Small Claims Procedure is an alternate manner of resolving disputes which allows any individual to commence a legal suit. As pointed out by the court in Wee Nai Li v Sarawak Bank Employees Union (2012) LNS 872, the purpose of the Small Claims Procedure is to ensure that the parties with small claims are not deterred from pursuing their case in court due to the high legal fees.
Therefore, there are certain pre-conditions that need to be fulfilled before an individual can invoke small claims procedure, which are:
- The amount in dispute or value of the subject matter between the parties must not exceed RM5,000.00; and
- Both parties are not allowed to be represented by a lawyer save where the defendant is required by law to be represented by an authorised person.
How to File a Small Claim Case
The procedure for small claim cases is governed by Order 93 of the Rules of Courts 2012.
- Obtain Form 198 from the Registrar of the Magistrate Court
- State the amount and particulars to the claim
- Sign or thumbprint the Form 198
- File 4 copies with the registry of Magistrate Court
- Extract the sealed copies of Form 198 and serve it upon the defendant via personal service or by prepaid registered post addressed to the defendant’s last known address
- File affidavit of service to prove that Form 198 has been served upon the defendant
- The defendant will have 14 days from the date of service to file his defence in Form 199, otherwise the Magistrate may give judgement for the plaintiff and if there is a counterclaim, the plaintiff may file a defence to the counterclaim under Form 200.
