Judgement and Texas

Relax, the only way they have to sue you before they can enter a judgment. Send them a debt validation letter (you can find a good template via the first link in my signature) send it certified mail, return receipt requested. If they decide to sue you without providing validation just request the validation in discovery as a motion to show cause. Which will get the debt thrown out real quick.

What kind of debt is this anyway? Also when was the last time you paid anything on it?

Looks like a repo balance...

I just got a knock on my door with a summons that they are suing. What should i do now hire an atorney?

Yes, it was a repo balance and the summonssays I owe 5,135.00

:shock: The notice you got from Palisades...was that the first notice you ever recieved?

You're in Texas...If you do get a judgement against you, your wages will not be garnished, since a garnishment for a consumer debt is illegal in the state of Texas. Only student loans, fed debts, and child support and alimony can be garnished. However, they can seize your accounts. Make sure you make arrangements with them and keep them.

Should I call Palsides or hire an attorney?

At work I have my pay check directed to my prepaid credit card. Can the freeze a prepaid credit card? I do not have a checking or savings.

What does the summons say?

Get an attorney, you can start at NACA.net in looking for an attorney. In the discovery phase have your attorney request debt validation in a motion to show cause. Once this is granted it will become a request of the court. Pallisades is a junk debt buyer, chances are they will not be able to validate. Once they fail, have your attorney motion to dismiss the plaintiff's case due to failure to show cause. Also include your attorney's fees and court costs in your countersuit. Make them pay for it (it was their idea in the first place)

I can barley afford my rent is there anything I can do on my own?

Try your county legal aid office, those are the attorneys that are appointed for you if you cannot afford one.

If you can, hire an attorney. If not, make sure you file an answer to the complaint within the timeframe stated on the summons. Texas has a very long list of exemptions from judgment, so long in fact, that about all they could do is go after a bank account.

Can they take money off of my prepaid debt card?

After I answer the summons what happens after that will I hear from the courts on a court date? and Can the garnish my prepaid credit card?

They can't garnish the card, it would be called a levy, and I'm not sure if they can do that as CCs work different than normal bank accounts as interest generally accrues on CCs, which may exempt them from levies.

This is a pre-load card..Does anyone know what happens after you answer the summons?

Usually a hearing date is set along with other preliminary judicial stuff like discovery I believe. I'm not a attorney so I have limits to my knowledge of judicial procedure so this would probably be best answered by either Law Student or Hockeyman.

After your answer, a court date is usually set. Be sure to answer, because if you don't, they might be awarded a judgment by default. After answering, as a part of the discovery phase, send letter (certified return reciept) demanding strict proof of how they calculated the debt, who owns the debt, and your contractual obligation to them. In Texas this will probably be in District Court, as that state's code dosn't permit collectors to sue in small claims. As to your card, I don't think they could garnish or levy a prepaid card. Don't volunteer information about it unless you are deposed and asked.

Sage advice, you should listen to Law Student.

If you have any additional questions/concerns feel free to post.

What should I say in the letter? and Who do I send the verifcation of dent letter to the courts or Palisades? I did contact an attorney this morning and set up a free 30 minute consultation, but he wants anywhere from 75--2500. I will still go for the free consult and send my letter. Please advise what I should say in the letter.

Here is a template for the validation letter that I use.

Quote:

If you do not respond, you will lose automatically and have a judgment against you. In Texas, they cannot garnish wages, but can go after other non-exempt assets, typically, bank accounts, second cars, and investments. A pre-paid debit card would be such an asset.

A judgment is good for ten years, and can be renewed indefinitely. If you dispute the debt, hire an attorney. If you do not dispute the debt, try and settle with them, or just accept the judgment.

A settlement would be better than the judgment as they would tack on attorney fees and court costs.

Make sure that you follow their advice. Last year I was stupid and didn't know any better or know about this forum. I just stuck my head in the sand and had a default judgement placed on my credit report. Not only do I still have to pay back the money but I am also charged interest on this account until it is paid off. That was court ordered. I thought just ignoring it would make it go away but it doesn't. Don't be dumb like me!! I will never do that again!

