Civil Law Suit

I am pretty sure you are screwed. By not answering the summons, you have enabled the attorney to seek a default judgment against you. Had you done this in a timely manner, you would have been able to raise the SOL as a defense.

FWIW, a payment will usually reset the SOL.

hi,

first, the SOL could not be a defense in your case, because not enough time has gone by to hit the SOL expiration. Your last payment was in October 2004, and from then to now is not even three years. SOL is different in every state, but I dont think that any state has less than 3 years SOL on open accounts.

next, since you did not answer the summons, you will end up with a default judgment against you.

Thank you Morningstar and skydivr for replying. I kind of figured I have dug a deep hole for myself. I am now trying to see if I can obtain a pro-bono attorney to help with my case. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

confused - if you are very low income, you might be able to qualify for help from your local legal aid office. Check your yellow pages for an office near you, and give them a call. It can't hurt to check.

You may also want to looking into ways of getting this taken care of. Figure out a budget to help get yourself out of this.

Not to be a downer, but you'll be lucky to find an attorney, let alone pro bono in a case like that. Maybe if you had a couple thousand to spend.

You are probably going to want to look at what they can do now that they can get a default judgement. Know the laws in your state. For example, in Pennsylvania, we are a non garnishment state, they can't take our paychecks but they can access bank accounts and etc. What state are you from?

Everyone here is right, if u didn't answer the summons they recieved a default judgement! Also, as far as an attorney goes, there is really no need for one. Call the agency and try to see what u can work out as far as repayment!
Good Luck and let us know how it goes,
Ang