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    Creditor Lawsuits and Judgments

    When a debtor gets to the point of no longer being able to pay their bills, their mind inevitably turns to the consequences of doing so...and one of the possible consequences is a lawsuit. At some point, if a debt goes unpaid long enough, the creditor (collection agency, or debt buyer) will probably sue you in order to get a judgement against you.

    For context, this post primarily discusses lawsuits by unsecured creditors (i.e. credit cards).

    First, what is a judgment?

    A judgment is a decision by a judge or court memorializing the obligations of the parties. In the debt collection scenario, a judgment gives the holder a judicial lien on all assets of the debtor and the power to use a state's executory laws to collect the debt (i.e. garnishment, asset seizure, etc).

    How soon after default might I expect to be sued?

    The good news here is that time is on your side. Creditors do not want to sue because it is the most costly of collection methods. (but the cost is not that great, since the attorney's work on contingency, so don't think the creditor is shelling out attorney's fees to sue you, and YES, in most creditor lawsuits, the attorney's fees are added to the judgment).

    In any event, the general time-line for lawsuits is 6-18+ months from the date of first default, with the average time before suit being 12+ months. Thus, you can probably not pay your credit cards for about a year before a suit will be filed, BUT, each creditor has their own rules and procedures and these will vary from city to city, and state to state. For many people, their debts can go unpaid for many years before a suit is finally filed. Thus, you generally have "more" time before a suit is filed, not less.

    How will I know if I am being sued and how does a lawsuit work

    At this point, we are getting into the nuts and bolts of a lawsuit, so by way of preface, realize that the specific rules will vary state to state and court to court. What I am going to describe below is the general process of a civil suit in a jurisdictions intermediate civil court. In my area, we have 3 levels of county courts, Small Claims, Justice Court, and District Court. Most collection actions happen in Justice Court. Basically, which court you get sued in depends on the amount of debt in question. If you are in a small jurisdiction, you may have only 1 or 2 levels of civil court. In general, the process is similar across the country, only the specifics tend to vary.
    1. Filing of Complaint and Service of Process

    The first thing the creditors attorney will do is file a complaint with the court, pay the filing fee, and the court will issue a summons back to the creditor. At this point, there is a live action in court, a case number is assigned, a judge is assigned, and a file opened at the court. It then becomes the responsibility of the Creditor to "serve" you a copy of that summons and complaint.

    Service of Process: Generally, the creditor must serve the defendant personally, but that MEANS either (1) a process server hands you the summons and complaint, (2) leaving copies at your dwelling with a person of suitable age. But, if you have moved, or if the process server misses you, etc, the creditor has options...
    If the creditor cannot find you, or you have moved from you last known address, the creditor can get permission to do "service by publication". SbP generally means publishing the summons in a news paper for a number of weeks. Once the run is complete, the court will consider the summons served.
    And yes, creditors can get fairly unscrupulous when it comes to service of process because all they need to do an SbP is an affidavit from the process server that they tried to serve you on a few different occasions, couldn't find you, and did a database search. Thus, one way or the other, service of process is going to be successful.

    Note, service of process for small claims court can sometimes be made by certified mail to your last known address.

    Before we go on, lets take an overview of the lawsuit

    The creditor is the plaintiff, as such, the burden falls on the plaintiff to prove that you, the debtor, actually owe the debt. In most run-of-the-mill cases, this task seems easy (and many times it is), but how easy it is depends on who is suing. From the debtor's perspective, there are 2 types of defenses, substantive an technical. A substantive defense would be something to the effect that the debt has been paid, you are not the proper defendant, or the amount is wrong, or the statute of limitations has expired. Technical defenses tend to go toward showing the court that the plaintiff has insufficient evidence or violated some procedure. In most cases, technical defenses can be overcome, and so they really only serve to delay a judgment, whereas substantive defenses undermine liability and allow you to win the case.

