A national organization that keeps tabs on the nation's legal system studied the small--claims court system in Illinois and found that it tied for the 11th-worst grades among the 51 jurisdictions studied nationwide.

Halt, an organization of Americans for Legal Reform, gave the small-claims court system in Illinois a D overall.

Ten counties in Illinois were surveyed and graded on nine categories: dollar limit, availability of injunctive relief, help with the collection process, availability of advisers for litigants, whether the court was open beyond the traditional 40-hour week, user-friendly complaint forms and guides to using the court, amount filing fees, encouraging self-representation and the availability of mediation.

Halt was founded in 1978 and is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public interest group of more than 50,000 members based in Washington. The organization challenges the legal establishment to improve access and reduce costs in the civil justice system both at the state and federal levels.

None of the jurisdictions surveyed nationally received an A grade from Halt. Only two, California and the District of Columbia, received B grades.

Small-claims courts, which often prohibit lawyers and use simplified legal procedures, are in place to allow people a place to resolve routine legal needs.

Illinois' small-claims court allows a dollar limit of $5,000, which is a bit higher than the median nationwide cap of $4,000. Illinois received a B for the dollar limit category from the organization.

In comparison, the research found that small-claims courts in Illinois have some of the highest filing fees in the country which led the organization to give the state an F for the low filing fees category.

In St. Clair County, the filing fees for a small-claims case range from $43 to $193, depending on the what the plaintiff is seeking. In St. Clair County, the small-claims court is divided into two divisions: people seeking possession of something and rent or people just seeking monetary compensation.

"In some parts of the state, you can pay over $100 to file a small-claims case," said Tom Gordon, Halt's associate counsel. "The bar needs to realize that while lawyers representing large corporate clients in multimillion-dollar cases may not object to such high filing fees, small claims litigants should not have to pay such a large amount of money to settle a dispute over a small amount of money."

Types of cases range from landlords suing for unpaid rent, credit-card companies suing for payment, hospitals wanting patients to pay their bills and people seeking repayment of loans from friends So far this year, more than 1,745 small-claims cases have been filed in the St. Clair County Clerk's office.

Illinois received an A grade for providing guides and simplified complaint forms to help walk the average person through the legal process. Every county surveyed in Illinois provided the simplified form written in plain language.

The state also received an F for not providing extended courtroom hours. St. Clair County does not offer courtroom hours beyond the typical 40-hour work week.