Midland Garnished with no notification

GA8080 · ‎07-26-2016

Close to 5 years ago, Midland garnished my wages for a $700 old debt that was outside the SOL. I received no notice of the debt, was not served, and had no idea that there was a court date. The default judgement was in a GA court and I had moved and worked in Florida for 2 years prior. Unfortunately, at the time I was uneducated on credit topics and did not realize that they were in the wrong because I had not been notified or served. I was scared and freaked out that it went to a court and just let the debt be garnished. Fast forward to now, when I have been studying these boards and have learned so much more. Low and behold a collection popped up on my credit report from Midland for a $200 old debt that the OC already agreed to remove from my credit reports. It has fueled my fire to seek a remedy to the the $700 that they garnished without warning years ago. Anyone have any suggestions? I think I need to do something before 5 years passes. $700 is prob not worth an attorney's time or fees. Could I leverage off of it to get Midland to drop the new collection?

Anonymous · ‎07-26-2016

If you are lucky and got that judgement vacated by proving you were not properly served the court could order Midland to refund everything they garnished.

And getting a judge who believes you were screwed over may even vacate with prejudice.

Anonymous · ‎07-26-2016

I'm paying on a judgement now I had no idea about. It was from 2008. With interest the amount owed climbed to 25K. I got them to agree to 15K. The original judgement was for 9K. I'm paying monthly. The reason I didn't file a motion to Vacate is because I didn't have 9K to pay them and run the risk of having a fresh new judgement that could appear on my credit reports. The original judgement never appeared on my reports.

Plus I didn't want a garnishment or my bank accounts levied . I found this judgement through a court records search. I had two other judgements that I paid and had vacated that were much smaller. I prevailed having them vacated because I proved I wasn't properly served. I didn't even live in the state when they all were served.

I can prove I wasn't served on the one I'm paying now.

When I am completely done paying it and making sure it's recorded as satisfied, I will be filing a motion to Vacate and will be making the CA I'm paying refund every dime I have paid and I will pay them the original amount I owed them.

And I will get back the 6K they got over the judgement. And I will prevail 100%.

I will always pay what I created.

CA's play nasty all the time. This CA will be enlightened when I'm done with them.

Anonymous · ‎07-26-2016

@GA8080 wrote:
Close to 5 years ago, Midland garnished my wages for a $700 old debt that was outside the SOL. I received no notice of the debt, was not served, and had no idea that there was a court date. The default judgement was in a GA court and I had moved and worked in Florida for 2 years prior. Unfortunately, at the time I was uneducated on credit topics and did not realize that they were in the wrong because I had not been notified or served. I was scared and freaked out that it went to a court and just let the debt be garnished. Fast forward to now, when I have been studying these boards and have learned so much more. Low and behold a collection popped up on my credit report from Midland for a $200 old debt that the OC already agreed to remove from my credit reports. It has fueled my fire to seek a remedy to the the $700 that they garnished without warning years ago. Anyone have any suggestions? I think I need to do something before 5 years passes. $700 is prob not worth an attorney's time or fees. Could I leverage off of it to get Midland to drop the new collection?

"not being notified or served" is not grounds for vacature in and of itself. Most courts have alternate means of notification should personal service fail - usually by publication in a major newspaper. What you need to do is get the court record and see just what service methods were used. Then proceed from that point, based on whats in the record.

Anonymous · ‎07-26-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
@GA8080 wrote:
Close to 5 years ago, Midland garnished my wages for a $700 old debt that was outside the SOL. I received no notice of the debt, was not served, and had no idea that there was a court date. The default judgement was in a GA court and I had moved and worked in Florida for 2 years prior. Unfortunately, at the time I was uneducated on credit topics and did not realize that they were in the wrong because I had not been notified or served. I was scared and freaked out that it went to a court and just let the debt be garnished. Fast forward to now, when I have been studying these boards and have learned so much more. Low and behold a collection popped up on my credit report from Midland for a $200 old debt that the OC already agreed to remove from my credit reports. It has fueled my fire to seek a remedy to the the $700 that they garnished without warning years ago. Anyone have any suggestions? I think I need to do something before 5 years passes. $700 is prob not worth an attorney's time or fees. Could I leverage off of it to get Midland to drop the new collection?

"not being notified or served" is not grounds for vacature in and of itself. Most courts have alternate means of notification should personal service fail - usually by publication in a major newspaper. What you need to do is get the court record and see just what service methods were used. Then proceed from that point, based on whats in the record.

What Norman is saying is not completely true, with all due respect. What is true in Normans response is if you lived in the same area and a publication was released it may be more difficult. And Normans advice researching the history of the judgement is also paramount.

However, at least in Massachusetts, not being properly served and you can prove it is COMPLETE grounds for vacature.

Anonymous · ‎07-26-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@GA8080 wrote:
Close to 5 years ago, Midland garnished my wages for a $700 old debt that was outside the SOL. I received no notice of the debt, was not served, and had no idea that there was a court date. The default judgement was in a GA court and I had moved and worked in Florida for 2 years prior. Unfortunately, at the time I was uneducated on credit topics and did not realize that they were in the wrong because I had not been notified or served. I was scared and freaked out that it went to a court and just let the debt be garnished. Fast forward to now, when I have been studying these boards and have learned so much more. Low and behold a collection popped up on my credit report from Midland for a $200 old debt that the OC already agreed to remove from my credit reports. It has fueled my fire to seek a remedy to the the $700 that they garnished without warning years ago. Anyone have any suggestions? I think I need to do something before 5 years passes. $700 is prob not worth an attorney's time or fees. Could I leverage off of it to get Midland to drop the new collection?

