Answered summons, what happens now

There is always a chance to settle before the judge bangs his gavel but more info would better able the forum to assist you.

What other info do you need? This is not the oc, it's a collection agency saying they are the assignor of the debt.

You can still reach an agreement before you go to court. You can even go to court and present your case to the judge, that you have tried to come to an agreement with them. The judge may tell them to work it out with you. They will not automatically get a judgment against unless you just don't show up at court.

Whatever you do make sure that you show up for that court date otherwise they will get a default judgment...alias is right more than likely the judge will tell them to work it out with you if you are in person at that hearing.

More info like:

1. Who is suing you?

2. For how much?

3. Who is the original creditor?

4. How do you know you are being sued?

5. How were you served? Were you served?

6. What was your correspondence (if any) with the people suing you before you think you were being sued?

7. Where do you live?

8. When is the last time you paid on this account?

9. What is the status of your case (if anything has been opened)? You can find this by a) calling the court or b) looking it up online (many states have this information posted daily).

10. Have you disputed the debt with the credit bureaus (both the original creditor and the collection agency?)

11. Did you request debt validation before the suit was filed? If not, don't bother doing this now.

12. Does your summons require a response? (Look hard!) If you don't get a questionnaire with your summons, you are still probably required to answer it in writing. If you don't respond to the lawsuit notice you will lose automatically. In 99% of the cases, they will require you to answer the summons, and each point they are claiming. We need to know what the "charges" are. Please post what they are claiming. Did you receive an interrogatory (questionnaire) regarding the lawsuit?

13. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affadavit? A statement from the OC? Anything else they attached as exhibits?

14. What is the SOL on the debt?

As I said above, I answered the summons already, SOL don't apply since I have payments on this last year. Court date is set in 2 weeks, I posted the amount above, $2000.

How did you answer? Did you acknowledge the account in your response?

I didn't deny or confirm because I never did business with the Plaintiff

Guest, I am also waiting on a response from two cases. For one it's been a month, for the other it's been two weeks. They may request discovery, which would be a good thing in your favor, because then you could make them validate the debt to the court! It seems to me that the plaintiff can also ask for discovery, if that's true, then that would be my next move, if I were you, that way you can MAKE them validate the debt to the court, and if they can't, to make a motion to dismiss the case with prejudice on the grounds that they have no valid claim.

Shazzers,

So they can request discovery? When I answered I asked the clerk if I need to file any other papers for them to show proof, she said the answer form is enough, they will know to do that.

Yes, they can request discovery, but in my discovery papers I received I answered almost the same way you did, can not deny or affirm, no documentation supporting the claim, and ect., then I asked for validation.

my court date is in 2 weeks, is there any way of knowing whether they will provide the proof? I don't know how all this works

You could call the court house and ask the clerk of courts whether a debt validation has been submitted yet, but usually, the court sends all correspondence from both parties, to both parties as it's received. Have you tried looking at your local municipal court website? I live in a small town and we have one, it usually lists all current, past and pending civil law suits and the status online. :)

Generally when dealing with a JDB your file consists of your name, the OC and an amount. That's why you deny everything and answer with your own set of interrogatories and discovery request. Also, why I posted that set of questions for you to answer.

Nascar, what questions did you post to me?

I have looked at my court's website. All it shows right now is the date we are scheduled to appear for bench trial.

Is there anything I should be doing in the meantime?

Sorry...wasn't logged in when I made the post. It shows as a post by guest. I would recommend that you do some research into your states rules for civil procedures as well as prepare your own set of interrogatories and discovery requests.

So I have still not received their letter for payment arangements. Do I bother calling them? I really want this settled.