I was an owner in a business that went in to bankruptcy in 2005. My business partner and his wife had taken personal bankruptcy so most of the suppliers we dealt with would not accept his personal quarantee. On one particular application they did accept us both jointly and severely on the personal guarantee. Shortly before the company was taken into Chapter 7, we disputed the amount of money we owed this supplier and had made an agreement with their attorney on a reduced amount and began to make payments. Once in bankruptcy, they came after both of us for the outstanding amount. I asked my ex-partner to please take care of this as I was recovering from a serious illness. He contacted their attorney and made an offer - supposedly on behalf of the corporation. She accepted the $6,900 from him in the form of a cashiers check. Several months later I was served for what she said was the remaining balance on the account. I had the initial judgement overturned because her service was not good but when I returned to reschedule the hearing, I came without an attorney, money issues, and at that time she left the courtroom and when she returned she approached me and said "it is obvious that the judge is going to rehear the case - how does July __ look for you". I said fine not realizing she left to schedule the case with the judge of her choosing. When I returned to dispute the amount I could not even present evidence. Each time I addressed the judge with the reasons and attempted to present the evidence I had with me, that I did not owe this money he refused to even listen or look at anything and just said judgement for _ pay. Is there any way to re-hear this in Fairfax County? Should I bring my ex business partner in an effort to testify for me that he was under the sound impression that his payment was satisfying the debt for the corporation? Is there any way to readdress this as there is absolutely no way I can ever repay the judgement she received $7,000 against me.

Thank you.

What was the date of that judgement? How long do you have to file an appeal? The clerk of court can tell you that. They won't (shouldn't) tell you how to do it.

Is this small claims, or a higher court. I've found that anything higher than small claims, you really need an attorney if you want to have a chance of winning or being heard by the Judge.

bhopper - each state has rules about appeals and you have to make them pretty snappy. Also, check with your state bar on how to report this judge. You also need to know if it was legal for her to switch courts (judges). Maybe they're sleeping together - we had that happen in Colllin Co. Texas and the guy on death row got a stay because the lawyer and judge were sleeping together - and not married to each other - haa.

Anyway, if you're in Texas it's a ton easier - the problem you often have with the lower courts is not having a court reporter recording the proceedings. Sometimes you can ask to have a court reporter present - and sometimes if the court says no - you can ask to have your own brought in - I think they cost around $500 a day - I can't remember. When talking appeals - it's real important to have a record - although I've been told in small claims it doesn't matter - but all of this is just opinions.

I don't know about other states - but here in Texas we have these books called Dorsaneo - they are awesome! But only for Texas law. There's also West's and Vernon's - I suppose other states have these books too. What's cool about these books (you'll find in a law library - check your local colleges and court houses) is they explain the laws as well as giving you forms to use to argue these points. I check all three of these books in Texas to get the full understanding of what is what - they are so awesome for us doing pro se.

Just off the bat here - look at your state website and look for courts - or statutes or civil codes - laws. Different states call them different things - you can look up civil laws of procedures. Poke around and you should find the answers you're looking for as far as the laws governing what happened to you and filing an appeal. Don't forget your county website too - a lot of time they have justice and law information on their website - check each precinct of the county too - because one justice might be better about providing information than others.

Good luck!

Absolutely - difficult enough to set aside Judgments in Small Claims. This side of impossible if it's the Judgment of a higher Court.

Also, a lot depends on the local legal/judicial climate. Some Judges just don't want to hear "it."

Hello b:

You need to appeal the decision. You probably only have 30 days in which to do so. Plus, your appeal needs to be based on the LAW - not on your unhappiness with the decision. You need to show how the judge violated the law or his discretion. The fact that he wouldn't LISTEN to you is NOT grounds for appeal.

Given the above, you're going to need a lawyer... IF you had one in the FIRST place, you wouldn't have to dig so far out of the hole you put yourself into.

excon

bhopper,

Excon is nice - but even with a lawyer if the judge and the other side are in cahoots - having a lawyer doesn't help a lot in lower courts.

One thing you should also know is that if you appeal, a lot of times you have to put up the money in the judgement - I'm so sorry to tell you that because I know you don't have it. Again - this is just what I have experienced in Texas.

If however - you get through the hoops - you can still argue the case with small claims proceedures if you ask and if the judge balks - sometimes they'll let you use out of state cases for your support - that would be Courtney vs. Yellow Cab in Texas.

Regardless of what the out come is for you - be sure to pass the word to those you know and love that if you get sued and can't hire an attorney for whatever reason - be sure to research the law as I've done for myself and outlined what I did in the above post - BEFORE you answer a suit. I found that out the hard way. I had 2 things here in Texas I could have done to really have helped myself when the wrongful suit was claimed against me. I will probably still prevail - but like you - wish I'd known some of this stuff earlier on.

Another thing about Texas and CA both - you can before you answer or soon after make the claim of VEXATIOUS LITIGANT against the party who is suing you wrongfully or frivilous. The good thing about this if you win your argument is they have to post a $10,000 security deposit to sue you. Holy cow - wished I'd known about that one! I found this in the Texas codes, procedures, etc. on our state website - so these message boards are not any where near the help of your state website and the law libraries.

P.S. Even if you get an attorney you have to do all of the research yourself, because 90% of attorneys out there won't really explore all of your possible remedies - been there - done that. If you help them and show them and get them to cooperate with you on arguing certain things - my experience has been victory - even when they've told me - "that won't work." So with or without an attorney, you have to do your home work if you want to win.

Good luck