I recently saw an envelope from Rubin and Rothman LLC and honestly, my stomach dropped. They’re a high volume debt collection law firm based out of NY, and I didn’t know if I should call them, ignore it, or start panicking.



After digging around (and talking to someone who deals with this), here’s the reality: they filed nearly 16,000 lawsuits in NY in just one year. A lot of people don’t respond in time, get a default judgment, and then suddenly their bank account gets frozen or wages garnished before they even know what happened.



The biggest thing I learned: do not ignore it, especially if you were served papers. In NY Civil Court, you only have 20 days (or 30 days depending on service) to file an Answer. If you miss that, they win automatically.



Also, you have rights under the FDCPA – like sending a debt validation letter within 30 days of their first letter to force them to prove the debt is yours and accurate. And if they already got a judgment, but you were never properly served? You can fight to vacate it.



I found a really detailed walkthrough here that explains exactly what to do step by step:

https://consumerlawfirmcenter.com/what-to-do-if-rubin-and-rothman-contacts-you/



Hope this saves someone else the stress I felt.