Question:
of the hearing?
Answers:
Isn't the legal system wonderful?
By law, the creditor must serve you with court papers informing you of the lawsuit. How these papers are served depends on your state, as every state has different laws (see the link below).
What has happened is either the creditor did not have your current address and was going from your "last known address", or they simply did a terrible job trying to locate you.
So now you have a default judgment against you, and you are going to have a difficult time fighting it. But it can be done.
First, you have to prove to the judge there was an "improper service. This can be done by:
1) Proving the process server lied about serving
2) Proving that the process server did not do a "dilligent search" for you
3) Proving that the process server did not follow the procedures.
To find all this out, go to the courthouse and request to see a copy of your court case. In it, you will find a form the process server filled out detailing how and who was served.
If you think you have an improper service, your next battle is to convince the judge that if he were to grant an appeal, you have an excellent chance of wining the case. If this is your debt, and the creditor can probably prove it, you will only piss the judge off by complaining about the improper service. But if you have a case (not your debt, or over the statute of limitations) then the judge will allow your motion to dismiss and you will get to have your day in court.
Note that collection agents are very good at managing to not notify creditors. One in particular got hit very hard with fines for filing false court papers, and some process servers went to jail. Your case is far from unusual.
By law, everyone has a right to have their side heard in court. The sad fact is some states (Washington for example) are extremely lax. Their laws make it terribly easy to get default judgments.
Here in Michigan, the very first thing the judge does is look to see if the service was delivered...if before he grants the default he will grill the creditor and/or process server to be sure they make a search for the debtor.
in nys state, you would have received a summons (in person or on your door when you got home). after the summons you'll have 10 days to respond. you'll need to seek legal counsel in your case because you may have a warrent for your arrest for failure to answer a court ordered document.
There should be a court record of how they notified you. If they can't track you down that should also be documented. The county clerk has that in the file.
contact the creditor. seems odd that you weren't aware that you had bills that you weren't paying.
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