Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Collection against the Wrong Individual

A judgment is only valid agains the actual individual subject to the judgment. If they are, in fact, collecting against the wrong individual, they have a problem.

I noticed you listed CA and GA as the states for which this questions concerns. I assume that this garn action is filed in CA, because the terms you use are different than the ones we use in GA. In GA we would have filed a traverse to the garnishment action.

The name of the pleading is somewhat unimportant. If this is a CA action, you need to seek the counsel of an attorney licensed in CA for the appropriate advice.

However, if the collection agency is pursuing the wrong person for a valid debt, the collection agency has a problem.

In GA we would file an affidavit in your case showing that you WERE NOT the individual against whom they have the judgment. I would show that you did not live at the address and that you do not know and are unaware of the indivudual who rented that apartment.

Beyond that, we would threaten the collector and his collection agency within an inch of his life. There is nothing wrong with pursuing a valid debt and pursuing it vigorously -- we do it all the time. However, once the collector is confornted with sworn evidence that the target -- you -- is not the individual against whom he has a valid judgment, he risks civil damages (particularly punitive damages) for wilfully pursuning a person against whom he has no judgment.

There are a number of legal techniques to get at the judgment, but they are beyond the scope of this note. There is a 9-11-60 motion to attack the judgment (GA only), and in both CA and GA we assume you can move for summary judgment (with your sworn affidavit) showing the court that you are not the individual named in the collector's judgment. If your evidence shows the court that your are not the individual names in the judgment, we would be quite surprised if the court allowed the collector to take ANY action against you, once you present unrebutted sworn testimony that you are not the defendant named in the judgment.

If you are really not the individual -- and I must admit you not is a little equivocating -- then go protect yourself. You may need some limited assistance from a local lawyer to help you with the paperwork. If the collector is shuting down your bank account or garn your wages, do not fool around. Get a lawyer to help you with the pleadings.

Good Luck.

BTW: The 1974 Fair Debt Collection Act prohibits him from going after you, once you put him on notice that you are not the ind. named in the judgment.