A national consumer legal reform group has given Illinois a barely passing grade for its small claims court system, but none of the 50 states fared particularly well based on the organization's criteria.

"The poor showing of almost every state in the country reflects the fact that our justice system is geared toward lawyers and not toward the average person," said Tom Gordon, associate counsel of the Washington-based HALT, an organization known for its self-help guides and legal-consumer advocacy position. The organization says that small claims courts "have tremendous promise as a means of empowering ordinary people to take charge of their own routine legal needs."

Illinois received a "D" grade, tied for 11th worst among the 47 jurisdictions with small claims courts. The state has among the highest small claims filing fees in the country, according to HALT's research.

The dollar limit for small claims in Illinois is $5,000, more than the national median of $4,000. Each of the 10 counties surveyed late last year - the state's four largest counties and six others picked at random - provided a written guide to using small claims courts and used plain-language forms to help people file their claims. However, only four of the 10 counties surveyed provided mediation to settle disputes, and the courts provided no help in collecting a judgement.

Sangamon County has a written guide and simple forms to fill out.

"All they have to do is ask for the booklet," said Sangamon County circuit clerk Tony Libri. The guidebook is updated each year, he said.

Associate Circuit Judge Stuart Shiffman, who handles most small claims cases, said mediation has been offered on an informal basis in landlord-tenant disputes and other small claims cases.

A city employee has been used as the mediator, but she has been unavailable so far this year and no one has been assigned to replace her, Shiffman said. He said an average of one or two cases per week used the mediation service.

And to collect a judgement, a plaintiff sometimes may have to file a lien against a losing defendant or seek other court action to have the judgement taken from wages. Shiffman says the court offers informal help to people who have won a judgement but are having trouble collecting what is owed them.

"Sometimes the clerk will help them with what forms they need to fill out, and I have informally talked to people to convince them they need to pay the judgement," he said. If they don't pay, the judgement remains on their records.

HALT's Gordon said the organized bar has opposed efforts to expand small claims courts, which allow citizens to resolve disputes without hiring an attorney. Having a lawyer isn't a requirement in small claims court in Illinois, but they are not prohibited, either.

Half of a state's grade came from the amount and type of relief offered by its small claims courts and half was based on ease of access to the court. That, apparently, is where Illinois' fee schedule - which is established by state law based on population of the county - hurt the state's grade.

Illinois law provides for a three-tiered court fee schedule based on the population of the county. Based on the 2000 census, Sangamon County last August moved up from the lowest tier to the second tier of the schedule for counties with populations between 180,000 and 650,000.

As a result most filing fees, including those for small claims cases, went up in August, then again in November by a few dollars when the law library fee increased. In Sangamon County, the small-claims filing fee for cases seeking up to $250 is $41. For cases up to $500, the fee is $51; up to $2,500 it is $61 and cases seeking up to $5,000 require a $106 fee.

"In some parts of the state you can pay over $100 to file a small claims case," Gordon said. "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.

According to HALT's research, a case brought in DuPage County for up to $250 would require a filing fee of $66.

"This means that a person with a claim of $125 would pay about half the amount merely to bring the case to court," Gordon said.

And one of the counties surveyed - Lake County - requires an "appearance fee" of $63 or $83 for a defendant to contest a case, the organization said.

Nearly 6,900 small claims cases were filed in Sangamon County last year, and Libri said there was no noticeable drop-off in filings after the fees increased.

"Maybe the first couple of days, then the volume went right back up," he said, adding that the higher fees may have helped reduce the number of frivolous filings.

Fee waivers are available for those who are indigent and want to file a small claims case. Those pro bono applications are considered and approved by a judge based on a filer's financial status.

Illinois has its shortcomings, according to the HALT survey, but so do others among the 50 states and District of Columbia.

No jurisdiction earned an "A," and only two - California and the District of Columbia - received grades in the "B" range.

Kentucky, Virginia, Kansas and Rhode Island each received an "F" and Delaware, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina don't have small claims courts at all.