Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re: arbitration hearing evidence

You clearly waited too long to submit your question for it to be timely answered. Most arbitrations are handled very informally, because there is no jury to try to impress and no arbitrator wants a party to reject their award because they could not get a key piece of their case in.

The standard method of calculation is the clock begins ticking on the day of personal service and the next day after it is put into the mail, with the last day being the day before the hearing. There are exceptions and slight variances based upon what is involved. You might also be able to fax or e-mail the documents to the other side so to avoid the expense of having someone not a party to the action doing the service of papers or your having to drive to the other party's attorney. Also, if you are a part to the action, even if you are presenting yourself, you can not serve any documents yourself. If the other side's attorney agrees they were served, the arbitrator will ignore that you can not serve documents.

Be sure to submit a written brief also and any pages from documents [highlight the passage] supporting an important point in the case. Go to a law library and read a bit on what happens at an arbitration [Nolo Press, in Berkeley, also publishes good books fo rlay people on the law].

Good luck.