Access to justice and small claims courts: supporting latin american civil reforms through empirical research in los angeles county, california

Resumen

The purpose of this article is to provide an analysis on the use of Small
Claims Courts as a mechanism to improve access to justice in order to support the ongoing
reform movement in Latin-American countries in civil matters. In this region, this essential
information is intended to be used by policymakers to help judiciaries to confront several
barriers that currently face common citizens: lack of information, high economic cost of the
judicial process and obtaining legal representation, corruption, extreme formalism, delays,
and even the geographical location of the courts. The experience on the implementation
of the Small Claims Courts in the United States, with the modifi cations made during the
60’ and the 70’s as a result of the consumers’ movement, may contribute to the discussion
in countries where is too much to be done in providing access to justice to groups of
populations traditionally excluded, at least in many civil matters. With this purpose, the
author have made an empirical research at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse of the Los Angeles
Superior Court fi nding that even when some reforms could improve the system, with the
proper incentives and with restrictions for corporate plaintiffs to avoid systemic abuse, this
mechanism can become the people’s court.