Rodeo is an unincorporated community in western Contra Costa County, on the shoreline at the western end of the Carquinez Strait. The Census Bureau counts it as a census-designated place with 9,653 residents in 2020, about 3.8 square miles of land and nearly a square mile of water inside its boundary. Valpro Attorney Services serves summonses, complaints, subpoenas, family law papers, probate notices and eviction documents on people and businesses in Rodeo, and files Rodeo cases with the Contra Costa County court.
Rodeo requests are handled from our Sacramento office, about 57 miles to the northeast. You send the papers and instructions online, and the attempts are made at the Rodeo address.
What kind of place Rodeo is
Rodeo has no city hall and no city council. As a census-designated place, it's a statistical area the Census Bureau draws for a named community, and the County of Contra Costa provides its local government. That has three practical effects for a case:
- The caption reads Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa, the same as for Richmond or Concord.
- No city is a party. A claim about a road, a permit or a county service is a claim against the County or a special district, not a City of Rodeo.
- The mailing name isn't a boundary. Rodeo is a postal and community name, and the Census lines don't follow the ZIP Code areas, as the next section shows.
Two ZIP Code areas, shared with Hercules and Crockett
The Census Bureau's 2020 ZCTA-to-place file shows that Rodeo's land falls in two ZIP Code areas, and neither belongs to Rodeo alone.
| ZIP Code area | Share of Rodeo's land | How the ZIP Code area splits |
|---|---|---|
| 94572 | about 83.5% | about 34% Rodeo, about 10% Hercules city, about 55% outside any city or CDP |
| 94525 | about 16.5% | about 43% Crockett CDP, about 25% Rodeo, about 31% outside any city or CDP |
So a "Rodeo, CA 94572" address can be inside the City of Hercules, and a "Crockett, CA 94525" address can be inside the Rodeo CDP. For service, that rarely matters; we serve the person at the address on the papers. It matters when the City of Hercules, a code requirement or a local agency is part of the case. Look up the parcel if you need to know. Census ZIP Code areas approximate postal ZIP Codes.
The court's own Where to File table lists Rodeo with ZIP Codes 94547 and 94572, and Crockett with 94525. All three rows point to the same courthouse in Richmond, so the overlap doesn't change where an eviction or small claims case goes.
Which Contra Costa courthouse takes a Rodeo case
Contra Costa splits its work by case type and, for two case types, by where the dispute started. For Rodeo:
| Rodeo matter | Where it's filed | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Unlawful detainer | George D. Carroll Courthouse, 100 37th St., Richmond | Filed and heard where the dispute started |
| Small claims | George D. Carroll Courthouse, Richmond | Same rule |
| Limited civil (up to $35,000) | Wakefield Taylor Courthouse, 725 Court St., Martinez | Heard in Dept. 14, Richmond, since 1/5/2026 |
| Unlimited civil | Wakefield Taylor Courthouse, Martinez | Filed and heard in Martinez |
| Probate, guardianship, conservatorship | Wakefield Taylor Courthouse, Martinez | Filed and heard in Martinez |
| Family law | Spinetta Family Law Center, 751 Pine St., Martinez | Narrow restraining order exception in Richmond |
Source: contracosta.courts.ca.gov Where to File, courthouse and division pages, checked October 2026.
The Richmond courthouse is about 7.9 miles from the Census Bureau's internal point for Rodeo, and Wakefield Taylor in Martinez about 6.7 miles, both measured in a straight line to the coordinates on each court page.
The Richmond courthouse for Rodeo filings
The George D. Carroll Courthouse page lists Rodeo among the communities it serves, along with Crockett, Hercules, Pinole, El Sobrante, Port Costa and others in West County. Four details from that page help plan a Rodeo filing:
- The entrance. The building's address is 100 37th Street, but the only public entrance is around the corner, off Bissell Avenue, through a security check.
- Counter and phones. The civil counter is listed at 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in person, and the phones at 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on weekdays.
- What it files. Small claims, criminal, traffic and landlord-tenant cases, plus a limited number of domestic violence restraining order cases at 8:00 a.m. on Monday and Friday mornings only.
- Limited civil drop-offs. Forms in a limited civil case can be left in Richmond if the next hearing or filing deadline is at least 3 court days later. With less time, they go to Room 103 at the Martinez courthouse.
Our Contra Costa County court filing service can take Rodeo papers to the right window, or e-file them, and then pass the endorsed copies to the server.
Papers to serve in Rodeo?
