What would you do if a business not only failed to deliver what they promised but also kept your money? What would your options be if a neighbor damaged your property and refused to pay up? Lawyers are expensive and court cases can take a lot of time and emotional energy. Luckily, small claims court is a relatively quick and inexpensive way to seek compensation.<\/p>\n
A small claims court typically handles cases involving comparatively small amounts of money.\u00a0 These courts are only allowed to hear cases where the asserted damages are less than a certain monetary amount.\u00a0 While what is considered a small claim will vary from state to state, in almost all states small claims are under $25,000.<\/p>\n
While almost every state has some sort of small claims court in operation, there are no equivalents at the federal level.\u00a0 This is because the Federal Government will not typically have jurisdiction in cases involving amounts of damages this small.\u00a0 Small claims courts are courts of law, unlike popular television programs such as Judge Judy and Judge Joe Brown, which are courts of arbitration.<\/p>\n
Small claims courts operate under different sets of rules than other courts.\u00a0 For example, they typically have lower standards of formality.\u00a0 Evidence rules are typically relaxed.\u00a0 Most small claims courts do not have juries, only judges who make a binding decision.<\/p>\n
These differences exist because the prevailing thought is that individuals should be able to represent themselves in cases involving comparatively low sums of money to avoid the expense of having a lawyer represent them.\u00a0 This can reduce the cost of litigation by many thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n
It also gives the opportunity for any wronged party to bring litigation, no matter how much they were damaged monetarily.\u00a0 Small claims courts also operate in a manner that allows legal cases to end within a much shorter time frame than other courts.\u00a0 Matters can be resolved in small claims courts in weeks or months, rather than the years that other courts can take.\u00a0 On a more practical side, small claims courts also free up other courts to pursue more complex and contentious litigation.<\/p>\n
The process for filing a claim in small claims court is different in every jurisdiction.\u00a0 Most will require you to fill out a set of forms at the courthouse where you intend to file the claim.\u00a0 Most of the forms will be simple; however, you must be very careful, honest, and accurate with whatever you write down.<\/p>\n
It is advisable to look up jurisdictional requirements before you do so.\u00a0 While states will allow you to file a claim in any small claims court within the state, others have more complex requirements.\u00a0 For example, you may only be able to file a claim in the county where you reside, where the defendant resides, where the action that caused you damage occurred, or some combination of those.<\/p>\n
Matters can become even more complex when the person whom you are suing resides in a different state.\u00a0 This may lead to your case being handled in federal courts which can be very expensive and time consuming. You will need to weigh the time and money involved against how much you could possibly hope to gain before making the decision to go this route.\u00a0 Many attorneys offer free consultations that will help you understand your options and the costs involved. You can also call 211 in most areas to find out about any legal aid clinics in your community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What would you do if a business not only failed to deliver what they promised but also kept your money? What would your options be if a neighbor damaged your property and refused to pay up? Lawyers are expensive and court cases can take a lot of time and emotional energy. Luckily, small claims court […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[117],"tags":[177],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}