Stewart v. Mills

CROW, Judge.

This appeal presents a res judicata issue in a small claims case.

Section 482.305, RSMo Supp.1995, reads, in pertinent part:

“When sitting as a small claims court, the judge shall have original jurisdiction of all civil cases ... where the amount in controversy does not exceed three thousand dollars....”

Section 482.300.2, RSMo 1994, provides that when a judge is hearing “small claims matters,” the court shall be known as “small claims court.”

This court gathers from the record that the judge of Division 3 of the Circuit Court of Stoddard County is the judge who hears small claims.

The…