If You Are Sued: Questions and Answers

You get 30 days from the date the summons is served on you. The court can stretch that up to 120 days, with costs. Miss day 120 and you can't file at all. Our note on the 120-day rule explains how it's counted.

It really is. Your written statement falls due 30 days after the summons is served. The court may give you more time, but never beyond 120 days from service, and only if it writes down its reasons, which usually comes with an order to pay costs. Once day 120 passes, the right is gone for good. No judge can bring it back (Order VIII Rule 1, as amended for commercial suits). We tell clients to treat day 30 as the actual deadline. The rest is for emergencies. Our 120 days guide has more.

They're two different documents, and each has its own clock. The written statement replies to the whole suit; it's due 30 days from service and can stretch to 120 at most. A reply to an interim application (an injunction or attachment application, say) deals only with that application. The court fixes its date, often a week or two away. We've seen defendants pour everything into the injunction reply while the written statement deadline quietly runs out. Don't let that happen. Work on both together, from the same set of documents. More in written statement timelines.

Bring two things: whatever was served on you, and whatever tells your side. Start with the summons, the plaint and its annexures, and the envelope or email that shows when service happened. Then the contract or purchase orders, your invoices, your ledger for the plaintiff, delivery challans, emails, WhatsApp chats, and any notices that went back and forth. When Advocate B.K. Singh opens a defence file, the first thing he writes down is the exact date of service. Every later deadline counts from it. So note who took the papers, and on what day.

You can't. Blanket or evasive denials don't work in a commercial suit. Order VIII Rule 3A makes you take each allegation in turn: what you admit, what you deny, what you can't admit or deny, and your own version with reasons. Anything you don't specifically deny may be treated as admitted. We've seen short defences, full of 'denied for want of knowledge', end in a judgment on admissions for the plaintiff. Tell the court your story. With dates.

Not on its own. Ignoring a legal notice isn't an admission, and your defence will be judged on the written statement and the evidence led at trial. But judges do notice when a quality complaint or a short-supply grievance appears for the first time after the suit, having never come up through months of invoices, reminders and the notice itself. If you did object at the time, by email, a debit note or a WhatsApp after a phone call, put those records at the front of your file. They prove the defence wasn't invented later.

Yes, and it often does. Order XII Rule 6 lets the court pass judgment on a clear admission, whether it's in the pleadings, a letter or even an email, without a trial on the rest. Take a plaint claiming Rs 40 lakh. Your written statement admits Rs 15 lakh and disputes the balance over short supply. The plaintiff can then ask for a decree for Rs 15 lakh straight away. One practical point: paying or depositing the admitted sum early stops interest running on that part.

That's risky. In a commercial suit, amended Order XI requires you to file, with the written statement, a list and copies of every document in your power, possession, control or custody that relates to the suit. That includes the ones that hurt you. You also sign a declaration on oath. A document you leave out can be used later only with the court's leave, and only if you show reasonable cause. Don't count on getting it. Gather the ledger, the correspondence and the delivery records before the defence is finalised.

Deny it twice: in the written statement, and in your affidavit of admission and denial of documents under Order XI Rule 4. In a commercial suit that affidavit goes in within 15 days of inspection being completed. Give reasons. Maybe the signature isn't your director's, or the letter never reached your office. A bare 'denied' carries little weight, and a party who refuses to admit a genuine document can be made to pay costs. If you're saying it's forged, say that in plain words. See document disclosure.

Not in principle. Under Order VIII Rule 6A a counter claim works like a cross suit. It can be larger than the plaintiff's claim, and the court can decree the difference in your favour. You'll pay court fee on it as though it were a plaint. There's one real limit, though. The counter claim can't exceed the pecuniary jurisdiction of the court hearing the suit. A Rs 3 crore counter claim won't fit in a Delhi district commercial court whose limit has stood at Rs 2 crore (check the current figure before filing, as the limit can be revised). File it along with your written statement. There's more on defending a commercial suit.

Often you can, by pleading set off. Order VIII Rule 6 lets you claim legal set off of an ascertained sum the plaintiff owes you, as long as it's legally recoverable and within the court's pecuniary limits. And where your cross claim comes out of the same contract (liquidated damages for delay set against the price, for example), courts also allow equitable set off even though the amount isn't fixed. Keep one limit in mind. Set off can only reduce the claim or cancel it out. If the plaintiff owes you more than he's claiming, you need a counter claim.

