Everyone has a cell phone with a camera nowadays. That’s a pertty quick way to collect evidence.
No lawyers in small claims court? So if I sue Apple, Steve Jobs or one of his mighty high mucky-mucks must appear? Surely there’s some logic there that says a low-level employee can represet a billion-dollar company in a $500 suit? What about if the officers are out of state? makes no sense.
Do small claims courts care about the “pain and suffering” crap? Sounds like a cheap extortion racket if they do. I can see demonstrable real damages - lost work, medication, medical appointments, repairs. But completely made up “i deserve a bonus for being a victim” payments? Do those happen?
Tell your friend to tell his insurance company. He’s being sued and they owe him a defense.
The insurance attorney can act as a mediator in the case and can also provide insight into who is more likely to prevail. If it looks like the other guy’s got the upper hand, then your friend’s insurance ponies up and everybody gets out of spending the day in court.
The insurance attorney can also change the venue (Can in Colorado anyway, don’t see why not in California) to allow representation. This prevents, among other things, unscrupulous people suing feeble old ladies who are likely to be too frightened to put up a decent defense or may miss the court date entirely and wind up with a summary judgment against them.
The insurance attorney can more properly advise your friend about his rights, probable outcomes and effective strategies than can a bunch of internet folks who will never get details of sufficient accuracy to help your friend out.
The insurance attorney (and this is the best part) doesn’t cost your friend a dime, and is going tobe a very high-quality piece of lawflesch.
Wow, that seems to be a wierd California quirk. I have represented clients in small claims court in 2 jurisdictions without a problem. (It is not common, but I have done it for individuals who are particularly vulnerable, scared or confused). In my jurisdiction, a corporation must be represented by an attorney in any civil case.
A managing agent of a company does not have to be a high muckety muck.
If the suit is out of state, someone has to go represent the company in state. However, a small claims in California may only be served in California. That limits out of state potential. If the company decides it would cost more than $500 to defend a $500 claim, it might decide not to defend at all.
All courts care about pain & suffering. It’s a legitimate form of “real” damage.
Yes, in all this, I relied on the other posters to make the point to contact your carrier and assert a defense. The carrier may hire defense counsel and have the case removed to superior court where attorneys can play ball.
I am a first level manager for a Fortune 300 company. I have represented my company in small claims court. (I won too!)
The same day I was there a local manager for an ATT store was there representing ATT. He lost.
You don’t have to have an officer or director.
Yup. The local store manager of a chain may be a managing agent who can appear for the company in small claims. However, in superior court, an corporation or LLC must be represented by an attorney.
In response to md2000, I have been to small claims court once in California, or at least I almost went, but it settled at the last minute. Mine was not an accident, however. I hired a friend’s friend who was an unlicensed contractor that asked for money up front to buy supplies for an outdoor lighting system. He then dragged this one day job out for months to the point where I told him I would have to sue him in small claims court to get my money back if he didn’t refund a portion of the money, or else provide me the parts he bought. He decided his best course of action was to sue me for the remainder of the money, which struck me as strange since he did about 2 hours worth of work, wrecked my yard, and never gave me the parts. It seemed like pure harassment.
So I counter-sued him, and when I decided how much it should be for, I intended to add my time I would have to miss work to attend court, and was told I was not allowed to do that. I suspect undocumented “pain and suffering” would fall under this as well unless you can show doctor costs, etc. In the end, I had the job done by someone else, and sued him for the difference, plus the requested partial refund, which I was told by the clerk was the most I was allowed to do. I also had to hire a process server.
Unfortunately for this guy, I had LexisNexis at work and looked up 10 other lawsuits he had been involved in that were the same M.O. where he asked for money up front for parts, then never did the job. I contacted each of these folks, one of which even offered to come in to court with me. Once I informed the contractor of this, he gave me the requested refund and dropped his case.
Lost wages due to missed work to attend to court is not compensable. That’s why you couldn’t claim it.
Missed work due to injury is compensable.
Pain & suffering is compensable for injuries. The courts like to see a medical bill & doctor’s report to go with it so there is typically documentation and not juts a claim out of thin air. If all the claimed injuries are subjective, then P&S claims are typically not worth much. If you have an objective injury, like a broken bone, then the P&S claim is more credible.
Bearflag70, am I correct in my understanding that a Defendant may remove the case to Superior Court where they can be represented by counsel if they so desire?
CA lawyer here and occasional small claims court volunteer judge.
You can sue for something an insurance company has already paid, but the insurance company is entitled to recover whatever they have paid out in “subrogation” before the plaintiff sees any money, so any shortfall in the judgment will be born by the plaintiff. Anything left over is the deductible. Parties must notify their insurance companies of the suit, and the policy will specify whether and to what extent subrogation takes effect. But as I said, usually the insurer is entitled to the first dollars.
Now in California, liability is assigned to each party on a percentage basis, and only that percentage is recoverable. So if the court assigns liability on a 50/50 basis, assuming both parties have sued, then the deductible is recoverable from the liability coverage in the policy, the original repairs having come from the comprehensive coverage in the policy. Each of those coverages is like a separate policy. There is usually no deductible in a liability policy.
CCP 116.390. (a) If a defendant has a claim against a plaintiff that
exceeds the jurisdictional limits stated in Sections 116.220 and
116.231, and the claim relates to the contract, transaction, matter,
or event which is the subject of the plaintiff’s claim, the defendant
may commence an action against the plaintiff in a court of competent
jurisdiction and request the small claims court to transfer the
small claims action to that court.
It doesn’t say what happens if the defendant files a claim in superior that does NOT exceed small claims jurisdiction. I would assume the defendant can also request removal for good cause but does not have an explicit statutory right to removal.
Assuming there is a motion to be had, if the court sees the superior court filing as a game and denies the motion to remove & consolidate, then the defendant is going to have to assert the counterclaim in small claims or risk the small claims court ruling on the matter while the other claim is pending in superior court. Then you run into a res judicata problem.
I’m shooting from the hip here. You will want to talk to insurance carrier/defense counsel to be sure. Don’t rely on me.
[Nitpick] Repairs from a collision come from the collision portion of the policy not comprehensive portion. both are physical damage coverages, but the comprehensive often has a much lower deductible. comprehensive covers things like fire, theft, and glass breakage. [/nitpick]
Thanks for all the great info. I’m going to see my friend tomorrow and will pass this on. He also mentioned in his email to me that he spoke with his insurance company. I’ll update with any pertinent/interesting info.
In the state in which I used to practice law, a no-show defendant would need to have the default judgment vacated or set aside. And there has to be a really good reason for the court to do that. Even though courts prefer to decide cases on the merits, and everyone deserves his day in court, judges look very dimly at the party who blows off a legal action. The state’s rules of civil procedure say exactly what is necessary to set aside a judgment and time limits. If your motion to vacate is denied, you can appeal the decision on the motion, but if you lose that appeal, you have no further recourse.
The above is not legal advice. I am a lawyer, but I am not your lawyer. I do not represent you or anyone else. I am probably not even licensed to practice in your state and the above information is based on the laws of the state in which I am licensed. Further, this is an anonymous message board and I could be lying. Conduct yourself accordingly.