    The success or usefulness of technical defenses depends on who is suing you...if the original creditor is suing, your technical defenses will be limited...but if the plaintiff is further down the collection line, (i.e. debt buyers), technical defenses become more viable, i.e. chain of custody...the debt buyer has a hard time proving they really have the right to sue and that you are the proper debtor. Technical defenses are best brought as a preliminary motion that is filed at the same time as your answer.
    2. Let's assume you were successfully served, what happens now.

    The summons will tell you how many days you have to respond to the lawsuit, usually 20 to 30 days (and those are calender days, not business days).

    You have 3 options.
    1. Do nothing...file BK
    2. Answer the Complaint
    3. Answer the Complaint and file Preliminary Motions

    1. If you do nothing, at some point, the plaintiff we get a default judgment against you. Since you did not appear in the case to defend the allegations, the court is forced to assume the allegations in the plaintiff's complaint are true, and enter judgment accordingly. Note, the plaintiff still has to present some evidence, but the evidence need only facially establish the claim, the court does not investigate or otherwise seek to verify the claims of the plaintiff.

    2. An Answer to a complaint is simple in some respects and difficult in others. In an Answer, you must "admit", "deny", or claim you have "insufficient knowledge to admit or deny" each of the allegations for the plaintiff. Generally, the complaint will have enumerated paragraphs and each paragraph will assert a fact of some kind, thus, in your answer, all you need to do is say
    "In answering paragraph 1 of Plaintiff's complaint, the defendant "..." the allegations contained therein"
    You only admit a claim if you know the claim to be true, and you ONLY deny a claim if you KNOW the claim to be false. Thus, for most of the paragraphs, you will respond with "lack sufficient knowledge to admit or deny".

    The tough part is affirmative defenses. It is with AD's that pro se defendant's often stumble; the problem is, if you do not assert an affirmative defense in your answer, the defense is waived. Thus, you MUST do your homework if you are planning on defending yourself.

    3. Preliminary Motions are used if there is some defect in the Plaintiff's complaint or to raise technical defenses.

    3. Ok, I have filled my Answer, now what happens

    For the most part, you have bought yourself some time. But, if the plaintiff's attorney is on the ball, he will turn around and file a Motion for Summary Judgment.

    A MSJ is a motion to try to end the case without trial. A MSJ will basically allege that there is no material disputed fact such that a trial is necessary and the attorney will attach the supporting documents and affidavits. Unfortunately, if you don't have any technical defenses, most collection cases are resolved by MSJ in the plaintiff's favor. Reason being, is that an MSJ now shifts the burden to the defendant to demonstrate to the court, with actual evidence, that there is a material disputed fact that needs a trial. Simply denying the claims is usually not enough to overcome an MSJ.

    However, you are not without some recourse. Since most of the evidence is in the creditors possession, you can sometimes file a Motion for limited discovery to buy you some time.

    But, if no MSJ is filed, typically what happens next is that the parties must hold a preliminary discovery conference and a discovery order must be entered with the court. That order will typically include a trial date.

    But keep in mind, at any time before trial, an MSJ can be filed by the Plaintiff.

    At some point, if you have been able to raise a defense to the claim, a trial date is set and the hearing is held.

    For the sake of Discussion, let's assume a judgment is enter against you, now what.

    Once the plaintiff gets a judgment against you, they can now go about garnishing wages, (if state law allows), put a lien on your home, levy your bank account, etc. But, even now, you still have some time. Each method of judgment execution has its own set of rules and procedures that must be followed. Assuming the creditor knows where you work, it will still take them 2-3 weeks from getting the judgment before they can garnish your wages.

    So, what is the overall time-line

    Day 1. Filing of complaint
    Days 2-30, Complete Service of Process.
    If service by publication, 30-60 days
    Day 31-50, if no answer, and no SbP, Default Judgment
    Day 40-60, if answer filed, Motion for Summary Judgement
    Day 55-85 Hearing on MSJ
    Day 90-180: Trial
    Day 45-90, If no answer filed, but there was SbP Default Judgment Entered.

    Does Bankruptcy deal with Judgments

    Yes. A bankruptcy can eliminate a judgment (assuming the underlying debt is dischargeable). Note, once you get your discharge from BK, you need to file some paperwork with the court that entered the judgment and attach your discharge order.

