Complaint Review:
Kimball Tirey & St John LLP
Kimball, Tirey & St John LLP Out of the blue... After 9 years they forged documents and put a garnishment on my wages. they were not able to provide a proof of service to me. Internet
Nine years ago I lived in an apartment newly divorced with my three children. I was on state aid and working. The owner of the apartment complex came to the door and told me that he was raising the rent from $800.00 to $950.00 a Month only giving me 2 weeks notice.
I told him There was no way I could afford that amount in such short notice. He told me to move out and give him 2 weeks rent. I gave him $400.00 and I started to move out. After 2 days I was served a three day notice. I moved out the following day.
He kept my cleaning deposit of $700.00 so that was a total of $1100.00 that the owner had from me.
I thought everything was taken care of.
Now it's 2011 and I have been employed at the same job for 9 years and out of the blue I recieve a court paper saying I owe Seventeen hundred dollars to this collection agency / Law Firm I called them and asked what it was all about they said I needed to pay this money to them. Because I owed money to the owner of the apartments for past rent.
I asked them for proof I owed this money they had no proof. I ask then why was I not informed that there was a case against me. They were so rude threating to garnish my wadges if I did not make arrangements with them to pay.
I called them several times and they just treated me like I was a criminal not letting me speak interrupting me every time I tried to get information from them. I asked them for a proof of service several times or something that they could show me so I could work on this and get to the bottom of it.
They could not provide me with any paperwork showing that I was served or anything saying I was contacted about this matter.
It is very scary to think that anyone could just get a judgement and take money from you without showing any proof of the charges. I don't know how the law works in this matter but after 9 years you would think that they could have contacted me sooner so I could tell my side.
I am sure that the judgement has to be expired by now and they would have had to go back to court and get a new one. If they knew where I worked why didn't they contact me before now? they allow me to protect myself.
2 weeks ago a police officer came to my place of business and served a garnishment against my wadges. I tried to call and ask if I could go to court a fight this and they said it's to late.
I really tried to work with them and it seemed like they just wanted to argue and insist I owed money. I really feel that they forged some of the documents and was pushing for the garnishment because they did't think I would defend myself. Well they are wrong. I have reported them to the State Bar as well.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
MovingForward
Palm Beach Gardens,Florida,
USA
Shredding garnishment paperwork does not solve the problem
#5Consumer Comment
Sun, February 26, 2012
Don't shred the paperwork as advised above. It won't solve your problem. If you stick your head in the sand, it doesn't make the problem disappear.
A judgement in California lasts for 10 years and then can be renewed during the tenth year for another 10 yrs. This can go on forever until its paid or vacated.
You are better off doing as poster #1 suggested by going to court and using the defective service to vacate the judgement.
Shakespear2012
Las Vegas,Nevada,
United States of America
Theives and robbers
#5Consumer Comment
Fri, February 17, 2012
Tell me about it. Kimball Tirey St John are theives and robbers. The attorneys who work there should be disbarred. Their practices are shady, unethical, if not illegal. it doesn't take much to search them online and see how many problems they have. It's also very evident they've launched massive internet PR campaigns to cover it up. Class action suit against them, anyone?
msmontecarlo
USAShread the garnishment papers
#5Consumer Comment
Fri, May 13, 2011
Shread the garnishment papers and burn them. If they are refusing to give you any imformation rip the papers up and toss them in the furnace
zeroarctic
Fairbanks,Alaska,
USA
Solutions
#5Consumer Suggestion
Wed, May 11, 2011
This shouldn't be that hard to fix. If you were never served with this suit and you never agreed to pay a collection agency anything:
1. Find out which court awarded the judgement to these people. You should be able to do so through the garnishment papers.Don't call or otherwise have any contact with the collection agency.
2. Review the alledged service contained in the court documents for the case.This will give you the info needed to proceed. For example, the service might state that they served a person at an address that you never lived at or was served on someone you never heard of.
3. File a motion pro se to reopen the case due to improper service. It might be possible to get a consumer rights attorney to take this on pro bono. It would be worth checking.
4. The judge might dismiss the whole thing after you establish defective service. They don't like seeing abuse of the process. Alternatively, this will reopen all avenues to dispute the debt in it's entirety. Enough Rip Off Report entries have been made where I don't need to go into statute of limitations and other such affirmative defences.I would recommend requesting a stay of the garnishment while the case is ongoing.
5. Assuming you are successful, it would open the option to recover the monies illicitly taken through the faulty garnishment and possibly give rise to a claim for damages.
6. Review the Bud Hibbs website for additional detail .