Small Claims eFiling Requirements

The San Bernardino Superior Court’s electronic filing (“eFiling”) requirements for Civil 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 do not meet these rules or are not eligible for eFiling will be turned down.

Who Can Participate
All court users can file small claims documents using an approved electronic filing service provider (EFSP).

eFiling Requirements

Create an Account:
Before you can eFile with the court, you must set up an account with an approved electronic filing service provider (EFSP). You can find a list of approved EFSPs and create an account at http://www.odysseyefileca.com/service-providers.htm.

Follow the Rules:
eFilers must follow California Rules of Court, rules 2.250–2.261. All documents must be in PDF format using Adobe Acrobat version 7 or higher and must be text-searchable (using Optical Character Recognition or OCR). The court will reject documents that don’t meet these requirements.

Formatting Rules:
The court cannot accept:

• Forms with fillable fields
• Negative images
• Documents saved as an “object” within the file

If you use fillable Judicial Council forms, make sure to deactivate the fields so they’re no longer fillable before submitting. Contact your EFSP for help if needed.

Keep Originals:
You must keep the original versions of all eFiled documents, especially those with signatures, as required by California Rules of Court, rule 2.257.

Electronic Signatures:
Signatures on eFiled documents must follow the rules under Code of Civil Procedure section 1010.6(e)(2) and California Rules of Court, rule 2.257.

Protect Private Information:
According to California Rules of Court, rule 1.201(a), only the last four digits of Social Security numbers or financial account numbers can appear in court filings. It’s your responsibility to remove or redact this information, not the court’s. Failure to do so could result in fines under California Rules of Court, rule 2.30(b).

Remove Metadata:
Before submitting, make sure to delete metadata (hidden information in the file). Metadata can reveal things like document edits, the author’s name, or when it was created. This is your responsibility as the eFiler.

When Documents Are Filed:

• Documents submitted electronically between 12:00 a.m. and 11:59:59 p.m. on a court day will be filed that same day if accepted.
• Documents submitted on non-court days will be filed the next court day if accepted.

A document is “received electronically” when the court sends a confirmation of receipt.

Submit Documents Properly:
Submit your documents the same way you would at the clerk’s window. For example:

• If documents would have been stapled together, file them electronically as one lead document.
• If a document needs its own file stamp, submit it separately with its own event code.
  • Example: A Request to Waive Court Fees must be filed separately from the Plaintiff’s Claim and Order, even though both can be submitted in the same transaction or “envelope.” Each document requiring a file stamp needs its own event code.

File Size Limits

• Single Document Limit: No document can be larger than 25 MB.
• Group Document Limit: A group of documents in one eFile submission cannot exceed 50 MB.
• If your files are too large, contact your EFSP for help reducing the size.

Exhibits
Exhibits filed electronically must follow California Rules of Court, rule 2.256(b). If an exhibit is a real object or cannot be clearly viewed in electronic format, it must be lodged with the court in person instead of eFiled.

Color Scanned Documents

• Color documents should be scanned separately from black-and-white ones.
• Set the color scan resolution to 300 dpi to make sure the file uploads properly and can be stored without issues. You can adjust this in your scanner settings.

Filing Fees

• When you eFile, you agree to let the EFSP charge the total cost of the transaction, including any required court fees.
• The EFSP decides the service fees for its platform.

Fee Waivers
If you need help paying court fees, you can file a fee waiver electronically. This is allowed under Code of Civil Procedure section 1010.6(e)(6) and California Rules of Court, rule 2.252(f).

Refund Requests

• Refunds for fees paid to the EFSP must be requested directly from the EFSP.
• The court will not handle refund requests for EFSP charges.

Documents You Cannot eFile
The following types of documents must be filed on paper at the courthouse and cannot be eFiled:

• EJ-001: Abstract of Judgment
• EJ-130: Writ of Execution
• SC-145: Request to Pay Judgment to Court
• SC-300: Petition for Writ
• Peremptory or for-cause challenges of a judicial officer (Code of Civil Procedure sections 170.1 and 170.3)
• Subpoenas and subpoenaed documents, like SC-107, SC-134, or EJ-125
• Documents filed under seal or conditionally under seal (California Rules of Court, rule 2.551). However, motions to file under seal may be eFiled.
• Documents in cases that are ordered sealed
• Exhibits that are physical objects or can't be clearly shown electronically
• Trial exhibits

Public Access to eFiled Documents

• Documents uploaded to an EFSP (electronic filing service provider) might be viewable by the public or press right away, even before the court accepts them.
• Documents marked as confidential or sealed will not be made public. If the whole case is confidential or sealed, no information or documents will be accessible.
• It’s your responsibility as the eFiler to correctly assign the filing code and security level to keep documents private. Documents meant to be filed under seal cannot be eFiled. Follow the California Rules of Court, rules 2.550 and 2.551, for sealing procedures.

Court Review of Documents

• The court does not check eFiled documents to ensure they are private or properly labeled.
• The court is not responsible if documents are made public because they were not correctly marked by the filer.