Of course not! "Small claims court" doesn't mean now. To even file a claim you must have sent a demand letter. So he's still got some hoops to jump through. That said, I don't think he has to wait 30 days if the client has already indicated that they've decided to breach the contract. What he needs to do now is send a real-life letter demanding an agreement to pay within the week, and if that agreement is not forthcoming, then he should file in small claims court. Really, it's not all that dramatic either.