Carl Romanelli, the Pennsylvania Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate in 2006, has been under court order to pay his Democratic Party challengers approximately $80,000 in court costs, for almost four years now. This is because Romanelli’s petition was found not to have enough valid signatures, and Pennsylvania procedure says when a petition is found to lack enough valid signatures, the candidate must pay court costs. However, the 2006 Democratic Party challengers used state resources and state employees (on government time) to challenge the 2006 petition, something that was not known until 2007.
On July 14, 2010, Romanelli had filed a federal lawsuit in Harrisburg, against the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and some of the people who challenged his petition. The defendant Pennsylvania Democratic Party did not answer the complaint, and the legal deadline for the party’s answer has now passed. On September 22, Romanelli asked for a default judgment against the party. The case is Romanelli v DeWeese, 3:10-cv-1434, middle district. UPDATE: on September 23, the Clerk of the U.S. District Court formally declared the Democratic Party to be in default.
Go Carl! Perhaps there is a God afterall.
SB
Does this mean, essentially, that the $80,000 ruling cannot now be enforced … or just a portion of it, or what? Nonetheless, it does seem positive, yeah!
The other defendants in the case did answer the complaint on time, so the fact that the Democratic Party defaulted only means that Carl is now in a strong position to recover damages from the Democratic Party, and not the other defendants. Sometimes defendants who default can wiggle out of their legal dilemma. There is possible room for negotiations now.