California Demand Letters Made Easy

If you’re a California resident and have been in an accident, you may need to write a California personal injury demand letter to a company or individual. Luckily, the California state judicial system makes it easy with an online demand letter template.

California Demand Letter Generator

There is a California demand letter template wizard available on the state courts’ website that automatically generates a demand letter for you. Here are the questions that the wizard tool will take you through:

Question 1 – Who Are You Suing?

• The first question asked is, who are you suing? This section asks whether you are suing a corporation, the government, or a person. The reason for this is that there are different requirements depending on who you are suing.
• If you are suing a corporation, there may be an agent for service of process that you need to be aware of. To determine the legal name of a corporation, the Secretary of State website provides a useful business search tool.
• If you are suing a government entity, there is often an administrative remedy that must be exhausted within 6 months. If you do not follow the appropriate steps, you run the risk of waiving your rights.
  

Question 2 – Personal Information

• The next section asks for information about you. You will be prompted to input your full name, address, and telephone number, or that of your business.
  

Question 3 – Amount Owed

• Next, you will be asked how much are you owed? In this section, you will provide the total amount owed which, for California small claims, must be less than $10,000.00.
  

Question 4 – Time Frames

• You have the opportunity to set the time frames for payment. The wizard asks “would you like to ask for payment within 10 days?” You may indicate yes or no, and if the answer is no, you can list the number of days you would like.
  

Question 5 – How Will You Send The Letter

• You will be asked if you want to say in your letter how you plan to send it. If you indicate “yes” you are given the option of priority, first class, or certified mail, or another method.
• If you would like to send a copy of this letter to another party, you will be prompted to provide their name.

From there, you will receive a notification that your letter is successfully generated. Below is a sample demand letter for California generated using the demand letter tool.

Demand Letter Sample

Generated from the small claims demand letter tool. October 30, 2015 Via Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation Mr. John Doe 123 Main Street Sacramento CA, 12345 Re: Demand for Payment Dear Mr. Doe: Please be advised that you owe me the sum of $5,000.00 because I slipped in your establishment and broke my foot. This will be your only chance to settle this matter before I file suit against you in Small Claims Court. I am agreeable to a lump sum payment, or to a payment plan. Please contact me on or before November 9, 2015 for purposes of settling this matter. If I do not hear from you on or before November 9, 2015, I will file a lawsuit against you without further notice. It is in your best interest to settle this matter before a lawsuit is filed. If a judgment is obtained against you, it will negatively affect your ability to get credit, you will be ordered to pay court costs, and you will incur interest at a rate of 10% per annum. Based on the foregoing, I expect payment in the amount of $5,000.00 made payable to me, 123 Keller Avenue, Anytown, CA, 12345 no later than November 9, 2015. (I can be reached at: (Telephone: 916-555-1212).) If you decide to ignore this demand for payment, I will further pursue all of its legal remedies without further notice to you. This letter serves as evidence that I have attempted to resolve this matter informally. Sincerely, Jane Doe 123 Keller Avenue Sacramento, CA, 12345 (Telephone: 916-555-1212) cc: Mary Doe

Demand Letter Next Steps

If the demand letter is not accepted, you still have the opportunity to take the person to court by filing a small claims action. Most counties in California provide a small claims advisor service to assist with filing. Sacramento county small claims advisory offers a detailed description of what is needed to file a small claims suit and the address for filing. If the amount in question exceeds $10,000 or you need assistance writing a demand letter to an insurance company, the experienced personal injury attorneys on our staff can help you make the most of your case.