How can a courtissue ajudgement against me without serving papers letting me know that there was even a court date?
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How can a courtissue ajudgement against me without serving papers letting me know that there was even a court date?
Asked on December 23, 2011 under Bankruptcy Law, Mississippi
Answers:
S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
The opposing party may have falsely claimed that you were served with the summons and complaint (the complaint is the lawsuit attached to the summons), and when you did not file with the court an answer to the complaint within the time set forth in the summons and serve the opposing party by mail, the opposing party filed a default the default judgment was entered against you.
If that is what occurred, you can file a motion to set aside the default. Your argument would be that you were not served with the summons and complaint and therefore could not file a timely answer with the court and serve it on the opposing party. If the court grants your motion to set aside the default, the case is then back on track and litigation will continue.
The other possibility is that if the opposing party did not know your present whereabouts, you may have been served by publication. Service by publication means that notice of the lawsuit appeared in the legal notices section of a newspaper for a certain period of time (the required period of time varies from state to state). This is effective service of process even if you didn't see the notice in the newspaper.
If the opposing party knew your whereabouts, then you could not be served by publication.
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