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Vacating a Judgment
Did someone file a
judgment against you? If they did, there is a chance you can get it
dismissed or "vacated." Vacating a judgment is basically the equivalent of
stamping a big fat red "VOID" on the judgment paperwork.
Filing a motion to dismiss a judgment is like filing
an appeal on the outcome of a jury trial. If the outcome was not fair, and
you have good reason why the court should overturn its prior ruling, you
should file a motion. Don't be intimidated by the thought that you are
challenging a court ruling, it happens all of the time.
As with many collection agencies, many people who file
lawsuits to collect money from you in court didn't follow the law. You may
be asking yourself why the judge didn't know about this improper deviation.
As in most professions, judges tend to specialize in one type of case. For
the same reason that you can't expect a heart surgeon to know the best
psychiatric medications to prescribe to a patient with schizophrenia, a
judge doing small claims or injury lawsuits may not be intimately familiar
with consumer law. Sure they know the basics, but one person can't know
everything. Before deciding on a case, most judges need to look up and study
existing statutes and case rulings. In addition, if the person who sues says
they followed the correct procedure and the defendant or his lawyer does not
dispute it, it's a sure bet they were given the benefit of the doubt.
Another thing to look out for: even if the person
suing you followed all the right court procedures, you can still win on
technicalities. The two biggest reasons a judgment is "won" are: A) the
defendant failed to respond to the court summons with the proper paperwork
in the allowed period of time, and B) the defendant failed to appear for
their court date. This is calling winning by default. If you missed your
court date, you may still not be out of luck.
If you receive a judgment or a writ of restitution and
you believe you had a good reason for not responding to the eviction summons
or appearing at the "show cause" hearing, there still may be grounds for
asking the court to vacate the judgment. If the court agrees that you may
have had good reasons for not responding or appearing, the court may decide
to set a hearing on your motion to vacate the judgment.
First some terms:
A judgment is the actual court decision stating that
the person suing is in the right. It issues the method to "right the wrong,"
such as fines, the actions you need to take to correct the violation, or the
amount of money you need to pay the plaintiff.
A writ of restitution is generally used only by
landlords. It is basically a court order, in writing, that would be given to
a sheriff to evict you if your landlord was trying to get you to move based
on non-payment. You don't need to worry about this document if you are not
being sued by your landlord.
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Vacate basically means dismiss.
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The plaintiff is the person suing you.
-
The defendant is the person being sued (you).
Prepare
Your Motion to Vacate
The first thing
you should do before preparing a motion to vacate is to look up your state's
rules of civil procedure. It should spell out exactly what you need to
do to file a motion. It will also tell you what reasons are valid, and may
include the exact language you need to use. If you don't follow the
procedures, you can get your motion thrown out on a technicality. Here's
a good link:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/state_statutes.html
You must prepare a
Motion and Declaration to Vacate Judgment and an Order to Show Cause.
Motion and
Declaration to Vacate Judgment
A sample document
is included at the end of this article which can be used as a template to
write up your motion. This document tells the court why the judgment against
you should be vacated. First, you need to identify the case by name and
court reference number and all the persons involved in the judgment.
Next, explain your
reasons for bringing the motion. State your "procedural defenses," that is,
the good reason(s) why you did not respond to the summons and complaint on
time or appear at a "show cause" hearing. For example:
-
I was not served
with a summons and complaint - you need to check your state laws here.
Some states say that a non-certified letter delivered by US Postal service
is all that is required to properly serve a complaint. Most states,
however, require that you be served in person or at least get your summons
sent certified, return requested mail. Here is a good link to double check
you state and county procedures:
http://www.findlaw.com/10fedgov/judicial/district_courts.html
I responded to
the summons and complaint in time, but a judgment was issued anyway
without a hearing.
I was not able
to answer the summons and complaint or appear at the show cause hearing
because…
In the same space,
also tell the court about your defense to the judgment (why the case would
have been dismissed had you shown up in the first place). For example:
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The collection
agency never responded to my request for validation, therefore never
providing proof that the debt was mine under the FDCPA.
-
The amount of
the debt exceeded the state's usury interest limits
Please note that
the court will only respond to violations of existing laws. They won't
accept reasons like: "My insurance company was supposed to pay this debt and
never did, therefore I shouldn't have to pay this medical bill."
File the
Paperwork
Most likely, you
will have to file your motion at the same court which granted the judgment
in the first place, which means that if the judgment was granted in
Anchorage, Alaska, and you now live in Miami, Florida, you will have to fly
to Alaska to both file the paperwork and to attend the court trial.
Go to the
courthouse with your typed document and tell the court clerk that you are
filing a motion to vacate a judgment. There may be additional forms to fill
out at the courthouse, and there will probably be a nominal filing fee. The
clerk should know exactly what needs to be done with your paperwork, and can
answer all of your questions and even help you fill out the forms.
Once your
paperwork is in order, the court will notify you of the upcoming court date.
