Being taken to court by a friend for money i do not owe her

stressedout79

Over 4 years ago I spent quite a bit of time in the pub with friends. One 'friend' had recently sold their house and when i said i couldn't afford to go out - she would say she'd pay for me, i explained i didn't want to as couldn't pay her back and she told me it was fine. On a couple of occasions she offered to pay a couple of my bills - i told her i didn't know when i would have the money to pay her back and she said it was fine. Quite often the subject would come up - mainly because i didn't want to go out and she would tell me not to worry about the money she'd given me. It turns out she got through £35,000 in just over 12 months, spending in the pub and holidays etc. I stopped going out and changed my social circle as i didn't want to be out drinking all the time. I moved abroad for 8 months and then when i came back lived in the local area for about 14 months before moving away again. I have recently moved back to the area and received a message via a social networking site that she wants just under £1000 and she wants it in cash - now. I am currently not working and have no income however she was quite aggressive and threatening towards me and would not be at all reasonable about speaking with me about it. Just threatened and swore at me. I sought legal advice and was told she would need to take me to court. As nothing was signed and it was all on hearsay. I do not owe her any money and have had no contact for 4 years up until this date. I have been told that she is struggling financially and is in the pub every day drinking. This ex friend and her friends have in the past spread rumours about me including that i am HIV positive which is untrue and generally made my life a living hell. If it does go to the small claims court do she have a case against me and what will happen to me ?

McKneff

In a word - no.

Nothing signed, stop worrying.

She could only go to small claims court (which would cost her money) they would laugh her out of court.

Does she know where you live. If not just block her on face book

KingElvis

LOL, I don't think she has enough there to borrow a cup of sugar let alone take you to court.

I assume due to the nature of the lend there was no verbal or written agreemnet between the parties?

Ihatecameron

See if you can help her out, make an appointment for her with Alcoholics Anonymous.

stressedout79

She's knows i'm local but because of the what feels like a witch hunt i've been very careful who knows where i live. All i did was stop hanging around with people who spent all their lives in the pub b**!!ing about others - 4 years later i'm still the topic of conversation and they're still in the pub - pretty sad really. I have taken screen shots of the messages incase she does take it further - but thanks for the reply - i'm a bit of a worry-wart :-)

Well i guess it could have been verbal but then she verbally told me not to worry about it - so i haven't and as haven't heard anything in 4 years from her i assumed i wouldn't hear from here again - i guess when people have money they have a different attitude to when they've spent up and have none.

Culps_2

"friends" you say in your original post ? They are not friends.

Ihatecameron

Next time you have a bit of cash to spare maybe you could give her some, she did after all help you out in the past, you could return the favour to placate her. It might lesson the venom between you and her friends.

jonjamie1970

Ihatecameron wrote: »

Next time you have a bit of cash to spare maybe you could give her some, she did after all help you out in the past, you could return the favour to placate her. It might lesson the venom between you and her friends.

Its not a bad idea, get together what you can afford, go to the pub, put the cash in front and say, after you gave me money Im goign to do the same and this is all I have.:beer:

dougyd

jonjamie1970 wrote: »

Its not a bad idea, get together what you can afford, go to the pub, put the cash in front and say, after you gave me money Im goign to do the same and this is all I have.:beer:

Maybe being silly, but could that be construed as admitting some kind of liability?

stressedout79

The thing is i don't have any money - just setting up a business at the moment - i won't have money until it makes money - i can't sign on benefits because i hadn't paid enough national insurance in my last job so i have no income at all.

I was happy to have an adult conversation about it to see how much she wanted, when, etc just to see if there would be anything i could do because she had helped me in the past - if i can help someone i will - but i was just sworn at and told to get it all in cash asap and also told to never contact her again - i'm not a horrible person and tried to sort it out amicably without rising to her nastiness but the calmer i was the nastier she got - but that could have been the alcohol i guess.

paddyrg

I don't think this is ever going to court, or if it does that's fine for you anyway. Woman sounds like a nightmare, and is probably clutching at straws as she feels so bad after drinking through her inheritance - she's projecting all her guilt onto you and making you the bogeyman to avoid having to confront the fact she's a lonely alcoholic.

If you can find the money that covered the actual bills, that would be a decent thing to do - but unless you actively asked to borrow money to go on the town, forget the other claim. Friends sometimes buy more rounds than others, that is life, you can't keep a tally and it sounds like you went along at least partly out of your interests to provide companionship to someone who didn't want to be seen drinking alone. A troubled lady, but her mess is not your mess.