A lawyer has revealed why she decided not to take legal action against a friend who owes her ₹5 lakh, saying the time and effort involved in a court battle did not seem worth the amount she hoped to recover.
Lawyer Joshiba Dev shared the experience in an Instagram video, explaining that although she had considered filing a case, she ultimately chose to treat it as a lesson.
“Go file a case”
Joshiba said her friend bluntly told her that he would not return the money and challenged her to approach the court.
“A friend who owes me five lakh rupees said to my face that hey go file a case, go to the court, I am not going to give your money back,” she said.
While she acknowledged that her friend may be struggling financially, she added that she too was dealing with her own difficulties and was only asking for her money back.
{{/usCountry}}While she acknowledged that her friend may be struggling financially, she added that she too was dealing with her own difficulties and was only asking for her money back.
{{/usCountry}}“I understand that probably he said this because he is in a really tough situation but listen, I am in a tough situation too and I am asking for my own money,” she said.
Why she decided not to file a case
Joshiba explained that she considered the possibility of winning the case after years of litigation but questioned whether she would actually be able to recover the money.
“I was deciding if I should file a case against him or not. Then I decided I am not going to file a case,” she said.
As a lawyer, Joshiba knows the ins and outs of the system. She said a case could take two to three years to conclude, and even if the judgement came in her favour, there was no guarantee the money would be recovered.
“And say at the end of the third year the judgment is passed in my favour where he has to pay me the money but what if his situation is still the same? What if he is still bankrupt? What if his condition has not improved at all and he files for insolvency?” she wondered.
“Amount is not worth it”
The Bengaluru-based lawyer said recovering money through legal action could also require proving that the person has assets or hidden sources of income.
“Nobody can push a person over the brink to pay you your money back,” she said.
She added that proving someone’s financial situation could become another challenge.
“The worst part is I would have to be the one proving that you know he has these kinds of investments, houses here and there, he goes on vacation. How do I get that data? It’s too much of work to get this data,” she said.
Ultimately, she concluded that suing her friend was not worth the trouble. She said that had the amount of money been larger, a case would have made sense.
“If it was more than 10 lakhs filing a case would have made sense cause I can at least retrieve 5 lakhs from him. To go through so much just to probably retrieve 2.5 lakhs. No thanks. 49 million cases are pending in court. Fighting for this amount is not worth it,” she said.
A learning opportunity
Joshiba said the incident had changed the way she viewed lending money to friends. She said she would take this as a learning opportunity.
“Hence, I’m going to take this as a lesson and I’m only going to pay money to my friends if I can afford to lose that money,” she said.
She also mentioned that she could consider asking for a promissory note in some cases, though she admitted she was unlikely to lend such large amounts again. Ending her post, she said she was unsure about karma but had decided to leave the matter behind: “Not sure if Karma works or not. But I’ll leave it at that.”
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