@Anonymous wrote:
I posted this on the topic in Rebuilding Your Credit also but this has more information so sorry in advance if I posted in the wrong place or if you respond twice.
With all the news of the National Arbitration Forum ceasing their arbitration work, I have a question about a so called award.
A couple weeks ago I got some letter from Rubenstein, Cogan, & Revesman, P.C., stating that I owe for an old Worldwide Asset Purchasing assignee to Citibank debt that is past SOL, I sent them a DV letter and they sent me back something from the National Arbitration Forum saying that they claim that I entered into some arbitration agreement in April 2007 which I don't recall doing and that Worldwide Asset Purchasing won an award of over 4k and this is all the proof that they sent to me.
I don't recall seeing any of this arbitration stuff and it still doesn't tell me if its now past SOL and how they came up with this outrageous amount that I supposedly owe them.
What does this mean with this so called award from NAF and with all the legal situation that NAF is in now does this now mean this award is no longer valid? This letter from NAF was dated 9/29/08 and the debt collection agency just sent me this "proof letter" on July 16th which is a couple days before the NAF settlement agreement. Do I now need a lawyer? Should I contact or send something to my Attorney General's office?
If there is a valid arbitration award, giving the award binding effect is pretty simple. The creditor simply files a motion in the appropriate court to confirm the award and the court is obligated to confirm the award and enter a money judgment.
When the creditor files their motion, you will be served. Only upon timely motion of the debtor and for one or more of the extremely few reasons allowed by statute can the court do anything but confirm the arbitration award and reduce it to money judgment. The law provides for the presumption of validity of an arbitration award.
I would try to get a copy of the arbitration award from the creditor and verify that you a) were under a binding arbitration agreement and b) that the arbitration hearing was conducted appropriately.
That said, the National Arbitration Forum will cease to exist in its current form sometime this month, if it hasn't done so already. It appears that the NAF fraudulently entered awards in numerous cases and also was basically a puppet of the collection industry. Fraud is one of the few reasons allowed by statute for a judge to refuse to reduce an arbitration award to judgment. You should have a very good chance of convincing any court (in Minnesota a 100% chance) that any award by the NAF is, if not totally lacking in impartiality, fraudulent.
Unless your intention is to pay this debt, you would probably be better off consulting local counsel. If you do go it on your own, you'll need to read up on the Federal Arbitration Act and your state law on arbitration.
It is imperative to remember that if the creditor moves a court for enforcement of an arbitration award you must appear or risk a judgment against you for what otherwise would be an issue you could have easily escaped from.
Message Edited by Underh20 on 07-21-2009 01:30 AM
Message Edited by Underh20 on 07-21-2009 01:40 AM
