Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

Not to be stupid or rude, but your post is less than clear. Are you telling me that you "agreed" to pay on a judgment and are claiming that the plaintiff's attorney is trying to charge you a "tax"?

First, there is no tax on judgments. You may be referring to the statutory rate of interest which is 6% on PA judgments. This is set by law and is part of the judgment. If the attorney is in Jersey, this would not happen to be David J. Apothaker of Apothaker & Associates or Artuhr Lashin of Hayt, Hayt & Landau or Nudelman, Klemm & Golub? I have clients with these creditors' attorneys.

Regardless, no they did not have to disclose that to you. Interest is almost always included and it sounds like you are making payment on the full amount of the judgment. If that is the case then each one of your payments would go first toward interest and then principal.

You obviously did not have a lawyer set this up for you and did this on your own. When I go to resolve a debt for my clients, I try to avoid payment plans if at all possible in PA, but I ask about interest and see if the creditor's attorney will reduce or waive. Sometimes they will. However, if you did this on your own, you would not know, but in a way, not to be critical, you should have consulted with an attorney before you made a deal like this. I would have had you save up and then try to settle the debt for 50% to 80% of the balance, which would include the accrued interest, but would still be less than the full judgment.

In short answer, no you do not necessarily have an argument. However, I am speaking off the top of my head and without having the privilege of reviewing any documents or knowing the facts. My advice would be to pay an attorney to review whatever you did and render an opinion. However, based on what you indicated, my answer is that you owe the interest and cannot claim fraud or anything else because the plaintiff's law firm did not tell you that all judgments earn interest at a rate of 6% in PA. The plaintiff's attorney owes no duty to you - they represent the plaintiff. You were expected to get advice from your own lawyer.