If you are about to engage in a lawsuit in West Palm Beach you probably have your work cut out for you. You are going to need to investigate the facts, retain counsel and of course do some research on the law. You are going to find witnesses, take statements and more. At least your West Palm Beach trial litigator will be doing that if they are worth their salt. With this entire case going on you may forget one thing, telling the Court what you actually want! Don’t believe me? Check out this case out of the Fourth District Court of Appeal where the homeowner in a foreclosure suit got an award they did not ask for and lost it all on appeal.
Pleadings and Relief
- There are three or four big types of documents you will file in West Palm Beach trial court.
- Motions are you asking the Court for relief, and petitions ask for a relief specifically set out in a statute or rule.
- Notices tell the court some action has been done for example that you are filing transcripts or having / setting a hearing.
- Pleadings are where you set out or deny the material facts in a case.
- A complaint is the most common pleading, and a defendant answers a complaint, with an answer.
- One thing you have to do in your pleadings is tell the Court what you want.
- If you fail to plead the relief the Court cannot usually grant it.
- Did you know that you could plead in the alternative as well?
- In other words you can ask for as many different types of relief as you want so make sure you ask now or forever hold your peace!
- Don’t believe that this could actually happen?
- Take a look at this West Palm Beach appeal from the Fourth District Court of Appeals.
Wachovia Mortgage Group v. Posti
- This was an appeal from a foreclosure action that the homeowner prevailed on.
- The trial court ordered that the parties had an enforceable agreement to modify the loan and ordered Wachovia to deliver to the homeowner a permanent loan modification with specific terms regarding principal, monthly payment and interest rate.
- On appeal the case was reversed to side with the mortgage company, do you know why?
- Because the homeowner failed to request that relief, the Court could not grant it.
- Although the courts in West Palm Beach act as an avenue to justice they will not merely hand it out, failing to plead may “foreclose” your relief (pun intended).
Want to learn more?
Check out the entire case by clicking here.