Our client was sued by Atlantic Credit & Finance Inc., a debt buyer for an alleged debt stemming from a GE Money Bank financing account. Forster & Garbus, the attorneys for Plaintiff served our client in New York at her mother's address. However, our client had moved to California and has been living there for the last few years. The lawsuit stated that Atlantic Credit was owed about $10,000 and we knew that Forster & Garbus was counting on obtaining a default judgment against our client. Thus, we quickly entered an answer with all the affirmative defenses necessary to protect the client.
We immediately pushed ahead with our discovery demands forcing Forster & Garbus to show us proof that our client was related to this debt in any way. As usual, they had a difficult time showing us the proper assignment paperwork necessary to prove standing. They also had a serious issue with jurisdiction since our client lived across the country. Forster & Garbus ultimately decided to offer an out-of-court settlement of $2,500, about 75% off of the amount they were suing for, that our client accepted in order to avoid legal fees and further risk.