I need a little technical assistance with filing a small claims case. I understand how asking for legal advice here is iffy at best, and thirteen people will probably pile on, saying “ask a lawyer!” but the whole point of small claims is no lawyers.
Do Californa’s Small Claims courts recognize the concept of suing a primary defendant and Does 1-9? I can’t find any mention of it at courtinfo.ca.gov
In other words, can I sue (and have served) one primary defendant (in this case, the person who actually signed the contract) and not have to individually name their spouse and children, who handled the day-to-day operations of the family business that I might have come in contact with? AFAIK, everyone lives at, or at least recieves mail at, the same address. Due to their distance from me, I was planning on using a commercial process server, and their fees can add up quickly.
I am not your lawyer, and you are not my client, and I am not, cannot and will not give you legal advice about how to proceed in small claims court.
With that said, I can tell you that the small claims office in the Superior Court will give you instructions on small claims procedures. You can also try your county law library, which is likely to have resources for handling small claims matters.
I managed to go right past the advisors listing earlier in my searching. Unfortunately, with no warning other than a note taped to their door, they were closed today for the holiday. (Lucky them! The courts and clerks were hard at work today - why do these people get an extra day off?)
In case anyone else asks - the answer to my question is no. You can list Does as defendants in other courts, but not in Small Claims. Happily, I’d prepared a duplicate Complaint without the Does as a contingency, and just swapped it as soon as the clerk finished apologizing for that limiitation.
What’s weird is that you can list Does in “Limited Civil” court but not Small Claims. Some counties have a hybrid court for small amounts, but lawyers are still involved.
In general, there would be little need for the protection of a “Doe” listing. After all, the only reason for a “Doe” filing is to preserve your rights for obtaining damages which might expire due to a statute of limitation. The mechanism for Small Claims is fairly rapid, so the likelihood that you need that protection is much smaller. In addition, there aren’t any real provisions for leaving a Small Claims filing inactive while you track down the facts you need to amend the complaint, etc. The whole “Doe” concept is in many ways antithetical to the idea of speedy resolution of minimal claims.
In your case, I’m not sure why you would be worried anyway. Since you already have one defendant you are reasonably certain will be liable, if anyone is liable, it’s up to the defendant to try and drag someone else in to share the pain. What do you care how the main defendant splits up his anguish among the family?
