NY lawsuit filed, but no docs served + out of state

[O'Keefe]

Hello there, 

So this happened: I just got a spam robo call that's been calling me nonstop. I never picked up the phone because I thought it was a typical spam call, but this time the pretext was that it was something legal and that they would proceed without my signature or some BS like that.

I googled the call back number and it was clearly a spam/fraudulent call... but it got me thinking, what if there is a filed lawsuit somewhere?

So I went to the NY courts to see if there was anything, the first tries I found nothing, but after tweaking a bit I found something that might be me.

The plaintiff is a bank I used to have and the defendant coincides with my name (it could be a false positive of some other dude with my name), but I used to be a client of that bank so it could be a collection attempt.

The filing date is in 2016, and there is no other information (every other field is blank, no calendar number, no Judge name).

The only two buttons I see e-courts WebCivil Local are [Close] and [Add to eTrack]

I am wondering if this strange status of the filing is because I wasn't served yet any documents yet, and probably this is because I no longer live in NY, ha!

So what would be my options here? Does the Statues of Limitations even apply here? If it was filed on 2016, if the case doesn't move anywhere would that expire by 2022 in NY?

I've been reading in some other sites that if the defendant is not longer in the state it would apply the jurisdiction of where he currently resides, so if I were living in Delaware they wouldn't have any case, is that it?

Thanks guys,

Regards

[BackFromTheDebt]

7 hours ago, O'Keefe said:

Hello there, 

So this happened: I just got a spam robo call that's been calling me nonstop. I never picked up the phone because I thought it was a typical spam call, but this time the pretext was that it was something legal and that they would proceed without my signature or some BS like that.

I googled the call back number and it was clearly a spam/fraudulent call... but it got me thinking, what if there is a filed lawsuit somewhere?

So I went to the NY courts to see if there was anything, the first tries I found nothing, but after tweaking a bit I found something that might be me.

The plaintiff is a bank I used to have and the defendant coincides with my name (it could be a false positive of some other dude with my name), but I used to be a client of that bank so it could be a collection attempt.

The filing date is in 2016, and there is no other information (every other field is blank, no calendar number, no Judge name).

The only two buttons I see e-courts WebCivil Local are [Close] and [Add to eTrack]

I am wondering if this strange status of the filing is because I wasn't served yet any documents yet, and probably this is because I no longer live in NY, ha!

So what would be my options here? Does the Statues of Limitations even apply here? If it was filed on 2016, if the case doesn't move anywhere would that expire by 2022 in NY?

I've been reading in some other sites that if the defendant is not longer in the state it would apply the jurisdiction of where he currently resides, so if I were living in Delaware they wouldn't have any case, is that it?

Thanks guys,

Regards

Was there a default judgment on this case?

There was one time I was sued at a former address in NY, while I still lived in the state of NY.  I didn't find out about the default judgment until my bank account was frozen.  

You need to know if there was a default judgment against you.  Any advice anyone here can give to you depends on that information.  

 

[O'Keefe]

Hello there, 

Thanks for replying, as I said, everything else is blank, there isn't even a judge assigned so I assume that there isnt any default judgment. 

Or maybe I am not looking at the right place, but the index # doesn't show anything else 

[BackFromTheDebt]

6 minutes ago, O'Keefe said:

Hello there, 

Thanks for replying, as I said, everything else is blank, there isn't even a judge assigned so I assume that there isnt any default judgment. 

Or maybe I am not looking at the right place, but the index # doesn't show anything else 

I don't know enough about the on-line access to NY state court cases to know what that means.  I hope you are right.  It has been a long time since I lived in NY.

IIRC, there is a certain period of time between when a case is filed and when service must be completed.  I think the time period is 1 year.  

It is entirely possible this case was filed, but service never completed. If so, this is over 1 year.  In other words, the case is dead.  They cannot serve you on this case anymore.  

I would have to know more about the online NY state cases searches to be able to tell you for sure.  

Is there an address along with the name?  NY is a big place.  When I lived in New York, I had to deal with somebody with the same first and last name leaving a trail of bad debts and broken hearts from Kingston, Jamaica to Jamaica, Queens.  

[O'Keefe]

26 minutes ago, BackFromTheDebt said:

I don't know enough about the on-line access to NY state court cases to know what that means.  I hope you are right.  It has been a long time since I lived in NY.

IIRC, there is a certain period of time between when a case is filed and when service must be completed.  I think the time period is 1 year.  

It is entirely possible this case was filed, but service never completed. If so, this is over 1 year.  In other words, the case is dead.  They cannot serve you on this case anymore.  

I would have to know more about the online NY state cases searches to be able to tell you for sure.  

Is there an address along with the name?  NY is a big place.  When I lived in New York, I had to deal with somebody with the same first and last name leaving a trail of bad debts and broken hearts from Kingston, Jamaica to Jamaica, Queens.  

The website for e-courts NY:

ttps://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/webcivilLocal/LCMain

The result to my case is:

------

Court: Queens County Civil Court
Index Number: (index number here)

Case Name: (bank name) vs. (my name)

Case Type: Civil
Classification: Consumer Credit
Filing Date: xx/yy/2016
Disposition Date: (blank)
Calendar Number: (blank)
Jury Demand: No
Judge Name: (blank)

Attorney/Firm(s) For Plaintiff - Bank of America, N.A.: Mullooly, Jeffrey, Rooney & Flynn, LLP 
Attorney Type: Firm

6851 Jericho Turnpike, Suite 220
P.O.Box 9036 
Syosset, New York  11791-9036(516) 656-5300 ext:

Attorney/Firm(s) For Defendant - (my name): (blank)

-------

But the case still appears as "active"

[BackFromTheDebt]

I looked up a few cases.  The information given is not very thorough.  For example, in my state the court web site lists the name and address of each party, every paper ever filed in the case, proof of service, etc.  In New York, the information given is so minimal it is very hard to tell what is going on.  

 

There are several ways you could find out for sure, and I don't know if either of these would be worth the effort.

First, you could call up the law firm, and find out if you were the party sued, and what happened in the case.  That has the risk of them not being willing to tell you anything, and it has the other risk of perhaps waking a sleeping dog.  

Second, you could either go yourself or have a friend go for you to the courthouse, look up the case, and see what has been done in the case.  If you are currently in Puerto Rico, the journey to the court is probably too long, unless you are planning to visit New York anyway.  I have no idea if you have any friends left in New York close enough to look up the case for you.  

 

If you do neither of these things, you are dealing with an unknown situation.  You don't know if the name is yours, since no address.  You don't know if the case is really open or not.  

 

Sorry, but they just don't give enough information.

 

 

[Guest usctrojanalum]

If your case was filed in 2016 - they either have a clerk's default judgment or they could not find you and did not serve it.