The defendant's response

After receiving the Statement of Claim, the defendant may agree with the claim and admit that they owe you money. In response to a Statement of Claim, the defendant may either pay in full, or apply to pay by instalments.

The defendant might contact you to try to negotiate about your claim. They might make an offer to settle the case for less than what you have asked for or something different. For more information see Resolving your dispute.  

You should think carefully about any offer to settle and if you are unsure get legal advice​.

For more information, see Settling your case.

After receiving your statement of claim the defendant may ask for more information from you before deciding how they are going to answer your claim.

If the defendant filed an application to change the venue, you will receive a copy of the notice of motion and affidavit from the court.

If you don’t want the venue to be changed, you must file an affidavit within 14 days.  Your affidavit must include reasons why the venue should not be changed. 

The court will decide if the case should continue to be heard in the original court or moved to a different court. 

The court will notify the parties of its decision.  If the court decides to move the case to a different court, the matter will be listed at the new venue. If the court does not move the case to a different court, the matter will be heard at the same venue.

The court will not move the case to another court if the other court is less than 100km from the court where the statement of claim was filed, unless there are exceptional circumstances. 

In response to a statement of claim, a defendant may file a cross-claim as well as a defence. A cross-claim is when the defendant makes a claim against you, or against another person, because they say you should pay them money.

If you receive a cross-claim you have the same options to respond as those listed on this page including admitting the claim (agree that you owe the money)  or filing a defence.

​What is a cross-claim?

The defendant may make a cross-claim because they believe you owe them money.

They can also make a cross-claim against another person known as a third party. They may do this because they say the third party owes you all or part of the money you are claiming. This is a common situation with car accidents involving more than two vehicles or involving vehicles that are not being driven by their owners. 

If a cross-claim is filed, the defendant will be known as the 'cross-claimant' and either you or the third party will be known as the 'cross-defendant'. The file number will be the number given to your case when you filed your statement of claim.

When can a cross-claim be filed?

The cross-claim must be filed in the same time limit as filing a defence - 28 days from the date the defendant is served with the statement of claim form. Usually, the defendant will file both their defence and cross-claim at the same time.

If a cross-claim is not filed within this time, the defendant needs to get leave (permission) from the court to file a cross-claim form. The defendant would usually ask for leave at the pre-trial review.

Responding to a cross-claim

Cross-claims can be complicated. If you are served with a cross-claim, you should get legal advice.

If you receive a cross-claim you have similar options that the defendant has when responding to a statement of claim.  

If you disagree that you owe what is claimed, you can file a defence to the cross-claim. 

You must file a defence within 28 days of when you are served with the cross-claim. If you do not, the defendant can ask the court to make a default judgment against you.

If the defendant only files a cross-claim and does not file a defence within 28 days, you can ask the court to give you a default judgment on your claim. For more information, see Default judgment, in Making a claim.

If the defendant ignores your statement of claim, you have the option of applying for default judgment. 

You can apply to the court for a default judgment, if you filed and served a statement of claim and the defendant hasn't:

• ​​​​​paid the money you are claiming
  
• filed a defence, or
  
• filed an acknowledgement of liquidated claim form (for a money claim only). 
  

You must wait until 28 days after the statement of claim was served. Once the defendant has filed a defence, you can’t get a default judgment.  

To apply for default judgment, see Step by step guide - Applying for default judgment.

​​Once you have a default judgment you can enforce the judgment against the defendant. For more information, see Enforcement.

The defendant can apply to set aside a default judgment. If this happens, see Step by step guide - Responding to an application to set aside default judgment, for information on how to respond.

If the defendant disagrees with your claim, they may file a defence.  A defence is a form completed by the defendant and filed at the court. 

The defence states that the defendant doesn’t agree that they owe you all, or part, of what you have claimed and the reasons why. 

When the court receives the defence, they will send you a copy. You will also receive a notice telling you the date and time when you have to attend court for a pre-trial review. For more information see Pre-trial review. 

It is important to read the defence carefully so you know why the defendant disagrees with your claim.

You should get legal advice about the strength of your case and whether you should consider settling your case when you receive the defence.