Suing Your Abuser

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#1 Jan 10 - 10PM
Anonymous (not verified)
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Suing Your Abuser

Ladies, if you can do this - I fully believe you should!

You may have a right to seek justice from an abuser through the court system where you live.

When people are injured by others, they are permitted to seek what the law refers to as "damages", in the form of money, for such things as medical bills, lost wages or employment, physical and emotional pain and suffering, and, in some cases, to punish the abuser. Each state has its own laws on these subjects, but, for the most part, they are very similar when it comes to injuries from abuse.

Small Claims Court
If your damages are below a certain amount, you may be able to file on your own in small claims court. Small claims court is a less formal type of court, and many people are able to go to small claims court without the help of an attorney. Ask the clerk of court for more information on small claims court in your area.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.womenslaw.org/laws_state_type.php?id=11175&state_code=GE

Jan 11 - 9AM
Carolyn
Carolyn's picture

Intentional inflcition of

Intentional inflicition of emotional harm used to be grounds for a cause of legal action and grounds for divorce. Small claims court is usually for amounts up to $5,000. It is without a lawyer, the paperwork is easy and you just tell your story. Watch Judge Judy on TV and that is small claims court. You have to have hard evidence of the abuse, a medical report, police report, you have to be able to prove that actions he took, that were witnessed,caused the problem you have loss of wages, medical or psych bills, lawyers bills for restraining orders etc. Most Small Claims Courts are part of the Municpal Court System and they have a small claims advisor who can tell you if you have a cause of action or not and help you with the papers. You have to hire a process server to serve the other party and you have to pay a small fee to the court. this is returned to you if you win and the other party has to pay for court costs including serving the papers. In some areas the local sheriff will collect the judgement if the other party does not comply and that means taking paychecks. In other areas, that don't have Sheriff's collections, it is hard to collect sometimes but they are in contempt if they don't pay and you can charge interest monthly and when it gets over $5,000 take them to Municipal Cour or maybe to the police. There is no judge the people who 'hear' these cases are usually lawyers who volunteer and the process is a bit stressful but not really bad. Teh court is also held in the evening so working people can go and they have hearings in the daytime also. Everyone is nice as they know you are representing yourself. I had to do it twice for a car accident and a cleaners destroying a new business suit.I had the suit and a police report on the accident and I won both. One company paid and the Sheriff had to go to the cleaners and as customers came in and paid the Deputy took the money out of the cash register. I was uncomfortable going in but it was ok.