Question about a Citibank suit

[sunrise]

Hi, I'm a long time reader, first time poster.

Citibank is suing me. I received 2 sets of papers that were paper clipped together. On the first page of the first set it says I have until the Monday after 20 days of being served to respond. On the first page of the second set it says responses to the plaintiff's discovery request are due 50 days after service. I don't have a lawyer yet and I would like to buy some time, so if I can wait 50 days that is preferable. Does anyone know why one of these would say 20 days and one says 50?

Thanks!

[flyinbroke]

Your answer to the suit is due in 20. If you do not answer they win a default judgment. This is considered a court appearance. Get this done ASAP.

Request for discovery will be due in 50 days.

[sunrise]

Thank you. What is the difference between responding to the suit and responding to the discovery requests? The only paper I have to respond to says "Plaintiff's Discovery Requests" on the top of it and that is the one that says is due in 50 days.

[lillymarlene]

Last year I received summons from 2 different creditors, similar to this. Flyinbroke is right, you should answer the suit right away. I did that and for each of them received pre-trial dates. I went to the firtst pre-trial and this seemed to buy me some time, about another 60 days, for the first suit. (I was uncertain of how to answer the discovery, so I didn't answer it.)

This motivated me into hurrying up and picking out an attorney, and making plans to file BK. The trial for the first suit and pre-trial for the 2nd were to be held on the same day. Guess I rated. LOL

[flyinbroke]

If you have been sued, you should have a complaint. This will allege that you owe this. Probably used an account stated, a breach of contract as a count against you. You need to answer the complaint itself in under 20 days. You can use affirmative defenses to prevent them from getting a summary judgment. The complaint will be in outline form and usually starts with "you are a resident of xxx" for subject matter jurisdiction, then proceed to list facts such as "you opened a Citicard on xxx" "you charged XXX and owe Citi" etc.

Discovery is the evidence against you that they will gather. However, if you answered, denied and countered with cross complaints and affirmative defenses, discovery will take a backseat as you will then get to run discovery on them.

[clevelandmom]

If it is, in fact, a Complaint you received, you could simply file a Motion for Extension of Time to Respond. Your reason can be as simple as you need additional time to obtain paperwork. In your Motion, request an additional 20 days. Hopefully this will be enough time for you to get an attorney. Best of luck!

[sunrise]

Thank you for your help, everyone. Flyinbroke, the first set of papers does say "Breach of contract" and "Account stated" so that is the complaint. I was looking for something that had questions to answer like the discovery request does. I've never been sued before so this is all new to me.

[flyinbroke]

Your answer to the complaint will be denials, not enough informations or affirmations. You only want to confirm that your name is correct.