Q: Question about civil court process.
The plaintiff sued us for repairs in the apartment. We wrote objections to the claim. Plaintiff filed a motion to dismiss our Affirmative defense. Tell me please:
1. In the event of an Affirmative defense exception, do the terms and deadlines for the process remain unchanged? the process will continue according to the schedule previously approved by the court?
2. Is it possible that Affirmative defense will be excluded before the court's decision.
3. If the objections are excluded, does this mean that a decision will be made immediately in favor of the Claimant? Or will the court give me additional time to prepare (correct) Affirmative defense?
A: You need to schedule an appointment for a consultation with an attorney to help you with the issues you present. Which procedures apply, and how they affect your pleadings, depends on which court you are in (i.e., small claims or other court). Also, some of your terminology, such as "affirmative defense exception", is not terminology used by Florida courts or lawyers. If you are NOT in small claims court, it would be foolish to represent yourself, unless you are forced to do that because you cannot afford an attorney. If the latter is the case, then you need to read and understand the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, and at least have a one-time consultation with an attorney if you need assistance with that. If affordability happens to be your issue, you may want to contact the Fla. Bar Lawyer Referral Service, which has a low-fee panel of attorneys. Their website is https://lrs.floridabar.org .
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