Chapter 1...
In the Beginning
A. First Things
The purpose of small claims court is to hear disputes involving modest amounts of money, without long delays and formal rules of evidence. Disputes are presented by the people involved and lawyers are normally prohibited. The maximum amount of money that can be sued for in California is $7,500 (normally $4,000 if you are suing a bonding company or other guarantor—see rules in Chapter 8, Section I). In legal jargon, this is often called the "jurisdictional amount." Unfortunately, however, you are only allowed to bring two lawsuits for more than $2,500 within any calendar year unless you are suing on behalf of a local government body, in which case there is no case limit. To establish your eligibility for suing for between $2,500 and $5,000, you will have to state as part of your Plaintiff's Claim that you have not already used up your yearly quota.
There are three great advantages of small claims court:
You get to prepare and present your own case without having to pay a lawyer more than your claim is worth.
Filing, preparing and presenting a small claims case is relatively easy. The gobbledygook of complicated legal forms and language found in other courts is kept to a minimum. To start your case, you need only fill out a few lines on a simple Plaintiff's Claim form (for example, "Defendant owes me the sum of $4,000 because the 2004 Neon they sold me on January 1, 2004, in supposedly 'excellent condition' died less than a mile from the car lot"). When you get to court, you can talk to the judge in plain English without any legal jargon. Even better, if you have helpful documents or witnesses, you can present them to the judge without complying with the thousand years' accumulation of rusty, musty procedures, habits, and so-called rules of evidence of which the legal profession is so proud.
Small claims court doesn't take long. Most disputes are heard in court within a month or two from the time the complaint is filed. The hearing itself seldom takes more than 15 minutes. The judge announces her decision either right there in the courtroom or mails it within a few days.
But before you decide that small claims court sounds like just the place to bring your case, you will want to answer a basic question: Will the results you expect to achieve balance out the effort you will have to expend? Even in small claims court, a successful case will probably take ten to 20 hours to prepare and present and, depending on your personality, may actually cause a few sleepless nights.
In order to clearly assess whether your dispute is worth the effort of bringing to court, you will want to understand the details of how small claims court works—being clear about who can sue, where, and for how much is a good start. You will also want to learn a little law to answer such important questions as, are you likely to win and, if so, how much. And, of course, even if you conclude you do have a winning case, you'll want to understand how best to prepare and present it. Finally, and most importantly, comes the detail that so many people overlook, to their later dismay. Assuming that you prepare and present your case brilliantly and get a judgment for everything you request, can you collect the money? The ability to get paid seems a silly thing to overlook, doesn't it? Unfortunately, many plaintiffs who go through the entire small claims procedure and come out winners have no chance of collecting a dime because they have sued a person who has neither money nor any reasonable prospect of getting any.
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