Lawyers cannot represent litigants in California small claims court.  Does this include letters to the judge?
492196
Small claims courts are strictly between the litigants but a judge in a small claims court has a great deal of latitude in which to decide the case.  The judge can hear testimony of witnesses of experts and of the litigants themselves and receive into evidence anything that the judge thinks is relevant.  That includes a letter from an attorney.  A letter from an attorney however will probably not bear a lot of weight because the judge must decide on the facts as he or she sees them from the evidence.  However if the case turns on a clear understanding of what a particular law means or how it has been interpreted by appellate courts in the past the letter may be helpful to the judge in appropriately applying the law to the facts as he or she sees them.  Nothing prevents the judge from reading the letter and using the information contained in it in making a decision on the case.
933163
Where I live, the plaintiff is responsible for taking care of the service to the respondent. If you file a small claims suit here, you have to send the notice of the hearing date and the claim filed to the other party via certified mail/ return receipt. You also have to provide proof of service to the court on the day of the hearing to show that the other party was notified of the court date.
374982
i think you have to go to a small claims company that will take your client to court with a ruling (wether they attend or not) there is one problem if they have filed for bancrupcy off there own back that means i think they can keep things like cars and if they have made everything out to be in a secound partys name a recovery company cannot take this stuff....they are aloud to keep a car because it might be there only mode of transport....plus depending on what you are claiming for other things like taxes come out first so u may not be able to claim for anything u need to go to a small claims recovery company
858434
Small claims court is more informal than most types of courts. All you have to do is go and tell your story with any additional information you wish to give and the judge will decide based on law what is right. Small claims courts only deal with contract law and side issues like right to sue and licensing may be information but if the case is too complicated it belongs in a court with broader jurisdiction. You do not need a lawyer present but you can have one if you wish.
431545
Yep. Small claims. They will have to show up and they probably do not have the time so usually just the threat of court will be enough.  If they don't show, you win automatically.  I took my landlord to court and it was very satisfying to see him squirm in front of the judge.  That was worth more than the money he had to pay me!
560626
If the trial is over, he should not be able to re-open for questions not brought forward during the trial. He may or may not have the right to an appeal after the judge's decision. If both sides have rested their case, then only the judge may ask questions after the fact. As far as the letter is concerned, you may not be allowed to have legal representation, but that does not mean that you cannot receive legal advice. Plus, it may be a stretch to prove that an atorney wrote the letter. Do not quote any of this in court, as I am no lawyer. I've just had the opportunity to watch several civil cases in my line of work.
608082
Most judges get tons of these letters everyday and unfortunately they won't really help.  The best advice is to write a concise, but detailed letter that emphasizes your strong points and just hope for the best.
879635
Some types of lawsuits require personal service, which means that the summons and complaint have to be handed to you, or to a responsible person (i.e., not a small child) who can accept the papers on your behalf.  Other types of lawsuits can be served by mail, or by posting a copy of the summons and complaint on the door.  The type of legal matter involved determines whether or not the papers have to be handed to you. \n\nContrary to what another poster answered, service is not always made by the sheriff's department.  Service can often be made by any disinterested third party - so, for example, if your landlord has served you with eviction papers, the landlord or the caretaker can't serve the papers, but they can have a neighbor serve you.\n\nThe best thing to do to avoid a judgment is to call the court administrator in your jurisdiction and find out what is going on.  You need to show up for court on the appointed hearing date - and you can always argue that you were not properly served.  This won't make the problem go away, but it will likely postpone the hearing until you can be properly served, which would give you time to get your documents organized and perhaps hire an attorney.
254862
The court -- specifically, the judge -- should stop her from dragging her feet.  Apparently you were notified of the opening of probate.  So you have a case number and the address of the court.  You don't need a lawyer to write a letter to the judge, expressing basically what your concerns are, and send a cc (courtesy copy; used to mean "carbon copy" in the ancient of days) to the executor and/or her lawyer, if she has one.  If she does have one, that name will be in the upper left corner of the notice you received.\n\nGood luck!
