Naming the Defendants in a Small Claims Lawsuit

Who can I sue in small claims court, and how do I name the defendants in my lawsuit papers?

If that question or something like it brought you here, you're in the right place. With notable exceptions, you can sue most of the same parties in small claims court that you can sue in regular court. So, for example, you can bring a small claims lawsuit against people, partnerships, corporations, limited liability companies, and other business organizations. Your state law might allow small claims suits against other types of parties, too.

As we'll see, it's important that you correctly name the defendants you're suing. When in doubt, you should include any names or designations a defendant does or might use. It's easier to drop a name or designation that doesn't apply than to try to add one later on.

In this article, we explain how to name the most common parties in your small claims lawsuit, and we'll illustrate with plenty of examples.

Before getting started, you might want to learn more about the kinds of cases you can (and can't) file in small claims court.

Naming a Person

When you're suing a person, use their complete first and last names and—if you know it—a middle name or initial: "Jonathan Richard Doe" or "Jonathan R. Doe." If they go by initials like "J.R. Doe" and you can't find out what "J.R." stands for, then "J.R. Doe" should be fine. But when a little digging would reveal that "J.R." is short for "Jonathan Richard," use their complete name.

Assumed Names and Aliases

People often use assumed names or aliases, or names that are derivatives of their given name. So, for instance, "Jennifer Roe" might also be known as "Jen Roe" or "Jenny Roe." In that case, you should use the name they appear to most commonly go by first, followed by "also known as (a.k.a.)" and any other names they're known by: "Jenny Roe, also known as (a.k.a.) Jennifer Roe, a.k.a. Jen Roe."

Stage or Screen Names

Performers, entertainers, and celebrities might be known by a professional alias like a stage or screen name. For example, musician "Peter Gene Hernandez" is better known by his stage name "Bruno Mars." He'd be named as "Bruno Mars, a.k.a. Peter Gene Hernandez."

Former Names

If a person used to go by one name but now uses a different name, list their current name first, followed by "formerly known as" and the name they used to use.

Former professional football player Chad Johnson, for instance, legally changed is name to "Chad Ochocinco" because he wore jersey number 85 (in Spanish, "ocho-cinco"). Once his playing career was done, he legally changed his name back to Chad Johnson. In a lawsuit, you'd name him as "Chad Johnson, formerly known as Chad Ochocinco."

Two or More People

Two defendants are better than one, and three are better than two. Stated a bit differently, when it comes to suing for damages, the more the merrier. If two or more people are responsible for your losses—or you can make a good faith claim, based on the facts you know about, that they should be held responsible—sue them all.

Let the Defendants Sort It Out

When it comes time to present your case to the judge, let the defendants fight amongst themselves over who owes you how much. As long as they all have assets or insurance to pay their share of your judgment, you're probably indifferent to how the shared legal responsibility shakes out. If one or more of them is judgment proof—meaning unable to pay—you can collect from whichever of them can pay.

Naming Several People as Defendants

When you're naming two or more people as defendants in a lawsuit, follow the same rules described above for naming a single person and make sure to correctly name each one.

Those rules also apply when you sue both spouses. List them as "Jonathan Richard Doe and Jane Allison Doe, husband and wife." Use the term "spouses" if the partners are in a same-sex marriage: "Jonathan Richard Doe and Robert Michael Roe, spouses."

When you don't know the name of one spouse, you can use either of these naming conventions:

• "Jonathan Richard Doe and Mrs. Jonathan Richard Doe, husband and wife," or
• "Jonathan Richard Doe and Alice Poe (a fictitious name), husband and wife."

If you use a fictitious name, simply explain in your complaint (the legal document that starts your lawsuit) that you don't know the true name of defendant "Alice Poe," and that with the court's permission, you'll substitute the correct name upon learning it.

Individually-Owned Businesses

When one person owns a business and the business hasn't been incorporated or organized in another form, that business is called a "sole proprietorship" and the owner is known as a "sole proprietor." As far as the law is concerned, there's no difference between the two.

Example: Jonathan and His Antique Store

Assume, for instance, that Jonathan Richard Doe operates a business he calls "Jonathan's Antiques." But Jonathan's Antiques isn't a corporation or a limited liability company. The law won't distinguish Jonathan the person from his antique store. Neither will others who do business with him.

Because Jonathan runs his business using a name other than his full legal name, state law might require that he register "Jonathan's Antiques" as a fictitious business name. But that doesn't change how the law treats him or his business—as one and the same.

Say Jonathan's Antiques needs a loan for operating capital. You agree to loan him $10,000. When it comes time to sign the promissory note, you should list the borrower as "Jonathan Richard Doe, individually and doing business as Jonathan's Antiques." For loan payments, you'll look to Jonathan personally, not to Jonathan's Antiques, to make good on the debt.

What happens if Jonathan defaults on the loan, meaning he doesn't pay back what's due? If you can't collect any other way, you might have no choice but to sue him. If your state's small claims court has authority to hear cases valued at or above what Jonathan owes you—keep in mind that in addition to the $10,000 loan amount, you'll want interest and court costs—then you can file a small claims suit.

In the complaint, you'll name Jonathan just as you did in the promissory note: "Jonathan Richard Doe, individually and doing business as Jonathan's Antiques." Assuming you win your case, you'll get a judgment against Jonathan individually for the amount the court finds is owing.

Don't Assume a Business Is a Sole Proprietorship

The fact that a business goes by what looks like a proprietorship-type or doing-business-as name doesn't mean it's really a sole proprietorship. Let's play with the facts of our Jonathan's Antiques example to illustrate.

It's possible that Jonathan formed a corporation under state law called "Jonathan Doe Antiques, Inc.," and that the corporation commonly uses the name "Jonathan's Antiques" when dealing with the public. Now, suppose you sue "Jonathan Richard Doe, individually and doing business as Jonathan's Antiques." You'll end up having to amend your lawsuit as soon as Jonathan Richard Doe asks the court to dismiss the case because you named the wrong party.

Partnerships

Under state law, a partnership exists when two or more people operate a business for profit. Partnerships come in two basic forms: General partnerships and limited partnerships. Here's how you name both of them.

Suing a General Partnership

As a rule, all partners in a general partnership—they're called general partners—are individually liable (legally responsible) for all the acts and debts of the general partnership business. This means that for purposes of legal responsibility, a general partnership, much like a sole proprietorship, doesn't have an existence separate from its owners.

Let's expand on our example above involving Jonathan's Antiques. Now, instead of a sole proprietorship, Jonathan Richard Doe and Robert Allen Roe operate an antique business under the fictitious partnership name "J & R Antiques." You loaned them $10,000 for businesses expenses but the business failed.

How do you identify the defendants in your small claims lawsuit? Keep in mind that, as mentioned above, all general partners are jointly and individually liable for the partnership's debts and obligations. This is true even if only one general partner incurred a debt for the partnership. In our example, if Jonathan approached you for the loan on behalf of the partnership, both Jonathan and Robert are probably on the hook for the full amount of the debt.

So, the rule for suing a general partnership is you always name all general partners individually. This can be a bit cumbersome if there are, say, 25 general partners. But there's no way around it. After listing each general partner's full name, identify them as general partners, then include the doing-business-as name of the partnership.

In our example, it would look like this: "Jonathan Richard Doe and Robert Allen Roe, general partners, doing business as J & R Antiques, a general partnership."

Suing a Limited Partnership