Injustice Eats Away at Plaintiffs Who File Small Claims

In this pleasant suburb, the most intriguing story in years involves a man, a woman, and some edible underwear.

It would seem that he left her for another woman. She claimed that he had moved out with some of her things. So she tromped down to the courthouse and swore out a complaint, spelling out each and every missing item. The edible underwear was high on her list.

Grand drama is rarely found in the musty Manila files that fill many shelves in the Small Claims division of Orange County Municipal Court in Westminster.

But the furies and frustrations of daily life at the close of the 20th Century are amply documented.

The stuff you buy that doesn’t work, for one thing. A small businessman from Huntington Beach is suing a Beaumont software company for $2,000. “Defendant misrepresented this software program, stating it could do a part of my business that in fact it could not do,” the complaint alleges.

Sometimes, the stuff just doesn’t work out. One woman wants a refund for her new couch and love seat. She says the store told her it would break in, but six weeks later the couch is still hard and uncomfortable.

Then there are the things people won’t pay for. A printer claims he made $736.01 worth of matches for a restaurant owner who now refuses to pay; a woman says she’s owed $140 for baby-sitting her neighbor’s kids; and a milk distributor is going after a Palmdale woman for a $148.65 milk bill.

Automobiles account for a large chunk of the cases. Pity the plaintiff who alleges that after eight repair jobs, the car now does not run at all. Landlords are forever suing tenants for unpaid rent and damages, and tenants sue their landlords for not returning their security deposits. Car dealers, furniture stores, doctors and stereo shops also seem to suffer inordinately from deadbeats.

But sometimes the sordid spats over money are elevated to the sublime.

Take the case of Pets, Pets, Pets, a Huntington Beach partnership, versus the Irvine man who became the proud new owner of a chow.

Pets alleges the dog was purchased with a $215 bad check. That was in May, Pets snarls in the complaint, and ever since, the owner has refused to make good. “Always insufficient funds,” it said.

Marcia J. Mass of Huntington Beach is suing a Garden Grove restaurant for $650. Her single sentence tells all: “Broken tooth from rock inside burrito.”

And Mr. Oliver Henry Roberts of Anaheim wants the judge to know he is of sound mind. According to his complaint, he paid $2,000 last June for a set of scratched and damaged bedroom furniture, which the furniture store allegedly agreed to replace.

“All I get are excuses and put off a month at a time,” he fumes. “Seller tells me that I am insecure!”

Twelve thousand small claims cases pass through the court in Westminster every year--and it is just one of five small claims courts in Orange County.

“The people now are more determined,” said Shirley Sterrett, a 30-year veteran who has patiently listened to more horror stories than most psychotherapists. “They’ve become more sophisticated as to what their rights are.”

Some plaintiffs become irate when told that clerks, by law, may not dispense legal advice, can’t locate defendants for them, and won’t help collect the judgments. Says Sterrett: “They think everything is like Judge Wapner.”

Unlike the “People’s Court” television judge, who forces warring parties to come right to the point, “in real court, the judges listen a lot,” said the court’s division manager for civil and small claims. “They let them go on and on.”

For every funny case, though, there’s a pathetic one.

A day-care center has sued a number of women for non-payment of their children’s tuitions. No co-defendants appear on any of the forms. A Torrance man, the victim of an assault and battery, claims $2,000 for lost wages, medical bills and irreparable damage to his clothes.

But most memorable are the folks who seek not money, but vindication. Small claims court supervisor Carol Kuzio remembers the case, three or four years back, of the man who sued over a postage stamp.

And Sterrett recalls a 9-year-old paperboy whose distributor refused to pay him $1.57. The boy could barely see over the counter, but he wanted justice.

“He had to have his father with him to file, so his father came in,” said Sterrett. “He took a day off work to do it because it was so important to the boy.”

Sterrett and Kuzio sent the case of the edible underwear to Judge Wapner, and never learned how it turned out.

But the paperboy won.

SMALL CLAIMS FILING RULES* $6 to file a claim.

* Claims up to $2,000.

* Defendant must reside in the court district, or the transaction must have taken place in the district. Plaintiff’s residence is irrelevant.

* No attorneys allowed.