Unpaid judgment-never served

[PeacefulP]

My husband has an unpaid judgment filed in June 2007 from check city. He didn't know he had the judgment until he pulled his credit report. The docket states that they served him personally in October 2007, which would have been impossible considering we were living in a different state and it just didn't happen.

They filed the judgment in small claims court, And I spoke with a lawyer who told me in small claims court there's a law that says that he must be served within 120 days of the court filing or the action must be dismissed. The docket says they filed on 6/6/07 and they claim they served him on 10/17/07. According to those numbers that would have been past the 120 day window to serve.

My question is, this judgment is very old but looking at his credit report check city is still inquiring every six months but have been unable to find him. Should we pay the judgment and then ask to vacate? Or should we hire a lawyer and try to get this whole thing dismissed? We are in Utah.

Thank you!

[rckstrscott]

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@PeacefulP wrote:
My husband has an unpaid judgment filed in June 2007 from check city. He didn't know he had the judgment until he pulled his credit report. The docket states that they served him personally in October 2007, which would have been impossible considering we were living in a different state and it just didn't happen.

They filed the judgment in small claims court, And I spoke with a lawyer who told me in small claims court there's a law that says that he must be served within 120 days of the court filing or the action must be dismissed. The docket says they filed on 6/6/07 and they claim they served him on 10/17/07. According to those numbers that would have been past the 120 day window to serve.

My question is, this judgment is very old but looking at his credit report check city is still inquiring every six months but have been unable to find him. Should we pay the judgment and then ask to vacate? Or should we hire a lawyer and try to get this whole thing dismissed? We are in Utah.

Thank you!

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It is hard to say.. every juridiction has different rules in regards to what constitutes being served and vacating.. the lawyer would have to practice in your county to really know. if this lawyer is in like, another state or something, he wouldn't really have any idea.. does this lawyer practice in that county?

As long as a legal debt exists, Check City can pull his credit.. doesn't matter if it is old, vacated, or whatever.. they still have the right to collect on a debt.. There are just laws in place in regards to how long it can report, and how long they can sue you for it  (I know you were already sued, just mentioning the SOL)..

-scott

[PeacefulP]

Thank you for your response. Yes the lawyer that I spoke to is local and operates in the same county where the judgment was filed. He said we *might* be able to vacate it, but he's not completely confident and said we may end up paying him and them at the end of the day.

It's due to fall of next year. if we pay it, Does it renew its time on the CR?

[rckstrscott]

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@PeacefulP wrote:
Thank you for your response. Yes the lawyer that I spoke to is local and operates in the same county where the judgment was filed. He said we *might* be able to vacate it, but he's not completely confident and said we may end up paying him and them at the end of the day.

It's due to fall of next year. if we pay it, Does it renew its time on the CR?

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do you know the SOL on the type of debt in your state? how much was the debt for?

I would def. try to get it vacated if possible, then, you can negotiate to pay it before a new collection account hits your credit report... although the CRTP period is based on the DOFD of the original debt I do believe, if you get it vacated..

No judgement is always better than a judgement.. If they vacate it, they can still try to collect.. just keep that in mind

-scott

[PeacefulP]

In UT, SOL is 6 yrs for a written contract, which this was. I believe the debt is from 2006.
Renewal of Judgment SOL is 8 years. -which, btw I don't fully understand what that means. They have 8 years to renew the judgment? What does it mean to renew a judgment?

Thanks for your help!

[rckstrscott]

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@PeacefulP wrote:
In UT, SOL is 6 yrs for a written contract, which this was. I believe the debt is from 2006.
Renewal of Judgment SOL is 8 years. -which, btw I don't fully understand what that means. They have 8 years to renew the judgment?

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They can renew it if unpaid I believe..

Is this a large debt? Or is this something that you can pay?

If you get it vacated, that will remove the ability to re-up the judgement, therfor, placing this debt squarely out of the SOL (your lawyer can confirm)

I would attempt to have it vacated... or if that doesn't work, see if you can pay it in exchange for them filing a motion to vacate.. sometimes that works too

In an ideal world, you would be able to vacate the judgement. This would then render the debt uncollectable since its past the SOL from a legal standpoint. Meaning they cannot sue you again, and the original judgement would come off your credit report.

Anything they do from that point, would be barred from showing on your credit after 7 years and 180 days from the DOFD of the original debt...

This is merely my interpretation...

-scott

[justrock]

Check the Small Claims statutes in the County where the judgement is filed.  In some states Small Claims is set  up to handle these kinds of suits without getting attorneys involved.  They may have forms you can use, including Motion to Vacate, that you can reasonably fill out yourself.  There can be various reasons  you could ask to vacate, SOL is one,  lack of service is another.  Be prepared to appear though.  There can often be a hearing on "service", the process server is required to testify as to how he served the original claim, and your husband will probably have to testify also and show proof of his whereabouts at the time of service.

Be also advised that vacating the judgement doesn't make the debt go away.  The judgement may "toll" the SOL, meaning the  creditor can go ahead and file again, but this time he will serve and file in your current county of residence. The creditor will argue that he did not seek to serve you subsequently as he already had a judgement in his favor.

[PeacefulP]

Update:

Last month I called Check City, agreed to settle and politely asked if they would file a motion to vacate and they did! 5 days later it was paid, and signed off by a judge!

Thanks for the help everyone!