Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re: court documents

Usually, no evidence is provided. If you're talking about small claims, it's just the plaintiff's claim that's served, which contains the date and time of trial and a bare-bones outline of the allegations. At the hearing, the parties are supposed to view each others' evidence.

Re: court documents

Evidence is rarely provided with the Summons & Complaint. The one exception is if the plaintiff chooses to use a Case Questionnaire for limited civil cases in state court. In federal court, the court will order a mutual exchange of evidence as the case progresses.

In a small claims case, the evidence is presented at the court. In other civil cases, the evidence is obtained and disclosed through the discovery process and presented at trial or other hearings.

Re: court documents

Only in Federal court is there a requirement for what is known as "core disclosure." This results in the service of some, but not all evidence. Criminal trials also require a mandatory disclosure by both sides of evidence and witness lists.

California civil cases do not have core disclosure. They use a discovery system, commonly known as the 1986 discovery act. This involves you having to basically serve documents to get what you want. (If you want it, you have to ask for it.)

Discovery is severely limited in the small claims arena, which is supposed to be an efficient system for smaller amounts of money. You can subpoena witnesses and have the court issue third party document productions, if necessary.

Very truly yours,

Re: court documents

no. You need to serve discovery requests.