Can i "sqeeze blood from a turnip?"

[Bryce McBride]

I love the idea of real estate investing and have been learning so much recently. However i will admit that the "all the what could go wrongs" has me froozen in my tracks. If i were to buy a house in my market, which i prefer starting out i may only pull in maybe $200 hundred or so dollers extra pre month. After half or so of the money is saved for future expenses. If anything goes wrong that could easily erase years of income. For instance i just talked with an acquaintance who told me that he recently sold his rental property because of problems. He explained that the tenant had used meth in his rental so the State had to condemn it. It cost him $12k to make the necessary repairs for the State to allow poeple to live in it again. Not wanting more trouble he decided to sell it. I asked if he took the tenant to court to get his 12k back, he said no, the tenant doesn't have that kind of money.

I'm not someone that likes to sue (and never have) but if i had a rental where someone used meth, even if they didn't have money, could i sue them for the expenses and legal fees? Basically can i force them to declare bankruptcy so i get my money back?