Ok I just want back and read the first few posts....according to the OP there are no documents that this CA seems to be hedging and dragging it's feet...they may be simply trying for the quick default judgement...regardless I would think that you can force the issue by using discovery on your own and demanding the documentation, when they can't provide, motion to dismiss based on no proof.

Sorry my response was to the fourth post not the OP post. I did not realize the fourth post was the OP. In the fourth post he said he was past the SOL. I did not realize he had received a summons. You would want to answer the summons and request the items listed on the DV letter. Callawyer is correct in that sending a DV and CD to the CA after you received a summons would be pointless.



The only advice Callawyer gave was to hire a lawyer. I think most people already know that hiring a lawyer when you are headed to court is definitely the best route but it is also not always possible. There is nothing in that advice to really be right or wrong about. I am far from being an expert in law. I have had decent luck at personal debt settlement in the past. If I were going to court it would depend on how much I was being sued for compared to how much a lawyer was going to cost me to determine if I hired one or not. In general I would always advise that someone seek a lawyer depending on the stake. If you have a large debt or risk losing a large sum of money then I would certainly consult one. I do somewhat disagree with Callawyer though. In many cases it just isn’t cost effective to hire a lawyer for a full defense. Either the person can’t afford one or the dollar amount is to low that it would cost you more to hire the lawyer then it would to show up in small claims. I would certainly search out any free legal help that is available. This forum was set up primarily to help people deal with CA’s and their abusive practices but it is also a great place to find info if you are headed to court without the comfort of a lawyer for what ever reason.



You are not disputing the existence of a debt , it is the validity that you are disputing whether it is because of a lack of contractual evidence, SOL, wrong person or for whatever reason . When a debt has passed through the hands of a number of JDBs it generally gets boiled down to maybe some old statements with a name and address at best. They repeatedly call and ignore request for validation and cease comm letters. They violate the fdcpa and the FCRA all the time. Then they turn around and serve a person at the wrong address and lie about proper service. These are just some of the reasons why someone would dispute a debt is valid.



I never read about the ability to change the SOL but I would think it would be pretty tough to make an extension of the SOL stick when most JDBs can’t produce a signed contract to begin with. How exactly are you going to prove that a person signed an agreement to waive the SOL when you can’t produce that signed agreement. I would only worry about this if the party you were in a dispute with actually came up with a contract. Also, if they have a copy of the signed contract you are probably going to lose anyway unless the debt is not valid for some other reason. At that point it would probably be best to settle.



Maybe it would make you feel better if every anonymous poster put in their sig that they are not lawyers but based on their personal experiences their responses are how they would handle the given situation. Giving a person a sample filled out response to a complaint is not equivalent to providing legal advice and it certainly would not get one in legal trouble for practicing law without a license. It would be different if he took the actually document from the OP, filled it out, signed it and submitted it for him.

Well it is really late here and I am very tired. I am sure I will review this tomorrow and find something messed up so I might respond again then.

"I think the main point here is that this CA may not be able to provide a signed contract."

We don't even know what kind of debt this is, and there are many ways to prove the existence of a contract other than a piece of paper. You are betting that the other side is represented by idiots.

Of course all this is beside the point: a debtor has been sued. She needs legal advice or, failing that, at least a decent self-help book. The advice here might work, or it might piss off the judge and result in sanctions and an adverse judgment. I've seen both.

"Maybe it would make you feel better if every anonymous poster put in their sig that they are not lawyers but based on their personal experiences their responses are how they would handle the given situation."

Not at all. Telling of experiences is saying, "when I did abc, xyz happened." The posts here were and are very direct in dispensing legal advice.

You need to ask the proper questions and examine the documents to even begin advising the debtor here. People can lose their homes in these situations. It's a shame you don't realize how much harm you're risking.

Guest, aka CalLawyer, aka WhatTheF, as I said in another thread, if you are so worried about incorrect advice being dispensed, why don't you become a member and give people some REAL legal advice, instead of just criticizing others who are doing their best to help someone who is in desperate need of help?

And here's the answer posted elsewhere:

Because first, it's unethical for a lawyer to dispense legal advice without reviewing the client's file and speaking with her in a confidential setting. Second, I’ve spent many hours staffing local pro bono clinics, which is the proper place to help people, and I routinely give out free advice to people in these situations: all they have to do is call. And third, genuine advice isn't the true purpose of this place.

