Statue of Limitations for Small Claims Court
Small claims court is a judicial venue for resolving disputes that do not involve large amounts of money or that involve conflicts between two individuals, such as divorces. Time limits are assigned to judgments in these courts that mandate deadlines for debt payoffs or injury settlements. These limits, referred to as the statute of limitations, vary among individual states and among types of judgments.
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Types of Cases Heard in Small Claims Court
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Small claims court (also referred to as justice court) handles cases involving dollar amounts less than $10,000. It hears contract disputes, personal injury cases and minor property damage claims. Each state has its own set of time limits, based on individual cases where other circumstances exist that would affect monetary damages, such as property damages that occur at a later time as a result of a home repair or a car repair.
Definition of Small Claims Limitations
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Illinois attorney John Roska insists that small claims court technically has no statute of limitations. He makes the distinction that the type of case heard in the court decides the statute of limitations, whereas the court itself only provides a limitation on dollar amounts assessed. For instance, sales contract disputes in Illinois have a four-year statute of limitations, based on the Uniform Commercial Code that the state follows in these cases.
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Written Contracts
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Generally, a written contract carries a longer statute of limitations in all states, with oral contracts having a lesser time limit. The average statute of limitations for written contracts, according to the Legalzoom website, is around five to six years. Some states impose a much longer time limit on written contract judgments. Ohio and Kentucky mandate a 15-year statute of limitations, and several other states impose a 10-year limit.
Oral Contracts
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Statute of limitations also vary for oral contracts. According to the Civiltree website, the time limit to collect on a judgment in the case of an oral contract ranges between two to 10 years. Most states impose an average of five years for the statute of limitations for oral contracts.
Injury
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Small claims court is the venue for several types of injury cases. They include personal injury cases, such as those that stem from injuries in car accidents or from falls on private property. Some involve property damage, medical malpractice and evictions. The state of Arizona imposes a two-year statute of limitations on these types of injury cases, even in personal injury cases where a death has occurred.
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References
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Comments
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Jeff Jones ยท Blair High. I have a junk debt buyer who sued ne for a credit card bill on a card that I never had and claims that I owe 8745.00 from last late payment dec 2003. Then he throws a copy of San bernardino County , CA judgement on this account from 2004! I was unaware of any of these activities. It's not on my Credit report. I file a response claiming inadequate service and a motion to vacate judgement and successfully accomplish both. The turn around and re summons me.. California credit card law is limited to four years after last activity claimed (dec 2003).. Can I successfully use Statute of Limitations now as defense?
