Garnishment and Midland... Advice Please!

[Acc-Risk]

Over the past few years I have been cleaning old things up. Everything has been pretty much cleared and paid, my credit is getting much better and things seemed great. Until today.

My employer received a wage garnishment from Midland Credit. From what I've worked out the timeline goes like this.

2001 - Original Debt

2007 - Midland takes me to court. I was never summoned and did not know about this. Judgement in their favor (of course, I wasn't present.)

2007-2011 - I know nothing of this. It's not on my credit report and Midland has not tried to contact me.

April, 2011 - Midland files for Garnishment. Again I was never contacted.

Today, paperwork shows up at work. What I *believe* is happening is this: The paperwork shows a 24% interest rate on an $800 debt. Midland PURPOSELY doesn't contact me, waits 4 years then files garnishment, ensuring that they get a much larger amount than the judgement. What's bizarre is that they list my last known address as my work address, and quite honestly, in 6 years I have received very little mail, and certainly nothing from Midland. I called them several times and was promptly sent to a voicemail box.

So what do I do? I have no problem paying the judgement amount, but I'll be damned if I'm going to pay the interest on a document that I had no knowledge of. Can I contest this somehow? Can I at least stop the garnishment until I can negotiate a more reasonable settlement? I really can't afford the amount that they are taking out, ($560 every check.) Please I hope someone has some sound advice for this situation!

[Lian]

Lack of proper service of legal notice of their suit is standard grounds for motioning the court to vacate their judgment due to lack of proper civil procedure.

When the trial was conducted, a showing of acceptable service of notice upon you is a required element of the proceeding. So I would hustle down to the office of the clerk of the court that issued the judgment, and get a COMPLETE copy of the case file, and see how service upon you was purportedly shown. Make sure you know if their purported form of service is recognized within your state civil code, such as notice by publication. I would expect that is what they have relied upon. Is that sufficient in your jurisdiction?

If you can show that service was not properly done, you motion the court to vacate their judgment on that basis. Very standard and straightforward procedure, provided you can show lack of proper service. Civil actions cannot be taken behind the back of the defendant, so this is far from being a legal technicality. It is a serious breach of civil procedure, and the judge will listen.

This may be particularly relevant in your situation due to the age of the debt. If it has passed its legal statute of limitations in your state, you could have presented an SOL defense at trial, and had the entire matter resolved in your favor at that time. Lack of proper service upon you denied you that opportunity.