    Practical Advice

    Given how long it takes from first default to a creditor actually suing, you have been living with this for some time. So hopefully, you are over the "indecision" or "denial" phase of debtor stress and prepared to address your problems. A lawsuit is a creditor's last resort, so this debt is going to be resolved one way or the other. What you need to decide is the best way to handle the situation. Moreover, odds are, this suit is not isolated, meaning that, you have other debt and money issues that need to be addressed. Thus, make some appointments with some BK attorney's, consultations are typically free. Do some homework, figure out if you have a defense to the suit (but be careful of the "extremist" debt defense websites, you know, the same websites that claim federal income tax is unconstitutional... ) Take the lawsuit as an opportunity to take the first steps to get your financial life back on track.
    Last edited by HHM; 12-30-2007, 12:29 AM.

    #2
    HHM, This is great. Would it be possible to add how the court or creditor determines that you have assets or wages to go after once the judgment is against you ? Thanks
    It's not what we have in our lives, but who we have in our lives and the quality of those relationships.

    Comment


      #3
      Ssdsco, all the court does is allow the creditor to garnish/levy/etc. It is up to the creditor (not the court) to locate your assets. In criminal cases this may be different, but in regular civil cases the court only rules on evidence offered.

      A creditor can use all sorts of info to determine where your assets are: checks you've written, your credit report, where you made charges on your credit card, and much much more. If you're the average consumer it's not that hard.
      Nolo Press book on filing Chapter 7, there are others too. (I have no affiliation with Nolo Press; just a happy customer.) Best wishes to you!

      Comment


        #4
        Ooops, sorry, thought this was a current thread...
        Nolo Press book on filing Chapter 7, there are others too. (I have no affiliation with Nolo Press; just a happy customer.) Best wishes to you!

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by FreshLikeADaisy View Post
          Ooops, sorry, thought this was a current thread...
          Don't worry about it not being a current thread. I happened on this and it contains some of the very information that I have been looking for in other threads.

          Thank You
          Last edited by AngelinaCat; 04-28-2008, 12:48 PM.
          "To go bravely forward is to invite a miracle."

          "Worry is the darkroom where negatives are formed."

          Comment


            #6
            You can always post in "Sticky" posts regardless of age. Doing so helps keep the information on the subject matter consolidated.

            Comment


              #7
              I'm posting this here because it would appear that you can be served a summons and complaint via noncertified US mail, at least in MN - I was expecting something more formal and from the court, as this sticky suggests that creditors have a limited number of avenues/methods available to them.

              I received a document in the mail this weekend from a law firm representing one of my debtors: it did not come from the court, it came from the law firm; it was via standard U.S. mail, not certified mail. I live in Minnesota, unsure if state laws come into play regarding served notice of complaint.

              My question is - does this appear to be a validly served, validly formatted summons and complaint?

              Mods, please move this if you don't want it in the sticky.

              Page 1 reads:

              YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED and required to serve upon Plaintiff's attorneys an ANSWER to the COMPLAINT which is herewith served upon you, within 20 days after service of this SUMMONS, exclusive of the day of service. If you fail to do so, judgment by default will be taken against you for the relief demanded in the COMPLAINT.
              page 1 is signed by the law firm. page 2 lists the complaints followed by:

              WHEREFORE, Plaintiff prays for Judgment against the Defendant in the ammount of $xxxx.xx plus costs, disbursements, and allowable interest.

              The undersigned hereby acknowledges that, pursuant to Minn. Stat. #549.211, SECTION 1, SUBD. 1, sanctions may be imposed under this section.
              Page 2 is signed by the law firm. Page 3 is titled, "NOTICE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SERVICE BY MAIL - NOTICE" and reads:

              The enclosed SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT is served pursuant to Rule 4.05 of the Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure. You must complete the acknowledgement part of this form and return one copy of the completed form to the sender within 20 days. SIGNING THIS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT IS ONLY AN ADMISSION THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT, AND DOES NOT WAIVE ANY OTHER DEFENSES. You must sign and date the acknowledgment.
              It goes on to say:
              IF YOU DO NOT COMPLETE AND RETURN THE FORM TO THE SENDER WITHIN 20 DAYS, YOU MAY BE REQUIRED TO PAY ANY EXPENSES INCURRED IN SERVING A SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT IN ANY OTHER MANNER PERMITTED BY LAW.

