Oregon House Bill 2463 and Small Claims: The 14-to-30-Day Shift

What HB 2463 Changed

House Bill 2463 was enacted during Oregon's 2025 legislative session and took effect on January 1, 2026. It amended four statutes:

• ORS 46.445 and ORS 46.455 (circuit court small claims)
• Former ORS 55.045 and former ORS 55.065, now ORS 52.770 and ORS 52.780 after the Justice Court provisions were renumbered

The core change: defendants now have 30 calendar days to file a written response after being served with a small claims action. The old deadline was 14 calendar days.

The bill also clarified how the $750 jury trial threshold under ORS 46.455(3) is calculated. Under HB 2463, you include prejudgment interest, administrative fees, and litigation costs the plaintiff listed in the claim when deciding whether the total crosses $750 — not just the bare principal.

Why the Legislature Made the Change

The Oregon State Bar Consumer Law Section and Oregon Consumer Justice both testified that the 14-day window was too short for self-represented defendants. Most people served with small claims papers have never been in court before, have no lawyer, and need time to understand the forms, gather evidence, and make an informed decision about whether to fight, settle, or pay.

The 30-day window now matches the general civil litigation response period under ORCP 7 C(2), which applies to standard circuit court lawsuits. The alignment means self-represented defendants in small claims get the same amount of time as defendants in more complex civil cases.

What HB 2463 Did Not Change

The bill did not increase the $10,000 jurisdictional cap. Proposed bills (SB 484 and SB 485) that would have raised it to $20,000 remain unenacted. The cap stays at $10,000 for both circuit court small claims departments and justice courts.

The bill also did not change:

• The prohibition on attorneys appearing in Circuit Court small claims without judicial permission (ORS 46.415) and the similar Justice Court rule (ORS 52.800)
• Circuit Court response fees ($57 for claims up to $2,500, $102 for claims over $2,500 up to $10,000 under the 2026 schedule); Justice Courts set separate fee schedules
• The requirement that the response be received by the clerk, not just postmarked

The Online Confusion Problem

The biggest practical consequence of HB 2463 is information lag. Legal blogs, self-help sites, and even some court resources still reference the 14-day rule. If you search "Oregon small claims deadline" right now, results from before 2026 will tell you 14 days.

Your court papers are the authoritative source. For a claim filed in a small claims department on or after January 1, 2026, the official form should reflect the 30-day deadline. When online information conflicts with your papers, check the current text of ORS 46.455 for Circuit Court or ORS 52.780 for Justice Court.

How This Affects Your Response Strategy

Thirty days gives you enough time to:

1. Verify the case is real through the OJD Records and Calendar Search
2. Read the claim carefully and identify what the plaintiff is asking for
3. Decide which response option fits — deny, counterclaim, demand a jury trial, or pay
4. Gather supporting documents and organize your evidence
5. File the Defendant's Response form with the court clerk

It does not give you unlimited time. Settlement discussions, phone calls with the plaintiff, or waiting for a lawyer consultation do not pause the deadline. Only a formal court order extends it.

The Oregon Small Claims Response Guide includes a deadline calculator worksheet and walks through each response option step by step.

See more Oregon guides →