Short version of a long story: I posted previously about this, but the situation has changed. I had a car repo from early 2005 through my old credit union. They had their law firm (Weltman, Weinberg, and Reis) file suit against me in 2007, and won a default judgement because they served the papers to the wrong address (106 vs 103 in the street address). The amount was 10k, but was up to almost 16k with interest. I settled it yesterday with the OC for $4200... got it all in writing and all that good stuff. So, now that it's settled, I want to have the judgement vacated based on improper service. It is my understanding that since the original debt has now been settled, if I am able to have the judgement vacated, they cannot attempt to get another judgement. Also of note, the judgement does not currently show on my CBR (Equifax and Experian, not sure about TU as I can't pull online for some reason). The original account is showing up on my CBR. Should I even try to get the judgement vacated, since it's not showing on my CBR? Also, are there any negative ramifications of trying to get it vacated (if I choose to do so)? What paperwork will I need to provide in order to prove my address at the time? I no longer live in that apartment, and no longer have a copy of the lease (called my old landlord and he doesn't, either). Would a copy of a utility bill suffice? Thanks for taking the time to read this and offer any suggestions you may have! Dan
I'm surprised the judgment still doesn't show up on your credit reports after several years. How does the original account show up on your reports? Even if it hasn't shown up yet, I wouldn't count on it not getting picked up eventually from public record. It's probably only a matter of time. If you weren't properly served and you feel like the default judgment was wrongly awarded, you probably should have brought that up in your settlement discussions. You may have been able to get the judgment vacated as part of the settlement. But now that you've already settled and paid, it sounds to me like you would be fighting an uphill battle. I'm not a lawyer. And this certainly sounds like something you should discuss with a good consumer protection attorney who will give you a free consultation and discuss your chances of getting this vacated and what kind of proof you'll need to produce. I don't even know if you can vacate settled judgments in some states, but I'm sure a good lawyer will be able to answer that for you.
You are in fact barking up the wrong tree trying to get the judgment vacated. Richard Cornforth is a very smart researcher and a good personal friend of mine. Richard has been widely known as Mr. Void Judgment but to the best of my knowlege has never yet actually had an old judgment vacated. Maybe he has had one or two over the last several years but if so I am unaware of any successes he has ever had. In fact, he has some on his public record and I would think his own would have been the best place to do it if he could do so. Mr. Jeff Sedgwick is anther close personal friend of mine and has a website known as voidjudgments.com or something like that. I asked him a couple of years ago whether he had ever had any success at getting judgments vacated and he said he didn't know for sure. Maybe one or two. That should give you an excellent idea of how easy it is to get one vacated. I've probably had much more success at getting judgments vacated than both of those two put together. Of course, to be perfectly honest about it I've never even tried to get one vacated myself but several of my students have been successful in getting judgments vacated but not by directly attacking them as you would have to do. They got their defendants to vacate their own judgments voluntarily as a result of the settlement agreements obtained after filing federal lawsuits against the attorneys who got the judgments in local courts. That should tell you how much success you are likely to have trying to get the judgment vacated. As a matter of fact, how are you going to do that when you already paid the judgment thus admitting that it was a valid judgment in net effect? Paying them just about eliminated any chance you might have had I think the only thing you might be able to do is to talk to the lawyer that got the judgment and get him/her to file a satisfaction of judgment. That might help make sure some other debt collector don't come after you for the same debt in the future.
