After Winning in Small Claims Court as a Plaintiff

Congratulations, you won the case! What you do next will depend largely on what the other party does. We are going to go over the different possible things the other party will do, and your options based on their actions.

Being the plaintiff in the original case, you could win in two different ways:

• Winning the plaintiff’s claim, which is the case you originally filed against the defendant.

• The defendant now owes you the amount as awarded by the judge.

• Winning the defendant’s counterclaim, which is the claim that the defendant filed against you as part of the same case.

• You do not owe the defendant anything on the counterclaim.

Winning the claim effectively makes you the judgment creditor (meaning you are owed money), and the other party the judgment debtor (the person who must pay the money). What you do will depend a lot on what the judgment debtor chooses to do. Keep in mind that the court does not pay you, the court simply states that the debtor owes you money and that you are legally in the right to pursue actions to receive payment.

Typically, the debtor will respond in one of these ways:

• Debtor pays voluntarily

  • Debtor pays you directly

  • Debtor arranges to pay the court

  • Debtor arranges to pay in installments (Learn more about payment plans)

• Debtor does not pay voluntarily

  • Debtor tells you they will not pay

  • Debtor does not pay within 30 days of the judgment

• Debtor appeals the judgment (if they attended the hearing)

• Debtor requests cancellation of the judgment (if they did not attend the hearing)

Read More: I Can’t Collect Money from the Other Party on My Judgement

Winning the counterclaim means you do not owe the defendant any money on the counterclaim. However, it’s possible that the defendant will contest the judgment. Fortunately, the defendant will not be able to appeal this decision, but they may choose to file a motion to correct or cancel the judgment if they believe a clerical error was made, or there is an incorrect legal basis in the decision.

If the defendant files this request, you will receive a copy of the request along with an “Answer” form for you to provide your response to the defendant’s request for the court to review. If you do not agree with the defendant’s request, you should be sure to fill out and return the answer within the timeframe indicated. If you do not answer, the court will make a decision without hearing your side of the story. After the court has reviewed both the request and answer, they will send out a response to the request, which may include a date and time for a hearing on the cancellation. You will have a chance to provide your argument to convince the judge that the judgment should not be canceled. If the judgment is canceled, you will have to attend a new trial for the same claim.