Judge Straniere of the Richmond County Civil Court has made it a bit more difficult for some creditors to get default judgments in his courthouse. In a January 6, 2011 opinion, the Judge wrote,
"Based on the experience in this court that creditors, especially third-party debt purchasers, often cannot prevail on summary judgment motions owing to a lack of evidence coupled with their failure to either proceed to trial on consumer credit cases or be successful at trial owing to a lack of admissible evidence, the court can no longer tolerate a system of entering default judgment and “inquest clerk” judgments without requiring substantially greater documentation from plaintiffs claiming the amount due and owing is a “sum certain.”
In his opinion, Judge Straniere then listed a total of twelve pieces of evidence he will require plaintiff creditors to include in every affidavit of fact in order to obtain a default judgment or judgment after inquest. Judge Stranier is clearly looking out for the legal rights of debtors when they are sued by debt buyers (such as Encore, Asta Funding, Portfolio Recovery Associates, Asset Acceptance, LR Credit, RAB Performance, etc.).
The case is Collins Financial Services v. Vigilante, 2011 Slip Op. 21008.