Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Graduation money stolen

Thank you for concidering mine. My daughter graduated from High school 6/2003. The night after grad. she went out with friends. At the end of the night a boy (intoxicated) grabed her wallet and ran. She tried to get it back but couldnt. We pressed charges,he was arrested. The D.A. decided to drop charges because it was only $800.00 cash and this guy was in the system for bigger charges on another case. Question:How is small claims decided in CA? Is it decided on ''whether it is more likely than not''? Her word (good kid, never in trouble)against his(long list of trouble)? There was one witness, a 17 year old. The police recovered her wallet behind his house. The money was gone, of course!


Asked on 11/28/03, 9:52 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Steven Kuhn Steven Kuhn

Re: Graduation money stolen

Small claims court in california is up to $5,000.

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Answered on 11/29/03, 3:50 pm
Martin Snitow

Re: Graduation money stolen

The standard of proof in a civil case is indeed "more probable than not" or in legal jargon, a preponderence of the evidence. In criminal cases the defendant must be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The evidence you mentioned seems pretty convincing to me. Just be sure your witness shows up (you can get the clerk to issue a subpoena and have it served by a process server if necessary). Whatever evidence you have about where the wallet was found would be very useful, too.

Your big problem may be to collect the judgment if you win one.

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Answered on 11/28/03, 11:13 pm


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