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Cal. CCP § 85

This is the official text of Cal. CCP § 85, part of California’s Code of Civil Procedure — sets the procedural rules for civil lawsuits in California courts, including filing deadlines, discovery, and judgments.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Official statutory text

Notwithstanding any law, including, but not limited to, a law that classified an action or special proceeding as a limited civil case, an action or special proceeding shall be treated as a limited civil case only if all of the following conditions are satisfied:

(a) The amount in controversy does not exceed thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000). As used in this section, “amount in controversy” means the amount of the demand, or the recovery sought, or the value of the property, or the amount of the lien, that is in controversy in the action, exclusive of attorneys’ fees, interest, and costs.

(b) The relief sought is a type that may be granted in a limited civil case.

(c) The relief sought, whether in the complaint, a cross-complaint, or otherwise, is exclusively of a type described in one or more laws that classify an action or special proceeding as a limited civil case or that provide that an action or special proceeding is within the original jurisdiction of the superior court, including, but not limited to, the following provisions:

(1) Section 798.61 or 798.88 of the Civil Code.

(2) Section 1719 of the Civil Code.

(3) Section 3342.5 of the Civil Code.

(4) Section 86.

(5) Section 86.1.

(6) Section 1710.20.

(7) Section 7581 of the Food and Agricultural Code.

(8) Section 12647 of the Food and Agricultural Code.

(9) Section 27601 of the Food and Agricultural Code.

(10) Section 31503 of the Food and Agricultural Code.

(11) Section 31621 of the Food and Agricultural Code.

(12) Section 52514 of the Food and Agricultural Code.

(13) Section 53564 of the Food and Agricultural Code.

(14) Section 53069.4 of the Government Code.

(15) Section 53075.6 of the Government Code.

(16) Section 53075.61 of the Government Code.

(17) Section 5411.5 of the Public Utilities Code.

(18) Section 9872.1 of the Vehicle Code.

(19) Section 10751 of the Vehicle Code.

(20) Section 14607.6 of the Vehicle Code.

(21) Section 40230 of the Vehicle Code.

(22) Section 40256 of the Vehicle Code.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.