I have been paying on a judgment for 3 years at $75.00/month.

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I have been paying on a judgment for 3 years at $75.00/month. I admit I have missed some payments but tried to keep up. The amount is down to $1900.00 and I just received a notice with about 15 pages with interrogitories to answer for discovery for sherriff sale even though I have been paying on this debt. I have been paying an attorneys office. I received these papers in the regular mail, not certified mail. Do I have to answer these? Am I subject to contempt of court? What would my best course of action be? Can they garnish my wages or freeze my bank accounts? I live in Pennsylvania.

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I have searches the internet trying to answer my question

Customer (name blocked for privacy)

Status: Closed Value: $15

Who is the judgment from. Is it from the courts, bank, spouse, credit card, child support. Did you catch up on missed payments. Were you ever notified of late payments. Who exactly is demanding the amount due in full and were you given any notice of the sale prior to the interrogatories showing up. I can better answer with the above info.

Reply to 4ren6's Post: The judgment was entered into the court of common pleas, it is a credit card. I would try to catch up but it didn't always happen.
The only correspondence I received from this attorney was a letter once in a while saying "please continue to make your regular payments" The papers say "because you have failed to pay the full amount of the judgment entered against you, the judgment creditor has the a right to attempt to enforce the judgment by judicial sale (sheriff's sale). I was not given any notice from them until I got the interrogatories.

Well unfortunately the fine print on the back of the monthly statement gives them this right although a bit extreme. Normally they will try to work with you in making a payment arrangement to help. It sounds to be a hard core company. I would suggest that if possible try to borrow the money from family if your able to pay this off in full. Then pay your family back. This sale will not occur right away and it sounds as though you have some time.

In regards to the questions. Yes, you are obligated to answer them. Do not give them any more info then what they ask and do not expound on anything in detail. Be brief and simple. Let the depo bring out anything from the other sides attorney.

If not answered or sent back yes, you can be found in contempt. Do fill it out and look for any deadline to return them by.

They can garnish your wages and that may be the simple and easy way out if you would contact them and discuss it.

But I would try to pay them off to forgo any legal fees that may be attached to this litigation.

If I may further assist you then reply.

Please click the Green ACCEPT if my answer is helpful. Positive FEEDBACK and Bonus is appreciated.

Reply to 4ren6's Post: The info I did find on the internet was that in Pennsylvania wage garnishment can only be done for child support, student loans, and taxes. Can you comment on that. Should they have sent the papers via certified mail or process server? How do they know that I received the papers? Would it be acceptable to offer a settlement of less than the money owed? Also am I correct to assume that they cannot take things that are not owned, (ie cars that I pay on, house that has a mortgage etc)?

Is this a normal everyday credit card. Have you fully read the back of the agreement section on this card. And you say a judgment was entered..............have you been to court on this already one time.

Reply to 4ren6's Post: This was a discover card. I received papers for this civil action 4 years ago, I contacted the attorneys office representing the company and worked out payments with them. I never went to court but they say a judgment was entered against me for this. I don't have the agreement for this card. The account is several years old and has not been active for 7 or 8 years. I started paying in this in 2002, but with the fees they keep adding on it is difficult to pay off.

I understand on the fees. Ok, your right on the garnishment. They can not garnish in Pa for wages. There is a statue of limitations though of 4 years also that I am not sure would apply to you. This is for open accounts only. It sounds as though they filed a court action but any legal documents would indicate a courts decision. And you say the paperwork was sent regular mail as well. This normally would have been sent via certified.

Your comment of: I received papers for this civil action 4 years ago

I am not convinced at this time that you really have anything from the courts. It sounds as though the company is trying to attempt to gain access to your assets to gain payment on them. Thus the interrogatories to answer. They have no info on you so they are now asking but this is a prerequisite to suits.

Tell ya what. If you will give me until tomorrow to have someone else that is not on tonight take a look at this and take over from here then I feel like we can get you a better informed answer. I assure you that I will not leave you hanging on this. I just want to make absolutely sure. There is one attorney on board that I would like to send this to and have him post his thoughts. Your under no obligation to accept any work I have done for you. You may accept the others response once I can contact him. He may be on later tonight but i expect tomorrow am. Will this be fine with you and if your satisfied with his answer you can then accept his answer only.

Let me know and as I said I assure you I will not leave you hanging. One way or the other we are going to get you the correct answer to your question. How does this sound.

Reply to 4ren6's Post: I appreciate your time and attention to this. I will wait for your response. I do feel that there is a court action it has a file number. It says in the court of common pleas of Erie County, pennsylvania civil division and a number.

Then says to the above names defendant.

Then it says:

INTERROGATORIES FOR DISCOVERY OF ASSETS IN AID OF EXECUTION.

It has 31 areas to answer. then there is a list of 17 documents they want, I couldn't find all of these papers in 30 days if I wanted to, mortgage papers, insurance policies, bank account numbers, detailed inventory of all things I own, they want copies of bank statements, balance sheets, copies of titles of auto I own, (all of which are incumbered to a bank) It would take more than 30 days to find all this information, plus my things are owned jointly with my husband, but I am the only one named in the suit, it was a credit card I had before I was married. I would appreciate any more info that you can get me. This seems overkill for $1900.00

Thank You
I look forward to your response

That is why I said if at all possible to borrow from family to pay the amount in full then this would be the fastest and easiest way.

I am going to send him a message with the link to this page. I am going to monitor it and make sure your taken care of. Try not to worry too much over this as it will work out and again I will not leave you here. Just hang tight and wait for the email from LegalEagle and if you need me in the mean time just post here and I will be notified.

We will get you taken care of. Most likely going to be tomorrow am.

Edited by 4ren6 on August 18 2006 at 7:32 AM

I have reviewed this thread and Ren's comments. I generally concur with most everything he has suggested. I would presume based on your posts that a valid judgment was indeed timely taken against you at some point several years ago. Since then, the law firm has opted for a less-intrusive means of collecting the debt via an agreed-payment arrangement. Since you have been unable to make each payment, the law firm is now exploring other collection methods. Hence, the Interrogatories that you now have and the documents that they are requesting. Absent an order to the contrary, you MUST answer all the questions and supply the requested documentation. You can request an extension of time from the Court to respond if the documentation cannot be reasonably rounded up in 30 days. However, the extension will likely only be for another 30 days.

As for alternatives to answering all the questions and producing all the requested documents, Ren's suggestion of offering a lump sum payment, if possible, is a very good one. Many creditors are willing to accept 50-60% of the original balance if the money is received in a lump sum. That may be an opportunity to end this dispute and save yourself some money.

Please remember to accept 4Ren's answer and also leave him positive FEEDBACK. His advice was "right on the button" on this one. Good luck.

Edited by KokomoJoe on August 18 2006 at 12:05 PM

Attorneys are limited to offering specific legal advice in states where they are licensed. Online responses offered here are ADVISORY OPINIONS only and should NOT be considered specific legal advice! Consult a local attorney for specific advice.

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