IN A SMALL CLAIMS COURT

When I moved from Berkeley to Houston to take a teaching job at Rice University, my new apartment was not immediately available. So my family and I stayed in a temporary apartment for a month. After we moved into the new apartment, the landlady of the temporary apartment did not return the deposit of $300 for some reason that I could not accept. I called her many times asking her to return the deposit, but she was firm.

Unhappy with the landlady's unfair treatment, I consulted a lawyer at Rice University. He told me to take the case to small claims court. So I filed a lawsuit in a nearby small claims court, remembering that a favorite TV program of mine was 'People's Court'. The first date scheduled for my case was not good for me because I had to teach that day. At my request the court set a new date, which the landlady fortunately accepted.

On the appointed day, I was almost late to court: only a few minutes after I arrived, the judge finished the previous case, called my name, and started my case.

Judge: Explain to me why you have filed this lawsuit.
Myself: I stayed in the defendant's apartment for a month, but after I moved out she refused to return my deposit.
Landlady: There were a TV set and a sofa in the apartment. After Mr. Choe's family moved out I found that the TV had been broken and the sofa was dirty. So I used the $300 deposit to have the TV fixed and the sofa cleaned.
Myself: Your Honor, that is not true. As soon as I moved into the apartment I found the TV not working. So I called a technician to come over, but he said that the TV was not fixable and needed to be replaced. As for the sofa, it was originally dirty.
Judge: Do you have the technician's written statement about the condition of the TV?
Myself: No. I tried to contact him, but I learned that he had emigrated to Australia.
Judge: (turning toward the defendant) Do you have any proof that the plaintiff damaged the TV and dirtied the sofa?
Landlady: No.
Judge: I want to stop this case here. Check with the court secretary after five days to find out my judgement. Do you have any more comments?
Myself, Landlady: No.

After five days I called the secretary, who said, "The judge has found the case for Mr. Choe". It was the landlady, the judge had decided, who bore the burden of proof. This, I think, is because the landlady is in a stronger position than the tenant.

That evening I told the whole story to my little son, adding that he should not remain quiet when he is treated unfairly. Jokingly, he responded, "OK, I will go to court."

After the judge's verdict the landlady was given 14 days to appeal, in case she did not want to accept the judgement. On the last day, however, she sent me the check, and the case was finished.