A law firm put a judgement against me

What is the name of the firm and what state are you in? Laws vary from state to state. And some collectors have been known to lie.

I live in Florida. The law firm is Hayt,Hayt and Landau in Miami

When did the SOL expire?
When was the case filed?
When did you make payments?

If the collectors are requesting info, I do not believe you can be jailed for not providing it. If a judge orders you to provide info and you fail to do so, I believe you can be held in contempt of court.

Go down to the courthouse. You should be able to obtain copies of all the documents in your case, and see whether or not the fact sheet was included.

Are you sure that they have a judgement against you? Did they tell you all this in writing? Some of these collector attorneys in the past have been known to send consumers "pre-trial interrogatories" etc, asking for information such as you mentioned, because they don't know anything about you. Of course, all this is illegal if no complaint has been filed and no judgement is against you.

i bought a car and had to return it due to conjestive heart failure and not able to make the payments they sold the car left a balance owed onit of340dollars .a law firm got a judgement against me.I offered to pay $25.00 amo they said that woukd not cover the intrest. what can i do

need advice on a judgement, returned car, bal owed after sal is$3'400.00 they got judgement please advise me on this matter

need advice on a judgement, returned car, bal owed after sal is$3'400.00 they got judgement please advise me on this matter

Hi jmc--

the first thing I would do is check with your local court clerk's office to make sure that they even filed a case in court against you. It is fairly common practice for collectors to use this tactic to scare people into paying immediately, before they have a chance to learn their rights. It is illegal to do so, but it still happens.

You said that the debt was past the SOL--but it isnt, because no matter how old it is, in most states if you make a payment on it, the clock restarts. So it is no longer outside the SOL unless the last payment you made was long enough back.

Also, they cannot put you in jail for most things regarding debts, but you can be found in contempt of court for some things if a case is ongoing in court. Again, check with the court clerk's office there--they cannot provide legal advice but they can often help you sort out what should be done as far as the proper procedures and so on. i would check with the court that the debt collector claims to have filed suit against you in before making any moves with the collector, just to be safe. I would most definitely not provide them with one shred of information until you can verify everything they are telling you as true.

One more thing--what do you mean when you say they "put a judgment against you"? Did you get served a summons and all that? Or did they just tell you that they put a judgment against you? If they did not actually sue you, then they cannot have a judgment against you. Some more info there can maybe help us to get you better information to help you out. Please get back to us.

I live in S. Dakota. I just received a judgement on a credit card that my ex-husband and I had together. The amt is $3651.00. It states that I have 30 days to dispute the validity of the debt, etc. I know the debt is valid, but would like to set up payment arrangements. Would I set up payments with the law office or the actual credit card company? Also, is there a way to get them to lower the amt? as some of the amt is interest accrued. Thanks

I live in S. Dakota. I just received a judgement on a credit card that my ex-husband and I had together. The amt is $3651.00. It states that I have 30 days to dispute the validity of the debt, etc. I know the debt is valid, but would like to set up payment arrangements. Would I set up payments with the law office or the actual credit card company? Also, is there a way to get them to lower the amt? as some of the amt is interest accrued. Thanks

You can negotiate with them for a settlement, click on "Do It Yourself" above for the steps. Keep in mind that the best settlements will be in 1 lump sum payment, they are unlikely to accept more than 3 payments on a settlement offer. Also remember - if you come to an arrangement that is good for you, make sure the collector puts it in WRITING before you pay them one red cent.

You can ask the original creditor but they likely won't recall it unless there are flagrant FDCPA violations, so you would set up any arrangements with the Law Firm.

Oh, by the way, a judgment is something issued by a judge in civil court. It sounds like you received a standard dunning letter.

Quote:

it's possible in that last case that the judgement was assigned to a new attorney. in that case the fdcpa validation period would start again with initial contact from that new firm.

let's say that did happen.they wouldn't give them the right to dispute.it does sound like either improper service,or a collector trying to pass it off as a judgement.i would follow skydiver's advice,and check with your court clerk to confirm if a judgement was indeed rendered.

I believe i'm going to be sued for a credit card debt - the final phone call we have had was from the collection agency and i taped it in which he was very threatening and hung up on me without giving me the payment options - what should be my course of action?

paul - when a judgment is assigned from one law firm to another, the second firm has to abide by the rules of the initial contact of the fdcpa - meaning upon first dunning notice the debtor is given a 30 day period to request validation or dispute the debt.
its called "assignment of judgment".

i spent about 10 minutes searching google for something to show you about this, but i couldnt find anything. sorry

This debt would not be beyond that statute of limitations. If you had ignored the debt, refused to talk or set up a payment plan- the SOL would have continued to run.

Instead, by setting up a payment plan and making payment- you reaffirmed the debt in the law's eyes. The Collector could very well be attempting to scare you by threatening suit....but if they proceed with legal action there is no SOL issue.

Um, Guest - we are talking about a *JUDGMENT* - i.e. a Court Order, and not a "normal" debt. It goes way beyond the FDCPA and dunning letters and DVs. SOLs for judgments are also different, that can be as long as 20 years depending on the state.

They would file a form like this: Assignment of Judgment and mail you a notification. A DV would do absolutely no good.

It's usually done in order to enforce the satisfaction of judgment. "http://www.judgmentrecoveryresources.com/articles/assignment-of-judgment/"

Chrys- Im aware of what we're talking about here, and the link you posted was the form one firm fills out to assign the judgment to another, not the notice that is sent to the debtor. The law firm I used to work for often had judgments assigned to them, and it was legal practice that a new FDCPA letter was sent upon receipt of that new judgment. that letter would state two things - 1, that the judgment had now been assigned to a new attorney acting on behalf of plaintiff so and so, and 2, that the person had a 30 day period with which to dispute.

and yes, again, i understand its done to enforce the satisfaction of judgment, thats only logical. there would be no other purpose unless the second office liked to be ripped off!
again, i tried to look up something on google to show what im talking about but i couldnt find it. so take it for what its worth.

i got served papers for judgement on a credit card debt. What do I do? What can happen? I just dont have the funds to repay..I live in florida.

A judgement was filed againist me in December 2008 in general district court for payment by Mann McBracken for GE Money after I sent correspondence and payments to the creditor - and only had emails asking for a letter of agreement to payment terms - which I never recieved. Now I am recieving calls from a new law firm telling me that the Law firm who filed the judgement against me no longer represents this creditor and now I must pay them and that they have nothing to do with the judgement filed already. Can the old law firm sell my account to a new firm? Do they notify the courts that the debt was sold and how can make sure that that I do not have the pay this twice.