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Small Claims hearings are held before a Judge or Magistrate. A Magistrate is the same as a Judge for purposes of Small Claims Court, although a Magistrate has limited powers in other areas. Small Claims cases are not decided by a jury.

The hearing itself is simple and informal. There are not a lot of complicated rules. The Judge will first look in the Court file to make sure that everyone involved has been served with proper notice. The Judge will also check to be sure that the case is a proper one for Small Claims Court ($5,000 or less, etc.). Then the Magistrate will have each witness swear an oath to tell the truth. Sometimes the Magistrate will ask each witness questions in order to get the whole story out. In addition, each party gets the chance to ask the other witnesses questions. If anyone brings an lawyer, the lawyer may take part as well. Some Judges will ask most of the questions, and others will have the parties ask the questions. You need to be prepared to ask questions and tell your side of the story.

When you prepare your case, you want to get your evidence ready. Think about how you will respond to the other side?s evidence. In most small claims actions, you will not know exactly what evidence the other side will be using. In rare cases you may be allowed to do ?discovery? of the other side. ?Discovery? is a way you can find out what the other side?s story and evidence is. This is generally done by submitting written questions to the other side (these are called interrogatories or requests for admission) or requesting to inspect a place or item, or a request for documents (subpoena duces tecum). As stated, it is very rare that you could do this in Small Claims Court, but it can be allowed in limited cases by the Magistrate.

The hearing may be tape recorded, and you should generally ask for it to be recorded. The main reason for recording it is so that a different Judge can listen to it later, if the case is appealed. Appeals will be discussed later.

Even though Small Claims cases are public, and anyone may watch, as a rule there will be no one in the courtroom except the parties, their witnesses and the Magistrate.

Most Magistrates will ask the parties before the hearing starts if they have tried to settle with the other side. This gives both sides one last chance to avoid a hearing or judgment.

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