              If you do not complete and return this form, you must answer the Complaint within 20 days. If you fail to do so, judgment by default will be taken against you for the relief demanded in the complaint.
              The statement at the bottom of page 3, which is the statement the law firm wants me to sign, reads:

              I declare, under penalty of purjury, that I received a copy of the SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT in the above-captioned matter at...
              followed by my address.
              Filed 7/28/08, Discharged 10/29/08
              (filed pro se: nonconsumer no asset CH7)

              Comment


                #8
                Yes, all that sounds about right.

                Maybe my post wasn't clear on this issue, but it is NEVER the court that sends you the paperwork, it will always be the plaintiff or plaintiff's attorney.

                As for service by regular US mail, that is a little out of the ordinary, but not unheard of. You would need to check your states rules of civil procedure to see if that is really allowed and whether you really need to sign the acknowledgment. If I had to guess, if you did not sign the acknowledgment, then they would have to serve your personally, but that is only a guess. They are probably testing whether you will sign the acknowledgment so they don't have to go to the trouble and expense to serve you personally or by publication.

                That method of service is usually used between attorney's when the defendant is already represented to streamline the process when a lawsuit is inevitable.
                Last edited by HHM; 07-15-2008, 04:32 PM.

                Comment


                  #9
                  We have also been served by regular U.S. mail.
                  "To go bravely forward is to invite a miracle."

                  "Worry is the darkroom where negatives are formed."

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by soleprop View Post
                    I'm posting this here because it would appear that you can be served a summons and complaint via noncertified US mail, at least in MN - I was expecting something more formal and from the court, as this sticky suggests that creditors have a limited number of avenues/methods available to them.

                    I received a document in the mail this weekend from a law firm representing one of my debtors: it did not come from the court, it came from the law firm; it was via standard U.S. mail, not certified mail. I live in Minnesota, unsure if state laws come into play regarding served notice of complaint.

                    My question is - does this appear to be a validly served, validly formatted summons and complaint?

                    Mods, please move this if you don't want it in the sticky.

                    Page 1 reads:



                    page 1 is signed by the law firm. page 2 lists the complaints followed by:



                    Page 2 is signed by the law firm. Page 3 is titled, "NOTICE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SERVICE BY MAIL - NOTICE" and reads:


                    It goes on to say:


                    The statement at the bottom of page 3, which is the statement the law firm wants me to sign, reads:

                    followed by my address.
                    Same thing just happened to me.

                    I received the NY version of the summons directly from the Law office of Cohen and Slamashitz via regular mail, not certified. Nothing else in the envelope as to how to respond or anything.

                    I checked the county clerks online database and found the lawsuit. There's very little info. Not even the amount.

                    For my situation I don't care if they get a default judgment so I'm not taking any action other than steps to protect the money in my checking account.

                    From everything I've read the summons has to be served in NY and can't be done via regular mail. I'm thinking this is some kind of scare tactic or if I acknowledge I got the summons it saves them the trouble and cost of having to officially serve me.

                    Even if you've been officially served you have at least a couple months before a default judgment/garnishment/liens to think through and properly plan your BK.
                    It's not what we have in our lives, but who we have in our lives and the quality of those relationships.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Oregon allows for service by mail, however, it needs to be return/receipt as far as I can tell under the civil rules of procedure.

                      They also allow service through any member of the household over the age of 14, provided they followup the service by mail notification. What I'm not sure about is in such a case would the mail service need to be return/receipt.

                      While one should not be surprised about a summons concerning debt owed, everyone should play by the rules.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Yeah, I just looked it up in the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure (http://phonl.com/fl_law/rules/FRCP/frcp1080.htm) and in Florida, service can be by U.S. Mail.

