Rant: my mediation felt like a joke compared to the small claims hearing
Spent 9 months going back and forth with the landlord's lawyer in San Jose mediation and got nowhere, then the actual judge hearing took 20 minutes and handed me a $4,800 judgment, so why does anyone bother with mediation first?
Did you file for a fee waiver before the hearing started, cause that's the only real move that matters once the judge is actually looking at your case? Mediation is just a checkbox they make you do so the court can say they tried.