About a year ago my landlord filed a civil suit against me. I paid the fine to the court and that was that. We moved out and found a new place. Long story short turns out he never had a valid CO which is mandatory in our town and he got into a lot of other trouble. But I did not follow much of his other court cases after we moved. I just got a call from the court asking if we still had his number or address because apparently he has failed to pay whatever fines were due for filing our civil suit. They said that meant they could not finish processing and that they were going to file something against him. It's all confusing to me. What happens to the money we paid? Did he get it? Do they hold it until he takes care of his fines? Do I need to do anything further?

Just fyi we reside in NJ.

I see it as unrelated... and you won't get a bonus out of it. As your part was settled and ruled on and it wasn't appeald or won on appeal.

You were one of the people who might have had an address and they asked you for that reason. They probibly asked others as well.

He "filed a civil suit". You should have paid a judgment, not a fine. What was the alleged "fine" for. He is liable for costs to file the suit, not fines. They should have been paid up front. What you are alleging happened is unclear with the terminology you are using.