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Issues of Fact vs. Issues of Law for an Appeal

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  • 08-22-2017, 03:12 PM
    harassed?
    Issues of Fact vs. Issues of Law for an Appeal
    My question involves court procedures for the state of: Colorado

    When filing an appeal to District Court from a County Court revival order, which issues are questions of fact and which issues are questions of law?

    a. Did the Plaintiff comply with C.R.C.P. 354(h)?
    i. Did the Plaintiff correctly state the amount of the unsatisfied judgment?
    ii. Did the Plaintiff correctly state the judgment date?
    iii. Did the Plaintiff file their motion in a timely manner? aka early enough so that the Defendant could respond and the Court rule before the judgment expired under Colorado Revised Statutes 13-52-102-(2)(b)

    a. certainly seems like an issue of law and I lean that way with most of the sub-issues but was hoping to get a 2nd opinion. Thx
  • 08-22-2017, 03:38 PM
    flyingron
    Re: of Fact vs Law
    We don't do homework and your teacher wanted you to research this by means other than just asking for someone to hand you the answers.
  • 08-22-2017, 03:51 PM
    Taxing Matters
    Re: of Fact vs Law
    There is no way to answer those questions because the answer could turn on the facts or on the law. For example, take the first one, did the plaintiff comply with CRCP 354(h)? That depends on both the facts (what is it that the plaintiff did) and then the application of the law to those facts. It matters, then, which are in dispute, the facts (what the plaintiff did) and/or the application of the law to those facts (how the judge applied the CRCP to what the plaintiff did). Generally the appellate court will not second guess the trial court in its determination of the facts (i.e. its determination of what the plaintiff did). The appeals court will review the legal issues (i.e. how the trial judge applied the rule to what the trial judge determined were the facts).
  • 08-24-2017, 02:00 PM
    harassed?
    Re: of Fact vs Law
    Quote:

    Quoting flyingron
    View Post
    We don't do homework and your teacher wanted you to research this by means other than just asking for someone to hand you the answers.

    Thanks, but where? FWIW, I have been out of school for 20+ years. See my other posts for info as to the court case this involves.

    Quote:

    Quoting Taxing Matters
    View Post
    There is no way to answer those questions because the answer could turn on the facts or on the law. For example, take the first one, did the plaintiff comply with CRCP 354(h)? That depends on both the facts (what is it that the plaintiff did) and then the application of the law to those facts. It matters, then, which are in dispute, the facts (what the plaintiff did) and/or the application of the law to those facts (how the judge applied the CRCP to what the plaintiff did). Generally the appellate court will not second guess the trial court in its determination of the facts (i.e. its determination of what the plaintiff did). The appeals court will review the legal issues (i.e. how the trial judge applied the rule to what the trial judge determined were the facts).

    Thanks!!! So what would be your answer regarding
    i. if $___ was awarded for court costs at the original trial and the Creditor's Revival Motion claimed a higher figure for court costs? There is no explanation or supporting documentation where the additional court costs arise from and nothing on the Register of Actions which only shows the original figure? Put another way, are court costs an issue of fact or law? (I'm assuming that if the Creditor misstated the amount of statutory post-judgment interest, that this is a matter of law)
    ii. if Plaintiff stated in their Revival Motion that judgment was entered on date A (date of jury trial which awarded 1 of 2 claims and some pre-judgment interest), but attorney fees were awarded at a later date by the judge with an order that made no reference to the amount the jury awarded. I want to argue that if they correctly stated the Judgment date, then the judgment expired before the revival order was issued. OTOH, if the judgment date was really the date the attorney fees were awarded, then they did not comply with the statement of judgment date requirement. Put another way, on appeal, is Judgment date an issue of law?


    354(h) reads:
    (h) Revival of Judgments. A judgment may be revived against any one or more judgment debtors whether they are jointly or severally liable under the judgment. To revive a judgment a motion shall be filed alleging the date of the judgment and the amount thereof which remains unsatisfied. Thereupon the clerk shall issue a notice requiring the judgment debtor to show cause within 14 days after service thereof why the judgment should not be revived. The notice shall be served on the judgment debtor in conformity with Rule 304. If the judgment debtor answers, any issue so presented may be tried and determined by the court. A revived judgment must be entered within twenty years after the entry of the judgment which it revives, and may be enforced and made a lien in the same manner and for like period as an original judgment. A judgment entered on or after July 1, 1981 must be revived within six years after the entry of the judgment which it revives, and may be enforced and made a lien in the same manner and for like period as an original judgment. If a judgment is revived before the expiration of any lien created by the original judgment, the filing of the transcript of the entry of revivor in the register of actions with the clerk and recorder of the appropriate county before the expiration of such lien shall continue that lien for the same period from the entry of the revived judgment as is provided for original judgments. Revived judgments may themselves be revived in the manner herein provided.
  • 08-24-2017, 03:25 PM
    Taxing Matters
    Re: of Fact vs Law
    Quote:

    Quoting harassed?
    View Post
    Thanks, but where? FWIW, I have been out of school for 20+ years. See my other posts for info as to the court case this involves.

    Thanks!!! So what would be your answer regarding
    i. if $___ was awarded for court costs at the original trial and the Creditor's Revival Motion claimed a higher figure for court costs? There is no explanation or supporting documentation where the additional court costs arise from and nothing on the Register of Actions which only shows the original figure? Put another way, are court costs an issue of fact or law? (I'm assuming that if the Creditor misstated the amount of statutory post-judgment interest, that this is a matter of law)

    If the creditor sought to amend the court costs because it claims it left items out of its original computations then that is an issue of fact: did the creditor in fact incur those costs. If the issue instead is that the creditor claims that the rule allows certain costs that everyone agrees were incurred to be included in the judgement and the debtor disagrees that the rule allows those costs to be included, that is an issue of law.

    [
    Quote:

    Quoting harassed?
    View Post
    ii. if Plaintiff stated in their Revival Motion that judgment was entered on date A (date of jury trial which awarded 1 of 2 claims and some pre-judgment interest), but attorney fees were awarded at a later date by the judge with an order that made no reference to the amount the jury awarded. I want to argue that if they correctly stated the Judgment date, then the judgment expired before the revival order was issued. OTOH, if the judgment date was really the date the attorney fees were awarded, then they did not comply with the statement of judgment date requirement. Put another way, on appeal, is Judgment date an issue of law?

    If there is no controversy over the facts (i.e. what the court did and when) and the only issue is what act makes “an entry of judgment” for determining the time that the judgment expires, that is indeed an issue of law.
  • 08-24-2017, 07:24 PM
    harassed?
    Re: of Fact vs Law
    Thanks.

    I think the creditor made a clerical mistake regarding the amount of court costs when they wrote their Revival Motion. They provided the amount of the original judgment (citing the single date of the jury award for the whole figure which included the jury award + court costs + court awarded attorney fees that the judge issued 6 weeks later). Then, when they provided the unsatisfied amount, they broke it down into principle (jury's award on claim #1) + pre-judgment interest (jury award) + attorney fees (judge award at later date) +post judgment interest + court costs (more than double the original court costs that were brought up at trial and apparently awarded by the judge).

    Alternatively, they may have incurred some additional court costs with the revival action (6 years after the original court costs that are clearly stated in the record), but the court clerk couldn't find these in the record even after the judge granted their revival motion. Plaintiff simply gave a single court cost figure in their revival motion and never indicated they were adding new court costs in.
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