CS-2026-00039 - CAVALRY SPV I, LLC, AS ASSIGNEE OF BMO BANK N.A. v. MELISSA A SMITH

What's This Case About?

Let’s get one thing straight: this is not a murder. There are no secret affairs, no stolen identities, no dramatic courtroom confessions. But what we do have is something far more American, far more quietly absurd — a bank filing a sworn legal declaration about whether a 75-year-old woman in rural Oklahoma is currently serving on active duty in the U.S. military. Yes, you read that right. A financial corporation has gone to court — not to foreclose, not to collect debt, but to officially swear under penalty of perjury that Melissa A. Smith, born March 1951, is not, in fact, deployed overseas with the Space Force or quietly commanding a Coast Guard cutter between mortgage payments.

Welcome to Crazy Civil Court, where the law meets the ludicrous, and today’s episode: “Grandma’s Not in the Military (Again).”

So who are these people? On one side, we’ve got Cavalry SPV I, LLC — which sounds like a futuristic military unit but is actually a debt-buying firm that scooped up bad loans like they were clearance items at a financial fire sale. They’re the assignee of BMO Bank N.A., meaning at some point, someone decided that Melissa A. Smith owed money on a loan, that loan got sold, resold, maybe securitized, and eventually landed in the lap of a faceless LLC whose entire job is to collect or litigate. Representing them is Dan G. Young, a real live attorney with a real live Oklahoma bar number, whose résumé now includes the solemn task of certifying that a septuagenarian is not currently storming a beach with the Marines.

On the other side? Melissa A. Smith. That’s it. No attorney listed. No dramatic backstory in the filing. Just a woman from Johnston County, Oklahoma, born in 1951, with a Social Security number ending in 5249, who somehow found herself at the center of a federal legal formality involving the Defense Department’s military database. We don’t know if she’s retired, if she’s behind on her mortgage, or if she’s ever even seen a uniform. But we do know this: on March 9, 2026, the Department of Defense checked its records — the same system that tracks who gets military healthcare and who can access commissaries — and confirmed: Melissa A. Smith is not on active duty. She wasn’t in the last 367 days, either. And no, her unit has not been notified of a future call-up. (Spoiler: she doesn’t have a unit.)

Now, you might be asking: Why does a bank care if someone is in the military? And fair question. This isn’t about patriotism. This is about legal loopholes — or rather, legal safeguards. Enter the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), a federal law designed to protect active-duty troops from being sued, evicted, or foreclosed on while they’re off defending the country. It’s a good law. Noble, even. It prevents banks from kicking a soldier’s family out while he’s in Afghanistan or jacking up interest rates on a junior officer deployed to the Middle East.

But here’s the catch: before a lender can sue or foreclose, they must verify whether the borrower is in the military. It’s not a suggestion. It’s the law. And if they mess it up? They can get slapped with penalties, have their case thrown out, or even face punitive damages. So banks — or their assignees, like Cavalry SPV — go through this ritual: they run a search on the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC), pull a certificate, and file a Sworn Declaration as to Military Service with the court. That’s what this document is. It’s not the full lawsuit. It’s not even the complaint. It’s the pre-suit paperwork — the legal equivalent of knocking on wood and saying, “We checked, we really did, and no, Grandma isn’t in the Navy.”

And yet, look at the production value here. We’ve got tables. We’ve got status dates. We’ve got disclaimers in bold about Title 10 vs. Title 14 active duty. There’s a certificate ID: Z7PLDKFFRCZN6NV, which sounds like a spy code from a 1980s arcade game. The DoD even warns that if you think someone might be in the military — like, maybe their cousin mentioned they joined the Reserves — you should call the service branch directly. Because nothing says “civil procedure” like calling the Marine Corps toll-free to ask, “Hey, is Melissa Smith from Oklahoma on active duty? Just checking before we sue her.”

So why are they in court? Well, technically, they’re not yet — not for the actual dispute. This is just the procedural checkpoint. But the implication is clear: Cavalry SPV is about to sue Melissa A. Smith, likely over a debt, possibly a mortgage. And before they can do that, the law says: “Hold up. Is she in the military?” And because the answer is no — confirmed by the mighty machinery of the Pentagon’s database — they’re filing this document to cover their legal behinds.

