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Small Claims eFiling Requirements

The San Bernardino Superior Court’s electronic filing (“eFiling”) requirements for small claims are set forth herein. These requirements are issued pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 1010.6, California Rules of Court, rules 2.250, et seq., and Superior Court of San Bernardino County, Local Rules, rule 1800.

Documents that fail to comply with these requirements or that are deemed unacceptable for eFiling will be rejected.

PARTICIPATION
Effective May 8, 2023, all court users are permitted to file documents in small claims actions through an approved electronic filing service provider (“EFSP”).

REQUIREMENTS FOR eFILING
eFilers must establish an account with an approved EFSP prior to eFiling with the court. To view a list of approved EFSPs and to create an account, visit http://www.odysseyefileca.com/service-providers.htm.

eFilers must comply with California Rules of Court, rules 2.250-2.261. All documents eFiled must be submitted in pdf format using Adobe Acrobat version 7 or higher, and must be in a text searchable (i.e., optical character recognition (OCR)). The court cannot accept documents that do not meet the required formatting. The court also cannot accept documents with certain characteristics including, but not limited to: forms with fillable fields, a negative image, or an image that is saved as an “object” on the filed document. When using Judicial Council fillable forms, be sure the fields are inactive and no longer fillable before submitting your document for eFiling. For assistance with inactivating fillable fields, contact your EFSP.

eFilers must maintain originals of all documents that are eFiled with the court, including but not limited to those documents containing signatures, pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule 2.257.

Electronic signatures on eFiled documents must comply with requirements of Code of Civil Procedure section 1010.6(e)(2) and California Rules of Court, rule 2.257.

Pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule 1.201(a), unless otherwise required by law, only the last four digits of a social security or financial account number may be reflected in court filings. Exclusion or redaction to satisfy this rule is the responsibility of the eFiler, not the Clerk of the Court. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 1.201(b).) Failure to comply with this requirement may result in monetary sanctions, pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule 2.30(b).

To maintain confidentiality and ensure all redactions are appropriately applied, it is important that the submitting party remove all metadata. Metadata is hidden information embedded within a document that may reveal a document’s revision history, earlier drafts, and information about the document’s author, file name, file path, date of creation, etc. This information is still available and accessible even if the document was converted to a PDF. It is the submitting party’s responsibility to familiarize themselves with metadata and how to properly remove it.

Any document received electronically by the court between 12:00 a.m. and 11:59:59 p.m. is deemed to have been filed on that court day if accepted for filing. Any document received electronically on a non-court day is deemed to have been filed on the next court day if accepted for filing. A document is “received electronically” on the date and time a confirmation of the court’s receipt of the electronic transmission is created.

Documents should be submitted electronically as you would at the clerk window. If a document would have been stapled together at filing, then it may be electronically submitted as one lead document. Any document that needs its own file stamp should be filed separately as a lead document that gets its own event code. For example, a Request to Waive Court Fees must be uploaded separately from the document to which it applies (i.e., Plaintiff’s Claim and Order). But multiple documents may be filed together in the same transaction for a single case number, called an envelope. Each document in an envelope that requires a filed-stamped needs its own event code.

MAXIMUM FILE SIZE
There is a 25 MB document limit and a 50 MB file limit for eFile submissions. No single document can be larger than 25 MB and no group of documents can be larger than 50 MB on a single eFile submission. Contact your EFSP for assistance in optimizing your files.

EXHIBITS
eFiled exhibits must meet the requirements in California Rules of Court, rule 2.256(b). Exhibits that are real objects or other documents that otherwise cannot be comprehensibly viewed in an electronic format must be lodged and not eFiled.

COLOR SCANNED DOCUMENTS
Where submissions need to be scanned in color, they should be scanned separately from those documents that can be scanned in black and white. Color scanning resolution should be set at 300 dpi to ensure effective upload and adequate capacity for storage. This setting can be adjusted through scanner settings menu, under scan resolution.

ASSESSMENT OF THE FILING FEES
By submitting a filing through the EFSP, the eFiler authorizes the EFSP to charge the full amount of the transaction, including any statutory court fees that may be due. The EFSP has the sole discretion to determine fees charged for using its services.

Fee waiver applications for waiver of court fees and costs pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 1010.6(e)(6), and California Rules of Court, rule 2.252(f), may be electronically filed in any authorized action or proceeding.

Request for refunds of fess paid directly to the EFSP as part of an eFiling transaction must be submitted directly to the EFSP. Any such requests made directly to the court will be denied.

DOCUMENTS INELIGIBLE FOR eFILING
The following documents are not eligible for eFiling and must be filed in paper form:

  • EJ-001 – Abstract of Judgment
  • EJ-130 – Writ of Execution
  • SC-145 – Request to Pay Judgment to Court
  • SC-300 – Petition for Writ
  • Peremptory challenges or challenges for cause of a judicial officer pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure sections 170.1 and 170.3
  • Subpoenas and subpoenaed documents (e.g., SC-107, SC-134 and EJ-125)
  • Documents filed under seal or provisionally under seal pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule 2.551 (although the motion to file under seal itself may be electronically filed)
  • Documents for cases ordered sealed
  • Exhibits that are physical objects, which otherwise may not be comprehensibly viewed in an electronic format
  • Trial exhibits

PUBLIC ACCESS TO eFILED DOCUMENTS
Documents uploaded to an EFSP to be filed with the court may be immediately accessible to the press and members of the public, even though the documents have not been, and may never be, received or accepted for filing by the court and recorded on its register of actions. Case information or documents assigned to filing codes with document security designated as confidential will not be made available to the public. No case information or case documents are available to the public or the press if the entire case is deemed confidential or sealed. It is the sole responsibility of the eFiler to properly assign the filing code, and thereby the document security level for all eFiled documents. Documents to be filed under seal or conditionally under seal may not be eFiled. (See California Rules of Court, rules 2.550 et seq. for procedures for filing records under seal).

The court does not audit or review eFiled documents to determine whether they should be excluded from public access and is not responsible or liable for any improperly designated eFiled documents.