Yvonne B.
Yelp
I had an unfortunate experience with a big, country-wide, company where they took more money than they should have. Normally, I would first try to get the money back from the company and (if they refused) dispute it with my bank/credit card. However, in this situation, I was concerned that this company would send it to collections if I went that route. So, after many emails back and forth, an unproductive stint with the Better Business Bureau, I eventually sued this company in small claims court. I'd never, ever done that before and I would have liked to know what it was like ahead of time.
You'll want to know where you're going in the Daley Center before you get there. It's a big building and (as far as I know) there's no directory pointing you to various departments. Small claims court is on the 13th floor.
When you go to the Daley Center (for anything) you must go through security. It involves putting your coat, purse, and belt on a conveyor belt and then walking through a metal detector. It's not that bad, but it does get tedious if you have to go back multiple times.
Just like any state-run, government institution (think the DMV) there are many lines, lots of waiting, and a mixed bag of employees. There are employees that (literally) sit there with their Sudoku puzzles or newspapers and are pedantic about having you sign in (when there's nobody ahead of you) and then still send you to another line for something else. Dude. This one guy. Drove. Me. Up. The. Wall. He sent me to other rooms, to other lines, even out of the building to get stuff that turned out to be unnecessary. He had me meet with people to complete forms that I never needed (I still have them). Thanks to him, filing my claim took over three hours. There are other people who are genuinely working hard and doing their best. It's too bad they have lazy colleagues.
When I eventually got the correct form completed, I paid $143.47 for my small claims pro se (meaning that I was representing myself without a lawyer). I was given two important dates: the first one was the date by which the company needed to respond to the court and the second was our court date. They took care of serving the company (I think they used certified mail). If the company chose to contact me before the first date and give me my money then neither of us would have to do anything else. We could simply not show up to court.
The company I sued contacted the court and paid $9.00 to appear pro se. I had some confusion about this. I found something online that said that if a company responds pro se then they cannot have a lawyer appear (even a lawyer who works for the company). I found another source that said that companies cannot appear pro se at all and must have an attorney. If you're suing someone and they respond and have a lawyer, then you have the right to have a lawyer also. It will still be heard in the same small claims pro se court. Regardless, the company I sued sent a local manager to represent them.
The court room is pretty small. There were only three rows of benches, a gate, two tables, and then the judge's desk. About six people waited on the benches. Most of them were casually dressed in jeans. Lawyers wore suits. I wore slacks and a button-up shirt. There was a clerk and a bailiff. The clerk called the cases to check us in. The judge came in and explained the process. First we would meet in another room with a mediator and, if we're not able to settle, then we would see the judge.
The manager from the company and I went into the mediation room. It was small with a circular table that had four chairs. She didn't know anything about our case, she kept getting our names wrong. She added stuff up wrong (off by about $100). She was perfectly nice, but we were unable to mediate. It was mostly because the manager only had $25 in authority. It took 5-10 minutes.
We returned to the court room and were called up to the judge. We stood in front of his desk, got sworn in, and then I got to present my case first. I had it all written out, which was very helpful. It kept me on point and articulate the whole time. I also had all of my supporting documents (emails, receipts, phone records, etc) labeled with tabs so that I could easily hand them over as requested. Next, the manager representing the company got to talk. We could each ask questions of each other but neither of us did. The judge asked a few questions. We also each had turns to rebut and then cross examine again (or, in our case, the judge asked more questions). It took about 5-10 minutes also.
The judge ruled in my favor which means two things 1) there is a judgement against that company, and 2) they have to repay the money they took plus court costs. We stepped over to the clerk and bailiff where they gave us copies of the judgement. They also gave me directions on how to collect the money. If the company doesn't pay me within 30 days then I get paid interest