Persons who can be defendant at the Small Claims Division
Natural person
Any natural person may be sued at the Small Claims Division. However, if you are sued but are unable to defend yourself before the court, you may ask another person to represent you, such as:
- your spouse;
- a blood relative;
- a person related by marriage or civil union;
- a friend.
The other person must agree to represent you free of charge, and the agreement must be recorded in a document that you sign. The document must also state the reason why you cannot act yourself.
Legal person
A legal person can be, for example:
- an organization;
- an enterprise;
- a company;
- a business corporation;
- an association.
You can sue a legal person at the Small Claims Division, regardless of how many people it employs. It can only be represented by one of its officers or employees who is bound to it by a contract of employment and is not a lawyer.
If you decide to sue an organization, enterprise, company or association, you must make sure to use the right name. For example, the Binotto convenience store may, in fact, be officially registered under another name, or as a numbered company.
You can search the Enterprise Register 
to make sure you are suing the right person.
Proceedings against several defendants
If you are one of several defendants in a case, you can still use the interactive form to indicate the option you have chosen. The form has space for several applicants and several defendants.
The defendants can complete a single form if they all choose the same option. In other cases, one form must be completed for each option chosen by one or more defendants. In the section “Identification de la partie défenderesse”, only the contact information for the defendants who choose that option should be entered.
Last update: September 18, 2023
