Small Claims Matters

As of 2010, Small Claims Court now deals with lawsuits up to $25,000.00.

Deciding if you should you proceed to Small Claims Court?

Depending on the circumstances it may be worth your while to pursue a lawsuit in small claim court. But, you also may need to consider some other reasons whether it is worth your while to proceed to small claims court.

Some of the factors to consider:

• Does the other party have any assets or money that you can go after if you do win your suit?
• Do you know how to find the other party, do you know where they live, work, do you have an address, phone number for this person?
• Are you within the limitation period to proceed with a lawsuit against your opponent?

So many times an individual wins their case and then have no way to enforce the awarded judgment because:

1. They can’t find the other person
2. The other persons is “judgment proof”, meaning they either have nothing, don’t own anything or have any money, or they are on a support program which protects them from having their income garnished.

Questions you need to ask yourself before proceeding to court:

• Do you have a solid case that you might be able to win?
• Is it worth your while is it going to cost you more to go to court then what the other person owes you?

Often individuals don’t realize that it is not up to the courts to enforce a losing party to pay. It is up to you to pursue your awarded judgment, the courts will not do this for you!

You must contact the opposing party in order to make arrangements for them to pay you. You may need to garnish their wages or put a lien on their personal property in order to get what is owed to you.

For more in-depth legal advice with your Small Claims Court Matters, contact us here.