The Small Claims Action Center is the nation’s first organization dedicated to helping consumers use small claims courts to obtain redress for abusive or unlawful corporate practices. SCAC educates consumers about small claims courts in each state and provides information and resources that consumers may use to identify valid claims and prosecute them successfully. SCAC also partners with law schools, law firms and non-profits to develop a nationwide network that provides consumers in each state with hands-on guidance and support at all stages of the litigation process, from identifying a claim to enforcing a judgment.
SCAC Is Hiring an Executive Director!
SCAC is looking for a creative, self-motivated and fearless Executive Director to launch this innovative project and manage all aspects of SCAC’s work. Responsibilities include:
- Research the law and procedure governing small claims in each state and assemble information in user-friendly format for posting online;
- Research corporate practices and identify potential claims, focusing on states where consumer protection statutes provide for triple damages and attorney fees;
- Assemble an archive of successful cases, with links to complaints and other relevant materials; and
- Develop strategies for leveraging the power of small claims courts – the most underused legal resource available to consumers injured by fraudulent and abusive corporate practices.
Salary and benefits commensurate with experience. To apply, please email cover letter and resume to: info@smallclaimsaction.org
The Need
Small claims courts are the most accessible forum of law available to American citizens. Costs are minimal, procedures are simple, and legal representation is not necessary. Anyone with a minor dispute – usually involving $5,000 or less, depending on each state’s jurisdictional limit – can have their day in court simply by filing a complaint and appearing on the appointed day.
Despite the ease with which they may be accessed, small claims courts are underused as a means of redressing consumer complaints against corporations. Millions of Americans are harmed each year by the deceptive or fraudulent billing practices that utility providers, airlines, hotels, car rental companies and other corporations routinely employ, but these and other unfair or unlawful business practices typically go unchallenged. Consumers may not know that they have a claim against a corporation, or how easy it is to prosecute their case in small claims court. Others may think that pursuing a matter involving a relatively small amount of money is not worth their time. As a result, corporations have little incentive not to engage in such practices, and there is little accountability when they do.
Small claims courts can be an effective forum for remedying abusive or illegal corporate practices that harm consumers. Many states have enacted consumer protection statutes, which allow consumers to collect a monetary penalty for each violation. Under some statutes, the penalties include triple damages and attorneys’ fees. Actions filed in small claims courts pursuant to such statutes serve a dual purpose: first, they make individual claimants whole; and second, in aggregate, they incentivize corporations to cease their abusive or unlawful practices, and to adopt more consumer-friendly practices.
Mission and Goals
The mission of SCAC is to educate consumers about using small claims court to obtain redress for abusive or unlawful corporate practices. It is not a full-service legal aid clinic, but rather provides claimants with the information and resources they need to prosecute their own claims successfully. As such, the value SCAC provides – in addition to assisting individual claimants – is in the systematic approach it applies to small claims court litigation. Specifically, SCAC helps identify corporate practices that should be challenged in small claims court, and raises awareness among consumers who may have valid claims. It also identifies best practices that successful claimants use, which may be replicated in future cases. SCAC thus enables small claims litigation to achieve the benefits of a class action – but one that is litigated one class member at a time.