30 seconds to state the case??? UPDATED w/today's hearing My son (19) went to court today in a last effort to get a judgment removed that was not his. It was his dad's. Had the whole paper trail and copies of the FDCPA and FCRA. I have been coaching him and am in charge of paperwork! The judge listened for a whole 6 sentences and stopped him. Turned to the other guy and said,"Sins of the Father's, huh. You have 2 weeks to correct this-report back in 2 weeks." And that was it. So what about damages for the 3 violations? The judge didn't even take his file full of documentation. Anyone know how to get the money part to the judge without ticking him off? I thought of sending a letter to the guy who's to remove the judgment and reiterate his company already has 3 violations. Since the judge has to have copies of everything the other side gets, I thought I could slip it in like that, along with copies of the FDCPA and FCRA. We have to write to him anyway, to send my son's info. so he can correct the report. (He's already got it, but I won't tell). I feel gypped! I spent hours on the paperwork for this case. Ideas????
You want it removed, at the direction of the court. It looks like the CA is getting one last chance, the benefit of claiming a bona fide error in this informal case. How similar was your son's name with his father's? What court is this in? I have heard that in some states Small Claims can only order payment of damages, not an injunction to force the other party to do something. If that is the case, it looks like the judge may be doing just what you were trying to do, use the threat of damages to force the defendant to correct. The implication, that is not lost on the other party's attorney, is that if they don't fix this fast, they can expect to be socked with damages. The judge has said it is the CA's responsibility to remove the TL. They still need to succeed at doing that, which they can still mess up between their own errors, and those of the CRAs.
How egregious were the CA's actions as you disputed the TL? Beyond the FDCPA and FCRA violations, what damages can you prove, such as denied credit, jacked interest rates, turned down employment, etc?
This was in small claims court. My son has same first and last name as his dad, but middle initial and no Jr.at the end.At the time of judgment he would have been 13. Had a total of 7 contacts with the company, before the case went to court and each time there was no response, except one letter in the begiining saying the judgment would stay on his credit reports. They didn't validate, didn't report as disputed and kept reporting each month even though they had copies of his ID showing his age. In court their rep said they don't report to the credit bureaus.(Funny how he got the power as soon as the judge ordered him to). He was unprepared, and nervous. At mediation he refused to remove the TL. My son has copies of credit reports stating his score is lower because of the judgment (paid), but his credit was good enough that no one has turned him down because of it. I also thought small claims judges could only only award money damages-read it on the Oregon legal website, so I don't know .The rep guy sure thought that judge could do anything!
Even if the judge can only award monetary damages, he can make the defendant wish they did the right thing. It's not worth it to them to pay good money on a collection account they already got paid for. And if they keep it on the CR, and fail to remove it on a later dispute, what's to keep you from going to court all over again? It's kind of hard to claim bona fide error when you already lost before.
So once this is decided, it's over and if that TL mysteriously reappears, we go to court again. But he hasn't been awarded money damages. And should be beacuse of the violations. Could it be possible they will be awarded in 2 weeks wnen everyone reports back to court? And should he be ready to present that part of the case or is it over?
The judge might let them off with no penalty, if they correct promptly. Sort of legal triage. It looks like similar names gives them an excuse, at least this time. Pull an on-line report just before the next appearance, and see if it has been removed yet. If they claim they have removed it, present the credit report showing otherwise. Be prepared to argue for damages, based on how long this dispute has been going on without correction. When did you first dispute the debt?
Started to dispute in January with a not mine letter and worked all the way through. They just refused to remove it. Came right and said he would not remove it during mediation. In court the guy told the judge it was unfortunate that the TL was incoorect, but that's how it goes. He got blasted good by the judge-was the highlight of the entire case! Looks willful to me... As for credit damages, I think Trans Union, amazingly enough, has it correct and his score there is 786. The others are in the low 600's with the judgment. How do you put a value on that?
You put a value on it by applying for a credit account that uses one of the reports with low scores, and getting rejected or given ridiculous terms. Then you have damages. Or you get a notice from an existing account that they are raising your rates, or lowering your CL, or closing the account, due to information from one of the reports showing the negative information. Otherwise it is hypothetical.
