How long can someone hold off an appeal they filed after court gave the lawsuit over

[lil-jayne]

I was awarded money owed to me from a loan to someone and they have appealed it to a higher court. We have been twice to the date set for the appeal and they have put it off due to them being in a car accident and saying they have lost their memory. How long do they have to keep the appeal in effect, what is the statute of limitations to wait for the appeal? I want to garnish their wages with the judgment that has been given in my favor.

 

[FlyingRon]

Appeals typically need to be filed a certain number of days after the decision is handed down. You need to tell us what state this is for a real answer.

"Statute of limitations" doesn't apply to appeal.

Your judgement is good for a certain number of years and may or may not be renewable. Again, since you didn't bother to tell us the state, we can't answer.

You're not required to wait to see if they are going to appeal to go start trying to garnish things. Again, you need to tell us what state.

 

[lil-jayne]

State my civil suit is in

Thank you. It is in North Carolina.

They have appealed the decision given in my favor but are unable to go to court yet saying they have lost their memory in a wreck. I guess I can go ahead and garnish their wages then even though they have filed for a trial de novo that is waiting for them to be able to be in court? I'm trying to learn this right.

 

[FlyingRon]

Gosh darn, why don't you give all the information. You didn't say it was small claim either. That changes things. = You'll have to go to the de novo trial and make your case again. You can certainly ask for a default judgement or protest any continuances the defendent is trying to make. Not having memory of the incident isn't usually sufficient grounds to avoid trial.

You can continue to lien (or any liens you have) are valid and you can certainly continue to perfect recovery of specific items. Appeal or not, you can not garnish wages on your judgement. You can certainly hit up their bank accounts and any non-exempt real or personal property.

 

[Zigner]

You didn't say it was small claim either.

To be fair, this *is* the Small Claims Court forum

 

[lil-jayne]

I'm sorry for not giving that it was small claims, I thought posting in small claims topic was saying it. I'm new to all this and trying to understand it. I've never sued anyone before and this is definitely a learning process for me. I don't like any of this and hate that some people can't be honest, if they would be things like this wouldn't even be in court. I was trying to be nice loaning it to them. It is in small claims court but to me it is a rather large amount of money. Thank you again and I will look into what steps I have to take to begin garnishing their wages.

 

[adjusterjack]

I will look into what steps I have to take to begin garnishing their wages.

Sorry, there is no wage garnishment for personal debts in NC.

The following is from the NC Department of Labor:

"Under North Carolina law, an employer may be ordered to withhold wages from an employee and pay them to a creditor for the following types of debts: taxes, student loans, child support, alimony, and payment of ambulance services in certain North Carolina counties. However, the courts of North Carolina are not permitted to order an employer to withhold wages for other types of debts such as car loans, credit card debt, and other personal debt items."

http://www.nclabor.com/wh/fact%20sheets/garnishments.htm

And the filing of the appeal likely stays (defers, postpones) any other types of judgment enforcement until the appeal is over and ruled on.

You are just going to have to wait it out.

But to answer your original question, a professional deadbeat can delay paying a debt for the rest of his life if he does it right. Especially in NC where you cannot get to his wages.

 

[lil-jayne]

Oh well, looks like that's all I can do now is wait. Thank you for the info about it.