Federal Arbitration Act and Court Confirmation

**davidk333** · 10-19-2009, 08:37 PM

My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: California

Recently I found out that a collections agency received a judgement against me in limited civil court in orange county, CA for a debt that was charged off in 2001.

1) The debt was charged off by MBNA as of Feb 2001.
2) The debt collectors received an arbitration award in NAF in 2004. They did not send me a summons nor did they send me any other correspondence.

3) Debt collectors, via an attorney, won a confirmation of arbitration award against me in 3/2008. Once again, they did not serve me. They served notice to my sister who lives at the house I used to live in ~5 years ago.

I have several questions.
1) Can I get this court confirmation dismissed based upon the fact that they failed to properly serve me?
a. My understanding is in my request to dismiss this judgement, I must also show that this case should have been dismissed from the beginning. It is not enough to just show that I was not properly served. Is this correct?
2) From my online searches, I gathered that arbitration awards must be confirmed by a court within one year from the date of arbitration award. Is this correct? If so, can I use this a reason for dismissal of confirmation?
a. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/ht...9----000-.html
3) Is it possible to overturn this decision from NAF? My understanding is you only have a 3 month window in which to file a stay/vacate with NAF. But how am I supposed to do this if I never even knew it existed? Do they have to “serve” me? Or even notify me of the result?

**Mr. Knowitall** · 10-21-2009, 02:45 PM

In relation to the history, how and when did you learn of the 2004 arbitration and its result? Didn't your sister inform you that she was served with documents in your name in 2008? Was that the address where you had been living at some time (or times) relevant to the debt or arbitration proceeding?

When the current legal action was filed, were you served? Did you appear and defend yourself? If not, why not?

**davidk333** · 10-22-2009, 01:56 AM

Thank you for the reply. Here are the answers.....

1) I learned of the arbitration and its result when i received copies of the court documents ~ 1month ago. The court documents (confirmation of arbitration award) referenced the arbitration decision, which was made in 2004.

2) No, my sister did not inform me. We haven't been on good terms for some time now. Actually she denies ever having received the summons. But I think she did because the summons shows Julie "Doe" signed for the papers and my sister just so happens to be named Julie. Although I guess she didnt give them her last name since they had to put "DOE".

3) yes, i lived at that address before. For ~ 1year back around 2004 I believe. What I find fishy is all they had to do is pull up my credit history to find my current address in 2008. I've been pulling up my free annual credit report once a year now for several years and was always amazed at how the credit reporting agencies always seemed to know my current address. This actually leads me to believe debt collectors sent the summons to an old address on purpose so I wouldnt show up for court and they could just get their default judgement.

4) No, i was not served for the current legal action. I only found out because I happened to get a copy of my credit report and it showed a judgement against me from the orange county courts. And because i did not know about it, of course, i could not show up to defend myself.