Bad Vibes.

Posted By Cliff Tuttle | June 8, 2010

No. 453

An Allegheny County resident posted a question on “AVVO Answers” on whether a bill collector could garnish wages after judgment in Pennsylvania.

The first lawyer to answer the question, from Georgia, got it completely wrong.  She said “yes.” In Pennsylvania, with a few exceptions, there is no wage garnishment for civil judgments.

The second lawyer, a Pennsylvania lawyer, corrected her rather rudely, which may have accounted for the thumbs down evaluation by the original questioner.

The third lawyer, a New Yorker, gave a rather lengthy discussion of the federal statutory protection of debtors in garnishment proceedings. This was off point, since Pennsylvania doesn’t generally permit garnishment.

Then I came along. It struck me that none of the prior answers mentioned that the debt collector had threatened garnishment when there was no legal right. This was a clear violation of federal law, as discussed in my recent post  on the Jurman case.

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CLIFF TUTTLE has been a Pennsylvania lawyer for over 45 years and (inter alia) is a real estate litigator and legal writer. The posts in this blog are intended to provide general information about legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus. However, this information does not constitute legal advice and there is no lawyer-client relationship created when you read this blog. You are encouraged to leave comments but be aware that posted comments can be read by others. If you wish to contact me in privacy, please use the Contact Form located immediately below this message. I will reply promptly and in strict confidence.

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