CS-2026-00038 - CAVALRY SPV I, LLC, AS ASSIGNEE OF SYNCHRONY BANK v. KOURTNEY SCRIBNER

What's This Case About?

Let’s get one thing straight: a bank just sued a woman… to prove she isn’t in the military.

Yes, you read that right. Not because she defaulted on a loan. Not because she ghosted her payments. But because Cavalry SPV I, LLC — a debt-buying company that scooped up her old Synchrony Bank account like a vulture at a financial yard sale — needed to file a routine court document, and federal law said, “Hey, before you go after someone, make sure they’re not in the military.” So instead of just checking, they did the legal equivalent of calling 911 to ask if the stove is off: they sued her to confirm she’s not a soldier. Welcome to American civil justice, where absurdity isn’t just allowed — it’s standard procedure.

Meet Kourtney Scribner. Based on what we know, she’s a regular civilian with a credit card debt that’s changed hands more times than a dollar bill at a strip club. At some point, she owed money to Synchrony Bank — maybe for a store credit card, maybe for a big purchase gone sideways. But banks don’t always keep debts forever. They sell them to third-party debt buyers, companies whose entire business model is buying up defaulted accounts for pennies on the dollar and then trying to collect the full amount. That’s where Cavalry SPV I, LLC comes in. They’re not the original lender. They’re the guys who bought the debt, dusted it off, and said, “Alright, let’s see if we can squeeze something out of this.”

Now, normally, if you’re trying to sue someone over a debt, you just file the paperwork and hope they show up to court. But there’s a catch — a very important one. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) exists to protect active-duty military members from being financially ambushed while they’re defending the country. If you’re deployed in Afghanistan or training at Fort Bragg, the last thing you should have to worry about is a credit card company repossessing your car or jacking up your interest rate. So the SCRA gives service members legal shields: automatic interest rate caps, protection from default judgments, and delays in court proceedings if they can’t respond in time.

Which means — and this is key — before any creditor can legally sue someone, they must verify whether that person is in the military. It’s not optional. It’s the law. And if you screw it up and sue a service member without following the rules? You can get slapped with penalties, your case can get thrown out, and you might even owe them money. So creditors, being the cautious (and litigious) creatures they are, don’t take chances.

But instead of just quietly checking the DoD’s military status database — which they absolutely could have done for free — Cavalry’s lawyer, Dan G. Young, decided to file a lawsuit titled Cavalry SPV I, LLC v. Kourtney Scribner. Not to collect money. Not to foreclose on property. No, the sole purpose of this case is to file a “Sworn Declaration as to Military Service” — a court document that says, under penalty of perjury, “We checked, and nope, she’s not in the military.” That’s it. The entire case is a paperwork formality dressed up as a legal showdown.

And how do they prove she’s not in the military? By attaching a printout from the Department of Defense Manpower Data Center — basically the Pentagon’s version of a background check — showing that Kourtney Scribner has never been on active duty, hasn’t left active duty in the past year, and hasn’t received any orders to be called up. The report is as definitive as a “no” can get: “Status: No” across the board. Not now, not recently, not even on deck. She’s about as far from active duty as you can get without being in another country.

So why go to court at all? Why not just attach the DoD report to their collection case and move on? Because the SCRA technically requires creditors to certify this information under penalty of perjury — and some lawyers interpret that to mean it needs to be filed in court, under a case number, with a judge’s name at the top, as if this were a constitutional crisis instead of a debt dispute. It’s legal theater at its most bureaucratic. It’s like getting a notary to confirm your name is actually your name before you’re allowed to buy a burrito.

Now, let’s talk about what Cavalry actually wants. The filing doesn’t ask for $50,000. It doesn’t ask for a dime. There’s no demand for money, no request for a judgment, no mention of interest or penalties. The only “relief sought” is declaratory — a fancy way of saying, “We’d like the court to officially recognize that this woman is not in the military.” That’s the whole ballgame. They’re not asking to be paid. They’re asking for permission to possibly sue later. This isn’t a debt collection case — it’s a prequel.

And yet, here we are. A case file has been opened. A docket number will be assigned. A judge will technically preside over a dispute where the central question is whether someone isn’t in the armed forces. Meanwhile, Kourtney Scribner — who may not even know this is happening — is now technically a defendant in a civil lawsuit, all because a debt collector wanted to cover their legal butt with maximum drama.

Is this necessary? Not really. Is it common? Sadly, yes. This kind of procedural overkill happens all the time in debt collection law. Creditors, terrified of SCRA violations, err so far on the side of caution that they turn a five-minute database check into a full-blown court proceeding. It clogs the system, wastes judicial resources, and makes the legal process look like a haunted house where every door leads to paperwork.

But here’s the most absurd part: the SCRA was designed to protect service members. It was meant to prevent exploitation, to ensure fairness, to give troops peace of mind. And yet, in practice, it’s being used as a justification for filing frivolous lawsuits against civilians who have zero connection to the military. The very law meant to shield soldiers is now being weaponized as a bureaucratic excuse for legal overkill.

Do we blame Kourtney? No. She’s just living her life, probably unaware that her name is now attached to a court case over her non-military status. Do we blame the bank? Not exactly. They’re just playing the game by the paranoid rules the legal system has created. But the whole thing reeks of a system so afraid of making a mistake that it’s willing to waste time, money, and court space to avoid one.

So what are we rooting for? For someone, somewhere, to just chill out. For a judge to one day look at a filing like this and say, “You’re telling me you needed to sue this woman to prove she’s not in the military? Get out of my courtroom.” Until then, we’ll keep watching as the legal machine grinds on — one pointless declaration at a time.

Case Overview

Petition

Jurisdiction

District Court, Oklahoma

Filing Attorney

Dan G. Young

Relief Sought

Plaintiffs

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

Defendants

KOURTNEY SCRIBNER individual

Claims

#	Cause of Action	Description
1	Servicemembers Civil Relief Act	Verification of military service

Petition Text

1,185 words

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF JOHNSTON COUNTY STATE OF OKLAHOMA CAVALRY SPV I, LLC, AS ASSIGNEE OF SYNCHRONY BANK Plaintiff v. KOURTNEY SCRIBNER Defendant 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, Kourtney Scribner, is in military service. I have attached all relevant documentation and information to support this declaration. ☒ Defendant, Kourtney Scribner, 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 Kourtney Scribner, 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 SYNCHRONY BANK PLAINTIFF Dan G. Young Oklahoma State Bar No. 20915 ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFF Department of Defense Manpower Data Center Status Report Pursuant to Servicemembers Civil Relief Act SSN: XXX-XX-5643 Birth Date: Jul-XX-1993 Last Name: SCRIBNER First Name: KOURTNEY Middle Name: Status As Of: Mar-09-2026 Certificate ID: CZKNN76LP1JGNX8 <table> <tr> <th colspan="4">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="4">This response reflects the individuals' active duty status based on the Active Duty Status Date.</td> </tr> </table> <table> <tr> <th colspan="4">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="4">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="4">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="4">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.