I'm not trying to get the case dismissed. I just think that have 1/3 of the total amount that was due as a penalities is incredibly unreasonable. If it were a couple of hundred dollars, that would be fine but it's 1/3 and that IS unreasonable.
Thank you for sticking to the facts. That's really what is important at this point for me.
Okay, fact is, you THINK this is unreasonable, you FEEL you were treated wrongly, you want to decide what
you think is a reasonable amount to owe in fines , yet just the facts is what's important to you.
My opinion is based on work experience in fraud collection for unemployment, though not with the state of CA in particular, but the unemployment system, in any state is quite different from the IRS.
For one thing, the overpayment system is governed by the state and federal unemployment statues, it is not solely a federal program. Most aspects of it are very cut and dried. Unlike with the IRS, there is this issue that with unemployment, one can become overpaid without actual wrongdoing, or one can become overpaid due to fraud. Two difference circumstances. Much more lenience is given in actual unemployment overpayment law to those who are overpaid due to circumstances. But even if you were overpaid through no fault whatsoever of your own, they have the
right to charge you penalties and interest, and while there is a waiver/appeal process, the fact that you have paid off your overpayment does not excuse you, any more than paying the principal on your house payment excuses you from paying off the interest. You received an interest free loan from the state of CA, and now they want the money back, which they have gotten, with some interest and penalties which they have the right to ask for. Due to some reason or another they have not negotiated and they have pursued you aggressively to repay them. They have not pressed criminal charges against you. But they do want their interest and penalties paid.
And the EDD is not significantly unfair to all of the people of your fair state. That's your opinion. I can stand up for the program because I have worked in the system and I understand how it works, I don't get my information and opinons from reading forums, and talking to others who don't know anything about it about it, and I have heard literally hundreds of whiney overpaid jerks defend themselves after the fact of their having been caught and made to pay back overpayments (and penalties) by saying that the whole system is unfair. Because you paid it back (though another unemployment claim, it appears) that doesn't mean it wasn't a fraud based overpayment in the first place.
They didn't pull an amount to charge you in penalties and fines out of the air, as swalsh points out, there is a purpose for these penalties and they are set and regulated by CA unemployment law, not what you think would be fair and reasonable.
Even if you went to court, even if you get the case dropped this time because you weren't served properly, (which I believe you will find is not the case) and they take you back again, which I bet they will, you are still not going to have a legal argument that the penalties and fines are excessive. And because there is no phone number on the judgment, you would have to go to Sacramento and talk to someone? Huh? You can't look at the state website for a number?