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Information for Plaintiffs in Small Claims Cases
The Small Claims
Hearing
Courtroom Code of
Dress and Behavior – When you come to court for your hearing you should dress
neatly and cleanly—the way you would for any important occasion. Many judges do
not allow people to appear in court wearing shorts, crop tops, hats, gang
colors, or other gang insignia. You should be courteous to the judge, the court
clerks, and other people in the courtroom, including the defendant.
You should not bring children with you to court unless they are old enough to
stay in their seats and sit quietly. While court is in session and you are
waiting for your turn to talk to the judge, you should not visit with people
around you because this can be distracting to other people in the courtroom.
Cell phones and pagers are not allowed in the courtroom unless they are turned
off. You cannot take pictures or make a tape recording at the hearing unless
you have the judge’s permission. Food or drink is not allowed in the courtroom.
Attorneys or
Other Representatives – When you come to the hearing to talk to the judge
you cannot have an attorney appear with you or for you at the hearing but you
can talk to a lawyer before or after your hearing to get more information and
legal advice. You cannot have a friend or relative appear in court instead of
you but you can bring friends or relatives as witnesses and friends or
relatives can come to court to watch the hearing. A business can appear in
court through an owner or through an employee, so long as the employee is not
an attorney.
Interpreters – If you
or one of your witnesses will need an interpreter at the hearing, you must ask
the court clerk to get one for you before the day of the hearing. The deadline
to ask for an interpreter varies depending on the county and the language for
which you need. You can ask the court clerk what the deadline is in your
county. If there is no deadline, you should ask for an interpreter two weeks
before your hearing. You must tell the court clerk your case number and the
language for which you need an interpreter. You do not have to pay for an
interpreter. Generally, a friend or relative will not be allowed to interpret
for you or your witness.
Evidence - At the
hearing the judge will ask you to explain why the defendant should pay you the
money you are asking for and the reasons for the amount of money or why the
defendant should return the property you are asking for. The defendant may
disagree with your claim for money or the return of personal property or just
the amount of the money you are asking for. The judge will ask the defendant to
explain why the defendant disagrees.
Sometimes there is a disagreement about the facts of the case or a party not
telling the truth. Sometimes both parties are telling the truth as they see it
but they see things or remember things differently. When the disagreement is
about the facts of the case it is important for you to be prepared to give the
judge evidence to prove your claim. There are two basic types of evidence—witness
testimony and exhibits.
Witness
Testimony – When you tell the judge about something that happened,
you are a witness giving testimony. There may be other people who saw or heard
something that happened that is important to your case. For example, if your
claim is about a car accident, someone who saw the accident may be an important
witness; if your claim is about a verbal agreement, someone who heard you and
the defendant making the agreement may be an important witness.
There are two ways you can offer what another person has to say at the hearing.
One is to have the witness come to the hearing to tell the judge what the
witness saw or heard. Another way is to have the witness write a statement and
bring the statement to the hearing with you. It is usually better to have the
witness come to the hearing. A witness in court is usually more convincing
because the witness has to stand up in court and promise to tell the truth and
the judge can ask the witness questions. If your witness lives a long distance
away, you can ask the judge to allow the witness to testify by telephone. If
you want to ask the judge to allow a witness to testify by telephone, you must
make your request in writing, explain the reasons for your request, and file it
with the court clerk at least two weeks before your hearing. The request does
not have to be in any particular form but it must include the same caption (name of
the court, names of the plaintiffs and defendants, and case number) as your
claim. The court clerk will notify you before your hearing whether the judge
granted your request and any special instructions for you or your witness.
The second is to ask the court to subpoena (an order telling a witness to
come to the hearing) your witness. You must ask the court clerk for a subpoena
form. You must fill out the form and take it to the court clerk. The subpoena
must be served on the witness much like giving notice of your claim to the
defendant which is described above. The witness may require you to pay a
witness fee. If the witness is properly served and does not come to the
hearing, the witness can be held in contempt and the judge can order the
witness to pay a fine and/or go to jail.
Exhibits –
Exhibits are things that may help prove your case. The most common types of
exhibits are documents and photographs but an exhibit can be anything that is
useful to show the judge what happened in your case. You should bring any
exhibits to the hearing that may help prove your case. There are some types of
exhibits that can be especially important in certain cases.
