Book Description

The essential civil litigation handbook devoted to the "HOW TO's " of California procedure. The California Code of Civil Procedure, California Rules of Court, and Judicial Council forms are combined so that the reader learns for any given task: which form to use, how to complete it, and how and when to file and serve it. This step-by-step litigation handbook is used by attorneys, paralegals, and legal secretaries both as a quick reference and as a training tool, and has been adopted as a text by several California college paralegal and legal secretarial programs. Additionally, law librarians of numerous California county law libraries keep it on reserve to help self-represented litigants. Updated at least annually to reflect new rules and forms, the book contains over 390 pages explaining the various phases of a California civil case. Chapters include: Appearance by Plaintiff (preparing the Complaint and all required forms, filing and serving by all allowable methods); Filing and Service (filing and serving documents throughout the case); Default by Defendant (entering a default and obtaining default judgment); Appearance by Defendant (preparing, filing, and serving answers and cross-complaints); Motions (preparing regular motions, discovery motions, ex parte applications, demurrers, and motions to strike); Discovery (setting up depositions of parties and non-parties, preparing, serving, and responding to requests for admission, interrogatories, and requests for production); Settlement and Dismissal (notifying the court of settlement and dismissing the case); Pre-Trial (preparing case management documentation and subpoenaing witnesses); and Judgment and Enforcement (placing liens on real estate, noticing judgment debtor exams, obtaining costs of suit).