Garnishment on small claims judgment

[maddie08]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? IN

Back in 12/09, I was taken to small claims for a $1500 medical bill. Rather than appearing in court, I signed an agreement with the plaintiff's lawyer to make regular payments to satisfy the debt. Those payments were to start 2/10, and I am up to date with the payments without another due until August. Today I received a copy of an order to garnish my wages. Why? With a signed agreement in place and regular payments, what is the benefit of doing this?

Also, the amount to be withheld is almost twice what I owe. I left a message for the law office to call me back on Monday, but they are generally rude and uncooperative. So I'm not very hopeful that this will get resolved with them. What do I have to do for the amount on the withholding order to be changed to the correct amount?

 

[Antigone*]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? IN

Back in 12/09, I was taken to small claims for a $1500 medical bill. Rather than appearing in court, I signed an agreement with the plaintiff's lawyer to make regular payments to satisfy the debt. Those payments were to start 2/10, and I am up to date with the payments without another due until August. Today I received a copy of an order to garnish my wages. Why? With a signed agreement in place and regular payments, what is the benefit of doing this?

Also, the amount to be withheld is almost twice what I owe. I left a message for the law office to call me back on Monday, but they are generally rude and uncooperative. So I'm not very hopeful that this will get resolved with them. What do I have to do for the amount on the withholding order to be changed to the correct amount?

You made a huge mistake by not showing up to court. The creditor obtained a judgement. The amount of the judgment probably also includes, court & attorney costs.

The only resolution I see now is the satisfaction of judgement.

 

[maddie08]

No, I was aware there was a judgment. I went ahead and agreed to pay the full amount on the phone 2 days before the court date, but the paperwork wasn't signed and official until after the court date had already passed. I was paying on the amount owed plus court costs already.

 

[Antigone*]

No, I was aware there was a judgment. I went ahead and agreed to pay the full amount on the phone 2 days before the court date, but the paperwork wasn't signed and official until after the court date had already passed. I was paying on the amount owed plus court costs already.

If you are aware of the judgement, then the garnishment should not come as a surprise

 

[maddie08]

Of course it comes as a surprise. I signed an agreed judgment stating that I would pay $150/month until the judgment was satisfied. Garnishment was only to come if payments were not made, and they were. Why should I have believed my wages would be garnished if conditions were met?

Now, how do I go about having the incorrect, higher amount on the order for garnishment lowered to the correct amount? It is twice the remaining amount owed.

 

[Antigone*]

Of course it comes as a surprise. I signed an agreed judgment stating that I would pay $150/month until the judgment was satisfied. Garnishment was only to come if payments were not made, and they were. Why should I have believed my wages would be garnished if conditions were met?

Now, how do I go about having the incorrect, higher amount on the order for garnishment lowered to the correct amount? It is twice the remaining amount owed.

You have the bolded in a written agreement signed by the judgement creditor?

Now with regards to the amount of the judgement. There is interest that is applicable to the judgement and I'm sure there are court costs and attorney's fees in there as well. See you not appearing in court hurt you. I'm sure the plaintiff asked for these costs and the judge agreed. Since you were a no-show the judge agreed.

 

[maddie08]

Yes, the payment arrangement was spelled out very clearly in the agreed judgment, which was signed by both parties and the judge. The final amount included court costs, so I was well aware I would be responsible for those. It does mention 8% interest per annum, but the additional amount on this garnishment agreement far exceeds that. I just want to know where they are coming up with this amount.

At this point I don't even care about the decision to garnish my wages. I've done what was asked, but if they feel like they need to garnish my wages, fine. They want to take an enormous amount of my paycheck, but it will be paid by the end of the month and I'll be done with it. I just have a problem with also paying some seemingly arbitrary mystery amount.

 

[cosine]

Sue the bad lawyer back. If you have written evidence that they did agree to hold off other collection methods, but did so anyway, you may be able to prevail.

 

[maddie08]

I hope it doesn't have to come to suing anyone over this. I've called the law office again this AM, and the woman who answered said she would have to call me back. If they modify this order, no problem. Go ahead and take it out of my pay. But if they don't, there is no reason I should just have to suck and up and pay something I don't owe. Who would I sue in this case? It would be the hospital, not the lawyer, right? The hospital is the one on the garnishment order.

 

[swalsh411]

The additional amount is attorney fees which they are entitled to collect. This was answered in the first reply.

and pay something I don't owe.

You do, in fact, owe it. That's what a judgement means. Whether you feel you owe it is really quite irrelevant at this point.

What written evidence do you have that they would not seek a judgement?

 

[maddie08]

swalsh411, I explained that I signed an AGREED JUDGMENT stating that if I made these payments, they would not seek garnishment. For what it's worth, I finally have an answer to my question. The lawyer had been holding on to 2 of my payments without taking them to the bank. I don't know why. They are returning these payments to me, and they are going to garnish for the full amount. So what do you know...I AM getting that money back. It was NOT additional legal fees. All legal fees were spelled out very clearly in the agreement, and I had already taken them into consideration.