small claims court nuisance - how to prevent it?

Factual Questions
1

First some background:

I hired a contractor through the recommendation of a friend and only later found out he was unlicensed (this is in California if it matters). The contractor was supposed to do electrical work for me on some outdoor landscape lighting, got $675 out of me up front, and would have had another $400 coming to him if he ever actually came to finish the work.

After 3 months and him only coming out sporatically to do little 10 minute tasks, I finally fired him with him claiming he was THIS CLOSE to finishing and he only needed one more day (he said this twice before and he looked to be about 50% done with the work). I told him I expected $350 back as a refund, which he initially agreed to but then never paid. A month after that, I told him I would drop the refund to $300 if he would pay me in week, which he also agreed to.

A week later, rather than doing either thing, he SUED ME in small claims court for $380, presumably on the basis he did all but the last $20 worth of work. I did some research and found out he has been involved in similar suits in the past and that even when he is countersued, he doesn’t pay.

I work a very stressful job and can’t get off work very often, so having to take time off work to get to the courthouse is a pain. He knows this. Clearly he has brought this nuisance lawsuit hoping I would just forgive his shoddy work (he clearly can’t come up with even the $300). The problem I have is this: While I know I will easily win a countersuit against him, which I will file, how do I prevent him from doing what he has a history of doing in the past, which is:

  1. appealing the case to waste my time even more when he loses?
  2. not paying when I get the judgment against him?

I mentioned this to the small claims counselor, and they made it sound like there was nothing I could do but just let it happen. As it is, I have to pay extra money just to file the counter suit, have him served, and miss work to do this. I presume I can hire a collections agency to bug him for the money once I get the judgment, but it quickly sounds like it will be a losing (monetary) proposition for me. What legal protections do I have from this deadbeat pain-in-the-ass?

2

I’d get a book from Nolo.com if they have one on this as they do California law.

Im in California too, I remember filing a small claims case & it’s required that the person FIRST ask the other person for the money before they can file a claim. Did the person ask your for the money?