Small claims vs mediation for a $2,800 fence dispute, which way did you go?

My neighbor and I had a blowup over a shared fence line in Tucson. She got a quote for $3,400 to replace the whole thing but I only wanted to fix the cracked section for around $600. We tried talking twice and it went nowhere fast, she even called my HOA to complain. I filed in small claims court and paid the $42 filing fee, but the clerk suggested we try a free mediation session first. We sat down for about an hour with a retired lawyer and actually split the cost at $1,700 each after he pointed out how much court time would eat into our schedules. Has anyone here gone through small claims for a property line issue, or did mediation work out better for you in the end?

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hayden5874d ago

...and that's when I remembered my aunt's whole saga with her neighbor in Phoenix over a palm tree dropping fronds into her pool. She refused mediation because she wanted to "win" and the judge basically told them both to split the cleanup costs anyway, but not before they spent five months being petty about it. Honestly, the mediation route sounds like you dodged a bullet, even if $1,700 stings. The real kicker is that after all that, the fence section she wanted fixed was the same one my aunt had replaced, and her neighbor's contractor did such a sloppy job that the HOA fined them both. Tbh, the legal system loves dragging things out, so you probably saved yourself a year of headaches.