judgement turned to collection agency

[long road ahead]

In September, 2004 a judgement was awarded against me in the State of Alaska, I live in Washington. It was a rental deposit dispute and I did not show up for the court date. A couple of years ago I received a call from Partners (CA) demanding payment for the couple who won the judgement. Recently, I have started receiving calls again from Partners. My question is, is this a legitimate agency? Can a private party hire a collection agency to pursue me? It seems unlikely that they would contact an out of state collection agency. I'm uncertain what to do about this?

[x-ray]

Did you sign an agreement or was it an oral agreement?

Was the manner of service correct, according to law? Remember that the court has no power to issue a judgment against you if you were not served according to law.

If you did not sign a contract, the judgment was illegally obtained against you in a wrong state and you can sue them for violating § 1692 i(a)(2) -- legal action brought in a location other than where contract was signed or where a consumer resides.

Moreover, a judgment from AK has no jurisdiction in WA.

[long road ahead]

Thanks for replying.

Yes, I did sign an agreement and I was served legally. If the state of Alaska has no jurisdiction in Washington, what does that mean to me?

[x-ray]

It means they cannot enforce it in WA. They cannot do anything to you in WA unless they get "sister-state judgment".

While the actual methodology differs from state to state, the mechanics are typically similar. Once a money judgment has been perfected by the issuing court, the judgment debtor then tries to get the judgment debtor to "voluntarily" pay the judgment. Failing to obtain the cooperation of the judgment debtor, the judgment creditor then determines what property is owned by the judgment debtor and where that property is located. If the property of the judgment debtor is located in the state that issued the judgment, the judgment creditor can then proceed with enforcement. However, when the property of the judgment debtor is located in another state, the judgment creditor may need a "sister-state judgment" issued by a court in the state in which the property of the judgment debtor is located.

To obtain entry of a "sister-state judgment," the judgment creditor applies to a court in the state in which the judgment debtor's property is located. Some courts have a particular form which must be used by the judgment creditor and there is typically a requirement that the application for entry of the sister-state judgment be filed in a particular court (i.e. - applications for entry of a sister-state judgment must be made in a Superior Court and not in a Small Claims or Municipal Court). In addition to the application, an "authenticated" or certified copy of the judgment, issued by the court that originally issued the judgment, must be attached.

After filing the application, the judgment creditor must give the judgment debtor notice of the filing. This enables the judgment debtor to raise certain bars to the issuance of the sister-state judgment, such as defects in the issuance of the judgment or the original judgment is not final and unconditional. If the judgment debtor does nothing, typically the sister-state judgment is issued and then the judgment creditor can pursue all available remedies for enforcement of the judgment in the sister-state.

[x-ray]

Addendum: It is extremely unlikely that they would go so far as to getting a "sister-state judgment", it is not that easy ant it is expensive (most likely they will not bother unless you owe them a lot of money and have significant assets in WA)

[flacorps]

The UEFJA has streamlined the provisions for obtaining judgment enforcement across state lines in most states. The copy that needs to be filed under that statute is termed an "exemplified copy" (I note this for ease of searching).

[x-ray]

If the foreign (out-of-state) judgment was entered by default, they need to cite the relevant statues and rules of foreign court, the date for vacating the default expired on such and such date without the judgment debtor moving to vacate the same.

Excusable default (a reasonable excuse for missing the original court date) is the most common reason for vacating a default judgment. For example in NY, and in most other states, there is a time limit for moving to vacate a judgment because of excusable default -- one year from the date you were served with a copy of the judgment. If you were never served with a copy of the judgment, your one-year clock has not started. The court can also vacate a default judgment if you were not properly served with a summons. There is no time limit for seeking to vacate a judgment on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction (improper service).

Because a one-year clock has not started (unless you were served with a copy), the default judgment cannot be "domesticated" in another state because it is still a "vacatable" judgment (one-year clock has not started).

In short (assuming that you had initially proper service with summons), they would need to serve you again (serve you according to law) with a copy of the judgment, wait for one year and only then they can file in a Superior Court in your current state and prey that you will not contest it.

If you were not served initially according to law with summons, there is no time limit for seeking to vacate a judgment on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction (improper service); as a result, this default judgment cannot be "domesticated" in another state because it is a "vacatable" judgment indefinitely.

I hope you see that it is not that easy and it is not an automatic "domestication" for a default judgment.

[Amerikaner83]

Here's my answer to your PM regarding the situation:

First of all - welcome!

I'm not too terribly up on Judgements, but from your post, it sounds as if this new company bought or was assigned your Judgement that was against you in Alaska. Judgements CAN be domesticated to WA State, and all legal remedies associated with the judgement would in that time be in full force and effect. Sounds like this collection agency is trying to collect before they proceed with domesicating the Judgement.

Basically, the original person who sued you won the judgement, and then sold it or whatever to this Alaska Court Collection outfit. It is unclear whether or not they're subject to FDCPA, but they still are subject to WA state law. Find RCW 19.16 and read that. That's the rules for a collection agency in WA State. Have they sent you letters? In those letters are the charges they're requsting being itemized? They should be. Have they told you the rate of interest they're charging you (if they are charging interest)? They should be. Are tehy licensed in WA to collect? They should be.

For 1600 bucks, that's not really a large amount of money, in all honesty. Can you try and settle for less?

But to answer one of your questions, yes they can garnish your wages, so I'd get a different bank account with a different bank ASAP. I like small banks such as "Skagit State bank", smaller local banks can fly under a CA's radar ususally, especially if you've never banked there before.

Hope this helps you my friend -

Amerikaner83