I live in California and am being sued by someone in Small Claims court who moved into my apartment for about two months with the intention of becoming a formal 'roommate' but, ultimately, had to relocate because the landlord declined her application to be added to my lease which, at that point, violated my rental agreement with regard to the addition of subtenants being subject to the owner's approval.
The grounds for her lawsuit are that I "rented her an apartment without permission" and is now seeking $10,000 (the statutory maximum in Small Claims court) for "relocation expenses and legal fees".
While I do question that premise entirely my question is regarding the nebulous nature of her so-called damages with regard to her just claiming them to be expenses borne of her having to move. Is it sufficient for a Plaintiff to simply declare a sort of 'summary' of their damages without providing any greater detail to the Defendant such as an itemization of the actual expenses for their review? She claims that it is and that she has no obligation to provide me with any line-item detail apart from whatever she might reveal to me during discovery the day of the trial.
I'm just curious as to whether or not there is some sort of statute that would entitle a defendant to a more detailed accounting of what they are actually being sued for? If there is such a provision, how would that be enforced if the Plaintiff, for whatever reason, decides the cannot or will not furnish the Defendant with that information? What happens if the Defendant loses? Do they then just get slapped with a $10,000 judgment with no recourse to acquire some sort of accounting detail that is more specific than the handful of words the Plaintiff uses to summarize their damages on the Summons and Complaint form?
