Being served papers in AZ. Do I have any options?

Wow, that is some pretty good stuff you have located on yahoo, don't know how much of it will work, especially the being female part. I wish you luck and please keep us updated.

zxcxZ -

I first want to address to the repo, because it leads to the process server. When you say you bought the car from a shady dealer, what do you mean by "shady?" Was something wrong with the car? Why was it repossessed? I am trying to get at whether you have a valid defense against the vehicle itself - ie do lemon laws apply?

Ordinarily when a car is repossessed, it is then sold; the proceeds of sale are applied to the account balance, and the customer still owes any deficiency balance. Your response above from Yahoo is incorrect where it states "there should be no further charges against you for any money." -- it is generally quite legal for a creditor to come after you for the remaining balance. That is, as long as they follow the laws regarding repossession and disposition of the collateral.

Each state has different laws regarding repos; you will generally find them classified under a title like "sales finance agency" or "retail installment sales". In most states, they have to give you a redemption notice and 21 day period before they can sell the car; then they have to sell the car to the highest bidder at public or private auction. After they sell the car, then they can come after you for the deficiency.

Now who exactly is calling your office -- The dealer, the finance company, or is it a CA? Generally if you executed a contract or signed a credit application, then it is permissible for them to inquire about your employment and salary information. The only reason I mention that is because it's not necessarily illegal for them to be calling your job to request that info. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Privacy Act actually allows your employer to release such information when a legitimate debt is involved. Albeit, most employment verifications are done by fax. However, whomever is calling should not be releasing information about the debt to your co-workers; if they are doing that, then you have grounds to complain.

Now, if they have filed suit against you, then they must serve you with a summons. Again, your state laws govern how they must serve you. It is common to hire process servers -- (usually the server is required to be a licensed PI, and the plaintiff must motion for the court to appoint a specific process server). It is also permissible to serve you at work, or anywhere they think you might be. Since summons' are issued by the court, and process servers are sanctioned by the court as its courier, you can't stop them unless you get served.

The PI's conduct is another issue. If the court has actually appointed him, then it may be perfectly legal for him to say he's from the court or on official court business. We really need to know who that was and whether the court sent him there, before we can make any conclusions.

I'm not trying to be a downer, but I think that your Yahoo Answers response was too quick to jump to conclusions and start making accusations that may be entirely legal.

You should validate the debt, first of all. Whoever is saying you owe the money should be able to provide: 1) ledger detail of your account balance, showing all charges, payments and sale of the collateral; 2) bill of sale or auctioneer's receipt showing how much they sold the car for (should match #1 above); and 3) anything else you signed that evidences the transaction.

Second, find out from the clerk of court if a case has been filed against you. If not, then you may be able to file those harassment charges; but if a case was filed, then it would take a very strong argument to prove they are harassing you.