CA showed up at work !!!

What is the name of your state? Georgia

I was informed by my manager tonight that someone showed up at my work place and told her they would start garnishing my wages! My manager couldn't remember who they were or whether they were actually attorneys or not. I have never served any summon from the court, but I have moved 3 times in the past 2 years. Is it possible that they (CA/court/creditor) couldn't find me and I was given a judgement by default for not showing up on the court date? Don't they have to show some kind of court order to my employee???
What should I do?

[Ladynred]

In order to garnish they DO have to sue you and win, that's the ONLY way they can garnish. Your employer would get court papers that orders the garnishment.

You need to call the courthouse and find out if there IS a judgment against you and get a copy of it AND the proof of service papers. That way you can find out how they say you were served.

It could be there is NO judgment and whoever the scumbag was who showed up at your job was just making threats.. and illegal ones at that !

First thing.. call the courthouse.

Thank you for answering, Ladynred.
Which courthouse should I call? Since I live in Atlanta, my first guess is The Bankruptcy Court for this district?
I even searched and printed some of the Georgia Code, so I know what's the procedure for garnishment in GA.
I don't even know why they would bother garnishing my wage, my paycheck is usually not more than $35/week (I am a server at a rest.)

[Ladynred]

No, judgments are Civil, Bankruptcy court would be Federal. Call the courthouse where you live, as that is where they would have to have sued you anyway.

Sounds like they probably couldn't garnish you even if they had one. They can only take a max of 25% of your disposable income (net), OR 30x the Federal minimum wage, whichever is greater.

OK, worst case scenario.....if I actually do have a judgment against me, would I be able to vacate the judgment since I was never served properly? I'm getting confused here about the correct procedure on garnishment. If I didn't receive the summon, then I would get judgement by default, correct? then if I never received any paperwork from the courthouse (judgment), can they just show up at work and serve the judgment there?

[Ladynred]

Maybe. Depends on what constitutes 'proper service' in GA. Some states its legal, when they can't find you for personal service, to publish a notice in the newspaper !!!!!

So.. you need to find out HOW it was served.. the records will be at the courthouse.. so get that info.

If it turns out that service was improper you CAN file a motion to have it vacated on that basis.

They get the default judgment if you don't appear in court on the date contained in the summons. So, in essence, if you don't know about the summons you can't get to the court date and yes, they win by default.

Yes, you can be served at work, or anywhere they can find you to hand you the papers. They can serve you via certified mail, in some places 1st class mail, or by 'publication'.

OMG....I should've studied law. In the past 2 years I've encountered so many legal questions, and being 'poor' has certainly forced me to do my own legal work....lol.
Well, I called the Courthouse (Garnishment div.) and was told that there's nothing filed under my name. So my next move would be to file a complaint against those SOBs!!! It's just that the damage is done. I'm not proud having to file BK, and now I even have people looking for me for money at work!

[Ladynred]

File a complaint with the FTC too. Their threats of garnishment, when THEY cannot do it and obviously do NOT have a judgment against you, is a clear violation of the FDCPA. You might want to wander over to FTC.gov, under Consumer Protection, Credit, and read up on the FDCPA.