Justice Court jurisdiction has been limited for years to controveries concerning $10,000 or less, but inflation has rendered this limit increasingly out of date.
This change comes almost a decade into the effort to make Justice Court more accessible to the average Texan. In 2011, the legislature adopted Texas Government Code Sec. 27.060, which states the purpose of small claims court is to “ensure the fair, expeditious, and inexpensive resolution of small claims cases.” Justice Court judges are further required to keep hearings “informal, with the sole objective being to dispense speedy justice between the parties.”
At the Harris County Law Library, we see first-hand how average Texans can be frustrated by the $10,000 limit in pursuit of restitution, particularly in cases involving damage to their motor vehicles, or sometimes by unscrupulous contractors to their homes. Filing a small claims case requires filing out a one page, fill-in-the-blank form by hand. The form is conveniently available for free on the Harris County Justice of the Peace website. But even a Houstonian savvy enough to find their way to our reference desk is likely to be frustrated by the legalese-laden templates and handbooks necessary to press a claim worth any more than $10,000. Especially if they are suing an established corporation, even a well-educated pro se litigant with a good claim is likely to be unfamiliar with legal terminology and procedure, and will face an uphill battle.
As our library strives to provide all the residents of Harris County with access to justice, we are pleased our patrons will benefit from the broadened access to Texas’s so-called “people’s court.”