<p>The advice you are giving out to the OP is bad, BAD advice. Taking a brand new roommate to small claims court for the incident described in the OP * is* a sledgehammer. It is overkill. Judicial proceedings should be considered ony if the situation cannot be resolved amicably.</p>
<p>Is there a reason you don’t have roommates and live on campus?</p>
<p>There is a very good reason - because college-age persons are predisposed to conduct as the OP has described. I have done relatively well for myself and do not wish to let some moron jeopardise this.</p>
<p>So you are an older student living at home and commuting, and doling out bad advice on how to lose friends and basically be a jerk. Understood.</p>
<p>Just noticed your edit in previous posts, vanagr. Your advice is to be mean-spirited and vindictive. That really stinks. </p>
<p>You have mentioned elswehere that you want to make lots of $$ as an engineer, and someone recommended petroleum engineering. There will be plenty of time to live in remote places and spend time on platforms. You will enjoy your time in the remote places, but you might do well to learn how to get along with people.</p>
<p>The jerk was the one who puked all over the dorm. OP is likely going to be out of some money as a result of this, thus my proposals. That said, I, you, nor anyone else was put upon the earth to make others happy, if they do not like it, that is their problem.</p>
<p>In reply to the double post that went in after mine, I do not appreciate your implications. What is mean-spirited, again, is puking all over the place and depriving the OP of his bed for a night, if not longer. You seem not to want to hold the guilty to account.</p>
<p>Disagree, vanagandr. You know nothing about the roommate, and until the OP has a chance to talk to him, you dont know if he has a drinking problem, depression/adjustment issues being away from home, stopped taking meds when he left home (this happened to a kid at my older s’s college and and he became aggressive to his roommates-- was a dangerous situation), etc. The roommate may have no memory of last night and may be embarrassed and apologetic. Who knows. </p>
<p>Apparently from reading these and your other posts, everything seems to be about money. My implication is that you don’t really know what you are talking about and you are giving really bad advice. The OP would do well to ignore it, as others have said. There are many ways to address this issue. Threatening him with court action right up front is NOT the way to go. Plenty of college kids have been “deprived of their bed for a night” with sextiling. Its not necessarily right, but it happens, and roommates work it out without threatening a bogus lawsuit. Really.</p>
<p>Enough said.</p>
<p>The true problem is you were sleeping in your room by midnight on a saturday night…but that’s still pretty gross. Puke on his stuff.</p>
<p>Hey tiff-- you sound like a good roommate for vanagandr! :D</p>
<p>This is the first I have heard of a bogus lawsuit. Property was damaged, and if this matter is not reported to the authorities, he could be held liable for that moron’s actions. This is my way of ‘working things out’, and it is a very strong deterrent.</p>
<p>Tiff - no offence, but you do not. I am doing just fine with my current roommates i.e. the wooden chess pieces. They do not sextile (sic) nor puke on things nor cause any trouble.</p>
<p>Enjoy your lonely life. There are TONS of bogus (frivolous) lawsuits and suits thrown out because the merits of the case are questionable, and also on summary judgement. Again- you don’t know what you are talking about. This is a waste of time.</p>
<p>Jym - is there a cogent argument in there? All I see is an ad-hominem, a red herring, and another ad-hominem.</p>
<p>For the record, via Law.com’s legal dictionary:</p>
<p>Small Claims (n.) - a division of most municipal, city or other lowest local courts which hear cases involving relatively small amounts of money and without a request for court orders like eviction. The highest (jurisdictional) amount that can be considered in small claims court varies by state, but goes as high as $5,000 in California. In small claims court, attorneys may not represent clients, the filing fee is low, there is no jury, the procedure is fairly informal, each side has a short time to present his/her case and the right to appeal only permits a trial de novo (a new trial) at the next court level. Often the judge is an experienced lawyer sitting as a pro tem judge. Small claims court is a quick, inexpensive way to settle lesser legal disputes, although the controversies are often important to the participants. The well-known television program People’s Court is intended to be a good example of a small claims court.</p>
<p>I am suggesting that you do a bit more research so as to provide useful information. Read up on frivolous suits, summary judgement, garnishment of wages, and roommate issues resolution. Good day to you.</p>
<p>And my observation that your posts (here and in the thread about EE majors) all seem to be about money. Seems pretty clear.</p>
