AITA for taking my niece to court over a coat?

So I (30F) had my niece (19F) come to live with me to get away from my BIL (her father).<br><br>Last year my BIL and his then-wife (my SIL) were headed out to a Christmas party. My SIL was wearing a purple suede coat with a fur trim that I had given her a few days before that. <br><br>While they were getting ready to go SIL offered my BIL a drink and he told her to make it a double. <br><br>SIL went back to the kitchen to make his drink and set the coat on the back of a chair in the dining room. <br><br>My BIL came back to the kitchen a few minutes later yelling that he had slipped on the coat in the dining room and fell down the stairs. He had a broken leg and dislocated shoulder. SIL was inconsolable. <br><br>I would later find out at the party that BIL had actually been drinking at a bar beforehand because he was already drunk. He also already knew SIL and I were divorcing and was trying to get SIL to go back to him. <br><br>I was in shock that my BIL was trying to woo my spouse. I went home in a daze and didn’t really think about anything until SIL got in touch with me a few days later and told me that my BIL had started a GoFundMe for his medical expenses. <br><br>SIL had figured out that BIL had actually been drinking beforehand and tripped on his own feet. She told me that BIL was trying to get her to help him get the money by telling their family that it was her fault he fell. SIL didn’t want her family to know the truth about the accident or their impending divorce. <br><br>I came up with the idea to start a GoFundMe for the coat. I sent BIL a link to the page and he called me at work furious and called me an asshole for making fun of his accident. I told him that the coat was actually very expensive and if he didn’t pay me back I was going to have to take him to court. BIL said that I couldn’t take a person to court over a coat and then he hung up. <br><br>At the time I didn’t know how much the coat actually cost, only that it was expensive. I looked up the price of the coat and it was considerably more than I had thought. I decided to take BIL to small claims court. I got a judgment against BIL for the price of the coat plus fees. <br><br>About a year later SIL and I finally divorced. I didn’t hear anything about BIL until my mom told me that he was in a lot of debt and was thinking about filing for bankruptcy. <br><br>My BIL was always making bad decisions (like drinking and making poor investments). So I didn’t put too much stock into what he was telling my mom. But then I got a letter from his lawyer saying that he was trying to get the judgment against him forgiven. I hired a lawyer and he was able to get an extension on the judgment for another 10 years. <br><br>Somehow my BIL was able to make it work and pay off all his debt except mine. I received a letter in December from my lawyer saying that BIL’s wages were going to be garnished. <br><br>Then my mom called and said she had gotten documents showing that all of my BIL’s debt was paid off and that my niece had inherited the money that was supposed to be garnished. <br><br>I called my lawyer and told him what was going on and he told me that BIL didn’t have any other family members to leave the money to and the money wasn’t in my niece’s name until after the judgment had been made.<br><br>My lawyer said I had two options. The first was to ignore it and keep getting the money taken from my BIL’s wages. The second was to sue my niece for fraud. <br><br>I decided to sue my niece for fraud. I hired my lawyer and I tried to get in contact with my BIL but he wouldn’t answer any of my calls. I had the papers delivered to his address but he wouldn’t answer the door. <br><br>Finally I was able to get him to answer the phone and he told me that it was my own fault for being vindictive. I asked him what he meant by that and he said that I was trying to get revenge on him for making me lose the love of my life. He then hung up the phone. <br><br>I was in shock because I didn’t know how he had found out that SIL and I were divorced, but I figured he would eventually find out. <br><br>At the end of January I got the update on the lawsuit and it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I had won the lawsuit but my niece was saying she was broke and wasn’t going to pay me the money. <br><br>I was told by my lawyer that the case was closed unless my niece showed assets. I was going to have to pay him out of pocket for his services but at least I got my money back. <br><br>Or so I thought. <br><br>When I got the check from my lawyer I was less than $2,000. My lawyer had taken almost $10,000 from me in legal fees. <br><br>I got a call from my mom last week asking if I had dropped the lawsuit. I asked her why and she told me that my BIL was bragging at a family party that my niece’s lawyer had made the case go away. <br><br>I knew that wasn’t true but I decided to keep my mom in the dark. My mom asked me why I was being petty and vindictive. I told her that my BIL had hurt himself to try and get back with my SIL. <br><br>My mom started yelling at me because my BIL would never do that and that I was lying and that my BIL was a disabled veteran and I was petty for only caring about a coat. <br><br>I tried to tell her that my BIL wasn’t a veteran but she hung up the phone. <br><br>My mom then had other members of my family calling me asking why I was being so vindictive and petty. <br><br>So AITA for taking my niece to court? Or was it just a fucked up situation?