The person who originally sued you (the plantiff in the original suit) will
typically have 35 days to respond.
Notify
The Original Plaintiff
In some cases,
once the paperwork is filed the court will notify the plaintiff and/or
plaintiff's attorney. Be sure to ask if the court will serve notice or if
you need to, as serving the notice of summons is crucial to winning your
case. If it is your responsibility to serve notice, you can hire a
third-party professional service company for a nominal fee (typically around
$35).
What If
They Offer to Settle Out of Court?
Very often the
original plaintiff in your lawsuit will come back to you and offer to vacate
the judgment, especially if they blatantly flouted the laws in winning the
case in the first place and have no proof, say that you were properly
served, or that they violated the FDCPA, etc.
If they offer to
settle out of court, you should demand that they themselves file paperwork
to dismiss the lawsuit. Also demand that they notify any collection agencies
they may have hired to collect money and also notify the credit bureaus of
the "mistake." It is also crucial before accepting any settlement offer (in
writing, naturally) that they send you copies of any paperwork received from
the courts about the judgment vacation or dismissal.
What
Happens at Court?
In the best of all
possible scenarios, the original plaintiff will not show up for the hearing
to dismiss and you will win by default. If this happens, you shouldn't have
to present anything to the court and should receive your dismissal
automatically, especially if the original plaintiff never responded in
writing to the summons.
In the second best
of all possible worlds, they show up to the hearing and are unable to
disprove your reason for requesting the dismissal:
-
They are unable
to show proper documentation that you were properly served.
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They are unable
to show that the debt was legal in the first place (unable to show what
the correct debt amount should be, if a contract existed in the first
place, etc.)
This means, of
course, that you should have good documentation on the case and have it
available to present in court. See
Suing your Creditors.
What
Happens When You Win?
You should receive
a court document showing that the case was dismissed. Send copies of this
document to any collection agency that's contacted you about the case and to
the credit bureaus so they will remove any mention of the judgment from your
credit report. Even though you demanded that the defendant do this, it only
takes a few minutes and a few stamps to insure that it gets done promptly by
doing it yourself.
For a sample motion to vacate,
contact us.
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REAL Freedom
Library
History of Banking Fraud:
The Coming Battle
By M. W. WALBERT
The Coming Battle
documents from Congressional records, newspaper reports and writings by
the founding fathers and others a chronology of events long forgotten that
shaped our fledgling nation from 1776 to 1899. Read about the manipulation
of our money and its supply, the intentional creation of recessions,
depressions and panics, manipulation of the stock markets, and the
demonetization of silver.
Secrets of the Federal Reserve
by Eustace Mullins
Eustace Mullins' carefully
researched and documented treatise picks up from Walbert's expose' of
control of the money supply and the economy and
brings it to the mid 1980's.
The
World Order
by Eustace Mullins
How control of the world's money has inexorably led to an ever tighter
grip on control of the world's people.
Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley
Huxley presents a dystopic view of a future
in which mind-control creates a harmonized society stratified into classes
suitably manipulated and deprived to carry out work tasks with a hive
mentality. A foreign element is inserted when a high ranking Alpha brings a
Native American from a Reservation and a new perspective on freedom gnaws at
the fabric of the propaganda matrix.
Propaganda
by Edward Bernays
Walter
Lippmann's book, Public Opinion, published in 1922, detailed the
study in which he and Edward Bernays were involved while in London during
the First World War. It had to do with painting pictures inside people's
heads, which were cunningly and deliberately designed by expert craftsmen to
mislead not only individuals but entire societies.
Pawns in the Game
by William Guy Carr
This is the classic expose' of the New World Order from a Commander in
the Canadian Navy through the first half of the 20th Century.
Commander Carr was introduced to the Hidden Hand early in his life and
pursuing its mysteries became a lifelong mission.
Social Credit
by CH Douglas
In every country of the world the global financial system has
repeatedly been brought to the Bar of
Public Opinion as the chief factor in world unrest, and there is little
doubt that the jury of We the People has confirmed the Verdict somewhat rhetorically
expressed by Mr. William Jennings Bryan in his famous election speech: "The
money power preys upon the nation in times of peace, and conspires against
it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent
than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces, as public
enemies, all who question its methods, or throw light upon its crimes. It
can only be overthrown by the awakened conscience of the nation."
Social Credit by C.H. Douglas can clarify the issues from which we can
move forward to create a financial system that is fair and equitable.
Final Warning: A History of the New World Order
by
by David
Allen Rivera
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can serve us well. To have been
ignored in the history books, by the colleges and
universities, the print and electronic media, and the entire
national and international discussion shows their power to control
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What they intend to do with this power and influence should be one
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How control of the world's people has inexorably led to wider use of
depopulation methods which include spreading radioactivity in food,
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Taking Back Your Power
by Allen Aslan Heart
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© 2007, Allen Aslan Heart / White Eagle Soaring of the Little Shell Pembina Band, a
Treaty
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