Late on a Sunday evening last November, i was handed a letter by some random stranger who came to my house. I opened the letter and saw it was from Messerli & Kramer, a law firm who wanted to sue me regarding an outstanding debt originally from National City. I had no idea what to do; I called the county court to see if there was a case filed on me. They turned up nothing. The paperwork looked fishy to me. I ran a search on this law firm and it looked like they were dirtbags. I called a 1-800 legal referral service that my employer maintains for us and the only information I got was that I should find an attorney in my area to help me deal with this. I checked my credit report and I believe that the SOL has expired on this debt; I live in MN, and here the SOL is 6 years. The debt was created in WI, however. I ended up doing nothing. I received another copy of the letter Jan 5th. I called the court again and again they didn't find anything on me. This Tuesday, Jan 14th, I got a third letter, this time from the county court, stating that a judgment had been entered against me on Jan 11th for the amount of $12k. I called the court a third time and this time they verified the case number as being what I got on the letter. The poor clerk could only advise me to get a lawyer. What should I do now? I recognize that I should have done something earlier, when I got the first letter. Of course, the letter didn't make it very clear what I should have done, and this was before I realized that places like this board exist with people who are knowledgeable. I am really upset about this because I've been working hard to clean up my credit for the last three years, and I really hoped to be able to buy my first house in a few years. There is no way I could afford paying off a debt of this size while also managing my other ones.
Get to the court quickly Get to the court quickly and file a motion to vacate the judgement on the grounds that you were improperly served and that the debt is out of the statute of limitations. Attach whatever documentation you can that shows the SOL on the debt ran out. In my state you have 30 days after the judgement is entered to do this. I don't know what the MN rules are but you don't want to ignore this one. You might need to get a lawyer to help you with this, but the $500-$1000 a lawyer might cost is MUCH less than your judgement. Good luck!
How was the OP improperly served? Sounds like proper service to me. It makes no difference on having the judgment vacated if the debt was SOL, you have to raise that as an affirmative defense. You can claim that the clerk gave you erroneous information. That may or may not be grounds to the judgment vacated.
Unfortunately, I don't see such a claim having legs but, you're too kind to just come right out with Enigma : ) You're correct it that it's the only option they have consider service was properly effected. It's to late for an affirmative defense now.
Now you need to goo on the defensive. Start closing all bank accounts, or lest drawing them down to a minimal level. Stop all direct deposits to bank accounts. For the amount of the judgment, you can bet the judgment creditor is looking for you accounts.
At $12K, and I'll wager there are other outstanding debts too, I would seek the advice of competent bankruptcy counsel.
I'm not a lawyer, but I thought that I'd read that if the summons wasn't properly served (e.g. it came without a case number) that you could, upon finding out a summary judgement has been made, move to vacate that judgement. At the very least, they could bring it back for trial. I suppose it would all depend on how persuasive your motion was and how sympathetic the judge was. I'll admit that it might be a long shot, but for $12K, it's worth a shot (in my non-lawyerly opinion). In any case, I definitely agree with Enigma's advise to start taking the money out of all the bank accounts and talking with a BK atty.
Actually, this debt is by far the largest on my record. The original debt this is based on is $4000, so it's sickening to see it triple in size. I don't actually have a bank account in my name; my paycheck is being direct deposited into my partner's account and has been for several years now. I think I need a lawyer. How would I go about getting one? I've never dealt with lawyers before. Thank you for the advice everyone. The situation looks pretty grim...
Then stop the direct deposit. If the judgment creditor learns of the deposit that is not in your name, they could still seize the account causing havoc for your partner.
I can't do that, my employer requires direct deposit of employee payroll. Can I withdraw the money when it gets deposited, or can the creditor get to it before I do? What kind of notification, if any, will I receive before it happens? What can I do to stop it until this mess gets sorted out?
Usually no notification. File BK ASAP to stop it immediately, or i the alternative, open a separate account. IF it is a joint account and you are not married, do you have a binding agreement as to what happens to the money if there is a disput or you part ways?
No, no legal paperwork. And we are not married. I can't get a bank account because of a past debt with another bank which I haven't gotten around to dealing with, and we JUST put my name on her account because I am the head of household and we needed to make sure she would have access to the money in case something happened to me. Damn damn damn! I am calling lawyers in my area now.
I'm home from work now and I have more information to add to this situation, in case that helps. The original document I was served in November contained: - A letter on M&K letterhead stating that "attached was the affidavit of plaintiff's attorney in support of attorney's fees and request for for hearing to determine attorney's fees award relative to the above referenced matter" (National City acct) - "Affidavit of Plaintiff's Attorney in Support of Attorney's Fees": Itemization of activities performed by staff at M&K that it was charging for, and how it was charged - Another piece of paper entitled "request for hearing to determine attorney's fees award" with a tear-off section with a place to sign my name saying, "I request a hearing to determine the reasonableness of the attorney's fees requested by the plaintiff" (I'm assuming this was the part I was supposed to return?) - "Affidavit of Service By Mail" dated 11/9/07 I remember looking at this and not having any idea what it was about. The "Affidavit if Plaintiff's Attorney" document LOOKS like it could be a legal document from my county court but the space where a court file number is supposed to be is blank. It doesn't reference any kind of a lawsuit against me for anything more than $600 in attorney's fees. In early January I got another copy of the "Affidavit of Plaintiff's Attorney" document. Again, no reference to a court or case number. Now, the latest document contains: - A judgment from my county court referencing court file no. 55XXXXXXX awarding the creditor $600 in attorney's fees - Another judgment from the county referencing court file no 55XXXXXXX awarding the creditor $12k
Since you are in MN, give Same Glover a call: 2021 East Hennepin Avenue, Suite 195 Minneapolis, MN 55413 phone â?¢ 612.823.0584 phone â?¢ 612.424.3770 fax â?¢ 612.605.1947 e-mail â?¢ sam@sjglover.com He is a consumer lawyer.
Thanks for the suggestion -- I have sent him an email. Does anyone know how you file a motion to vacate the judgment?
According to the MN RCP, you have/had 20 days from the entry of the Default Judgment to file a Motion to Vacate and then only for 3 reasons: Application for "vacation of judgment" must be made within the 20-day stay period. You must show: * You were not given proper notice of the trial; * You were mistaken about the time of the trial; or * You missed the trial for some other valid reason.
