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Filing a compulsory cross-complaint in California

by Stan Burman

Requesting leave of court to file a compulsory cross-complaint in California is the topic of this blog post.  

A request for leave of court to file a compulsory cross-complaint in California is used in situations where during the course of the litigation one party will discover facts that support affirmative claims for relief which evolve from what is known as "a series of acts or occurrences logically interrelated" meaning that they are related causes of action that are subject to forfeiture if not pleaded in the legal action. 

Code of Civil Procedure section 426.50 states that, "A party who fails to plead a cause of action subject to the requirements of this article, whether through oversight, inadvertence, mistake, neglect, or other cause, may apply to the court for leave to amend his pleading, or to file a cross-complaint, to assert such cause at any time during the course of the action. The court, after notice to the adverse party, shall grant, upon such terms as may be just to the parties, leave to amend the pleading, or to file the cross-complaint, to assert such cause if the party who failed to plead the cause acted in good faith. This subdivision shall be liberally construed to avoid forfeiture of causes of action".

Note that section 426.50 also allows parties to request leave of court to amend their cross-complaint to add additional causes of action at any time during the course of the action.

A California Court of Appeal has ruled in a published case that a motion for leave of court to file a cross-complaint at any time during the course of an action must be granted unless bad faith of the moving party is shown.  The Court of Appeal noted that the mandate of the legislature is clear and this imposes a policy of liberal construction of Code of Civil Procedure section 426.50 to avoid forfeiture of causes of action.  In that case the Court of Appeal ruled that a time period of less than six months between the filing of a complaint and a motion to file a compulsory cross-complaint did not constitute bad faith

Therefore it is imperative that a party file their motion within six months or less to avoid the possibility of the court denying their motion.

Attorneys or parties in California who would like to view a portion of a sample motion for leave of court to file a compulsory cross-complaint can use the link shown below.

Sample Motion for Leave to File Cross-Complaint in California by Stan Burman on Scribd

 

Attorneys or parties that would like more information on a California law and motion litigation document collection containing over 70 sample documents including a sample motion for leave to file a compulsory cross-complaint sold by the author can use the link shown below.

https://legaldocspro.myshopify.com/collections/frontpage/products/california-law-and-motion-document-collection

The author of this blog post, Stan Burman, is a freelance paralegal who has worked in California and Federal litigation since 1995 and has created over 300 sample legal documents for sale.

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DISCLAIMER:

Please note that the author of this blog post, Stan Burman is NOT an attorney and as such is unable to provide any specific legal advice. The author is NOT engaged in providing any legal, financial, or other professional services, and any information contained in this blog post is NOT intended to constitute legal advice.

The materials and information contained in this blog post have been prepared by Stan Burman for informational purposes only and are not legal advice. Transmission of the information contained in this blog post is not intended to create, and receipt does not constitute, any business relationship between the author and any readers. Readers should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel.

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