Need feedback on GW letter regarding judgment

[Anonymous]

I wanted to run this by everyone here before I follow through. In early 2012 I was 7 months pregnant with my first child, lost my job due to a high risk pregnancy and complications, was in the midst of fleeing an abusive relationship while preparing for a baby and 100 miles away from any family to help me. I had an apartment at the time and was on a month to month lease. I left for a month to go stay with my mom and, as it was an extremely difficult time for me, I didn't really think to inform my landlord about any of this. I just basically fled. I knew my rent was late and I returned to speak with the office managers in person about my situation and make arrangements to end my lease, return the keys, and move out on good terms. I met with two office managers who were extremely kind and helpful and, although the exact details of the visit are hazy, I wrapped everything up with them and made arrangements to move out that week.

At that time, they had already filed for eviction while i was away and my ex (who was at my apartment collecting his things the day the process server came) was the one who answered the door and was served the papers. Obviously he never forwarded the summons to me. When I met with the property managers, I remember paying the balance that was due on the rent but they never brought up the eviction case and that the case wouldn't be dismissed without paying the attorney/filing fees. I genuinely left feeling that I had done everything I needed to do.

Apparently they dismissed the first cause for the eviction: the actual eviction, getting me out. But the second cause in the summons was for attorney/court fees (150$) and that was NOT dismissed, leading to a default judgement against me. I was not aware of any of this until this past year when I started paying attention to my credit and saw I had a judgment from 2012. I went to the courthouse and got copies of everything a week ago.

I intend to pay the judgment(which I would have paid before it even became a judgment, had I known about it). I am planning on writing the plaintiff's attorney, explaining my circumstances that led to the eviction being filed, explaining how I made every effort to tie up loose ends and meet with the property managers and was never told about the case against me, and that the judgment would have been averted had I actually been served, or the office managers informing me that I still needed to pay the eviction filing costs. I plan on asking him to kindly consider filing for motion to vacate the judgment once it is paid, and that I plan on paying it regardless. I plan on explaining that I'm hoping to qualify for a mortgage in the near future so I can provide my kids and myself with our first house.

First aquestion: This is in Ohio, do i have a valid reason to request the attorney files a motion to vacate? If the attorney won't help me, would I have a chance to have the judgment vacated by filing MOV myself? On what grounds? That I wasn't served, or that the judgment has been satisfied? (I haven't paid it yet, the attorney hasn't returned my one sheepish message I left a week ago).

Second question: Is it not advisable to include in my letter to the attorney what my circumstances were in 2012? Will he even care? Is it "TMI" to write to him about everything I've written about above? I've drafted the letter, its a good 1.5 pages, but I've been having doubts about how candid it is. I really don't want to go overboard and embarrass myself, especially since this was a simple eviction case that he probably had to deal with hundreds of times before and since.

[gdale6]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I wanted to run this by everyone here before I follow through. In early 2012 I was 7 months pregnant with my first child, lost my job due to a high risk pregnancy and complications, was in the midst of fleeing an abusive relationship while preparing for a baby and 100 miles away from any family to help me. I had an apartment at the time and was on a month to month lease. I left for a month to go stay with my mom and, as it was an extremely difficult time for me, I didn't really think to inform my landlord about any of this. I just basically fled. I knew my rent was late and I returned to speak with the office managers in person about my situation and make arrangements to end my lease, return the keys, and move out on good terms. I met with two office managers who were extremely kind and helpful and, although the exact details of the visit are hazy, I wrapped everything up with them and made arrangements to move out that week.

At that time, they had already filed for eviction while i was away and my ex (who was at my apartment collecting his things the day the process server came) was the one who answered the door and was served the papers. Obviously he never forwarded the summons to me. When I met with the property managers, I remember paying the balance that was due on the rent but they never brought up the eviction case and that the case wouldn't be dismissed without paying the attorney/filing fees. I genuinely left feeling that I had done everything I needed to do.

Apparently they dismissed the first cause for the eviction: the actual eviction, getting me out. But the second cause in the summons was for attorney/court fees (150$) and that was NOT dismissed, leading to a default judgement against me. I was not aware of any of this until this past year when I started paying attention to my credit and saw I had a judgment from 2012. I went to the courthouse and got copies of everything a week ago.

I intend to pay the judgment(which I would have paid before it even became a judgment, had I known about it). I am planning on writing the plaintiff's attorney, explaining my circumstances that led to the eviction being filed, explaining how I made every effort to tie up loose ends and meet with the property managers and was never told about the case against me, and that the judgment would have been averted had I actually been served, or the office managers informing me that I still needed to pay the eviction filing costs. I plan on asking him to kindly consider filing for motion to vacate the judgment once it is paid, and that I plan on paying it regardless. I plan on explaining that I'm hoping to qualify for a mortgage in the near future so I can provide my kids and myself with our first house.

First aquestion: This is in Ohio, do i have a valid reason to request the attorney files a motion to vacate? If the attorney won't help me, would I have a chance to have the judgment vacated by filing MOV myself? On what grounds? That I wasn't served, or that the judgment has been satisfied? (I haven't paid it yet, the attorney hasn't returned my one sheepish message I left a week ago).

