Responding to a Small Claims Case

The person starting the case may send a demand letter instead of or in addition to contacting you in another way. This is an opportunity to negotiate a settlement. If you do not agree with the demand letter, you can try to negotiate. If that does not work, it may lead to a claim made against you.

If you have been served with a summons and a claim, it is important to respond. If you do nothing, the judge can rule in favour of the other party. In this case, you will be responsible for paying the amount awarded and costs. Your written reply is how you let the court and the other party know what you dispute and what, if anything, you do not dispute.

At the top of your reply, you put the other party’s name and where they live. This information can be found by looking at the other party’s claim. Once you complete your reply, you date and sign it and include the address where court documents can be served on you.

The reply form and other forms are available on the Courts of Saskatchewan website.

If you agree with all or part of the other party’s claim, set out what you agree with in the first part of the reply. You can agree with all or some of what the other party has said in their claim. You write out in numbered paragraphs the statements from the claim that you agree with.

You then decide what you are willing to pay the other party, if anything, to settle the claim or the parts of the claim you agree with. You enter the amount and indicate whether it would be in full or partial settlement of the claim.

If you do not agree with all or part of the claim, you must set out in numbered paragraphs the parts you disagree with. Respond to each part of the claim you disagree with. When setting out what you disagree with, include details like dates or dollar amounts.

You need to gather any documents you have that are relevant to your case. This could be things like a bill of sale, estimate, contract, invoice or a photograph. You need to make copies of everything. Then make a document list naming and dating each of these documents. List the earliest one first.

You must bring any documents that are relevant to the matter to the case management conference. To allow for a useful discussion there, you should serve your documents on the other party well in advance so that they can review them. It is usually easiest to do this at the same time as serving the reply. The judge at the first appearance will likely ask the parties if they have exchanged the relevant documents. Any relevant documents you come across or create later should also be served and filed. Not doing so may lead to delays and costs awarded against you.

You must serve your reply on the other party so they know whether you agree or disagree with the claim. The reply must be served at least 10 days before the court date on the summons.

A reply can be served in any way that allows you to prove service. This includes by:

• regular mail
• registered mail
• personal service
• courier
• email
• fax
• process server

You must prove that the other party was served by completing an affidavit of service. An affidavit of service must be sworn before a Commissioner for Oaths or a Notary Public. You can find these individuals in the yellow pages of your local phone book or through online directories. You can also take the affidavit to the courthouse to be sworn. Do not sign it until you are in front of the Commissioner for Oaths or a Notary Public.

The affidavit of service will vary depending on how the documents were served…

• If the documents were served by email, you use the Affidavit of Email Service (Form H). Attach a copy of the email that shows the date it was sent and the email address it was sent to.
• If the documents were served by fax, you use the Affidavit of Service by Fax (Form I). Attach the transmission record.
• If the documents were served by regular mail, you use the Affidavit of Service by Regular Mail (Form G).
• If the documents were served by registered mail, you use the Affidavit of Service by Registered Mail (Form F). Attach the mail receipt.
• If the documents were served in person, you use the Affidavit of Personal Service (Form E). It must be filled out by the person who served the documents.

Once you have served your reply, gathered your documents and filled out the affidavit to prove service, you must file them at the courthouse. You must also pay a $50 filing fee. It can be paid by cash, cheque or credit card.

The location and address of the court will be on the summons. Provincial Courts are open from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Although appointments are not always required it is a good idea to phone the court first and make sure a Small Claims Clerk will be available.