Sewer Service: When You Never Got the Lawsuit Papers

Sewer Service: The Hidden Judgment You Never Knew Existed

If a judgment has been entered against you and you were never served with a lawsuit, New York law may give you a powerful remedy — with no time limit to assert it. In this episode, attorney Efstathios Georgiou breaks down one of the most pervasive and least understood problems in New York consumer debt litigation: sewer service.

What You'll Learn:

• What sewer service is — and why it's illegal, widespread, and documented at the highest levels of New York enforcement
• How creditors and debt buyers obtain default judgments against consumers who were never actually served
• Red flags that suggest your default judgment was obtained through improper service
• CPLR § 5015(a)(4) — why a jurisdictional motion to vacate carries no time limit, even if the judgment is years old
• What a Traverse hearing is and how cross-examining the process server can expose deficient or fabricated service
• What happens after vacatur — your right to answer, raise defenses, and litigate or settle on the merits
• How to stop active wage garnishment or bank levies while a motion to vacate is pending

This episode is for you if:

✔ You discovered a judgment through a frozen bank account or wage garnishment ✔ You never received any court papers about a lawsuit ✔ The affidavit of service describes someone who doesn't live at your address ✔ You assumed the judgment was too old to challenge

Take Action:

A judgment you didn't know about is not necessarily a judgment you have to live with. At Georgiou Law, we handle motions to vacate default judgments in New York City courts and evaluate whether improper service is the basis for setting aside judgments — including judgments that are years old.

📞 Call now for a consultation: 917-764-3072 🌐 Georgiou Law, PLLC | 14 Wall Street, New York, NY Clear Your Debt, Claim Your Future ®

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello and welcome back. You'll listen to Clear Your Debt and Claim Your Future. Presented by Giorgio Law, a year of law from focus on credit card debt defense and consumer debt settlement. My name is Epstapios Giorgio, and in today's episode, we will talk about one of the most serious problems in consumer debt litigation in the state of New York. Sewer service. That is the colloquial term for when a process server files a sworn affidavit claiming they delivered a lawsuit to you, but you never received it. For the next couple of minutes, I'm going to explain how sewer service happened, what it means for your case, and what legal tools are available when you discover a judgment was entered against you for a lawsuit you never knew about. So what is sewer service? Sewer service is a practice of failing to actually serve legal papers on a defendant while falsely filing an affidavit claiming that service was completed. The name comes from the idea that the papers were thrown down the sewer rather than delivered. It is illegal, it is perjury, and it is widespread enough in New York that courts, regulators, and the legislature have taken notice. Despite enforcement efforts, sewer service continues to plague consumer debt cases, especially in New York City civil courts. Why does it matter? Service of process is a constitutional requirement. Due process means you have the right to notice of a lawsuit against you and an opportunity to defend yourself. If you were never served, the court never had personal jurisdiction over you. A judgment entered without proper service is void or voidable. Sewer service does not just affect individual, it undermines the integrity of the court system in the state of New York. How does sewer service lead to default judgment? Well, this is how it typically works. A creditor or debt buyer files a lawsuit. A process server is then assigned to serve the papers on the consumer. The process server, for reasons of laziness, volume, or negligence, does not actually make proper delivery. The process server files a sworn affidavit stating that service was completed. The consumer, who never received the papers, does not respond. The creditor then makes a motion for a default judgment with the court, and the court, relying on the affidavit of service, grants the judgment. The consumer discovers months or even years later, when a bank account is frozen or wages are garnished, that a judgment existed. Red flags that suggest sewer service. Common signs of sewer service include you had no idea a lawsuit was filed until your bank account was restrained or your wages were garnished. The affidavit of service describes a person at your address who does not live there. The physical description in the affidavit does not match you or anyone in your household. The affidavit claims service at an address where you did not live at the time. The affidavit claims personal delivery to you on a date when you were demonstrably elsewhere. Any of these discrepancies can form the basis of a motion to vacate a default judgment. What is a motion to vacate? When a default judgment has been entered due to improper service, the remedy is a motion to vacate the judgment. Under New York CPLR section 5015, a judgment can be vacated on several grounds, including lack of jurisdiction due to improper service. A motion to vacate based on jurisdictional defect or improper service can be made at any time. There is no time limit. This is different from a motion to vacate based on excusable default, which requires both a reasonable excuse and a meritorious defense and is subject to the reasonable standard as to timing. The jurisdictional ground is stronger because it goes to the court's fundamental authority to enter the judgment in the first place. So what do you need to prove? To vacate a judgment based on improper service, you need to challenge the affidavit of service with specific credible evidence. This may include an affidavit from you stating you were never served, evidence that the description of the person served does not match you or any occupant of your home, evidence that you did not reside at the service address, evidence of your location on the date of the claim service, including travel records, work records, medical records. The court will weigh your evidence against the process service affidavit. A bare denial is often not enough. Specific facts matter. What is a Travis hearing? In some cases, the court will schedule a Travis hearing, a hearing specifically to determine whether service was properly made. At the Travis hearing, the process server will testify. They are subject to cross-examination. In many cases, the process server cannot recall specific details of the service because the sever never actually occurred or because they served dozens of people that day and they cannot distinguish individual instances. A travers hearing is an opportunity to expose deficient service through direct examination of the person who claims to have served you. What happens after vacature? If the court grants the motion to vacate, the default judgment is set aside. The case then reverts to its pre-judgment posture. You now have the opportunity to file an answer, raise defenses, and litigate or settle the case on the merits. This is significant because many consumers who were victims of sewer service had strong defenses and never had the chance to raise. Statute limitations, lack of standing, insufficient documentation, all of these defenses become available once the default is vacated. Stopping enforcement while the motion is pending. Filing a motion to vacate does not automatically stop enforcement. However, the court may issue a stay of enforcement while the motion is pending. Your attorney may request a temporary restraining order or TRO or filed an order to show cause or OSC with a temporary stay. If wage garnishment or bank living are active, getting the stay is urgent. At your due law, when we move to vacate a default judgment, we evaluate whether emergency relief from enforcement is needed and we seek appropriate relief. The New York Attorney General and Sewer Service. The New York Attorney General's office has brought enforcement actions against process server companies and debt collection law firms involved in sewer service. Major settlements have been reached, including cases involving hundreds of thousands of improperly entered default judgments. These enforcement actions confirmed what consumers had long argued that sewer service is not a rare aberration, but a systemic problem. The existence of these enforcement actions can support individual consumers' claims that service in their case was deficient. Why do consumers wait too long? Many consumers discover a default judgment and assume nothing can be done. They assume that because years have passed, the judgment is final. For jurisdictional challenges based on improper service, that assumption is simply wrong. There is no time limit under 5015A4 motion, which is a motion based on lack of jurisdiction or improper service. The judgment may be years old. If service was improper, the challenge is still available. Waiting is understandable, but it is not required, and action is almost always better than inaction. The bottom line if you have a judgment against you that you did not know about and you were never served with a lawsuit, you may have a strong basis to have that judgment vacated. This is not theoretical. We do this regularly at Georgiu Law. Sewer service is a real problem and a documented problem. The law provides real remedies, but those remedies require someone to assert them on your behalf. If you have discovered a judgment that you did not know about through a frozen bank account, a wage garnishment, or a credit report, and you believe you were never properly served with the lawsuit, call me now at 917 764 3072. We handle motions to vacate default judgments in New York City, and we evaluate whether improper service may be the basis for setting aside those judgments against you. This has been Clear Your Debt, Claim Your Future, presented by Georgie Law. Until next time, thank you.