My roommate stole hundreds from me!!

Karma -always- comes around.

did you talk to him?
i don't know how it works where you live, but small claims court usually doesn't cost much. since you are sueing, you can choose the location.
if he is a no show in most cases you will win

that doesn't mean he will pay you back even after judge says so.

get over it and learn from it for the next time. 300 bucks is not a cheap lesson indeed, but it could be worse, couldn't it?

Can't help you if you should sue him or not. But I have another stupid question: Did you try talking it out with him? If yes, does he claim innocence or play a fool or etc.... Or did you not bother asking at all. Maybe it is a misunderstanding, maybe you did not receive the full deposit back since the room was not in best condition anymore, was there maybe a third tenant, maybe you remember the security depost wrongly. Have a some kind of proof what amount for the deposit payed in the first place?

One option is;

Sue including court costs.

Before filing a lawsuit, go talk to him and ask for the money, threaten to sue, if they don't deliver, do sue, as someone said above, including court costs.

Did you talk to him? Did he actually get the full amount back? Maybe something was wrong and he didn't get all of it either?
My sister rented out her apartment and the guy left it a mess (and apparently rented it out to tourists illegally), so she won't give him the deposit back. He threatened to sue ("You don't know who you're dealing with, my uncle's a lawyer"), so she'll just send him a bill for the repairs/damages (about twice the deposit).

Are you in the states? Triple damages related to housing issues. so 300 could become 900

Honestly, the only way to deal with such scumbags is to make them afraid of you, one way or another..... And avoid dealing with them at all costs once you find out what they are like. They probably are well aware you wouldn't go to court for that, since it would cost you more money and a lot of time too, so they think they can get away with it. If you are really mad to the person and you are aware they have done that before to other people (or they might do it in the future), better do something about it, although, indeed, it will cost you a lot of time and money in the end.

I think that your ex-room mate should be learning the lesson not you, if you do not receive what you are owed there needs to be some kind of punishment.

I am sorry but stealing no matter how easy it was should not be allowed otherwise that person will continue to do it in the future (even if not to yourself).

Perhaps I am a little more negative than average against this point, but not unreasonable.

Of course it does depend on your financial situation and your feelings towards him.

People's Court or Judge Judy.

I think you should sue him: If the guy does this often and doesn't suffer from it, he will do it forever. Also 300 bucks is quite much, I would fight for it in this case :)

karma-shmarma.... just kill him

If karma doesn't come by itself, help it... Has he got a car? Pierce his tyres... all 4 of them!
Then remember me to delete this comment.

It really depends, how important is the $300 to you? Also, how likely do you think this is to happen again to any of his future roommates? I've been in your position too and ended up following through and going through the process alone and you'd be surprised how little it costs to personally file a small claims suit. What it comes down to is the effort worth the cost + time. The biggest issue in one of these is your lost time trudging through the bureaucratic hell that is the US courts system and the forms you'll have to fill out.

I saw that others mentioned TV courts and that certainly is a valid option because those shows are essentially arbitration and the show will end up paying all your transport, etc fees (with the added bonus of public humiliation lol). Personally, I only followed through because the court and where my situation happened was all local, so it was not too much effort on my end, but I saw that you mentioned he lives far away from you now, so it really is a matter of if it's worth your time. Also, do you have it anywhere in writing that put down half of the security deposit? If you do, the issue could be resolved with just a small admin fee to the courts and the rest is just the time and effort to show up at court to sue him. PM me if you have any questions regarding the paperwork process and I'll try to help, but the process may have changed since I did this and our locations could have slightly differing rules, but I can point you in the right direction to start researching.

Karma.

When someone fucks you over and you let it slide that someone will fuck you over again. That is karma.

That someone tries to fuck another guy over in similar fashion and gets his teeth kicked in. That is also karma.

Lol this is what you could do, dont do nothing for a while, then contact him and say hey remember me your old room mate, i would really like to see you for the old times sake and go get some drink or food or whatever you want, then go somewhere expensive and say that you will pay for everything order something very expensive make him order too he should accept cause well you are paying right ;), then after few mins, say that you need to go to the bathroom and leave the place and let him pay all that shit up, you will get your revenge and feel better and he will learn a lesson too :D

It's easy to choose to sue, but proving any wrongdoing is the issue.
While I agree he shouldn't be allowed to get away with, especially since you say he's stolen from you before, the law is isn't as cut and dry as one person doing wrong to another and having to pay for it.
Do you have any proof that you were owed the half portion? He could claim that he paid it himself upfront and he doesn't owe you anything.
Try Google some legal advice in this regard before wasting time and money on it. As much as I'd like you to succeed, he wouldn't want you ending up further out of pocket and, in an even worse case scenario, having to pay his bills for "wrongful" suing and defaming his character.

I'd talk to him. even if he ignores in the past people change.
talk it out first. if he ignore then court.
if he still ignores do the insanity666 way.
but careful, if he is the type that doesn't forgive easily, he might do something worst...

karma doesnt exist. weigh up whats important to you, your financial stability or punishing someone who screwed you over... in other words what matters more.. yourself, or the way someone else who did you wrong, feels.

Just like to point out that Karma is not for this life...often western thinking is that it is instant or in a single lifetime, unfortunately fortunately? the Karmic flow is about the next incarnation :/ So that greedy banker that ruins millions of lives will likely live to a ripe old age fairly free of care...however in the next go around, after he has died, when he returns to this world all that accumulated negative Karma will drag him down into something appropriate (people often think garden slug or some lowly simple lifeform :P) to imprint upon him the needed lesson/s and to pay back the Karmic debt (it may take several more non-human reincarnations) to come back around as a human and try better next time. It's as silly as believing in a good/bad place after you die according to your deeds but it's at least closer to the scientific fact that we all came from molecules that break down and build up over and over again. Just a small peeve when I see Karma referred to this way...and by no means a total understanding of the belief systems that use it just what I've picked up in the small amount I've read about the Saṃsāra and reincarnation.

As for OPs situation; I agree with the comment about filling out your own legal form and sending it off as a start.

Karma is a fickle bitch that does what it wants. Don't rely on it to solve your problems. You have two options either accept the money is lost, try to learn your lesson from this and avoid getting in such a situation again. Or you contact a local lawyer and find out if you have a chance. Maybe a letter from a lawyer is already enough to scare your ex-roommate. You don't have to go to court right away but getting some info from a lawyer certainly won't hurt.

become karma and mug em =)

no obviously not that, idk.. probably just expensive lesson i guess =( sorry to hear that happened to you though.

Brake his legs!!