Small Claims Actions

The Small Claims Division will hear your case if:

• The amount disputed does not exceed five-thousand dollars ($5,000). You may be owed more than $5,000, but if you are in small claims court you are limited to recovering $5,000. Or, in a counterclaim (when the defendant asserts claims for relief against the plaintiff), no more than $40,000 is requested.
• You seek a return of a residential security deposit from your landlord. Note that you cannot have an attorney represent you in a lawsuit to recover a residential security deposit from your landlord.
• You seek the return of leased or rented personal property, where: (a) the property is worth less than five-thousand dollars ($5,000); and (b) the amount claimed owed for that lease or rental is less than five-thousand dollars ($5,000), exclusive of interest and costs.
• You seek to recover damages or repossess items stolen from your business property. Examples of such items include shopping carts, shopping baskets or other similar devices.

Cases filed in the Small Claims Division (as compared to cases filed with the Regular Claims Division) are intended to proceed more quickly, informally, and lead to a quick resolution of the dispute.

Judgments issued by the Small Claims Division cannot be appealed from – the Court’s rulings are final.

To bring a lawsuit with the Small Claims Division, a plaintiff must file a Statement of Claim, in-person at the District Court Legal Documents Branch. The current filing fee is $35, which can be waived by a judge based on financial hardship. The case will be scheduled within thirty (30) days.

There are rules that determine in which specific Division the Statement of Claim should be filed. Please see the Judiciary’s website for further information: https://www.courts.state.hi.us/self-help/small_claims/small_claims; https://www.courts.state.hi.us/self-help/small_claims_info

In most cases, the clerk will prepare a Notice stating the date, time and place at which the defendant must appear in court to respond to the Statement of Claim (the “trial date”). The plaintiff is responsible for “serving” on the defendant: (1) a copy of the Statement of Claim; and (2) the Notice.

Service can be accomplished by:

1) The plaintiff may send the Statement of Claim and Notice to the defendant by registered or certified mail, restricted delivery with return receipt requested before the trial date. On the trial date, the plaintiff must present to the judge the receipt for registered or certified mail issued by the post office showing when the papers were mailed and the return receipt showing the date of delivery and the signature of the defendant.

2) The plaintiff may take the Statement of Claim and notice to a commissioned civil deputy and request the services of the deputy to serve the papers on the defendant.

3) Any person who is not a plaintiff or defendant and is over the age of 18 may serve the Statement of Claim and Notice on the defendant. The plaintiff must file a Return of Service prior to the trial date signed by the person who served the papers, verifying that the defendant was served the Statement of Claim and Notice.

If the plaintiff wins the case, the court may add the costs incurred by the plaintiff to serve the defendant to the judgment entered against the defendant.

Trial Date

At trial, the plaintiff and defendant will be required to present the facts in their own words. Any witnesses who support your position should be brought to court on the trial date. If a witness will not come to court or cannot get permission to leave work to come to court, the court can be asked to issue an order to compel the witness to appear at the trial (also known as a subpoena). The party asking for the subpoena must pay witness fees and mileage (however, the judge may include the amount paid as witness fees and mileage as part of the judgment entered against the losing party). The subpoena must be submitted to the Small Claims division for approval before the trial date.

Bring to court any documents or papers that relate to the case. The type of documents or papers that may be helpful, include but are not limited to the following: (a) any written contracts (rental agreements, promissory notes, receipts, agreements to repair property, etc.); (b) any letters/emails/text messages that might have passed between you and the other party; (c) any bills, paid or unpaid, and canceled checks having to do with the case; (d) any repair bills or written estimates of repair; (e) photographs of any damaged property.