News

Facing Garnishment?  Was your bank account seized?  Is a creditor trying to garnish your wages?

Garnishment is a legal process used by creditors to get paid by seizing your funds, or taking funds from your paycheck, to pay off a court judgment against you. A government creditor like the IRS can sometimes garnish without a judgment.

Vince Rabago Law may be able to stop the garnishment cold! We may get the collection case thrown out entirely, if there is a valid legal basis to challenge the underlying judgment.

There are a variety of issues that can be considered in stopping a garnishment or or other collection effort.  For example, was the judgment for a separate debt before you got married, but the Plaintiff-creditor is collecting from community property accounts?  This may be a basis to stop the garnishment.  Or perhaps the creditor did not properly renew the judgment after 5 years, as required under Arizona law?

Vince Rabago Law has successfully stopped garnishment, collection and other efforts to collect on old debts or recent debts.  We also have experience in getting judgments set aside, stopping collection efforts cold!

Call our office today for a consultation at (520) 955-9038.  Don’t wait!

Our main office is in Tucson, but we take cases in most of Arizona.  We can also represent clients with cases in California or in federal district court.

Vince Rabago is licensed to practice in state and federal court in both Arizona and California, including the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and is a member of the Bar of the United States Supreme Court.

Arizona attorney • Arizona lawyer • Tucson lawyer • California attorney

The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the State of Arizona to file a response to our office’s Constitutional challenge to Arizona’s civil forfeiture law for wrongfully taking a woman’s family home without adequate due process, and without an adequate post-judgment remedy for Arizona property owners, in Gonzalez v. State of Arizona.

Although the State Attorney General’s office filed a form waiving the filing of a response to our Petition, the Supreme Court has requested the State of Arizona to file a formal response to our Constitutional challenge. After the response is filed in February, the high court will hold a conference on the case to decide whether or not to hear the case on the merits.

This case is a prime example of the problems with Arizona’s civil forfeiture laws, a process used by law enforcement to take away personal property or homes in a civil case but based on criminal allegations that are not proved beyond a reasonable doubt. For details on the case, you can view the docket and read our Petition here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/DocketFiles/html/Public/17-7085.html

For more information about civil asset forfeiture, or to schedule a consultation, contact Vince Rabago Law Office at (520) 955-9038. Vince Rabago is an Arizona attorney licensed to practice in state and federal court in both Arizona and California, including the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and is a member of the Bar of the United States Supreme Court.

Vince Rabago Law fights Non-Existent Creditor RJF Financial LLC Over Effort to Collect On Expired Judgment Not Renewed In Superior Court As Required by Arizona law.

Vince Rabago Law has filed motions to quash a garnishment and set aside an old judgment that expired without proper renewal under Arizona law, after discovering that the judgment was not properly renewed under Arizona law and discovering that the Plaintiff creditor RJF Financial LLC has not existed as an entity in Arizona since 2011.

In a recent garnishment proceeding filed by the plaintiff RJF Financial LLC, Pima County Justice Court No. CV07-025255, our office filed a Motion to Quash Garnishment and a Motion to Set Aside a 2008 default judgment that had ballooned from approximately $8,000 back in 2008 to approximately $18,000 in 2017, and was the subject of recent garnishment filings by this alleged creditor.  According to the original lawsuit, the debt was obtained by RJF Financial LLC from CitiFinancial.  RJF Financial LLC then commenced a collection lawsuit in late 2007 and obtained a default judgment in 2008.

Upon investigation by Vince Rabago Law Office, it was discovered that the 2008 Justice Court judgment had not been docketed or renewed by affidavit in the Pima County Superior Court within 90 days of the 5 year expiration date. Arizona state court judgments expire after 5 years unless an affidavit of renewal is filed within 90 days before the 5 year expiration date, and require that the judgment be entered and docketed in Superior Court.  Instead, an affidavit purporting to renew the 2008 judgment was filed in Justice Court, along with an order signed by a now-retired Justice of the Peace purporting to find that the judgment was timely renewed.

In addition, further investigation determined that the alleged creditor RJF Financial LLC had been a registered LLC in Arizona but had dissolved and filed Articles of Termination with the Arizona Corporation Commission in January 2011, which, under Arizona law, requires the entity to certify that they have collected and disposed of all assets.

Accordingly, Vince Rabago Law Office filed a Motion to Set Aside Judgment and a Motion to Quash Garnishment on the basis that any judgment had expired without proper or effective renewal of judgment in Pima County Superior Court in 2013, and also that RJF Financial LLC had no standing to pursue any collection or maintain an action in Arizona courts because it no longer existed as a separate legal entity since it had terminated its existence in 2011, and that under Arizona law, the entity no longer exists under Arizona law and is not entitled to engage in its former debt enforcement business or collection efforts on old judgments obtained before the company terminated.

If you are being pursued for debt or for an old judgment or need assistance fighting against a creditor or collection case, contact Vince Rabago Law Office for a legal consultation.  (520) 955-9038.

Vince Rabago Law is proud to announce that Vince Rabago was elected to the Executive Council of the State Bar of Arizona Real Property Section, and also elected as Legislative Policy Liaison.

Vince has been elected to a three-year term on the Executive Council. He was also elected as the Legislative Policy Liaison for the Executive Council.

The Real Property Section participates in and comments on improvements and reforms in real property and related legislation and regulation, title and recording practices and standards and other matters of interest to attorneys involved in real estate matters in Arizona.

“I am looking forward to working with the Council to advance the objectives of the State Bar on matters of legal significance related to real property and of importance to the community in Arizona,” said Rabago.

This year’s annual planning retreat for the Executive Council is being held at the Gainey Ranch Hyatt Regency in Scottsdale, Arizona.

We handle individual, consumer, business and regulatory matters, including advice, regulatory agency matters, litigation and appeals in state and federal court.

Licensed in Arizona, California, and admitted to practice in state and federal court, including the Ninth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Contact Vince Rabago Law at: (520) 955-9038.
www.VinceRabagoLaw.com

Vince Rabago Law is proud to announce that Vince Rabago was elected to the Executive Council of the State Bar of Arizona Real Property Section, and also elected as Legislative Policy Liaison.

Vince has been elected to a three-year term on the Executive Council. He was also elected as the Legislative Policy Liaison for the Executive Council.

The Real Property Section participates in and comments on improvements and reforms in real property and related legislation and regulation, title and recording practices and standards and other matters of interest to attorneys involved in real estate matters in Arizona.

“I am looking forward to working with the Council to advance the objectives of the State Bar on matters of legal significance related to real property and of importance to the community in Arizona,” said Rabago.

This year’s annual planning retreat for the Executive Council is being held at the Gainey Ranch Hyatt Regency in Scottsdale, Arizona.

We handle individual, consumer, business and regulatory matters, including advice, regulatory agency matters, litigation and appeals in state and federal court.

Licensed in Arizona, California, and admitted to practice in state and federal court, including the Ninth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Contact Vince Rabago Law at: (520) 955-9038.
www.VinceRabagoLaw.com