Rubin And Rothman Summons

I just received a summons from Rubin and rothman to appear in court within 20 days, they are representing Midland Funding for an old Spiegal account. I don't know what to do and I am very scared. I am involved now witha debt consolidation program but they told me they can't do anything till they start contacting the creditors, I just enrolled. I know I owe on this account and I even called up Midland Funding and they couldn't help me, they just gave me the number for R &R. Is there any way of getting out of this or can I contact R & R. Please help.

When was the last time there was any activity on this account, and what state do you live in?

Also, what type of summons was this? was it a summons of complaint?

Last time I made any payments on this was about a year ago and it was to another collection agency. I live in New York. It says summons on it and has a 6 digit file or case number. Actually 2 came, one had the case number stamped and the other had the number written it and at the top where it says summons, it says we are attempting to collect a debt.

Is there anything on that statement that says something to the effect of: You have 30 days to dispute this debt and ask for validation, if you do not dispute it we will assume this debt is yours?

The collection agency is Midland Funding, they now sent my account to Rubin Rothman. This dosen't look like a typical collection letter, it says summons on it and says I have 20 days from the date it's filed to show up in the county court.

Just looked at it again. It says you have 20 days to file your answer. If you don't appear they will assume the debt is valid and judgement

Is this their initial communication with you? If so this could be a severe case of overshadowing.

You should also contact your court clerks office to make sure that it is a valid civil complaint.

Contact the court immediately!!! The contact info is on the documents you were served. ASk the court clerk if there is a case filed with those particulars [case #, your name, etc.] Let us know what you find.

Then, get to work on an answer to the complaint. You must file an answer, and you must appear. If you don't, you're looking at a default judgement. Specifics on answering the complaint are probably available in the NY Rules of Civil Procedure. Those can be found on the NY court system website.

You can find a WEX legal dictionary and rules for civil procedure by state and district via my signature link. If you would like to seek legal council you can start your search for a consumer attorney via NACA.net

Unclewulf,

On my papers, there is no phone number for the court, it just says this is a summons and you must answer within 20 days if this was delivered directly to you, or 30 days if it was not delivered to you. The top of the page says; Consumer Credit Statement.

Like I said, I was mailed 2 copies, they came from diff addresses, one had the file number stamped, and the other was handwritten. Do you think I should contact them too?

That almost sounds like a bogus summons. Contact your local civil court, tell them the case number and ask them if there was ever any complaint filed against you.

If there is no record of it when I call up the court, do I still go? I know that might sound stupid, but I'm just scared.

You could still go to find out for certain (that way you have all your bases covered) However as Shazzers has said it sounds like it is a falsely manufactured court document so you may wish to copy it and send it along with a complaint form to your state Attorney General's office as well as the Federal Trade Commission. Sending fake court documents is a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and you could actually use it (if it is indeed a fake document) to initiate your own civil action for $1,000 in statutory damages plus court costs and Attorney's fees (if applicable)

I also checked on the court's website, I searched by my name and didn't find anything, I would have searched by index number, but my number is 6 digits, and the website is asking for number and digits, I will call and post back what happened. But the website don't show my name.