Now, what do they want? The filing doesn’t say. No dollar amount is listed. But let’s be real: if a debt collector is chasing a 75-year-old woman in Johnston County, we’re probably not talking about a $5 million mansion. More likely, it’s a modest home, maybe a few thousand in arrears, the kind of debt that gets bought for pennies on the dollar and litigated with robotic efficiency. Is $50,000 a lot in this context? Maybe. But what’s really on the line here isn’t the money — it’s the system. It’s the fact that a bank has to invoke the same process used to protect soldiers in combat zones… for a routine debt case in rural Oklahoma.

And that’s where we land on our take. The most absurd part of this case isn’t that a bank filed paperwork about military status. It’s that the whole thing feels simultaneously overly bureaucratic and barely sufficient. On one hand, the military verification system is impressively thorough — real-time data from the DoD, warnings about amended orders, caveats about National Guard activations. On the other, we’re using the entire national defense infrastructure to confirm that a woman born in 1951 isn’t currently on active duty. It’s like using a satellite-guided missile to swat a fly — except the fly might be a soldier, so we can’t take chances.

Do we root for Melissa A. Smith? Sure. Why not. She hasn’t even been served yet, as far as we know, and already her Social Security number has been run through the Pentagon’s war machine. Do we root for the system? Also yes — because protecting service members is important, even if it means paperwork spirals like this. But mostly, we root for the sheer, unadulterated weirdness of American civil procedure — where a debt collection case in Oklahoma can hinge on a certificate from the Defense Department, and where the most dramatic line in the filing is: “Status: No.”

This isn’t justice. This isn’t drama. This is the law — slow, careful, paranoid, and occasionally ridiculous. And we’re here for it.