·
You should bring any receipts for costs or expenses that
you are asking the defendant to pay.
·
If your claim is about a contract (written agreement), you should
bring all of the contract papers.
·
If your claim is about a past due installment on a loan or
other past due account, you should bring a copy of the account which shows the
charges to the account, the payments on the account, and the current balance.
·
If your claim is about a defective product, you should
bring any warranty papers that came with the product you bought.
·
If your claim is about damage to property, you should bring
photographs that show the damage. If you have not had the damage repaired, you
should bring at least two estimates of the cost of the repairs.
·
If your claim is about property that has been lost or
destroyed, you should bring estimates of the value of the property. Receipts
for the cost of the property that was lost or destroyed or receipts for the
cost of replacement property may also be useful.
·
If your claim is about lost wages, you should bring
something from your employer that shows how much you lost—pay stubs that show
your usual wage and the time you missed from work.
·
If your claim is about a car accident, it is useful to have
a diagram or drawing of the area where the accident occurred showing the
streets, the location of any traffic signs or lights, and the location and
direction of the cars. You can bring a diagram with you or the courtroom will
have a drawing board where you can draw a diagram at the hearing. If police
were called to the accident a copy of the police report may be useful and you
may want the police officer to come to the hearing to testify as a witness.
·
If your claim is about a bad check, you should bring the
returned check. There is a state law that allows you to claim damages in
addition to the amount of the check. You can ask for damages of $100 or triple
the amount of the check up to $500. If you want to ask for damages, you must
send a certified letter to the defendant at the defendant’s last known address
at least ten days before you file your claim. The letter must demand payment
for the check and say that if the defendant does not pay the check before you
file your claim in small claims court a judgment could be entered against the
defendant for the amount of the check (state the amount), the amount of the
damages (state the amount), and your cost for filing the claim and giving
notice of your claim to the defendant.
If your exhibit is a tape recording, you should bring a
tape player to the hearing to play the tape. If your exhibit is a video
recording, you should call the court clerk’s office before the day of your
hearing to let the court clerk know you are bringing a video so that a video
player can be available in the courtroom for your hearing.
Expert Witnesses – If your claim is that you paid the defendant to provide
work or services for you and the defendant did not do it properly, it is likely
that you will need a statement or testimony from an expert witness (someone
who has training or experience in the defendant’s trade or profession).
You must have a statement or testimony from an expert witness if your claim is
a malpractice
claim (a claim against a doctor, a dentist, a lawyer, an accountant, or any
other professional). Malpractice claims can be complicated and in some cases
there may be future damages that you don’t yet know about. You should talk to a
lawyer before you decide whether you want to use small claims court for this
type of claim.
An expert witness will review the facts of your case, tell the judge whether
the defendant’s work met the minimum standards of that trade or profession, and
tell the judge how the failure to meet those standards caused your damages. For
example, your claim may be that your car wasn’t running right so you took it to
a mechanic and paid money to get it fixed. When you got the car back it still
wasn’t running right. Your judge may or may not know anything about fixing
cars—how to figure out what needs to be fixed and how to fix it. You may need
someone with training or experience in fixing cars to tell the judge whether
the mechanic did what a properly trained and experienced mechanic should have
done to figure out and fix the problem and whether the problem with your car
now is because of something the mechanic did wrong or because of some new problem.
The Roll Call – When
you come to the courtroom for your hearing there may be several other small
claims cases scheduled for the same time. The first thing the judge will do is
call the roll of cases to find out which parties (plaintiffs and defendants) are
present and whether each case will uncontested or contested. The judge will do
the uncontested cases first.
Uncontested Cases – If either party in a case fails to appear, the
case is considered to be uncontested. If the defendant appears at the hearing
and you and the defendant agree about your claim, the case is considered to be
uncontested and the judge will enter a stipulated judgment
(judgment based on your agreement).
If you have agreed to settle out of court (you and
the defendant have agreed to solve things between yourselves and don’t need a
judgment from the judge), the judge will dismiss your claim.
If you and the defendant have agreed that there are things one or both of you
will do later that will resolve the claim, you should put your agreement in
writing and both of you should sign the agreement. The judge will dismiss your
claim without prejudice (which means you can refile your claim later) in
case the defendant does not do what you and the defendant agreed.
