Order to Show Cause?

[knightsbranch]

I have an Order to Show Cause hearing on Oct 5th in court. Being sued by Citibank, the attorney's are called Hunt & Henriques. Does anyone know what happens at an OSC hearing ? Should I appear? Also these guys never served me, they left paperwork at a previous residence, I had not lived there for two years, can I delay this process until I can get into b/k protection. I live in california.
Thanks Anyone

[optimistic1]

From wikipedia.org,

An order to show cause, in most Anglo-Saxon law systems, is a type of court order that requires one or more of the parties to a case to justify, explain, or prove something to the court.[1] Courts commonly use orders to show cause when the judge needs more information before deciding whether or not to issue an order requested by one of the parties.]


From Dept of Consumer Affairs for the State of California,


What if the Service of Process Rules Weren't Followed?


You're entitled to receive at least 15 days' advance notice of the hearing (or 20 days' advance notice if you reside outside the county in which the court is located). If you didn't receive proper advance notice, you're not legally obligated to appear at the scheduled hearing. However, if you received some advance notice but don't plan to appear, it's better to call or write the court and explain why. If the required notice wasn't given to you on time, the court will reschedule the hearing if the court is informed that the rules on service of process were not followed.

Even though you weren't served properly, you still may want to attend. Ordinarily, you shouldn't refuse to attend simply because you received a late notice. Only if the late notice has made it more difficult to prepare for the hearing or attend it should you object to the late service. For example, the claim may have been dropped at your doorstep, instead of having been personally served on you, or it may have been served on your neighbor, who promptly gave it to you. In both of these cases, service was technically improper, but it didn't make any difference to you, because you knew about the claim and had enough time to prepare.

By attending the hearing, even if service of process was late or otherwise improper, you can present your defense and perhaps end the dispute without further delay. If you don't attend, the plaintiff may incur additional costs to serve you, and, if you ultimately lose the case, you may have to pay these added costs. There is still another reason for you to attend the hearing, even if you were served late. If you don't appear, the court may issue a judgment against you in your absence (provided that plaintiff offers sufficient evidence of the amount owing). In that event, you would have to prepare and file a request to overturn this judgment, which may entail yet another hearing.

If you were not served within the legal time limits (15 days before the hearing if you live within the county and 20 days if you live outside) and you really need more time to prepare, you probably should prepare and file a Request to Postpone Small Claims Hearing (Form SC-110) and explain exactly why you are making the request. As in all of your interactions with the court, be candid and straightforward.

From Official California Court Information Govt. Website,

CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE
SECTION 415.10-415.95

415.20. (b),

If a copy of the summons and complaint cannot with reasonable
diligence be personally delivered to the person to be served, as
specified in Section 416.60, 416.70, 416.80, or 416.90, a summons may
be served by leaving a copy of the summons and complaint at the
person's dwelling house, usual place of abode, usual place of
business, or usual mailing address other than a United States Postal
Service post office box, in the presence of a competent member of the
household or a person apparently in charge of his or her office,
place of business, or usual mailing address other than a United
States Postal Service post office box, at least 18 years of age, who
shall be informed of the contents thereof, and by thereafter mailing
a copy of the summons and of the complaint by first-class mail,
postage prepaid to the person to be served at the place where a copy
of the summons and complaint were left. Service of a summons in this
manner is deemed complete on the 10th day after the mailing.

415.30. (a),

A summons may be served by mail as provided in this
section. A copy of the summons and of the complaint shall be mailed
(by first-class mail or airmail, postage prepaid) to the person to be
served, together with two copies of the notice and acknowledgment
provided for in subdivision (b) and a return envelope, postage
prepaid, addressed to the sender.



It is possible that the mailman dropped this at your front door, if it was mailed as in 415.30, then you were properly served. Otherwise, if a process server just dropped it off at your door, he would have filled out the proof of service form SC-104 fraudalently, so you need to find out and then you could proceed.

[albacore44]

Hunt and Henriques, Yep their big here in Ca, handeling the cases for Citi, but they are based in N. Cal. Not sure where your located, but down here in the IE I reviewd a lot of their cases on the court docket. What they typically do is file against you, then assume you wont file an answer, and then the clerk files an automatic judgement. The cases I reviewed where the defendant answered the complaint and it went to the judge, no one showed up for them. They are bottom feeders. Actually, I'm waiting for them to get some of my accounts, but it may be a while as I'm still DVing Ca's that have them