Three years ago my company shutdown. I went from making a very good living to barely surviving- in a very short period of time.

I was forced to sell my house in order pay my critical bills and sometimes we couldnt even do that. at one point we where even on food stamps. (my wife and four children included)

Finally after a very very hard period of time I was given an early christmas gift- I found a great job and am now making a good living again!

::::::::::::Bad news::::::::::

This Tuesday I received a letter in the mail from a company called Sharinn & Lipshie P.C.
stating they have a judgement against me for a credit card debt. docket number was included. I called the local court and sure enough there is a judgement.

Problem: I was NEVER served! according to the documents they served the paperwork to a person of brown complexion between 30 and 50 in my building.
1- I live in a 2 family house
2- the other apt is my landlords(we get along well, and I know they would have told me)
3- they are not brown or even close to it (come from Denmark)
4- less than 300 people in my town- small rural post office all mail goes to post office not the homes.
5- I fish with the postmaster -- if the letters had my name on it I would have gotten the letter(wrong address or not).

I started my job 11/15/2006 got my first paycheck on christmas week...
I dont deny the debt and one way or the other I will repay it.

My questions are-

1- do I fight the judgment so I dont have a default judgement on my record or do I just deal with it, pay it off and walk away?

2- It really angers me that they used this scum tactic! fact is if I was notified of a court date I would have shown up- all people who where involved with the serving process as well as Sharinn & Lipshie P.C. broke the law - I do believe I can prove this as my town is small and I can get affidavits proving I was not served... - they shouldnt be allowed to get away with this. and should be punished! how do I file charges or a complaint against them?

3- I would love to sue them for this! I would donate the entire judgment to the children of soldiers killed in Iraq- in fact if anyone knows of a lawyer willing to do the same please have them contact me.

AGAIN- I dont deny the debt and now that I am working I will repay it.
But they should not be able to get away with these scum tactics

Fr_Chuck

Ok, most collection companies and some of the lawyers that work for them are the sum of the earth

With that said, yes they will lie all the time about service to get to court without you,

Or in your case it could be a very lazy process server, I used to do some process serving when I first left the police dept and found it could be easy to cheat or lie if you wanted to, So I will guess alot of process service is not done properly even if done by the sheriff office.
And often they will even say they don't know where you are, and do a service by posting it in the newspaper.

You could most likely file a motion to set aside the judgement because of lack of proper service, and maybe you should, but then of course they could merely re-serve you and you would get your day in court.

And I doubt you can prove they did anything wrong, what ever local process server they hired to do this, signed off you were properly served.
so the collection agency may really think you were legally served.

And of course I don't know the legal requirement for service in your state on civil suits. Serving someone at your home may be all the need to do, or even nailing it to the door.

And honestly you can't prove you were not served, unless you get the person who was served to admit he was served instead of you.
Or get the process server to admit he lied.

Remember the company sueing you is most likely from some other place so they would have hired a process server in your county to serve you.
They are paid a fee for each paper they serve, no service, no pay.
And the only person who knows what they do is them, since many people who are served always swear they were never served,

So proving it is often hard, that is why the person doing the service puts down what the person looked like, normally race, hair or something that would show it was the right person.

So you can most likely get the judgement overturned, and at least get a new hearing ( but of course if you actually owe it, they will just win again anyway) but you are entitled to that day in court.

But I doubt you would ever get enough evidence to prove that the collection company was involed in illegal process, unless the process server would confess that they told him to.

ScottGem

Yes definitely fight the judgement. Force them to prove the debt. Forget about suing them, however. I would contact that creditor (in fact all your creditors) and tell them that you have a decent job and would like to discuss a settlement to repay your debts.

mr.yet

You can file Motion to Void the judgment for lack of proper services, lack of subject matter jurisdiction, lack of personal jurisdiction. The court must have jurisdiction in order to rule against you.

google serach on "Void Judgment" will help you understand the procedure.

If you dont fight it they will find your assets.

tiredofit

Thank you all for the outstanding advice.

I did forget to mention that I live upstate NY. I agree that I shouldnt sue, I have been in survival mode for so long I let my emotions get the best of me...

Anyway- I am going to fight the judgement I would like to file Tuesday January 2nd is this realistic? do I have Sharinn & Lipshie P.C. send me copies of the paperwork they filed in court or do I just get the paperwork from the court itself. "Motion to Void the judgment for lack of proper services, lack of subject matter jurisdiction, lack of personal jurisdiction" Do I file all three motions simultaneously on one form? Do I need the paperwork before I file?
Obviously I have some research to do this week so all input is greatly appreciated.

My main goal is to have the judgement removed , afterwards I will contact the 3rd party scum and offer settlement.

As far as assets - I dont have any... I have $1 in my account, my wife has about $200.00
but she is not named in the judgment and her name is not in the credit card. I had to sell my house and all cash is gone as well as 401k and retirement(I'm not kidding when I said it was a long 3 1/2 years) I have 4 Children & pay child support for one of them- this is current and there are no arrears... I do have two cars and 1 motorcycle. -- 1 car is in my wifes name and it is critical to her job( no bus service and 25 mile commute each way)
the other car I use for work( no bus service and a 112 mile commute each way) The motorcycle is 19 years old and doesnt run (they can have it)...
Obviously this will change now that I am working but I hope to have this settled quickly.

OK - I think this is everything, any other information you can give me would be for filing and fighting this in court would be great. ( I do understand your answers are just advice and not professional council)
Thanks!!!

ScottGem

Get the forms from the court and file with the court. You should be able to get a copy of the judgement from the court. Do NOT contact Sharinn & Lipshie P.C or the creditor at this point.

tiredofit

Thanks again all - I will get the required paperwork from the courthouse in the AM.
hopefully I can file it on Tuesday. I will let you know my progress.

s_cianci

I'd get the affidavits proving that you were never served. That may prompt the judge to issue a stay on the judgment, especially if you demonstrate that you now have the means and intention of paying the debt.

tiredofit

OK - went to the courthouse and got copies of the paperwork they filed.
feel pretty good about it- they served the address of my home but in order for me to receive mail it has to be sent to a PO Box in the town.- Rural address: mail isnt delivered to the house. As far as the process server: it states brown female co-tenant between 30-50. - landlord and wife have lived there 25 years both very european - my wife was at work at the time they say it was served...

Anyway- town clerk said they dont have the documentation for me - I need to get it from a lower or purchase from the craft center across the street????? go figure. Does anyone know the name of the form I have to get for this?
1: Motion to Void the judgment for lack of proper services, lack of subject matter jurisdiction, lack of personal jurisdiction.
2: can these be included on one document.
3: the affidavit is simply a signed and notarized document correct?
4: anyone know an inexpensive lawyer ( I know oxymoron) in ulster county NY who can help me with the paper work.

tbslaw

It's called a motion to vacate a default judgment. However, you could save yourself some court fees by filing an "order to show cause" wherein you spell out what happened and demand that the creditor and sharinn & lipshie "show cause" why the judgment shouldn't be vacated. It sort of flips the table on them briefly. Once (and if) they respond, you then bear the burden of proving that you were not served. In NY you can ask for a Traverse Hearing - which is where the process server is forced to testify about how he served you. Since he didn't - he would be forced to perjure himself. This one really flips the table...