Our original case (we were plaintiffs) was filed in April and our 1st court date was in May. We all met at court and the defendant raised a question about something that the judge then asked us to get him more information about and we were set another time to reappear in court. There were several delays when the court date kept getting moved for reasons of parties not being able to appear and then eventually we had our hearing again in September. Then the day before that hearing the defendant filed 2 counterclaims against us.

Can anyone please tell me if a counterclaim is allowed to be filed 4 months after the original case has already begun?

The only thing our state's law states is that "Service must be complete at least ten days prior to the first hearing"

Now in actuality we've already had the first heraing of the original case in May and the second eharing was in September (and we won) The counterclaims of the defendant were only filed/served to us the day before the Sept hearing, but when he filed them they were given their own court dates in November. They were not heard at the Sept hearing.

But if small claims is to provide sppedy cost-effective justice shouldn't it have all been tried together and shouldn't he have had to file his counterclaim before the first hearing of the first case that he was countering to?

What specifically would I look for in my state's law to figure this out?

Our original case (we were plaintiffs) was filed in April and our 1st court date was in May. We all met at court and the defendant raised a question about something that the judge then asked us to get him more information about and we were set another time to reappear in court. There were several delays when the court date kept getting moved for reasons of parties not being able to appear and then eventually we had our hearing again in September. Then the day before that hearing the defendant filed 2 counterclaims against us.

Can anyone please tell me if a counterclaim is allowed to be filed 4 months after the original case has already begun?

The only thing our state's law states is that "Service must be complete at least ten days prior to the first hearing"

Now in actuality we've already had the first heraing of the original case in May and the second eharing was in September (and we won) The counterclaims of the defendant were only filed/served to us the day before the Sept hearing, but when he filed them they were given their own court dates in November. They were not heard at the Sept hearing.

But if small claims is to provide sppedy cost-effective justice shouldn't it have all been tried together and shouldn't he have had to file his counterclaim before the first hearing of the first case that he was countering to?

What specifically would I look for in my state's law to figure this out?


I'm a little confused about what's going on here - you won in September but now the other party has brought a new case which is going to be heard in November? Same lawsuit, new issues? Or has your "win" been appealed or otherwise re-opened?

As you note, the counterclaims were not filed on time, which is why they were given separate hearings. If you won the original case, then bring that up at the hearing and ask for a dismissal of the counterclaims.