A few questions about a past judgement.

[golfer1976]

I am in California. I was served papers for a small claims case. I did not receive it. I was out of the area (250 miles away). I obviously lost the case as a no show. The date for this was 12/23/94 (Merry Christmas) with a final disposition on 2/14/95 (Happy Valentine's Day). I was then given an order to appear with a proof of service filed on 2/20/02. Remember that I received no bill from the people I owed (which I didn't owe-that's a different matter) nor given notice of any action. The papers were tacked to my front door. I found them a few days after they were put there (I enter my house from the back). I showed up to court but the other attorney did not. A stay was ordered for 60 days. No other action was taken regarding this court appearance but there were several rejections to writs filed between 8/02/02 to 5/9/02 for various inaccuracies of the writs. The last dated entry of my court case record is 5/09/03. My questions are:

1. Am I liable for a judgement that I was never given notice of?

2. Do these rejections of writs have any factor on whether I owe or not?

3. Is time an issue? Are there any statute of limitations that apply here?

4. I am looking to buy a house and would like to get this off my credit report. Should I pursue this or wait? Does making inquiries give the lawyers reason to retry this?

5. If there is a positive result for me, how do I go about getting this off of my credit?

I would appreciate a response on this and thank anyone in advance for responding to this.