{"id":10955,"date":"2017-07-12T19:54:17","date_gmt":"2017-07-12T23:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/living-safety-information\/small-claims-court%ef%bc%88%e3%82%b9%e3%83%a2%e3%83%bc%e3%83%ab%e3%83%bb%e3%82%af%e3%83%ac%e3%83%bc%e3%83%a0%e3%82%ba%e3%83%bb%e3%82%b3%e3%83%bc%e3%83%88%e3%80%81%e5%b0%91%e9%a1%8d%e8%ab%8b%e6%b1%82\/"},"modified":"2021-04-16T19:57:39","modified_gmt":"2021-04-16T23:57:39","slug":"suinginsmallclaimscourt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/news\/suinginsmallclaimscourt\/","title":{"rendered":"Suing in Small Claims Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a translation of \u201cSuing in Small Claims Court\u201d published in April 2017, produced in English by\u00a0CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario)<\/a>. Japanese Social Services is wholly responsible for the accuracy of this translation, produced with permission of CLEO.
\n<\/p>\n

This month’s On the Radar highlights information about making a claim in Small Claims Court, as featured on the Steps to Justice website.<\/p>\n

What Small Claims Court deals with<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Small Claims Court deals with most types of “civil” claims. This means that people can go to Small Claims Court if:<\/p>\n

\u30fbsomeone owes them money, like unpaid loans or wages
\n\u30fbsomeone has taken, lost, or damaged their property
\n\u30fbsomeone broke a contract with them, for example, by not doing repairs or renovations properly
\n\u30fban employer fired them unfairly
\n\u30fbthey bought something that was defective or wasn’t what it was advertised to be<\/p>\n

The most important limit is that Small Claims Court deals only with claims of up to $25,000<\/strong>.
\nAnd most claims must be filed within 2 years<\/strong> of when the person first learned about the problem.
\nGiving a completed claim form and documents to the court is called “filing a claim”.<\/p>\n

Other solutions<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Before going to court, people should usually try other ways of solving the problem, such as:<\/p>\n

\u30fbsending what’s often called a “demand letter”, which explains what they want and why
\n\u30fbtalking to the other person to try to find a solution
\n\u30fbgetting a mediator to help find a solution<\/p>\n

If these methods don’t work, the plaintiff, who’s the person who wants to sue, needs to do some things to be ready to file their claim with the court.<\/p>\n

Gathering documents<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The plaintiff needs copies of all of the documents that support their claim. Depending on what the claim is about, this might include things like:<\/p>\n

\u30fbcontracts
\n\u30fbemail messages or letters that show what happened
\n\u30fbreceipts and delivery slips
\n\u30fbNSF cheques
\n\u30fbphotos<\/p>\n

The plaintiff must make enough copies of the documents so they can:<\/p>\n

\u30fbkeep their own copy
\n\u30fbattach a copy to the claim
\n\u30fbgive a copy to each defendant<\/p>\n

Getting the correct name of the person or company to sue<\/strong><\/h4>\n

It’s important to use the full name of each defendant and to spell it correctly.
\nIf the claim is against a company or business, the plaintiff might have to do a business name search to make sure they get the name right.
\nChoosing the right court location
\nThe plaintiff has to figure out which courthouse to file their claim in. This depends on where the events took place or where the defendant lives or has their business.<\/p>\n

Completing the Plaintiff’s Claim form<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Once the plaintiff has all the information and documents they need, they have to fill out a Plaintiff’s Claim form.
\nThere’s information on how to complete this form in the Guide to Making a Claim.<\/p>\n

Filing the claim with the court<\/strong><\/h4>\n

People can file their claims online, by mail, or at the court office.
\nThe fee to file a Plaintiff’s Claim is usually $95.
\nIf the plaintiff can’t afford this fee or other court fees, they can ask for a “fee waiver” by filling out a Fee Waiver Request to Registrar, Clerk or Sheriff.<\/p>\n

Getting legal help<\/strong><\/h4>\n

People don’t need lawyers to go to Small Claims Court. But they may want to talk to a paralegal or lawyer to get:<\/p>\n

\u30fblegal advice about what to do based on their situation and what the court might decide
\n\u30fbhelp with the court process, for example, filling out forms<\/p>\n

People with low incomes might be able to get legal help from Pro Bono Ontario.
\nIn Ottawa and Toronto, Pro Bono Ontario provides duty counsel lawyers at Small Claims Court. Duty counsel lawyers give advice and can sometimes help people represent themselves in court.
\nThere is detailed information about the court process in the Ministry of the Attorney General’s Small Claims Court Guides to Procedures.<\/p>\n

This email alert gives general legal information. It is not a substitute for getting legal advice about a particular situation.<\/p>\n

Original source:\u00a0http:\/\/us4.campaign-archive1.com\/?u=acaece29df8d07c95ef84a763&id=a153a0782d<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a translation of \u201cSuing in Small Claims Court\u201d published in April 2017, produced in English by\u00a0CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario). Japanese Social Services is wholly responsible for the accuracy of this translation, produced with permission of CLEO. This month’s On the Radar highlights information about making a claim in Small Claims Court, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":10956,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[280],"tags":[303],"class_list":["post-10955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-living-safety-information"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10955"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14112,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10955\/revisions\/14112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}