On Your Side helps Phoenix woman surprised by $56,000 legal debt

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — An unbelievable case of mistaken identity almost cost a Phoenix woman $56,000.

It all started when Anna Jolly was served with court papers regarding a lawsuit she says she never knew about.

Back in June, Jolly received a letter from a Phoenix attorney’s office with a strange demand for money.

“Come to my office with $56,000 or I’m going to go ahead and start garnishing your wages,” she said as she read the letter.

Jolly chalked it up as a scam until she realized her employment checks were being garnished by that attorney.

Turns out, a company called ThirdHome based in Nashville had sued Jolly back in 2022 and won a judgment against her for $46,000 plus interest.

It was a suit Jolly says she never knew about.

ThirdHome is a luxury home-sharing service where members can share their vacation homes around the world.

ThirdHome has a legal dispute with a woman named Rebecca Rodarte, which is Jolly’s pen name. She writes romantic comedy books in her spare time.

“I chose Rebecca because Rebecca is the name of Daphne du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca’ gothic novel,” Jolly said. “Rodarte is a fashion line. And so I thought, well, let’s put the two together.”

“The original summons went to Rebecca Rodarte of Redwood City,” Jolly added.

Court records show that the summons to Rebecca Rodarte in Redwood City was never served.

But a few days later, they attempted to serve Jolly at her home in Phoenix.

A process server claims she was served, but Jolly insists she wasn’t and the description the server gave in an affidavit doesn’t match.

“The description that they gave was somebody who was 5′6,″ 5′4,″ to 5′6,″” she said. “You know, I’m barely 5 feet.”

They said she was 140 pounds and white. Jolly is barely 100 pounds and Hispanic.

She says the Rebecca Rodarte described in court paperwork has a second home worth more than a half-million dollars.

Realizing some kind of mistake had been made, Jolly went to a judge to fight the garnishment.

“I said, ‘Here are all my tax returns. I can only ever be like, you know, filing under my legal name. I have no rental property. You can check my income. I have nothing,’” she said.

But her explanation fell on deaf ears because she already had that 2-year-old legal judgment against her.

She could either pay the $56,000 or hire an attorney for an expensive legal fight in Tennessee to overturn the judgment.

“It’s been very emotionally distressing,” she said. “And, you know, I’m filled with anxiety probably every day.”

So, Jolly reached out to On Your Side for help and we contacted ThirdHome and told them Jolly is not the Rebecca Rodarte they’re looking for.

At On Your Side’s request, ThirdHome took a closer look at the details we provided and they agreed they had the wrong Rebecca Rodarte.

That means Jolly is officially off the hook for that $56,000 debt.

“So I can move on with my life,” she said. “So, 100% relieved.”

ThirdHome has filed a motion to vacate its judgment against Jolly in Nashville and is lifting the garnishment of her wages.

In a statement, ThirdHome told us:

Jolly says she’s very thankful she reached out to On Your Side.

“And because I think you made that phone call to the company and started to investigate, I don’t think I’d be in this situation right now where I’m just like, yes, thank you so much,” she said.

Our thanks to ThirdHome for making this right, and we should point out, it looks like everything was done in good faith.

Once they knew they had the wrong person, they dropped the case.

Now, Jolly has a decision to make. Does she keep using the pen name “Rebecca Rodarte?”

She says her next book, may be under a different name.

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