Of Courtrooms and Judges

America’s Court System is ridiculous.  There is so much paperwork that even if you are 100% in the right, your case could be dismissed because you spelled the other person’s name wrong.  I went to court today for the first time and was astounded over and over again by the absurd hoops that people have to jump through to receive the tiniest judgment. One defendant’s case was postponed yet another month because the small claims office had made a clerical error.  It was fixable in 5 minutes but the court wouldn’t wait or even push their case until the end of the day. 

I spent hours upon hours going through the State of California’s website printing off every sheet possible and filling out paperwork that wasn’t necessary just to make sure that nothing stupid happened to my case.  But then again, I’m practically unemployed.  I can’t imagine having gone through this with a full time job and a family.  I didn’t even have time to fill out the extremely detailed expenses paperwork to see if the court would waive the $50 court fee.  Thankfully, the judge awarded me those fees anyways.  One guy spent $79 to serve someone twice because the first time didn’t work, and the court only awarded him one of them.  I even talked to 3 lawyer friends about my case and what to do or say before and during the hearing because the court’s phone system sent me through a 20 minute menu just to hit a dead end.  And that happened multiple times.  And the people in the small claims office refuse to answer even the smallest question.  They just tell you to call that number and wait until the very end to reach a representative.  I promise you, it didn’t work.  I tried.  It was a waste of time.  But the worst part is that you basically throw yourself overboard and hope that you float because you can’t have any kind of legal representation or counsel in the court with you even if you could afford it.

Through all of this, I still didn’t do everything correctly.  I printed off the directions form for serving someone and nowhere does it say that after they are served do you have to file that service with the court.  They looked at me like I was crazy or stupid but thankfully allowed it because I had proof and receipts.  Seriously, I don’t know why anyone would want to be a judge or a lawyer or anything even related to it.  It is monotonous as hell and ludicrous as to how much paperwork and arguing there is over details that have absolutely nothing to do with the case.  I realize that some of these requirements are to ensure fairness, but the lengths to which one must go for a small claims ruling is preposterous.

I really shouldn’t be complaining though, because in the end it worked out for me.  But seriously…so annoying.