The most one can sue for in Small Claims Court is $10,000.00. The problem is that legal fees when suing for $7,000.00 are not all that different than suing for $700,000.00 until now.

There is simpler and cheaper way of suing for claims no greater than $50,000.00. This method called "Simplified Procedure" is due to a change made to the rules of the court and opens up a new possibility for the clients of Dale Streiman and Kurz.

This simpler method of suing is both faster and cheaper than traditional court action.

The advantages of the Simplified Procedure are:

• a number of procedural steps have been removed, primarily examinations for discovery and in some cases lengthy  trials
• trial can be much shorter
• a lot of the evidence is given in writing rathen than oral testimony
• some court documents, such as pretrial memorandums, have been eliminated
• if you do not use this method and you recover less than $50,000.00 in a standard action, you may receive no costs.

However making the process simpler and faster has made it more arbitrary and less predictable. There is no chance to test the other side's version of the case prior to trial and very little even if there is a trial.

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The drawbacks of the simplified method of suing:

• little chance to test the other sides story
• limited ability to get facts and information from the other party
• greater chance of the court making an error because of the restriction in obtaining information not only in advance but at trial in the event there is one.
• there is a need to organize and present your evidence in a comprehensive affidavit (written) form. Your whole case will probably be won or lost on this document.