If this doesn't work, it's a lawsuit

Old York Hampton Hwy

Yorktown, Virginia 23692
757-123-4567

14 September 2007

The Honorable James Webb, Senator of Virginia
The Honorable Dennis Kucinich, Representative of Ohio
Attorney General of the State of Ohio
Clerk of Court, Franklin County Ohio
Equifax
Experian
TransUnion
Navy Federal Credit Union Mortgage Loan Office

To Whom it May Concern:

I request the State of Ohio issue letters of retraction to major credit agencies on my account.

In 1992 I was ordered to duty in the Great Lakes Rescue Coordination Center at Cleveland, Ohio with the U. S. Coast Guard. Upon arrival I got married and bought a house in Bay Village. I filed a joint federal income tax return with my wife in order to itemize the mortgage benefits, while she had a part-time job and so filed Ohio resident income taxes, necessarily identifying me on her state return. In 1994 I divorced and quit-claim my real estate to her, and was transferred to new duties in Wilmington, North Carolina that August.

In 1997 the Ohio Attorney General filed an illegal judgement and lien against me in absentia for non-payment of Ohio income taxes. I have no other particulars about the judgement since the State of Ohio did not see fit to contact me regarding the matter; not then, not to this day. I discovered it only when I filed for a mortgage on my current Yorktown residence in 1997.

Soldiers & Sailors Civil Relief Act of 1940 (SSCRA) states:

“In any action or proceeding commenced in any court, if there shall be a default of any appearance by the defendant, the plaintiff, before judgment shall file in the court an affidavit setting forth facts showing that the defendant is not in military service.”

I wrongly assumed that in order to be Attorney General of the State of Ohio one had to be a lawyer, or at the very least, familiar with the law. Even a cursory inquiry by that office would have disclosed the fact I was an Active Duty member of the military and not liable for state taxes. It was negligent not to do so, and I have been injured as a result of that negligence.

When I originally found out about this judgement in 1997, I wrote to every Congressman and Senator from my home state of Nevada, the state of Ohio, and the state of North Carolina where I was serving at the time. The only one to bother responding was the Office of Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. It was one of his staff who contacted the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio about the matter and is responsible for cancellation of the judgement.

Of course I thought this would correct the record. In fact it has not. A mortgage application I filed one month ago in August 2007 disclosed this judgement is still on the books of all three credit bureaus. I have been materially and substantially harmed by the State of Ohio's illegal judgement against me. THIS HAS GONE ON FOR TEN YEARS. Interest rates on my credit cards, mortgages, auto and motorcycle loans have all been higher than my rightful credit record would merit. For example, my credit union, Navy Federal, offers Visa cards at 7.9% to members with clean credit; my current Visa account with them is charged at 11.9% interest. Likewise their Home Equity Line best rate is 5.75% while mine is at 8%. At just 1% penalty, my $250,000.00 average debt over the past ten years means your negligence has cost me, very conservatively, a minimum of of $25,000.00.

THE STIGMA OF HAVING A TAX LIEN FILED AGAINST ME IS TERRIBLY DAMAGING!

It is clear to me that rather than being expunged after the kind assistance of Rep. Kucinich and his staff in 1999, the State of Ohio merely registered a “Release and Satisfaction of Judgement” my copy of which is dated September 9^th 2007 Serial Number 00219942243576 Account Number 123-45-6789, Case 97JG-XXXX. “The above tax judgement having been settled, cancelled, and/or satisfied, the same is hereby discharged upon payment of the court costs by the defendant to the Clerk of Courts.“ This libels me by making it appear I somehow 'settled' or 'satisfied' or in some other manner paid what was an unlawful judgement for which I bear no blame and had no voice in.

I have paid every legitimate debt incurred since I was sixteen years old - today I am 50 and retired from the Coast Guard with an Honorable Discharge and a letter of appreciation for my military service from the President of the United States of America. It is outrageous that the State of Ohio accuse me of being a tax cheat and file a lien against me in absentia while I was in uniform serving honorably in the Armed Forces of the United States. And it is my definition of high cowardness for the State Attorney General to attack me without calling me to defend myself before the Court.

I await your corrections to clear my credit and my good name. I am not stupid enough to expect an apology. And, I will write off my ten years of stolen and lost income as tuition paid for trusting the government of the State of Ohio to behave in a responsible and legal manner towards citizens.

Very Sincerely,

Phillip C. Wolf
Master Chief Boatswain's Mate (Ret)
United States Coast Guard
Yorktown, Virginia
Birthplace of America and Freedom