Small claims courts are courts of limited jurisdiction that are designed to hear civil cases between private litigants.  Their purpose is to prevent clogging up the formal court system with relatively petty matters through a less formal forum.  Small claims courts also limit the judgments awarded.  This limit is generally set at $5,000 – though it may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

The rules of civil procedure and evidence are typically simplified in small claims proceedings so as to allow non-lawyers to litigate their matters without the help of a costly attorney.  Formal and costly procedures such as depositions are not allowed in small claims, and generally speaking, neither is a trial by jury.

Filing Small Claims in Oakland County, Michigan

Any individual over the age of 18 can file in Oakland County Small Claims Court for damages up to $3,000.  You may bring an action in Oakland County if the defendant resides there, the cause of action occurred there, or any property involved with the action is located there. 

In order to file your case, you will first need to file an affidavit and claim form at the appropriate courthouse.  These forms, along with the fee information about filing a claim in the Oakland County Small Claims Division, which depends on the amount of your claim, can be found at the courthouse location as well as on this website.

After you file, the next step is to serve the defendant. You must know the full name of the individual you want to sue and an address at which he or she can be served.  In the case of filing a claim against a business, the process depends on whether or not the business is incorporated.  If it is incorporated, you have to include the name under which it is incorporated, as well as a name and address of either a corporate officer or the registered agent.  If you have trouble finding this information, you may search the Michigan Secretary of State website.

This service may be completed in one of three ways. The easiest way is to serve the defendant through certified mail with a return receipt requested. This method can be taken care of by the courthouse clerk for a fee of $10. If this approach proves unsuccessful, then you will have to use one of the other two methods.  The first of which is to utilize the court’s bailiff services for a fee of $24.50 per defendant.  If this method does not work, you will be advised of the Post Office Verification Process which is used to obtain a valid forwarding address of the defendant being sought.  If this is ineffective, you must obtain a valid address for the defendant yourself, or your case will close.  Your final option is to personally serve the defendant.  You may either employ someone who is 18 years of age or older, or you may hire a certified process server - proof of service must be notarized.  The important thing to keep in mind is that Proof of Service must be returned to the court sooner than 7 days prior to your court date.

For more information about the Oakland County small claims process, visit the Oakland County Court’s website.