University Daily Kansan, June 16, 1980
Small claims court helpful with minor disputes
By TAMMY HARBERT
Staff Reporter
It's time to move out and you are shocked to find that for no reason your landlord isn't returning your full amount of money against yours, so what do you do?
For a five dollar filing fee, you can take the landlord to court and have a neutral third party decide the dispute.
The small claims court, established in Kansas in 1973, provides an inexpensive way for people to settle disputes involving less than $500.
"Basically, you get up and tell your side of the story, and then the other side tells its story," Clay Chapman, National Affairs Association, said last week.
ALTHOUGH PEOPLE involved in the suit may seek legal advice before the hearing, no lawyers are allowed in the courtroom.
To file a case for small claims in Douglas County, the plaintiff must fit out a form at the Specialized Division A and B Office at the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 11th and New Hampshire streets.
Joy Burns, Douglas County deputy court clerk, said a hearing was usually scheduled about three weeks after a claim was filed so that the defendant was given time to prepare a defense. The court had 33 cases in May, she said.
ROBERT WARD, MAGISTRATE of Yates Center, who heard small claims cases Friday, said about one third of the cases in the court involved businesses, including landlord-tenant disputes.
"A lot of our landlord-tenant problems grow out of subletting apartments," he said.
But the court covers such a wide range of cases, Ward said, that it is hard to classify them.
The cases Friday ranged from a woman suing a travel agency for a $77 refund on an airline ticket to a $80 suit. Another company said the company did not fulfill its contract.
"We refer them at the point that it looks like complaints cannot be worked out on an individual basis," he said.
CHAPMAN SAID his office often referred consumers to the court. The most commonly referred cases involve apartment security deposits, he said.
Often the defendant never shows up in court, Ward said, in which case the plaintiff usually wins by default. Also, the act of filing a claim against someone often shocks them into paying up, he said.
One of the problems with small claims court is that winning your case
does not necessarily mean you will get your money, Chapman said.
Ward said the court had the power to force payment, but that it was up to the creditor to take the legal steps required. By filing an aid in execution, the creditor can bring the debtor before the court to review his assets. The court may then put a lien on the person's car or other property until the debt is paid. A creditor may also file a request for garnishment if he requires a specified amount of the debtor's money be withheld by his employer from each paycheck until the debt is paid.
"Those are the hardest people to collect from." he said.
SOME DEBTORS have no definite place of employment and do all their business in cash, Ward said.
Although some people become upset during a hearing, Ward said there had never been any violent incidents.
Thanks to a federally supported program, some victims of crimes in Lawrence no longer face adversity alone. They are informed of developments their cases and are reassured by prosecution of the Oread Neighborhood Association.
The Association established an anticrime program through a grant from the Law Enforcement Assistance Foundation, the ONA's Mary Lisa Pike said.
Program assists crime victims
The program was designed to bridge a communications gap between victims and the police created by constraints of the law, tape and shear numbers, she said.
The Association received reports from police of all crimes that occurred in the neighborhood, which lies between Upper Michigan and Massachusetts Streets. The program workers contacted victims to reassure them, to provide home-security checks and to keep them in touch with the progress of their cases, Lake said.
Many victims felt they are lost in the shuffle and that their case is a statistic, she said. They felt excluded from a law
enforcement process that meant to serve and protect them.
Javad Dehagani, a KU Iranian student who was robbed and beaten, was an example.
Three weeks after he was taken to the hospital he did not know if the police even knew of the crime.
Thus, victims like Dehagani often were kept in the dark. This breakdown in communication often led victims to feel lost or disconnected from their effectiveness. Pike and Brothers agreed.
Mark Brothers, of the Lawrence Police Department's Crime Analysis Unit, said it would be too expensive and too time consuming for the department to keep in touch with all victims. And he added that law enforcement police, federal regulations prohibited police from disclosing information that could jeopardize an investigation.
Brothers said that a degree of mistrust was inherent in the criminal justice system. He described a dichotomy between a police officer's duty to be sensitive to a victim's feelings and his role as an investigator.
which an officer must deal the cases become, from necessity, mere statistics, he said.
