As is demonstrated over and over again, a creditor's money/default judgment is as good as the validity of service (delivery to defendant-debtor) of the underlying court papers (summons and complaint). Without proper service atan accurate, current address, a properly prepared set of papers should work to re-open the case and direct the court's attention to the court's lack of personal jurisdiction towards a dismissal.
In this case, MRC Receivables Corp. v. Stevenson M., Civil Court, Kings County, The Langel Firm was able to enjoin (stop) the Marshal from proceeding with a wage garnishment that was set to take effect 20 days from the day our client was notified by his payroll department that 10% of his wages were about to be forfeited to this unknown debt buyer, MRC Receivables, Corp. We put the pieces of the puzzle together and discovered that he was sued in 2006 in New York. However, he was living in Massachusetts in 2006 so he couldn't possibly have received proper notification of the lawsuit involving an alleged credit card debt of approximately $8,000. Cohen & Slamowitz disregarded his initial plea to stop the garnishment based on his complete lack of notice and awareness. Instead, the law office wished to assert the garnishment as leverage to extract as much money as it could from him.
Like we do as a matter of routine, we prepared an aggressive set of legal papers followed up by irrefutable proof that our client was living in Massachussets. At court yesterday, Cohen & Slamowitz conceded that its lawsuit was defective and conceded that it could not re-sue him again because the staute of limitations (time limitation) had already expired. Therefore, the attorney agreed to vacate the judge and throw its own case out.
Had we not dragged Cohen & Slamowitz back into court, the garnishment would have proceeded and our client to have paid thousands of dollars in unlawful interest and poundage fees.
If you receive anything from a Marshal or Sheriff, call us right away. Time is of the essence.