Opinion ID: 783388
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mobile Home Claims

Text: 101 The district court also dismissed Noel's mobile home claims as unasserted compulsory counterclaims under Washington Rule 13(a). Rule 13(a), however, does not apply in Washington small claims court. Washington Civil Rule for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction 81(a) provides that Washington's Civil Rules do not apply in small claims court. CRLJ 81(a) (These rules do not apply to proceedings in small claims court.); cf. Last Chance Riding Stable, Inc. v. Stephens, 66 Wash.App. 710, 832 P.2d 1353 (1992) (holding that CRLJ 81(a) prevents CRLJ 73(b), governing the timing of appeals, from applying in small claims court). Therefore, Noel's mobile home claims cannot be precluded as unasserted compulsory counterclaims by the operation of Washington Rule 13(a) in the Halls' small claims suit. 10 102 Independent of Rule 13(a), judgments from small claims court may still preclude later claims under judge-made Washington preclusion doctrine. See State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Avery, 114 Wash.App. 299, 57 P.3d 300, 305 (2002) (The small claims court's limited jurisdiction does not preclude [a party] from asserting issue preclusion as a defense.). In this case, however, we conclude that Washington law does not preclude Noel's present mobile home claims. 103 Under Washington law, claim preclusion operates with respect to both claims that were litigated and claims that should have been litigated in a prior action. Meder v. CCME Corp., 7 Wash.App. 801, 502 P.2d 1252, 1254 (1972); Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 22(2) (1982) (stating that the failure to bring a counterclaim will preclude a later action on that claim either if the jurisdiction has a rule so saying or if a successful prosecution of the later action would impinge upon the earlier judgment). But a party is not claim-precluded from bringing a claim which could not have been ... litigated during [a] prior action. Meder, 502 P.2d at 1254. If a counterclaim cannot properly be pleaded in a suit because the amount of the counterclaim is beyond the jurisdiction of the state court, a judgment in that suit will not preclude a defendant from bringing a separate action. See Centennial Flouring Mills Co. v. Schneider, 16 Wash.2d 159, 132 P.2d 995, 998 (1943); 3A Lewis H. Orland & Karl B. Teglund, Washington Practice 303 (4th ed.1992). 104 Noel currently seeks damages for his mobile home claims far in excess of the $2500 jurisdictional limit of the small claims court where the Halls' earlier mobile home-related suits were filed. 11 The Halls argue that Washington law provides a method for Noel to have asserted his counterclaims exceeding the jurisdictional limit of the small claims court simultaneously in superior court (which has no monetary jurisdictional limit), and that because Noel failed to take advantage of this channel his mobile home claims are claim-precluded. 12 Wash. Rev.Code § 12.40.027 provides: 105 [C]ounterclaims ... by a defendant ... in excess of the jurisdiction of small claims court may be maintained simultaneously in superior court as a separate action brought by such defendant.... Such a superior court action does not affect the jurisdiction of the small claims court to hear the original small claims case. The decision of the small claims court shall have no preclusive effect on the superior court action brought pursuant to this section. 106 According to the Washington Court of Appeals, § 12.40.027 protects small claims plaintiffs by preventing the defendant from exploiting the limited jurisdiction of the court and forcing removal of the action to superior court simply by filing a counterclaim in excess of the jurisdictional amount. Avery, 57 P.3d at 304. Instead, defendants may proceed simultaneously in superior court without fear that a judgment rendered by the (presumably faster-moving) small claims court will have preclusive effect on their superior court action. Id. Section 12.40.027 is permissive, and we do not read it as an analog to a compulsory counterclaim rule. Noel's failure to bring a simultaneous superior court action asserting his mobile home claims thus does not preclude him from raising them now. 107 We therefore reverse the district court's dismissal of Noel's mobile home claims (claims 3, 4, and 5) against the Halls.