A collections attorney did a bank garnishment on my bank account. All of the funds in the bank account are exempt funds. I filed an objections for the garnishment with the court, and I am waiting for my court date. Can I sue the creditor for wrongful garnishment of exempt funds if she caused checks to bounce? also do I need to retain an attorney to do so? please also note that I was never properly notified that money was being garnish out of my bank account, which if I knew that piece of information I could have stopped the checks from bouncing.
Most attorneys are exempt from what they do in a lawsuit UNLESS the attorney was part of a debt collection scheme deliberately doing unfair debt collection. You can certainly sue the creditor they lawyer represented. It that this collection suit was a deliberate violation of the fair debt collection act, which means you can probably find a MI lawyer willing to sue them on a contingency basis since the law has a fee shifting rule which forces the creditor to pay your legal fees.Please carefully read the entire statement below on false creditor schemes.
You might find my legal guide on selecting and hiring a lawyer helpful.
You might find my legal guide on Is it Legal? Is it Illegal? helpful.
You might find my legal guide on the understanding the different court systems helpful.
You might find my legal guide on legal terms used in litigation helpful.
(Even if you are not filing a lawsuit this information can be useful). The prior federal administration severely weakened most state’s laws against excessive interest. Unpaid debts
now have practically no ceiling on interest which means the final bill can be much more than the original debt.
When you have received a collection notice, lawsuit or even a judgment on an old debt which may have already been paid, or belongs to someone else, or has been discharged in bankruptcy, keep the following in mind. After a creditor writes off your debt, it can then be sold to a collection agency. That agency may sell it again and the next one again. By the time the debt is assigned to a law firm, it can be years pass the statute of limitations, all of the original contracts have been lost and there may be no legal foundation for enforcing the debt. One way of knowing this is that the agency will have no discernible address or they will say they are collecting from a creditor, but the creditor does not know who they are. They will call you at work , and they will not listen to any explanation at all. They will refuse any suggested payment plan and demand a large sum at once. Often these collection agencies and even law firms will file a suit against you, misspell your name, or deliberately send it to the wrong address. You have no notice but they go to court anyway, get a default judgment against you when you do not come to court, and file a judgment lien on your assets such as a home you are trying to sell, or they report you to a credit bureau as a deadbeat. You are allowed to send a 100 word explanation in writing to the three credit bureaus (which they must print) as to why the debt is invalid. Also, many attorneys will take such a case on a contingency basis. A Violations of the fair debt collection act has a fee shifting rule (the creditor pays your attorney). Not only do you get the debt out of your life, you may get a financial award also. Be sure to write to your congress representative to have a stronger federal law to restore a ceiling on interest and to curtail these illegal collection practices.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER
Mr. Sarno is licensed to practice law in NJ and NY. His response here is not legal advice and does not create an attorney/ client relationship. The response is in the form of legal education and is intended to provide general information about the matter in question. Many times the questioner may leave out details which would make the reply unsuitable. Mr. Sarno strongly advises the questioner to confer with an attorney in their own state to acquire more information.
If you win on the wrongful garnishment and are inclined to pursue it further you could go after the attorney and the debt collections company. But you might have to show the attorney was intentionally violating the law. Note too that undertaking litigation should never be taken lightly and the debt collections people and the attorney may be inclined to push back legally if sued.
