Q: Seeking guidance on personal injury tort case in California, self-represented.

A: My suggestion is, not just what you’re currently doing for the entire case, get familiar with your local Law Library and Librarian. They are both excellent resources.

A: Personal Injury (PI) attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, which means they only get paid if they win your case. Kind of similar to a Realtor who only gets paid if they sell your house. So, if you had a strong PI case, with a $4mil. valuation... AND puni's, against a financially strong defendant, then PI attorneys would be standing in line to represent you. So, please consider that something may be wrong with your case.

PI attorneys reject potential cases for various reasons including one or more of the following:

1) Bad Facts that don't support your legal claims.

2) No insurance... or a policy too small to justify litigation.

3) Defendant with no assets... or too few assets to justify litigation.

4) Problematic Client

5) Litigation involves areas outside attorney's area of expertise... like utility shut-offs, landlord-tenant, conversion of personal property, etc.

Secondly, $4mil. lawsuits... with punitive's can be VERY expensive. It's not uncommon to see costs in excess of $200,000, in multi-million dollar lawsuits.

If you decide to move forward, try to use a Judicial Counsel Form for everything... even if not mandatory. Check out at https://courts.ca.gov/rules-forms/find-your-court-forms. You can also directly link to California's Rules of Court from this page.

Remember you are going to have multiple different Statute of Limitations because of multiple and varying claims, and entities so get those deadlines nailed down asap.

Good luck,

A: Filing a personal injury case worth $4 million without legal representation is challenging, especially with multiple causes of action like harassment, habitability issues, and malicious prosecution. Your complex case requires careful attention to California's civil procedure rules, which differ significantly between limited and unlimited civil cases.

Consider contacting your local county law library, as many offer free document review services with volunteer attorneys. The California Courts Self-Help website, while limited for unlimited civil cases, provides basic guidance on filing procedures. You might also reach out to local legal aid organizations, law school clinics, or your county bar association's lawyer referral service, which sometimes offers reduced-fee consultations.

Remember that court clerks cannot review your documents for legal sufficiency, only for formatting compliance. Given the substantial damages you're seeking and the complexity of your claims, exploring all possible avenues for obtaining at least limited legal counsel would be worthwhile. Even consulting with an attorney for just a few hours to review your paperwork could help identify critical issues before you proceed further with your case.