Sued While Serving? The SCRA Default-Judgment Shield

A lawsuit you never knew about can become a judgment that empties your paycheck. Deployment breaks the chain of notice. 50 U.S.C. § 3931 breaks the chain of consequences.

What a default judgment costs you

When a plaintiff sues you and you do not respond, the court can enter a default judgment. That judgment is a legal finding that you owe the money, no trial required. From there the creditor can:

• Garnish your wages. Federal law caps civilian wage garnishment at 25 percent of disposable pay. Military pay has its own rules, but a judgment creditor can pursue a levy through the Defense Finance and Accounting Service once they have a judgment.
• Levy your bank account. A bank levy freezes and drains the account up to the judgment amount. One levy can wipe out a month of BAH.
• Damage your credit for years. A judgment appears on your credit report and follows you through security-clearance renewals. A clearance hit can end a career.

None of this requires you to lose a trial. It only requires you to miss the summons, which is exactly what deployment makes likely.

What § 3931 forces the court to do

Before any court enters a default judgment in a civil case where the defendant has not appeared, the plaintiff must file an affidavit. That affidavit must state either: (A) that the defendant is not in military service, with the facts supporting that conclusion, or (B) that the plaintiff cannot determine the defendant’s military status. Filing a false affidavit is a federal crime.

If the affidavit shows, or if the court has reason to believe, that the defendant is in military service, the court must appoint an attorney to represent the servicemember before entering any judgment. The plaintiff can be required to post a bond to protect the servicemember’s interests.

Beyond the attorney requirement, the court must grant a stay of at least 90 days when either of two conditions exist:

1. A defense may exist that requires the servicemember’s presence to present it.
2. Counsel has made a diligent effort but cannot contact the defendant.

The court can also grant a stay on its own motion, without anyone asking. That matters when the appointed attorney or the court itself spots the problem before the servicemember even knows the case exists.

This works in tandem with the broader SCRA stay of proceedings, which can pause a case at any stage. The default-judgment rule in § 3931 is the floor: it applies specifically to the moment a court is about to rule against you by default.

Reopening a default judgment

Sometimes the system fails. A summons goes to a pre-deployment address. A creditor files the affidavit without knowing (or checking) the defendant is deployed. A judgment gets entered anyway.

Section 3931 gives you a path back.

A servicemember can move to reopen a default judgment if:

• The judgment was entered during active military service or within 60 days after service ends.
• The motion is filed no later than 90 days after termination of or release from military service.
• The servicemember can show a meritorious or legal defense to the claim.
• The servicemember can show that military service materially affected the ability to defend.

All four elements matter. A meritorious defense without showing prejudice from service will not be enough. But if you were deployed and genuinely could not defend, § 3931 is designed for exactly that situation.

The 90-day filing window after separation is hard. Many servicemembers do not know a judgment exists until a creditor starts collecting. If you separate and discover a judgment on your credit report or receive a garnishment notice, move immediately. See your installation legal assistance office or a veterans legal services organization the same week.

If the lender or creditor violated § 3931 by skipping the affidavit requirement or lying on it, that is also grounds to challenge the judgment and potentially to sue the lender for SCRA violations.

Check your SCRA eligibility first. The statute covers members on active duty and certain National Guard and Reserve members on qualifying orders.

✅ If you are sued while serving

1. Do not ignore the suit. Even a single written response to the court, identifying yourself as a servicemember, puts § 3931 on the record.
2. Notify the court and plaintiff in writing that you are in active military service. Attach a copy of your orders or your DMDC certificate from scra.dmdc.osd.mil.
3. Contact your installation legal assistance office immediately. JAG attorneys handle civil-lawsuit stays routinely, and the service is free.
4. If a default judgment already exists from a period when you were deployed, pull your credit report now. Gather your orders covering the period. File a motion to reopen before the 90-day post-separation window closes.
5. If the creditor is collecting on an unlawful default judgment (one entered without a proper affidavit), treat it as an SCRA violation and seek legal help to pursue it.

What this protection is not

Section 3931 does not make the underlying debt disappear. It does not give you unlimited time to avoid a lawsuit. The 90-day stay is a floor, not a permanent shield: when the stay ends, the case resumes. The reopening window closes 90 days after separation; miss it, and the judgment is final.

The statute also does not protect against contempt orders or criminal proceedings. It covers civil actions where the defendant has not appeared. If you appear, the case proceeds normally and you need a substantive defense, not just the statute.

Used correctly, § 3931 keeps a missed summons from becoming a garnishment order. That is the whole job.

📜 The law behind this: 50 U.S.C. § 3931

Protection of servicemembers against default judgments — read the statute.