If the 21 days (served by personal service) or the 28 days (served by mail) passes without an answer to a collection lawsuit, a debt collector will quickly move to have the Court declare you in Default. The collector will then move for a default judgment against you. A default judgment is an Order from the court that says you owe the Plaintiff the full amount of the debt in the lawsuit. It is technically an end to the case. So, even if you don't owe the debt or the complaint was served improperly, you automatically are liable for the whole amount plus the debt collector's fees and costs. You could also face garnishments of your bank accounts, paycheck, and state taxes.
This episode of Law and Lawyering unplugged is about the consequences of not answering a lawsuit and failing into default. There are three ways a debt collector can serve you with a collection lawsuit. Debt collectors don't want you to Answer a lawsuit so they can get a Default Judgment against you and then really rack up the fees and costs against you. They treat Defaults as annuities and the gift that keeps giving for decades. This video is for informational purposes to help you understand what to do if you missed answering a lawsuit and now your bank account, paycheck or tax refund are being garnished or a lien is placed on your home.
With a Default Judgment entered, the case is technically over, and you are not allowed to appear in front of the court again to argue your defense. So, to get your case back online and be able to end any garnishments or liens, you must immediately file a Motion to Set Aside the Judgment. Under the Michigan rules, the sooner you file the Motion to Set Aside, the greater your chances of getting the judgment thrown out and ending any execution on the judgment. After the judgment is set aside, you are then allowed to argue your case in court.
A judge will always want to give the parties their day in court. The sooner you file the Motion to Set Aside, the better as time is always of the essence with a default and you don't want your paycheck or state taxes garnished. The earlier the Motion to Set Aside the Default is filed, the easier it is to show the judge you did not sit on your rights. That is where I can help you. I have great success in setting aside Default Judgments in Michigan Courts. Here are some recent examples:
2022: Midland Credit Management, Inc v Client in the 48th District Court in Bloomfield Hills, Oakland County. Midland Credit Management and their law firm sued our client in District Court back in 2006 and got a Default Judgment on the case for over $45,000. The judgment had been renewed in 2016 and had four more years of collection attempts. We got Midland Credit to agree to a $6,000 total resolution and payment plan to end this. With all that debt eliminated, client's credit FICO scores will go way up along with their happiness of a lessening dark cloud. Very happy Client. DEBT AND DEFAULT WILL BE ELIMINATED!
2022: Capital Alliance Financial, LLC v Client in the 52-3rd District Court Rochester Hills, Oakland County. Capital Alliance Financial, LLC and their law firm Stenger & Stenger, P.C. sued our client in District Court back in 2008 on an ID Theft case for a debt that was not hers. They got a Default Judgment against her for more than $8,000 without her knowledge. We got involved and threatened a Motion to Set Aside. Capital Alliance Financial, LLC and Stenger & Stenger, P.C. agreed to set aside the judgment and dismiss the case including waiving the debt. With the debt and lawsuit eliminated, client's credit FICO scores will go way up too. Very happy Client. DEBT AND DEFAULT JUDGEMENT ELIMINATED!
2022: Crown Asset Management, LLC v Client in the 54B District Court, East Lansing, Ingham County. Crown Asset Management, LLC and their law firm Rausch Sturm sued our client in District Court back in 2019 in a State (Michigan) she no longer lived in and obtained a Default Judgment for over $5,000 without her knowing it. They were starting to take her money through garnishments at the workplace in the real state she lived in. This was acknowledging she did not live in Michigan. We got involved and threatened a Motion to Set Aside because of the false service on the judgment. Crown Asset agreed to set aside the judgment and dismiss the case including waiving the debt and returning the amount garnished. With the debt and lawsuit eliminated, another happy Client. DEBT AND DEFAULT JUDGEMENT ELIMINATED!
