Thanks very much for the info - that's pretty 
much as I thought.  The law is set to make things 
easier for the defendant, and in general I'm 
quite in favor of that, because maybe it makes 
things easier for innocent people who are falsely 
accused.  However, for me it's a pain because I 
live halfway across the country from this 
person.  I imagine I can file the claim by mail, 
but as far as I understand I would still have to 
appear in that county's court?  It infuriates me 
that people can get away with things pretty 
easily- just because the people they wrong can't 
afford to go after them legally.  
It seems like there should be a way to do 
telephone court session or something for people 
that are in different states - technology has 
allowed so much more interaction between people 
seperated by much greater distances, that our old 
local geographic judicial model just doesn't work 
so well anymore.

I hope other folks out there are paying attention-
 I'm getting to the point where I don't trust 
buying things outside a shop or person I've dealt 
with before, or via ebay which is also obviously 
not foolproof.  It's really sad because the cel 
community in the past has always been very honest 
and trustworthy for me.