You are not dumb, people do dumb things sometimes but that does not make them dumb. Making mistakes is all part of being human. Live, learn, then get luvs. J/K

Thanks so much for validation letter but can you forwardme a letter/template to send the court....also to the guy who had the judgement placed on his bureau did they garnish your bank account?

We cannot disclose personal information on this forum so I cannot forward it to you. The best thing to do is copy and paste it into a word processor and print it. If you are going to use it in court then make sure you do it during discovery as a motion to show cause.

Send the validation letter to the collector/attorney, and a copy to the court.

Thanks,Law Student any suggestions are is there a template out there for a letter to send to the courts in response to the judgement filing?

I don't know if any templates are out there for a response. Maybe check a few attorneys websites (who are in Texas). A few in California have things such as this on their sites. Get a copy of whatever they filed, then answer. In Texas, each paragraph must be numbered. An answer mainly admits or denies each numbered paragraph and concludes with the defence you wish to affirm and reasons why you thing the case should be dismissed. Texas allows standard sized paper (instead of "legal sized"). You also must number each page on the bottom. This is just a general description, beiing that I haven't seen what they filed.

Question. What if you had a court date for a debt to be collected and couldn't appear because you had to work? My court date was this past Wednesday and I couldn't go. The judgement will be against me because I didn't show up, correct? Will I be arrested for being a no show? Will my wages be garnished? Bank account seized? I live in the state of Virginia and I know they can garnish wages for all sorts of things. This company I had a debt with hired Rapid Recovery collections, who illegally took money out of my parents bank account for my debt. After we had put stop payments on anything coming from them (because we never spoke with them and did not authorize any payment plans like they said we did.)they tried to put through payments on my account for my mother's debt! (Yes, she had a debt with the same person, but the collection agency switched names on the debts) my mother's account was put under my social security number, and the collection agency said we were being charged with check fraud and would all go to jail. The rep from the collection agency said he spoke with us and that we had set up a payment plan, which we never had! We had never spoken to them until they called us to scream at us and threaten us. That is the only reason we stopped anything coming from them, because we (my parents and I) hadn't authorized it. My mother and I recently got a letter from an attorney saying we owed the original company (a chiropractor whom I will never use again!) over $20,000! My name was the only name on the summons though and the amount they wanted was a little over $1200.00. I have no idea what is going to happen with all this... Any advice would be appreciated.

fthflshp

They probably won a default judgment against you. In the future should you need to go to court you will need to take time off for work (or you could request a continuance until your day off) employers are generally very lenient when it comes to that. With the default judgment that means that since you did not show then the judge would have no choice but to believe what the plaintiff represented to be true as it was not opposed. If they so choose they may proceed with further collection of said debt via court such as garnishment of wages, property lien, or account levy (where allowed by law, which varies by state)

You will not go to jail/prison for not showing up, debts are civil matters not criminal so you don't need to worry about that.

However, the way they treated you was wrong, debiting other peoples accounts for debts that were not theirs without any authorization. That is theft (which you can press charges for) and telling you that your going to jail for fraud, a debt collector may not imply that you have committed any crimes nor tell you that you will be arrested/imprisoned. You can file civil suit for $1,000 in statutory damages + punitive damages, court costs, and attorney fees via civil action.

That's about all the advice I can give you at this point. If you have any additional questions feel free to ask and I or someone else will be more than happy to answer them to the best of our ability.

What advatages will I obtain by hiring an attorney? If Palisades has already filed an judgement I still until January 21st to file and asnwer...

Tina, unless they have already sued you and won, they can't file a judgment. Judgments have to be awarded to them by the court. You can check your local small claims court (or circuit court depending on the amount of the loan and/or how your county deals with these suits) to see if a suit has been filed against you or if there has been a judgment.

Tina, call the court clerk and get a copy of the filing. I don't know what state you are in, but in some, collectors can't file in small claims court.

To the other poster: Have your parents report this unathorized debit to the bank. They will then have 45 days to investigate this. If nothing is done, they can sue the collector and the bank.

Sorry for the confusion they have sued me and they are seeking a judgement. What are the advantages of getting an attorney the balance is 5100.

The advantage of seeking legal council is that you will have someone representing you that know all the ins and outs of the judicial system.

