In my country we have a Small Claims Court for situations like this (under USD$2500), where you get to go before a judge and plead your case.
There are no lawyers involved and it costs nothing if you handle the entire case yourself or a small amount of money (that you can add to your claim) if you want to pay a bailiff to serve the papers to the defendant for you.
There are no lawyers involved and it costs nothing if you handle the entire case yourself or a small amount of money (that you can add to your claim) if you want to pay a bailiff to serve the papers to the defendant for you.