They say, “I didn’t do anything wrong… What did I do wrong? What did the court do wrong?”
But it has nothing to do with fault, it has nothing to do with anybody getting anything wrong. At the Justice Court level you don’t need an error for an appeal, because every person in every case that the Justice Court hears has a right to appeal. Whether everything was perfect, or everything was flawed, both sides can file an appeal.
This means that, if things didn’t go the way you thought they should have, and you have a valid reason to win, but for some silly reason you didn’t get a judgment in the Justice Court, you, the Landlord, could actually appeal.
I’ve been told all sorts of things by Justices of the Peace about Notice, Attorney’s fees, whether or not rent can even be awarded in an eviction, etc. They come up with their own set of rules and they stick by them, sometimes for years.
Generally speaking, there is a $500 fee for a plaintiff to appeal, and there’s nothing in the law that stops you from doing that, especially if you have a perfectly winnable case.
So, why is it that the tenant can appeal, even if they didn’t show up, even if they don’t have a good defense, and even if their showing up would have made things worse?
The legislature carved out a very narrow set of rules for eviction. Believe it or not, as lawsuits go, an Eviction case moves fast, really fast, surprisingly fast, compared to other lawsuits, even other Justice Court lawsuits. The basic rule is 21 days, which is a tiny amount of time when you consider that other cases take years, even in the Justice Court.
Sometimes a Defendant will simply miss his/her court date, or sometimes the Defendant has to work and can’t show up to court. Whatever the case, if a Defendant believes they have a valid basis to file an appeal or they just want to buy some time, the law will allow it.
It’s kind of a free pass that the legislature has given tenants in these cases. Surprisingly, though, the majority of tenants don’t take advantage of it, and that’s a fortunate thing for landlords.
What’s unfortunate is, how many of these tenants find out by just doing a quick Google search that they don’t need a genuine basis to appeal, they don’t need a good reason, and they may not need to pay a single penny for it.
Simple internet research can show a savvy Tenant that they don’t even need to show up to the trial. They can wait for the default to come and as long as they filed their appeal within the appropriate amount of time, they get it.
So, an appeal has nothing to do with an error on your part or on the court’s part. Every tenant is allowed the opportunity to file an appeal after a Justice Court judgment. If that’s happened in your case, then you’ve got to brace yourself for the process and start the entire thing over.
Once an appeal has been filed, your original judgment is lost. You will need to appear at the County Court to build your case all over again if you expect to hold a valid judgment.
