Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Georgia

Tonight you make a police report. In the morning you hire a lawyer to move to reopen the eviction lawsuit and traverse the garnishment.

Attorney Ashman is correct!

Do you have an unusual or common name though? It is possible that this is not a case of identity fraud at all. This happened to a client of mine - I got a call from a creditor about a judgment entered against someone with the same name as my client. The last four digits of the Social Security number were even the same and it was only when I had them give me the whole number that we realized that it was for someone other than my client. I also had a case where a judgment creditor tried to garnish the wages of someone else who happened to have the same name as my client.

So in addition to the advice provided by Attorney Ashman, I would first suggest that you go to the court where the judgment was entered and get a copy of the court file to see what this was for and whether you are in fact the debtor identified in the lawsuit. If the law firm has the wrong person, that should be easy - your employer needs to answer the garnishment summons and you need to do the traverse. If the lawsuit named the correct person but this was a case of identity theft because you never lived in the apartment, then you need to do the police report (assuming the police will take one) and think about who could have obtained your personal information. You will also need to hire an attorney to not only file the traverse but file a motion to have the judgment vacated.

A garnishment does not just happen - that is why it is important for you to look at the court file. To get a judgment the complaint had to be served - how, where and when was it served? That may also give you a clue as to whether this is identity theft or if the wrong person was identified.