What are the best ways for the court to handle small-claims cases?
Small-claims procedures provide relatively inexpensive and expeditious means for citizens and businesses to resolve disputes involving smaller amounts of money. As is the case in many contested traffic matters, case processing in small-claims cases can be described as “decisional adjudication,” being designed to establish the facts in a case so that the law can be applied as quickly and directly as possible. Simplified rules and procedures are salient characteristics.The court can modify its civil caseflow-management procedures for small-claims cases. Given the simplicity of the facts in most small-claims cases, time needed for discovery is minimal. It is important for the court to schedule an early and firm trial date, keeping continuances to a minimum. Trials are likely to be short, and the court’s attention to post-adjudication collection of judgments by winning litigants may be very important. See David C. Steelman, John A. Goerdt, and James E. McMillan, Caseflow Management: The He
