How does the small claims work?
Someone has your debt or has failed to supply goods which are below 1 million shillings. You have reason to believe the amount of money and time you will spend to recover your dues will not be commensurate to what you recover? Worry no more!
Parliament through the Small Claims Act, 2016 established a small claims court. It provides an easier and cost-effective avenue for you to recover debts below 1 million.
The small claims court is part of the transformative Judicial Framework agenda.
Jurisdiction
The Court has jurisdiction to determine any civil claim relating to:
a) a contract for sale and supply of goods or services.
b) a contract relating to money held and received.
c) liability in tort in respect of loss or damage caused to any property or for the delivery or recovery of movable property.
d) compensation for personal injuries.
e) set-off and counterclaim under any contract.
Language of court
To make it easier for litigants in the small claims court English, Kiswahili and any other appropriate languages may be used at any stage of the proceedings.
Even though recordings of court proceeding are to be kept in the English language, where need be the court is obligated to facilitate the use of Braille, Kenyan Sign language and other communication formats and technologies accessible to persons with disability.
Procedure before the court.
The procedures in the small claims court are simple by the fact that they are not strictly guided by the rules of evidence.
Parties to a claim can proceed without any oral arguments as long as they have filed documents presented in court bearing in mind that the parties are free to self-representation or representation by an advocate.
Documents to be filed
Matters in the small claims court usually begin by filing a statement of claim in the prescribed form provided for by the Act. (See sample of a statement of claim).
Contents of statement of claims
A statement of claim must have the following:
Name and address of each claimant or the representative
Name and address of each respondent
The nature of the claim
The sum of money claimed by each claimant or person represented
The relief and orders sought
Other particulars of the claim sufficient enough to inform the respondent of the ground of the claim and manner in which the amount claimed has been calculated.
The Party that has been served is called the Respondent. He/She may opt to file a reply to the statement of claim by a defense or a counter claim or set off within 15 days after being served with the statement of claim. (See precedent of sample of a defense or counter claim).
Case of default judgement
The Court on its own motion may enter a default Judgement where the other party does not enter any appearance after being served with the statement of claim. This means that a party has been served with all the documents but in turn fails to respond or choses to ignore court proceedings.
The party in whose favour the default judgement has been made can then go ahead and extract the court’s judgement.
Setting the matter for hearing
Once both parties have been served, they proceed to get a hearing date fixed by the court. Arguments in court by parties may take oral or written submissions or oral arguments.
The small claims court proceedings shall be heard and determined on the same day or on a day-to-day basis until its final determination. The court has to hear and determine a matter within 60 days from the date it was instituted.
The Court may only adjourn the hearing of any matter only under exceptional and unforeseen circumstances which shall be recorded and be limited to a maximum of three adjournments.
Judgment
After hearing all parties involved, the presiding magistrate will give a date for judgement.
The Judgement once rendered, the decree holder (the one in whose favour judgment has been made) can apply for the decree to be extracted. This must be done within a specified timeline.
Review
Parties may also make applications for review of the judgement.
The application for review must be done within 30 days of the judgement given or award. The way to approach the court will be as provided for by the civil procedure rules. (See sample of Precedent of a Review application)
FORMS
You can access the standard forms by right clicking on the link https://www.judiciary.go.ke/download/small-claims-court-form/( See sample of drafted forms on the Ace Litigator website)
COSTS
The fee schedule is in the second schedule of the Small Claims rules 2019 and also on the small claims website.
Conclusion
The small claims court is an avenue for expeditious resolution of matters that are straight forward and guarantees ease of access of Justice for persons aggrieved.