Judgement Satisfaction Not Filed

[stomperx1]

My question involves judgment recovery in the State of: new york.

default judgement against husband. we then went to court, judge ruled in our favor, we had already overpaid judgement. creditor ordered by judge to give us satisfaction and return money over paid.

both parties sign general release: their responsibilty is to file release/satisfaction, and pay me 1.00. my responsibility is to drop the matter/do not pursue my counter claim.

4 years later, we discover papers are never filed.

records at court not updated: technically this judgement still stands as valid. possibility court file is incomplete, with decision/documents missing.

creditor does not aknowledge judges decision, claims it does not exist.

in theory, this should be as simple as taking my decision back to the court and having records "updated"?

however, due to their breach of contract (general release), i am no longer bound by the terms of that general release? i can now pursue a lawsuit against them?

and if so, what damages can i claim? this judgement has affected our credit, i was denied a mortgage due specifically to this judgement issue. our car payment is double what it should be, due to this. can i sue for monatary damages?

[aaron]

There will be calendar entries (sometimes called docket entries) that go along with the court file. Anything that was filed in the case should be recorded as a calendar entry, so you (and the court clerk) should be able to determine if something is missing from the court file. If you have copies of documents that were filed with the court but do not appear in the court file, hang on to your copies and be prepared to present them in court when you raise this issue.

If the issue is that a judgment was issued from the bench, but that somebody dropped the ball on reducing the judgment to writing and having it formally entered, it's time to pick up the ball and get that done. That may necessitate ordering a transcript of the hearing where the judge issues his decision.

Do you have a copy of the release? What remedies does it describe in the event of breach? Why didn't you act to fix this problem when you first learned of it?

[stomperx1]

the judgement docket is at county court level, not town. county clerk will not accept any of my papers without town court seal...

town clerk may not be able to tell if anything is missing from file: as told to my be court administrator: "file is pared down when it is sent to archive".

i have copies of everything.

there is no transcript: this town does not keep transcript records of hearings.

the release does not make ANY reference to a breach.

we have only just NOW learned of this issue. we ARE acting as soon as we learned. i was under the impression that my lawyer handled all of this. NOW he says this was not his job?? and for him to do this now, will charge me 500-1000.00 dollars. his office accepted copies in place of original documents. he dropped the ball as well.

i am faxing and sending, by certified mail, copies of my copies of the judgement release and judges final decision to the crditor. i hope they will do the honerable thing, and correct this issue. NY law says they are supposed to do this within 20 of judges decision?

does anyone know, what the proper name of the form is, that i need to send to the town court to have them look at the decision, and then send this to the county court? regardless of what the creditor says, by NY law, the COURT CLERKS were suppose to update the judgment docket 4 years ago. they did not. if i do nt have the proper forms/papers, the town clerks will not accept anything from me, even the judges decision.

and do i have to file papers stating that the release (contract) is null and void?

thanks.