Jones v. Equipment King Int'l

Equipment King International “EKI” sued Steve Jones and Advanced Motor, Inc. collectively, “the defendants” in magistrate court, claiming that the defendants failed to pay for farming equipment allegedly purchased on consignment. The defendants answered, denying liability and asserting a counterclaim for breach of contract relating to a separate real estate transaction. Noting that the counterclaim was beyond the magistrate court’s jurisdiction, the defendants requested that the case be transferred to the superior court, and the magistrate court obliged. Following the transfer, the superior court granted EKI summary judgment on EKI’s claims, as well as the defendants’ counterclaim, and the defendants appeal. For reasons that follow, we affirm in part and reverse in part.

1. We first address the trial court’s award of summary judgment to EKI on the defendants’ counterclaim. Summary judgment is appropriate when no genuine issues of material fact remain and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.1