Defendant

I am the defendant. That is, I am being sued in Small Claims Court by Geneviève, the plaintiff. She says that I owe her money because my dog bit her. She was bitten – that’s true. But it was her fault. My dog is friendly; she’s the one who provoked him and I told her to let go of the dog. This whole situation really annoys me. It started when I received a letter from Geneviève, a demand letter, in which she asked me to compensate her for her ambulance fees, the days of work she had to miss, plus $2,000 for pain and stress. I didn’t answer the letter: I don’t owe her anything and her claim is really exaggerated. I think she’s just trying to make money off of me. Plus, she broke my dog’s paw when she hit him after she was bitten. I had to pay a hefty veterinary bill, myself.

A few weeks after receiving the letter, I received another document. What a shock – Geneviève was actually suing me in Small Claims Court! I didn’t think she was really serious when I got the demand letter. I went to see a lawyer, but he explained that lawyers aren’t allowed in Small Claims Court. Still, he gave me some legal advice. Among other things, he explained that it was up to the plaintiff to prove that I owed her money. He also said that I could try to claim from Geneviève, the money that I paid to the vet to have my dog’s paw fixed.

I noticed that Geneviève indicated in her documents that our neighbor, Eric, would be a witness. But he wasn’t even there on the day of the incident! At least I didn’t see him there. That guy doesn’t like me and I know that he will try to cause me trouble. What is he going to say? I don’t have any witnesses…does that mean that I lose? I prepared as well as I could. I got information about civil liability. I went to the courthouse within the time limit indicated in the documents filed by Geneviève. There, a person at the counter – the clerk – told me that I had the right to oppose Geneviève’s claim. She helped me to write down my version of what had happened and told me that this was my “contestation”, which is also called a “defense”. I told her everything that I remembered. The clerk then explained to me how I could claim my vet bill in the same file. The clerk called this a “cross demand”. I attached to the cross demand my vet bill and the report that the vet had prepared for me. I put the name of the veterinarian down on my witness list.

So here we are on the day of the hearing. I’m really nervous. I arrived on time. I had no trouble finding the courtroom, and the veterinarian came too. He didn’t seem too happy to be there. He told me for the second time that he would send me a bill for the workday that he is missing.

We had to wait a pretty long time for our turn. The judge asked Geneviève to explain what had happened. She told a very different story from the one I remembered. I tried to interrupt her to set the record straight, but the judge told me that I had to wait my turn to speak. She explained that I would have a chance to explain my point of view later. I didn’t understand at first that each person gets a turn to talk. Our neighbor also spoke. His story was closer to the truth than what Geneviève had said. I was surprised; I guess that guy is O.K. after all.

Finally, the judge let me tell my side of the story. I couldn’t wait to tell the judge my version of things. When I started talking, my heart was pounding so fast that I couldn’t get the right words out. I had been waiting for this, imagining it for weeks now, but it wasn’t the same in real life. In the end, the judge didn’t seem so interested in knowing that I had told Geneviève to let go of the dog. She focused on the fact that my dog wasn’t on a leash. The veterinarian also spoke, explaining the injury to my dog’s paw.

Finally, the judge said that she would have to think about our case a bit, and that we’d get the decision later in the mail. Then she sent us on our way. I really want to know what her decision will be.