Martinez for everything else
Unlimited civil cases, probate and the filing side of limited civil cases are handled at the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse. Its page lists clerk windows from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., phones answered until 3:00 p.m., and Court Records in Room 103 during the window hours. A document left in the court's drop box between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. counts as filed that day.
The Where to File page adds a few routing rules a Rodeo case can run into. Elder abuse cases are filed in Martinez. Appeals are filed there too, except juvenile, traffic and small claims appeals. A small claims appeal from a Rodeo case is filed in Richmond, where the case was heard, and a juvenile case of any kind goes to the Walnut Creek courthouse.
Attorneys don't need the window for most of this. The court's e-filing page lists mandatory e-filing for attorneys since July 5, 2022, in unlimited, limited and complex civil, unlawful detainer, small claims and family law, with appeals added on July 13, 2022, under Local Rule 2.87. Self-represented parties may e-file but don't have to.
Rodeo evictions
A Rodeo landlord files the unlawful detainer in Richmond. When the summons and complaint come back from the court, send us:
- The summons, complaint and notice that started the case, with any attachments the court requires.
- Every adult occupant's name, plus "all other occupants" papers if your attorney prepared them.
- The unit layout. A duplex, an upstairs unit, a back cottage or a separate entrance on the side of the house.
- Gate or yard details, including dogs, locked side gates or a shared driveway.
A tenant served personally has 10 court days to respond, according to the California courts' eviction self-help page. From January 1, 2027, AB 747 changes the record a server makes. For an eviction summons served personally, by substituted service or by posting, the proof of service is to include at least one site photo with a readable date, time and GPS stamp, if it can be taken safely. Without GPS or cellular signal, the server writes a detailed statement instead. Posting itself is covered by CCP § 415.45. Our AB 747 guide walks through both.
Small claims for a Rodeo dispute
Small claims cases from Rodeo are filed and heard in Richmond, and hearings are in person. The court's small claims page sets the limits and fees:
- Limits: up to $12,500 for a person or sole proprietor; up to $6,250 for a corporation, LLC or partnership. No more than two claims over $2,500 per calendar year.
- Filing fees: $30 for claims up to $1,500, $50 from $1,501 to $5,000, and $75 from $5,001 to $12,500. A filer with more than 12 cases in 12 months pays $100 per case.
- Remote hearings: require compliance with CCP § 367.75 and form RA-010. Papers for a remote hearing have to be served and submitted to the clerk in person, by drop box or by overnight delivery 3 court days before, and electronic delivery isn't allowed.
- Help: the Self-Help/Small Claims Advisor answers emails within 2 weeks. The page also lists the county bar's lawyer referral line, which charges a $45 administrative fee for a half-hour consultation.
The claim still has to be served on the defendant before the hearing, and the plaintiff can't serve it personally. A non-party adult, such as our server, hands it over and signs a proof of service. If the defendant works outside Rodeo, give us the work address and shift, and we can try there as well as at home.
Practical notes for Rodeo addresses
A complete Letter of Instruction saves return trips to a Rodeo address. Include what applies:
- Exact unit and building. Apartment buildings, duplexes and back units are easy to miss from the street.
- Hillside access. Steep driveways, stairs up from the street or a house set back behind another one.
- A work address. Someone who commutes out of Rodeo may be easier to find at work on a weekday.
- A photo, if several adults share the home.
- Business hours, for a shop or contractor whose office is also a home.
For a corporation or LLC, look up its agent for service of process on the Secretary of State's bizfile Online. Agents such as CSC and CT Corporation are served at their own offices; our serving corporations page covers the rest. If the Rodeo address has gone stale, skip tracing can look for a newer one.
Three attempts, three days
From January 1, 2027, a party shows reasonable diligence for substituted service by attempting personal delivery in good faith on at least three occasions, on three different days, at three different times (CCP § 415.20(b)(2)). After that, papers can be left with a competent adult at the home and mailed, and service is complete on the 10th day after mailing. In a consumer debt case, one of those attempts is to be made at the person's home, if it's known or can be found with reasonable effort. Our proof of service guide explains what the signed form reports. We make no guarantees for service.
Sending Rodeo papers
Open a Service Request, attach up to 5 PDFs, name each party exactly as the papers do, add the address notes above, and choose Rush or Standard. Get the updates by email, call 855-582-5776, or email Service@ValproAttorneyServices.com.
Places near Rodeo
Crockett is 2.1 miles away and Hercules 2.2. Port Costa is 3.8 miles, Pinole 4.3 and El Sobrante 5.1. Across the strait in Solano County, Vallejo is 4.9 miles. Every community we serve in the county is on our Contra Costa County page.