How to sue someone in California

The amount decides everything else. Up to $12,500 as a person, or $6,250 as a business, and you are in small claims. Between that and $35,000 you are in limited civil. Above $35,000 you are in unlimited civil.

Add up what you actually lost and can prove: the unpaid invoice, the repair estimate, the deposit that was never returned. Round numbers with no receipt behind them are the fastest way to lose credibility with a judge.

Small claims requires a demand before you file, and every other track benefits from one. A dated written demand proves you tried, starts the clock in the judge's mind, and settles a surprising number of cases before a case number ever exists.

Small claims is one form: SC-100 Plaintiff's Claim. Civil is a drafted complaint on numbered pleading paper, filed with CM-010 Civil Case Cover Sheet and SUM-100 Summons.

The pleading paper is where most self-filed cases get rejected. California Rule of Court 2.108 sets the line numbering, the margins, and the footer. A complaint typed in a word processor without that structure comes back over the counter.

You take your originals plus copies to the civil filing window in the county where the defendant lives or where the dispute happened. The clerk stamps them, keeps the originals, and gives your copies back with a case number.

If the fee is out of reach, file FW-001 with the FW-003 order at the same window. Public benefits or income under the limit means the court waives its own fee.

You cannot serve your own papers. Someone over 18 who is not part of the case hands the defendant a copy, then signs a proof of service: POS-010 in civil, SC-104 in small claims.

Nothing happens in your case until that proof is filed. In civil the defendant then has 30 days to answer; if they do not, you can ask for a default judgment.