Judgments obtained in the wrong venue are unfortunately common these days. Debt buyers and the law firms who represent them would rather not spend the extra time and money to properly serve a consumer at the correct address which is why consumers frequently have no idea about a lawsuit against them let alone a judgment. In this case our client came to us in a panic because his job received a wage garnishment notice against him. The debt was owned by Credigy Receivables, a debt buyer and was being represented by The Law Office of Steve Cohen. The alleged debt had almost reached $19,000 because the case was initially brought in 2007. Like most consumers, our client had no idea that he was ever sued or about the judgment itself until he learned of the potential wage garnishment against him.
Our client sent us proof that it would have been impossible for him to have been served in New York County in 2007 because he lived in Connecticut at the time. With this proof in hand, we quickly contacted the Law Office of Steve Cohen to rectify the situation. We informed opposing counsel that we would file an Order to Show Cause to vacate this judgment and ask the court to dismiss the case based on multiple grounds including improper service and a lack of standing as our client vehemently denied any connection to this debt, as well as under CPLR 321 because the Office of Steve Cohen never notified our client that they took over as counsel for Credigy from Forster and Garbus, the initial law firm that filed the action in 2007. We also informed them that we would file a FDCPA action against them for filing this suit in the wrong venue, an automatic violation due to its deceptive purpose. We were able to obtain a quick settlement which reduced the balance by over 80% and returned our clients garnished funds as well as vacating the judgment against him.