[bobsmith12079]

I found out today that I have a regular garnishment from the State court of fulton county. This garnishment is based on a FIFA that was filed in 2005. The FIFA was given because the court gave a default judgment against me. They gave a default judgment against me because the court says it never got my answer to a lawsuit filed. I proof that the reply was sent it time. My answer was that this case was filed in the wrong county. The plaintiff then did file in the correct county, Cobb County, and after 2 years we did settle and he was paid. My lawyer said he would take care of the FIFA in fulton county, and told me the plaintiff could not collect on it. Well my lawyer never did and now the plaintiff got a garnishment on me. THe bank has already taken money from my account. What steps do I need to take to get the garnishment stopped and the FIFA removed? Please Help? The amount of the Garnishment is $38K.

[JudyKayTee]

I found out today that I have a regular garnishment from the State court of fulton county. This garnishment is based on a FIFA that was filed in 2005. The FIFA was given because the court gave a default judgment against me. They gave a default judgment against me because the court says it never got my answer to a lawsuit filed. I proof that the reply was sent it time. My answer was that this case was filed in the wrong county. The plaintiff then did file in the correct county, Cobb County, and after 2 years we did settle and he was paid. My lawyer said he would take care of the FIFA in fulton county, and told me the plaintiff could not collect on it. Well my lawyer never did and now the plaintiff got a garnishment on me. THe bank has already taken money from my account. What steps do I need to take to get the garnishment stopped and the FIFA removed? Please Help? The amount of the Garnishment is $38K.

You already have an Attorney involved - it was his job to take care of this from beginning to end and this includes this problem.

You can submit all of info to the Court (including the various orders, dismissals, new orders, record of payment) but I would go directly to the Attorney. He has the advantage of having all the paperwork and knowing the law.

[bobsmith12079]

I don't really like the lawyer for letting this slip by, and have told him to file a traverse and will have a court date.

The problem I found out is that according to the people at the garnishment desk is that the paintiff has an old paper that gave him the default judgement. This judgement was later vacated, because he had to dismiss the case in fulton county to file it in cobb county. However with the default judgement paper he has gone and gotten this garnishment, and the people at the garnishment desk told me that once I get this cleared up he will be able to come again with that paper and file another garnishment because they don't check their computers. They will never check to see if that default judgement is valid. My lawyer has also confirmed this saying he can keep coming back and doing this. My lawyer believes he won't do this again, but this guy is crazy and I know he will. How do I stop him from continuing to do this?

[rockinmommy]

However with the default judgement paper he has gone and gotten this garnishment, and the people at the garnishment desk told me that once I get this cleared up he will be able to come again with that paper and file another garnishment because they don't check their computers. They will never check to see if that default judgement is valid. My lawyer has also confirmed this saying he can keep coming back and doing this. My lawyer believes he won't do this again, but this guy is crazy and I know he will. How do I stop him from continuing to do this?

You sue HIM. Get a judgement against him for YOUR damages associated with this! If you have all the proof that he is not justified in setting up these garnishments and he continues to knowingly do it I believe you'd have a slam dunk case against him.

[bobsmith12079]

You sue HIM. Get a judgement against him for YOUR damages associated with this! If you have all the proof that he is not justified in setting up these garnishments and he continues to knowingly do it I believe you'd have a slam dunk case against him.

I would, but it would be a waste of my time. I know he has no assets on the books and any judgment against him would get me nothing except wasting my time and money on my lawyer. Is there anything I can do criminally? I am thinking of talking to the DEA since he is using a default judgment that is no longer valid.

[rockinmommy]

I would, but it would be a waste of my time. I know he has no assets on the books and any judgment against him would get me nothing except wasting my time and money on my lawyer. Is there anything I can do criminally? I am thinking of talking to the DEA since he is using a default judgment that is no longer valid.

I would certainly talk to anyone and everyone who would listen and/or have the answers you need about how to proceed. There's NO question that what he's doing is wrong. I don't know if it's criminal, or not.

I would go back to the "garnishment desk" and find out who they report to. Get as high up the chain of command as possible and let them know that this won't be tolerated.

Also, if you did sue him I would think at the least (in addition to a judgement) the judge would be very clear with him, and ORDER him to stop filing garnishments. Then if he violates that it should be contempt of court or something.

It's tricky. Crazy people are hard to deal with. It makes navigating the already frustrating and confusing legal system that much harder because their behavior is unpredictable.

[ScottGem]

If he is using a vacated judgement, then he may be guilty of fraud. Check with your local DA or prosecutor's office.