Ask Me Help Desk - How to file a default judgment in PA

Does anyone know what the steps I need to take to file a "default judgment" against the defendant? We were the plantiff's in Distric Court and won, then the defendant filed an appeal. I filed the answers to his complaint and he never responded. I then sent him his reminder notice to answer the complaint that I had answered. It is now time to file a default judgment and I am not sure how to do this. I have gotton this far and I do not want to give up on the money he owes me.
Thank you!

As far as I'm aware, there's no such thing as "filing a default judgment." If you sue someone and they don't show up for court, you are granted a default judgment by the court; it's not something you file for.

What exactly happened with the appeal? Was the judgment overturned or not? If not, then you don't need to do anything. What was the case regarding/what were you suing for and what were you awarded?

I went to the district magistrate office and filed a civil suit against a photographer that owed me money after he broke the contract. I won the civil suit in the amt. of $500.00 incl. fees. The defendant did not like the decision and went to the county courthouse and filed an appeal against the decision the magistrate judge made. After receiving the letter of complaint, I answered it immediately. He then did not answer to my answer of complaint then I had to send him a reminder of answer and give him 10 days to respond and as normal he did not. I have read that I can now file a default judgement against him and can not seem to find any information on how to file or if there are forms. When I called the court house of course they do not give you any directions but did tell me there is a $20.00 fee to file this. For the amt. he owes me it is not worth hiring an Attorney for I have already talked to one and he was nice enough to lead me in the right direction in the beginning. This is more of a moral point and this photographer has gotten away with this many times before. I appreciate any help or advice you may have.
Thanks

Dear this8384, I did not finish answering your reply. There has been no change in the judgement at this time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sconnelley

I went to the district magistrate office and filed a civil suit against a photographer that owed me money after he broke the contract. I won the civil suit in the amt. of $500.00 incl. fees. The defendant did not like the decision and went to the county courthouse and filed an appeal against the decision the magistrate judge made. After recieving the letter of complaint, I answered it immediatly. He then did not answer to my answer of complaint then I had to send him a reminder of answer and give him 10 days to respond and as normal he did not. I have read that I can now file a default judgement against him and can not seem to find any information on how to file or if there are forms. When I called the court house of course they do not give you any directions but did tell me there is a $20.00 fee to file this. For the amt. he owes me it is not worth hiring an Attorney for I have already talked to one and he was nice enough to lead me in the right direction in the beginning. This is more of a moral point and this photographer has gotten away with this many times before. I appreciate any help or advice you may have.
Thanks

Agree with This8384 - I'm in NY so I'm not terribly qualified to answer your question but here the Court would issue the default Judgment (and they are aware the time to respond has passed) and then you would pick it up from the Courthouse, pay the filing fee and file it with the County Clerk. I don't think you can file your own default Judgment as you also can file your own Judgment if you win a case after argument.

This sounds to me that the county clerk gets the fee and the judgement is then entered. Does the clerk notify the defendant of the judgement or do I?
Thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by sconnelley

This sounds to me that the county clerk gets the fee and the judgement is then entered. Does the clerk notify the defendent of the judgement or do I?
Thanks

In NY you pay the filing fee (which includes the certified copy), you send the copy to the Defendant. The Court is pretty much out of it once the Judgment is rendered.

Congrats by the way on finding your way through the system, PREVAILING and following through!

In Wisconsin, the court does it two ways. They either a) make the decision immediately in court or b) make a decision at a later date and mail the decision to both the plaintiff & the defendant.

The defendant obviously knows that he lost the case, as he tried appealing it. You now have the hard job of trying to collect the judgment you have been awarded. If you know where the defendant is employed, you can file for garnishment of their wages. If they're unemployed, it's going to be a bit harder; I've had that problem quite a few times myself. I win a judgment but I'm never able to collect.

It sounds like you may have your procedures mixed up a bit. Here's what it sounds like to me: You filed a lawsuit and won. The defendant filed an appeal. You filed an answer to the appeal. I don't think the defendant is required to file an answer to your answer.

The next step should be waiting for the courthouse to send you a notice of the date that the appeal will be heard by the judge. If the photographer requested oral argument then there will be a court date set and you will have the chance to make your arguments in person. If the photographer did not request oral argument then it's possible that the judge will make a decision on the appeal based solely on the papers that were already submitted.

So instead of trying to file for a judgment you should contact the court and ask if there has been a date set for the appeal to be heard, or if it will be decided on the papers.

If a court date is set and the photographer doesn't show up, then you should request that his appeal be dismissed with prejudice. (That means that he can't re-file it.)