§ 25-1907.Proceedings in error; effect; supersedeas bond.

Challenging a judgment through a petition in error does not automatically stop it from being enforced. Section 25-1907 states that no proceeding to reverse, vacate, or modify a judgment or final order of a court inferior to the district court operates as a stay of execution, unless the judge or clerk of the court that rendered the judgment or made the order takes and approves a written undertaking running to the defendant in error, executed by the plaintiff in error with one or more sufficient sureties.

That undertaking has to promise something concrete: that the plaintiff in error will pay all costs that have accrued or may accrue in the error proceeding, along with the amount of any judgment that might be entered against the plaintiff in error, whether on a further trial after the judgment below is set aside or reversed, or upon affirmance of that judgment in the district court. Forcible entry and detainer cases carry an extra layer: no proceeding in those cases operates as a stay unless the undertaking also covers any money that has accrued or may accrue to the defendant from the plaintiff’s use, occupation, or rent of the property in dispute, in case the judgment being challenged is ultimately affirmed.