A bank-account seizure would cripple anybody. Most consumers live out of their personal checking account. A debt-collection lawyer in possession of a judgment against you can easily find where you bank and cause the bank to freeze your entire account.
That's precisely what happened to our client in Colorado Capital Investments, Inc. v. T.L.[1] The attorneys representing Colorado Capital were Daniels Norelli Scully & Cecere, P.C. Our client sustained a default judgment in 2004 resulting in a negative $-40,000 balance in her bank account in 2014. She was stunned. She did her homework and found us.
Like many of our clients, she was able to produce some proof that she had lived outside the state of New York for the duration of the active court case. We used that proof to support an aggressive court application to vacate the judgment and dismiss the case. Our 20-page request convinced Daniels Norelli to give us everything we demanded: a prompt release of her account and complete dismissal of the entire $19,000 judgment.
This case exemplifies so many. Busy New Yorkers move around a lot making it difficult for collection lawyers and debt buyers to identify current addresses for purposes of serving legal papers. That's why it is critical for you to ascertain the address at which the lawyers have been sending you documents. You can ask the bank or the law firm. The bank may simply direct you to the law firm that froze your account.
Service of the underlying summons and complaint is a "threshold issue" and a lack of good service may have the ultimate effect rescuing you from the throes of a bank seizure and seriously improve your bargaining position if not serve as a complete defense to the case.
If your bank account has become frozen, call us immediately for a free consultation.