You must file your lawsuit and associated documents at the proper courthouse. There are a number of factors that determine the appropriate filing location. Some of these factors include:
- the amount of your lawsuit
- the court with jurisdiction for your case
- the proper venue for hearing the case
The term jurisdiction refers to the authority a court has to decide a case. The term venue refers to the correct location of a court that may hear your case. To learn more about venue and jurisdiction and whether your case belongs in in California Superior Court, click here. For help in determining whether you can file your case in federal court, click here.
Each of California’s 58 counties has at least one court location that handles small claims, limited and unlimited civil cases. If you are not sure what type of case you have, click here. For help locating your county’s court website, click here. If you do not know your county, you can also search by city or zip code and you will get a link to your county’s superior court.
Many California counties, including Los Angeles County, have more than one courthouse. If you do not know which courthouse handles cases like yours, use the Filing Court Locator on the Los Angeles Superior Courts website and search by city or zip code. For the address, hours, parking information and directions for each courthouse in Los Angeles County, click here.
