Why I Was in Small Claims Court
I was rear-ended on an icy road in Maryland. I was the plaintiff, filing suite after the defendant lied to her own insurance company about the circumstances in the accident and after the police neglected to advise the defendant's insurance company concerning the investigation outcome.
What Happened?
I prepared for the trial by first investigating the guidelines for Maryland small claim's court. An excellent witness was present at the accident scene, but was reluctant to attend court. He did offer to provide a notarized witness statement that held up my case. Maryland small claims court allows for written witness statements, so I arranged for the witness to personally hand the statement to a notary public, who fedexed the statement to me. I carried the unopened fedex envelope to the court for the judge to open and read. I further ordered Police records of the accident which clearly identified the defendant as "at fault". I also took a series of photographs to the court illustrating the location and events of the accident.
I was prepared to illustrate the sequence of events of the collision to the judge by way of photographs, and present the Police records to the judge for review. I was also ready to present the witness statement (still in the unopened envelope from the notary) to the judge for opening and review. The witness statement, police records and my personal statement were all in agreement and I felt my case was very strong.
The judge rejected the notarized witness statement out of hand. She allowed the police records but never glanced at them, and looked glassy eyed whenever I referred to them. Regardless of the strength of the evidence presented, I was reduced to a state of he said/she said, and did not receive a favorable judgment.
Further; we are told by the state that rules are relaxed in small claims court....but only if the judge will allow it. Not knowing the protocol for preparing and labeling exhibits, I felt and appeared awkward in front of the judge.
Lessons Learned
- Lesson # 1: In the months in advance of a trial; obtain an attorney. Regardless of what the state allows a judge to accept as evidence, the judge may do what she wants. Many hours were spent and utterly wasted in preparing for the trial. Another judge might have permitted and considered the presented evidence, but such didn't happen this time. In this district court, an attorney would have advised me to subpoena the witness and subpoena police records. An attorney would have advised me on protocol. This should have been a "won" case. Instead this was a sorry waste of 5 months planning and lost damages.
