Hermit9832 Posted February 4, 2020 Report Share Posted February 4, 2020 Hello all, MCM filed suit against me in a Magisterial District Court in PA on or about 12/18/2019. The court said I had to notify them if I intended to submit a defense to the complaint, I did and did so within the allotted time frame. My plan was to go in and MTC contractual arbitration but today in court Midland never showed up. The judge said it was a default in my favor and that was it. I started asking questions like is this matter dismissed with prejudice and was told no and that this could go on forever, that MCM could just keep bringing the case against me for different amounts. Additionally, the judge said that they can file an appeal and it would move the matter to a higher court. Is this some tatic to evade us using arbitration as a defense? I was told I would receive paperwork in the mail in a few days so I don't have all the answers or legal terms that were used. What the heck is going on here? Thanks in advance for any advice or insight that can be given. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goody_Ouchless Posted February 4, 2020 Report Share Posted February 4, 2020 Not sure why he would mention appeal, if they can just refile the same case. At this point I would just have my MTC ready in case they refile, but otherwise just hope they forget about you and move on to someone else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Seaward Posted February 4, 2020 Report Share Posted February 4, 2020 18 minutes ago, Goody_Ouchless said: Not sure why he would mention appeal, if they can just refile the same case. We saw this in that other PA case a couple weeks ago where they basically phoned it in, lost in the lower court, practically on purpose, just to get the case bumped up to the next higher court. https://www.creditinfocenter.com/community/topic/331624-defended-against-lvnv-won-now-theyre-appealing/?tab=comments#comment-1384733 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goody_Ouchless Posted February 4, 2020 Report Share Posted February 4, 2020 But in this case they did nothing but not show up - what grounds would they have for appeal - that they should just win contested cases without having to appear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhoCares1000 Posted February 4, 2020 Report Share Posted February 4, 2020 2 minutes ago, Goody_Ouchless said: But in this case they did nothing but not show up - what grounds would they have for appeal - that they should just win contested cases without having to appear? I think magistrates court in PA is the same as small claims court. In most states, you can appeal a small claims decision for a trial de novo by simply paying the fees with no reason what so ever. To the OP, what I would do is find out how much time they have to appeal. It is usually 20 - 30 days in most states. I don't know what it is in PA. In the meantime, learn how to file an answer in the higher court and make harden the answer and MTC to the point where they cannot fight it. Also, if MCM does appeal, that might remove the small claims exemption that many arb agreements use. If they don't appeal, then the odds of them refiling are very low. They are looking for easy defaults, not to continuously start a fight with someone willing to fight back and might be able to punch them in the nose. If they do refile and don't show up again, you can they motion for the dismissal with prejudice claiming that MCM is abusing the judicial process by filing cases and then not prosecuting them in this case. Eventually, a judge will tell them that they cannot keep it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit9832 Posted February 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2020 Thanks for the replies everyone. Many thanks for the advice and I'll be looking out for more paperwork from them. As soon as I get the paperwork back from the magistrate court I'll update the thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Seaward Posted February 4, 2020 Report Share Posted February 4, 2020 1 hour ago, Goody_Ouchless said: But in this case they did nothing but not show up - what grounds would they have for appeal - that they should just win contested cases without having to appear? That's what we determined in the other case. The small claims case is just a formality they have to go through to get to real court. It isn't like here where you appeal specific issues with the lower court ruling. In PA the appeal is a brand new case with no recognition of the small claims case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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