Small Claims Court for back Utilities

[Rob B.]

I sold a property in Lancaster, CA back in November. I made the mistake of not switching over the utilities. Then I received a bill from the Utility company for December and part of January. We reached out to the buyer's agent and the buyer has refused to respond. The basic response I got from my agent and theirs was "Good Luck, try small claims court." The problem is that I live in Northern California and I don't want to drive down to LA County just to file for a $600 Utility bill, especially when I'll have to go back for court. Does anyone have any experience with owed Utilities and filing small claims court out of the area? I know some people will say that I should just let it go since it's not a large amount of money, but at this point, people have been trying to screw me over so much lately that it's more the principle of the thing than the money.