Rule 1.270.Counterclaims

Counterclaims complicate class litigation because they can pull individual members into disputes they never chose to litigate. Rule 1.270 manages that complexity from both directions. A defendant sued by a plaintiff class can counterclaim against the class itself if the court certifies the counterclaim as a class action, and with the court's leave, can counterclaim against an individual member or against a subclass the court certifies. Any counterclaim in a plaintiff-class action has to be raised before notice of the class goes out under rule 1.266 -- the class members need to know about the counterclaim when they decide whether to stay in the case or opt out.

The rule also lets a defendant class counterclaim against the plaintiff, again with the court certifying the counterclaim as its own class action, or certifying it on behalf of a subclass, or permitting an individual member to bring it -- with notice given to the class as the court directs. A member of a class or subclass who asserts a counterclaim is treated, for opt-out purposes, as a member of a plaintiff class under rule 1.267. And the rule protects a defendant whose counterclaim the court refuses to certify, or who chooses not to plead it in the class action: that defendant is not barred from bringing the same claim later in a separate lawsuit. Rule 1.270(3) adds a practical safeguard, letting the court stay distribution of a money judgment allocated to a class member against whom the losing party has a pending action elsewhere, and continue that stay so long as the losing party pursues its own pending action with reasonable diligence.