<p>We are all trying to tell you that there is more to life than that. Learning to get along with classmates and coworkers is an important life skill.</p>
<p>Firstly, Im not taking him to small claims court over this. The last thing I want is that reputation, and I’m not concerned about losing any money because of this incident. The only permanent damage was the carpet in the room, and the futon cover was compltely soaked and dripping, but that can be replaced easilly. By him.</p>
<p>Secondly, me and 3 other kids managed to clean it up at about 6AM. It was horrible, but neccesary. Our Female RA was very apologetic for not answering the door, but she was mad because apparently only my roommate and the Cleaning Staff were authorized to clean up his vomit for health code reasons. Also we didn’t do it right and didn’t follow the standard procedures. And of course she was curious if he’d been drinking in the dorms, so my room got searched up the wazoo.</p>
<p>I got ahold of my roommate at about 10:30 this morning, and he had driven to Des Moines (which is 40 miles away) after the incident to see his girlfriend, and said he’ll be back late tonight. He does’t remember the incident OR driving to Des Moines, so would that defeat the purpose of punishment? Because I think he has a $200 citation coming his way.</p>
<p>jym - You have yet to submit a cogent argument to the effect that this lawsuit would be frivolous. Have you read about these things? Seeing as you only bring these things up, I am writing your nonsense off as a red herring. Good day to you too, now begone.</p>
<p>BC - you certainly should pursue this; you have been deprived of your property, and of your bed for a night. A $200 citation is not enough.</p>
<p>Beat the **** out of him. There is no room for talk or compromise.</p>
<p>Chris - I would advise another way that does not open the OP up to criminal charges. I do like your disposition of ‘an eye for an eye’, that usually does wonders.</p>
<p>"I got ahold of my roommate at about 10:30 this morning, and he had driven to Des Moines (which is 40 miles away) after the incident to see his girlfriend, and said he’ll be back late tonight. He does’t remember the incident OR driving to Des Moines, so would that defeat the purpose of punishment? Because I think he has a $200 citation coming his way. "</p>
<p>This actually is one reason why I suggested leaving the vomit for him to deal with. I was wondering whether he’d even remember what happened when he was drunk.</p>
<p>He probably is telling the truth about not remembering the incident. What he experienced is called an “alcoholic blackout” – a person’s not remembering what happened when they were under the influence. It’s also a sign of late stage alcoholism.</p>
<p>I know a person who realized she was an alcoholic when she came out of a blackout to realize she was having intercourse with a man whom she hated.</p>
<p>I suspect that the college’s punishment for him will be more than a $200 fine. They may force him to take classes about substance abuse or to get counseling to help him with his obvious problems with alcohol.</p>
<p>BTW, if your roommate becomes so drunk that he passes out or if he if he urinates on himself while passed out, those are symptoms that he will need to be treated at an ER or else he may die of alcohol poisoning. </p>
<p>A few years ago, a Cornell freshman whose CC name was Lucifer11287 got drunk while visiting University of Virginia. He passed out and was found dead the next morning. He had bragged on CC about how he knew he could handle his liquor. You can use CC’s search function and Google to read about him.</p>
<p>Glad to hear back from the OP. No surprise that the intoxicated roommate has no recall of the events. The fact that he had a black-out is a bad sign. Agree that there could be a more serious problem at hand.</p>
<p>As for vanagandrs constant pesky posts-- yes ignoring is a great strategy. Absolutely. Most posters here are clearly doing that already. Smart posters. When you learn more about the law and social graces, the posts might be listened to.</p>
<p>Go ahead, ignore me, it’s not my money one would lose, so not my problem…</p>
<p>Vanagandr…The OP just arrived on campus as did the roommate. If he handles this through the police or court as you have suggested the rest of his college life will be a disaster. The OP has had a tough introduction to college but it can be worked out in an amicable way. It is always best to try to do things in a way that you would like to be treated. There may be a time when the OP gets a stomach virus or the flu and a similar vomit situation occurs. I don’t think someone would tell his roommate to sue him because he got sick and puked in the room. </p>
<p>Also to judge the OPs roommate as a drunk with a problem may be a bit too soon. I think many kids are so uneasy when they start college that they attempt to fit in or loosen up by drinking too much. I am sure this situation can be worked out in a very calm and decent manner.</p>
<p>OP I am sorry to hear that your roommate got into a car and drove anywhere. That is something that concerns me more than the vomit.</p>