Judgement filed without service - Can I vacate?

[lnscott]

What is the name of your state? Indiana

I recently found out (by viewing my credit report) that the hospital (or their attorney) filed a judgement against me for $352. The bill is ligit. It's from 2001 and since I was a single parent and full time student I wasn't able to afford to continuing making payments on it (I was only working part-time).

The problem is that I never recieved any notification or summons for this. Can I have this vacated on that basis?

 

[Ladynred]

Maybe.. maybe not. Challenging the service isn't as easy as some people would lead you to believe. First thing you should do is go to the courthouse and get a copy of the judgment case file and see what happened. In it will be a proof of service and that will tell you when, where, how and to whom the summons was served. If it was truly improper service, you have a chance of vacating on those grounds.

 

[lnscott]

Which option is best?

Well, I have requested a copy of the case file to get the information on the service. However, I know I was never personally served. I've worked way too hard on building my credit to let a judgement get filed. If I had known I would've made arrangements to settle or make payments.

My question now is this. I have begun paying on it again. Would I be better off going through an attorney to get the judgement removed from my credit report or would I be better off getting the attorney (for the hospital) to sign an agreement to have it removed?

 

[lnscott]

Case Summary

Okay, I recieved the case summary in the mail today and I don't see anything regarding service. Under Case Actions it has:

6/21/04 Case Filed
6/28/04 Copy and Copy
7/19/04 DFJ - Plaintiff Appears by Counsel; Defendant fails to appear for initial hearing. Judgement entered $352 plus $44 court costs. Order.
7/22/04 - 44.00 assessed JCC judgement and court cost
7/22/04 - 352.00 assessed judgement
7/26/04 - Returned/unable to forward

Do I have a case to have this judgement removed from my credit report? That's all I want.

 

[stevek3]

Okay, I recieved the case summary in the mail today and I don't see anything regarding service. Under Case Actions it has:

6/21/04 Case Filed
6/28/04 Copy and Copy
7/19/04 DFJ - Plaintiff Appears by Counsel; Defendant fails to appear for initial hearing. Judgement entered $352 plus $44 court costs. Order.
7/22/04 - 44.00 assessed JCC judgement and court cost
7/22/04 - 352.00 assessed judgement
7/26/04 - Returned/unable to forward

Do I have a case to have this judgement removed from my credit report? That's all I want.

You need to find out if the July 26 docket entry relates to a mail return of the summons and complaint, or if it relates to the mail return of the subsequent notice of the judgment entry.

 

[lnscott]

Called the Court

Okay - I called the court and they told me that copy and copy meant that a copy was mailed to me and left at the door - the problem being I didn't live there anymore (and I can prove that - in fact have been in the phone book for the past three years and have made copies of those, I have bills from their client showing my addresses, plus I have my address on file with the court house for child support issues). I think it's obvious they could have found me if they wanted to. In fact, my ex-husband moved while living in Indy and they found him to serve him papers regarding child support hearing.

The item returned was for the judgement entry. She told me to call the attorney's office that filed for more information regarding the summons - what should I do now? Should I go ahead and call them? What next?

 

[stevek3]

Okay - I called the court and they told me that copy and copy meant that a copy was mailed to me and left at the door - the problem being I didn't live there anymore (and I can prove that - in fact have been in the phone book for the past three years and have made copies of those, I have bills from their client showing my addresses, plus I have my address on file with the court house for child support issues). I think it's obvious they could have found me if they wanted to. In fact, my ex-husband moved while living in Indy and they found him to serve him papers regarding child support hearing.

The item returned was for the judgement entry. She told me to call the attorney's office that filed for more information regarding the summons - what should I do now? Should I go ahead and call them? What next?

I'm not sure what you're attempting to accomplish. I'm assuming you indeed owe the money. Yes, it would be fairly easy to get the judgment set aside, but you're just buying time. They'll simply refile.

By the way, it appears like your legitimate beef is with the mailman, not with the plaintiff's lawyer. They didn't try to "sneak" anything by anybody. The mailman obviously shouldn't have delivered mail to a wrong address. If the mailman had done his job, then there would be no judgment.

 

[racer72]

The mailman obviously shouldn't have delivered mail to a wrong address. If the mailman had done his job, then there would be no judgment.

The OP never said the summons was delivered to the wrong address, it was delivered to a previous residence.


In most states that allow for summons to be delivered by mail, delivery to the last known address is considered a good delivery. If you had submitted proper change of address info to the USPS, the mail would have been forwarded. As Ladynred said, you might get the judgment dismissed but they will just refile, with the possibility of additional fees. For such a small amount, it would be much easier to pay the judgment and be done with it.

 

[lnscott]

Well, if I had remembered the debt, I would've already been paying on it and given them an updated address. It's not like I was running from it. The fact is, I am only human and did forget about with everything else I had.

My "beef" has it was put, was that I've worked night and day for the past two years on my credit and then without any notice at all - it was all gone and I would have liked the opportunity to prevent. Unfortuantely, I wasn't given that option. I never thought about being mad at the mailman, I just simply thought that they'd check and make sure that was still my address.

I know I owe the money and I've already started paying on it again. So, I'm not trying to get out of that. I just want it removed from my credit report - I plan on having it paid off in the next few months so hopefully they'd choose not to refile...and if they did, hopefully it'd be paid off by then.

 

[lnscott]

The OP never said the summons was delivered to the wrong address, it was delivered to a previous residence.

If you had submitted proper change of address info to the USPS, the mail would have been forwarded.

I did file a proper change of address - however that was in 2002. They will only forward mail for 6 months.