Our client received a wage garnishment notice from Marshal Ronald Moses regarding an alleged debt from the 1990’s. North American Capital Corp. a debt buyer sued our client in the year 2000 through their attorneys Mullooly, Jeffrey, Rooney and Flynn. They were able to obtain a default judgment against him because of improper service. Our client was unemployed at the time so they were not able to find him until just recently. In between that time period, Mullooly was replaced by Eltman Eltman & Cooper P.C., another common collection law firm in New York as the attorneys of record.
By 2014 this debt had accrued to over $40,000 because of NY State judgment interest that accrues at a rate of 9% annually, attorney’s fees as well as the Marshal’s 5% fee. We filed a motion to have the judgment against our client vacated based on CPLR 5015 and 317. The judgment was vacated as the judge found that our client was never served at the alleged address listed on the affidavit of service. Eltman Eltman & Cooper then contacted us about potentially settling the matter out of court to prevent further litigation costs. We were able to settle the matter and reduce the debt owed by 68% as well as giving our client over a year to make the payments.