Second question: Is it not advisable to include in my letter to the attorney what my circumstances were in 2012? Will he even care? Is it "TMI" to write to him about everything I've written about above? I've drafted the letter, its a good 1.5 pages, but I've been having doubts about how candid it is. I really don't want to go overboard and embarrass myself, especially since this was a simple eviction case that he probably had to deal with hundreds of times before and since.

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With judgments you first want to negotiate the plantiff requesting vacature upon payment if they wont do this then you need to see if you can file the motion yourself, you would file it as Motion to vacate based on judgment having been satisfied. I would advise the plantiffs attorney the circumstances surrounding this and hope that he has a heart. Good luck

[RobertEG]

The issue of whether the service was adequate notice is one of your state law/rules of civil procedure for which you should consult an attorney.

It is usually adequate if accepted by an adult, but will depend upon your state requirments.

If the service is in compliance with your state requirments, there would be no administrative error upon which to file for vacature.

Additionally, your state may have timeliness requirement for any such motion.

A GW letter sent to the prevailing plaintiff wont work, as only the court can vacate its own judgment.

You may be able to persuade the plaintiff's attorney to support your motion, but that is iffy.  They have prevailed, so likely will not support admin vacature.

Most states set periods after a default judgment in which any motions asserting error must be filed, so you may have a timeliness issue.

Additionally, many attorneys will not file a motion on behalf of the other party in a civil suit, as they may view it as a conflict of their interest to their own client.

I highly recommend consulting an attorney for at least preliminary advice, as you have a legal issue requiring expertise in the process mandated in your jurisdiction.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the feedback! This is not an area I've not had any experience with at all up until this point, and I've seen so many different opinions about this online it's hard to feel confident as to what I can successfully pull off. The judgement is so old, it wouldn't be the end of the world for me to just pay it and then wait the 2 years(paid judgements fall of reports at 7 years from the filed date?) for it to be removed. I'm aware that the judge would be the one to rule on the motion to vacate, not the plaintiff. Only the plaintiff or defendent can file the motion, but it's up to the court what happens after that, correct? I shouldn't have referred to this as a GW letter, because that implies I expect the plaintiff to have the sole power to remove the judgment. In actuality, it would merely be my getting in touch with the attorney and attempting to pay the judgment, while raising the issue of whether he might consider supporting a motion to vacate the judgment. I figure it can't hurt to try, the worst case is he just says "no". I'm mostly concerned that my lengthy letter to him looks a bit more pitiful than necessary, however I just stuck to the truth regarding the circumstances to the case, hoping he has a heart.

[RobertEG]

Some states include provision in their code/rules of civil procedure for permitting vacature of a judgment based on it having been satisfied, while others do not.

Similarly, for those permitting motions to vacate based on payment of the judgment (as opposed to vacature based on some error), filing of such a motion is normally permitted by the defendant.  In fact, the primary purpose of such vacatures is specificlly to grant relief to the consumer, and only the consumer can provide a reason for request of relief.

Thus, filing by the consumer would be the preferred method in order to provide the judge with the reason for requesting relief.

As an aside, in many other credit forums directed mainly to attorneys, I have seen numerous posts by attorneys stating that they never file any motions to vacate on behalf of the defendant.  The plaintiff is/was their client, and they consider it a conflict to file motions on behalf of the opposing party.

I would check out your state code/rules of civil procedure for both the basis and process for requesting vacature before making any assumption as to whether or not you can file on your own.

[Anonymous]

You can also call the court where the judgment was filed and ask the clerk about procedure for vacating when it is known that plaintiff will not contest. Typically, you would come up with a reason to vacate, appear in court (essentially continuing the case), the plaintiff would deliberately do a no-show, and the judge would rule in your favor. I have never done this, but I have seen online people who claim to have done it (successfully). But again, the person who would know most about this, aside from the judge, is a clerk working at the court. They will rattle-off to you how it is supposed to work. The key is to get, in writing, a commitment from the plaintiff, beforehand, that they will abstain from appearing in court to contest your motion to vacate. In some states, a motion will renew the judgment, so that the clock for SOL for enforcement of judgment by roguish means (writ of execution) starts over, so you definitely want to avoid a situation where you think the plaintiff has agreed to a no-show, but suddenly appears in court due to a miscommunication.

[Anonymous]

So here's a bit of an update. I sent the "GW" letter to the plaintiff's attorney, explaining the circumstances surrounding the eviction filed in 2012, my desire to satisfy the judgment, and request they consider filing a motion to vacate.

I received a response letter in the mail today from the attorney. I was terrified to open it and it took me an hour to get up the nerve. But I just opened it a little while ago and it was nice and straightforward, the attorney broke down the numbers and explained the balance due, and said the fee for MOV was 3.00, that he would need to get permission from the plaintiff first but doesn't anticipate it being a problem since it would be paid in full.

I'm pretty relieved. Of course I understand that even if they file motion to vacate, it will still be up to the judge. Either way it is fine by me, I just read the other night about how most civil judgements are coming off reports as of July 1. I can't believe I didn't stumble on that info until just the other night.

The balance of the judgment is only 300$ and the plaintiff is a run of the mill apartment community in a bad neighborhood, the attorney seems to have his hands practicing in other areas of the law, and when I snooped on his bio a few weeks ago he really seemed like a nice person extremely involved in the community. Idk, I think what I mean is all things considered, I doubt they'll do anything sneaky and vindictive.