[Nrsolis]

Good old California.

Looks like they created a new category called "limited civil" that is a blend of small claims and regular civil court. I guess they needed to feed some more lawyers.

Either way, SOMEBODY from the company is gonna have to show up and answer the court. That person isn't going to want to be there and is probably way too busy to deal with you. It will be easier to pay and move on.

As I said, every state is different. Honestly, he SHOULD sue them in "limited civil" court if he can. Heck, I'd argue that if there are enough people who've had their gear stolen via this company then he could have a class-action if he really wants to push it.

The legal system sucks for getting quick justice but it's an effective tool for bringing someone (or some company) to the table who refuses to make amends.

I've used small claims to my advantage before. The $50 you pay in a filing fee is a great deal of satisfaction when you get a call from the opposing party's lawyer looking to make a deal.

[staticautomatic]

In CA, the choice of court is mainly about two things: 1) The amount of money at stake, and 2) Whether you're asking the court to do anything other than award money.

Small Claims: $10K or less ($5K if plaintiff is a business), only asking for money.

Limited Civil: $25K or less, only asking for money.

Unlimited Civil: More than $25K AND/OR asking for something other than money.

As an individual suing a company you absolutely would NOT want to file in Limited Civil if you had the option of filing in Small Claims, among other reasons because in Limited Civil the company you're suing can be represented by a lawyer and the filing fees are considerably more expensive.

[Nrsolis]

California is weird.

On the east coast (NYC in particular), things are a bit more sane in some ways and a bit crazier in others.

Of course, this is all inside baseball. As a practical matter, it's HIGHLY LIKELY that this will never get before a judge. No corporation is going to send their CEO to court to argue a case and if they can't send a lawyer to small claims, they will just submit a motion to move the case to regular civil court because reasons.

Of course, if that happens, then they've already lost. It will be FAR more expensive to litigate in plain old civil court.

For the record, IANAL but I've hired and fired a bunch of them and done this dance a few times already on both sides of the coin. Bunch of lawyer friends too. One of them was just on TV doing a press conference for his client, a Navy SEAL.

YMMV.