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Mel S Harris judgement against my bank account

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kumquat

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? NY

Today I discovered a large negative balance in my bank account. The bank told me that it was the result of a legal decision on behalf of Mel S Harris. They gave me a phone number and a case number (but no court name).

I never received any summons from these people. There is no answer at the phone number provided to me.

What am I supposed to do?

Thanks
 


StephenH

Member
Here is some info I found for Mel S Harris:

Mel S. Harris & Associates, L.L.C. 116 John St., #1510 New York, NY 10038
Phone: 866-414-7444 or 212-571-4900 Fax: 212-571-0965 Web Address: none ...


In regard to your bank account, you should contact the courts and ask them for info on how and where you were served. If you were served improper, you should file a motion to vacate. If you were served properly, you need to contact the court and make payment arrangements.
 

kumquat

Junior Member
Here is some info I found for Mel S Harris:

Mel S. Harris & Associates, L.L.C. 116 John St., #1510 New York, NY 10038
Phone: 866-414-7444 or 212-571-4900 Fax: 212-571-0965 Web Address: none ...


In regard to your bank account, you should contact the courts and ask them for info on how and where you were served. If you were served improper, you should file a motion to vacate. If you were served properly, you need to contact the court and make payment arrangements.
How do I know what court to contact?
 
If you contact the firm, they'll tell you what court they filed in. It's usually in the nearest municipal court to your location.
 

kumquat

Junior Member
There is no answer at their number and there doesn't even seem to be a way to leave a message.

I will attempt to call the local county clerk's office and see what I can find out. Just for my information, what are acceptable (defensible?) methods of serving a summons?
 
Last edited:
Normally we try certified mail first, if it's returned "unclaimed" meaning no one was home, we resend it regular mail. If its returned attempted not known, or moved left no forwarding address, we skiptrace and send a new summons to the address we find via certified mail again. In rare instances, we'll send a bailiff to serve the summons.
 

You Are Guilty

Senior Member
A little internet sleuthing is all that's required.

If the judgment was for less than $5000*, go here:
https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/webcivilLocal/LCMain

If it was over $5k, then go here:
https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/webcivil/FCASMain

Sign in, click "party name", type your name in the box, check the "defendant" option and hit return. Don't need to know the county or year.

In the meantime, lots of Mel Harris posts here, do a search. Good luck.


* Don't forget that the amount that's frozen in your account is actually 2x the judgment amount.
 

kumquat

Junior Member
Gah, the summons was served to my roommate. Obviously I never ended up getting it.

Anyway, they (the law office that sued me) want me to fax over my most recent pay stub and a bank account statement and they'll let me know how much I have to pay them for them to lift the hold.

I just want to make sure this sounds right before I fax the information over.
 

You Are Guilty

Senior Member
Gah, the summons was served to my roommate. Obviously I never ended up getting it.

Anyway, they (the law office that sued me) want me to fax over my most recent pay stub and a bank account statement and they'll let me know how much I have to pay them for them to lift the hold.

I just want to make sure this sounds right before I fax the information over.
Depends - do you agree you owe the money? If so, I certainly would cooperate with them, although I would redact my employer's ID and any bank info that they don't already possess. (Who knows, they might be trying to get even more money from you than they already took.)


{edit}
If you feel like busting their chops, the service on your roommate was probably insufficient. Ask them for a copy of the affidavit of service for the complaint before you agree to send them anything...
 

TigerD

Senior Member
{edit}
If you feel like busting their chops, the service on your roommate was probably insufficient. Ask them for a copy of the affidavit of service for the complaint before you agree to send them anything...
Not in NY. They could serve a half-eaten grapefruit in the dumpster behind the restaurant a half a block away from his house and it would still be good.

DC
 

kumquat

Junior Member
Depends - do you agree you owe the money? If so, I certainly would cooperate with them, although I would redact my employer's ID and any bank info that they don't already possess. (Who knows, they might be trying to get even more money from you than they already took.)


{edit}
If you feel like busting their chops, the service on your roommate was probably insufficient. Ask them for a copy of the affidavit of service for the complaint before you agree to send them anything...
I do owe the money, yes. I've been ignoring some debt but this is a kick in the pants and will spur me to get it taken care of.

I want to get the hold taken off my account ASAP, so I'm not sure that contesting the service will do me much good. I'd just be right back in this situation again after they filed again.

I'm reluctant to send them my bank balance, but I don't think I really seem to have much choice.
 
If they already have the hold on the account, sending them the bank balance won't do anything. They'll pull all the funds up to the total amount due that they can. Honestly, it just sounds like the collector wants to know how much he/she can count on towards next month's goal. Sorry.
 

You Are Guilty

Senior Member
I do owe the money, yes. I've been ignoring some debt but this is a kick in the pants and will spur me to get it taken care of.

I want to get the hold taken off my account ASAP, so I'm not sure that contesting the service will do me much good. I'd just be right back in this situation again after they filed again.

I'm reluctant to send them my bank balance, but I don't think I really seem to have much choice.
How much did they take vs. how much do you owe? (Presumably, you owe more than they took or else they would not want additional bank balance information).

If you are offering to pay it outright, they don't need to see your bank info. On the other hand, if you're trying to work out a payment plan, they're probably not going to work with you until you provide it.

debtcollector said:
Not in NY. They could serve a half-eaten grapefruit in the dumpster behind the restaurant a half a block away from his house and it would still be good.
:D At least they have a NYC debt collecting license!
 

kumquat

Junior Member
They have a hold on the account for about twice what I owe. They told me that I only need to pay what I owe.

They also said that if I fax this information over, they will review it and let me know what kind of payment they want me to make to get the hold taken off.

It does suck, but I certainly got myself into this situation. They don't appear to be trying to totally screw me just yet, and I'm sure they'll settle for regular payments vs no money at all.

Thanks for the help.
 

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