Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Vermont

Re: garnishment of wages for unpaid rent

I don't exactly understand your question. Did your husband get served with the original lawsuit? Not the garnishment papers, but the original "Motion for Judgment" or "Warrant in Debt" ?

If not, you may find that the lawsuit was served at a bad address where your husband did not live. If so, you can file a Motion to Vacate the judgment on the grounds that the "service" of the lawsuit was bad. You will have to prove that your husband did not live at that address. Go to the clerk of the court and ask to see the file about the lawsuit.

You also throw in at the last minute that you are going to court next year. It is hard to answer your question without understanding more about that other court action.

Of course you can sue for the damages you have experienced, but you may have a problem with the statute of limitations. If you have not sued for those things, you need to do it quickly or not at all.

In general, you can try to net the two court judgments against each other. But because one is an actual court judgment and the other is not yet finalized in a court judgment, this would have to wait.

Also, if the landlord's court judgment is against your husband only and you win a new court judgment in the name of both of you, they may not match exactly and they might not be able to be netted out to cancel each other.

Re: garnishment of wages for unpaid rent

You can counterclaim in the pending suit anything you believe that could be reasonably attributed to the landlord's negligence or failure to maintain a properly habitable premises during the course of your tenancy and which resulted in damages. (The alleged heist of your boat by the landlord's son may not necessarily be included in those alleged damages and in that case you would need to sue the son separately.)