Filing Small Claims Court Los Angeles

Despite trying to reason with my landlord several times, I had no choice but to file a small claims case against them.

1. Look up who is the owner of the place and what is their name.

2. Look up who is the representative of the place to know who to serve.

My place was an LLC.  I looked up at the California Secretary of State for the person to be served.  He happened to be a CPA and Tax Advisor for Liberty Mutual.

I filed online: https://ww2.lacourt.org/efiling/login.aspx

Check where you'd have to file.  Since my place was in a certain location, I had to file in Inglewood.
Thankfully, I could file online and not have to drive down there.

I had a Sheriff attempt to serve them - it was only $30 since the guy was in Pasadena.  Google and Spokeo them to see if they have alias names.  This guy refused to open the door for the Sheriff and they could only do three attempts.

So, since the guy was a tax advisor, I had a friend call to make a "tax appointment."
http://www.courts.ca.gov/selfhelp-serving.htm

Personal Service "Personal service" means that someone – NOT a party to the case – must personally delivery the court documents to the other side.

In “personal service”: 

• The server gives the papers to the party being served. It can be at the party’s home, work, or anywhere on the street. 
• The server has to identify the party being served and hand the legal papers to him or her and inform him or her that they are court papers.
  • If the party being served does not want to take the papers, they can be left on the ground in front of him or her.  If he or she takes the papers and tears them up or throws them away, service is still considered to be valid. The person being served does not have to sign anything.
• The server then fills out a proof of service, detailing when, where, and how (in person) the papers were served. The server signs the proof of service and returns it to you to file in court.
• Personal service is complete the day the papers are served.

“Personal service” is the most reliable type of service because the court knows for sure that the person being served got the papers and, if necessary, can question the process server about the “service.” 

Since it is the most reliable, “personal service” is valid in all types of case.  Also because it is so reliable, it is generally required when serving the first papers (the petition or complaint) in a case.

Be sure to send in all the information to the court house.  I called to make sure that they received everything.  They were missing one page from the process server so I was so glad that I called to make sure.

It's better to serve someone in person otherwise if you have the court mail it - they can say that they never received it.

OK onto the day in court!

If you need detailed info - this is a great link.
http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/small_claims/small_claims.pdf