Collections Law/Collection

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Expert: Creditwrench - 11/11/2008


Question
I lived with a roommate a couple years ago for 6 months.  We signed separate leases and paid the landlord separately.  I found out this year that I have a derogatory public record.  Apparently, when we moved out, my roommate still owed money - I did NOT.  The realtor filed a small claim against both of us to recover it.  He received a summons for the court date, I did NOT.  This is reflected in the case docket I just found online.  Two days after the judge made judgment to the plaintiff, a "release of judgment as to <my name>" was filed, as shown in the docket.  The rest of the docket is about garnishing wages from my roommate to pay this claim.  Furthermore, this situation also reflects a guilty plea (which I did NOT enter) in my criminal convictions.  I spoke to the realtor and they even acknowledge that I was all paid up at that time.  My question is 2-fold:

1) Did this scenario play out legally?  I was never issued a summons, I never entered a guilty plea, I had no knowledge of this whatsoever - I was never offered a chance to face my accuser and defend myself!  I most certainly would not have pleaded guilty; I was guilty of nothing, which was evident in the release of judgment.

2) Is there anything I can do to get rid of this from my public record?  I was released of judgment.  I was never pursued to pay any of the judgment claim.

This has adversely affected my credit.  PLEASE HELP!

Thanks!

Answer

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That would be a tough one to try to do much about. There are several things you might do. I tend to think that I would try to get the judgment vacated because you were never served. Therefore the court didn't have jurisdiction over you. Then I might want to go after the landlord for wrongful joinder to the suit. Those are just some suggestions of what I might do if I found myself in such a situation.  

Creditwrench

Expertise

Debt Collections law, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), federal law, how to properly answer court summons for collection cases, how to prepare federal cases against debt collectors, how to deal with debt collection phone calls.

Experience

I've been an active consumer advocate for more than 40 years and have helped hundreds of people win cases against debt collectors as well as helping them defeat demands for summary judgment lodged against them by banks, debt collectors and defeat mortgage foreclosures and keep their homes.

Education/Credentials
Paralegal courses for the most part.
I have been teaching people how to deal with judgments, mortgage foreclosures and other such problems both on and off the internet for many, many years. I am a Richard Cornforth information provider ever since 2000 and worked with many other organizations and causes since 1980. I was Oklahoma State Chairman for the nationwide drive to defeat the Constitutional Convention which was proposed by various factions within our federal government such as the Council of State Governments and the National Organization of State Governors who were working hard to organize a Constitutional Convention to be held in 1995 for the purpose of rewriting our American Constitution to be more acceptable to the United Nations. I worked with Senator Charles Duke of Colorado and Senator Don Rogers of California and many others across the nation to keep them from getting the number of delegate states required to lawfully hold a Con-Con and we were successful. I have worked with many other legislative issues in Oklahoma and have always been very successful.

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