california small-claims-court damages litigation
Practicalities of suing California-based business from abroad over minor but strong case
<p>Bob, residing outside of the US, has installed a mobile app run by a California-based business and paid a one-year subscription worth under $200.</p>

<p>The app happens to have a showstopper bug: basically, because of the bug, Bob cannot use the app for its main purpose.</p>

<p>Bob creates a support ticket with bugreport, attaches screen recording but the guys at the business keep responding with rubbish like "sorry we cannot open the attachment you sent, please try again". Bob tried different formats, even uploaded the video on YouTube and sent the link, but the response from the support team is <em>literally</em> the same all the time (copy-pasted).</p>

<p>Bob thinks that he has a winning case, but Small Claims court in California <a href="https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/sc100.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">requires</a> plaintiff to be present in person. Bob does not mind spending more on the litigation than the actual under-$200 damages — provided that the likelihood that all litigation expenses will be awarded to him is high.</p>

<ol>
<li>How practicable is to file and win this lawsuit with all litigation
expenses awarded without visiting the US? Either with or without a lawyer.</li>
<li>Whilst the Small Claims court requires plaintiff to be present in person, does the "normal" court require the same?</li>
</ol>

<h2>Bob doesn’t</h2>
<p>When Bob paid for the app he used an online store like Apple or used a credit card. If the former, Bob asks for a refund from the store who will almost certainly give it. If the latter, he disputes the charge with his credit card company and, as he has plenty of evidence to show that no service was delivered.</p>
