Help: Loss In Court

[lad204]

Can anyone answer this for me I need help ASAP!


CONFUSED: I just got back from magistrate court, and I was being sued for $1200, plus interest and court cost, well I came out of there having to pay $900 plus court cost. Here's the story: I borrowed money off this person because I was late on a car payment, and I told them that I would pay it back when I got my taxes, well this person suggessted that if I would do a few favors by making telephone calls the debt would be free and clear, well I made the telephone calls. So I thought everything was free and clear. Here's the other part of the story, I was receiving harassing phone from a cell phone at all hours of the night and morning every day, so I traced the calls and turned it over to our local law enforcement, and they tracked down who it was and arrested the person, it happened to be the person that gave me the money. The next day after they were arressted, the person filed suit against me for the money that I received 2 1/2 years ago and we went to court and I have to pay $900.00 + court cost. I can appeal in 20 days. What should I do because the person commited a crime, and wants me to pay for it?

West Virginia: Can someone help me?

 

[JETX]

You are trying to link the two situations together and they are really separate.

You admit to borrowing the money and not paying it back. You claim that these 'phone calls' would clear this debt (must be one hell of a 'phone voice'!). It would seem that the court didn't agree to the 'value' of the phone calls and has ruled that you need to repay $900 of the borrowed funds.

The separate issue is the phone calls to you and the subsequent arrest of the caller (the lender). Though the arrest possibly hastened the lawsuit, you would have a hard time showing that the lawsuit was done in retaliation for non-payment of an owed debt.

 

[lad204]

Thanks for your input: Let me expain this person to you and the way he does things if things don't go his way: He got my daughter a computer, and he was ready to take it back, because she was going swimming and being in the sun. 2nd: He got her a bed and he was ready to take it back because his evil mind thought that my daughter was sleeping in it with her boyfriend. He didn't want my husband to be around her, which is her step-father, so he called human services to report molestion. My daughter was late for school one day and he called the school on her. Then he told me that he was in Love with my daughter, so I told him not to call anymore, and thats when the phone calls started, and him suing for the money, because he didn't like the answer he received, and a friend of my mine knows what he said about the money, including my daughter and my husband. So what should I do?

 

[JETX]

His motives and all are really no longer relevent. The only issue left is that he now has a judgment for $900.00 and you have to either: (1) appeal the judgment, or (2) pay it.

If you are planning on appealing, you should at least have a plan in place. As I understand it, your appeal from Magistrates court would need to be heard in Circuit Court. This is a court of record and would very probably require an attorney to represent you (full rules of evidence and procedure). It is likely that the cost of an appeal would far exceed the amount of the judgment, and since the burden of proof would now be on you, it is unlikely that the appeal would change anything.