San Diego Mesa College Small Claims Discussion & Response

At times, business owners or individuals may not have the money to hire an attorney and sue someone or a company, so they use the small claims court system to seek justice. Very similar to the TV Show “Judge Judy”, people present their cases in front of a judge and he/she decides the outcome of the lawsuit.  Please visit the following website (Links to an external site.) and write a brief summary explaining the process and steps involved in a small claims court case.  Then think about a hypothetical case that could end up in small claims court and share it with the group.  

The steps involved in going through and filing a small claims court case begins first by having an where individuals, representing themselves, resolve disputes quickly and inexpensively in an informal setting as long as the damages are under 10,000 dollars. The plaintiff is the person bring the suit while the defendant is the one that is being sued. In small claims court you are not allowed to have a attorney present but you can consult with one to help prepare for it. The process for preparing for court is the same you would start first by gathering evidences to support your case and you want to tell the information in a well thought out and organized way. It’s like writing an argumentative paper. You want it to be not to long but well gets to the point across in a matter that the judge is able to understand in a clear concise manor. Once you tell your side the defendant will have a chance a to respond and the judge will be there to facilitate and ask questions a keep order. Once both sides have presented their case and the judge gets all the questions answered as needed the one judge will make the decision on the winner and give their judgment and that’s the end. If I had a made a deal with someone to sell a car and write up a basic contract that states that they would make payments in 3 month installments and the person refuse to pay after they received the car I could take them to small claims court to receive the rest of my payment.