr.X took it.


Now wednesday night and I've looked everywhere.

What can I do? Any legal action I can take here?

[Eurotrash]

[ QUOTE ]
Ask for Mr.X to come back the next day to search for the card(sunday or monday) and doesn't. Leaves town to go to work on Tuesday..

Leaves me a voice mail message on my cell where he says he'll pay me $800 (previous debt+price of card) if I really think Mr.X took it.


Now wednesday night and I've looked everywhere.

What can I do? Any legal action I can take here?

[/ QUOTE ]



I really don't understand wtf you mean by this last part.

you asked him to come back and he didnt. but he leaves you a voicemail that says he'll pay you 800$ if you think he took the card? wtf, just tell him to pay you the 8 bills and be done with it.

[man]

this dude sounds like he might be a klepto. just a guess. I would recommend that you accept his payment and, depending on how close friends you are with him, tell him never to talk to you ever again, or help him with him problem.

oh, and I have no idea aobut the legal aspects of this. but it's your word against his, etc. it'd be hard for the police to get a warrant for searching his house, and it'd be harder for them to find it. can't see any legal recourse here, but me no expert.

[dblgutshot]

I think he meant his friend offered, not Mr. X?

[Sykes]

[ QUOTE ]
I think he meant his friend offered, not Mr. X?

[/ QUOTE ]

no, Mr. X offered.

The problem with him paying me back is that it could take a long time.

[beenben]

you'd have the burden of proof if you sued him; you could sue in small claims court. you'd only need to prove it by a preponderance of the evidence (ie 50.1% to 49.9). But then winning in small claims court and collecting are two different things.

[mmcd]

Don't be friends with people who would steal from you.

[Lloyd]

Forget about legal action. There's no way you'd win a civil suit and there's certainly not enough proof for a criminal complaint. If he's willing to pay you the $800 then jump on it. If he agrees to that then he obviously feels guilty about something (i.e. taking the card) so let him pay. If he can't pay you all at once then make a payment plan (and if you want include a little interest although it's probably not necessary). Get him to sign an agreement (which if you search for on sites like Nolo you can get free or cheaply) that specifies the terms. You need to include not only what you get but what he got (the original loan plus the card). You also want to specify that if he violates the agreement what your remedies are (most importantly going to court where he pays all costs). If you can include a term where he agrees to a summary judgement against him if he violates the agreement (with some type of reasonable grace period to catch up). A summary judgement essentially means you go to court and he has already acknowledged that he is at fault and owes you the money. Even without that, if he violates the agreement you don't have to prove anything about the loan or the card. It's all about him violating the terms of the agreement - much easier to prove. As for collecting, well it's not like it's a fortune. It might take a little time but you'll get it from future earnings at the least.

[Big_Jim]

[ QUOTE ]
Leaves me a voice mail message on my cell where he says he'll pay me $800 (previous debt+price of card) if I really think Mr.X took it.

[/ QUOTE ]
Whatever you do, do NOT delete this voicemail.

[youtalkfunny]

I'd call the cops.

If he peed his pants when you confronted him, he'll absolutely fold under questioning.

Then you tell the cops that you'll drop the charges if he agrees to make restitution. GET THAT AGREEMENT IN WRITING.

What card was it?

EDIT: Calling the cops depends on the city in which you live. If the cops have their hands full with REAL crime, it may not be worthwhile. But if the cops in your town are bored (a good indicator of this is frequency of sitting around with the radar on), let them have a go at it.

[mrkilla]

If you want to see your money you file a law suit, that voicemail in tow. Why would anyone say "well i will pay you X amount" if they DIDN'T do it. If you "accept" the 800 dollar offer you will never see that money and you know it.

Calling the cops and telling them someone stole your properity is going to be hard to prove. You can call and ask though , no harm there.

Lastly, just go sneak up behind him, put a bag on his head, beat him silly and take his wallet.

[JonPKibble]

This is all that comes to mind:

http://film.purger.com/faq/xf/tmrx.jpg

[junkmail3]

I think this is a siuation where having a description of the object would be useful/interesting ...

Are they greeting cards?
Baseball cards?
Magic cards?
Gay black cards?
Playing cards?
Business cards?

If they are baseball cards I wouldn't worry about it. They'll probably get accidentially thrown away by your wife/future wife at some point anyway.

[roxtar]

Cut his thumbs off if he doesn't give you the $800.