"not being notified or served" is not grounds for vacature in and of itself. Most courts have alternate means of notification should personal service fail - usually by publication in a major newspaper. What you need to do is get the court record and see just what service methods were used. Then proceed from that point, based on whats in the record.
What Norman is saying is not completely true, with all due respect. What is true in Normans response is if you lived in the same area and a publication was released it may be more difficult. And Normans advice researching the history of the judgement is also paramount.

However, at least in Massachusetts, not being properly served and you can prove it is COMPLETE grounds for vacature.

Yes, but the key word here is "properly" - thats what I'm trying to stress. Every court has specific service requirements, and they all have some sort of "fallback" when personal service cannot be performed because the persons whereabouts are unknown. Most of the time that is going to be some kind of public announcement in a newspaper with wide circulation. BUT - Quite often the CA's wil use whats referred to as "sewer service" process servers that will falsify the personal service to save a buck as those legal notifications in large newspapers can be expensive. Thats when you have them by the shorthairs.

But the only way to find out if they have followed procedures is the get the full court records.

Anonymous · ‎07-26-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@GA8080 wrote:
Close to 5 years ago, Midland garnished my wages for a $700 old debt that was outside the SOL. I received no notice of the debt, was not served, and had no idea that there was a court date. The default judgement was in a GA court and I had moved and worked in Florida for 2 years prior. Unfortunately, at the time I was uneducated on credit topics and did not realize that they were in the wrong because I had not been notified or served. I was scared and freaked out that it went to a court and just let the debt be garnished. Fast forward to now, when I have been studying these boards and have learned so much more. Low and behold a collection popped up on my credit report from Midland for a $200 old debt that the OC already agreed to remove from my credit reports. It has fueled my fire to seek a remedy to the the $700 that they garnished without warning years ago. Anyone have any suggestions? I think I need to do something before 5 years passes. $700 is prob not worth an attorney's time or fees. Could I leverage off of it to get Midland to drop the new collection?

"not being notified or served" is not grounds for vacature in and of itself. Most courts have alternate means of notification should personal service fail - usually by publication in a major newspaper. What you need to do is get the court record and see just what service methods were used. Then proceed from that point, based on whats in the record.
What Norman is saying is not completely true, with all due respect. What is true in Normans response is if you lived in the same area and a publication was released it may be more difficult. And Normans advice researching the history of the judgement is also paramount.

However, at least in Massachusetts, not being properly served and you can prove it is COMPLETE grounds for vacature.
Yes, but the key word here is "properly" - thats what I'm trying to stress. Every court has specific service requirements, and they all have some sort of "fallback" when personal service cannot be performed because the persons whereabouts are unknown. Most of the time that is going to be some kind of public announcement in a newspaper with wide circulation. BUT - Quite often the CA's wil use whats referred to as "sewer service" process servers that will falsify the personal service to save a buck as those legal notifications in large newspapers can be expensive. Thats when you have them by the shorthairs.

But the only way to find out if they have followed procedures is the get the full court records.

I agree you have to review all documentation.

"Sewer Service" is big in these parts.

There is a lot of homework.

I am speaking from hands on experience in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts only.

Anonymous · ‎07-27-2016

Interesting discussion. Question: how can the court records help when it comes to the issue of improper service? Is this only in the case where they *say* papers were served to the actual person (but actually were not)? In MA they can just say "left at last known domicile" and call that service. Seems like an impossible "in favor of the server" loophole to circumvent for the person supposedly served.

Anonymous · ‎07-27-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Interesting discussion. Question: how can the court records help when it comes to the issue of improper service? Is this only in the case where they *say* papers were served to the actual person (but actually were not)? In MA they can just say "left at last known domicile" and call that service. Seems like an impossible "in favor of the server" loophole to circumvent for the person supposedly served.

The judgement I had (for $0...) they sent it to the apartment I lived at where I broke the lease. The MO courts says it "counts".

Anonymous · ‎07-28-2016

It can be a crap shoot depending on the Judge as well

Some are debtor friendly others are creditor friendly

Let's face it NOBODY ever got the notice, it got eaten by the same dog that eats homework.

Sometimes, the court is sympathetic other times not so much sewer services exist all over the nation, many have offices and runners right in the county court building, like here in LA county, same thing when I lived back East.

The story is the same all day everyday
We served
I didn't get it
Nothing is automatic, because the issue is as old and common as the sun rising

I didn't get it
I moved
That's an old address
That's my baby mamas house
My parents house
Yada yada yada

No your honor, I didn't forward my mail
Yes I realize that address is on my DL
I didn't get a chance to......

Again just like any court situation it could roll, your way but it might not ...just like you might get that rolling stop ticker thrown out but THIS DAY, the Judge might be on fire... or it could be taco Tuesday or farting Friday and the mood and gas are flying around freely, who knows sometimes

Point is it is what the Judge deems it to be, if he says delivery to the diner next to the railroad tracks is proper enough notice in his opinion, well you better move on to your next point....

This issue comes up in child support cases every 15 minutes,as well as any case where money is owed like Norman says you gotta find a issue, just like a good lawyer finds some B.S. reason to dismiss a ticker, you gotta find some like nonsense but 'I didn't get' per se is equal the dog ate my term paper=broken record.