Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

You have misread the statute. There is no limit of how much you can sue for or collect in any year, you are limited to no more then $7,500 per case, not counting court costs. You are not allowed to split causes of action into separate parts. Here, I think a judge wold hold failure to pay rent and property damage stem from the same incident, the renting of the unit. If the tenants have no defense then it is likely, if you can find them to be served, they will not show up in Court and unless someone raises the objection of lack of jurisdiction yo probably can get away with the obtaining of two separate judgments. But the main issue is whether the ex-tenants have any money that you can get as a part of the judgments) being enforced.

I disagree with Mr. Shers. Most counties electronically track small claims cases to make sure the same plaintiff doesn't sue the same defendant in separate suits to avoid the $7,500 limit. You are far better off just bringing a proper action in regular court for the full amount.