Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Virginia

Re: Bank Account

Well, I am not sure what happened, but it sounds like the law firm representing the apartment building filed a lawsuit, but "served" the lawsuit on an old address. So you did not know about it, because you did not receive teh lawsuit (because it was an old address where you do not live any more). Because you did not know about the lawsuit, they won the lawsuit by default.

I assume from what you wrote (you said this was about Virginia law) hat you were living in Virginia and moved out of Virginia.

After winning a court judgment by default, they are entitled to collect on teh lawsuit by garnishing your bank account or wages. As soon as the court judgment is paid off in full, then the process will stop. They cannot "take control of yoru bank account." They can only take enough money to pay off the court judgment.

If they used a wrong address to "serve" teh lawsuit, you can have it vacated (erased like it never happened). But if you owe the money, they will possibly just come back again and file a new lawsuit. So while it is possible to vacate the court judgment, if you DO OWE the money, it might not be a good use of your time.

As soon as the judgment is paid off, they cannot do anything more and your bank account will be unfrozen.