Hoping for some recommendations that are better than what I've found with Google search. Today my husband was served with a summons to appear in civil court in Queens NY. The summons refers to a subrogation claim on behalf of Nationwide insurance, where a person with the same name as my husband was allegedly at fault for an accident and did not have insurance. It states that if he does not answer in person with 20 days there will be a judgment for $22k for the damage. This other person has the same first and last name as my husband, but also has a middle initial (hubby has no middle name.) The accident seems to have taken place very close to a family member's home on Long Island, and we have visited them there many times, but were not there at the date in question. Hubby was here at home on the other side of the state. My husband used to live in that area 12+ years ago, which is how we think the attorney must have decided he was a match. We are sure this was not him and not anyone in his family, it's just a fairly common name.
So far we have called the plaintiff attorney and left a message explaining that they have the wrong person, and called Nationwide and left the subrogation claim handler the same message.
There is no way he can answer in person- we live almost 500 miles from Queens, we're trying to list our house right now and move out of state.
I suggested that he write an answer explaining the identity mixup, have it notarized, and we send it certified mail to the courthouse. Cc to the attorney, Nationwide, and the state atty general (who was copied on the summons.) And that he continue calling the attorney until we get something in writing confirming that they're not coming after us.
What else should we do?
I saw reference online to having the attorney "unsuit," is that a real thing?
Any recommendations on writing the answer? Should he provide supporting documentation such as proof of address and drivers license ? (I'm hesitant to provide the insurance company or their attorney with any of his personal information.)
Can we really be held accountable for appearing in person if it's clearly not the right defendant? If so, are we financially liable for these expenses that are in no way our fault?
Thank you for any advice!