Being garnished for someone else's debt.

[Brawn]

Last year I ended up with a court judgement along with two other people for an apartment we had rented. I have been paying what was deemed my share of the debt to the law firm handling the case.

I received a couple months back a garnishment notice, I called the firm and was told that I had nothing to worry about, and that it was for another person's garnishment and that because I was on the same case I would get letters for it as well.

A few weeks after that I noticed on my pay stub that I had a garnishment on it, and immediately called the firm. They told me that the issue was that somehow my social security number got put on my old roommates garnishment writ of execution instead of his own.

They appologized to me and told me that they had already put through a stop on the garnishment and told me that I would be refunded the money in three to five weeks.

Now I see that the garnishment is still there on my latest paystub and I'm getting pretty frustrated.

What are my options? Paying them every month plus having them garnishing money (not even to my account!) Is putting me into a bad spot financially. I struggle to see how both my employer and a professional law firm both let something like this though.

Also this is in California if that helps

 

[Zigner]

They are allowed to garnish your check for this debt. You are responsible for 100% of the judgment, as are the other folks. Seek reimbursement from the others.

 

[justalayman]

look up "joint and several liability"


it basically means each of you are individually liable for the total judgment amount as well as the group in whole. You are apparently an easier target to get the money from than the others so they will continue to take it until the judgment is paid in full. There is no "my debt" or "their debt" it is "our debt"

Paying them every month plus having them garnishing money

so call the law firm and tell them they can either continue what had been started (your payments) or they can garnish your wage but they aren't getting both.

 

[Brawn]

Please read post again then, I have been paying. The writ of execution was for another person, not me. But had my ssn on it under his name. Please explain how a garnishment being sent to a different individual is my responsibility.

 

[justalayman]

They are allowed to garnish your check for this debt. You are responsible for 100% of the judgment, as are the other folks. Seek reimbursement from the others.

it appears OP was making payments already without the garnishment. As long as those payments were the max the creditor could garnish, it was unfair to file for a garnishment on top of the payments being made.

In fact an argument could be made the creditor entered into an agreement to accept the payments in lieu of garnishment.





but that does bring about the question:

are they garnishing more than you were paying monthly? Was the amount actually agreed on by the creditor or was it just what you figured you could afford to pay and started making payments of that amount?

 

[Brawn]

Also the firm itself split the debt already, and equal amounts are owed by each person.

 

[justalayman]

just to add:


the creditor can take every penny of the joint debt from you and never even attempt to take any of it from the others. That is how the system works.

 

[Brawn]

"are they garnishing more than you were paying monthly? Was the amount actually agreed on by the creditor or was it just what you figured you could afford to pay and started making payments of that amount?"

The first amount garnished was more, the second less. And the payment plan was agreed to by the creditor.

 

[justalayman]

Also the firm itself split the debt already, and equal amounts are owed by each person.

the judgment is not split regardless what they lawyer said. They can seek some calculated share from each party if they choose or they can take every single penny from only one of you. They may have said they would seek only some calculated share from each of you but the truth is; barring some contract between you and the creditor that for some compensation on your part they would seek only a certain amount from you, they can change their minds and take it all from you.

and with that; it is not impossible that you did in fact enter into some form of contract for that but for it to be enforceable it would have to be a contract. I cannot say if there is or isn't one. I can imagine scenarios where there could be one. I can imagine scenarios where you believe there to be one but there isn't.

 

[Brawn]

Another thing to note is that when I specifically asked if they had put through a garnishment on me they told me they had not. On the subject of how much I owe, both on their end and on my credit report it's both listed as the same amount (which is roughly 1/3 of what the original debt was).

The way it was explained to me when I originally spoke with them is that my portion of the total bill is all they are holding me responsible for. (I asked if it was the total amount and if I needed to deal with getting compensation from others involved if they weren't paying)

 

[Brawn]

To bring it back to the original point, and to keep it very simple.

I'm being garnished currently, it is under a different individuals name but due to a mix up has my ssn on it.

After being told there was already a halt being put on the garnishment and still being garnished weeks later I want to know what my options are.

 

[justalayman]

Sometimes things like this take more time that one thinks it would so maybe it is in process of being corrected. At this point its in your hands. You can argue about the garnishment and maybe get it stopped or you can stop making the other payments and tell them to let it ride.

I would call the law firm and ask them if just leaving the garnishment in place is preferable to them. Just explain as you have here that you had been making payments willingly and are willing to continue but you simply cannot afford to make them on top of the garnishment. If they say they will pull the garnishment, ask them for a timeline. If it doesn't happen in that timeline I would probably just stop making the other payments.

 

[Brawn]

I would call the law firm and ask them if just leaving the garnishment in place is preferable to them. Just explain as you have here that you had been making payments willingly and are willing to continue but you simply cannot afford to make them on top of the garnishment. If they say they will pull the garnishment, ask them for a timeline. If it doesn't happen in that timeline I would probably just stop making the other payments.

The issue with just letting them garnish instead is that the money being garnished is being used to pay for the other individuals account.

 

[justalayman]

The issue with just letting them garnish instead is that the money being garnished is being used to pay for the other individuals account.

then insist they correct that but again, unless there is a enforceable contract prohibiting it, they can take it all from an individual.

 

[LdiJ]

To bring it back to the original point, and to keep it very simple.

I'm being garnished currently, it is under a different individuals name but due to a mix up has my ssn on it.

After being told there was already a halt being put on the garnishment and still being garnished weeks later I want to know what my options are.

If the writ of garnishment did not have your name on it, your employer should have rejected it.