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Smart Shopper Questions About Auto Insurance & Accidents
4422 messages, Last post on Dec 04, 2009 at 6:46 PM
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Replying to: wlbrown9 (May 16, 2008 10:30 am) given the natural bias of Small Claims court toward the consumer, having a snappily dressed lawyer berate the judge---well yeah, go shoot yourself in the foot why don't you? 
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Replying to: wlbrown9 (May 16, 2008 10:30 am) While it's true that small claims courts are designed to work without lawyers, if there is a small claims court anywhere in the United States, Mr. Shiftright, that bars an attorney from representing a defendant, I'd like to know what it is and on what authority.
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Replying to: cccompson (May 16, 2008 2:06 pm) http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/smallclaims/scbasics.htm#bringlawyer And it's my understanding that many states do. Which I agree with, by the way.
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (May 16, 2008 4:35 pm)
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Replying to: cccompson (May 16, 2008 5:57 pm)
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (May 16, 2008 6:08 pm) The rule is entirely different here in Ohio - see Sec. 1925.01 of the Ohio Revised Code - where attorneys are always allowed to represent the parties. While I have much sympathy for your view, given the high ($7500?) limit in CA, I sure as hell would not want to have to defend myself without counsel if I was being sued for 5 grand or more. |
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of $7500 is quite low, IMO...in GA, Magistrate Court, which allows lawyers, has a limit fo $15K, and I wish they would raise it to $25K...there are many simple citizen cases where damages, whether auto accident, or damages at home, or simple contract damages will easily exceed $10K, which, in litigation today, really ain't a lot of money... If sued for auto injuries, you are obligated, usually, by contract, to notify your ins company...often, they will NOT send anyone to Magistrate Court (small claims court) simply to see how the Judge decides...we have a quirk here in GA, the party that loses in Magistrate Court has the right to appeal within 30 days to one of 2 higher courts, State Court or Superior Court, where rules of evidence apply, and it is a court of record... It is called a "De Novo" appeal, meaning it is a brand new case, so even tho you may have lost at small claims, it is now a moot point, as the process starts over as tho you had never filed suit before...this is where your ins company has lawyers to defend you and they fight the suit on your behalf and pay out if you lose...
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Replying to: marsha7 (May 16, 2008 6:58 pm) And you raise a good point (at least for the OP) - in reviewing CA procedure, the plaintiff has no right of appeal but a defendant does.
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Replying to: cccompson (May 17, 2008 3:12 am) I think the very idea of Small Claims was to keep litigation affordable. If you let attorneys in, that all goes out the window. Small Claims as it is, is a pretty level playing field, which is why I think it's the best source of justice available to a citizen, given the limits of his/her claim. Nor do I think the claims level should be raised in Small Claims. This prevents punitive or endlessly dragged out ligitation on "smaller" matters. Small Claims is for refrigerators, bad paint jobs, modest used car disputes---pretty "cut and dry" stuff. It's not for medical malfeasance during brain surgery
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I agree with you, but medmal cases are not heard in Small claims court... I guess with inflation I don't see $25K as too much to sue w/o involving lawyers...after all, what does it take to do, say, $18K in damages to a Mercedes, Expedition, Audi, Caddy or even a Buick???...to keep the limit so low as under $10K is, to me, ridiculous...$15K in GA is a nice step, but $25K, IMO would be more reasonable... Mind you, that does not MANDATE anything...you can still take a $5,000 case to Superior Court if you want to, but, if you want the People's Court, raising the limit in Small Claims simply allows more cases to be heard, more than the $500 scratched refrigerator cases... Also, something I forgot to mention, either party that loses in Magistrate has the right of de novo appeal...
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