Wrongful Garnishment - Again!

[sara48427]

What is the name of your state? Michigan

July 2006 - I was evicted by court order (I had left the property, in good condition and vacated before the eviction). The order was for eviction, I was not ordered to pay what the Landlord felt I owed. I did not receive my security deposit back, nor did I pursue getting it back (lack of knowledge).

February 2007 - My state income tax return was held based on a debt owed by the agency (Landlord - as stated above) because of a garnishment????
I called the county clerk's office and after a nice discussion, the clerk sent the state of Michigan a release of garnishment. Again, the court order in this case said that I owed nothing. I believed this was a human error on the Landlords part and dismissed it as such.

February 2008 - Again, my state income tax return has been held, again, it has been released and I am now waiting the "up to 4 months" to get my money. I now believe that the landlord is using this wrongful garnishment as a form of harassment and malice. Currently our family has no income (husband hurt - waiting on disability determination, I homeschool 5 of our 7 children), I was depending on my income tax return to take care of my February bills, now have an eviction notice and shut off notice.

My question is: Do I have a case and is there any Michigan court rulings that anyone might know of that pertains to my situation? Thank you in advance for any help.What is the name of your state?

[racer72]

You need the find the source of the garnishment and it's not the eviction notice. Your former landlord sued you in court and won. You need to find which court the landlord used to sue you and get a copy of the judgment, proof of service and writ of garnishment. Is is possible that you were served papers after the eviction and you assumed they had to do with the eviction but you were actually being served for a lawsuit?

[sara48427]

Thank you for a quick response. According to the district court's office, the landlord was not granted any type of money, nor was there a seperate law suit. The court's exact words were, "usually our system flags wrongful collection attempts, I don't know how our computer didn't pick it up". I gave the district court all of the information that I recieved from the Michigan Department of Treasury concerning this attempted garnishment. Including "debt detail", garnishment - social security number - and agency/court file number. I know that it sounds incredible . . . . but what I believe is happening is that this Landlord (whom happens to be a doctor/slum landlord who owns many homes in the area) is doing this, not only to me, but to others who do not understand the law and is getting away with receiving money that is not rightly his. Just not sure what to do next . . .

[racer72]

I would suggest at a minimum having a talk with a local attorney familar with landlord/tenants law. The former landlord could have used a different court rather than your local district court.

[sara48427]

Thank you for your time. I did obtain the court papers to make cetain the mistake was not on my part. There was no money judgment. I believe that my next step will be to research "abuse of process". If anyone has any helpful information, (how to go about bringing this type of suit against someone) I sure would appreciate it. Thank you again.
Sara

[farmgirl_48732]

Sheesh just call the LL and settle it. You didn't pay your rent, that's your stupidity. Quit using excuses. Maybe it's not the LL your talking about that has a garnishment against you, maybe it's someone else that has also gotten one against you. The LL may be correct, that it's not him trying to get the money. Try that avenue to see if their is another garnishment. And next time, quit trying to beat the system and take care of your business.

[Texas Pooh]

all of the information that I recieved from the Michigan Department of Treasury concerning this attempted garnishment. Including "debt detail", garnishment - social security number - and agency/court file number.

OP,

Are we sure you are being garnished from the landlord action, and not some other lawsuit that you may not know about?

In order to get a garnishment, the creditor must file an application. You need to get a copy of the garnishment application and see what is going on. Use the agency/court file number to get a copy of the garnishment order.

You may then have to file a motion to have the garnishment order vacated. If the order is still in force, the same problem is going to occur each year.

If its the landlord action, getting the order vacated should be easy based on the facts you've posted - you just produce the order from the landlord action showing there was no money damages awarded.

If its another reason, at least you'll be able to figure out what is going on.

[Debt Guy]

This is weird.

Since when does state or federal government allow a civil judgment garnishment of a tax refund? Is this something unique to MI? I've always been of the impression that the only way to garnish a federal payment or a tax refund was for back child support, students loans or back taxes.

What am I missing?

[Texas Pooh]

Debt Guy,

Michigan apparently allows for garnishments from civil judgments. The state tax website
([url]http://www.michigan.gov/taxes/0,1607,7-238-43513_44135-156357--,00.html#garnishment[/url]) provides the process (set out below).

Interestingly, when I read the the website, it made it clear that OP would have gotten notice before the tax was withheld and given a chance to respond. I suspect that is the process OP was describing:


The Michigan Department of Treasury, Third Party Withholding Unit, receives and processes garnishments, probate orders, child support orders, overpayment of unemployment benefits and IRS levies on individual income tax refunds under the authority of Public Act 211 of 1985. Treasury is required to provide notice to taxpayers before withholding individual income tax refunds or credits for payment of a debt.

Treasury withholds tax refunds or credits of the individual (defendant) to pay a debt owed to the creditor. If your individual income tax refund is held as a result of a garnishment, the State has received notice of the judgment against you and is required to withhold (offset) your income tax refund or credit to satisfy the debt.

Prior to Treasury holding your income tax refund or credit, you should have received notification from the creditor who brought the case before the court. This notification is in the form of the defendant's copy of the "Request and Writ for Garnishment (Income Tax Refund/Credit)".

Taxpayer receives "Notice of Income Tax Refund Used for Debts" and a "Garnishment Disclosure". These documents describe the type of debt, the amount of the refund to be withheld, the name, address and phone number of the plaintiff (creditor) and the court where the garnishment was filed. The taxpayer has up to 28 days from the date of the "Garnishment Disclosure" Notice to provide Treasury with proof from the court that the garnishment has been resolved. For more information, see How to stop a garnishment.

[Debt Guy]

Thanks. Just serves as a reminder that I can still be surprised by what I don't know about things of which I believed myself firmly grounded in basics. Do you think that very many states allow civil garnishments of tax refunds?