Can wages be garnished before a court hearing?

Question

I just got my paycheck and to my surprise my wages have been garnished. I decided to check the local court system on-line and found that I have a garnishment hearing pending. The court date is not until 9/18/08. I wasn't even aware of the judgement against me. But my boss said that I few weeks ago an attorney called her asking if I still work here. I would seem that if the attorney could go to those lengths to find my place of employment the could have just as easily called me (I've only had the same phone number for the last 7 years) or found my home. They judgement is from my old dentist office for a procedure that he did without telling me that my insurance would not cover it. I went back and forth with their office and the final answer that I got was that they are supposed to notify me before any procedure is done if my insurance does not cover it.

Answer 1

Wages cannot be garnished before the plaintiff gets a judgment against you and subsequently a writ of garnishment.

It could be that the "attorney" just called your boss to verify your employment.

Check with the court to see if the judge issued a "writ of garnishment".

Answer 2

There is no doubt something is wrong with this picture.  The laywer can  only get a writ of garnishment if he wins his case in court or by default because you did not show.

First of all contact the court to see when the garnishment order was processed.  If it shows you did not show up, then your defense would be the summons was not properly served.

You could seek a Reverse Judgment.:

This term actually means to "overrule" a lower court's decision. When debt collectors win a default judgment, it's possible to have it overturned, overruled, set aside and vacated. These terms simply mean the default judgment is removed and is no longer binding.

In order to have a default judgment overturned, you'll need to prove that the judgment was granted without you being given due process. This generally means you were not able to appear in court for various reasons and therefore, not able to properly defend yourself. Obtain a copy of ALL court documents concerning the default judgment and look them over for any mistakes. Pay close attention to address, notification procedures, dates and names.

If you can prove that you were not properly notified or that some emergency prevented you from appearing in court, request a rehearing also called a motion to vacate judgment.

If this is the case, bring all this evidence to court with you on 9/18/08

You might also want to check your states statute of limitations on this debt.  This is the time limit a lawyer or collection agency has to seek civil action.   Here is a link to find your states SOL

http://www.bcsalliance.com/statute_of_li...

If the debt is time barred, then you would use that as your defense.

Answer 3

No something is wrong.  A garnishment requires a legal ruling in favor of the plaintiff before any wages can be diverted to them.  They are required to present your employer proof of the judgment before your payroll is adjusted.  I would speak to your payroll people about this first.  To my knowledge they can not permit a garnishment without a legal ruling.