Questions About Getting A Judgment Removed

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

This is my first time posting on this board and it looks like it will be a great resource for me in the next few months as I try to clean up my credit in preparation to purchase a house. I'm definitely on a timeline here as my potential "dream house" will be going on the market April 2013 and I want to be in position to purchase it. The first step is repairing our credit as much as possible.

My girlfriend has the most debt, I have the worst of it. She has several collections items that we need to take care of but it's all just collections and 90% medical bills so we should be able to settle those out pretty easily from what I have read. I have the big problem - I have a judgment which is not scheduled to come off until July 2016. That is the only negative thing on my report though so if I can manage to get it off I will basically have a clean slate again and everything on my CBR will be 100% positive. I have done a ton of research into judgments and if (and how) they can be removed. Basically, I need to get the collections agency that sued me to agree to file a Voluntary Non-Suit so the case is dismissed and I can dispute it with the credit bureaus.

I have identified the agency which filed suit and I am basically trying to draw up a gameplan for when I contact them. Has anyone here ever successfully gotten a Voluntary Non-Suit before? Do you have any advice for me? My plan, at the moment, is to call them and offer a settlement of 70-80% (I want to avoid a 1099c form and this should keep me below that $600 threshold) but advise them that I will not pay anything until I have it in writing that this amount will settle the account in full and they will file a Voluntary Non-Suit to have the case dismissed. I figure I can play hardball with them a bit since they did not serve me via cerified mail. I did recieve the letters that they were going to sue but they were all sent regular mail. They have no proof that they ever properly served me the papers. Based on what I have read, this means I could move to vacate the judgment based on the fact that they never contacted me - or at least they cannot prove that they ever did. The original debt is out of statutes now so if I get it dismissed they cannot sue me again and will have no means of collecting it. This, in theory, puts them in a position of "take what I'm offering and give me what I want or see me in court and get nothing."

Any thoughts, opinions, or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[fused]

Welcome to the forums!

Since you're seeking help with fixing your credit, I'm going to move your post to the Rebuilding Your Credit forum.

[GregB]

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@Anonymous wrote:

......

I have identified the agency which filed suit and I am basically trying to draw up a gameplan for when I contact them. Has anyone here ever successfully gotten a Voluntary Non-Suit before? Do you have any advice for me? My plan, at the moment, is to call them and offer a settlement of 70-80% (I want to avoid a 1099c form and this should keep me below that $600 threshold) but advise them that I will not pay anything until I have it in writing that this amount will settle the account in full and they will file a Voluntary Non-Suit to have the case dismissed. I figure I can play hardball with them a bit since they did not serve me via cerified mail. I did recieve the letters that they were going to sue but they were all sent regular mail. They have no proof that they ever properly served me the papers. Based on what I have read, this means I could move to vacate the judgment based on the fact that they never contacted me - or at least they cannot prove that they ever did. The original debt is out of statutes now so if I get it dismissed they cannot sue me again and will have no means of collecting it. This, in theory, puts them in a position of "take what I'm offering and give me what I want or see me in court and get nothing."

Any thoughts, opinions, or advice would be greatly appreciated.

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Four different concepts here, mostly mutually exclusive. I would pick one and preferably not the Voluntary Non-Suit concept if you think that is a good idea as the defendant.

FWIW, they proved service when they sued you. I would get the documents from the court and determine the method of service. That would need to be quite faulty to get any further than just being re-served in court and given the opportunity to present a defense. SOL may/may not apply depending on the rules of the court.

I would suggest you try to negotiate payment in full in exchange for vacating the judgement. That would be a big win for you.

Hopefully, RobertEG has some additional suggestions.

[Justjohn]

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@GregB wrote:

FWIW, they proved service when they sued you. I would get the documents from the court and determine the method of service. That would need to be quite faulty to get any further than just being re-served in court and given the opportunity to present a defense. SOL may/may not apply depending on the rules of the court.

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Sorry, but I have to point out that I don't believe service was proved when they sued Sabre.  A company mailing you a letter that states they intend to sue you is not the same as the court notifying you of it with a summons.  However, I will warn that such regulations vary by state and that many states have very loose requirements (such as allowing the summosn to be posted to a dwellings front door or handed to another occupant).  I think GregB is right in regards to contacting the courts for proof of service being your best bet.  The court can also easily let you know if the case could be tried again dispite the statute of limitations (which I doubt it can be).  They shoud be able to advise you concerning this before you even request the judgment to be vacated.  Also, I don't know your specific situation but I wouldn't personally play too much hard-ball with the company.  After all, they apparently have a judgment in place already.  They could decide to push repayment of the debt through the courts.  If I were in the situation you described, I'd politely offer to pay for a delete and for the judgment to be vacated.  Honestly, I wouldn't even do THAT unless I was able to pay in full if needed.

[virgo]

If sending service via regular mail was acceptable, everyone and their dead uncle would have judgements against them. The only time a mailed service is acceptable is if it is sent certified mail from the court. That being said even if you were not served properly there are time limits for vacating a judgement. Are you in the window?

[LIGHTNIN]

Check the laws in your jurisdiction, to see if you were served properly or not.

Where I live, they send a post card via usmail, telling  you to pick up your summons within 10days, if not picked up someone will serve it to you in person.

[GregB]

The plaintiff would have to provide proof of service before the court could determine that the defendant failed to appear. This is what I meant when I said that service was prooved. There should be an item in the court record stating that service was proper.

I would agree that regular mail is unlikely to be proper service but that doesn't matter since the basis for that discussion is the OP stating that he had received mail threatening to sue. That is unlikely to be an actual summons. It is critial to review the court documents and determine the type of service.

Time limit for vacating a judgement is a good point.

Lots of people think they weren't served properly. Trying to convince a judge to vacate a judgement based on service is usually very difficult.