¡Question: I lent a total of 200,000 Yen to my friend, but he has not returned it. Should I take the matter to an ordinary court?
¡Advice: If you go to an ordinary court, it takes a time and it takes money to hire an attorney.
In the past, ordinary people were often hesitant to take small claims lawsuits to court because of the potential waste of time and money. However, a small claims system was established in 1998, enabling ordinary people to get easy access the courts.
Small claims lawsuits are dealt by a summary court and only deals with claims for money totaling less than 600,000 Yen. No legal knowledge is needed to make a bill of complaint and start the procedure to file a small claims lawsuit at a summary court.
Once the small claims lawsuit is brought in, the court will set a date for the trail, with the aim of finishing all proceedings on that day. Claims concerning the case are completely dealt before the appointed day and evidence to allowed to be submitted before the
trail; this enables a speeding investigation to be carried out. The verdict is delivered on the appointed day and the court often delivers a verdict that allows payment to be divided when needed.
In short, the small claims lawsuit system allows ordinary people to get quick and easy access to the courts. Of course, it is also possible to take your small claims lawsuit to an ordinary court and the opposing party is also allowed to change the small claims
lawsuit to an ordinary court.
This article was originally aired on ZIP FM's Global Voice in February 2008.
