Preparing a Petition to recover appeal fees

[SimpsonJr]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania

A civil suit against myself for past debt was continued due to the plaintiff and Myself coming to an out of court agreement to make payment on a lesser amount to fulfill the debt obligation. The debit is legitimate. Due to my own error I failed to attend the continued hearing date, and a judgement for the full amount was made against myself on 7/1/2015. The scheduled agreement payments have continued after this date, so I believe that the repayment of the lesser amount to fulfill the debt, aside from the court judgement, should still fulfill the debt obligation.

I had filed a notice of appeal at the common please prothonotary on 7/29/2015 to reference the agreement, however I would like to withdrawal my appeal and recover the $173 in fees. I have not yet sent out the appeal notices to the plaintiff and courts (10 day window).

Contact with the prothonotary provided me a very unhelpful individual, and instructed me to file a petition to the court to withdrawal my appeal and recover the fees, should it be granted by the court. They stated they do not have any forms for this.

I am inquiring on guidance on how to produce the document myself, and what types of references or statement should be made, and to whom the document should be provided or addressed to. I believe this should include my reasoning for withdrawal.

Any guidance is greatly appreciated.

SJr.

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania

A civil suit against myself for past debt was continued due to the plaintiff and Myself coming to an out of court agreement to make payment on a lesser amount to fulfill the debt obligation. The debit is legitimate. Due to my own error I failed to attend the continued hearing date, and a judgement for the full amount was made against myself on 7/1/2015. The scheduled agreement payments have continued after this date, so I believe that the repayment of the lesser amount to fulfill the debt, aside from the court judgement, should still fulfill the debt obligation.

I had filed a notice of appeal at the common please prothonotary on 7/29/2015 to reference the agreement, however I would like to withdrawal my appeal and recover the $173 in fees. I have not yet sent out the appeal notices to the plaintiff and courts (10 day window).

Contact with the prothonotary provided me a very unhelpful individual, and instructed me to file a petition to the court to withdrawal my appeal and recover the fees, should it be granted by the court. They stated they do not have any forms for this.

I am inquiring on guidance on how to produce the document myself, and what types of references or statement should be made, and to whom the document should be provided or addressed to. I believe this should include my reasoning for withdrawal.

Any guidance is greatly appreciated.

SJr.

1: Your agreement is irrelevant because there is now a judgment in place.
2: Why do you feel they should refund your fees?

 

[SimpsonJr]

1: Your agreement is irrelevant because there is now a judgment in place.
2: Why do you feel they should refund your fees?

Thank you for your response.

1: Understood.
2: My intentions were to withdrawal my very recent request ending the appeal process and use the funds towards the payments, however I suppose the fees would be going towards processing on their end, and are typically non-recoverable.... Perhaps I should continue with my appeal to present documentation of the prior agreement and hopefully lessen the final judgement...unless that is irrelevant as well.

Thanks,

SJr

 

[Zigner]

Thank you for your response.

1: Understood.
2: My intentions were to withdrawal my very recent request ending the appeal process and use the funds towards the payments, however I suppose the fees would be going towards processing on their end, and are typically non-recoverable.... Perhaps I should continue with my appeal to present documentation of the prior agreement and hopefully lessen the final judgement...unless that is irrelevant as well.

Thanks,

SJr

How I see it is that the problem is that you failed to live up to your part of the agreement, namely, attending court to let them know you agreed. As such, the agreement is void and the judgment will rule.

 

[SimpsonJr]

How I see it is that the problem is that you failed to live up to your part of the agreement, namely, attending court to let them know you agreed. As such, the agreement is void and the judgment will rule.

Thanks again for the response, the input is greatly appreciated.

I contacted the debt collectors Attorney office. They had provided a copy of the payment agreement to the District Court prior to the continued hearing date. They could still receive the judgement against me for the full amount which they did, however if I continue to comply with my repayment arrangements of the lower amount in the initial agreement, then that will satisfy the debt.

Looks like I'm out the appeal fee's, which I should have researched more before filing, but will be better off financially in the long run as long as I don't falter in the payments.

Thanks,

SJr

 

[Zigner]

Why would you believe that they will accept less than the judgment?

 

[SimpsonJr]

Why would you believe that they will accept less than the judgment?

My only supporting thoughts are that settlement agreement was provided to the court prior to the judgement, and that the Attorneys office stated as such. However I suppose they are not bound to do so. If they were planning to negate the lesser agreement, and pursue with recovering the full judgement amount, they would have communicated such, as well as discontinuing collecting payments towards that agreement that specifically outlined payments towards a lesser amount to fulfill the debt obligation.

Thanks,

SJr

 

[Zigner]

My only supporting thoughts are that settlement agreement was provided to the court prior to the judgement, and that the Attorneys office stated as such. However I suppose they are not bound to do so. If they were planning to negate the lesser agreement, and pursue with recovering the full judgement amount, they would have communicated such, as well as discontinuing collecting payments towards that agreement that specifically outlined payments towards a lesser amount to fulfill the debt obligation.