726717
lawsuits filed in Santa Monica are indeed posted online.  Go to http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/civilCaseSummary/index.asp?CaseType=Civil\n\nThey do charge however to do a search.  Stupid courts.  Most courts give you this access for free.  But everything sucks in L.A. so why would this be an exception?
669521
You don't want to file a lawsuit. You want resolution of the situation. Document what has been done, put in chronological order and attach a letter asking for investigation. CC the heads of appropriate agencies, and perhaps the local DA or head of Family Court as well as the Judge in your case.\n\nBEFORE you send this out, take it to a civil (generalist)  lawyer, pay his hourly rate and ask him to edit /rewrite in better language.  It's your letter, he isn't representing you, simply assisting you in dealing with others.\n\nSuing a state is like nailing jelly to a tree.  Instead,  take some steps that outline the negligence of the state, your attempts to fix and be persistent and polite.
1022557
To "file a suit", a person submits a complaint to a court that has jurisdiction over the subject-matter and over the person who is being sued, and the person goes through a process of formally delivering a copy of the complaint to the person being sued, along with a summons ordering the person to either answer the complaint or accept the court's decision based on just the complaint.\n\nThere are lot of complicated pieces in this including: which court has jurisdiction, what statements or claims must the complaint contain, how can the defendant be notified of the complaint, and so on.  For that reason, it is advisable to get the help of an attorney who is licensed in the jurisdiction and experienced in the court where the suit is to be brought.  A local bar association can help refer you to an attorney, and many attorneys give free consultations that may help you determine the answers to some of those tricky questions.\n\nThe exception would be if the amount being sued for is only a couple thousand dollars or less.  In most places, there are small claims courts that specialize in handling such small matters.  Lawyers are not as necessary, and in some small claims courts they're forbidden.  Forms and instructions are often available online and designed to be completed by non-lawyers.  I hope that helps.
224145
That really depends on you are in the time line of the litigation.  Did you oppose the lawsuit?  Has there been a trial or a judgment?  Has the the court issued a writ of possession?
221304
You can file a small claims lawsuit against a non-US citizen.  However, you will also need to make sure they are properly servied.  Collecting the judgment may be difficult if they do not have assets in your state.\n\nIn order for a court have jurisdiction on a nonresident defendnt, the defendant must have a sufficient level of personal or business contacts with the state in which the court sits that the defendant could reasonbly expect to be sued there.  These contacts are generally referred to by the term of art "minimum contacts". Generally speaking, a party is subject to personal jurisdiction in a state if the party has purposely availed itself of the resources of protection of the state.
772339
"he who represents himself has a fool for a client"  Mark Twain.\n\nSmall claims court is easy to do without a lawyer.  If you are suing someone for more than the small claims allows, you SHOULD use a lawyer, as not knowing the procedures will no doubt be of substancial handicap.\n\nMost small claims have raised the amounts you can sue for in them.  I believe some are up to 10 thousand dollars.  You can do anything a lawyer can do, if you represent yourself.\n\nSmall claims is essentiall like "the peoples court".  You state your case in front of the judge, and the defendant has the chance to state their case.\n\nYou can file the lawsuit at the county courthouse, and all the forms are self explanatory, and the clerks can aid you in filling them out, as long as you don't request 'legal advice' from them.\n\nIt is fairly inexpensive, usually around 50 dollars to file, and if you win, you get it back from the person you sued.  You will also have to "serve" the defendant.  You don't do this yourself, you pay an 'officer of the court' or the sherrifs office to do this.  It costs around 35-50 dollars.
477374
If you have a complaint and summons, you must file your answer within the time specfified on the summons and send a copy to the plaintiff's lawyer or the plaintiff, if there is no attorney on the summons. Your answer should deny that AT&T ever provided you with services for the reason you gave in your question. You should add a counterclaim for the harassment and attach a copy of the letter you sent.\n\nIf it is in small claims, you are limited in what you can ask for, but you should at least ask for a detailed list of all the calls you made and received, with time and date. If in fact you had no service, there should be none. If you walked the block and used the phone, you owe the money, or at least part of it.
153487
If you are referring to small claims court, you would only lose the amount you paid to the court for filing the suit.  However, if the other party sues you at the same time and you lose the case, you will be liable for that amount as well.