If you and the defendant agree that you are not entitled to a judgment, the
judge will dismiss your claim with prejudice (which
means that you can’t refile the claim later).
If you and the defendant agree that you are entitled to a judgment and the
amount of money and/or the personal property the defendant should return to
you, the judge will enter a judgment in favor of the plaintiff stating the
amount of money the defendant is to pay to you and/or the personal property the
defendant is to return to you. The judge will date and sign the judgment.
Contested Cases – After the judge has finished the uncontested
cases, the judge will start hearing the contested cases. When your case is
called you and your witnesses will go to the plaintiff’s table and the
defendant and the defendant’s witnesses will go to the defendant’s table. If
you have any papers, photographs, or other exhibits that you want the judge to
see you should give them to the court clerk at this time.
The judge will ask the parties (plaintiff and defendant) and
their witnesses to be sworn to tell the truth. The parties and their witnesses
will stand, raise their right hands, and the judge or court clerk will ask if
each one swears or affirms that the testimony they are about to give is the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
The judge will ask you to explain your claim and the reasons for the amount of
money you are asking for. The judge is likely to interrupt you with questions.
If the judge interrupts you, the judge is not trying to be rude but is asking questions
to guide you to the information that is relevant to proving the elements of a
claim and to avoid wasting time with information that is not relevant. For
example, if the claim is about a contract, the judge will be looking for
information about whether there was an agreement, the terms of the agreement,
whether the defendant breached the contract (failed
to do what the parties agreed), and, if so, whether the breach caused damages
to the plaintiff and the amount of damages. Some parties want to tell the judge
all of the reasons they think the other party is a jerk (or worse) but that
information is not relevant to what the judge must decide—which is whether the
plaintiff has a legal claim and is entitled to judgment or whether the
defendant has a legal defense to the claim.
Then the judge will ask the defendant to explain why the defendant disagrees
with your claim. While the defendant is explaining the defendant’s side of the
case to the judge, you should not interrupt. Also, the judge may not allow you
to ask the defendant questions. If there is a question you would like to ask
the defendant, tell the judge the question you would like to ask when you are
explaining your side of the case. The judge will either tell you that you can
question the defendant directly or the judge may ask the defendant your question.
Many judges will now allow the parties in small claims court to question each
other because in many cases the parties will get into an argument with each
other and it won’t help the judge get the information the judge needs to make a
decision.
The judge may ask you if there is anything else you would like to say. When the
judge is done asking questions, the judge will either give your exhibits back
to you or the judge may keep them in the court file. If the judge gives them
back to you, you should keep them in case either party files an appeal. If the
court clerk has not given your exhibits back to you after the time for appeal
is over, you may ask the court clerk to give them back to you.
If possible, the judge will decide your case at the hearing and briefly explain
the reasons for the decision. Once the judge has told you that the judge is
ready to make a decision, the judge will not listen to any further argument
about the case. Sometimes the judge may need time to research a legal issue,
look at the parties’ exhibits, or just need time to think about it. If the
judge takes the case under advisement (needs
more time to make a decision), a decision can be expected within a week or two
after the hearing.
When the judge has made a decision, the judge will enter a judgment. If the
judge decides that the defendant should pay you money and/or that the defendant
should return personal property to you, the judgment will be in favor of the
plaintiff and state the amount of money the defendant should pay and/or the
personal property that the defendant should return to you. The judgment will
also state the amount the defendant is to pay you for the cost of the filing
fee that you paid to file your claim and the amount of the cost you paid to
serve process on the defendant. If the judge decides that the defendant should
not pay you money or return personal property, the judgment will be in favor of
the defendant. The court clerk will either give a copy of the judgment to you
and the defendant while you are at the hearing or mail one to you and the
defendant after the hearing.
In some counties the court clerk makes a tape recording of small claims
hearings. If you want a copy of the tape of your hearing, or if you want a
transcript of your hearing, you can ask for one at the court clerk’s office.
You must pay a fee for a copy of the tape or transcript before the court clerk
will make a copy of the tape or have a transcript
prepared. (To prepare a transcript, a transcriber listens to the tape and types
out everything that was said.)
If you disagree with the judgment you can file an appeal.
