I just got hit with a default judgment of $100K! I only found out about the judgment when my bank account was levied against and emptied over this.
This is a result of a lease dispute. I broke the lease with a landlord who happens to be a local politician. I had legal grounds to terminate the lease. He sued me over it in General Session’s court for about $20,000. This would have been the rent due to date. At this time the building had not been released. I hired an attorney and we won. The case was dismissed with prejudice.
The landlord then filed an appeal to Circuit Court. My attorney was never sent any notice of the appeal or of a new trial date by either the court or the landlord’s attorney. When we did not show up in court, a default judgment was entered against us for over 100K. This amount would have been about the total of the entire lease period. After receiving the judgment, the landlord then made no attempt to contact me or my attorney. Two months later he filed a bank levy against me and my bank accounts have been emptied and many checks of mine now bounced. I have now also discovered that the building has been re-leased for about a month and for the same amount that I had originally paid.
When I asked the court clerk why my attorney had not been notified, she told me there was attorney of record on file. She stated that my attorney had never filed a Notice of Appearance. She told me that the court had sent a notice to me via regular mail (no proof of delivery) to my former office address. I still get all the mail at that address even though I no longer have an office there and I never received any notice.
I have done some research. According to TN Rules of Civil Procedure (TROCP), Rule 5.01 & 5.02 Require that all the notices and appeals be served on the Counsel of Record.
My attorney represented me in court on the day of the original trial. My attorney filed 2 different pleadings with the court during the initial case. My attorney conversed back and forth with the opposing attorney several times during the initial case. The opposing attorney CC’d my attorney on all of his filings during the initial case. These documents are in the official court records and I have copies that I got at the court house. From my research, these actions are quite sufficient to make my attorney my attorney of record even though a Notice of Appearance was not filed.
After the appeal was filed, neither the court nor the opposing attorney ever contacted my attorney.
It seems to me that this landlord (remember he is a local politician) might have pulled a fast one to get this done.
My attorney is in the process of preparing a motion to get this judgment vacated but he has told me that it might be difficult.
Q1. Under TN law, should my attorney have been considered to be my attorney of record based on the events of the initial case?
Q2. Was the opposing attorney required to send notices to my attorney since he obviously knew I was represented by an attorney?
Q3. I have had about 15 checks bounce due to this and my bank has charged me hundreds of dollars in fees. 2 of the checks were to the state for sales tax payments and I will be penalized by them for this as well. If this is vacated do I have any recourse to getting reimbursed for the expenses I have incurred?
Q4. Since the building has been re-leased, is it legal for him to even get a judgment for the full lease period from me? He would get paid twice if so.
I have not slept in 3 days over this. PLEASE if anyone has any advice or case law that they can point me to that might help I would really appreciate it.
This is a result of a lease dispute. I broke the lease with a landlord who happens to be a local politician. I had legal grounds to terminate the lease. He sued me over it in General Session’s court for about $20,000. This would have been the rent due to date. At this time the building had not been released. I hired an attorney and we won. The case was dismissed with prejudice.
The landlord then filed an appeal to Circuit Court. My attorney was never sent any notice of the appeal or of a new trial date by either the court or the landlord’s attorney. When we did not show up in court, a default judgment was entered against us for over 100K. This amount would have been about the total of the entire lease period. After receiving the judgment, the landlord then made no attempt to contact me or my attorney. Two months later he filed a bank levy against me and my bank accounts have been emptied and many checks of mine now bounced. I have now also discovered that the building has been re-leased for about a month and for the same amount that I had originally paid.
When I asked the court clerk why my attorney had not been notified, she told me there was attorney of record on file. She stated that my attorney had never filed a Notice of Appearance. She told me that the court had sent a notice to me via regular mail (no proof of delivery) to my former office address. I still get all the mail at that address even though I no longer have an office there and I never received any notice.
I have done some research. According to TN Rules of Civil Procedure (TROCP), Rule 5.01 & 5.02 Require that all the notices and appeals be served on the Counsel of Record.
My attorney represented me in court on the day of the original trial. My attorney filed 2 different pleadings with the court during the initial case. My attorney conversed back and forth with the opposing attorney several times during the initial case. The opposing attorney CC’d my attorney on all of his filings during the initial case. These documents are in the official court records and I have copies that I got at the court house. From my research, these actions are quite sufficient to make my attorney my attorney of record even though a Notice of Appearance was not filed.
After the appeal was filed, neither the court nor the opposing attorney ever contacted my attorney.
It seems to me that this landlord (remember he is a local politician) might have pulled a fast one to get this done.
My attorney is in the process of preparing a motion to get this judgment vacated but he has told me that it might be difficult.
Q1. Under TN law, should my attorney have been considered to be my attorney of record based on the events of the initial case?
Q2. Was the opposing attorney required to send notices to my attorney since he obviously knew I was represented by an attorney?
Q3. I have had about 15 checks bounce due to this and my bank has charged me hundreds of dollars in fees. 2 of the checks were to the state for sales tax payments and I will be penalized by them for this as well. If this is vacated do I have any recourse to getting reimbursed for the expenses I have incurred?
Q4. Since the building has been re-leased, is it legal for him to even get a judgment for the full lease period from me? He would get paid twice if so.
I have not slept in 3 days over this. PLEASE if anyone has any advice or case law that they can point me to that might help I would really appreciate it.
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