Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in New Jersey

Is the credit card debt invalid? If there was fraud or identity theft involved, you should contact one of the many organizations out there that are dedicated to helping people restore their identities and credit.

If you failed to pay for the credit card debt, you are responsible for the debt. Your credit was likely affected after the first missed payment, long before the judgment. However, if there was a failure of service of process, that might be grounds to overturn the verdict. You'd almost certainly need a lawyer to establish this, as you'd be dealing with an appellate court reviewing the standard of service of process as it applies to your fact set. Don't waste any time if that's the route you'd like to take. You have a very limited time to file for appeal. If it's as clear-cut as you describe, the process might not be very drawn out, but there's a risk of great expense when dealing with appeals. Unfortunately it's almost certainly going to cost you more than $850.

If you would like to discuss your matter further over a free phone consult, feel free to contact me at your convenience.

Regards,

Michael J. Duffy, Esq.

Duffy Law, LLC

1-888-414-5773

www.mduffylaw.com

1500 Market Street

12th Floor, East Tower

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102

52 Berlin Rd.

Suite 4000

Cherry Hill, NJ 08034

[email protected]

Please note: The information provided here is for general informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice or legal opinion on specific facts or circumstances. You should consult an experienced attorney concerning your particular factual situation and any specific legal questions you may have. No attorney-client relationship is created merely through the exchange of information via this web site. Michael J. Duffy will not undertake representation of a client without the client first signing a written retainer and representation agreement.

I disagree with the above poster. If you claim that you were never served with the lawsuit and did not know about it, then you obviously did not defend it. The judgment entered would have been a "default judgment." Therefore, you would not appeal. You don't appeal a default judgment. Rather, you would simply file a motion to vacate the default judgment on the grounds that you were not properly served. I caution you that you need to follow court rules for bringing a motion to vacate judgment. Before doing this, you would contact the court to inquire how, when and where they claim that service was accomplished. You can then specifically address this in your motion (such as offering evidence that you never lived at the address where they claim to have served you, or you moved prior to the date they claim to have served you). Most likely, you will find that you were served by mail, and that the certified mail came back as unclaimed and the regular mail was not returned. So long as the regular mail is not returned and the returned certified mail indicates "refused" or "unclaimed" rather than "moved" or "wrong address", the court considers service valid. That is why you would show that the address was incorrect. If your motion to vacate is not granted, then you can appeal that decision as the previous poster noted (being mindful of the expense as he indicated).

Before doing all of this, if you don't dispute that you owe the money and are willing to pay it, you might consider offering payment (whether in full or some negotiated lump-sum discount) IN EXCHANGE FOR the plaintiff voluntarily vacating the judgment. In other words, rather than the judgment being marked as paid, it will be vacated as if it never existed. They won't care so long as they get their money, but it will make a big difference to you. You would need to insure that an order vacating judgment is submitted to the court for a judge to sign. Again, I caution you to be very specific in making this deal, and be sure to obtain a written agreement that they will provide you with a consent order to vacate judgment in exchange for payment. I would suggest that the order vacating judgment specify that the entry of judgment was a mistake.

Once armed with the order vacating judgment signed by a judge, you would then dispute the presence of the judgment on your credit report with all all 3 credit reporting bureaus, providing them with a copy of the order signed by the judge. Hopefully, the effect will be as if the judgment never existed, and all references to it will be purged from your credit report with all 3 agencies. I caution you that sometimes it is hard to fully erase a judgment, even one entered by mistake. Even if it is removed from your credit report, the credit reporting agencies may keep picking up the old judgment again and putting it back on your credit report, and you may find yourself constantly having to show them the order vacating judgment. And as the other poster observed, even if you pay the creditor, there may still be a blemish on your credit for all the time you failed to pay them.

Also note that in addition to being served with the original complaint which began the lawsuit, you should have also been served with a notice that judgment was entered. In addition, you should have also been served with the motion for wage execution. The fact that you did not receive these is further demonstrative that they perhaps have an invalid address for you.

Note: Due to the limitations of the LawGuru Forums, the response to questions posted does not constitute legal advice or legal representation of the person posting a question. The information provided is general. The poster should obtain specific legal advice from an attorney, and should not rely upon the response as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.