Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

Re: Wage Garnishment and Default Judgement

Your problem is it's beyond two years, and just about impossible to set aside the judgment. Probably the best bet is to try to negotiate with the attorney handling the case to get a discount if you pay a lump sum, or a payment plan -- perhaps without additional interest.

If your finances are presently rocky, you might talk to an attorney about whether you qualify for bankruptcy.

Re: Wage Garnishment and Default Judgement

Yes, it is possible to set aside a judgment, even now, if there was no/improper service . . . but, what was never/improperly served? You claim that you failed to appear in court because you were �not served correctly at your new address.� What do you mean exactly? Are you talking about a default judgment? Notice of trial? Were you served with the lawsuit? Did you file an answer & then fail to appear at trial? Are you talking about a default judgment because you were not served with the lawsuit? Why & how were you improperly served at your new address?� Explain why the plaintiff is able to garnish your wages. The answers to these questions are very important to evaluate any chance of success on a motion to vacate the judgment.

Generally, in California, a judgment is void if there were no/improper service & any such void judgment may be set aside at anytime under the court�s equitable powers. However, in your motion to vacate, you MUST prove improper service. You cannot simply say �I was not served� or �I was improperly served.� You must be able to PROVE it. You must also establish that you filed the motion within a reasonable time after first learning of the judgment. The longer you knew about the judgment before filing the motion, the less likely your chance of success. You admit knowing about the judgment at least since the wage garnishment. When did the WG start & how soon after that are you filing the motion? A month or 2 or 3 is probably OK. But, any longer can be a problem without sufficient explanation. Don�t forget, after you file the motion, the plaintiff will prepare an opposition attempting to prove your grounds are meritless.

Do you have a copy of the entire court file in this case? If not, please obtain the files from the court. In LA, you can get the files from the court�s web site for a fee. All of the documents in the file will have proofs of service attached to them. What address is on the POS? Do you claim that you never received any of these documents?

I hope this helps you organize your thoughts. You have an uphill battle. The court is not going to be inclined to set aside a judgment 3 years ago unless you can PROVE your claims re: service. Depending upon your answers to my questions, above, you can then decide whether another course of attack may be better.

Lisa

Re: Wage Garnishment and Default Judgement

I concur with the comments posted by Lisa Howard.

In addition to the problems associated with proving your claim that you were not properly served, a judge won't be very sympathetic if the only reason you want to go to court is to dispute the manner of service. If you owe the money, the outcome would still be the same: a judgment against you for the amount owed. You have no defense and it would be a waste of judicial resources.

Your best bet is to try to negotiate a settlement or see a bankruptcy attorney.