Because of the number of crimes with
"We end up wearing more hats than you can imagine," Brothers said. "We act as father confessor, big brother and family counselor. Often a distressed victim thinks an officer is cold and unwilling to help the scene he must be controlled and unemotional in order to calm the victim and ascertain the facts."
A police officer who was not sensitive to a victim's needs would not last long on the force, Brothers said. He said, however, that this supportive psychological role was not a formal part of police training.
Community anti-crime programs like the ONA were part of a nationwide trend toward emphasizing the rights of crime victims, he said.
He said the amount of communication between police and victim varied from case to case and depended on an investigation's routress.
"Unfortunately, many crimes go unsolved," she said. "And because often there is no contact, the victim becomes a piece of paper somewhere in police file. We here to let him know that he's more than just a piece of paper."
Pike said that a victim's only point of contact with the police often was the initial report of the crime.
Oread's anti-erite program, which served more than 3,000 residents, was unusual because it was based in a small area. Oread usually funds programs in large cities.
Most Lawrence officers were concerned about victims of crime, which made them unusual. Pike said. Officers worked with the Oread staff and other community groups like the Hape Port Service, which helped rave victims.
Although she acknowledged the need for more victim assistance programs, Pike said she saw them as being essentially stop-gap measures.
It is hard to prevent some people from telling their story subjectively, he said.
"I'd like to see the police fill in the gap," she said. "But it all boils down to a question of money. Our program is better than nothing, and often is not the alternative in other neighborhoods."
Some of the cases he hears bring up complicated legal questions even though the amount involved is small. He used a screen to way screen out such cases, he said.
"Usually the witness wants to get in "there and explain to me the whole world," Ward said. "They think they are there to tell me what to decide."
WARD RECOMMENDED that people seek legal advice before coming to court so they know how to present a case effectively. He said having lawyers in the courtroom would make the process easier.
"An attorney will get my factual information," he said. "I would much rather have an attorney in the court than proceed without them."
Chapman said he didn't advise people to seek legal advice before the bearing.
"The idea of small claims court is that people don't have to go to lawyers," he said. "...lawyers don't give out free advice."
Chapman said he advised people to outline cases on paper before the hearing and to stick only to the facts.
"ard said that in small claims cases, a judge made his decision according to the "preponderance of evidence" rule. Unlike criminal cases, in which the judge makes his decision on the shadow of a doubt," the judge in small claims cases need only be persuaded slightly more by one side than the other. If it boils down to one person's word against another, the judge must decide on whom he believes the most.
ACCORDING TO A recent article in Consumer Reports, it may also help your case to present the judge with a photograph of a dented fender.
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"If neither witness really persuades you," he said, "then it has to go with the defendant."
"I want people to leave the courtroom feeling as good about it as possible," he said.
If a person disagrees with the judge's decision, he may appeal to a higher court within 10 days. Ward said.
University to modify club recognition policy
By ERNIE DAVIS
Staff Reporter
A proposed change ending the University's policy of requiring groups to be recognized before receiving Student Senate funds would make it more difficult for some organizations to request funding. Deniece Chauchek, Student Senate president, said.
Under current policy, a group must register with the Office of Student Organizations and Activities before it can be recognized by the University.
Any group can register with the University if it is non-profit in nature and has a University-approved adviser.
THE RECONGITATION policy being dropped states that a group cannot support or oppose political party activism. This is true in situations, activities or beliefs, or
personal and private activities, habits or inclinations.
The new policy would allow any group registered with the University to request funding. Am Eversole, director of student organizations and activities, said.
Schnack said the requirement concerning personal habits would be dropped under the new policy, eliminating a double standard.
"The new policy would allow groups to be judged on individual merits," he said.
Eversole said the policy concerning the funding of religious and political groups must be clarified.
SCHNACKE SAID the Senate would have to develop a policy on the funding of political groups in accordance with the Senate rules into the Senate rules and regulations.
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