Small Claims Court Appeals Court Trial De Novo How To Collect

You won!  Now what.

In Small Claims Court, you have to wait the 30 days to collect since they have a grace period on appealing the case.  Since this was Appeals Court, I am not sure if I have to wait the 30 days.

I'm going to have to call the court house and see - so more to come.
*See update in my other post.  You do have to wait 30 days.

Quoting California Code of Civil Procedure, Sec. 116.780.

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(a) The judgment of the superior court after a hearing on appeal is final and not appealable.

(b) Article 6 (commencing with Section 116.610) on judgments of the small claims court applies to judgments of the superior court after a hearing on appeal, except as provided in subdivisions (c) and (d).

(c) For good cause and where necessary to achieve substantial justice between the parties, the superior court may award a party to an appeal reimbursement of (1) attorney's fees actually and reasonably incurred in connection with the appeal, not exceeding one hundred fifty dollars ($150), and (2) actual loss of earnings and expenses of transportation and lodging actually and reasonably incurred in connection with the appeal, not exceeding one hundred fifty dollars ($150).

Request for Court Order and Answer (Small Claims) where the losing defendant filed a form SC-105 with the court requesting the court to reverse the judgment is rarely granted especially with small claims tenant/landlord disputes.  They may file it but it will most likely be dismissed.

A friend of mine who had to go through the same thing with the appeals court said that he waited 30 days then went to court to file that they didn't pay.

Well while the court doesn't help you to collect they sure don't look well upon people who don't abide by their judgements.

If you can't reason with them to pay you and if the time runs out, the court gives you several options on how to collect.

Ex. If there is a business - you can have the sheriff put a padlock on the business
Ex. You can have the sheriff literally take out money from the cashier.

My friend had a dispute with a fabric vendor in DTLA and there was a moving truck where they were moving the fabric rolls into the truck to auction it all off.  If the owner didn't want them to continue, he had to go with the sheriff to the bank to make a cashier's check.

So yes, you have to do a bit more work but you've come this far.

link on how to collect:
http://www.courts.ca.gov/11188.htm

There are special rules you should know about for small claims judgments.

• The debtor has 30 days after entry of the original judgment before they have to pay you
• The debtor can pay the judgment directly to the court
• The debtor is required to send you a Judgment Debtor's Statement of Assets (Form SC-133)
• The debtor can ask the court to let them pay the judgment in installments

Judgment Debtor's Credit Report

Be aware that the judgment will appear on your credit report. The credit reporting bureaus go to each courthouse and get information for their records. Once the judgment is paid in full, send a certified copy of the Acknowledgment of Satisfaction of Judgment to the credit reporting agencies so the judgment will appear on your credit report as satisfied.

I will update this blog as I get more info - I'm learning as I go through it.  I hope that it helps others to understand their rights and how to protect themselves.  It's hard to understand everything out there.

Good luck to you all!