Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Pennsylvania

Re: We've won our civil hearing, now what?

If the tenant appeals it is in Common Pleas Court. A landlord-tenant judgment is one of the few judgments that are enforcable through wage garnishment.An attorney be be useful to collect the judgment.

Re: We've won our civil hearing, now what?

Appeals from Magistrate's courts are filed in the Court of Common Pleas. To do so she will have to bring the judgment to the prothonotary's office fill out a form to appeal and pay a filing fee. How much that fee is varies by county. She is then suppose to serve you with that notice.

The effect of all this is the judgment you won is set aside and a new trial is held. Given the amount in question here it will more than likely be sent to an arbitration panel of 3 attorneys, who will hear the evidence and render a judgment.

Once you're served you'll have 20 days to file a complaint and serve it on the defendant. Then she will file an answer and a hearing will be scheduled. This is a trial de novo, in plain English a new trial. So its back to square one.

Where Magistrate's court is a lot less formal the next level up is not. There are a lot more rules on how filings need to be made and how service is made.

As for garnishing wages, that's not a favored remedy in Pennsylvania. To get a payment on a judgment you will need to file and order of execution. This gets the examination of assets under way and allow you to execute a levy for the sheriff to take her property and sell it to pay the judgment. Generally its a good idea to find if there is anything worth selling.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

I do not charge for the initial consultation.

{John}

Re: We've won our civil hearing, now what?

I just have one thing to add to what Atty. Davidson said. As he indicated, if she appeals, you will get notice and you will have 20 days to file a Complaint. He also indicated that at the Common Pleas Court level, the procedures are not informal. You should hire an attorney to write your Complaint for you and to represent you at this hearing, should she appeal. Don't think it's something you can do well by yourself.