Small claims court.

Existing law generally requires that plaintiffs and defendants in small claims court actions represent themselves, but provides a number of exceptions to this requirement for specified businesses, plaintiffs who are in the military, and defendants who are nonresident owners of property, among others. This bill would create another exception to that rule by permitting a plaintiff in a small claims action to submit declarations to serve as evidence supporting his or her claim or allow another individual to appear and participate on his or her behalf, if the plaintiff is a senior citizen or dependent adult and appearing for a hearing would pose an undue hardship, as determined by the court, due to limited mobility or limited access to transportation.