[curiousapple]

I was sued by an attorney TWICE for fees at Civil court in New Jersey. At the first attempt by the attorney, I settled at the court with an arbitrator and paid the attorney the agreed amount. Then, I received a notice of judgement in regular mail to pay the attorney AGAIN. I was never summoned to appear in court. I am confused how this can happen. Please shed me some insight and what could be done.

The following if a brief summary.

I went to this lawyer when I was purchasing a new house. We never signed a written retainer agreement but he offered me that he will charge $600 for finishing the title. Because of a natural disaster, house was damaged and we decided to cancel the purchase. The title was never drafted. After a few month, I received letters from the lawyer to pay him attorney's fee. I tried to reach the attorney but he was never in his office and my voice mails were not returned. I was repeatedly harassed by the lawyer's secretary and was told to pay the full fee. I was told the attorney is too busy to talk to me and I will be worse off against a 'lawyer' when it goes to a court. A few months later, I was summoned to appear in court. On the court day, I had a meeting with the lawyer and an arbitrator. Initially, the lawyer stated that he wrote the title and, therefore, was entitled to receive the fee. He acknowledged that there was no retainer agreement. He brought some letters as proof of his service. The arbitrator took a quick look and noticed that the letter was actually for cancellation of request for title. To make the story short, it was agreed that the amount of $600 wasn't worth either party's time to move on to the court. We settled and wrote the lawyer a check of $350. Then, 2 months later, I received a notice of judgement to pay the lawyer in the amount of $1250. No explanation was given in the letter. I was not aware that he sued me again. I was not summoned to appear in court.

I don't have much legal background and I would much appreciate if anyone cana answer the following.

(1) Can he sue me for something that we already settled in court? If he is suing me for something else, can he sue me for random stuff and get judgement without my presence? Doesn't he have to have a proof to validate that I actually have debt against him?

(2) Can I file a motion to vacate since I was not properly served. I haven't checked the court file but I do not recall getting any summon in regular mail and I and 100% positive that I haven't received any certified mail.


At first, I was really surprised by the secretary/attorney wife's borderline threat that the lawyer will use his legal knowledge against me to take me down for a mere $600. Now, I am worried if there is more to come.

[Fr_Chuck]

He can try to sue you twice, if you do not show up and fight it, he could win.
You show up or file notice to have it dismissed, because already settled.

He can sue also for other things, ( if there are other things to sue for)
Can he win?? Maybe, or maybe not, often in small claims court, it is merely one persons word against another.

[ScottGem]

The notice of judgment should include the court and docket #. You check with the court , if the date of the judgment is after the date of the arbitrator's ruling, then you go back to the court and petition for the judgment to be vacated and the suit dismissed because the issue was settled using an arbitrator. You don't need deal with the issue of non service. Once you both agreed to the arbitrator's ruling he should have stopped the lawsuit.