Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.952 · Chapter 1. Trial of Small Claims Cases on Appeal
Definitions
Text — As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)
The definitions in rule 1.6 apply to these rules unless the context or subject matter requires otherwise. In addition, the following definitions apply to these rules:
(1) "Small claims court" means the trial court from which the appeal is taken.
(2) "Appeal" means a new trial before a different judge on all claims, whether or not appealed.
(3) "Appellant" means the party appealing; "respondent" means the adverse party. "Plaintiff" and "defendant" refer to the parties as they were designated in the small claims court.
Notes and commentary — not rule text
History
Rule 8.952 renumbered effective January 1, 2009; adopted as rule 158 effective July 1, 1964; previously amended and renumbered as rule 156 effective July 1, 1991, and as rule 8.902 effective January 1, 2007; previously amended effective January 1, 2005.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)
- Official file
- https://courts.ca.gov/cms/rules/index/eight/rule8_952
- Text hash
- sha256 d58e7457165ab01b75186a0451331f541222b4c88aba8dbdc3d80ba90ac2c774
- Composed by
- compose_crc.py 2026-10-22: the Judicial Council's rule pages read paragraph by paragraph; verify_crc.py's second reading of the Council's per-title PDFs finds every paragraph
This rule cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
California Rules of Court
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.