the judge matters too.

The judge plays a big role in those cases. So find some judge who in favor of the plaintiff first before you file the lawsuit. By checking PACER, you can find which judge is in favor of the plaintiff in your area. If you can not find a kind judge, you may want to switch to a new place where you can find a good judge. As far as I can recall, the judges in North California are nice to those guys suffering from the agonizing so-called name check. In South California and central California, the judges are not nice.