Duval County Small Claims Court

Important for Duval County: Florida small claims procedure has unique features applicable in Duval: (1) MANDATORY pretrial conference per Rule 7.090 — defendant must appear in person at scheduled pretrial conference; (2) Mediation FREQUENTLY ORDERED at pretrial — Fourth Circuit provides court-connected mediation services; (3) NO formal written answer required from defendant before pretrial — defendant 'answers' by appearing; (4) Asymmetric corporate representation rule — corporations CAN file as plaintiff pro se via authorized employee, but defendant entities generally MUST have attorney unless court grants permission; (5) Jury trial available per Rule 7.150 — plaintiff requests at filing or defendant within 5 days of service or at pretrial; (6) E-Portal confidentiality designation required for all case-initiating documents in CA/CC/SC cases since August 2022.