Small claims only provides monetary relief, you can't get equitable relief. How exactly are you going to calculate your monetary damages? And quite frankly, why would Google reinstate your account over losing a maximum of potentially $7,500?
Correct. In order to get injunctive relief of having account access restored, you'd have to sue Google in a Superior Court.
The difference between Small Claims and Superior is that in the former you're generally not allowed to bring an attorney, whereas in the latter you may actually be required to bring one.
Does anyone know whether account suspension without a reason is actually something that a pro-se litigant has any chance of suing these big companies for, and winning at all?
> in the former you're generally not allowed to bring an attorney
That only applies to individuals.
Corporations are not only allowed, but in fact required to be represented by an attorney in court. Even small claims. Corporations do not have pro se representation rights, and only an attorney can represent another person.
It is not true in all states that corporations must be represented by an attorney in small claims court. In California, corporations must be represented by a non-attorney employee for small claims actions.
The idea is that a Small Claims judge in Cali does not expect a lawyer, so, there is no need or expectation to any legal lingo, which by itself can be confusing to normal people, plus the rules of evidence are not nearly as strict as in Superior Court, plus, not that much money is at stake.
The thing that may be daunting about Superior Court is that the judge is supposed to take it easy on pro-se litigants, but at the same time, they are still supposed to be impartial, and can't really act as your own lawyer.
