alt Hacker News> Which is fine unless they know the system and how to play it - eg by telling the magistrate the second time around that they've made partial payment & have more coming, just need some time, etc.
Are you speaking from past experience? This is something I hear repeated on Hacker News all the time but I’ve never seen evidence that it’s particularly common.
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If you have never tried to collect on a judgement from small claims, it is extremely difficult if the target just doesn't want to play ball. I have tried, and they were just like, "Yeah. No. Go get the court to enforce it."
Filing those claims is time consuming and expensive, and if they fight or ignore, it ends up costing more than your claim is worth, even not including time.
And this wasn't even with movers.
> I’ve never seen evidence that it’s particularly common
Because it isn't, for small claims court. Does it happen? Absolutely. But it's rare.
It's much more common outside small claims, where the stakes are higher.