Don Setliff & Associates, Inc. v. Subway Real Estate Corp.

WYNN, Judge.

"There are no required pleadings in assigned small claim actions other than the complaint."1 Here, Plaintiff contends that Defendant waived its affirmative defense of estoppel because it was not pled in accordance with North Carolina Rule of Civil Procedure 8(c) upon appeal from small claims court to the district court for a trial de novo. Because no affirmative defenses are required to be pled in small claims court, and a district court judge may try the case on the pleadings filed,2 we hold that Defendant did not waive its affirmative defense by failing to plead it.

In January…