54A-District Court - Civil Division
The Civil Division handles Small Claims cases, Landlord/Tenant cases and General Civil cases.
What is a civil case?
A civil case is a court proceeding for working out a disagreement between two people, businesses, or organizations.
The person starting the case is called the plaintiff, and the person who is being sued is called the defendant. In most civil cases, the plaintiff is asking for a specific amount of money to be paid by the defendant. However, in some civil cases, the plaintiff may be asking the court to tell the defendant to stop some behavior or to do a specific thing.
The district court will handle the case if the claim is for $25,000 or less. The filing fee varies with the amount of the claim.
In a civil case, both the plaintiff and the defendant may be represented by an attorney. However, if the case is filed in small claims an attorney is not allowed. If a dispute involves amounts of $3,000 or less the plaintiff can elect to file the case with the small claims division.
The court clerks are available to offer assistance in processing your paperwork. Court clerks are not attorneys and are forbidden by law to give legal advice.
