Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Unfortunately, most adults do not lean lessons that well. The painter does not sound like a hardened criminal who does this all the time. Incidentially, if he did not have a painter's license, which is very possible since this is a smal job tha few painterrs would take, then he is not entitled to charge you anything, ad yo can sue him for the full $500.

As you know, attorneys are not allowed to represent clients at the Small Claims Court hearing, although can prepare an outline, brief, etc for the client to use. I doubt there are so many facts and legal theories in you case to require more than one hour or so for the attorney to listen to you and tel you how to handle the matter. If you wanted a written outline, it might take 30 minutes longer. Since I am semi-retired, I charge only $100 per hour and there are a few attorneys with similar rates. But no attorney is going to volunter their time for a minor point wilth the client getting paid something, no matter how small.

Mr. Sher's long winded answer misses the point. All you have to do is file your own Small Claims Court action. You don't need an attorney.

Just take him to small claims court. You don't need a lawyer. In fact, neither you nor the painter will even be *allowed* to have a lawyer in small claims.

I doubt any lawyers would handle a case like this pro bono anyway. Lawyers are not allowed in small claims court, so a pro bono lawyer would have to file a regular civil case. She would then have to put many hours into it, which would not be justifiable given the small amount of money at stake.

Good luck.