Thanks,

SJr

Best of luck to you.

 

[SimpsonJr]

Best of luck to you.

Thanks

In conclusion, I would still like to prepare a petition to provide the court in an attempt to recover the fees. This may be fruitless, however I have nothing to lose, and the recovered fee moneys would certainly assist me in providing for my family at this time, should they be granted.

It appears I am back to my initial inquiry, in seeking guidance on how to produce the document myself, and what types of references or statement should be made, to whom the document should be provided or addressed to. I believe this should include my reasoning for withdrawal.

Thank You,

SJr

 

[Zigner]

Thanks

In conclusion, I would still like to prepare a petition to provide the court in an attempt to recover the fees. This may be fruitless, however I have nothing to lose, and the recovered fee moneys would certainly assist me in providing for my family at this time, should they be granted.

It appears I am back to my initial inquiry, in seeking guidance on how to produce the document myself, and what types of references or statement should be made, to whom the document should be provided or addressed to. I believe this should include my reasoning for withdrawal.

Thank You,

SJr

You'll want to consult with an attorney who is familiar with the local court's procedures and "climate". You will likely pay far in excess of the $173 for this consultation.

 

[SimpsonJr]

You'll want to consult with an attorney who is familiar with the local court's procedures and "climate". You will likely pay far in excess of the $173 for this consultation.

Ok, Thank You

 

[latigo]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania

A civil suit against myself for past debt was continued due to the plaintiff and Myself coming to an out of court agreement to make payment on a lesser amount to fulfill the debt obligation. The debit is legitimate. Due to my own error I failed to attend the continued hearing date, and a judgement for the full amount was made against myself on 7/1/2015. The scheduled agreement payments have continued after this date, so I believe that the repayment of the lesser amount to fulfill the debt, aside from the court judgement, should still fulfill the debt obligation.

I had filed a notice of appeal at the common please prothonotary on 7/29/2015 to reference the agreement, however I would like to withdrawal my appeal and recover the $173 in fees. I have not yet sent out the appeal notices to the plaintiff and courts (10 day window).

Contact with the prothonotary provided me a very unhelpful individual, and instructed me to file a petition to the court to withdrawal my appeal and recover the fees, should it be granted by the court. They stated they do not have any forms for this.

I am inquiring on guidance on how to produce the document myself, and what types of references or statement should be made, and to whom the document should be provided or addressed to. I believe this should include my reasoning for withdrawal.

Any guidance is greatly appreciated.

SJr.

You can withdraw you notice of appeal, but you are NOT entitled to a refund of the statutory filing fee! Period!

No more than if you had filed a civil complaint, paid the clerk the required filing fee and then timely and voluntarily dismissed the complaint. Or paid for a marriage license and then demand refund because the church burned down.

And it was wrong of the clerk to make the suggestion that you are now erroneously relying on. (Here such a clerk would be given a pink slip.)

In lieu of spinning wheels in this futile effort you should be considering filing a motion to vacate the judgment based upon inadvertence on your part and more importantly the deceitfulness of the plaintiff in allowing it to be entered knowing of and not alerting the judge of the compromise! Which was a blatant act of defrauding the court. It ought to be a slam dunk.

What I would have you do is to file the motion to vacate along with your supporting affidavit explaining the circumstances. Then along with a copy sent to the plaintiff include a stipulation agreeing to the order vacating the existing judgment and the entry of one in conformity to the compromise.

If what you say is true, i. e., that the plaintiff agreed to settle for a lesser amount and failed to inform the judge, the plaintiff would be foolish not to agree to such an order and thus maybe avoid being censored by the judge.

 

[SimpsonJr]

You can withdraw you notice of appeal, but you are NOT entitled to a refund of the statutory filing fee! Period!

No more than if you had filed a civil complaint, paid the clerk the required filing fee and then timely and voluntarily dismissed the complaint. Or paid for a marriage license and then demand refund because the church burned down.

And it was wrong of the clerk to make the suggestion that you are now erroneously relying on. (Here such a clerk would be given a pink slip.)

In lieu of spinning wheels in this futile effort you should be considering filing a motion to vacate the judgment based upon inadvertence on your part and more importantly the deceitfulness of the plaintiff in allowing it to be entered knowing of and not alerting the judge of the compromise! Which was a blatant act of defrauding the court. It ought to be a slam dunk.

What I would have you do is to file the motion to vacate along with your supporting affidavit explaining the circumstances. Then along with a copy sent to the plaintiff include a stipulation agreeing to the order vacating the existing judgment and the entry of one in conformity to the compromise.

If what you say is true, i. e., that the plaintiff agreed to settle for a lesser amount and failed to inform the judge, the plaintiff would be foolish not to agree to such an order and thus maybe avoid being censored by the judge.

Certainly some very good insight into this situation, and evaluation of the circumstances. Thank you for your response.

SJr