Exploring a Better Way for Small Claims Resolution in Florida.

• Author: Tanner, Michael G.

Most of us during our career have received a request to help someone with a really small civil claim, say a claim under $1,000. To the claimant, that's a lot of money, but most of us know it's nearly impossible for a lawyer to handle a claim that size economically. If you decide to accept the representation, you do so knowing it will probably become pro bono. If you send the claimant to the small claims process in our court system, you do so knowing that will likely be a frustrating experience. This is profoundly problematic for our society because the less our citizens see our justice system as a functioning institution that is readily available to serve their needs, the less value they will place on it and on the rule of law itself. The corrosive effect of that over time is obvious.

This is not a criticism of our judges, our court personnel, or our clerks of court; they are hardworking public servants who do their best within the current framework. But soon there may be a better alternative for Florida citizens with small civil claims.

Exploring that possibility is one of the projects now underway by the Board of Governors' COVID-19 Recovery Task Force. The task force was established in the summer of 2020, and its primary mission then was to help our members address the immediate practice challenges created by the pandemic. Beginning in the summer of 2021, the task force has been looking at more long-term issues and possible solutions.

With regard to small civil claims, the task force is exploring the feasibility of a "fully automated online platform [administered by our state courts system] for the complete management and resolution of small value civil claims." There is an informative article in the November edition of The Florida Bar News describing in detail the task force's current work on this project, and I recommend that article to you.

What would make such a platform truly groundbreaking in Florida is that it would depart from centuries of dispute resolution practice in one fundamental way: In the past, claims have been resolved through what we call synchronous proceedings, that is, proceedings where the parties and a presiding officer are present together in the same place at the same time to present and resolve their dispute. Even during and after the 2020-21 pandemic, that centuries-old practice has not really changed; parties and the court still come together synchronously, although now often in a digital space rather than in...