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Statute of limitations on attorney's fees judgment

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NotaSpeeder

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? California

In June of 1997 I was evicted from my apartment of 16 years. Even though the landlord did not submit proof of how much he had paid his attorney, contrary to California state law the Beverly Hills Court "Commissioner", awarded the landlord the amount MY attorney had submitted as his fees if I had won the eviction proceedings.

I did not pay the landlord the $8,000+ the Commissioner awarded and never heard another word about it until I recently received a letter dated June 9, 2008. At that time I received, from a collection agency, an "Acknowledgement of Assignment of Judgment" along with a "Deposition Subpoena" and "Notice of Consumer Objection."

The "Acknowledgement" has the correct case number but the first two digits of the case number have been changed to "98" and the body of the document filled out and signed by the landlord claim the judgment was made in September of 1999. Both the "Deposition" and "Notice" have the same case number but correctly start with "97" the true year of the original judgment.

I do not know where the 1999 date came from unless my former landlord falsified information to the debt collection agency so that it would appear as the debt was less than 10 years old. Does the statue of limitations run out after 10 years on a debt awarded by a court in an eviction hearing? What should I do to prevent this from proceeding further if SoL has in fact run out?
 


ecmst12

Senior Member
Source: www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/smallclaims/collectintro.htm

Judgements in CA are good for 10 years and renewable indefinitely. You owe that money forever, so far as the court is concerned. And every time it is renewed (at 10 years and then every 5 years) the interest is compounded. So all the time you have been ignoring your debt, it's been growing, and now that it's been renewed, it's growing even faster. Maybe you didn't have any assets in 1997 but now you've had 10+ years for your financial situation to improve and they want to see if you are collectable now. You probably have more savings and a better job. Young broke people (and by young I mean under 65) don't tend to stay young and broke forever. Prepare to have your bank accounts seized and your wages garnished.
 
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