Marissa* was being treated for a diagnosed mental health problem when she came to us in the throes of a personal crisis. Tired that her long-time boyfriend was filching money from her, she ended the relationship. Perhaps sensing her vulnerability, the boyfriend retaliated by bringing a small claims case against her, alleging that she had failed to reimburse him for repairs to her automobile that he had paid out of his pocket to the mechanics.

The boyfriend was trying to scam her. She had written him a check, he had cashed it, and the bank sent her the cancelled check. But now he was alleging that she had forged the cancelled check. A way to resolve that, she thought, was to subpoena her boyfriend’s bank records, to show that he had, in fact, cashed the check. In working with her, however, the Center’s case workers advocated another route, which was for her to respond to the small claims action, and win the case by telling her story and producing the cancelled check. To help overcome her anxiety
about appearing, in person, before a small claims judge, the Center counseled her to visit small claims court and study the process.
This she did. When the day came for the small claims hearing she more than held her own and won the case hands down. The ex-boyfriend’s specious claim was dismissed and Marissa walked out of court not only having ended a difficult chapter in her life, but with a new feeling of personal empowerment.
*not her real name