Subscribe To This Site
Small Claims Filing: Pros and Cons of Going After Compensation in Small Claims Court...You'll enter a small claims filing if you just can’t seem to get your settlement money any other way.If settlement negotiations fail, and mediation or arbitration isn't an option, then you may have to take your case to small claims court. It's hard to say whether or not a small claims filing is the right option for you. Every personal injury case is different. Deciding if small claims court is the right choice depends on many factors and what you’re willing to sacrifice. What's good about this type of court proceeding is that it’s easy for anyone to handle. You don’t need a licensed personal injury lawyer to argue the case on your behalf. You don’t need to know all the fancy court protocols and you don’t have to impress a jury. The case goes before a judge who understands that the cases are brought by regular, non-legal minded individuals. It's also relatively quick to get your case through small claims court. Once you enter a small claims filing you’ll have a hearing within a few weeks, or a couple of months at most. The time you spend before the judge can be as short as ten minutes or, rarely, as long as half an hour. All the judge needs to hear are the facts of your case laid out simply. They’ll want to see both sides' evidence backing up their cases. Then there will be a decision. It’s that simple. Also, unlike a full blown civil case small claims cases are quite inexpensive to file. But small claims court has some drawbacks. The most restraining of these are state imposed limits on monetary court awards. Some states won't let you sue for more than $1,500 in small claims court. Other states will let you go as high as $15,000. (Check your state's limit here.) If your damages exceed the state imposed limitations then taking your case to small claims court might not be worth it. Sometimes you'll want to file in small claims court just to try to spook the adjuster into settling your case. The state imposed limits can make that impossible if the numbers don’t add up. If the insurance adjuster is offering you a settlement that's nearly at the small claims limit, then the threat of a small claims filing won’t do much. They’ll have no reason to increase their offer if they know a judge won’t be able to force them to do it. Return from Small Claims Filing to How to File a Lawsuit Return from Small Claims Filing 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.
|
