Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

You can file and then ask for extensions. Extensions usually occur several times in a small claims case when the plaintiff fails to serve the defendant prior to the hearing.

You should be made aware, however, that you are not entitled to conduct discovery in a small claims proceeding. I do suggest that you speak to a small claims advisor, because I'm not sure where you intend to get the evidence you need.

You can make a request for a continuance of the trial date using the form located at

http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/sc150.pdf

Requests for continuances are not automatically granted. At a miminum, you will need to explain (a) what evidence you need; (b) what efforts you have already made to obtain it; (c) why you don't have it already; and (d) why you need several more months to get it.

There is a substantial risk that the court will NOT give you an additional three to six months, given that you have waited until the end of the statute of limitations period to pursue this claim. In any event you should be prepared to go to trial on the scheduled trial date, and make great efforts now to obtain the missing evidence.