“RE people whos stuff was sold at home hardware grage sale.I would like all the people that got a hold of me and wanted me to walk them through the process filling a small clams court action.I will be more than happy to help you in any way I can.As far as my situation goes we are still waiting to go to court that will be in december.I hade talked to a few people about taking there owen legal action and we were going to wait until after my case,but we should pobably start soon to get all the waiting part over with.SO please everybody who said the wanted to my help just give me a call and we can start.”
First off…if that’s the way your going to speak and spell its a good thing you have legal counsel. You wouldn’t stand a chance on your own sounding that uneducated. However, maybe you can help me. You see I have this neighbour… It so happens that his kid went and shot my screen window with an airsoft rifle and shot 3 holes through it almost 3 months ago. We have spoken to both the kid and the father multiple times and neither one of them seems to care. They have both said that they will pay for it, but of course haven’t. Its not about the money. Its about your kid learning to owe up to his responsibilities. He thought it was hilarious when he did it. I sure didn’t. Our pets could have been injured from it, and there could have been more damage since neither one of you know what is in the room where it happened. Not to mention it’s vandalism. I have been very lenient on it and replaced it for cheaper than you both expected it to be. We still have the pellets, and the date that it happened, not to mention a confession. This is against the firearms act and I’m sure the police would love to know about it. If neither one of you take care of this, I will have to take it further. As to how and when, well… the ball is in your court.
To fedup (I don’t want to contribute to your hijacking of a thread but there are a few points I think you should know)
The Firearms Act will not apply in this instance as an “airsoft” rifle has a muzzle velocity of less than 750 feet per second.
The pellets you are holding have little, if any evidentiary value.
If you are considering going to the RCMP, these charges would have to be laid within 6 months of the offence as they are a summary conviction offence. You say it happened about 3 months ago, that leaves you with 3 months to go to the RCMP, have them conduct their investigation, prepare a report to crown counsel, have crown counsel review the charges, and if charges are approved have the information sworn (this can take anywhere from 1 month to more time than you have left). This would not prevent the person from “owe up to his responsibilities” and if he did you could then approach the RCMP, or crown counsel and tell them what has happened and the charges could be stayed.
(My opinion only so it doesn’t rate a number) You don’t say how much the repairs cost, but I doubt crown counsel would find it in the public’s interest to proceed with charges.
Sorry didn’t mean to hijack the thread. Just so you know though the comment that I made went along with the post just previous of it. The person that wrote that post is the person involved. Its his kid that did it. This is also the person that is offering help with small claims court. I thought that posting this on his thread would let him know that I’m serious about the consequences of his kids actions, as we have spoken to them about it multiple times with not even an apology, or any sign of remorse at all. The point is it is illegal to be shooting any sort of pellet gun causing vandalism to a neighbour’s house. And a person offering assistance for a dead end small claims court suit should be careful because they themselves may just end up with a case against them. I haven’t taken this action yet because it is a small amount of money and a waste of court time, but I can’t just let him get away with it either. What’s next if he does? Thank you for your posts however, this is one of many ongoing events that keep escalating and I have to put an end to it.
What I would do is go buy myself a airgun or even yet a paintball gun and go shoot up there house… see if they like it then… Iam sure they wont have a problem with it, as they seem not to care about yours and think its funny and if they do… shoot them again… they always learn after the first warning shot!
Let me guess they are a low income family… there kids running around in the wee hrs of the night ( with a airgun )while dad and mom drink there faces off smoking crack and pot. Good parenting skills there… maybe thats why their kid was shooting your window…i call for help… this kid will be doing hard time in the years to come if he keeps this up.
Yeah, they can get the damages paid in small claims court. There is a small fee involved when you file the papers to sue someone in small claims court.
Small claims court is for claims for a “small amount of money”. I would not worry about wasting the court’s time; that’s what they’re there for. In any event there will be a settlement conference with a Provincial court judge (who will not hear the case if it goes to trial). My experience has been that they are very skilled in getting to the bottom of things. The judge will give polite but clear advice as to how the court will likely deal with the matter if it is not settled then and there.
I’ve been to a few settlement conferences, with positive results on behalf of employers. I found them to be quite enjoyable experiences. In one case the other side brought a lawyer who felt that some unpleasant remarks outside the conference room would help his client’s cause. I ignored his remarks and that he had liquor on his breath and we got the result we were looking for. I almost felt sorry for the other side for having wasted their money, but not quite.
It’s a while since I’ve filled out a claim form, but I would put as the cause of action something like “trespass to property causing damage”, then for particulars briefly explain that a door was damaged by an air rifle fired by the defendant. I would ask the court clerks for guidance about the rules around suing the child, ie do you name the child, the parents and the child? I don’t know, I’ve never had to sue a child. I’ve always found court clerks to be helpful in providing information about the rules.
Filing a claim costs about $100 last time I checked. Don’t forget to claim for the filing fee, as well as for the cost of replacing or repairing the door. Recovery of the filing fee can also be addressed at the settlement conference. If the other side doesn’t file a defence (there’s a fee) or files but fails to attend the settlement conference or, if a trial is ordered, fails to attend, you can apply for a payment order. If there is a trial (most claims are settled, or there are default orders) the matter will be dismissed or a payment order will be issued. It seems to me that there is a bit of extra paperwork, but an order can be served at their bank or place of work to recover the damages and court costs.
As for the other side having a “dead end” case against the hardware store, I doubt that, but it really doesn’t matter because that’s another issue, and if I recall he’s retained legal counsel. Whatever.
Finally, over the past week there have been a couple of cheap shots (not even close to being reasoned arguments or witty remarks) about HTMF not being “intelligent”, presumably compared to certain news services and chat boards. There’s been some pretty intelligent comments on this thread, with Ijustgottasay and expat providing particularly informative contributions.
When someone comes on HTMF over and over again (yeah, I’m talking about you, gum) and constantly says insults the site, even going on to list all the problems he has with it, then I gotta ask myself what the deal is.
One of these two things is true:
They secretly like HTMF, and can’t stay away, despite constantly putting down everyone and the site. Deep down inside, they love it.
or
They have a mental condition that forces them to do things they don’t like. I’m sure they watch TV shows they don’t like, listen to music they don’t like, read books they find distasteful, etc. How else would you explain returning to a website one clearly doesn’t like?
I’m not sure which one is true of gum.
But, here’s some advice, instead of your only contribution to this site being “I HATE THIS PLACE!” how about you either start contributing the kind of comments you’d like to see, or … go away and don’t take part in a site you don’t like?
