HALT's Small Claims Reform Project, which works to increase access to the justice system for legal consumers, has recently achieved key successes in several states. These victories are the result of a growing national consensus that small claims courts need to be more consumer-friendly and accessible, which HALT has been advocating for more than 25 years.

• California: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a pair of bills that will enact sweeping reforms in the state’s small claims court system. The bills, Assembly Bill 1459 and Senate Bill 422, are the product of several years’ effort by HALT and its allies. The bills raise small claims jurisdiction from $5,000 to $7,500 for individual (but not corporate) plaintiffs. They also require temporary judges in small claims court to take courses on topics likely to be raised in small claims court. Finally, they clarify which topics a small claims advisory service is required to cover. The new law takes effect on January 1, 2006. Watch this space for more detailed information about this important legislation.

  Click here for an explanation of the legislation.

• California: HALT, in conjunction with students at University of California Hastings College of the Law, has completed a study of the types of plaintiffs filing small claims cases in the California small claims courts. The study gathered data from San Francisco and Ventura County. The study's most notable findings were that an increase in the dollar limit of small claims courts would lead to few, if any, claims moving to small claims court from courts with higher jurisdictions and that individuals and small businesses were the most likely to be the primary beneficiaries of an increase. Preliminary findings from this study were used in support of HALT's efforts to pass California's recently enacted small claims reform legislation.

  To read the study, click here.

• Michigan: House Bill 5403 would raise the small claims dollar limit from $3,000 to $10,000, which would move Michigan from the seventh-lowest limit in the country to the second-highest. The bill is currently before the House Judiciary Committee. HALT is urging its Michigan members to contact House Judiciary Chairman Jim Howell in support of the bill.

  Click here to read HALT's Action Alert on this legislation.

• Virginia: A Virginia reform bill that raises the jurisdictional limit of the state's small claims courts has passed the state's General Assembly and is on its way to the governor, who is expected to sign it.

  House Bill 1201, sponsored by Delegate Brian Moran, will raise the small claims dollar limit from $2,000 to $5,000. Virginia's limit was the second lowest in the country, effectively shutting many people out of the legal system because their claims are too large for small claims court but not large enough to make it cost-effective to hire an attorney. The new limit of $5,000 will be just below the current national average of $5,259.

  Click here to read more about the reform bill.

• Wisconsin: Wisconsin Representative Joan Ballweg has introduced Wisconsin Assembly Bill 680. The bill would raise the state's small claims dollar limit from $5,000, to $10,000. HALT's study of the effect on small claims dollar limit increases on caseloads was part of Rep. Ballweg's testimony in support of the bill. HALT is continuing to work with Representative Ballweg in support of her legislation.