Presentation of evidence

[bb34r5]

I lent some money to a friend who has cut off communication with me and I will be taking them to small claims court. I have two questions about how to present my evidence in court.

One bit of evidence is a message that I sent and have saved on Facebook. Do I just take a screenshot of that and print it out to present in court?

I did not save any of the messages from them on Facebook, but I have a Blackberry and all of my Facebook messages get sent to that as well and it's saved on there. How do I present that message in court? Just present my Blackberry?

Any confirmation or help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Presenting your Blackberry in court is the best way to authenticate your messages. You probably want to print out anything so that the judge/arbitrator can read the messages easily. If the defendant objects to the messages being not authored by him/herself, you can always show the defendant to be the liar that you insist by authenticating it via those ways you mentioned. Small claims is more "open" forum so rules are more relaxed but you still want to go in with as much ammunition as possible. Good luck to you.