                        But honestly, I think that creditors are using this leeway in the law to refrain from serving defendants at all. I have a friend who, knowing he has some outstanding debts that are nearing SOL, has been keeping an eye on the Clerk of Court's website locally just to make sure no one gets a default judgement without him knowing. So far, he has discovered at least two actions against him this way, neither of which he received notice for. The latest was filed in May, with a court date at the beginning of July. My friend did his monthly check of the court website, and found out in the beginning of June, some three weeks after it had been filed.

                        What's interesting is that this last one, he didn't bother to respond to by phone or in writing. He just showed up at court for the hearing... much to the surprise of the plaintiff's attorney, who actually had the chutzpah to ask him how he found out about the proceeding. Now, if the attorney had actually served him, the question would have been moot before it was even asked; that it *was* asked tells me very clearly that the attorney knew good-n'-damn well that my friend had not been served.

                        Caveat emptor, y'all.
                        Nolo Press book on filing Chapter 7, there are others too. (I have no affiliation with Nolo Press; just a happy customer.) Best wishes to you!

                        Comment


                          #13
                          It only goes to show that when you think there may be a lawsuit/judgment pending, it makes good "financial" sense to check with your local courts on a regular basis. While this may seem like paranoia, one discovery can pay for the time spent.

                          The local court info in my county is not available online, but the court clerks are more than willing to run your name, etc into the database and see if there are any actions pending. In addition, the local court has public computers available that one can use to check status or action on their own. While you may have to drive into town to use the database, the trip once per week may be worth it!

                          I doubt that it is all that hard to get a judgment set aside if one can make a moderate argument that they never received notice of the original pending action. Especially, this might hold water when the plaintiff is not required to do a followup by notice of return-receipt mail. If you suspect actions against you, take the few minutes or hour each week and check your local court records.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Service of Process

                            I received some court docs, that I had to sign for via certified mail. It was prepared and submitted by the plantiff's attorney (MBNA is the plantiff). It is the "Plantiff's Motion and Application to Confirm and Enforce Arbitration Award" from my local county. Is this the "official" service of process where I am notified of getting sued (wages garnshed)- or judgment rendered. Or is this some kind of scare tactic? One of the millions of lines on the docs that I read, leading me to believe this might be a stall tactic is "Plantiff is requesting no statutory or other interest be awarded with this judgment", but I might be wrong. I see no date where I have to respond by. I didn't respond to the NAF's docs in March, and I officially "surrendered" on 5/5/08. Also whats funny- is I got three letters from BK or personal attorneys this week, stating they wanted to help me, as they read through the county database that a lawsuit was filed against me, and I had to respond in 28 days. But I don't see a date in the docs I rec'd today. I am filing BK, just a matter of when, the longer out the better. Thanks.
                            Last edited by howie789; 08-30-2008, 05:59 AM.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by howie789 View Post
                              I received some court docs, that I had to sign for via certified mail. It was prepared and submitted by the plantiff's attorney (MBNA is the plantiff). It is the "Plantiff's Motion and Application to Confirm and Enforce Arbitration Award" from my local county. Is this the "official" service of process where I am notified of getting sued (wages garnshed)- or judgment rendered. Or is this some kind of scare tactic? One of the millions of lines on the docs that I read, leading me to believe this might be a stall tactic is "Plantiff is requesting no statutory or other interest be awarded with this judgment", but I might be wrong. I see no date where I have to respond by. I didn't respond to the NAF's docs in March, and I officially "surrendered" on 5/5/08. Also whats funny- is I got three letters from BK or personal attorneys this week, stating they wanted to help me, as they read through the county database that a lawsuit was filed against me, and I had to respond in 28 days. But I don't see a date in the docs I rec'd today. I am filing BK, just a matter of when, the longer out the better. Thanks.

                              Your's is a slightly different situation. The creditor already won an arbitration award and yes, them sending it to you will probably constitute "good service". Basically, the creditor is asking the court to turn the arbitration award into a judgment. Most states have a streamlined process for doing this and it short circuits the need to actually sue you. You don't really need to do anything, once the 28 days are up, the court will simply issue a judgment against you. There are some other options, but they are beyond the scope of this thread.

                              Comment

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