I was sued by a slumlord who got an atty to sue in SUPERIOR COURT for $200 in California. The case was drawn out for nearly 2 years and in that time I moved out of state. In a last ditch attempt I signed a POA so a family member could represent me in court. I knew I might lose, but the cost of a plane ticket is about the amount of the judgment. It is a travesty and a miscarriage of justice that both slumlord attorney and judge would waste the legal system's time filing such drivel. I also submitted 20+ pages of documentation against the slumlord directly to the judge who obviously didn't read it. While we still lived in CA I couldn't find an atty willing to fight, despite the copious documentation. One talked to me on the phone for an HOUR as I recounted all the BS I'd been through and then told me it wouldn't be worth his fees to fight it. He was in shock though. I did lose. Which state statutes govern the judgment? The collection agency who got the attorney to sue me is now the one attempting to collect on the judgment. First they sent me a bill for about $200 (a new amount, but approximately the amount of the alleged debt). They responded to my VOD letter with a copy of the judgment and a nasty note that says, "You know you owe us money cuz we served you on <date of summons>." There are lots of other #s in the paperwork from the court (totals about $500) but nothing else from the CA about how much I "owe" in a bill form. The original debt and the court costs are referenced in this cover letter, but are not itemized on a bill from the CA. This least sophisticated consumer is confused. I'd also addressed the letter to one of the office minions rather than the owner. The owner is the one who signed the response to my VOD and told me to only direct further communication to him (instead of an office grunt. This is a small sole proprietorship CA). The case was started while I still lived in CA but it was entered after we moved. It is not a default (can't find anything on it other than "minute order" because someone was there in my stead to attempt to fight for me each time). Does the collection agency have to be licensed in my state in order to collect if collectors in my state need to be licensed? I am not working, will not be working and am not on the deed to our house nor will I be applying for credit in my own name any time soon. Should I just play the cat and mouse game by disputing it with the CRAs if/when the judgment shows up? I also just noticed there's no mini miranda anywhere on the paperwork I received today.
Yes they can come after you in another state good news is they would have to file with the court in your county and re-serv you. Just don't sign for any Christmas cards. Send the ca a c&d letter and force the oc to try and collect the judgment.
If it's true that they have the judgment, some judge/court ruled you owe the debt. I would call the court where the suit (sounds like small claims) and see if they actually received a formal judgment. Many times, the local courts require the creditor/ca to file one more piece of paper to make the judgment appear. I defaulted on a $750 debt several months ago and worked out payment plans and paid it off over 5 months. State law here (Oregon) requires the OC or CA to submit a form stating the debt has been satisfied. When I called the court after I paid off the debt, the clerk told me no judgment had ever been "filed" by the OC. Go figure, there is one more step the OC must make (and pay for) to get the judgment "filed." If you don't have a job and are essentielly judgment proof, you probably have a great deal of time before further action can be taken.
More here. One has to wonder why any CA or OC would bother spending all the money to argue a $200 debt in Superior court. LOL!
When you are a slumlord in a ghetto city in Northern CA, this is how you earn "income". I happened to run into another former tenant who had the same thing happen to her as well. Most of the tenants were either on Sec 8 due to mental disabilities (had to keep 20% residency), crackheads or sex offenders. I fit none of these criterion. I had gone through a bad divorce and filed BK and needed a place to live and they took ANYBODY. I think the slumlord was also vindictive because I had lived in a 1 bd unit for more than 3 years (so the amoritization of damages was more in my favor and I had 3 little dogs who did a # on the carpet) and when Caveman and I got married we moved to a 2 bd unit (because he started a new job and you can't get a new apartment unless you've been OTJ for 6 months) and didn't even stay a year. We opted to move after DH had been OTJ long enough and our crackhead neighbor shot himself in the leg out in front of our apartment. To clarify, this was NOT SMALL CLAIMS COURT. This idiot wasted our justice system's time filing a $200 case in SUPERIOR COURT. Most attorneys and poor people's advocacy groups I tried to talk to didn't believe me either that this was filed in SUPERIOR COURT =0(. Below is from the court's website (no, I didn't find my case) but it explains how they were able to file such a paltry amount in superior court. General Civil The claims that you used to file in Superior Court are now referred to as General Civil at Superior Court. Generally they are cases where the amount you are claiming is more than $25,000, but can be for smaller amounts in certain types of cases.
