@CreditDrama85 wrote:
agreed that it is a serious thing but disagree about it being a sure thing to have it vacated within a certain period of time. cite a relevant statute and have a good reason and it will be vacated the first time around.
didnt the original person say it was already in court? they were making partial payments when they could and they still got sued. this doesnt sound like a finance company that can be trusted on their word.
the partial payments should be good enough to make defendant not responsible for 100% of plaintiffs attorney fees.
also, it is not always a guarantee that a FINAL judgement will show on a CR. a lot of time it will eventually but sometimes it will only show on 1 or not show at all.
while these are my opinions, the point of my feedback was to illustrate how the process can be dragged out because it sounds like the original person could eventually pay the $2000 in which case this would be dismissed.
a lot of people confuse a summons with a judgment or an ex parte judgment (which can easily be vacated) with a final judgment which is what i think you are referring to.
OP was making, at best, sporadic payments and lenders don't like that. If he enters into an established payment plan, most creditors will take that rather than plodding through legal action which costs them even more money -- that they aren't even sure of recovering. That's about his only chance now short of getting hit with a judgment.
Obviously you missed Civil Procedure in law school. You cannot just pick any statute and get a judgment vacated. All valid reasons for vacating a judgment boil down to two issues:
1. The court had personal jurisdiction over the respondent; and / or
2. The court had jurisdiction over the matter.
Also, there is no ex-parte judgment. The proper term is default judgment where judgment is entered because the respondent failed to appear. If proper service was made, it is not very likely the judgment can later be vacated.
Again, if you were properly served, chances are you are SOL.
However, if the goal is to drag out the process, it is relatively simple to appeal a small claims court action. Or request a continuance about one week prior to the actual court date.
