Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Small claims question

The defendant's small claims cross-claim against you

is for what is called "malicious prosecution." You

have prosecuted someone maliciously if you have brought

a lawsuit that had no possible merit. Before someone

can be sued for malicious prosecution, they must have

lost the lawsuit that was allegedly maliciously filed.

In other words, you can't file a cross-claim for malicious

prosecution, because you can't have won the suit yet.

Thus, regardless of whether you win your suit, even

regardless of whether your action is malicious, the

defendants can't sue you in the same action; they will

have to wait until after they win this one and then file

a whole new one.

Re: Small claims question

When suing someone, especially a company, they will usually counter-sue so that in case you loose they have a chance to win. Two things will need to happen in order for them to actually win their counter-suit. One, you will have to lose and two they will have to prove that you had no reason to file a lawsuit and that they had to spend the $4800 to prove that it was. Hopefully, you can prove that you have a basis for your lawsuit and you did not just file it to waste everyone's time, and that is how the judge will look at it. Good luck. If you have any further questions please feel free to contact my office at 888-563-8529.

John Hayes