Individuals and small business owners, the little guy against the big insurance company and so forth should consider hiring the law firm in San Jose. A person can sue up to $10,000 though only twice at this level per year. For many years the cap was at $5,000 then climbed to $7500, but the judicial council in all of it wisdom raised the bar to $10,000. It is a great deal of money so why take the risk going it alone on appeal? Rules of Court, procedures on admissibility and the rules of evidence can make or break that award in the end. Most people do not know that while you cannot have a lawyer in small claims , you certainly can and attorney fees are recoverable if the side prevailing succeeds at the end of usually a pretty brief court appearance. Many times opposing parties do not want to spend the money hiring a lawyer thinking “I can do it myself”.. I’ll just do what I did in small claims court, but often times that would be a mistake. Often times parties get overconfident and ill prepared for presenting their case “differently” on an appeal. The law firm recently had a doctor being sued by a patient and the small claims court awarded the patient $10,000. Being a licensed doctor and a malpractice complaint looming the doctor made the wise decision to hire Mr. Green. For a reasonable fee and her license and premiums on the line the doctor could not have even $1 set against her. Why, because $1 implies fault. Well after a couple of hours or well prepared presentation the doctor won and had the entire $10,000 award reversed and the patient was sent packing owing the doctor $75 in filing fees. It went the only way it could, but with- out a lawyer who knew the court room decorum the outcome could have been far different and a $1 verdict was possible. A career was saved and the doctor is happily practicing her chosen profession to this day. The case was a 2015 case and came from a simple Google search. So please do not get discouraged that that Mr. Green primarily based out of San Jose. That is what Caltrans is for and the train runs from early morning to late at night. Convenience and great advocacy makes San Jose to the San Francisco Court room a truly short and easy commute.
