Court Date Thursday

I would consult a lawyer. Much easier to go to court with a lawyer than to try it on your own.

Hang in there and good luck on Thursday. Let us know how it goes.

I second spatterson's advice. I wouldn't go pro se either.

Well, I really can't afford a lawyer, so I'm sort of stuck.

I can't be any worse off for going, though - it's better than just skipping it.

That is true, have you explored the option of legal aid?

Honestly, no. I thought legal aid was only for criminal cases. I'll look into it, though I'm not sure how much they can help me, since the date is tomorrow. I wonder if it's too late to get a continuance...

I'm a pretty smart cookie, though, so I think as long as I don't let the lawyers freak me out, I'll be fine.

I've been reading TONS of stuff on civil procedure here in Missouri.

So let's call it a $3,000 gamble.

If you want to have legal council and are unable to obtain it by tomorrow, you can motion for a continuance as you have yet to obtain legal council.

I looked it up and I can get a consultation for $30. I can afford that! So I think I'll try to motion for it to be moved to next week or the week after.

I may not have a lawyer still, but I will have at least met with one and know that I've gotten the advice I need to do well.

Thanks a bunch!

Well, nevermind that - in order to get the continuance, I have to get the law firm to agree to that. I really don't want to talk to them!

So I'll see if I can get the consultation today, I guess!

Your welcome, thats what we are here for.

Well, I talked to a lawyer. Apparently since this is in the Associate division there's lots of rules and stuff.

The lawyer wants a $1,500 retainer. My local legal aid doesn't have resources for this type of case, so I'd have to find a lawyer on my own.

I'm going to ask the lawyer at the firm that filed the suit if we can do the next docket call meeting, which will give me a month.

Apparently, though, I've got 30 days from the day of the summons to file an answer, but I have no idea how to do that. I'm freaking out a bit.

It's like I don't know how I'm supposed to do all of this without a lawyer but I certainly don't have $1,500 to give this guy.

Blah. I just hope he'll let it go till next month so I have a chance to try to figure some things out.

I doubt you will loose your case as you have payment records for the those months and they would have to prove that it isn't a time barred debt when you raise that as your defense. If you decide to retain an attorney then you should counter sue for your attorney's fees.

I agree with JCEMT--they made the claim that you made a payment and they are the ones who have to prove that this did in fact happen. Unless they can provide a cancelled check, or photocopy of a money order, etc etc etc, then they cannot prove anything about the re-aging of the debt. I would fight that point as hard as you can--it could make or break the whole case right there.

Well, I know it wasn't a check and by that point all of my cards had charged off, so I couldn't have paid it that way.

I'm going to ask the attorney tomorrow morning to move the docket hearing to next month. That will give me time to get everything in order.

I did find a copy of how to write an "answer" to the suit, and I'll file that Friday, which is totally within my 30 days. Then I'll send out a DV letter and I'm hoping it'll all just go poof. :)

I doubt very much I'll be retaining an attorney - I don't have $1,500 or anywhere near it. I thought about the idea of a counter-claim. We shall see.

If I can get the docket hearing moved to next month, though, I do think I can do this. I've been reading up on the civil procedures and whatnot.

I'll let you all know tomorrow how it goes. :)

Thanks a bunch for your help!

Good luck tomorrow and please let us know how it goes for you. Fight back and stick to your guns. It sounds like you will do just fine. You are armed with knowledge!!!!

Well, I survived!

I went to talk to the lawyer at the docket hearing. He seemed like a nice guy, but I knew that he was there to do a job. Before he even said anything about the case, he put a "Monthly Budget Analysis" sheet in front of me so that he could help me come up with an idea of what I could pay. I smiled and said that while normally that would be a fine idea, there was a problem. I had him flip to the correct page in the lawsuit and showed him where they had put the date of the last payment.

I explained that the payment was never made, and showed him my bank statements, which he made copies of. He said he'd get ahold of the creditor and let me know. We continued it till next month.

The only real problem I had was that I told him that I was going to send a DV letter to the creditor. He told me it was too late for that - once a suit was filed, they weren't going to respond to a DV letter. Is that true? Isn't that part of discovery? Don't I have a right to get a debt verification even if a suit has been filed?

Any thoughts would be great. As a note, I'm in St. Louis City, Missouri.

OK--here's the thing. You dont ever need to send a DV letter to the original creditor. it has to go to the plaintiff. And at this point, you would have to file a motion for discovery and request validation that way. The funny thing is this--he can tell you all he wants that it doesnt matter, but their suit claims that you made a payment, and that payment is a very important piece of the puzzle--without it they cannot legally sue you. So, you need to force them to prove that this payment actually was made. If they cannot, then move for immediate dismissal on the grounds of expired statute of limitations.

Just remember, you do NOT want to use the term "verification" at all. You are requesting validation instead, there is a really big difference.

You'll only be requesting information generally requested in a DV during discovery. It doesn't stop the trial though.

Oh, I meant to send to the plantiff. Sorry!

At this point, I'm going to file my answer with the court tomorrow (which is within the 30 days).

Should I wait to see what the lawyer discovers from the plaintiff or should I go ahead and file a motion for discovery and request validation?

Also, if they can't produce proof, and they withdraw the lawsuit, will I be unable to file a counter-claim at that point? I don't want to file it unless I'm sure, you know, but if they lied on that piece of paper, they're violating the law and I don't want them to get away with it.

Theresa--do you know how you need to answer the complaint?

I looked it up on here, and I know I basically copy the complaint and write "Answer" under each one, right?

Then I add in an affirmative defense that the SOL is passed, and that "Exhibit 1" or whatnot is incorrect in it's time of last payment.

Does that sound right?