Text messages in court

Cardinal-Red

Hi

I am taking a local builder to small claims court. The bulk of my "evidence" and the direct rebuttal to his claimed defence is contained in text messages.

I've read that especially in small claims court they can be "used" but what does this mean?

Can I show the judge my phone?

In the directions it says I must provide all documents on which I'll rely to the defendant. How can I do that with texts?

Thanks!

Valli

If it were me I would tYpe up a transcript of the texts exactly as they are written with details of date and time. I would put date and time in red, along with sender, rest in black


Provide a copy for the court but be prepared to show your phone in court.

sjbrun

It might not be real court but you can see this in Judge rinder, They take screenshots of the text messages in question and print out the screenshots, you would then give a copy of the print outs to the other side and take one with you if you need to attend court.

You must also then bring your phone to court incase the texts in the printouts are disputed.

Cardinal-Red

Thanks.
No problem showing the phone at all. Just checking I could.

Country_Cousin

But take screen shots too. If you get a bad signal or problems with your phone on the day and you have no print outs that will be a problem.

agrinnall

Signal is irrelevant as the messages are stored on the phone. But I would agree that screen shots are the way to go for ease of viewing, the phone may be asked for to verify the accuracy of the content of the screen shots.

steampowered

You have presumably received the standard set of directions which require you to disclose all documents you intend to rely on in court to the other side a certain number of days before the hearing.

I'd suggest typing up the texts and providing the other side with a transcript as part of your evidence. Alternatively you could also take screenshots and print them out.

But bring the phone to court in case there is any dispute over it.

DoaM

Can you not export the text messages to your PC and then print them out?

takman

What kind of phone have you got?

If it's a smartphone there are many apps that are available that will be able to email a transcript of the text messages to your computer for you to print out.

There are also apps that mean you can edit your text message history on your phone. So really if your text messages are disputed even showing them on your phone doesn't prove they are genuine.

hollydays

takman wrote: »

What kind of phone have you got?

If it's a smartphone there are many apps that are available that will be able to email a transcript of the text messages to your computer for you to print out.

There are also apps that mean you can edit your text message history on your phone. So really if your text messages are disputed even showing them on your phone doesn't prove they are genuine.

That's a bit of an over simplification from a court point of view.
Do you have any legal links to support this?

MothballsWallet

On a side note, since my wife needs a visa to be in this country, I need to keep copies of things like texts, emails and letters that we send to each other.

Since I've got a smartphone, I found an app called SMS Backup and Restore that lets me save them to the phone's memory or an external memory card and I can then print them off later from my computer.