Law Commons^™

Solving Sewer Service: Fighting Fraud With Technology, Adrian Gottshall

Arkansas Law Review

Fraudulently obtained default judgments ruin lives. Many defendants are ignorant of their cases and therefore do not ap-pear for court. Defendants suffer dire consequences as victims of falsified service of process. They learn of their lawsuits after their wages are garnished, assets seized, or when their poor credit precludes them from obtaining housing or a new job. For decades, fraudulent service of process has been wide-spread in high volume court dockets, such as landlord and ten-ant, debt collection, and small claims matters. Judgments granted to the debt collector plaintiff disproportionately affect low-income communities of color. Some plaintiffs obtained such judgments …