taken to court

[miss40i]

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

I was taken to court by a previous landlord. When we went, she told the judge that she just wanted me out. I told her that we would be out in 2 weeks. The judge set a new court date to come back if it was not all settled. Well, I thought that it was settled and did not appear in court. She won a judgement for $1500. Then she put a levy on my checking account to wipe out anything I had in there. Now I just got an information subpoena in the mail from her. Is it too late to fight this judgement since I have pictures of the living conditions and also a letter from the building inspector and these conditions. The landlord told me "if I fix it, will you stay? and I told him "If I stay, will you fix it?". The leaky ceiling in my son's room was only partially fixed and we agreed (verbally) that I would have to look for another place. What are my grounds here? Do I have to take her to court for the living conditions or can I fight the judgement that she won over me?

 

[Antigone*]

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

I was taken to court by a previous landlord. When we went, she told the judge that she just wanted me out. I told her that we would be out in 2 weeks. The judge set a new court date to come back if it was not all settled. Well, I thought that it was settled and did not appear in court. She won a judgement for $1500. Then she put a levy on my checking account to wipe out anything I had in there. Now I just got an information subpoena in the mail from her. Is it too late to fight this judgement since I have pictures of the living conditions and also a letter from the building inspector and these conditions. The landlord told me "if I fix it, will you stay? and I told him "If I stay, will you fix it?". The leaky ceiling in my son's room was only partially fixed and we agreed (verbally) that I would have to look for another place. What are my grounds here? Do I have to take her to court for the living conditions or can I fight the judgement that she won over me?

The time to fight is over. You knew you had a court date, and you didn't attend. You cannot take her to court for living conditions since you are no longer living there.

 

[miss40i]

Dang. Ok, well if I start paying her back monthly, can she do anything more to collect the debt like garnish my wages or put a levy on my checking account?

 

[You Are Guilty]

Dang. Ok, well if I start paying her back monthly, can she do anything more to collect the debt like garnish my wages or put a levy on my checking account?

Ana's track record has been pretty good here, but fortunately for you, if all this court stuff happened in 2008, then she's wrong. You can move to re-open the default for any of the applicable reasons pursuant to this statute:

Relief from judgment or order. (a) On motion. The court
which rendered a judgment or order may relieve a party from it upon such
terms as may be just, on motion of any interested person with such
notice as the court may direct, upon the ground of:
1. excusable default, if such motion is made within one year after
service of a copy of the judgment or order with written notice of its
entry upon the moving party, or, if the moving party has entered the
judgment or order, within one year after such entry; or
2. newly-discovered evidence which, if introduced at the trial, would
probably have produced a different result and which could not have been
discovered in time to move for a new trial under section 4404; or
3. fraud, misrepresentation, or other misconduct of an adverse party;
or
4. lack of jurisdiction to render the judgment or order; or
5. reversal, modification or vacatur of a prior judgment or order upon
which it is based.

The housing court process is explained here:
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/nyc/housing/general.shtml
You may be able to find the necessary form here:
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/nyc/housing/forms.shtml
(If not, what you want to google for is an "Order to Show Cause to Vacate a Default").

Good luck.

 

[miss40i]

Well, that is good to hear because the judgement was won in October 2008. This is all confusing to me. Can you please just tell me what document I need to ask the Court Clerk for, in plain english? I went to the websites you gave me but I don't really know what I am looking for.

Thanks.

 

[sylvesterfl]

Sorry, but I found your post confusing. At first you said she put a levy on your checking. Then, you asked if she could? I'm very curious about this stuff as I hear conflicting stories from people/attorneys as to how easy or not easy it is to invade people's bank account just because one has a judgement against them. TIA for clearing this up as I'd like to know

 

[miss40i]

She won a judgement back in October 2008. She put a one time levy on my checking account in December 2008 and took everything that was in there. Then I just recently got a paper from the court clerk called "information subpoena". I am not sure what that paper is and if I even have to fill it out. I am supposed to return it to the landlord. I missed the court date, because the judge said as long as everything was cleared up the first time we went to court, there was no need to return. The landlord said that she just wanted me out and I told her that I would be out. The judge said that if I was not out by the next court date, to come back. Since I was out, I didn't feel I needed to go back to court.

Now I need to know if I can appeal the judgement. The living conditions were terrible, like a big whole in the living room floor, the water heater in the basement leaked so bad that it ruined a lot of my belongings becasue it took the landlord almost 2 months to fix it. Also the roof fell in on my son's bedroom and the landlord semi-fixed it, but left the big mess for me to clean up. I have pictures and also a statement from the Building Code Inspector on these conditions.

Thanks for your help.

 

[You Are Guilty]

You can't "appeal" the default judgment. You need to vacate the default, which means the court makes it like it never happened, then the original case continues as if you showed up - which means you can provide any evidence you want about crappy living conditions, etc.

The paper you need to file is an "Order to Show Cause to Vacate Default" and you serve your Affidavit with it, which is the document where you list the reason(s) why you didn't show up and why legally, the court should overlook your failure to appear (hint: cite the statute I posed above).

Make sure your Affidavit is sworn to under the penalty of perjury and notarized. Then take it with the Order to Show Cause to the local housing court's pro se clerk and they will help you with the rest.