Why is my LLC capped at $6,250 in California small claims?

California Code of Civil Procedure section 116.221 sets a specifically lower small claims dollar limit for business entities, corporations, partnerships, LLCs, and government entities, than the $12,500 ceiling available to individual people filing on their own behalf.

There's also a separate frequency restriction layered on top of the dollar cap: an entity can't file more than two claims exceeding $2,500 anywhere in California within a single calendar year. The underlying policy reasoning is that small claims court was designed as a forum for individual people resolving disputes, not as an efficient collections channel for businesses pursuing routine unpaid invoices at volume.