Lawsuit

Suing someone or being sued

Click the link below and find out your options and what to expect if you are thinking about suing someone or are being sued about a financial dispute.

Suing someone or being sued

Self-Representation:

Any court case is complicated and you must follow the Code of Civil Procedure and the California Rules of Court, as well as your court’s local rules. The information provided below does not take the place of the Code of Civil Procedure or Rules of Court. If you are representing yourself, you will be held to the same standard as a lawyer — to know and follow the code and the rules of civil court cases.

If you need to file a lawsuit to evict a person (called an Unlawful Detainer), go to the Landlord/Tenant section of this website.

Things To Think About Before You Sue

If you were wronged, you have the right to sue. But, there are things you have to know before you sue, like:

• Who to sue,
• Where they are,
• What you need to do before you sue them,
• Where you should sue them, and
• If you should sue them.

These are hard questions to answer, even in an easy case like a slip-and-fall in a store. For example, if you slip on the floor in a supermarket, you have to figure out if the store is part of a chain or just one store, if falling was partly or totally your fault.

In a complicated case, like if the same slip and fall happened on land that the county owns, but that a government agency rents, you have to figure out who was responsible for slippery ground, and follow the laws for suing the government. If you sue a government agency, you have to follow the laws for notice. This means that before you sue a government agency you have to fill out papers that say that you are suing them.

There is a time limit to give notice. After you file your notice, you do not have much time to file your lawsuit. If you do not do things on time, you may lose your right to sue the governmental agency. Many agencies have claim forms on their website.

Even more important are time limits called "statute of limitations." These statutes, or laws, say when you can file your action. If you do not file on time, you lose automatically. For example, if you are in a car crash, you generally have 2 years to file a lawsuit. This might not be true for your case. You have to check the time limit yourself. The court will not review your case to determine if your case is filed on time, but once it has been discovered that you should not have filed, the other party may have your case dismissed and you will not have the cost of your case refunded and the other party may request you to pay their costs.

Read Before You File Your Case on the California Courts website.

Back to top

How to Prepare for Going to Court

Back to top