Or, you apply for a job, and get turned down due to a credit check. You apply to rent an apartment, and get turned down due to your credit report. You apply to a college, and get turned down for the loan you would need to attend. "We'll take you with a co-signer." still means your credit was damaged. No cosigner has any obligation to mitigate the damages caused by the erroneous reporting. In all these cases the employer, landlord, or lender is required to provide you with an adverse action notice indicating what report they pulled that resulted in you being turned down.
Although it is possible that the creditor placed the judgement on your credit reports, it may also have been placed there, erroneously, based on information on judgements collected from public records by companies such as Lexus Nexus and provided to the CRAs. If that were the case, you might legally have to go after them, which would probably take longer, and require an attorney. If you can get it removed quickly this way, you may be better off, since again the CRAs might still slip thru paying damages. The judge has to work thru the powers he has, based on what court he presides over. If the erroneous reporting was done by another party, not in this proceeding, this party might get out of being fined. However, this party does have the power to notify the CRAs to correct, and from the party who obtained the judgement, the CRAs would likely do it. However, it is not right that the father's judgement is on the son's report, so his demand addresses this. The attorney not only represents the creditor, but is also "an officer of the court", and has responsibilities to work with the court system to resolve, and not wrongly benefit from, unintended errors. Stretching out any consideration of correcting based on mistaken identities until "mediation" ignored this responsibility to the extreme. What purpose would delaying mitigation of the damage serve? Forcing payment of a debt not owed? Forcing a settlement that absolves the defendent of any liability for the very act that is damaging? If he ignored the judge's demand, a complaint to the state bar association would be in order. At least that is how I see it. I am not an attorney.
This is how the creditor thinks they are "correcting" the TL on the credit reports. They sent copies of "file your dispute" papers printed off the internet from the credit bureaus websites! My son has disputed this 3 times with each bureau and apparently the creditor keeps validating, or no one checks. At this rate, they will not have the TL removed by the 22nd. Can they really be that dense? I think they're playing games because my son is young and they apparently have no idea what the law says. There was no attorney, in fact the guy they sent had no clue. Said he had just been given the case that morning. He couldn't even find the paperwork. But was adamant that they do not report to the bureaus,and refused to remove the TL. So what he has done is refused again to remove it. I don't know what the big deal is, the judment is PAID. They are not losing anything by removing it. It might be good this way, since we all know, none of the CRAs can investigate in 2 weeks! Any idea on which card my son can apply for that will absolutely turn him down?
Paid or not, it doesn't belong on your son's report. iT IS NOT HIS JUDGEMENT. "You have 2 weeks to correct this-report back in 2 weeks." The judge told HIM to remove it, not to send you forms. Send him a letter telling him that the judge directed HIM to remove it, CRRR. Pull your reports just before the next date, and show up with it. Also show up with your disputes thru the CRAs, which presumably were rejected, or "verified" as "accurate" by the creditor.
While you're at it, file a complaint with your state AG. Since this guy doesn't have a clue, he may not get his act together in time for the next hearing, so why assume he will?
The original debt was for several yards of concrete and a concrete mixer that delivered it to a jobsite. This was for a sole proprietorship owned by my ex. $1500 was the judgment amount and it was originally on MY credit report, in the days before I became educated. I was the idiot who paid it, because I was attempting to buy a house and they wouldn't remove it.
Is the party you pulled into court the same company who originally provided the concrete mixer, etc, or is it a CA or JDB that bought the debt from them? Is it the same entity that sued and obtained the judgement?
It sounds like you might have come out better if you had refused to pay it, let the deal fall thru, and then sued for damages and removal.
The company owned the equipment, supplied the materials and filed their own judgment.The was no CA involved. We were not divorced when the debt was incurred, but it was a business debt and belonged to the business, of which I had no part(legally). I could have fought it, but in order to move out of the house into a different one(I dearly wanted to get away from there;we were separated, but on good terms and it was difficult on the kids to stay there), the lender required that jugment to be paid. So I paid it, along with several other ones that destroyed my credit , making it necessary to pay all debts before incurring a new mortgage. It was awful! I later disputed and had it removed.
