Can a lawyer refuse payment for a judgment? (funds, pay, dispute) - Personal Finance -debt, loans, credit cards, banks, insurance... - City-Data Forum

arrgy · 07-15-2009, 03:31 PM

Back in 2005 the court ordered a judgment against me. I was to send payments to a law firm. I have avoided this until now. Today, I have sent the law firm certified funds in the amount of the originial order, plus the interest that is allowed by the state (10%). The law firm had not made any attempt at all to garnish my wages, or anything for 4 years. I came out of the blue and decided to pay this since I want to be done with it.

Question: Can the law firm refuse to accept the payment for any reason?

I know its a stupid question, but this law firm is notorious for trying to get blood from a stone. I sent the certified payment registered express mail, and I sent two emails telling him that he will get it in his office on a certain date.

berdee · 07-15-2009, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arrgy

Back in 2005 the court ordered a judgment against me. I was to send payments to a law firm. I have avoided this until now. Today, I have sent the law firm certified funds in the amount of the originial order, plus the interest that is allowed by the state (10%). The law firm had not made any attempt at all to garnish my wages, or anything for 4 years. I came out of the blue and decided to pay this since I want to be done with it.

Question: Can the law firm refuse to accept the payment for any reason?

I know its a stupid question, but this law firm is notorious for trying to get blood from a stone. I sent the certified payment registered express mail, and I sent two emails telling him that he will get it in his office on a certain date.

If you sent the full amount that was ordered by the judge, including accrued interest, then they have no legal reason to refuse your payment.

texdav · 07-16-2009, 07:26 AM

As long as you figure the interest corrstly they will accept it;if not it depends on them.

arrgy · 07-16-2009, 06:57 PM

Thanks for the responses. I used 5 online calculators using the original amount, and the date the judgment was filed and they all came up with the same figure.

The law firm received the certified funds, and hopefully they will follow Connecticut law and inform the court and me.

Would it be practical to file a motion to vacate the judgment now that it is satisfied?

berdee · 07-16-2009, 09:56 PM

If you haven't gotten a copy of the recorded judgment, I would suggest doing that.

After your payment goes through you should talk to the lawyer that you paid, ask if they will sign a joint motion to vacate. It may have been more effective if you had gone in person with your check, or sent a letter before sending the check, and said "hey, I want to pay you but I'd like you to sign this for me"

But unless the lawyer is a real butthead then the lawyer may go ahead and sign, even if it is after the payment. They've already been paid so there no longer any real advantage to them in allowing your records to continue to suffer.

If the lawyer is in another city/state then mail him a copy of the joint motion to vacate and a nice cover letter asking if he/she will sign. Send it certified mail return receipt.

You should have the document already written up to take with you, or to mail. You can probably find a lawyer that will draw it up for you for a token payment. (if you have a lawyer draw up that motion for you, then you might ask him/her what the procedure is to file it and in following up on it with the court)

If the lawyer agrees and signs it, then you will need to make a copy for yourself and then file the document with the court. Be sure to follow your Rules of Civil Procedure (RCP) on filing anything with the court. Also, be sure to follow up on the motion after you file it, you may have to go in front of the judge just to state, first hand, that is what you are wanting.

If the judgment is reporting....

Order a hard copy your credit reports and have them mailed to you. Once you are positive that they have accepted the payment, and the payment had gone through, if the judgment is reporting then you should look at how it's reporting and compare it to the copy of the recorded judgment.
If it is inaccurate in any way then you should dispute that. If you have confirmation that the judgment is paid, yet it's still reporting with a dollar amount then even IF the dollar amount matches what is on the judgment, or not, you should send a dispute to whichever CRA is reporting it and say something like "I have no such judgment #1234567 for $1234.56. Please remove this." Use the dollar amount that is on the credit report(s) for your dispute, not the amount from the copy of the judgment.

Do not send a copy of the judgment, a copy of anything from the lawyer you paid showing it as paid, etc., etc. .. in other words, send nothing but the dispute itself to the CRA's!!