OK, I'll try to make this brief although it probably won't turn out that way.
About 6 months ago I was in a real tough financial situation and a friend of mine loaned me some money (PM me for the exact amount if it helps you understand the situation although it is under $1000). What happened was he wrote a check out to another friend of ours, that friend cashed the check and gave me the money, since I did not have enough cash in my bank account at the time to cover the check. At that time we agreed that I would pay him back whenever I could and verbally agreed to have him paid back within about 1 year. There was no written agreement and he told me many times to not skip a bill to pay him back.
Recently I made some decisions that did not make him very happy and now he wants to be paid back in full by the end of this month otherwise he will take me to small claims court. This all came about via some e-mails that went back and forth between the two of us. In the e-mails I anknowledged that I do owe him money but the amount never came up. He also made some choice remarks about me an my family consisting of me, my wife and two children. Because of the remarks he made I would like to fight his claim and if possible pay him no money back or at least not the full amount as what he said was very hurtful and degrading to my family.
Now if he takes this to court he has no documented proof that he gave me money. He said that he wrote it down in his records that he gave me the money and, yes, the e-mails prove that I owe him money but not the amount. He even wrote the check out to somebody else, so the check is not even in my name.
So what can I do if/when this goes to court to avoid paying him back? I do not want to lie about the transactions that took place, (i.e. if the judge asks me how much money I "do" owe him, what would I say).
I have no problem paying him back on my own time, but I simply do not have the money right now. Plus, after the attack on my family I told him that if he takes this to court I would fight the dispute.
Any advice anyone could provide me would be greatly appreciated. I am not trying to be mean to this person but since he took it to a level of name calling and slander towards my family I refuse to pay him back if I can avoid it.
Thanks!

