When going to small claims, what size photos do you use?

Considering you need to make (3) copies of each, it can be very expensive if you have a lot of photos.

And do you make paste the before & after photos on 1 large board, or do you keep each photo separate?

Prints: 3x5, glued 3 to a page, with a description and price under each one.

'Bedroom 1 Repair 6" hole in wall $50'

With digital, I copy/paste 3 to a page in WORD, then type under each one.

Keep your presentation letter or legal size. Judges must keep them and don't want to mess with posters.

Our judge lets us charge $1 per pic. I just charge $1 per printed page. I've NEVER had a res argue about the printing cost in court.

As a practical matter, print a set for the judge and for me. Then I can hand my copy to the defendant IF they show up.

Keep your expenses low because few defendants actually pay anything.

PS Put the ugliest, grossest picture first!

I include a few BEFORE pics for comparison.

Great, thanks everyone!

Tenant damaged home, I kept the SD, and certified mail SD Itemization within the specified time period.

Tenant, never contacted me, use pre-paid legal Atty to file small claims for return of deposit.

Pre-paid legal is cheap for them so they have nothing to lose.

I have plenty of documention, photo, and Atty. In Illinois, they are allowed in small claims. As a matter of fact, IL small claims book recommends you get an Atty if the other side has one.

Complaint should have never been filed based on Lease, and Tenant signed Pre-move inspection checklist where they signed that there were no defects.

Bogus claim, will cost me at least $650 ($500 Atty + 150 Appearance Fee)

Atty says, probably each side will have to pay their own costs.

Walls can be tough to photo.

Ideally, I use a wide angle camera to get a wide shot of the room with a dark spot on the wall.

Then a closer shot AT A 3/4 ANGLE to show the hole. I usually simply place my hand in the shot to show size. Officially, a tape measure would look very CSI.

Photog tip: place your hand on the far side of the hole and it makes the hole seem larger, kinda like the fishermen who hold the fish out to the camera - big fish, tiny fisherman.

Now that attys are involved, settling outside of court is even MORE important.

You can easily lose on a technicality, even with an atty, and have to pay YOUR atty and HIS atty. Judge have bad days and rule in crazy ways.

KNOW that your atty has nothing to lose if you lose! And an atty's first job is to protect HIS license and reputation in court. You come in at #3.

There is no such thing ad a bogus claim. EVERY claim is heard and you might be in for a big surprise. I had a guy se me for $2000 (he just made up the number) and the judge decided neither of us were right so he split down the middle and made me pay $1000. For nothing.

My advice: do you want to be right or rich? Offer to pay and make this go away. The time, stress, and aggravation are not worth a few hundred bucks.

At this point, even if you win it will cost you $650!

Call em up and offer to refudn their money if they drop the case.

It's unfortunate, they went from damaging the home, to filing suit without any attempt to settle before filing claim.

It seems they are pros, and I think with the pre-paid legal, they feel they have nothing to lose.

It seems with my documentation, they signing the pre-move in checklist (no defects), my photos of damage, and their eagerness to go direclty to small claims without trying to negotiate shows intent of bad will and guilt.

Thinking more...

If you are willing to spend $650 to defend yourself, then defend yourself with the $650 by giving it to them and move on.

My pre-paid legal will not file anything. Get the real story.

Good points, thanks!

They never reached out before filing claim. The case is filed, and we are reaching out to them but htye have not responded.

Presently, they lost $2000 in SD. They used pre-paid legal, sort of free as it is provided thru their workplace. $150 to file claim.

In total, they lost $2000, and so far they have invested appx $200 to file a case.

I don't see the incentive for them to quit early especially if they don't think they will have to pay my costs.

On my side, if I don't try to settle, or defend, I am out the $2000 + court costs + damages they did.

Good points, thanks!

They never reached out before filing claim. The case is filed, and we are reaching out to them but htye have not responded.

Presently, they lost $2000 in SD. They used pre-paid legal, sort of free as it is provided thru their workplace. $150 to file claim.

In total, they lost $2000, and so far they have invested appx $200 to file a case.

I don't see the incentive for them to quit early especially if they don't think they will have to pay my costs.

On my side, if I don't try to settle, or defend, I am out the $2000 + court costs + damages they did.