Represent Yourself in Small Claims Court

This short article is about what to expect, and how to prepare for small claims court. Small claims describe the courts where money disputes are settled by a judge or a commissioner. A commissioner is a lawyer, or someone else with the right experience and education. While not officially a judge, a commissioner can perform the role of a judge in certain limited situations.

The reasons to go to small claims court include disputes over contracts, damages, wages, loans not repaid, and other reasons. When the amount of money disputed is at or near the limit of the small claims court, it makes sense to go to small claims court.

In small claims court, you must represent yourself because you cannot hire a lawyer to represent you. (But you can talk to a lawyer before you go to small claims court.) Representing yourself is not difficult, as long as you take the time to prepare yourself and organize the evidence for your case.

Your success in small claims court depends on luck, the strength of your case, your attitude, your evidence, and your preparation. Being prepared gives you confidence. The first thing to remember is that you should make at least two copies of everything you will present as evidence.

You must share copies of any written or photographic evidence that you want the judge to see, with the other party. The bailiff is the person who hands evidence to the judge. The bailiff is usually a gun-wearing deputy, who maintains order in the court. When the judge directs them to, the bailiff takes what you hand to them, and brings it to the judge.

In theory, you could show your one copy of your evidence to the other party, and then ask for it back. This does not always work smoothly. It's best to have extra copies for both the judge, and the other party to hold. You should be holding your copy while in court, too.

It is worthwhile to learn the laws (statutes) that apply to your case. If you are suing, make sure to file the lawsuit in the right county. The location is known as the venue. Usually, you must sue in the same county where the dispute took place. Have everything organized, and ready to read and hand out.

When starting a lawsuit, make sure everyone is properly served. You cannot serve anyone yourself, so hire a professional process server or a sheriff to separately serve everyone you are suing. Each person or entity you are suing needs to be served with a separate set of legal papers. If you are suing a company, find the agent for service of process.

If you need witnesses or paper records, you can get them by first getting permission from the court. By filling out the proper paperwork and having the right people served, you can subpoena paperwork, records, and people as witnesses you might need to prove your case.

As you would expect, courts are security-minded and do not allow distractions. Pretend you are at an airport. No knives or scissors, no cameras, no food or drink, and prepare for delays.

Your case might be called right away, but more likely you will have to wait 20 to 70 minutes to get your case heard. You may have to show up at court at 9 AM, but won't get heard until 10 AM. Show up early so you can go to the bathroom before the start time. Bring a magazine or paperback book to read if needed, as you are not allowed to talk while waiting.

Dress neatly, be comfortable, and stay polite even if the other party is not. Sometimes the judge seems to decide cases as if they have seen other evidence nobody else has seen.

If you win, you cannot appeal the decision. You can start the tedious process of enforcement of your judgment or find a judgment enforcer.

If you lose, you can try to appeal the judgment, which is basically a new trial. In some states if you lose and want to appeal, you must first buy a bond to insure you will pay if you lose the appeal.

The money limits and rules for small claims court vary. Here is a link with a summary for all states: http://law.freeadvice.com/resources/smallclaimscourts.htm

What Is a Judgment Broker?

A Judgment Broker (JB) is an entity that helps Original Judgment Creditors (OJCs - the entity that won the lawsuit and owns the judgment). The JB helps by matching OJCs with either buyers or Judgment Enforcers (JEs), who try to recover the money owed so that the OJCs can be paid.

There are millions of judgments and many thousands of judgment buyers and JEs, so why is a Judgment Broker needed?

The first reason a JB is needed is that unlike fungible instruments such as money or gold, a judgment's value depends on many things including the debtor and their assets, laws, the economy, and the skills and location of the JE or buyer.

The second reason a JB is needed is because most Judgments are never collected because laws tend to make it difficult to collect from debtors. A few judgments are sold for cash, especially in States where future payment is not allowed.

Judgments sold for cash sell for very steep discounts from their face value. The average judgment sold for cash sells for an average of less than 3%. For this reason, most that are recovered are purchased on a future-pay basis. This means that the OJC gets paid after the money is recovered from the debtor's assets.

What does a Judgment Broker do? They attract and research judgments, noting all the factors that determine who is best suited to enforce them. The JB (and anyone else) should only be paid if the OJC is repaid. The JB has every incentive to pick the best-suited JEs to maximize the chances of successful recoveries of every judgment.

The Judgment Broker maintains databases of JEs close to the debtor and their assets. The JB may pick one JE for a small claims judgment, and another for a larger judgment involving fraud.

For each judgment, the JB contacts JEs close to the debtor's assets, sometimes discussing the judgment with several JEs. This is done without bothering the OJC.

Only after a match of the right JE for a particular judgment has been made, does the JB contact the OJC. After the JB introduces the OJC to the JE, the JB steps out of the picture. The JB then moves on to match the next judgment, for the next OJC.

Note that the JB never legally owns judgments, as that could create complications in the chain of ownership, which is important because most JEs are not lawyers.

JEs must own a judgment in full, so they can "step into the shoes" of the OJC for JE procedures. For this reason, a JB can be thought of as a Judgment Enforcement Catalyst. (A catalyst helps start and speeds up a process, without being affected by the process.)

The JB cannot guarantee the performance of judgment enforcers they recommend, as the judgment enforcers are not employees of the JB; they are independent entities. The JB also cannot guarantee the enforceability of any judgment - nobody can.

Because the Judgment Broker is only paid (by the JE, from the money recovered from the debtor's assets) for success, the JB has every incentive to recommend their estimation of the most qualified JEs.

Note that using a JB does not cost the OJC anything. The JE pays a small share of profits to the JB, but only if the judgment is profitably enforced. JEs pay nothing up-front for judgment leads.

In return for paying a small percentage of profits, the enforcer gets pre-screened judgments, matched to be in the same city as the debtor's assets. Most judgment enforcers are very willing to pay a small percentage of their potential profit for no obligation, no payment up-front, screened, verified, and customized location-matched leads.

The JB also pays anyone for judgment leads. In most cases, the JB pays half of what they get, and once again, only pay when the judgment is successfully enforced. Experienced JEs do not take judgments too far away from them. The same JE that accepts judgment leads from the JB typically also refers judgment leads to the JB.

The judgment broker fills a vital role in helping both the judgment enforcement business and the original judgment creditor increase their chances of getting paid.