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mtman · Mar 12, 2008, 10:42 PM

A judgement letter was served to me back in 2001. In the letter it stated a judgement was filed against me and I had to respond by a certain time or it would be filed. I wrote a letter to the courts that night and mailed it. I then didn't hear back. Assuming it was taken care of I went on with life. Months later I get a letter in the mail stating a judgment by the state of Washington was put on me. I never received anything about the court date, so I didn't have a chance to fight it. Now they are trying to garnish my wages for triple the original amount. How do I fight this?

tickle · Mar 13, 2008, 05:23 AM

You should have sent a registered letter then there would have been proof that you had responded. I guess it was filed and you were declared absent so the judgment was awarded. Assumptions are no good at all in cases like this and you had assumed that it had been taken care of in your favour.

ScottGem · Mar 13, 2008, 06:42 AM

The first thing you received was a summons that stated you were being sued. You wre required to respond to this summons with your Intent to Defend against it. This would have meant that a hearing was scheduled. You should have been informed of when that hearing would take place.

The time to fight this was when notified of the judgement. I'm not sure if you can fight it now. But your first step would be to file a Motion to Vacate the judgement on the grounds that you were never given notice of a hearing. This may not fly since you did get notice of the judgement being entered and didn't react then.

IF you can get the judgement vacated, then they may refile and you will have to defend against it. But if they can prove this is your debt and that you defaulted you will lose and the judgement reinstated.

In my opinion, your best bet is to negotiate a settlement.

mtman · Mar 13, 2008, 08:36 AM

So here is my next question? I've received writ to garnish papers that are incorrect. It says the original judgement was 6900, and is wasn't it was 5100, and it says no payments have been made, but I made a few hundred dollar payments, and they took 2400 out of my bank account two years ago. Doesn't that make the writ void?

Fr_Chuck · Mar 13, 2008, 08:39 AM

I would look at the issue of legal service first, You need to prove you were not notified, since the other issues are issues of fact which would or should have been argued at the trial, So if you were legally served and did not show up to defend the court accepts their evidence and facts as true.

That would be my second objective, but if you were never served, then that should be the first attack, then if they refile, you go to this court and present your evidence

ScottGem · Mar 13, 2008, 08:47 AM

You are also changing your story a bit here. Now you are saying, that they attached a bank account taking $2400 two years ago and you still made no attempt to settle this or straighten it out.

Frankly, I doubt if you will get the judgement vacated given the circumstances. The best you can do is challenge the writ on the grounds that the amout is incorrect and demand an accounting.
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