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How to File Small Claims Court Complaints if You Don't Get a Fair Settlement Offer...The actual process of how to file small claims cases involves a bit more than a phone call and a simple day in court.Your local court clerk's office should be able to help you follow your local small claims court procedures. (The requirements differ from one area to the next.) Look up the clerk's office in the government section of your local yellow pages. Once you’ve filed the proper forms you must carefully prepare for your hearing. Go to your local court and meet with a clerk. They will tell you how to file small claims court documents specific to your jurisdiction. The clerk’s office won’t always be in the courthouse so make sure you get directions in your initial phone call. When you meet with the clerk you'll be given some papers to fill out. The lawsuit you file is called a complaint. On the papers you fill out, you'll be called the plaintiff. This means you're the one who's doing the complaining. The idea here is that you're formally complaining that a person, persons or business caused you damages in some way. Make sure you list the right person. This may sound like a silly thing to bring up, but the claim process can get confusing. You've spent a lot of time dealing with an insurance company and you may have forgotten about the actual person involved in the accident. When you file a small claims complaint you're not suing the insurance company. You are taking the actual liable party to small claims court. Since the insurer will be the one paying the damages, they'll be the ones representing the defendant in court. After all, at this point it's still the insurer's money on the line. You’ve probably seen how people get served with court papers on television dramas. Often a lawyer or bailiff will hand the papers to whoever is being sued. This doesn’t really happen in the kind of small claims court lawsuit you’ll file. There are different regulations on how to file small claims papers with the defendant. That means it isn’t always as pain free as dropping them in a mailbox. Whatever the regulations, remember you're going to be serving papers to the person you're suing, not the insurance company that represents them. Return from How to File Small Claims to How to File a Lawsuit Return from How to File Small Claims to Personal Injury Settlement Guide How Much Is Your Case Worth? Find out NOW! Complete this form for a FREE case review by an experienced attorney... The accuracy of information on this site is not guaranteed. Information on this site is strictly opinion and should not be considered formal legal advice. Under no circumstances should the information on this site be used to make decisions about the proper course of a legal matter. Click below to read our full User Agreement, Disclaimer and Copyright Information.
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