Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Virginia
Judgement
I had recently had a judgement posted against me. I have since paid off the balance owed, but still owe the additional fees included with the judgement. If the balance owed has since been paid off. Can I legally have the judgement reversed, without the extra fees not paid off yet??? Also, can they still charge me interest on the extra fees, since the owed balance was paid??
Any advise would be great!!
Thank you
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Judgement
The judgment creditor is under no obligation to have the judgment removed from the record until the entire amount of the judgment has been satisfied, meaning paid in full, including whatever collateral costs and fees are included with it such as interest.
And, yes, one can continue to be charged interest on these collateral costs/fees until they too are paid off.
Re: Judgement
I am a little unsure what you mean. When you
say the judgment was "posted" against you, we
use different jargon in the law. So I assume
that you mean an actual judgment was officially
decided in court against you. (We say that a
lawsuit is "posted" on your door, BEFORE it is
final.)
Assuming that an actual court judgment has been
entered officially, then everything that was
ordered in the court judgment must be paid before
the judgment is satisfied.
It is not normal to have a court judgment
vacated when paid, but simply marked as paid.
But it will still show as a court judgment
against you, even after it is paid.
The way you ask the question, I wonder if maybe
you are saying that the lawsuit is still pending
and a court judgment has not yet been officially
entered against you. In that case, of course, if
the debt is paid, then the lawsuit MUST be dropped.
You ask about the other charges, which can only
be (a) the filing fee of approximately $38,
(b) attorney's fees, or (c) additional interest.
There is no question that the filing fee (court
costs) will be awarded by the court. So you
should pay that.
The attorney's fees and high rates of interest
both depend upon whether there is a contract
signed by you in which you AGREED to pay those
attorney's fees and high interest. Attorney's
fees are assumed to be 25% of the principal debt.
If the lawsuit has not yet been entered, it is
possible that the judge might not award them. If
you have any doubts, you can go into court and
get the judge to decide, and then offer to pay
before he enters a court judgment if he agrees
the amounts are due.
As to interest, I disagree that interest is due
on the court costs or attorney's fees or interest
upon interest. I don't believe that you would
owe interest on these amounts.