Quick Appeal Bond Guide
Before you consider appealing a court decision, you should know about appeal bonds. They exist as a deterrent to frivolous appeals. As a type of surety bond, an appeal bond requires the party filing the appeal to pay the cost of the original judgment—if the appeal fails—and costs of appealing the ruling.
Essentially, surety bonds are three-party agreements between a surety company, a principal (the entity doing the work) and the obligee (the entity requiring the bond). Surety bonds help ensure that all applicable laws and regulations are followed, and act as a way to seek economic redress for those harmed.
Since both plaintiffs and defendants can appeal a decision, any party may be subject to purchasing a bond required for an appeal. Surety and insurance companies sell surety bonds in Missouri, and act as third parties between the court and appealing party. Most importantly, they guarantee that the court will be paid for the original judgment if the appeal fails. The cost depends on the first ruling of the court, and likely will cost the amount from that ruling plus interest and court costs.
Appeal bonds also protect the legal system in another way. When a party cannot pay a court-ordered sum, filing for an appeal gives them time. But filing an appeal that is time consuming but sure to be unsuccessful loses its luster thanks to appeal bonds. With the added cost of appealing and the original judgment fees, appeal bonds keep defendants and plaintiffs from filing useless appeals.
For example, when a defendant in a personal injury law case loses the judgment and owes a large sum to the plaintiff, they might consider filing an appeal simply to postpone paying the court-ordered amount. To file the appeal, the defendant must buy an appeal bond from surety. If the appeal is unsuccessful, the defendant must then pay the sum defined by the first proceeding and additional fees for the filing an appeal.
The party for whom the court ruled in favor gets a cushion from appeal bonds, too. If a losing party goes bankrupt during the appeals process—and therefore cannot pay its legal debts—the appeal bond ensures recompense to the winning party. If the defendant goes belly up while the court considers the appeal, the plaintiff still receives its payment as mandated by the appeal bond.
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GUEST AUTHOR: Matt Bruns - matthew@suretybonds.com
