Small Claims Standards: 3:01 Statement of small claim: Contents

The Administrative Office of the Trial Court issues these Standards to assist judges, clerk-magistrates and other personnel of the District Court, Boston Municipal Court, and Housing Court Departments in implementing recently amended Trial Court Rule III, Uniform Small Claims Rules (effective January 1, 2002).

All small claims must be filed on the uniform "Statement of small claim and notice of trial" form. Small claims personnel should assist the claimant in completing this form.

Commentary

Small claims personnel should instruct the claimant that they must utilize the uniform Statement of Small Claim and Notice of Trial form to file their small claim. The uniform form is designed to be usable in all departments and divisions of the Trial Court with small claims jurisdiction. Individual courts should not "personalize" their stock copies, and no claim presented on the uniform form should be rejected because it is not accompanied by any locally-developed "pre-application" or supplementary form.

Plaintiffs should not be charged for copies of the Statement of Small Claim and Notice of Trial form. Courts should not hesitate when asked to distribute a reasonable supply of forms to community organizations and large commercial plaintiffs. (Courts should anticipate requests for such distributions in determining the quantity of forms to requisition from the Administrative Office of the Trial Court.)

Small claims personnel should assist plaintiffs in correctly filling out the Statement of Small Claim and Notice of Trial form. Since the multi-part form serves as notice to the defendant, it should be stressed that all copies must be legible. Plaintiffs should be encouraged to state their claim in “concise, untechnical language, but with particularity and comprehensiveness." Uniform Small Claims Rule 2. Plaintiffs should be advised that their statement of claim must be specific enough to place the defendant on fair notice as to what allegations he or she is required to defend.

Small claims personnel should advise plaintiffs that the defendant be identified as correctly as possible on the claim form, and that such identification must include the following information:

• In the case of an individual defendant, the full name and address of the defendant.
• In the case of a corporate defendant, its full legal name, and if known, the name and address of a corporate officer or agent, to aid in the enforcement of any payment order. Exact corporate names can be obtained from the Corporate Records Division of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Room 1712, One Ashburton Place, Boston, MA 02114, [phone].
• In the case of an unincorporated business (for example, a partnership), the name(s) of its owner(s) as well as the name under which business is conducted. The owner(s) of an unincorporated business can be learned from the city or town clerk where the company’s offices are located. Local consumer groups will often assist consumer plaintiffs with this task.
• In the case of a trust, the full name and address of the trustee.

Small claims plaintiffs are not allowed to divide a single claim into multiple causes of action in order to get around the statutory limit on recovery or for any other reason. Bougiokas v. Moore, 58 Mass. App. Dec. 74 (N. Dist. 1976). The rule against claim-splitting, however, does not prevent a plaintiff from bringing multiple similar small claims, each within the statutory limit, where the basis of each is legally a separate claim. Boyd v. Jamaica Plain Co-operative Bank, 7 Mass. App. Ct. 153, 163-167, 386 (1979).

A 1995 amendment to G. L. c. 218, s. 23 provides, however, that a judgment in a small claims motor vehicle property damage case "shall not have a res judicata, collateral estoppel, or other preclusive effect on any other action arising out of the same cause of action."