Small Claims... now from personal experience...

I actually had to go to small claims recently. Previously I blogged about the overall process of small claims. Now I can supplement that blog with a few pointers.

If you do file the paperwork with additional information, like the declaration, it will not be read until the day of the hearing. What does this mean? This means the case will be fast. The judge will not know any of the facts that you have prepared on your complaint until the day of. Oftentimes, there will be tens of other cases in the same time slot as your case. So you really have one shot at putting together your story--- be prepared!

I don't know about other counties, but in Ventura, there is a group of mediators assigned to small claims court. They will try to mediate every claim before it actually goes before a judge. This group of mediators in Ventura is really good in my opinion. They are really professional and quite friendly. They make the whole process easier and less stressful. In my case we actually did mediate to a settlement, so we did not need to have an actual trial. I don't know if this is standard practice for other counties, but in my opinion it is a pretty good resource. I would highly recommend pursuing mediation even if you have a small claims matter pending.

Bring all your evidence to small claims. Make sure you have a copy of all your physical evidence, because you will be required to provide that to your opponent. If you ever had to mail a demand letter or any other kind of evidence to the opponent that would be relevant to your small claims case, you should send this via certified mail. The reason for this is that the opponent might say that they never received it. If you have a receipt of your certified mail, that will make your claim stronger.

Also, if you are the plaintiff in a small claims case (you are the one suing), and the defendant (the person you are suing) has a cross claim against you, they have to serve you with notice of the cross claim in time. If they only notify you on the day of the hearing, you have a right to continue the case, because you were not served (or notified) of the claim against you. In my case it was waived, because we reached a settlement (and I did not want to have to come back to court). But if it is important to you to have time for a counter-defense, then remember you have the right to a continuance.