There is one, and the clock works differently from set off. Section 3(2) of the Limitation Act treats a counter claim as a new suit filed on the day you bring it in court. A set off, by contrast, is treated as filed on the date of the plaintiff's suit. That gap matters. Say your retention money fell due more than three years before you file the counter claim. It's probably time barred as a counter claim, though it may still survive as a set off. Work out your dates before anyone starts drafting.

You don't have to. A counter claim is optional, and you're free to file your own suit within limitation instead. In practice, two suits on the same deal are often heard together so that courts don't reach conflicting findings. Court fee is payable either way. The counter claim's advantage is that it saves a whole new round of service and pleadings, but it must go in within the written statement timeline. Pick the route by looking at the forum, the value and how quickly you need your own claim heard.

Object at once. Put it in the written statement and, ideally, in a separate application too. Section 21 CPC says an objection to the place of suing must be taken in the court of first instance at the earliest opportunity, before issues are framed. Leave it later and it's treated as given up. Courts usually enforce a valid exclusive jurisdiction clause, provided the court it names also has jurisdiction on the facts. If you win the point, the plaint is returned under Order VII Rule 10 for filing in the right court. See which commercial court.

You can. If you dispute the valuation, Order VIII Rule 3A asks you to give your reasons in the written statement and, where you can, your own figure. Section 12 of the Commercial Courts Act values a money suit at the amount claimed plus interest up to the date of filing. Get that wrong and the case can land in the wrong forum, or the court fee falls short. Don't wait. Under Section 21 CPC a late objection on pecuniary limits is treated as waived unless it has caused a failure of justice.

Only when the plaint itself shows a fatal flaw. Order VII Rule 11 deals with a plaint that discloses no cause of action, one that's undervalued or short on court fee and isn't corrected when the court asks, and one that's barred by law. Time barred on its own dates is a common example. So is a suit filed without the mandatory Section 12A mediation. The court looks only at the plaint and its documents. Your defence doesn't come into it. If your point turns on disputed facts, Rule 11 is the wrong tool; plead it in the written statement instead.

It can finish the suit. Section 69(2) of the Indian Partnership Act, 1932 stops an unregistered firm from suing an outsider to enforce a right arising from a contract, and the partners who sue must be shown in the Register of Firms. Ask for the registration certificate and an extract of the register. The bar isn't universal, though. A claim that doesn't arise from a contract falls outside it, so read what the suit is really based on. If the plaint itself shows the defect, raise it under Order VII Rule 11. Otherwise put it in the written statement.

Apply under Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act for the court to refer the parties to arbitration. The deadline is the date you file your first statement on the substance of the dispute, and not a day later. Attach the original arbitration agreement or a certified copy. If, on a first look, the court finds a valid arbitration agreement, it has to refer the dispute. File the application first. Then take advice on filing the written statement alongside it, expressly without prejudice to your objection, so the 120 days don't slip away.

Often it is. The CPC permits service by courier, fax and email in the way the High Court rules allow, and Delhi courts routinely order service by email and WhatsApp, especially in commercial suits. If the court directed it and delivery is proved, your time usually starts from that service. Don't sit on an electronic summons waiting for the paper version to turn up. That's a costly mistake. If it went to an old or wrong number or email address, say so on the first date you appear, and keep proof.

Probably yes, if that was still your registered office on the MCA record. Order XXIX Rule 2 CPC allows a company to be served by leaving or posting the summons at its registered office, and a company that shifts has to file the change with the Registrar of Companies. Had you already updated the record, and the plaintiff still used the old address? Then the service can be challenged. Either way, appear as soon as you hear about the suit and argue the point there. Staying away only helps the plaintiff build an ex parte case.

You can, from whatever stage the case has reached. If you were proceeded against ex parte for not appearing and there's no decree yet, apply under Order IX Rule 7 and show good cause for having been absent. If the court accepts it, you're heard as if you'd appeared, often on paying costs. What happened while you were away isn't undone. And the written statement deadline doesn't pause, so your 120 days may already be over. Move on the same day you learn of the order.

