Is it possible to appeal a small claims judgment in Spokane, WA

Small claims appeal help: My question is regarding process. I had a small claims case in which we were awarded a judgement. the defendant has filed an appeal with the court and it has been almost 60 days since we have heard a word. I spoke with the judge's office (it has been assigned) and the woman stated that we are supposed to be assigned a status conference date for the defendant to state his case. This has not happened. She stated that normally it will not get assigned to a judge if there has not been a status conference set up. She looked at another case to gage the timeline for a status conference and found that another case filed on 10/16/08 has a status conference set in January. This appeal was filed on 9/4/08 without a conference set up yet??? I would appreciate someone explaining to me how this is supposed to happen and who I need to contact in order to get things rolling. At this pace, it will take another 6 months to get this settled. By the way, the case is due to us purchasing a home and the seller stated on the disclosure that the sewer assesment ($3,700) would be paid at closing...it never was. It is written all over the documents and the sale agreement - Judge said it was a slam dunk before awarding the judgement. Anyhow, I feel a bit frustrated and hope that someone can explain the process to me so that I know if the court has overlooked setting the date for the staus conference or if the information I was given is incorrect. Also, I heard that in order to file the appeal, he had to put up 2x's the amount of judgement money and if the decision is in my favor, the money is sent immediately from the money he paid - is this correct? The guy told us after the initial judgement was awarded that he wanted to make a payment plan because he is on social security and can hardly pay his bills! Also, he owns 3 properties that we have found him selling in the last month - in my opinion, he filed the appeal to give himself time to liquidate some assets so we can lean them. - Is this your question? Add additional information