getting sued

Check with your court clerk or look up rules of civil procedure for your state to determine what constitutes proper service. In some cases, 1st class mail (as you received) is sufficient. If you contact the court, you can also verify the validity of the document. If it is a genuine summons, do not ignore it-answer it by the time specified or they will obtain a default judgment against you.

Thanks for the info. This is a valid debt and I am going to repay it. I now can repay this but its going to take say three months. The strange thing is I opened another piece of mail sent the same day, and it was a letter from Rubin and Rothman about the CAP One account, stating the client has given them rights to negioiate with me for a payment. The summons was filed on Sept. 6th and the letter was dated Sept. 11th. I really do want to pay this and I am not going to try and weasel out of this. My question is why do they send a summons and then send a letter to try and get payment....

You have to be carefull- sometimes they make it look like a summons, and it isn't.

Do as Morningstar said, check with your court clerks office-see if anything has been filed. This may just be an attempt to scare you-but if it isn't, you need to reply by the date the court gives you.

Let us know if we can help..KAren :D

Usually with a summons, there's a docket/index/civil action no. that tracks the case with the court.

Do a google search with your state's name then e-courts or something to that effect, that will bring up an online database where you can search by the individual case no. to validate it's a real suit.

I looked at the summons and on the bottom it states we are trying to collect a debt. any information obtained will be used for that purpose. This is a communication from a debt collector.

I have tried to access the Index number in NYS E track and does not come up. the index number is 7 digits. I have 2 summons, one the index was han written and the other looks like it was stamped. Both are different for 2 different accounts, but I cannot find the case on the e search website. Also it is stamped all over with FILED civil court richmond county and the date! Can I confirm this over the phone, and if the index number is no good can this be grounds for a lawsuit. I am not dodging my obligations and I will pay this, but if this is fraud then it must be taken care of..

It sounds like they mailed you something and tried to make it look official so you would call them. The town I live in does not post summons to the net to search but a simple phone call to my local civil court will result in any outstanding summons for any name I provide including my own name. I would suggest you call your court and verify that there is no outstanding summons in your name even if the one on the net comes back clean.

It's probably bogus, and a violation of the law. The fdcpa forbids collectors mailing out letters which look like court or legal documents. I've never seen a summons which says' "communication from a debt collector" on the bottom. Save the letter for your own possible law suit.

And technically, the summons can have that language on the bottom of it according to the CPLR. Just like in a personal injury case, a plaintiff''s attorney can reserve the right to place the language for a business to forward to the insurance company. Do your research law student before you go posting, you don't want to get caught in your own practice. Back to reality here, the fact is if the index number's good and the clerk of City Civil/Richmond confirms that this action is good, you need to do one of two things. A) Call the Plaintiff's attorney, which they in case have a ton of cases in Richmond, and get them to send you a stipulation extending time to answer. So that they can't get you on default judgement; then retain an attorney. The only thing you waive is personal jursidiction, but if you live in SI, you can't really challenge that. B)Google Civil Court City of New York, and you should be able to find forms to do a 'pro-se' answer. Just deny everything and put forth defenses as reserving them for a future Interogatory/Bill of Particulars. However, if this is a pure summons and no complaint, but affidavit of service then retain an attorney. A big controversy lately is the commencement by service of a summons w/out notice to appear or complaint. GET AN ATTORNEY if this is the case, this is considered dysfunctional service and irreparable, translation you can get the suit tossed by using a defense of dysfunctional service. I will provide a few cases later on, along with the proper citation.

This is important, you can get rid of the debt in an instant. Get yourself an attorney who specializes in collections, I have defended many a legal malpractice case with guys who spewed stuff like law student's been doing.

However, if you were in Queens, you could have searched for the index number and future appearances.

This is a Pre-RJI case, which means it wouldn't show up regardless and there is no active appearance. You just have 30 days to stip extending time to answer or answer the complaint. IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU CALL THE PLAINTIFF'S ATTORNEY FIRST THING IN THE MORNING TO GET A 'STIPULATION EXTENDING TIME TO ANSWER' SO THAT YOU MAY RETAIN AN ATTORNEY. EXPLAIN THE SITUATION, THEY WILL UNDERSTAND. EXPLAIN TO THEM THAT YOU WILL ANSWER THE COMPLAINT AFTER YOU FILE THE CONSENT TO CHANGE ATTORNEY FORM. Also ask them that they send you a courtesy copy of the stamped 'filed' stipulation.

Dollars, in NY, the summons is not considered 'outstanding in NY' it is merely the commencement of an action. From that time, until a Request for Judicial Intervention is filed with either an Order to show cause, a Motion, or a request for preliminary conference; the matter is in the County Clerks office and is between the Plaintiff and the Defendant, with no court involvement. If he were to call the local court, they would not be able to find the index number because the case would not have been sent up to Court yet.

He would have luck with the Motion Support office or the County Clerk on the phone. This is not a laughing matter, it's serious and needs to be tended to.

Before I became disabled in 1999 I always paid my debts.

Now that I am totally disabled I have been contacted that they intend on sueing and placing judgement on me.

I have no money to go bankrupt. I need advise how to handle this. I already spoke to them and told them my situation. It didn't seem to matter.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for any help! I'm desperate!

Deborah, check with your state law. In many states there are quite a number of exemptions from judgment, and if sued, they'd get next to nothing. Be careful with your bank account. Even exempt funds such as social secutity, etc. might be garnishable once they are put into your bank account.

Hockey, u have given very good information above but i don't see the need to attack another member about his post which was just HIS opinion, nothing more, nothing less! for that matter, i have been served and looked over mine and it doesn't say any where on it that it is a communication from a collector. I think all lawstudent was saying was that it "seems" bogus. He never stated it matter of factly, just his opinion. So please keep personal attacks out of post and let's keep it matter of factly or if it's only an opinion we can state such in the post!
DEAL?
Keep the good info coming all of u!
Ang

From what I have read about ssdi benefits they are exempt from garnishment...unless it is for a federal debt like taxes or child support or something of that nature.

But like lawstudent says check your state laws.

ladybug

I have had similiar dealing with RR and they have lied to me every step of the way. One little problem became many bigger problems because I took their word for it and didn't get it in writing. I would suggets you get a lawyer to settle this for you. do not make any agreements with them - they are not trustworthy!