Tuesday, July 10, 2007

courts- appeals - MDJ judgments - date of judgment

Lloyd, Inc. v. Microbytes, Inc. - Superior Court - July 9, 2007

http://www.aopc.org/OpPosting/Superior/out/a10028_07.pdf

The time to appeal an MDJ judgment was held to begin to run on the "date of judgement" entered on the Notice of Judgment/Transcript Civil Case, on which the MDJ signed the judgment, rather than the next day, on which the Notice was processed.

A judgment is "entered" under MDJ Rule 1002 when the judgment form is signed by the MDJ, not when it is printed out and the process of providing notice of the judgment is initiated. A judgment is encountered simultaneously with the recordation of the judgment on the pre-printed judgment/transcript form. The rules could have allowed the appeal period to begin on the date the notice is printed. They do not, so "we must assume that the appeal period was meant to begin with the signing of the judgment form by the magisterial district judge."