Wednesday, February 5, 2014

This was quite an interesting morning in the House Judiciary Committee as they took their first look at three new bills: H. 731, H. 545, and H. 413. I introduced all three in yesterday’s post. Rep. Kristina Michelson spoke to the bills he introduced, H. 731, and why it would preserve judicial resources. Her stated goal is to give a small claims defendant the right to ask for appointment of a specially assigned judicial officer (judge or attorney) and apply the Rules of Evidence to the hearing. The only way the Rules would apply under current law is to request a jury trial. Justice Crawford was there and commented, from his experience as a trial judge, that a relaxed hearsay rule is really what allows the small claims court to function. Although, per Justice Crawford, there may be times when the Rules should apply, the court operates on evidence people would use in conducting the affairs of daily life.

This bill was followed by H. 545, which would raise the jurisdictional limit of small claims actions to $10,000. The sponsor of the bill offered that jurisdictional limits around the country range from $2500 to $15000, with 9 states having a $10000 limit. Vermont went from $3500 to the present $5000 limit in 2007. She argued that increasing the limit would create more access for plaintiffs. Jean Murray of Vermont Legal Aid spoke to the credit card companies’ use of small claims against mostly unrepresented defendants. Justice Crawford raised the issue of loss of revenue in filing fees. He also spoke to quicker judgments for “debt buyers” or consolidators. He felt the usual “mom and pop” type small claims are mostly under $5000 but would need to do some research to be certain. Administrative Judge Davenport spoke to the increased work load on court staff, given that the courts handle service on defendants. This could result in increasing staff, an appropriation on the bill, etc. The bill doesn’t seem to have legs after this morning.

Finally the Committee began work on H. 413, the collateral consequences of conviction bill. Rich Cassidy testified by phone as to the background of the bill; he was followed by Assistant AG John Treadwell. The AG’s Office is supportive of the bill with some amendments and with the clarification of who will bear the responsibility to maintain a list of all collateral consequences. The bill is sponsored by three members of the House Judiciary Committee and I think it will be advancing after some further testimony. Rich told the committee that the bill has been adopted in large part in North Carolina prompting the Committee Chair, Bill Lippert, to say that he wanted the committee to hear from someone from North Carolina as to how the bill is affecting criminal proceedings there, if at all.
Thanks for reading.