Rule 24-21. Transfer to Regular Docket

(a) A case duly entered on the small claims docket of a small claims area or housing session court location shall be transferred to the regular docket of the Superior Court or to the regular housing docket, respectively, if the following conditions are met:

(1) The defendant, or the plaintiff if the defendant has filed a counterclaim, shall file a motion to transfer the case to the regular docket. This motion must be filed on or before the answer date with certification of service pursuant to Section 10-12 et seq. If a motion to open claiming lack of actual notice is granted, the motion to transfer with accompanying documents and fees must be filed within fifteen days after the notice granting the motion to open was sent.

(2) The motion to transfer must be accompanied by (A) a counterclaim in an amount greater than the jurisdiction of the small claims court; or (B) an affidavit stating that a good defense exists to the claim and setting forth with specificity the nature of the defense, or stating that the case has been properly claimed for trial by jury.

(3) The moving party shall pay all necessary statutory fees at the time the motion to transfer is filed, including any jury fees if a claim for trial by jury is filed.

(b) When a defendant or plaintiff on a counterclaim has satisfied one of the conditions of subsection (a) (2) herein, the motion to transfer to the regular docket shall be granted by the judicial authority, without the need for a hearing.

(c) A case which has been properly transferred shall be transferred to the docket of the judicial district which corresponds to the venue of the small claims matter, except that a housing case properly transferred shall remain in or be transferred to the housing session and be placed upon the regular housing docket. A case may be consolidated with a case pending in any other clerk's office of the Superior Court.

(d) When a case is transferred from the small claims docket to the regular docket of the Superior Court or to the regular housing docket, the appearance entered in the small claims case of an attorney at law and of a self-represented party as an individual shall be entered on the appropriate docket of the Superior Court. Unless otherwise ordered, when a case is transferred from the small claims docket to the regular docket of the Superior Court or to the regular housing docket, the appearance of any representative that was recognized in the small claims case, other than an attorney at law or a self-represented party as an individual, shall be entered on the appropriate docket of the Superior Court for notice purposes only and not as a representative of any party in the case.

Committee Notes

(P.B. 1978-1997, Sec. 572.) (Amended June 29, 1998, to take effect Jan. 1, 1999; amended June 26, 2000, to take effect Jan. 1, 2001; amended June 21, 2010, to take effect Jan. 1, 2011; amended June 24, 2016, to take effect Jan. 1, 2017.)