cliffs: neighbor claimed I keyed his car. 2 days later, had a huuuuuge scratch on my truck (done by a knife or screwdriver). cop comes out, guy gave cop a different description of me. filed malicious destruction of property charges against me. got a lawyer, paid $400. went to court yesterday and he DIDN'T SHOW! i have to pay $35 to get this taken off of my record. Take him to court for destruction of my property and lawyer fee and wasting my time, the cops time and lawyers time or just let it go? (BTW, we're moving in November so I won't see him anymore and won't be able to do this after November.)


Okay, so I posted before about my neighbor claiming I keyed his car back in April, 2 weeks after my dad had been buried. April 20th my mom, cousin and I were going to take my Mom to sign a lease for a townhouse for her and my sister. This guy who lives in my building said he watched me key his car in broad daylight. Never said anything to me apparently when this happened. My Mom, cousin and I left. 2 days later on April 22nd, I drove my husband to work and I was going to go and visit a friend who had just had surgery. It was about 7:30am and we were walking to our car and I noticed this huge scratch down the back right rear corner panel of my truck. We drove off.

We for home around 6:00pm that evening walked to our apartment and noticed a card from a police officer on the door saying 'call me asap.' My inlaws were out of town so we thought something might have happened with them because all weekend we tried to call them and they never answered. We called the officer back several times and then he stopped by. He said that my neighbor watched someone from my apartment key his car. I told the officer about the huge scratch on my truck. And told him I think this is out of retaliation or something. And the officer agreed and asked me to take him to my truck. As I showed the officer my truck the guy walked out and said 'She's the one who keyed my car.' The officer looked at him and said 'I thought you told me she had blonde hair?' The guy said 'I was mistaken.' The officer went and talked to the guy and then came back to me and said that he wasn't going to press charges because he couldn't get the description of my right. A few days later he went and filed charges. I didn't know about it until I looked up on this case search thing and saw I was summoned. I never got it, called the police station and had to go and pick it up. Contacted my lawyer because this was a criminal case. Malicious Destruction of Property +500.

I went through with everything, got a lawyer, had to pay $400 for the lawyer and we went to court yesterday. All of my witnesses were there as well as the cop who had been working the night shift so he hadn't been to sleep yet. We're in court, my case gets called up and the guy who claimed I keyed his car DIDN'T EVEN SHOW UP!! So the case was dismissed. So he wasted my time, my lawyers time, My Mom's time, and most of all the officers time. I'm out $400 and he's acting like nothing even happened. My lawyer and myself came to the conclusion that this guy is going around, pressing charges on people or taking them to court and these people are offering him money to drop it and he does. So, when I went through with everything, he knew he was lying and would get caught in a lie that he just backed out and didn't go. Plus, I have to pay like $35 to have this all taken off of my record.

So, here's my question. Should I take him to court, sue him for the destruction of my property and to get my money back for having to pay my lawyer and waste his time, my time, the officers time and everyone else's time? Some people say just let it go, but I'm sorry, with all the crap he's put me through the last few months, I'm not sure I really can let it go. Need some opinions.

Only you and your attorney can make this decision. It may be better to just let it go since you are moving soon. Good luck to you.