The Stinking Business of Sewer Service

By Leonard R Gendelberg

"Sewer Service" is a term used when an alleged creditor (most often a "junk debt buyer") is attempting to sue you but doesn't want you to actually show up in court at the appointed time to be able to defend yourself and possibly refute their claim. They particularly like to do this when they have no proof that you owe the so-called debt, or it's beyond the legal statute of limitations for collection in your state, or very often, both. So they hire a process server who makes no real attempt to serve you notice of the lawsuit, or cuts corners right and left, or deliberately serves you at an old address where you haven't lived for quite some time. Then said process server goes on to actually sign a legal affidavit attesting that you were properly served.

They might as well have dumped the paperwork into the sewer - which has actually been known to happen. Hence, the name - "sewer service".

That ensures them of getting a slam-dunk default judgment when you don't show up in court at the appointed date and time. After all, you can't fight what you don't know about, now can you? They figure that this makes for an easy payday for them, and entirely too often, it is. Judgments can be difficult to get reversed in many states, and the vast majority of consumers don't realize that it's even possible to do so, or think that it would be more trouble than it's worth to do so. So they just take the ding on their credit score for 10 years or more. And often, they end up paying, whether the alleged "debt" is theirs or not. In some criminal cases (all debt / collection-related cases are civil matters), defendants have even spent time in jail because of failure to appear due to sewer service.

Another method of service in some states is to leave the paperwork with a "co-resident" ("substitute service") at your home. Problem is, the defendant has never heard of anyone by that name, and no one fitting the description given lives there. Sworn statements have even been given stating that the papers were signed for by someone who was already dead at the time of service. They will also claim that the defendant was personally served, even if they have not lived at that location for several years and would have no reason whatsoever to go back there.

In foreclosure proceedings, the intended purpose of sewer service is even more sinister - to cause the defendants to lose their home. In the process, they often rack up thousands of dollars they can ill afford in legal fees and other expenses.

Even though sewer service clearly constitutes a fraud upon the court, in some jurisdictions, it seems to be more the norm than the exception. State attorneys general in both New York and Florida have gone after process servers and their employers in recent months for these types of widespread shenanigans. And there's no reason to believe that the problem of sewer service is in any way confined to those two states.

The important thing to remember is that just because you're in debt it doesn't mean that you have to put up with these kinds of slipshod, illegal practices. Your rights are clearly spelled out in the Federal Government's Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), as well as even stronger laws in some states. If a collector, creditor, or one of their agents is abusing these rights, you should contact a consumer attorney specializing in debtor's rights immediately.

Sewer service can certainly have devastating effects on your life, however, an experienced consumer attorney can help you get your case re-opened, give you the opportunity of defending the lawsuit, and getting your life back on track.

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