Opinion ID: 1454419
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Superior court jurisdiction and section 396

Text: (2) Superior courts have original jurisdiction in all causes except those given by statute to other trial courts. (Cal. Const., art. VI, § 10.) In section 86, subdivision (a)(1), the Legislature has defined municipal court jurisdiction as cases at law in which the demand, exclusive of interest, or the value of the property in controversy amounts to twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or less.... Accordingly, superior court jurisdiction requires an amount in demand exceeding $25,000. Section 396 governs transfer of matters to and from the superior court. The first, second, and fifth paragraphs of that section are particularly germane. The first paragraph provides: If an action or proceeding is commenced in a court which lacks jurisdiction of the subject matter thereof, as determined by the complaint or petition, the action shall be transferred to a court having jurisdiction. The second paragraph states: If an action or proceeding is commenced in ... a court which has jurisdiction of the subject matter thereof as determined by the complaint or petition, and it thereafter appears from the verified pleadings, or at the trial, or hearing, that the determination of the action or proceeding ... will necessarily involve the determination of questions not within the jurisdiction of the court, in which the action or proceeding is pending, the court, whenever such lack of jurisdiction appears, must suspend all further proceedings therein and transfer the action or proceeding ... to a court having jurisdiction thereof.... The fifth paragraph of section 396 provides: Nothing herein shall be construed to require the superior court to transfer any action or proceeding because the judgment to be rendered, as determined at the trial or hearing, is one which might have been rendered by a municipal or justice court.... [1]