The largest county in Indiana is finally catching up with the times and that could have some impact on debt collection activity in the Hoosier State.
Starting July 1, small claims court in Marion County, the largest of the 92 counties in Indiana, will become a court of record, and any appeal will go to the Indiana Court of Appeals. Previously, much of the dialogue from litigants and any inquiries from judges is not preserved and if a case is appealed, the entire process must start over again.
With no record to build upon, the small claims judgments are vacated and the litigants must start from scratch. They have to file complaints, responses and motions with the court, and they usually have to take on the expense of hiring an attorney for representation.
Microphones are being installed in all nine small claims courtrooms in Marion County, and they will record all proceedings. Any rulings that are appeals will now go to the Court of Appeals instead of Marion Superior Court, and the recordings “will become the foundation of the arguments,” according to the report.
The transition process has taken nearly seven years since it was announced back in 2011. It was a report in the Wall Street Journal, which detailed forum shopping and “unfair collection practices” that help ignite the decision to update the small claims court in Marion County to become a court of record.
