appeal of eviction

[propmanager]

I am a prop manager of a mobile home park in eastern north carolina. I have a tenant who has not paid rent on a lease to own home since last March, but since the tenant was going through a worker's comp. claim, I worked with them. However, after 5 months of no payment, I filed for an eviction and won the case. In court the tenant even said she does not disagree that she owes us. However, she went to legal aid and appealed the judgement. Can someone appeal without cause? As of today she doesn't have the money owed. Should I be concerned and hire a lawyer? I would hate to spend money on a lawyer for something that should be pretty straight forward. I can only assume that she is hoping for more time to come up with the money, but this is my first appeal since I started two years ago and I am a little lost on what I should be doing.
Thanks for any advice you can offer.

 

[dee_dub]

It's her right to appeal. She has to have some grounds: the trial judge misapprehended the facts, made a mistake about the law, etc. Her notice of appeal will disclose what those are. What court was the original lawsuit in, and what is the appellate court? The court probably has rules allowing an appeal to be struck if it is devoid of merit.

 

[propmanager]

The original lawsuit was in small claims court and the appeal is in district court. In the notice of appeal there was no information on what her grounds of appeal are. I assume she is hoping to come up with the money before hand.

 

[dee_dub]

If you haven't seen this

http://www.legalaidnc.org/Public/Learn/publications/Small_Claims_Court/Small_Claims_Chapter_7.aspx

already, it's a guide to appeals from small claims to district court in NC. Sorry, I don't know anything else about it. I would hazard a guess you're right and she's just delaying payment. It doesn't look to me like there's any harm in taking a wait-and-see approach. To correct my earlier post, her notice doesn't need to say her grounds for appeal.