If you give a friend $$ to fix their car, but they use it for something else, would you sue?

For 300? No. A lawyer takes that kind of money by the hour.
Plus court costs and whatnot.
And at the end, the guy will not be able to pay, anyway, seeing that he had to beg for “car maintenance money”.

Important here also, is that you believe he did said thing.
For all you know his grandfather knows a mechanic that did the job (by the way, brake pads are pretty crucial, I think), hence the cheque being made out to him.
To be honest, and you already said that much yourself, I think you should have thought harder about it before giving the blank cheque.
I give my friend 20 euro for gasoline every once in a while, but what she does with the money is none of my business.
I don’t pay that money for future gas, I pay it for the gas she uses to drive me.

Lesson learned. Move on and don’t give friends money that you can’t really afford to give.

I agree with @chyna. I can’t think of anyone for whom I would write a blank check without some accountability.
I would not sue. The process, even through a small claims system, would be onerous and time-consuming, and it would likely be pointed out to you that without a written agreement and some oversight, you were silly to even try.

Sorry, but I think this falls into the “lesson learned” category.

Ahem, calling Judge Judy…

$292.11 is a pretty cheap lesson. Don’t lend money unless you are okay with never seeing it.

And yes, threateing to sue him or even contemplating it is petty and vindictive. And you don’t know the whole story.

I do not think I would spend the money or time for an attorney. IMHO you signed up for whatever he did with your blank check by giving it to him in the first place.

Don’t embarrass yourself by going on display in the sucker line. You’re just going to wind up costing yourself time and even more money for a suit you can’t possibly win. Even if you beat the impossible odds and win, do you really believe you will collect a dime from this guy?

I can’t believe you have worked up the nerve to be angry.

Besides the fact that you have only your own made up suspicions, you were dumb enough to give someone, ANYONE a blank check.

Agreeing to help a friend is a good thing. Console yourself with that.
If you were going to be picky how the money would be spent, checks have a memo space where the writer can stipulate what the money is for. That makes it a signed contract.

The only thing you should do about this is sit yourself in front of a bowl of ice cream, and as you enjoy the creamy goodness, think how lucky you are friend did not turn your check into a twenty thousand dollar vacation.

I agree you got off cheap at a little over $200. He could have cashed it out for $2,000.

I think it’s your own fault. It was a dumb thing to do. You want to snarl at someone, go snarl in the mirror.

You can go to small claims court for as low as $.50 . I would let it go. Unless you are bored and have lots of free time. You can put that off your bucket list.

(He meant $50.00. Not fiddy cents.)

@Dutchess_III My legal book said $.50 cents. From the 80’s an AMA/CMA book on law. I’ve never sued anyone an never been in a court room.

It’s $65 here.

@Dutchess_III ok its been 35 years since the book was published. Things have changed.

Well, it’s also Canada!