Need help with Judgement

[dbinaz]

I just moved to NC from AZ for a job. Did not fwd mail. We have someone checking it. A certified letter notification came in, do not know from whom, but obviously I could not pick it up. This was prolly 2 weeks ago now. Last night I got an equifax alert that said there was a judgment posted on my CR with experian. It is with AMEX. THis is all it listed.

Court/ Case Number:

AMEX of FORT LAUDERDALE, FL Amount: $21,630

Plaintiff:

Status:

Satisfied Date: N/A

I don't know if this actually went to court or what. I can't fly to AZ to file a motion to vacate.

Other thing is, they sent me a settlement offer that expires Sept. 15. How can they do both at the same time?

I never did any validation with them. I learned of this site and got the book after I got letters, then I never heard from them again til now.

I don't know what to do at this point. I was almost sick to my stomach when I saw that judgment.

I tried to get a call with a counselor from this site, but on vacation til Tuesday.

Any help greatly appreciated.

THx,

D

[flacorps]

Can you go to the clerk of court's office online at AZ and see if there is anything pending in your former county?

[dbinaz]

I searched the state and county records and I see nothing except a speeding ticket I never went to court for.

I searched here for county under civil

http://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/docket/CivilCourtCases/caseSearch.asp

And here for state

http://www.supreme.state.az.us/publicaccess/notification/search.asp?id=

selected "all courts"

Does that mean it's false information on my report and I can sue?

Thx,

D

[flacorps]

Check the "docket" at the courthouse as well as those sites. Forgot to mention that. You might be sued, and there might already be a judgment but it might not have made it over to the places where you were looking (they can run a week or more behind sometimes). Or you might find out there is no judgment yet.

It's possible the CRA picked up the filing of a case that hasn't had any sort of disposition (perhaps lacking service of process).

[dbinaz]

Check the "docket" at the courthouse

Do you mean the physical courthouse? That's not possible if so. I am no longer in AZ.

Any other way to figure this out?

Thx,

D

[flacorps]

Not necessarily the physical courthouse. There may be online access to a separate docketing system of pending cases rather than judgments that have resulted from cases.

[dbinaz]

THis is all I can find that says docket, same as above...

http://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/Docket/index.asp

[merrybucks]

You might try searching the records for the individual justice courts. Some of them have seperate web sites and are not reported on the state web site. An example of this is Prescott Justice Court has it's own site and is not reported on the state's site, while Salome Justice Court does report on the state's site.

[dbinaz]

Are there individual justice courts in Phoenix? Or would they be per city?

[BTO429]

Call them on the phone and find out. If the answer is yes ask them to mail you a copy of the docket sheet.

If you can get the docket sheet we will be able to figure out what happened.

This is recent so you still have time to file a motion to vacate. Look up the law in the state where the judgment is filed.

[merrybucks]

There are different locations for Phoenix Justice Court here is the link. http://www.ci.phoenix.az.us/COURT/courtidx.html

[dbinaz]

My wife called the civil court. She was bounced around 3x until she was told to call the original creditor that placed the judgement. The court needed a case# and was unable to provide any info. She called original creditor and they claim the suit was put on by an attorney. The creditor also advised the account is now back with them. How did this attorney have the right to do this.

Where do we go from here?

[flacorps]

When you run into this kind of quandary, buying a copy of your own Lexis/Nexis or Choicepoint report can be helpful. They carry all the judgments, and they give details such as which court rendered it and the case number, etc.

It's possible that you were sued in a county that was quite distant from the county in which you formerly made your home. It's called "distant forum abuse" and it involves suing someplace inconvenient (for the debtor), or where venue isn't proper (meaning the court still has jurisdiction), or even in some distant state where the court doesn't have jurisdiction (but can be convinced it does through some form of fraud or other).

[dbinaz]

Found out from AMEX that judgement was placed by CA or attorney. AMEX advised since the file came back to them and they sent letter for settlement the judgement should've been removed. AMEX still has no info of judgement.

How do I get this judgement removed?

[flacorps]

How do I get this judgement removed?

You run down the facts ... even the CRA reports often identify the court and provide some (typically mangled) version of the case number.

The Leix/Nexis and Choicepoint versions should be more accurate.

None of us here can find this stuff for you. You've gotta find it for yourself.

What Amex has told you is pretty much meaningless ... their reps just don't know whether there actually is a judgment, who got it for them or anything unless you can talk to someone at a high enough level, and chances are they're not gonna let you do that.

If you search on Arizona court clerks' websites and determine that Amex habitually uses one or two law firms you might try to cadge some info by calling the lawyers' offices.