2022: Capital Alliance Financial, LLC v Client in the 34th District Court, Romulus, Wayne County. Capital Alliance Financial, LLC and their law firm Stenger & Stenger, P.C. sued our client in District Court back in 2013 on a $3,000 debt. They got a Default Judgment against our client without his knowledge. They were garnishing the client's wages in another state. We got involved and threatened a Motion to Set Aside. That other state's laws don't allow out of state collection attempts the way Michigan does. Capital Alliance Financial, LLC and Stenger & Stenger, P.C. agreed to set aside the judgment rather than go into that other state. Stenger dismissed the case including waiving the debt. With the debt and lawsuit eliminated, client got his work garnishment released and the money taken in the garnishment returned. Very happy Client. DEBT AND DEFAULT JUDGEMENT ELIMINATED!
2022: Capital Alliance Financial, LLC v Client in the 52-3rd District Court Rochester Hills, Oakland County. Capital Alliance Financial, LLC and their law firm Stenger & Stenger, P.C. sued our client in District Court back in 2008 on an ID Theft case for a debt that was not hers. They got a Default Judgment against her for more than $8,000 without her knowledge. We got involved and threatened a Motion to Set Aside. Capital Alliance Financial, LLC and Stenger & Stenger, P.C. agreed to set aside the judgment and dismiss the case including waiving the debt. With the debt and lawsuit eliminated, client's credit FICO scores will go way up too. Very happy Client. DEBT AND DEFAULT ELIMINATED!
2021: Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC (PRA) v Client in the 51st District Court in Waterford, Oakland County. PRA and Weber & Olcese law firm sued our client in District Court and got a Default Judgment against her for more than $2,200. We got involved and threatened a Motion to Set Aside. PRA and Weber & Olcese agreed to set aside the judgment and dismiss the case-with prejudice. With the debt and lawsuit eliminated, client's credit FICO scores will go way up too. Very happy Client. DEBT ELIMINATED
2021: Palisades Collection, LLC v Client in the 52-1 District Court in Novi, Oakland County. Palisades and Shermeta Law Group sued our client in District Court and got a Default Judgment, now more than $23,700.00. The debt was her ex-husband's card, and our client now faced more garnishments on an old judgment for a debt she never signed up for. We threatened a Motion to Set Aside on the ten-year-old debt-a near impossible task. Palisades and Shermeta agreed to set aside the judgment and dismiss the case. Client had this hanging over her head for ten years and now she is free of the worry. DEBT And Worry ELIMINATED
2021: Cavalry SPV I v Client in the 55th District Court in Mason, Ingham County. Cavalry sued our client in District Court and obtained a Default judgment for over $10,000 while she was in the hospital. Cavalry was represented by Weber & Olcese. Once we got involved, Cavalry and Weber did the right thing by eliminating the Judgment and wiped out the debt. With the case dismissed and the $10,000 debt eliminated, it will come off the client's credit report and her FICO scores will rise. Very happy Client. DEBT ELIMINATED
2021: Midland Credit Management, Inc (MCM) v Client in the 48th District Court in Bloomfield Hills, Oakland County. MCM and Mary Jane Elliott, P.C. law firm sued our client in District Court and got a Default Judgment against her for more than $10,0000 while she was out of state for three months. We got involved and threatened a Motion to Set Aside. MCM and Mary Jane Elliott, P.C. agreed to set aside the judgment and dismiss the case. With the debt and lawsuit eliminated, client's credit FICO scores will go way up too. Very happy Client. DEBT ELIMINATED
Whether you are properly served and fail to answer, or the debt collector pulled a fast one on you to have you Defaulted, you should contact my office immediately. In both cases above, the debt collector got the default against our clients while they were out of town. The debt collector told the Court that the clients failed to answer after being properly served (they were not). My clients only learned about the cases against them when they faced garnishments and liens. The sooner you file the Motion to Set Aside, the better as time is always of the essence with a default and you don't want your paycheck or state taxes garnished. Call or email us today.
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