Scarinci & Hollenbeck, LLC's New York office recently delivered a decisive legal victory, successfully overturning an $800,000 judgment filed erroneously against a client.
The client, "Jack Chen" (actual name changed for confidentiality), approached Scarinci & Hollenbeck, LLC after discovering a substantial judgment entered against him in Queens County, New York. The judgment was allegedly based on an unresolved case from New Jersey over a decade ago. As a retired businessman with a history of legal disputes, Chen had no recollection of the New Jersey matter or any documentation related to it. Compounding his distress, $200,000 from his personal New York bank account had already been restrained by the judgment creditor.
A preliminary review of New Jersey court records revealed no evidence that the judgment had been satisfied. However, Scarinci & Hollenbeck, LLC's legal team, led by Partner Bruce Feffer, wasn't content to stop there.
"We weren't satisfied with the surface-level findings," Feffer explained. "We decided to dig deeper and uncovered a critical piece of evidence: the New Jersey lawsuit had been settled in 2014, with our client making a partial payment. Unfortunately, the required settlement paperwork was never filed with the court. The case should have ended there."
Armed with this discovery, the Scarinci & Hollenbeck, LLC team presented the evidence to the creditor's attorney. Confronted with the facts, the opposing counsel acknowledged the error, agreed to withdraw the New York action, and released the restraint on Chen's account.
"The key takeaway from this case is the importance of thorough, relentless investigation," Feffer added. "Good lawyering means questioning everything and digging until you uncover the truth. Our persistence saved our client from an unjust financial burden."
The successful outcome was achieved through the efforts of a dedicated team, including attorneys James Meaney and Eric Albrecht, and paralegal Sarah Chao, alongside Feffer.