It's fraud for sure.  For many, many reasons, you would have a tough time
in small claims court.

What state or country is the jurisdiction?

A good place to start would be filing a complaint with the law enforcement
in thief's jurisdiction for theft by deception, theft, and any other crimes
they see.  That would certainly get his attention, and might get you
whatever else he owes you.  Sounds like you better not cash the
check.  Take it to the police, pronto.

HK
--these are just suggestions, not binding legal advice
I cannot dispense legal advice without an attorney client relationship.

At 02:56 PM 11/27/00 -1000, Fafa Nugon wrote:
>I had 1.25 Ratio Rocker sent to my mechanic from Fast German Auto
>And I discovered that the snake mechanic Never installed them but charge me
>for the labor and stole the 1.25 Rockers. (took dig pics and had an expert
>verify that they where stock)
>Fast German sent me the invoice to show they where sent to him.
>Bottom line after having it out with him I agreed to take $210 instead of
>the $420 he really owed me for the job.
>He sent me a check certified mail and I looked through the envelop and I see
>it's only for $200. (I didn't open it)
>I never signed for it personally (manager of condos signed for it)
>Do I still have a case to get the rest back if I send it back to him ?
>(he could open it and say I opened it)
>Or keep it and take it to court.
>This is defiantly criminal practice.
>I would think that the court would want to hear how this went down, and also
>discovered he had 2 ghost mechanics working on my Van also.
>Any help would be appreciated
>Farfanugon
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