Small Claims Cases
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What is Small Claims Court?
Most courthouses throughout Oregon offer Small Claims courts to hear a variety of civil cases. Claims for money damages of up to $10,000 can be filed in Small Claims court. (And Small Claims Court is mandatory for claims under $750.)
What cases can't be in Small Claims Court?
Small Claims Court hears cases where one party is demanding monetary damages under $10,000 (typically due to a contract claim or a tort claim), or it can hear claims for the return of personal property. But that's it. Small Claims Court can't hear cases where
Practice in Small Claims Court
It's relatively rare that an attorney handles cases in Small Claims court. By rule, attorneys are generally prohibiting from representing clients in small claims cases, and instead the plaintiff and defendant parties often proceed pro se and represent themselves.
Parks Law Offices typically does not practice in Small Claims Court. However, we can assist clients in three ways:
Why Small Claims?
Small Claims court has five (well, four and a half) distinct advantages over proceeding with civil law claims in regular Circuit Court:
Small Claims Downsides
While proceeding with your case in Small Claims Court can have some benefits, there are also a variety of downsides that every litigant should consider and evaluate fully before proceeding.
Generally speaking, many of the benefits of Small Claims court are short-term benefits: speed, informality, and relative expense. On the other hand, the downsides are often more long-term. Amongst them:
Going to Small Claims Court
The first step in most Small Claims cases is mediation. Mediation is an informal meeting during which a neutral mediator attempts to get the parties to come to an agreement about their dispute, without going through a hearing. If mediation is unsuccessful, the case proceeds toward a hearing in front of a Judge.
Preparing Your Case
It's imperative that you are adequately and fully prepared to present you're prepared to argue your case to the Court. In addition to working on gathering evidence, organizing witnesses, and preparing your substantive arguments, it's also important that you do some preparation on the procedural side of things, i.e. not just what you'll present to the Court, but how you'll present.
It's strongly advised that you contact the local court and watch in attendance during a different Small Claims hearing, prior to the date of your own. This will help provide you some real-life expectations for what the day of your hearing will look like.
In addition, the Oregon State Bar has made a publicly available video, below, that should be required viewing.
Most courthouses throughout Oregon offer Small Claims courts to hear a variety of civil cases. Claims for money damages of up to $10,000 can be filed in Small Claims court. (And Small Claims Court is mandatory for claims under $750.)
What cases can't be in Small Claims Court?
Small Claims Court hears cases where one party is demanding monetary damages under $10,000 (typically due to a contract claim or a tort claim), or it can hear claims for the return of personal property. But that's it. Small Claims Court can't hear cases where
Practice in Small Claims Court
It's relatively rare that an attorney handles cases in Small Claims court. By rule, attorneys are generally prohibiting from representing clients in small claims cases, and instead the plaintiff and defendant parties often proceed pro se and represent themselves.
Parks Law Offices typically does not practice in Small Claims Court. However, we can assist clients in three ways:
- By going through an initial consultations prior to filing in Small Claims Court
- By helping pro se litigants prepare for Small Claims Court hearings
- By preparing a motion seeking a judge's permission to allow attorney representation in Small Claims Court
- By handling small tort and contract cases in normal Circuit Court. take cases that could otherwise be in small claims court.
Why Small Claims?
Small Claims court has five (well, four and a half) distinct advantages over proceeding with civil law claims in regular Circuit Court:
- First, it's relatively inexpensive to file and prosecute a case. The filing fees for Small Claims Court are generally $50 - $100 or so, while the filing fees in normal Circuit Court are often many times that amount.
- Second, cases in Small Claims Court typically proceed at a much quicker pace when compared to Circuit Court claims, thus enabling litigants to obtain a resolution.
- Third, the procedural process in Small Claims Court is typically much more loose and flexible when compared with the typical hard-and-fast procedures in Circuit Court.
- Fourth, the Judge in Small Claims Court has wide authority to conduct the hearing and administer justice in a manner that she or he may determine to be fair and equitable. In Circuit Court, the outcome of a case pursuant to the application of law might be "correct," legally speaking, but it might not be fair or "right," equitably speaking. In Small Claims Court, the Judge has a bit more latitude to make decision that are fair.
- Finally, a bit of both good and bad: There are typically no attorneys in Small Claims Court. Thus, while it may be a negative that you won't have an attorney to advocate on your behalf and/or ensure that your rights are protected, the relative positive is that your opponent likely won't either.
Small Claims Downsides
While proceeding with your case in Small Claims Court can have some benefits, there are also a variety of downsides that every litigant should consider and evaluate fully before proceeding.
Generally speaking, many of the benefits of Small Claims court are short-term benefits: speed, informality, and relative expense. On the other hand, the downsides are often more long-term. Amongst them:
- Small Claims Court decisions can't be appealed. If you proceed in Small Claims Court, you get one bite at the apple. If you lose, that's it. If your witnesses don't show up, if you're not prepared with your own evidence, if the other side pulls a surprise that you didn't anticipate, or even if the Judge simply has a bad day during the hearing, the results are final. You can't appeal.
- If you win in Small Claims Court, you're typically awarded a judgment against the other party. Thereafter, however, you have to move forward and actually collect the judgment -- which can be a long, difficult, and tedious process. Many attorneys are able to assist you in the collection process. However, that possibility is often a difficult and expensive proposition in many cases.
- Small Claims Court generally doesn't provide you with an adequate opportunity at discovery. Discovery is the process where the litigants share documents with each and take testimony prior to the trial. This helps ensure that both sides have all of the relevant evidence available, and that they can adequately prepare for the trial and minimize any potential surprises.
- Most Small Claims cases (those over $750) can be heard in normal Circuit Court. In Circuit Court, you can have an attorney represent you to ensure that you're prepared to present your case effectively, and help ensure that your substantive and procedural rights are protected.
- It's not uncommon for litigants in Small Claims Court to sue -- and even win judgments against -- improper parties. This often happens when a Plaintiff names an incorrect defendant (the wrong person, the wrong company, the wrong spelling of an entity name, a shell company with no assets, etc.) The result in these situations is that even though you may have "won" the case (often by Default), there ultimately may not be anything to actually win, in a practical sense.
- The most common factor, however, is attorney's fees. In Small Claims court, you're generally not allowed to use attorneys, and thus you're not entitled to claim and seek damages for your attorneys fees in litigating the case. It's very different in Circuit Court. Most all contract cases and tort cases that can be filed in Small Claims Court are subject to a statutory Attorney Fee provision. This means that if you hire an attorney and win, you can have your attorneys fees entered as part of the judgment against the losing party. As you might imagine, this significantly alters the leverage that litigants have.
Going to Small Claims Court
The first step in most Small Claims cases is mediation. Mediation is an informal meeting during which a neutral mediator attempts to get the parties to come to an agreement about their dispute, without going through a hearing. If mediation is unsuccessful, the case proceeds toward a hearing in front of a Judge.
Preparing Your Case
It's imperative that you are adequately and fully prepared to present you're prepared to argue your case to the Court. In addition to working on gathering evidence, organizing witnesses, and preparing your substantive arguments, it's also important that you do some preparation on the procedural side of things, i.e. not just what you'll present to the Court, but how you'll present.
It's strongly advised that you contact the local court and watch in attendance during a different Small Claims hearing, prior to the date of your own. This will help provide you some real-life expectations for what the day of your hearing will look like.
In addition, the Oregon State Bar has made a publicly available video, below, that should be required viewing.