Case Overview

Petition

Jurisdiction

Johnston County District Court, Oklahoma

Filing Attorney

Dan G. Young

Relief Sought

Plaintiffs

CAVALRY SPV I, LLC, AS ASSIGNEE OF BMO BANK N.A. business
Rep: Dan G. Young

Defendants

MELISSA A SMITH individual

Claims

#	Cause of Action	Description
-	-	-

Petition Text

1,191 words

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF JOHNSTON COUNTY STATE OF OKLAHOMA CAVALRY SPV I, LLC, AS ASSIGNEE OF ) BMO BANK N.A. ) Plaintiff ) ) v. ) ) MELISSA A SMITH ) Defendant ) NO. CS-2026-39 SWORN DECLARATION AS TO MILITARY SERVICE In compliance with the Service Members Civil Relief Act, 50 App. U.S.C. § 521 et seq., I, the undersigned Plaintiff, state that the following facts are true: ☐ Defendant, Melissa A Smith, is in military service. I have attached all relevant documentation and information to support this declaration. ☑ Defendant, Melissa A Smith, is not in military service. I have attached all relevant documentation and information to support this declaration. ☐ I am unable to determine whether or not the Defendant Melissa A Smith, is in military service. I state under penalty of perjury under the laws of Oklahoma that the foregoing is true and correct. Dated this 19 day of March, 2026. CAVALRY SPV I, LLC, AS ASSIGNEE OF BMO BANK N.A. PLAINTIFF Dan G. Young Oklahoma State Bar No. 20915 ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFF Status Report Pursuant to Servicemembers Civil Relief Act SSN: XXX-XX-5249 Birth Date: Mar-XX-1951 Last Name: SMITH First Name: MELISSA Middle Name: A Status As Of: Mar-09-2026 Certificate ID: Z7PLDKFFRCZN6NV <table> <tr> <th colspan="5">On Active Duty On Active Duty Status Date</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Active Duty Start Date</th> <th>Active Duty End Date</th> <th>Status</th> <th>Service Component</th> </tr> <tr> <td>NA</td> <td>NA</td> <td>No</td> <td>NA</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="5">This response reflects the individuals' active duty status based on the Active Duty Status Date</td> </tr> </table> <table> <tr> <th colspan="5">Left Active Duty Within 367 Days of Active Duty Status Date</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Active Duty Start Date</th> <th>Active Duty End Date</th> <th>Status</th> <th>Service Component</th> </tr> <tr> <td>NA</td> <td>NA</td> <td>No</td> <td>NA</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="5">This response reflects where the individual left active duty status within 367 days preceding the Active Duty Status Date</td> </tr> </table> <table> <tr> <th colspan="5">The Member or His/Her Unit Was Notified of a Future Call-Up to Active Duty on Active Duty Status Date</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Order Notification Start Date</th> <th>Order Notification End Date</th> <th>Status</th> <th>Service Component</th> </tr> <tr> <td>NA</td> <td>NA</td> <td>No</td> <td>NA</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="5">This response reflects whether the individual or his/her unit has received early notification to report for active duty</td> </tr> </table> Upon searching the data banks of the Department of Defense Manpower Data Center, based on the information that you provided, the above is the status of the individual on the active duty status date as to all branches of the Uniformed Services (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, NOAA, Public Health, and Coast Guard). This status includes information on a Servicemember or his/her unit receiving notification of future orders to report for Active Duty. The Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) is an organization of the Department of Defense (DoD) that maintains the Defense Enrollment and Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) database which is the official source of data on eligibility for military medical care and other eligibility systems. The DoD strongly supports the enforcement of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 USC App. § 3901 et seq. as amended) (SCRA) (formerly known as the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940). DMDC has issued hundreds of thousands of "does not possess any information indicating that the individual is currently on active duty" responses, and has experienced only a small error rate. In the event the individual referenced above, or any family member, friend, or representative asserts in any manner that the individual was on active duty for the active duty status date, or is otherwise entitled to the protections of the SCRA, you are strongly encouraged to obtain further verification of the person's status by contacting that person's Service. Service contact information can be found on the SCRA website's FAQ page (Q35) via this URL: https://scra.dmdc.osd.mil/scra/#/faqs. If you have evidence the person was on active duty for the active duty status date and you fail to obtain this additional Service verification, punitive provisions of the SCRA may be invoked against you. See 50 USC App. § 3921(c). This response reflects the following information: (1) The individual's Active Duty status on the Active Duty Status Date (2) Whether the individual left Active Duty status within 367 days preceding the Active Duty Status Date (3) Whether the individual or his/her unit received early notification to report for active duty on the Active Duty Status Date. More information on "Active Duty Status" Active duty status as reported in this certificate is defined in accordance with 10 USC § 101(d)(1). Prior to 2010 only some of the active duty periods less than 30 consecutive days in length were available. In the case of a member of the National Guard, this includes service under a call to active service authorized by the President or the Secretary of Defense under 32 USC § 502(f) for purposes of responding to a national emergency declared by the President and supported by Federal funds. All Active Guard Reserve (AGR) members must be assigned against an authorized mobilization position in the unit they support. This includes Navy Training and Administration of the Reserves (TARs), Marine Corps Active Reserve (ARs) and Coast Guard Reserve Program Administrator (RPAs). Active Duty status also applies to a Uniformed Service member who is an active duty commissioned officer of the U.S. Public Health Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA Commissioned Corps). Coverage Under the SCRA is Broader in Some Cases Coverage under the SCRA is broader in some cases and includes some categories of persons on active duty for purposes of the SCRA who would not be reported as on Active Duty under this certificate. SCRA protections are for Title 10 and Title 14 active duty records for all the Uniformed Services periods. Title 32 periods of Active Duty are not covered by SCRA, as defined in accordance with 10 USC § 101(d)(1). Many times orders are amended to extend the period of active duty, which would extend SCRA protections. Persons seeking to rely on this website certification should check to make sure the orders on which SCRA protections are based have not been amended to extend the inclusive dates of service. Furthermore, some protections of the SCRA may extend to persons who have received orders to report for active duty or to be inducted, but who have not actually begun active duty or actually reported for induction. The Last Date on Active Duty entry is important because a number of protections of the SCRA extend beyond the last dates of active duty. Those who could rely on this certificate are urged to seek qualified legal counsel to ensure that all rights guaranteed to Service members under the SCRA are protected WARNING: This certificate was provided based on a last name, SSN/date of birth, and active duty status date provided by the requester. Providing erroneous information will cause an erroneous certificate to be provided.