Probabilities of Small Claims Judgment Satisfaction and Factors Influencing Success

A claim adjudicated in small claims court is substantively not resolved until the judgement rendered has been received by the winning plaintiff. Using data from the Boone County, Missouri, Small Claims Court, this study found that one-half of the winning claims were collected in full. Differences in collection success were more closely related to the judgment amount and characteristics of the defendant than to characteristics of the plaintiff.