Look at this thing critically Alias: why would this board be so slow on a weekend, just when other forums all over the 'net are going gangbusters? Why don't these boards point debtors to the wealth of low and no-cost legal aid available in most U.S. cities, or the best self-help books and forms all available for free at the local library or on county court websites? Alias, who calls you back when you sign up for the consultations offered here, who pays their salaries, and where does the money come from?

Sorry, I'm not paid (other than being able to cash in points, as everyone else on this board can also do). I wish I was, because then I wouldn't be in the financial trouble that I'm in.

And again, as also posted elsewhere,



Go away, troll!

Let me ask you this Shill (as I am quite curious) regarding the pro bono clinics. How are they funded, and are they private non profit entities or are they state/county funded? Are you referring to legal aid?

__________________
Regards
JCEMT

Here is a list of resources for the community

Site TOS

AFAIK, the largest in the U.S. is the Legal Services Corporation, which is a non-profit funded by Congress. I'd post a link but...well, funny that they won't let you do that.

LSC is one source of "legal aid," if I understand your meaning, and i's a good place to start. Also as I've suggested elsewhere, most lawyers will provide a free consultation, Nolo Press publishes absolutely top-notch legal self-help books, and many county courts maintain websites and often even full-time staff to assist pro se litigants.

Hope this helps.

It would be very difficult to prove a debt when the only evidence the CA can muster is some old statements and a signed affidavit originated inside the CA. Quite often that is all they have. If they have more, the proper paperwork and or the debt isn’t time barred then you are going to lose anyway and should probably make arrangements instead of going to court.

You appear to be the type of person that obsessively worries about what could happen and always looks at the negative side of that. Nobody ever said to not hire a lawyer and/or study to help prepare. By the way you could do either of those and piss off a judge too so maybe the OP should just do nothing and eat a judgment. Frankly if your only advice is to hire a lawyer then just stick to saying that and keep the commentary to yourself because it accomplishes nothing. If you want to point the OP to a decent book or give ideas on possible strategies or point out specific documents the OP should request in discovery or maybe even recommend a place they can go for some very cheap or free legal advice then it would be much appreciated.

Again I disagree. Reading over this entire thread there is not one instance that would get a poster sited for practicing law without a license and that would be the litmus test in my opinion to determine if someone was misrepresenting themselves. You have to offer full legal representation for that to occur and that is not what is happening here. Providing sample letters that have worked for others is no different then pulling those same samples out of a self help book you recommended and is not going to get someone sited for the aforementioned.

Again here we go trying to make things appear to be in total fallout. Generally what is at risk is always known although in this case the OP did not post the dollar amount. My guess is that it is less then 5k. It is a pretty far stretch to assume someone will lose their home over a 5k lost judgment and that’s assuming the OP owns home and loses. Instead of posting this you should have asked what is at stake, how much are you being sued for or just stuck to your base response and said hire a lawyer.

You seem like a pretty smart guy and you might even be a lawyer like you claim. It is a shame that your post have not been directed more at helping the OP then discrediting others.

Dollars,

I've covered almost all of this already and there's really no point in rehashing it. If you wish to continue imagining debtor-creditor law as it's presented here, of course that's your prerogative. I'm just sorry that your advice may harm others even more than it will yourself. I urge anyone in legal trouble to seek out either a trained, experienced and licensed lawyer, a pro bono legal clinic, county court self-help resources, or the free self-help publications from Nolo Press that I've already suggested.

Regarding the unauthorized practice of law or UPL, please google 'california "unauthorized practice of law" court of appeal' without the outside ' but with the inside quotes. The top link will be the LA prosecutor's manual on UPL. Read it all, it won't take long, but place special emphasis on the definition of UPL in section A2.

Then come back and explain how that broad definition applies here.

It would be unethical to offer full legal representation without doing as you suggested above but it is certainly not unethical to provide samples, links to other help sources, list of local agencies that might help and other things while recommending one seek a lawyer in their local area.

