Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
Lawyer in small claims court-California
I recently had to file a small claims case against a business in Redding California. In my suit (which I won), I listed the defendant as the name of the business and the name of the store manager. When it came time for trial, someone else showed up , after he had filed a SC-109 form with the court (authorization to Appear). I did some reseach and found that the person who appeared also is an lawyer. I know that an lawyer cannot be in small claims court, so did he misrepresent himself? I got the check in the mail yesterday, and there is a section on the form that by signing it I ''Release and satifaction of Judgement''. Do I sign this, or dig further? Do I inform the court of what I found?
Thanks!
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Lawyer in small claims court-California
Because businesses can't go to court, they are allowed to send someone on their behalf. In small claims court the person they send has to be someone who works for the business. If an eligible person within the company is a lawyer, he or she can appear on the company's behalf. Companies cannot send outside counsel or "hire" a lawyer in order to make him elligible to go to small claims court on its behalf, but that does not preclude in-house lawyers from going.
Since you won the case, I don't know whether this is worth much of your time. Do you think the company fared better with the lawyer than it otherwise would have? If you think the company sent the lawyer improperly you may want to find out what you can about him. The court will probably want to know if the business acted improperly.
The Release and Satisfaction has nothing to do with who appeared in court. When your judgment is paid you sign and file that form to let the court know you have received the money it awarded you.
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