The Big Picture on Small Claims Court
If you’re being sued, there is at least one advantage to being sued in Small Claims Court: You don’t have to hire an attorney to represent you.
If you are sued in Municipal or Superior Court, you may not even be able to understand the complaint against you without a lawyer, but in Small Claims Court things are much simpler. Rather than being served with a thick document filled with legalese, you will receive a one-page, pink sheet of paper announcing across the top in both Spanish and English: “You Are Being Sued.”
Form Is Short
The form is short and to the point. It has a space for the plaintiff--the person who is suing you--to say how much he claims you owe him and leaves one or two lines to explain why. That’s it. Once you’ve been served with one of these, you’ve got to show up in court on the “trial date” appearing on the bottom of the form.
Once you’ve been sued--whether it’s for small potatoes in Small Claims Court or for a million dollars in federal court--you have the same options: ignore it, settle or fight.
If you just ignore the complaint and go about your business, a default judgment will be entered against you. (In Small Claims Court, the judge will still require the plaintiff to present evidence of the case, but if you’re not there, the judge is sure to rule against you, though perhaps not award as much in damages as the plaintiff would like.)
Settlement should always be considered. Although you won’t be paying for a lawyer, your defense can be an expensive waste of your own time, especially if you want to present your case well. You’ll have to search your records for documentary evidence and try to find witnesses to testify. Perhaps the plaintiff will take 50% less than you think. Smart plaintiffs know that small-claims judges rarely award everything they request, so they usually overestimate their damages anyway.
It’s worth trying to resolve your differences, especially if it’s only a monetary dispute and not a question of principle.
When you defend yourself in Small Claims Court, you can either deny liability altogether or argue that the plaintiff is asking for more than he deserves. Before you plan your defense, it’s worth a trip or phone call to the court clerk’s office. The clerk has various information sheets that you may find helpful.
Each county is also required by law to provide small-claims advisers free of charge. The advisers do not give legal advice, but they do help you understand court procedures. For more information about the Small Claims Court Advisory Program, call (714) 834-2502 in Orange County and (213) 974-6131 or (213) 974-9759 in Los Angeles County.
If you are only arguing about the amount of money the plaintiff is demanding, you should understand that you will be admitting partial responsibility, so don’t be surprised when the judge rules against you.
If you deny liability completely, have a strong defense and evidence at hand. If you claim you’ve already paid the bill, be sure to bring the canceled check or the invoice marked “paid.” It is surprising how many people forget such basics.
By law, the hearing is supposed to be “informal, the object being to dispense justice promptly between the parties.” A judge can consult with witnesses informally, investigate the case directly or, as happened in one recent Santa Monica case, even consult with an independent outside expert witness the judge himself found.
Just because the hearing is informal doesn’t mean you should be sloppy in your preparation or presentation. Be polite to the judge. Try not to sound emotional. Don’t look like a schlep; you don’t have to wear a suit and tie, but tattered jeans won’t impress the judge with your credibility. Stress the facts and any evidence you have to support your version. Leave speculation and hypotheticals at home.
You can do more than just defend yourself. You can countersue. Perhaps a dry cleaners is suing you for a cleaning bill; if the reason you didn’t pay is the damage to your sweater, you can file a claim against the dry cleaners and have both claims heard at the same time.
See the Court Clerk
Ask the court clerk for a form called the “defendant’s claim.” You’ll have to fill it out, file it and serve it on the plaintiff. If you received the plaintiff’s claim fewer than 10 days before the trial date, you must serve the plaintiff with your claim at least one day before the trial date, but if you were given your notice more than 10 days before the court date, you must serve the plaintiff at least five days before.
Whatever you do, when you get to court, don’t try to sound like a lawyer. Relax and be yourself. As one Washington legal-reform group advises its members:
“Many people sabotage their own case by using legal terms they don’t understand or by performing a ludicrous parody of Perry Mason. If you start acting like a lawyer, the judge will start treating you like one.”
And who would want that.
