Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re: taking someone to small claims

Contact Info on the Complaint, providing it was filled out properly.

Small claims forms are available at www.theLawShack.com

Re: taking someone to small claims

Easily. There's nothing precluding him from contacting you. If you were in civil court, which is more than 5 grand at stake, and you had an attorney, THEN the defendant would have to contact your attorney. As you know, there are no attorneys in small claims. If you were in regular civil, and you didn't have an attorney, you could be contacted directly by the other side, either defendant or their attorney as well.

There's nothing keeping you from telling them not to contact you, though.

Re: taking someone to small claims

An attorney is prohibited from communicating with a party whom the attorney knows is represented by counsel. Public policy actually encourages the parties themselves to speak. It can lead to settlement.

Re: taking someone to small claims

Mr. Berger evidently misunderstood your question and Mr. Richardson's answer isn't entirely correct, so I will try to clarify.

An attorney on one side of a civil case is forbidden to discuss the case with a represented party on the other side unless he has the advance consent of the opposing party's lawyer. There is no bar to parties contacting each other directly.

(Mr. Richardson's statement that the lawyer for one side can't call the opposing party presumes that the opposing party also has a lawyer; if the opposing party is in pro per then the lawyer can contact him directly.)

Because the parties in a small claims case cannot be represented by attorneys, the only practical way for the two sides to communicate is through direct contact. One reason why you were required to provide your contact information with your papers was to enable the other side to reach you to discuss settlement, scheduling, etc.

If you want to avoid contact from the other side and have good legal cause (e.g. the other side is harassing or threatening you) you could seek a restraining order, but you would have to prove some rather serious misconduct in order to get such an order. The mere act of filing a small claims case is not equivalent to winning (or even requesting) a restraining order, so if you think that the defendant is legally barred from contacting you then you are quite mistaken.

Re: taking someone to small claims

Adding to Mr. Hoffman's response, merely filing your lawsuit will not notify the defendant automatically. Once you have your lawsuit served on the defendant, they will have notice of your suit and then may or may not respond by filing an Answer. Also, they may or may not contact you directly. Otherwise, you will likely see each other at the date and time of your hearing. Good luck and thanks for your question.