I guess you are now an expert on internet traffic as well. While I am not privy to the traffic of this board or any board for that matter I do know that most boards are slower on the weekends simply because people tend to hit the forums when they are at work. I would like a full list of the other items you address though and I don’t think it would be against any forum rules if you posted them. I would gladly take a list of the best self-help books and forms that are available for free. Also I know for a fact you can post links because in a different thread I posted in last week I linked a county website with no problems as long as its not a link to a spam site. If you come on here trying to link your site where you sell stuff then sure it won’t be allwed. To address your final question I know alias is not paid and I am paid nothing for posting here as well as all of the forum members as far as I am aware. Oh I suppose I could trade in my debtcc points for a small amount of money but anyone can become a member and do that. I have been a member of these forums for over a year and have yet to turn in my points. I currently have 8600 points which would be worth $86 for a years worth of posting. While it is a nice gesture it is pretty far fetched to consider it a salary. Most people make more in a few hours doing their regular work.

Please tell me what court in California provides a "full-time staff to assist pro-se litigants". The ones I dealt with say they are not allowed to give legal advice (they won't even tell you if you are filing the proper pawerwork). The do have a small claim advisor who is provided by the State Bar (I believe).

I am being sued, personally, by an individual for his failure to fulfill a contract with my employer and he was charged the default fee. I asked the court how to reslove this and they said they cannot help to contact the advisor (by phone M-F 1-3pm) or see a lawyer. That is the level of help the 'FULL-TIME staff gives.

I offered no advice in this thread other than DV the CA and dispute it with the CRAs and as I stated before that was addressing the fourth post. I did not realize the OP was being sued as I stated in a previous post. The rest of your statement suggesting to seek out all avenues of help when in legal trouble is sound.

I am not a lawyer and never represented myself as such. If you feel that anything I have posted in any of my threads is infringing on any laws established in any state or federal jurisdiction that would make me subject to practicing without a license then please feel free to report it to the appropriate authorities. Good luck in that though. Heck I would like to see one single case that has been heard in any local state or federal court that sited someone for practicing without a license because of anonymous posts on a random forum. If you can come up with that then I might consider otherwise. Since I am not a lawyer I am certainly not going to decipher the document you posted and/or interpret its meaning. You are the one that is representing. Maybe you should post it line by line and interpret it for me and the others and show how it applies to an internet forum.

I have had the same trouble where I live. Our court system is so screwed up. It is the only agency I know of that you can go to when you have to fill out paper work yet they offer no help when filling out their paper work. All other state and federal agencies I deal with basically tell you exactly how to fill out their forms and if you fill them out incorrectly they let you know.

Dollars,

I advised you, for your own good, to read a brief manuscript regarding our central dispute: indeed, one of the critical issues regarding this site, namely UPL. If you wish to read it we might have a worthwhile and even enjoyable conversation. Until then you are wasting my time.

I have no doubt that some members here are genuinely debtors in need. Provably however, some are not: the Internet makes fraud appear all to easy. Nevertheless, specific and credible information about who owns and controls this site and how he illegally profits at debtors' expense is out there for all those who care to see. Open your eyes: I promise you'll be amazed.

Cellular, I know it must be frustrating, but the non-lawyers you spoke with who declined to give legal advice were simply doing the right thing. If you feel they just aren't helping, I'd go to the Legal Services Corporation website and find a local pro bono office. Also try the county bar association referral service, and take advantage of a free (or low cost) consultation. (When I worked for a large firm, we had pro bono nights when anyone could talk to a lawyer for nothing.) Finally, have you read the Nolo materials that I've suggested? Really excellent and highly recommended: Nolo is an outstanding organization with a long history of helping people with their legal problems. Use it.

Finally, know that this is a very complex area of law. It's very confusing and often nonsensical. Take it one step at a time.

Best of luck to you.

"Maybe you should post it line by line and interpret it for me and the others and show how it applies to an internet forum."

Dollars, no interpretation needed: "California’s Supreme Court and courts of appeals have knowingly crafted a broad definition of law practice . . . . [I]t includes legal advice and counsel and the preparation of legal instruments and contracts by which legal rights are secured although such matter may or may not be depending [sic] in a court of law." See LA Unauthorized Practice of Law Manual for Prosecutors (cited earlier).

For application of UPL principles to lay advice over the Internet, see Shari Claire Lewis, "Beware the Unauthorized Practice of Law in Cyberspace," New York Law Journal (June 6, 2007), discussing the successful prosecution and conviction of non-lawyer Henry Ihejirika, In Re Reynoso, 477 F.3d 1117 (9th Cir. 2007).

BTW, I meant to mention earlier that, contrary to Dollars, proving a contract without a signed contract is actually often pretty easy. The action is called an "account stated" and relies on one or more undisputed invoices, such as those for credit card debt.

Best wishes, and please be careful out there.