Rosenberg

*863 Opinion

Introduction

The defendants in six municipal court personal injury actions petitioned this court for six writs of mandate directing the Santa Clara County Superior Court to vacate its order of January 5, 1998, denying their petitions for writ of mandate below. The petitions below sought to vacate the orders of the municipal court transferring each case to small claims court, over defendants’ objections. We granted an alternative writ and issued an order to show cause to determine an issue of first impression; whether the municipal court may transfer actively litigated cases from its own docket to its small claims division when the plaintiff voluntarily waives damages in excess of $5,000.

We find that the municipal court is not empowered to order such transfers and therefore issue a peremptory writ directing the superior court to vacate its order and to enter a new order granting the six petitions for writ of mandate. As we shall further explain, the purpose of small claims court is to quickly and inexpensively resolve small civil disputes, and this purpose is frustrated when a case is transferred to small claims court after it has been litigated in municipal court.…