Sued my landlords, won case, now being sued by landlords, will I win a counterclaim?

[crse13]

In November 2010 I brought my former landlords to court for withholding $506 of my Security Deposit for damages not caused by myself nor anyone on the lease or a guest of the house. 8 windows were busted out by the lessee of the bar located next door just two weeks before I was to move out. A ticket was issued to her and she was arrested (though in December the Prosecuting Attorney decided to not pursuit charges). My landlords were informed of the incident that morning, 20 minutes after it had occurred and refused to press charges because they owned the bar and it would cause a negative business relationship.

At court in November, they had said that there was no way their other lessee had committed the crime and that she was innocent until proven guilty and asserted that it was my boyfriend who had broken out the windows and was at the house, which he was at the bar with 2 other people (who will not speak due to being close friends with the accused) and called the police from his cell phone from the bar as the crime was occurring. The judge had ruled in my favor, I won my suit and 10 days later received my judgement from my landlords.

Now in January, I receive a summons to court which notifies me that I am being sued for the property damage (the windows plus now an additional $50 for repairing 2 holes). In their statement they even say that they did not press charges against the accused that night because she leased the bar from them and once again are accusing someone who was on my lease for the windows but acknowledging that I wasn't even in town.

I want to know if I can counterclaim for gas (I live over 70 miles away) and the cost of childcare, and if I were to, would I even have a chance of winning? This case they are bringing against me is completely frivilous, not to mention adding fraud with an additional $50 worth of damages/charges, and they should be suing their lessee of the bar rather than me.

Thank you in advance to all who respond, I greatly appreciate it, as I am stressed out with having to miss school, and find and pay for additional childcare.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

No, you cannot sue for the cost of childcare nor gas required to respond to this lawsuit.

Gail

 

[fredrikklaw]

They had their chance!

CRES13:

You can stop stressing over this lawsuit that has been filed against you as it is not going to go anywhere and you should move to have it dismissed right away. You should also forget about arguing that the suit is "frivolous" because it is a redundant argument or, making a "counterclaim" for expenses because it is not a valid function of counterclaim in any event.

In a nutshell, the lawsuit is barred lock, stock and barrel by virtue of the rules of civil procedure and the doctrine of res judicata, which simply means "the thing has been litigated" already and a judgment was rendered on merits and the same causes of action and controversies cannot be prosecuted again at a later date. The same rules of civil procedure also say that all claims, causes of action, controversies, and counterclaims arising out of the same incident have to be stated or are considered waived by the parties. Accordingly, your landlords had a chance to insert their counterclaims when they answered your complaint but chose not to, effectively waiving their right to assert them at a later date.

So file motion for dismissal of the lawsuit, basing your argument on the fact that res judicata bars plaintiff's action, or you can make the motion orally when you go to court.

fredrikklaw

 

[mightymoose]

To put it in other words... there is nothing to stop your former landlord from going to the court and filing a suit against you, even though the matter has already been heard. However, once it gets to court YOU must let it be known that this matter has been dealt with, and that the landlord dropped the charges regarding the broken windows. This case will disappear real fast.
As suggested, look into the procedure for having the case dismissed for the reasons explained above. If you are lucky you won't have to go at all... but if not, you have all you need to defend yourself.

 

[crse13]

Thank you all very much. I contacted the county clerk's office and was told that I cannot move to dismiss the case, I *HAVE* to show up on my court date because both parties must be present in any decision the court/judge makes, even on a motion.

What protections does someone actually have when it comes to being brought to civil court over matters already decided, or even multiple times by the same person if they cannot motion to dismiss without having to appear in court? These matters cost time and money and without being able to counterclaim for these it doesn't seem fair. If my former landlords do not like this decision and decide to bring about yet another lawsuit, or even an appeal, would it become harrassment, and what of the extra charges they have thrown in this for damage that wasn't listed in the first suit, nor in my itemized deduction from my security deposit? I know those will be dismissed, but is it not fraud/illegal especially since they have signed stating that the information contained is true and correct?