If anyone is considering filing a small claims case in the Benton County District Court, they might be interested in what happened to my court experience.

I filed a claim on 6-23-17 and was granted a judgment on 8-14-17. Yeah, I won my case ... well, not exactly. The court has a process that takes months to process and requires more money from me to proceed.

On the 30th of May, 2018, a writ of execution was processed by the Small Claims Court and forwarded to the Benton County Sheriff's Office for processing. On Aug. 16, 2018, I received a call from a representative from the Sheriff's Office, stating that the Sheriff could not proceed because the defendant had filed for bankruptcy on June 18, 2017.

In this digital age of electronics, no one from the Benton County District Court bothered to check with the Bankruptcy Court to see if the defendant had filed for any court hearings -- unbelievable incompetence on behalf of the court. When I requested a refund of my court costs, I received a lousy $30. Even though I won my case, I lost a year of my time and several hundred dollars in court fees due to the inefficiency and incompetence of this court.

Kim B. Swanson

Bella Vista