[kristian99]

hi,

i had a credit card account which was closed by a bank in oct of 01. they then sold it to a collection agency who obtained a judgement against me (they sent the summons to an old roommate, after i had moved. he unknowingly accepted it). i found out about the judgement last year after my account was garnished. i have not settled with them, and it turns out that the company who originally garnished my account sold the debt to another attorney. i talked with their office once only to get an accurate accounting of what they believed i owed. they claimed to have know record of the original garnishment and became rather belligerent after i started asking questions. i contacted the county court after receiving a new garnishment filing and they told me the original garnishment was dismissed and that they had a check for me (believe it or not). i'm trying to determine what i can do to fight the judgement? can i use the fact that the SOL for georgia has expired since its been more than six years since the last payment? or must it be six years after the actual judgement? and if not, do i have any other recourse in fighting this - perhaps on the grounds that the other garnishment was dismissed?

thanks

[LawResearcherMissy]

The statute of limitations for credit card debts in Georgia is 4 years from the time of default.

This does not mean that a creditor can't sue you after the SOL has expired, but it does mean you can ask the judge to dismiss the case because the SOL has expired.

[usedbranflakes]

First of all, there should be a Georgia law somewhere that allows you to beat former roommates who do that stupid stuff.
Secondly, if they had reason to believe that this was not your address you can file a "Fraud on the Court" filing in the original court that granted the default judgement as well as have the court compel for a return of your funds.
You might not win the Fraud on the Court, but it's worth filing. The clerk of the court can provide paperwork and might even have a computer where you can look up successful cases in the past and review their filings and even use them as a template (provided they are not Copyright by the law firm).