§ 426.60.Inapplicability of Article to Small Claims Court Actions Or Declaration of Rights and Duties of Parties

Section 426.60 fences off three categories of proceedings from the compulsory cross-complaint article altogether. Subdivision (a) confines the article to civil actions, excluding special proceedings — a separate procedural category under California law with its own governing rules. Subdivision (b) excludes small claims court actions, where the informal, low-dollar, often self-represented nature of the forum makes a compulsory cross-complaint requirement impractical.

Subdivision (c) excludes actions where the only relief sought is a declaration of the parties' rights and duties under the declaratory relief chapter (Chapter 8, commencing with § 1060, of Title 14 of this part). A pure declaratory relief action asks the court to clarify a legal relationship rather than to award damages or other coercive relief, and the Legislature chose not to force related claims into that kind of proceeding under threat of forfeiture.

Section 426.70 then carves a targeted exception back into subdivision (a)'s special-proceedings exclusion for eminent domain proceedings specifically — a reminder that these carve-outs are not absolute and that a later, more specific section can restore the compulsory cross-complaint framework for a particular kind of case.