You have 30 days from when you found out. Article 123 of the Limitation Act says that where the summons wasn't duly served, the 30 days for an Order IX Rule 13 application run from your knowledge of the decree, not from the decree date. Inspect the court file first. Check how service was shown, what address was used and who signed for the papers. Then apply to set the decree aside, and ask the executing court to stay execution meanwhile. See setting aside an ex parte decree.

Often it is, particularly where part of the claim is plainly owed. Commercial suits carry interest, and costs follow the result. A defendant who fights for years and loses can end up paying a lot more than the principal. The court can send the parties to mediation under Section 89 CPC at any stage, and a settlement gets recorded as a compromise decree under Order XXIII Rule 3. Keep filing on time while you talk. Negotiations don't stop the 120 days. See settlement during a suit.

Not if it's genuinely without prejudice. In civil cases the law of evidence protects admissions made on an express condition that they won't be used, or where the parties clearly agreed they wouldn't be. So mark every settlement letter 'without prejudice' and keep it to offers. Avoid flat lines like 'we admit we owe Rs 12 lakh'. A plain acknowledgment of the debt in an ordinary email is a different matter. It can be used against you. It can also extend limitation for the plaintiff.

Have the terms recorded before the court. A private letter isn't enough. The compromise under Order XXIII Rule 3 should say the payments are in full and final settlement, list each instalment, spell out what happens on default, and close all claims and counter claims on that transaction. Push back on any clause that revives the whole original claim with interest because one payment was late. Advocate B.K. Singh usually asks for a short cure period, a few days' written notice, before a default clause can kick in.

They can, if there's no legal basis for keeping them in. A company is a separate legal person. Its directors aren't liable for its trade debts just because they run it. Order I Rule 10(2) lets the court strike out parties who've been improperly joined. Such applications usually succeed where the plaint shows no personal guarantee, no personal undertaking and no specific case of fraud by that director. A signed personal guarantee changes the picture, and the name will stay. So check every document each director signed.

No. A commercial suit is a civil case about money or rights. Police don't come into it, and there's no bail to apply for. A director carries personal risk only in particular situations: he signed a personal guarantee, he disobeys a court order, or, after a decree, the court calls him to be examined on oath about the company's assets. A criminal complaint is a different thing altogether. A bounced cheque case, for example, has its own rules and should be handled on its own track.

He should file his own reply showing when he left, backed by the company's DIR-12 filing and the board resolution accepting his resignation. A director who'd gone before the transactions is rarely liable for them, unless he signed a personal guarantee or took part in a fraud. Plaintiffs often lift names straight from old MCA records. He can apply under Order I Rule 10(2) to have his name deleted. What he mustn't do is ignore the summons. An ex parte decree against him personally is a real nuisance to undo.

Not a rupee. In an ordinary commercial suit you can file a written statement and contest the claim without depositing anything in court. Deposits come up only in particular situations. One is as a condition of leave to defend in a summary suit. Another is when the plaintiff shows you're moving assets away and the court calls for security under Order XXXVIII Rule 5. A third is when you admit part of the claim and the court directs you to pay that part. And after a money decree, a deposit is usually the price of a stay in appeal.

You do, both of them. The civil suit asks whether the money is owed. The criminal complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act is about the cheque bouncing. They run on separate tracks, and a finding in one doesn't automatically decide the other. Keep your account consistent across both, because whatever you say in the leave to defend application will be read against you in the criminal court. One settlement can close both: a compromise decree in the suit and compounding of the offence in the complaint. See civil recovery on cheques.

Yes, and do it today. Professional indemnity, product liability and similar policies usually require prompt written notice of any claim or suit. Many also say you mustn't admit liability or settle without the insurer's consent. Late notice is one of the commonest reasons claims get refused. Send the insurer a copy of the summons and plaint, keep proof that it was delivered, and ask whether they'll appoint or approve counsel. Your court deadlines won't wait for their decision. Keep the defence moving.

Quite a lot, as long as day 120 hasn't passed. File the written statement, even if it's thinner than you'd like, with an application explaining the delay and offering costs, and put in every document you have along with it. If day 120 has already gone, the right to file is lost. You can still cross-examine the plaintiff's witnesses and argue the law, though. Send the plaint and the date of service to Advocate B.K. Singh's team through the contact page the same day. At this stage, hours count.