Small Claims Court Sonoma.

In the Sonoma County small claims court individuals can file monetary claim for up to $12,500 and businesses can sue for up to $6,250.

You can e-file the small claims without going anywhere. You can do this by using the Sonoma Superior Court’s system. This system allows you to file the small claim online in very convenient way.

Filing fees in Sonoma range from $30 to $75.

• Filling fee is $30 for the small claims up to the amount of $1500.
• Filling fee is $50 for the small claims ranging from $1,500 to $5,000.
• Filing fee is $75 for the small claims up to the amount of $5000 but less than or equal to $12,500

Typically, a small claims takes two to three months to resolve.

Only the defendant can appeal the decision to the court.

No, you don’t need to hire any lawyer for filing your small claim. You can do it by yourself. If you need any help from the lawyer, you can take help during the process but lawyers are not allowed to represent your case in the court.

You can request a fee waiver if you cannot pay the filing fee. You can submit the request to the court by using Court Fees (Form FW-001). The court will wave off your fee.

Yes, you can file as many small claims cases as you wish, with a maximum claim limit of $2,500 per year.

If you don’t show up at the court hearing, your case will be canceled by the court.

If you don’t show up at the court hearing, your case will be canceled by the court.

You can request a postponement. You will need to file a Request to Postpone Trial (Form SC-150). Your request will be accepted by the court if your absence reason will be valid.

If you won the case, the court will order the defendant to pay the claimed amount to you. After this order, you will be the responsible to collect the claimed amount from the defendant by Wage garnishment, Bank levy or Property liens. If you lose the case, you will not be able to collect any money from the defendant.

You will need to attend the new hearing that court will held, in this way you can defend your case.

Defendant can repeal the case and the court will make a new hearing in a different department of the superior court of Sonoma. At this hearing, defendant can show his additional evidences.

Yes, you can Sue the Government or a Public Entity in Small Claims Court in Sonoma county of California. To do this you must first file an administrative claim with the government agency. If the government agency not listen your request, you can file the small claim against the government agency in small claims court in Sonoma.

Yes, mostly you can recover the court fees in case of getting the judgment in your favor.

You can collect your claimed amount up to 10 years. You can also request some extra time if needed.

Yes, businesses can also file small claims in small claims courts of Sonoma but they have small limit of dispute as compared to a person. Businesses can sue for up to $6,250.

Defendant can file a counterclaim if the defendant have claim against you that you owe them money. The judge will heard your claim and the defendant’s counter claim both at a time. If the counterclaim is above $10,000, the case will be referred to the higher court.

Yes, before filing a small claim case knowing proper information about the statutes of limitation in the Sonoma County state of California is crucial. An individual or a business may lose the case if they try to file after the deadline has passed.

• Statute of limitations for filing a small claim in Sonoma County related to personal injury is 2 years.
• Property damage claim can be filed within the time limitation of 3 years from the date property was damaged.
• For Written breach of contract, the time limitation to file in Sonoma County small claim court is 4 years.
• For Oral breach of contract, the time limitation to file small claim is 2 years.
• The time period for fraud dispute in Sonoma County small claim court is 3 years.

This is very important to know the defendants correct address, otherwise you case will be dismissed. You can search your defendant’s current address by taking help from process server or private investigator. You can have some online search of databases. You can also send a letter to the defendant at the last knowing address of the defendant with "Return Service Requested" to check if he responds.

There is also an option of settlement that sometimes occurs after filing the court papers in small claims courts. Sometimes parties make a settlement agreement between them before the court’s decision. If this happened, there is no need for the court judgment and the case resoled without any court order.

In this case, you must notify the court that the defendant have paid the claimed amount before court hearing. You can do this by filing a Request for Dismissal (Form CIV-110). This will close the case.