Security return dispute

[Anthony Buoncora]

I purchased a single family 5 years ago and have been renting it out ever since to students.  It has been going well.  It's not without it's headaches but it's worth it IMO.

So after a lease with 5 tenants ended, I made deductions from the security deposit for the removal of furniture and cleaning since it says in my lease the house did not come with furniture and tenant must clean the house completely which was not done.  I agreed to pay for half the cleaning bill but one of the parents doesn't want to pay for anything and is saying all tenants don't want to pay for anything of course even though it is clear they should not have left anything behind.  If they decide to take me to small claims court, do they have to do so with all 5 of them as a united front since the 1 tenant who cashed the check has basically already admitted to fault?  Basically, since the one tenant already cashed check, can the others even take me to court for this?  I'm confident the lease and related conversations will show I was correct in my deductions but it is still a headache.  Thanks in advance, bigtime BiggerPockets fan.