Being sued for a debt you did not incur
Identity theft victims are often pulled into court as defendants before they ever think about suing anyone. If you are served with a summons for a debt that is not yours, respond within the deadline, which is usually short, because a default judgment can lead to bank account restraints and wage garnishment. In New York, consumer credit lawsuits carry specific notice and pleading requirements, and a judgment entered without proper service can sometimes be vacated. Identity theft is a defense that needs documentation. Raise it in your answer and back it with the reports you have filed.
Records that make the claim credible
Report the theft to the FTC through its identity theft website, which produces an identity theft report, and consider filing a police report as well. Place fraud alerts or credit freezes with the major credit bureaus. Keep copies of every dispute letter you send and every response, along with dates and the names of people you spoke with. Under federal credit reporting law, an identity theft report can be used to ask the bureaus to block fraudulent information. When companies ignore properly documented disputes, those records become the foundation of any claim against them.
Choosing who, if anyone, to sue
The person who stole your identity is often hard to find and may have nothing to collect, so lawsuits in this area usually focus on companies that handled the aftermath badly. Credit bureaus that failed to investigate disputes, creditors that ignored disputes sent through a credit bureau, debt collectors that kept pursuing a debt after being told it was fraudulent, and businesses whose security failures exposed your data can face claims under federal or state law. Data breach cases are frequently brought as class actions. In our first meeting we look at what happened, what you have already done, and what harm you have suffered, including credit denials and time lost. That review tells us whether a claim is worth pursuing and against whom.
