Served "Legal Papers" at doorstep by courier

BigA offered some good advice and NOLO is an excellent source of information.

Well the delivery of papers is legitimate but it is to garnish someone elses wages. The someone is no one I know and my company has been closed for 12 years. Geez. Nevertheless, I still have to respond. I'll call the attorney Monday and hope I don't have to appear since it is in another county! Who has this kind of time? Not me. And where do these debt collection companies get their information. Talk about being "way" off....puh-lease!
Thanks you guys for all the input....it helped just putting it out there....it was worrisome.

Have you done a search to see if there are similar named companies in your area? It could also be that someone put your former company's name as their employer?  Good luck.

if anyone is asking to load your payment on a prepaid debit card is a criminal collector wanting to steal your money and scare you into paying them!

You DO realize you're replying to a 3-year old post, right? "Jessica" is highly unlikely to see your response.

I got a call saying I would be receiving a registered package between 11-3 on the 22nd of Jan. I called the number they told me to but got a message saying to leave my name and number. The message said that I had reached northeast mediators. Do mediators send people to do that?

Why did you hunt up this dormant thread instead of following the directions on the homepage and entering the number that called you?
And no, real process servers don't call in advance and they don't give you the option to pay your way out of being served. This is a scam.

Sounds like Arizona! :-)

I regularly get mail offering me $500,000 in business expansion capital or credit cards ...with my name  and current address, and the name of a company I worked for (not an owner or principal) that I quit in 2001 and that went out of business in 2002. I'm in Arizona and the company was out of Ohio.

Until just a few years ago, I got mail with the address of a company I did own, but closed down in 1997.
I suspect these are bottom feeders scouring old magazine subscription lists.

With all the recent breaches, they don't even have to have anything but your name, perhaps your number, and they can pull off a scam like this. Everybody freaks when they think they're being served. There are some legal types on creditboards who help people figure out what's going on, similar to the helpful folks here, just more detailed. I love reading these stories, but I hate how these scammers go around scaring people for money. Maybe scare THEM for money.

Im soooo confused. This same lady by the name of Mary Reed called me two months ago saying she was going to serve me papers. Unless i called some claims office. After being annoyed by them over some debt they claimed I owed I blocked them. Now today she said she is coming to serve me  tomorrow. Unless i call this claim office again. Im pretty sure they dont call you ahead of time to warn you. And i even checked the court system there is nothing out there for me. So wouldnt there be something before they serve papers.

What is it about,you ask ? Process servers never Know,they just deliver them.

I believe most courthouses now have public internet access to look up a case in the system.   If not, you should be able to call the clerk to look it up for you.

Additionally, I believe anyone filing a case for court has to notify the defendant (serving papers) at least 30 days or more before the pending case is scheduled.   It cannot be served before 30 days of the scheduled court date or the date will have to be rescheduled.   No court has an open ended date conditional of when papers were served.

you felt the need to hunt up this dormant thread and post in it why exactly?

Nice response and thanks for the links its valuable info.

I'm really bored at work?

Actually, as a lawyer it's kind of entertaining watching people fumble around.  A trial lawyer (the kind that goes to court, (as of twenty years ago, before New York had electronic filing)) could probably take a look at it and decide how much time and attention it deserves.

The best advice I have seen here is, if you can identify the case and the court go there and ask the clerk's office.  In Brooklyn.  If you get confused and see a court policeman, ask them where the clerk's office is.

If the copy you get doesn't even tell you the court than it probably is a scare tactic.

And, of course, as a lawyer I disclaim any knowledge of anything after twenty years ago or outside of New York and New Jersey.  I recommend you seek counsel.