Expert: Charles W. Field - 11/14/2004

Question
I have been paying a credit collectors law firm 50.00 a month,as agreed to, for five years. The agreement states that as long as I make my payments by the 5 th. of each month, that they will not take any action against me.
 On nov.6,2004 I was served with papers to garnish my checking account.I was to have 15 days to file answer.On nov.11,2004 I finally got in touch with law  clerk and showed them where they made a mistake and that my payments were a week early each month. The next day I found that my bank acct. was overdrawn over a thousand dollars and that debit charges had added to around 300.00 The bank had received garnishment on nov.09,2004 only three days (one business day) from the time I was served. My checking acct. is made up from mine and my husband's social security checks.What legal action do you think I can file against the law firm to recover my bank debits and can I file for punitive damages? I live in Alabama and I am planning to find an attorney on Monday.
Your advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Earl

Answer
Without knowing Alabama law (I am licensed only in GA) and without being able to review all the documents, I can't give you a reliable answer. However, you are on the right track to have a local attorney review the documents. You might want to consider posting your question at www.lawguru.com where it will be directed to AL attorneys.