Can a California Small claims judge forbid the defendant to tell his side of the case?
Van Nuys court 10 months ago; plaintiff made a fabulously professional (but very dishonest) lengthy presentation after which the Judge seemed angry at me (defendant) asked me some yes/no questions (a-la have you stopped beating your wife yet)..........when I begged to tell my side, she said "I'm not interested" & found for the plaintiff.
I always thought that in the adversarial court system we use, one of the most basic tenets is that both sides get to state their case in court! Answering questions with Yes/no is not, nor should substitute for stating your case.
Curious what you think?