Make sure you request validation in court as well. You can do so in a motion to show cause during discovery. If they can't show cause motion for the case to be dismissed with prejudice.

"After your answer, a court date is usually set. Be sure to answer, because if you don't, they might be awarded a judgment by default. After answering, as a part of the discovery phase, send letter (certified return reciept) demanding strict proof of how they calculated the debt, who owns the debt, and your contractual obligation to them. In Texas this will probably be in District Court, as that state's code dosn't permit collectors to sue in small claims. As to your card, I don't think they could garnish or levy a prepaid card. Don't volunteer information about it unless you are deposed and asked."
lawstudent, in this previous reply (above), you said collection agencies cannot file a claim in texas. i checked with my justice of the peace's county site and it is stated there also if i am reading it right.
i was sued by Palisades and a default judgment was granted as I did not know anything about this claim they filed. i received nothing, no summons, etc. but the first sentence of the judgement i DID receive after the fact states, "In this cause, Plaintiff appeared through attoney of record". what does that mean? and how did this allow a collection agency to file against me?
i have another thread in this forum but have had two of the posts disappear (did not show up) so i thought i would try here.
this is so upsetting and just don't know what to do now. I can see that Palisades is hard to work with and i have so many questions what to do since this judgement happened. I just got notice of it yesterday (1/11). thanks

Attorney of record:
the attorney who has appeared in court and/or signed pleadings or other forms on behalf of a client. The lawyer remains the attorney of record until some other attorney or the client substitutes for him/her, he/she is allowed by the court to withdraw, or after the case is closed. Sometimes lawyers find themselves still on the record in a case (such as divorces) which they believe have long since been completed

Ask the court clerk when and how your were supposedly served. The might have tried to serve you at some other address, and when unable to do so, did a service by publication, which is very common in your state.

so publication means in the newspaper? as no i did not receive any notice at all. am home all day and no one came. should i try to check the local newspaper to make sure i was served that way then? thanks

service by publication? What if the person never reads the newspaper? That sounds like it could easily get vacated due to dysfunctional service. Also if anything in the attorney name indicates debt would it not be a third party disclosure?

That's a good point about third party disclosure, but, those by publication don't go into a lot of detail. They're almost a form letter starting with what the state requires "You are being sued. You have the right..." and then the name, address and phone of the plaintiff's attorney. They state the plaintiff's name/ or company and how much they are suing for. To be fair, that's why it is in code that the defendant (or Respondent) can file a motion for new trial due to process by publication. I'm surprised that all this hasn't been challenged. If it happened to me I would, and through the third party disclosure at them.

I would jump on that in a heartbeat. That is probably the worst/dumbest method of service I have ever heard of.

ok guys thanks now tell me what i should do so i understand it :-)
i haven't had time to challenge anything yet as i just received this in the late afternoon mail this last friday.
but the thing is....if i do all this challenging and basically get this judgement thrown out..won't they just sue me again in district court as law mentioned in another post/thread?
i do not want at all to make this worse. i hate that the debt is not even going to be paid to the people i really owe it to. IF i make any payment(s) it will go to *(&^&(& palisades. why would the law allow this to happen? go to the debt collectors where they've hiked up the balance more than double??
anyway...i don't read the newspaper by the way so what do you two suggest that will not make this worse for me.
in case anyone missed my query in another thread...please give me some clues...do they notify you of bank acct seizure, can they seize for the rest of your life since they are not the government, any bank accts? can i do anything to stop them through my bank or anywhere?
please let me know all you know.

Well, you get the judgment vacated. If they try to sue you again you simply ask for validation during discovery in a motion to show cause. They probably won't be able to validate. When they fail to show cause then you motion to dismiss with prejudice. Make them validate it first, one of the key things in validation is (if they do it right) they have to show you a breakdown of charges and how they calculated it. Then if it is within the law and they provide validation you can simply send in whatever money you can afford each month to pay it off. If it is dismissed with prejudice then they cannot sue you again and your free to pay it off without having to worry about making payments that will hurt you too much.

I agree with JCEMT. As I said before, the first thing I would do, is call the court clerk and ask when and how you were supposedly served, and why a petition brought by a collector was heard in their court. The judgment, formal pleadings, etc. are contrary to every thing I know about Justice Courts.