My ex-landlord got a judgement for a process of garnishment. I have never received anything that told me a court date of any time to defend myself. How do I fight this without having to hire an attorney?

Go to the courthouse, ask them for "Proof of Service of original notice".

If they have proof that you were legally served, there is nothing to fight.

If they can't prove you were legally served, you can file a motion to dismiss
Or vacate the judgment.

With proof of legal service, there is likely no way you can fight this.

Good Luck!

My ex-landlord got a judgement for a process of garnishment. I have never received anything that told me a court date of any time to defend myself. How do I fight this without having to hire an attorney?


Do you owe the money? If you do you can pay it and stop the garnishment.

What papers did you get that let you know your wages have been garnisheed? You SHOULD have received service of the original Summons/Complaint and then, following the hearing, the Judgment and now you would get papers concerning your wages. Where did you get served the current papers? What address is on them?

If you have an offset to this judgment it's probably easier just to go to Small Claims Court and sue the landlord for the offset rather than trying to open a Small Claims Court Judgment.

Progunr is correct in saying that you should attend at the court where the garnishment was issued since presently you have more questions than answers.

Depending upon your jurisdiction, however, even proper service of a claim may not be fatal to having a matter re-opened especially in jurisdictions where service by mail is an acceptable method of service.

In Ontario, where we practice, there are generally three issues that must be addressed in order to have a judgment set aside.

1. The defendant needs to explain why they did not respond to the claim when issued.

2. The defendant needs to act quickly upon discovering that there is a judgment against them.

3. The defendant needs to show that there is a meritorious defence that could be filed to the claim.

The third issue is the most important and can supersede the first two if a judge decides it would be unjust to deny a defendant their day in court for technical reasons only (ie a defendant missed a filing deadline by one day.

Bringing a motion to have the judgment set aside (or "vacated" as seems to be the term in the U.S.) may be a better option than immediately trying to countersue the landlord since some type of estoppel could apply to any separate action you bring.

Progunr is correct in saying that you should attend at the court where the garnishment was issued since presently you have more questions than answers.

Depending upon your jurisdiction, however, even proper service of a claim may not be fatal to having a matter re-opened especially in jurisdictions where service by mail is an acceptable method of service.

In Ontario, where we practice, there are generally three issues that must be addressed in order to have a judgment set aside.

1. The defendant needs to explain why they did not respond to the claim when issued.

2. The defendant needs to act quickly upon discovering that there is a judgment against them.

3. The defendant needs to show that there is a meritorious defence that could be filed to the claim.

The third issue is the most important and can supersede the first two if a judge decides it would be unjust to deny a defendant their day in court for technical reasons only (ie a defendant missed a filing deadline by one day.

Bringing a motion to have the judgment set aside (or "vacated" as seems to be the term in the U.S.) may be a better option than immediately trying to countersue the landlord since some type of estoppel could apply to any separate action you bring.


In the US it is very difficult to get a Judgment set aside. I also don't know that the OP has a defense to this claim.

It is not uncommon at all for Defendants who have a counterclaim - and I am not talking a countersuit here, I am talking a whole new filing - to file in Court for their claim only (again, not a counterclaim), particularly if they owe the debt and have no defense.

In the end it works out the same - Plaintiff gets a Judgment against Defendant; Defendant turns into Plaintiff in new lawsuit and gets Judgment against now Plaintiff, former Defendant. They owe each other - pretty much an offset.

What type of estoppel do you see?

I have never received anything that told me a court date of any time to defend myself.

This indicates to me that you did know of the suit. Did you get a summons? Did you respond to the summons? If you got a summons but did not respond, they the landlord got a default judgement.

If that's the case then you have no grounds for improper serivce.

So the next question is, do you own the money?