Can someone explain how a bench trail goes in IL?

At trial the plaintiff gives his side of the story and you give yours for the judge to decide the merits of the case. You need to get real comfortable with your state's rules of civil procedure if you are going alone with this.

I just looked up the SOL for IL. For you it is 5 years, if it's been at least 5 years from the date they filed since your last activity on the account then you can just claim the SOL as your defense (since it would be a time barred debt) and have it dismissed with prejudice.

I do remember your post, and I'm sorry - I am just not familiar with McHenry County.

In Cook County at least, 1) the judges are very liberal / debtor friendly and 2) it is very "informal" atmosphere - almost like an open forum - a judge wouldn't give judgment to the creditor just because you didn't follow the rules to a "T".

I'm afraid as you move out of the city and more northwest towards McHenry, the judges may be more conservative and the courtroom a little more formal. Still, I think anywhere you are, the courtroom "seems" more scary than it really is.

The case seems to be in your favor, since so far on two occassions the plaintiff hasn't been prepared. With luck , hopefully they still won't be prepared at the trual. Just have any paperwork/documents/evidence with you when you go, and share your side with the judge. He will look at all arguments/evidence presented and make a call as he sees fit.

ONE MORE TIME... It is called

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE (emergency motion for relief) TO STAY THE TRIAL AND/OR STRIKE IT FROM THE TRIAL CALENDAR.....DUE TO THE PLAINTIFF'S FAILURE TO PROVIDE DISCOVERY...

THE PLAINTIFF WOULD NEED TO PROVE TO THE COURT THAT HE PROVIDED YOU WITH DISCOVERY UNDER THIS CIRCUMSTANCE. THAT WOULD BE AN EASY WAY OF TAKING CARE OF YOUR TRIAL. The case may even be dismissed with prejudice after a couple appearances on your motion.

But it seems like you don't really care about motion practice and more about being a severely inexperienced person who wants to be like all the suits and try cases. Listen to me, you will get your ass handed to you by the attorney for the other side if you try this case without filing that motion; the judge will even ask you why you didn't file the motion.

Listen to hockeyman, he's a attorney and from what I have seen from him since I've been on this forum, he's a damn good one at that.

Hockeyman:

Forgive me for being ignorant of legal terms....but when I filed my answer I denied the debt, asked for validation & specifically stated "I request a motion to dismiss without prejudice."

Seems to me that since they did not show their evidence at 2nd trail the case would have been dismissed because of my answer...but it went to trail so here I am.

When you say:

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE (emergency motion for relief) TO STAY THE TRIAL AND/OR STRIKE IT FROM THE TRIAL CALENDAR.....DUE TO THE PLAINTIFF'S FAILURE TO PROVIDE DISCOVERY

are you saying I should file a new answer/request to the judge?

he is referring to a motion you can file with the court demanding relief due to plaintiff not cooperating with discovery.

Cajunbulldog - thanks for the clarification.

Sounds like I should think about hiring an attorney to do this so it is done correctly? Or is it as simple copying hockeyman's "Order to show cause" statement word for word?

An attorney is what I would do in your case,but I would also read up on the entire motion & trial process so you can do it alone if you must go to court again.

Thanks again to everyone for all the advice!

Especially Hockeyman - even with your sarcastic overtone you gave the clear cut answer that I need & I truly appreciate it.

I have decided to find an attorney to file this motion so that I don't screw things up trying to handle by myself.

Thanks again.

munchkin- you are going through something so similar to what I am going thru in McLean county. I also asked a similar question and hockeyman told me to file the same thing- which I am letting my attorney handle. If you an just get a consultation with a experienced lawyer that deals with collections, the attorney can look over the papers and probably let you know if you can win. If I win my suit, i am asking for court costs and reasonable attorney's fees too, so then I am not broke from hiring the lawyer. :)

Forgive me for sometimes getting frustrated, as I often do with cheap insurance carriers who don't want to pay money. This is the basic procedure that I take when I haven't received the discovery I need on the eve of trial, then again I deal with cases where the exposure ranges anywhere from 400k to 5 million. To an insurance company, this is the same as the 500-in excess of 10k to you.

:shock: Now thats "cheap" insurance coughs: sorry about that, I had something in my throat. Must have been from when the insurance company #&#((#$* me right in the #(%&#&%&.