Clients often come to our firm with multiple judgments entered against them during a time of financial hardship in their lives. Most commonly, it is the result of job loss, divorce, or medical issues. They became so overwhelmed during that time that they default on their debts and do not know how to resolve them. Multiple creditors actively pursue them to such an extent that they cannot recall what is and is not accurate. One of our recent clients retained our firm after his bank account was frozen by Daniels Norelli Scully and Cecere, a debt collection law firm. They represented CACH LLC a debt buyer and entered default judgment in 2009 against him. He was so distraught that all of the funds in his bank account were inaccessible that he agreed under what we believe was duress to sign a conditional release for a portion of the funds in the account to satisfy the judgment. It was only after signing this document that he realized that something was not right and contacted our firm. We immediately filed an emergency motion with the court to put a hold on all proceedings. We are awaiting a hearing to have the judgment against him vacated and the funds returned to his account.
This same client informed us of two other judgments against him: one that he was voluntarily paying towards without an agreement, and one in which his wages were about to be garnished. The debt our client was voluntarily paying without an agreement was being handled by Stephen Einstein & Associates, a common debt collection law firm representing another debt buyer, LVNV Funding. The remaining balance on the judgment was about $3,000, and we were able to resolve the matter with a settlement of $800 over four months. The other judgment was being handled by the debt collection law firm of Mullooly Jeffrey Rooney and Flynn on behalf of their client, Asset Acceptance, and it had a current balance of about $11,000. Although opposing counsel was aware that the garnishment of our client’s wages was set to begin, we were able to negotiate for a reduced settlement amount of $3,675. The judgments in both matters were also vacated.