After having a order to show cause hearing yesterday and getting a judgement ordered against me for $4572.68, which is the amount the commissioner recommended , no comtempt found so no attorney fees awarded. the hearing ended and everyone left. within 1 hour I had received 2 emails from the court house, the first was the Hearing Minutes and Results. The 2nd email stated that "after the conclusion of the hearing the court realized a mistake. The judgment will now add an additional $800 which the petitioner proffered she did not receive" The notice also stated "no parties present". Now the $800 they are talking about is 3 out of 52 payments that I had made and had all original money order receipts to prove the payments but the commissioner didn't ask to see any of them and dropped that complaint. no one had any additional questions about it and the commissioner didn't mention it in her recommendation. Can a court clerk, by her self with neither parties, or commissioner present, change the amount of a judgement? and will the burden of proof be on me to prove that the payemtns were made, even though I have made copies of all receipts to back up money paid already? I feel I have done my part and the petitioner should be responsible to pay the fees to get any "tracer" documents for the disputed payments?
Answer
It doesn't sound like it was the court clerk that made that decision. It's more likely the commissioner realized a mistake and directed the clerk to note the change in the ruling. I would recommend that you file an Objection to the commissioner's recommendation. The rules require that you do so within 10 business days from the date of the hearing. That will then trigger a review by the trial judge at a hearing. If you don't have an attorney, I would suggest that you get one.
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