If I gave a personal loan to an unreliable person for $100, are text messages valid evidence in a small claims court?

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If I gave a personal loan to an unreliable person for $100, are text messages valid evidence in a small claims court?

I gave a personal loan to an unreliable person for $100. No promissory note was signed at the date of the loan, however I have over a month of text messages from this person which establishes a value$100 and that the money originally belonged to me. Are these text messages usable in a small claims court as evidence to win the judgement?

Asked on June 10, 2012 under Bankruptcy Law, New Jersey

Answers:

M.T.G., Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 11 years ago | Contributor

The problem with texting as evidence is that the person that wants to use them has to prove that the texts were sent by the person you claim.  That they wrote it.  If some one states that they did not have exclusive use of the phone then that could rebut your claim.  So then you need additional proof.  There are tools used by experts such as Paraben which is an iformation  "collection" tool  but expensive for your purposes. Good luck.


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