If you are still thinking lawsuit, you might have causes of action beyond the $1k, which could be characterized in several ways, breach of contract, total failure of consideration, fraud and negligence causes I already suggested. You might want to include a claim for non-pecuniary damages, sometimes called general damages, for your inconvenience, time loss, mental distress, etc. You might even have claims for punitive, exemplary or aggravated damages. No way to tell from reading a few short posts here. There would need to be a more fulsome exposition of the factual matrix. Key, as well, would be how solvent is the potential defendant? Are they poised to make an assignment in bankruptcy? Are there creditors poised to petition them into bankruptcy? No way to cover these matters here.