Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Virginia

Recourse after Judgment W/O Service

After reviewing my consumer credit report I discovered that a judgment was placed against me without my knowledge.

I contacted the creditor via phone and based on information provided to me by the creditor; I do not believe this is a valid debt.

I then wrote a letter requesting ''Validation'' of debt, but creditor has refused to provide documents proving my indebtness.

My questions are:

1. Since I was not properly service is there any course of action I could take that would overturn the judgment?

2. Is the creditor still obligated to provide me documentary proof of my indebtness within 30 days as stated within FDCPA despite the fact they have a judgement?

3. If the creditor refuses to provide me with documentation in the time frame specified by law must they then remove the debt from my credit report even though they have a judgement?


Asked on 2/11/04, 5:16 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: Recourse after Judgment W/O Service

Merely because you claim that you did not receive valid legal notice of the creditor's motion for judgment against you for the alleged unpaid debt,

does not mean, necessarily, that such legal notice was not obtained.(I will not detail here

the various ways in which this could occur.)

Your recourse is to contact the court in which the judgment was entered and request to examine the court file on the matter. There should be papers in the file which indicate the type and manner in which notice was provided to the judgment debtor(meaning you).

If it's obvious that the notice was defective(sent to some place where you never lived, for example), you could then request to file with this same court a motion to have the judgment set aside or vacated.

If the judgment creditor has received a valid judgment against you, the creditor is not now obligated to provide you with the documentary proof which you've demanded of your indebtedness within the 30 day time frame of the FDCPA.

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Answered on 2/13/04, 10:48 am


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