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Thomaskev · May 23, 2011, 01:08 PM

OK my husband had a judgement ruled against him in California we were living in Virginia at the time and he was active duty military at the time and was deployed overseas so he never got any paperwork about the judgement I received the paperwork at our home in Virginia and called the court and wrote a letter stating my husband was overseas with the military and would be unable to attend the court date when we got a copy of the judgement paperwork we noticed that the company that sued him listed that he was not active military. Should we hire a lawyer to get the judgement overturned?

AK lawyer · May 23, 2011, 01:24 PM

Originally Posted by Thomaskev

... Should we hire a lawyer to get the judgement overturned?

The Virginia court appears to have violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Yes, you could do that, or contact the Department of Defense agency which is responsible for your husband's paycheck (I forget the name of the agency at the moment, unfortunately), and see if they can give you a practical pointer or two.

Thomaskev · May 23, 2011, 04:04 PM

Thank you so much for your response it was a California court that awarded the judgement which I found weird since the equipment was leased in Virginia and we live in Virginia but the finance company is based in California and they filed suite there in California but my husband was deployed in the Middleeast when they filed the suite and when the judgement was awarded so I guess we will have to get a California lawyer to fight this is that right? Thank you for your help.

ScottGem · May 23, 2011, 04:27 PM

No, there is a federal law that allows active military to defer litigation. Your husband should go to the legal department at his base. If the credit agency violated this law the military will probably go after them for you. So that should be your first stop. If they will not act for you, I would have his commander write a letter stating that he was deployed during the time of the hearing. Send that letter along with yours to the judge that issued the judgment. State that you informed the company that he was active military and that they lied when stating he wasn't.

You may be able to get the judgment vacated on your own. Try that before you hire an attorney.

Thomaskev · May 24, 2011, 09:10 AM

Thank you for your information my husband is going to get a letter from his commander and send it to the judge we tried getting help from JAG but they said they can not help since this lease was for my husbands small business.

ScottGem · May 24, 2011, 09:26 AM

Go back to JAG. I don't think it matters what the suit was about. Its federal law that active military are allowed to defer litigation. If they refuse to help, ask them to show them where in the law such litigation would be exempted.

AK lawyer · May 24, 2011, 09:41 AM

Originally Posted by ScottGem

Go back to JAG. I don't think it matters what the suit was about. Its federal law that active military are allowed to defer litigation. If they refuse to help, ask them to show them where in the law such litigation would be exempted.

But the SCRA doesn't require the JAG office to help. That is a matter of JAG policy.

I have been appointed by the court a number of times to represent the interests of service men and women in this situation. Most states, and I am confident California is no exception, have a specific procedure on this. The plaintiff has to certify whether the defendant is in the military service. If the certification says that he or she is in the military, an attorney is appointed to contact the serviceperson and determine if he or she needs SCRA protection.

It appears that the plaintiff's attorney made such a certification, but failed to do due diligence to accurately determine that the OP's husband was on active duty.