Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

I recently had a Small Claims court date wherein I was the authorized representative for a business entity. On the day of the trial, the authorized representative for the defendant, also a business entity, orally requested that the trial be transferred to Superior Court where they had filed a counter suit. The judge did not know about this counter suit at the onset. The defendant tried to say something at the beginning of the case but was quieted with an explanation that the plaintiff was to talk first. I pleaded the side of the case for the plaintiff, and when I turned it over to the defendant, the defendant orally requested that the case be transferred to Superior court and consolidated with their claim. The judge ordered a transfer of the case.

According to California CCP Code 116.390: "(b) The defendant may make the request by filing with the small claims court in which the plaintiff commenced the action, at or before the time set for the hearing of that action, a declaration stating the facts concerning the defendant's action against the plaintiff with a true copy of the complaint so filed by the defendant against the plaintiff with a true copy of the complaint so filed by the defendant against the plaintiff. The defendant shall cause a copy of the declaration and complaint to be personally delivered to the plaintiff at or before the time set for the hearing of the small claims action."

I do not believe that any such declaration was filed (I am going to check today). with the copy of the complaint they filed in Superior Court the day before (I believe it was a true copy). The plaintiff was not personally delivered anything at or before the time set for the hearing - and have yet to still.

Another thing. CCP116.390 states: "(a) If a defendant has a claim against a plaintiff that exceeds the jurisdictional limits stated ... and the claim relates to the contract, transaction, matter, or event which is the subject of the plaintiff's claim, the defendant may commence an action against the plaintiff..." The plaintiff and defendant named in the Small Claims case are not the same as the defendant and plaintiff named in the Superior Court case. In the Small Claims case, both the plaintiff and the defendant in the Small Claims case are business entities. The case they filed in Superior Court names as the plaintiff and defendant, the two authorized representatives as individuals, not the business entities named in the Small Claims suit.

What is the strongest response I can make to this so that I can have my case transferred back to heard in Small Claims court and if possible, to pre-emptively nip the Superior Court case in the bud? They don't have a case, and they know it, so they're trying to intimidate me. I believe I even have a strong case for abuse of process as one of their MO's, if necessary. 


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