Small-Claims Court: Dos & Don’ts
St. Louis Circuit Clerk Jane Schweitzer shares a few tips.
It’s not like Judge Judy.
“[Hearings] are much shorter,” says Schweitzer. “The court mostly tries to determine what the facts are from the two parties and not get so involved in drama.”
You really don’t need a lawyer.
“Some of the lawyers just annoy the judges during small-claims hearings because they try to make it more formal a procedure than it’s supposed to be,” she says. “The judges who handle small-claims cases are tuned in to helping people get the information out that they need in order to make their case or defend their case.”
Good luck getting your money.
“One of the misconceptions that people have is that bringing a lawsuit will solve the problem. It really probably won’t, because even if you get a money judgment, there’s a significant difficulty in trying to collect it,” says Schweitzer. “The court does provide procedures such as executing on someone’s property, bank accounts, wages, but those are cumbersome. They take a long time, and you have to know where the person’s assets are, where they work, where they bank. So collecting it is pretty difficult.”
