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small-claims court
noun
: a special court intended to simplify and expedite the handling of small claims on debts
Examples of small-claims court in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The director filed a small-claims court claim in November against CSSE, 1091 and CEO Rouhana.
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Addie Morfoot, Variety, 20 Dec. 2023
Canada’s small-claims court has forced Air Canada to honor the policy its customer-services AI chatbot made up when dealing with a grieving passenger.
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David Meyer, Fortune, 19 Feb. 2024
Some have taken the company to court, including small-claims court, to press their cases.
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Addie Morfoot, Variety, 20 Dec. 2023
Ashanti had represented his wife in small-claims court in a dispute with her former employer, a nonprofit wholly owned by a city agency — a clear conflict of interest.
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Jake Pearson, ProPublica, 20 Dec. 2022
Beal and Thompson-Beal in 2013 went on the Judge Mathis TV show to settle a small-claims court lawsuit the mother filed against her daughter, according to Cleveland Municipal Court records.
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Adam Ferrise, cleveland, 19 Apr. 2021
So Joshua Browder, founder of DoNotPay, a service that helps people fight parking tickets and navigate small-claims court, has built an automated way to file.
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NBC News, 16 Apr. 2020
And contrary to the goal of small-claims court providing a quick legal decision, some cases can go on for years, the consumer advocacy group found.
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Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 20 Feb. 2020
The group also said similar practices may be happening in small-claims courts in other states.
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Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 20 Feb. 2020
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'small-claims court.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1915, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of small-claims court was
in 1915
Dictionary Entries Near small-claims court
Cite this Entry
“Small-claims court.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/small-claims%20court. Accessed 10 Jun. 2024.
Kids Definition
small-claims court
noun
: a court intended to simplify the settling of disputes over small debts
Legal Definition
small claims court
noun
: a special court intended to simplify and expedite the resolution of minor disputes involving small claims
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