I wonder what's going to happen to our lawsuits

[cynhgm]

My wife and I were both being sued by Discover and JPMC (received summons and all). According to court records both suits are supposed to go to arbitration. Now that many CC companies are pulling out of this "scam" (http://www.creditcards.com/credit-ca...bling-1282.php) I wonder what that means for our pending lawsuits.

Maybe some of the resident lawyer here have an idea if this is going to impact us?

[MSbklawyer]

Are you filing for bk? Ordinarily, the suit will be held in abeyance while your bk is pending. Then upon discharge, the suit / arbitration will be dismissed.

[cynhgm]

Yes, we are going to file eventually but I wonder what's going to happen in the meanwhile. We didn't answer the summons, i.e. default judgment will happen somehow. Just wondering if the ridding of arbitration will have any impact on how the creditors will proceed.

[MSbklawyer]

Yes, we are going to file eventually but I wonder what's going to happen in the meanwhile. We didn't answer the summons, i.e. default judgment will happen somehow. Just wondering if the ridding of arbitration will have any impact on how the creditors will proceed.

I don't know anything about the NY procedural rules, but my guess is that somehow they will get it transfered back to the court in which it was originally filed. That might be accomplished by a motion to transfer or it might be that they have to refile. Since you didn't answer, one way or another, sooner or later, a default judgment will be forthcoming.

[treehugger1]

It might take a bit of time, for the OC's to get all of this back into house, and make a decision. Although, I would suspect that the original collection attorneys will now go immediately for a re-filing. This reduction of arbitration could really screw things up for a while. I believe that arbitration is in lieu of a court decision. If it goes back to the courts, then you were not really given the opportunity to respond within your state civil system. It's hard to say, but I can guess every collection/debtor attorney is waiting to see what happens. Doesn't the essence of the arbitration law imply that if you don't answer an arbitration request, a default judgment can be levied against you?

And, if there is no "arbitrator" signing off that you failed to respond, how does one ever know that you did or didn't respond. Catch-22. LOL