I sued our old landlord in small claims and won. He appealed and we both lost. Can I sue again?
March 24th, 2011 | 
Author: I sued our old landlord in small claims and won. He appealed and in turn sued us. In the appeal he hired an attorney and sued us for the attorney fees and an old bill he lied and said we left behind. The judge ruled in the appeal that no one gets anything. Can I sue him again? Because he didn’t return our security deposit in full.
Posted in Landlord Tenant Law
Who appeals in small claims court? What the hell?!?
I hope you take this prick to the cleaners.
Sue his landlord pants off.
If the security deposit was part of the original lawsuit, then no, you can’t sue again unless the appeals court told you that you could. You get one bite at the apple.
Since there was already a judgment, you would have to appeal the last judge’s decision to a higher court, unless the appeals judge told you you can file a new suit.
In the u.s., every state has what is known as the “one action” rule. If the lawsuit included or could have included a claim for the deposit, the case is over. If the lawsuit was entirely unrelated to the landlord-tenant relatioship, then you are not barred.
NOT if that is what you originally sued him for……it has been adjudicated already….appeal maybe…but not retried