Kansas’ small-claims courts deserve an “F” on the legal report card, according to a national reform organization.

Kansas was one of only four states to receive a failing grade for its small-claims court procedures in a study by HALT, or Help Abolish Legal Tyranny, a Washington-based advocacy group.

Eudora resident Kathleen Davis agrees there are problems.

In February, Davis filed a small-claims case in Douglas County District Court seeking $1,800, the maximum amount of relief allowed by Kansas law. That wasn’t even close to the amount she hoped to recover from a person she said ran up bills on her cell-phone account.

“It would have been nice if the limit had been $3,000,” she said.

The $1,800 judgment limit is one of the reasons for the failing grade in Kansas, according to HALT. That ceiling restricts small-claims court actions to “the most trivial of cases,” the report said. Small-claims courts are meant to accommodate residents with legal grievances they want to pursue themselves while avoiding costly attorney fees.

Other criticisms were aimed by HALT at Kansas’ relatively steep filing fees; the state’s weak help for winning claimants who then must collect their awards; its weak encouragement for residents interested in self-representation; the general lack of user-friendly forms and guides; poor availability of advisers and mediators and general unavailability of court times outside the normal 40-hour business week.

Davis experienced many of those system weaknesses firsthand. The first time she arrived at the court clerk’s office to file her claim, she said, the office was closed. Because of state budget cuts, the office has had to reduce the number of hours it is open to the public.

Moreover, Davis’ case won’t be heard until June.

“They just said they were too backlogged,” Davis said.

Small-claims filing fees were criticized by HALT as being too high. The fee in Kansas is $46 for claims from $500.01 to $1,800. It is $26 for claims of $500 and less. In Colorado, the filing fee is $8 for claims of $500 or less and $16 for claims from $500.01 to $2,000.

Many of HALT’s criticisms address situations the state court system has no control over, said Ron Keefover, spokesman for the Kansas Office of Judicial Administration. Much of the small-claims court procedure  including the judgment limit  is set by the Kansas Legislature.

“It’s a little frustrating to have the blame on the courts,” Keefover said.

Douglas County District Court Clerk Doug Hamilton agreed. He said he isn’t surprised by HALT’s report card.

“I would be ecstatic if we could provide advisers and mediators for small-claims litigants, but the judiciary barely has enough money to maintain current staffing in this budgetary crisis,” Hamilton said.

In conducting its study, HALT surveyed small-claims courts in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In each state, the survey included the four largest counties and six other randomly selected counties. Half of a state’s grade was based on amount and type of relief available and half on ease of access to the court.

HALT was formed in 1978. With 50,000 members, it is the oldest and largest consumer legal reform group in the nation.