HB 1234-FN – AS INTRODUCED
2006 SESSION
09/01
HOUSE BILL 1234-FN
AN ACT reducing the maximum amount of debt or damages for small claims actions.
This bill reduces the maximum amount of debt or damages for small claims actions from $5,000 to $2,500.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
06-2204
09/01
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Six
AN ACT reducing the maximum amount of debt or damages for small claims actions.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Small Claims Actions; Maximum Amount of Debt or Damages. Amend RSA 503:1, I to read as follows:
I. A small claim is any right of action not involving the title to real estate in which the debt or damages, exclusive of interest and costs, does not exceed [$5,000] $2,500.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2007.
LBAO
06-2204
11/7/05
HB 1234-FN - FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT reducing the maximum amount of debt or damages for small claims actions.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Judicial Branch states this bill will have an indeterminable fiscal impact on state revenue and expenditures in FY 2007 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on county and local expenditures or revenue.
METHODOLOGY:
The Judicial Branch indicated the small claims jurisdictional limit has been at $5,000 since January 1, 1999 when it was increased from $2,500. The Branch reviewed the following ten years of small claims case volume:
Years with $2,500 jurisdictional maximum
1995 16,913
1996 17,840
1997 18,307
1998 16,623
Years with $5,000 jurisdictional maximum
1999 16,422
2000 16,185
2001 17,064
2002 16,722
2003 17,796
2004 17,684
Based on these statistics, the Branch could not identify a significant relationship between the jurisdictional maximum and the number of small claims cases.
The Branch estimated the cost to process a civil writ is approximately $22.61 more than a small claims action or $22,610 per thousand cases. If the change in jurisdictional maximum for small
LBAO
06-2204
11/7/05
claims actions impacted the number of civil writs there would be a fiscal impact on state expenditures and revenues, but this amount cannot be determined.