Legal Question in Civil Litigation in New York

Re: i was served at an address that i dont reside at

Make sure you read the entire response below.

You were not properly served. Service can be made on a person of suitable age and discretion at your usual place of abode, your actual place of business, or your residence within the State of New York. They didn't do that, so the Court lacks personal jurisdiction over you.

How you react depends on whether or not a default judgment has been entered against you. If so, then you need to make a motion to vacate the judgment. The clerk of the court should be able to furnish you with a form to make the motion to vacate the default judgment. You will need to accompany your motion with a proposed answer abd ab affidavit that shows an excuse for the default and a meritorious defense to the case.

The excuse for default is easy: you were not served and you did not know about the lawsuit.

Meritorious defense. You need to show that you have something to say when you get your day in court, i.e., a reason why you don't owe the money. Maybe the plaintiff's failure to serve you properly means that the statute of limitations has elapsed. It's tricky, but certainly a possible angle, especially if the action was started in a lower court (Civil Court, District Court, Justice Court, City, Town or Village Court). If it's a Supreme Court case, then the case is probably big enough to warrant getting a lawyer at least to spend half an hour reviewing the case. Call the County Bar Association for a referral if you don't have access to a lawyer.

If a default judgment has not been entered, then you need to get the court file, look at the complaint, and answer the complaint (serve and file the answer).

Make darned tootin' sure your answer (proposed or otherwise) says:

AS AND FOR AN AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE:

The Court lacks personal jurisdiction of the defendant by reason of insufficient service of process.

Something else to consider: the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. #1, the summons should say "This is an attempt to collect a debt" yada yada blipety blah. If it doesn't then it's a violation of the act. #2, they communicated with someone other than you about your debt. This is another violation of the act. The penalty for violating the act is up to $1000 per count plus attorney's fees. Typically the fee award is bigger than the recovery, so you may be able to get a neighborhood lawyer (like the fellows with storefront offices who handle accident cases) interested. It's a paying case, they usually jump at these matters.

Good luck.

This post is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is a comment on the legal question posed by the poster and should not be relied upon unless and until an attorney-client relationship is entered into. Doing so would require signing an engagement letter and depositing a retainer to secure payment of legal fees.