What is the name of your state? OH
My complaint looks roughly like this:
The amount I could claim exceeds the state's $6k limit. My original intent was to "waive the excess" to keep it as a simple small claim.
What I expected: The court would decide which of thepunitive statutory claims to award and at what amounts (the legal range for the punitive statutory damages is $100 to $1000). If the total exceeds $6k the judgement would be for $6k.
What actually happened: Strictly speaking, the judge is fine with hearing the case as a single small claim, but (to my surprise) said I either must remove some of the claims or I need to reduce some of the claims to get a total of $6k. This step needs to happen before the litigation and judgement. Incidentally, the case was continued for a later date so I can plan my next move.
So I could decide to drop claim 3 and 4, for example, and the court could reject claim 2 or 5, but would otherwise accept claim 3 or 4. Or suppose I decide to drop the amounts on each claim proportionally, but then if the court decides to reject any of the claims, then the overall award is shorted by the initial reduction on the other claims. What I want to do at this point is split this into two cases. I will motion to amend the complaint, to drop all thepunitive claims based on statutory damages. My ultimate question here is how to word that. I want the option to open a new case for the punitive the statutory damage claims in the future. My concern is that if I amend my complaint to remove them and later open a new case for those claims, the other party will argue "double jeopardy -- those claims already appeared on a past complaint". Should my motion ask the judge to "dismiss claims 2-5 without prejudice", or is "dismiss" the wrong term? If I simply amend the complaint to "remove 2-5", is there a risk that I won't be able to list them on a new case?
(edit) I originally misunderstood the meaning of punitive damages & confused them with statutory damages. Thanks @Taxing-matters for clearing that up.
My complaint looks roughly like this:
- claim 1 actual (compensatory) damages: $4k
- claim 2
punitivestatutory damages: $1k - claim 3
punitivestatutory damages: $1k - claim 4
punitivestatutory damages: $1k - claim 5
punitivestatutory damages: $1k
The amount I could claim exceeds the state's $6k limit. My original intent was to "waive the excess" to keep it as a simple small claim.
What I expected: The court would decide which of the
What actually happened: Strictly speaking, the judge is fine with hearing the case as a single small claim, but (to my surprise) said I either must remove some of the claims or I need to reduce some of the claims to get a total of $6k. This step needs to happen before the litigation and judgement. Incidentally, the case was continued for a later date so I can plan my next move.
So I could decide to drop claim 3 and 4, for example, and the court could reject claim 2 or 5, but would otherwise accept claim 3 or 4. Or suppose I decide to drop the amounts on each claim proportionally, but then if the court decides to reject any of the claims, then the overall award is shorted by the initial reduction on the other claims. What I want to do at this point is split this into two cases. I will motion to amend the complaint, to drop all the
(edit) I originally misunderstood the meaning of punitive damages & confused them with statutory damages. Thanks @Taxing-matters for clearing that up.
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