Taken

I think you are pretty much on the hook for this one. You knew you owed a debt, and hadn't paid it. Therefore, the creditor (in this case, your landlord) pursued the only recourse they had, legally, which was to issue a warrant in debt, which they would have served at your last known address. I'm not sure about how in-depth a creditor has to go to try and find you to serve it personally. They could have mailed it to your last known address or served it in person.

Would you really have wanted to be served at work? Pretty embarassing.

The long and short of it is this: you owed the landlord money and didn't pay it in a timely manner, so they pursued legal action against you. You didn't receive notice of the legal action, so you didn't show up for the court date, and the landlord was awarded judgement against you, which was then used to pursue garnishment of your wages.

If you had actually been served the papers, and showed up in court, what would your defense have been for not paying the landlord what was owed? You would have ended up paying it, either by garnishment of your wages or through a payment agreement that went through the courts.

Please don't take this the wrong way - I'm not trying to be harsh on you about this - but it just seems like you're looking for a way out of this situation, rather than just facing up to it and dealing with the garnishment of your wages.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong in my take on the process of serving papers when past due rent is involved.

You would have to check your local court rules pertaining to service of process. In the locales I'm familiar, when there is a forcible detainer or distress for rent action filed, the court usually allows process by posting notice on the door.

I don't want to sound like I'm harping either -- but I have to coincide with Suebee. A judge only hears facts, not excuses. You could have shown up with a million good excuses for not paying, but if the facts in the complaint were true, then the judge is legally obligated to enter judgment in favor of the plaintiff.

You can go back and try to motion for a vacated judgment on grounds of improper service. If the judge awards it then that will only buy you time, because they will re-serve and have the judgment reinstated.