Wedding Venue Deposit

If he already returned the deposit, it should be a done deal. I absolutely would not be paying for something that happened sometime in the past two weeks. That’s absurd.

Do you have your documentation of how the space look when you left? Also did they return via check or Venmo/PayPal with any notes? If they returned the deposit it's unlikely a court would turn around and force ya'll to give it back.

View Quoted Comment Exactly what I was thinking. And he’s asking “how we would like to take care of this” and I feel I should no longer be held responsible. It has been 2 weeks

View Quoted Comment We do not. We didn’t even think of it when we left! & I hope he wouldn’t try to take it to court if we do not return the deposit.

There's no way of knowing that it happened on the day of your wedding. You most deffinitly should not be held responsible

This sounds sketchy as heck! I second what Destiny said. How is he aware it's your sister's wedding guests that caused this. He checked the venue himself said there was no damage, and gave the deposit in confidence. Sorry you're having to deal with this. OMG.

Most lawyers offer a short consultation and they usually don’t charge for it (around here anyway) I would find one of them and ask what your options are and what course of action would be recommended (especially since you don’t have any pictures it WASNT you.). If he DOES decide to take you to court, you want to be prepared.

now, if he does decide to take your sister to small claims court, he does have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that your sister’s wedding was 100% the cause of the damage, and after 2 weeks he would have a hard time proving that nothing else happened in those last 2 weeks, especially if there was another wedding or event at the venue. Most likely he would have to have a picture of one of the guests actively smashing something to be able to prove that, but you want to be ready for any questions that may be asked. Do she have it in writing that the venue was in good condition when the deposit was returned? If you do, he has no case. Most likely he’s trying to scare your sister into just handing over the money, but I’d be prepared to fight just in case.

View Quoted Comment Since it’s civil, not criminal court the standard of proof is preponderance of the evidence not beyond a reasonable doubt. But the burden of proof is on the landlord to establish you caused the damage.

If this was such major damage why was it not noticed sooner?

He gave your deposit back and gave you an all clear. This is his problem, not yours.