New Judgment that isn't my obligation

[froggySD]

This morning I woke up to find an email in my inbox saying that my Experian had a new update. I logged in hoping to see that one of my GW letters had paid off. But no, it says a new judgment has appeared on my report.

With it being a weekend, I can't call the court to find out for certain, but based on the dollar amount I am 99% certain I know what this is.

About 8 years ago I was part-owner of a business. Last year I started getting letters from an attorney saying they intended to sue me in Texas for unpaid property taxes. To be honest, I have no clue whether we paid the property taxes or not for that year, but the business was an LLC so they shouldn't be able to come after me anyway. I exchanged three letters with the attorneys about the matter, and in September I got a letter from them saying "this lawsuit has been amended to sue the LLC only, and it is the LLC that is liable for the delinquent taxes." Thankfully I still have the letter.

Now it seems that for some reason, the judgment they won against the LLC (which I am no longer a part of, and I believe no longer even exists) is appearing as a new ding on my CR.

Assuming this is the judgment that just appeared on my CR (and I frankly can't imagine anything else it could be), what do I need to do to get this removed? I have been planning to buy a condo in March or April and have been feverishly cleaning up as many things as I can hoping to get my middle score above 700 (middle score is currently 684, before this judgment). Obviously I can't do anything for the condo until this is gone.

Grrr... what a way to start my weekend...

Thanks in advance for any help

[Anonymous]

Before you can do anything you must know what it is.  Contact the courthouse and get a certified copy of the judgment.

[froggySD]

So here is what I found out.

I called the court, and they said that this is indeed in reference to those taxes. I explained to them that I have a letter from the plaintiff's attorney saying I am not liable for the taxes, and they told me to contact the attorney.

So I contacted the attorney (while silently wondering how much it was going to cost me in legal fees to get the attorney to do what they should have done in the first place). The attorney's office said that I am not liable for the taxes, and that I was not named as a defendant in the suit, and that the Court had no business listing me in the record.

Apparently, my name appears in the "styling" of the lawsuit (because 8 years ago they had been under the impression that I would be a defendant in the case) but it has since been amended to remove me from the list of defendants.

The attorney's best guess is that the people from Experian who surf public records all day long saw my name on the styling ("People vs FroggySD et al" ), and added this to my CR without double-checking to see if I was actually a defendant in the case. The attorney told me to contact the CRA and show them a copy saying I am not a defendant in the judgment.

So that is the plan. Unless someone here has advice to give...

A couple side notes.

One, Experian is the only one reporting this, and the DOJ was December 8th, so I think the other CRAs have had ample time to find the  judgment. Maybe EQ and TU were smart enough to see this wasn't mine.

Second, a "new" judgment for a score that was around 680 is worth about 80 points. My EX is temporarily at 601 until this is resolved. And yes, I know that the impact is different depending on how you got to 680 in the first place. So it might be more or less for some people. But for me, 80 points gone in one typo... Sigh...

Message Edited by froggySD on 01-23-2009 09:14 AM

[203bravo]

Ruh Roo.  They are not going remove it just because you ask them to.  Call the ATTY back and ask them to file a motion to vacate.  If they are so eager to help you there should be no issue with the office doing that.

However, have a gut feeling that it's alot of hot air and not going to be that easy.  Other options is to an ATTY in Tx and have them file the motion to vacate.  That will cost you.

Good luck.

[froggySD]

From their perspective there is nothing to vacate.

They have a legitimate judgment against an LLC. And that judgment stays (as it should).

This isn't an issue with the Courts or with the Attorney. It is purely with the CRA, who seems to be reporting something as mine that is not mine.

I can't very well ask for a motion to vacate a judgment that isn't against me in the first place.

[Anonymous]

---

@203bravo wrote:

Ruh Roo.  They are not going remove it just because you ask them to.  Call the ATTY back and ask them to file a motion to vacate.  If they are so eager to help you there should be no issue with the office doing that.

However, have a gut feeling that it's alot of hot air and not going to be that easy.  Other options is to an ATTY in Tx and have them file the motion to vacate.  That will cost you.

Good luck.

---

motion to vacate what? the judgment against the LLC is (most liekly) valid. There is no ground to vacate anything.

what needs to happen here is to dispute with the "Information furnisher" about the validity of this record. You need to find out who is providing this information to the CRA from the CRA directly, you need to have a copy of the judgment that states your name had been removed from the proceedings, then you send a complaint letter CMRRR to the information furnisher about this incorrect record and ask them to remove within 24 hours.

wait for them to receive, wait the 24 hours and check your credit report. if the info is still there (most likely) send an ITS letter to the information furnisher stating it is your second attempt to resolve amicably and that unless they remove this record from your credit report within 24 hours you sue them.

file immediately complaints with the BBB, the AGs both in your current state and the information furnisher state, and the FTC for violation of the FCRA by the information furnisher.

wait for the information furnisher to receive your ITS letter and give it 3-4 days to contact you. if they don't remove and they don't call you within a week, file a small claim suit in your current district against them for violation of FCRA. As soon as you serve notice to the information fiurnisher this will be gone. At that point you can decide whetehr to pursue your claim or not.

[203bravo]

Sorry, I misundestood.. I thought you were an owner in the LLC.  You make a good point though, how did it even get direct to your name since you were not listed as a party to the case at all?  UHMMMMMMMMM