I see that this thread has some sharp legal minds, so I thought I'd ask... I'm here to ask for help on a judgment that was just entered against me. intro: I had a business contract dispute with another individual- long story short, they won in small claims, I owe a little shy of $2400 and the court allows 15 days to appeal. -if that's calendar days I think that's up Wednesday. I don't have the money yet, but I am working toward it. sadly at the moment I'm essentially broke. State: CO Court: Small Claims problem: I should have kept this in my calculations, but I didn't consider the credit ramifications. I judgement on my credit file will kill my thus far perfect payment history for some time to come. While my payment history is perfect, my overal credit "profile" is week- not long enough, not enough tradelines, poor diversification, etc. but I'm getting off topic... Question: I am looking for a way to keep this off my credit file now that I am recognizing the full implications of the judgment. I found this passage on another site, but the internet being what it is, I am looking for another opinion : "Once the judgment was paid, litigants enter into a Stipulation to Vacate the Judgment, Reinstate the Case and Dismiss with Prejudice. Parties to litigation can do many things by mutual agreement, and this is one. The court doesn't care one way or another, but this Stipulation would accomplish what you want. It's just that it's done by agreement. The Stipulation says (1) the judgment never happened and we're re-activating this case to let the defendant dispute the claim BUT, (2) at the same time, we're dismissing the case with no right to re-file and as if it never happened. It's like a time machine that takes everyone back to the day before the case started. Once the case AND the judgment are gone, the CRA record has no basis. If only the case is gone (dismissed), the judgment still stays, and the consequences of that have been explained. If you had the opportunity and ability to vacate the judgment, that takes you back to the day after the case started and gives you a chance to re-litigate the claim. The process may sound involved but it's actually simple. It's just that you haven't got a cooperative creditor. Get that and you have a solution." And this: "Before you try to get rid of the judgment by Stipulation, check with the court and make sure it will be accepted. The court wonâ??t tell you how to do it, but it will tell you if you can do it. If you can, then I agree that it would be helpful to have an attorney because one court appearance may be necessary. Your state may be different, but I donâ??t think much paperwork should be required. Iâ??ve done it many times and, in my state, all that was required was a signed a Stipulation that read something like this: The undersigned parties to the instant action stipulate and agree that the judgment entered herein on December 14, 2005 in favor of Plaintiff ACME, INC. and against Defendant(s) seekinghelpinfl shall be and is vacated. We further agree and stipulate that the above-referenced action shall be re-instated to the court's active list and forthwith dismissed with prejudice. If you're successful, get a conformed copy and send it to TU, with a letter requesting removal of the record." is this at all realistic? is there a time frame after which this is no longer possible? What other options might exist to remedy the problem? I'll be contracting the clerk of the court Monday am to see what they have to say, so any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you all in advance! Please HELP!!
Thanks for the reply none the less. I well understand your comment about advice of any sort of importance- until you can judge the source you can't really judge the advice can you? What did you mean by seeking help "long, long ago" does that refer to the moment the case was filed against me, immediately after the judgement, or what? BTW, while I was waiting for a reply, I found a site describing the technique being used in NY long after the judgement had been filed- oooppps! I was going to post a link, but I'm not vetted yet.
Ideally, one should start with a debt validation letter as soon as contacted by a 3rd party debt collector. If that debt collector sells, transfers or assigns to another debt collector then another DV should be sent to the new collector. If that turns out to be a lawyer then the process would be different than if it were just another collection agency. If a lawfirm then how they initially contacted you becomes all important. If by letter only then DV but if by filing a law suit then one needs to additionally file a response to the suit with the court and send a copy of their response and a certificate of mailing to the plaintiff's attorney as well at a minimum. Other documents may also be useful such as initiating the discovery process if that is allowed your court. Some small claims courts do not allow discovery. Others do so the defendant needs to study the local and state rules of procedure or maybe call the judge's office to find out whether discovery is allowed or not. Many states and courts have their cases on line now. All Oklahoma Courts have their cases filed on line although most Oklahomans probably don't know that or even care. I check OSCN.net daily for the possibility that I might have been sued that day. If so then I will immediately prepare my response, a certificate of mailing and my demand for admissions and send a copy to the plaintiff's attorney. I will also send a DV letter if I had not done so previously. And the fight is on from there. So just send me a PM (Private Message with the link in it. There are also other ways to get the job done. For instance, www-cnn-com. We will know how to get to the web site with no problem. ------------------------------------------ It has been said that You might be a terrorist and even have a terrorist training camp if you have more wives than teeth. (LOL). But if you want to be a terrorist and have a wife and lots of teeth which would you get rid of, the wife or the teeth? It has been said that you might be a terrorist if your cousin is president of the United States. (LOL) It has been said that you might be a terrorist if you think that there are only two types of vests. Bullet proof and suicide. (LOL)
