Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Florida

In Orange County, Florida there is a judgment against me for a credit card debt and the collection company is now garnishing 25% of my wages. I was never given the opportunity to appear in court, however, because I was not served a notice to appear or any paperwork for that matter. I found out about the judgment when searching my name on the county clerk site. It turns out that the collection agency served the paperwork to my old address where I no longer lived. My ex-boyfriend was still living in the apartment at that time and by the description of who they served, it sounds like they handed all the paperwork over to him. Unfortunately, we were not on speaking terms and I never received the documents. I'm wondering if I have an argument for improper service. How can they hand over legal paperwork to someone who has no contact or communication with you? I didn't find out about the court date until it was too late and now they've awarded the collection company the debt owed, plus court costs, plus interest for a total of $3638.61. Not only that, but 25% of my paycheck is taken every two weeks and that leaves very little for me to live off of. They've already collected $2134 of the debt and I'm okay with them collecting the rest of the debt I owe, which is only $441 more, but for them to collect court costs and interest from a court date I wasn't even notified about seems wrong. Please help!


Asked on 12/03/15, 7:07 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
David Labovitz Labovitz Law Firm, P.A.

Hi. Improper or no service is always a good defense. It means that you were never provided the opportunity to defend your case. However, in your case, since you've paid almost the whole thing, you have to decide whether it's worthwhile to pay an attorney to go to court for you to overturn the judgment. It might be worth it simply because the creditor would have to return all your garnished wages and start from scratch. That might give you some strong negotiating ability to settle the case for less.

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Answered on 12/03/15, 11:53 am


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