small-claims-court
Can I sue my roommate in small claims court in Texas?
<p>There were three of us living in an apartment and one roommate had her name (Bianca) on the electricity and we would all pay our share when it was due. However, the other roommate (Cindy) who did not have her name on the electricity bill would always pay late resulting with delinquency notices for Bianca. After six months of delinquency notices Bianca asked Cindy to pay on time and this made Cindy upset. Cindy then stated she would put her name on the electricity bill. Two months passed and she did not put her name on the bill which resulted with vacancy fees on All three of our bills. This is student housing so there is a third-party company that fronts the bill for the city and then charges us extra because there was no name on the bill. When I brought the attention to Cindy she stated she forgot to put her name on the bill but would take care of our extra fees herself. I have her stating this on multiple texts and emails where she specifically states she will pay for all subsequent fees for not putting her name on the electricity bill. She never did and has since stopped communicating to either of us. I am wondering if her agreement to pay our extra fees as a result of not putting her name on the electricity bill even though she stated she would before the fees accrued and then not following through is something I can take to small claims court. The total is $150 for just me.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Can I sue my roommate in small claims court in Texas?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes. Cindy's agreement to take care of the extra fees was a form of settlement in exchange for your, and Bianca's, waiver of other actions (such as commencing court proceedings against Cindy). Cindy's pattern of evasion evidences her breach of the terms of that settlement.</p>
<p>Having emails and texts was a good idea because these will make much easier to prove your claims as opposed to unverifiable, bare statements of the sort &quot;<em>I said, she said</em>&quot;.</p>
<p>Main dispute aside, bringing this matter to Small Claims court will give you some exposure to legal proceedings (which most likely will involve mediation) as well as to presenting your merits in front of a judge. Although this will be short of full-fledged litigation, that exposure will help you not to be intimidated in a courtroom or court proceedings in general if/when other more serious matters (unrelated to this dispute and involving other parties) arise in the future.</p>
