My wife was sued 1 year after her death . I said show me the original debts. I then said how can a dead woman incurred such debts. I took the death certificate to court.
The alleged creditor was arrested by the fbi for mail fraud in the hallway. The scam was to bill recently deceased persons in the hope that the family would settle the alleded debts.
My dad was a lawyer and he told me. Don’t go to court if you don’t have the money to pay the debt. I thought that was strange advice.
He explained that the debit company was still going to have to pay Cort fees and attorney fees and there employees for all the time and effort they put in taking you to Cort , for a small amount of money. So if you don’t show up because your broke and can’t pay the debt anyway.
There loosing money by just trying to get you to pay a past due bill and will not try a 2nd time. Plus after 7 years they can’t collect anymore anyways.
If a collection agency takes you to small claims you have already won. You have certain rights in consumer law. The one I used before the judge was I wanted to interview the person who was in charge of keeping the records. When I asked to do this the plaintiffs dropped the case.
They don’t know who kept the records and if they did they would have to pay their flight and hotel to attend the hearing. This would cost more than the debt. The judge smiled at me as if to say “checkmate”.
Case dismissed.
Years ago, I had a small loan with a bank that I paid off before leaving the state. FIVE years after moving, I get a letter from an agency that I still owed the payment. Sent them a copy of the paperwork that I had paid it off. Got another dunning letter. Contacted the bank who had made the error. No help. Seems they had “misplaced” my paperwork. After another 5 years, the original collection agency sold the case to a new one and same thing happened. I finally gave up even though this was keeping me from being able to have a checking account or take out a loan. It all started in 2005 and since I now know how to survive without a checking account or loans, I just let it all go.
Good luck but those companies are out to collect no matter what. I was lucky and move over 1000 miles away so it wasn’t worth the hassle of them tracking me down for something I had already paid and had proof I had paid. Keep all your paperwork no matter.
I am cutting off comment since people can’t seem to understand that this happened in 2005 and keep telling me what to do.
This happens every day. It happened to my own mother, in fact.
A junk debt buyer purchased an alleged unpaid debt that was out-of-statute. They contacted a law firm that only chases junk debts, which filed a lawsuit against my mother.
They went to court, and my mom was a no-show, so they received a default judgment.
When it appeared on my mom’s credit report, she called me.
I immediately went to the courthouse and got a complete copy of the file.
Allegedly, she was served at a house that she owned. The notes from the processer said that they personally served her early one morning.
Funny thing about the service.
- The date of the service was before the date that she purchased the house.
- The house actually belonged to my nephew, and I had arranged the purchase to help him settle his divorce.
- My mom had not been to the house in years, and my nephew was home at the time of the alleged service. No one came to the door.
I filed to have the default judgment set-aside. I also filed a claim against the collection company and law firm for their illegal activities.
We were able to get the judgment set-aside. When then had to fight the original case. The lawyers filed an anti-SLAPP motion against us as a delaying tactic.
Since I’m not an attorney, I had to hire an attorney to fight the case. Anti-SLAPP motions are 90% winnable for our side, but the attorney managed to lose it. The judge even awarded $5k in attorney’s fees to the other side, which was more than the original claim.
Next step was going back to court to argue the original case. In the process of losing the Anti-SLAPP motion, my cross-complaint was dismissed, so we were in a no-win situation. Even if the case went our way, we were going to be on the hook for the $5k.
On the day of the next hearing, the judge wanted to move forward with the trial immediately. The other side asked for a continuance, which the judge denied, so they dropped the case.
By dropping the case, they also lost the $5k ruling against us, so we walked-away with no liability, but we incurred about $30k in attorney’s fees.
When that happens, you get a consumer rights lawyer to refile a case against the other side for abuse of process, fraud, and whatever else your attorney can claim. We avoided doing that and paid a very small amount to our attorney.
When you file to have the default set aside, you also need to file your answer to the original complaint. Once the judge rules in your favor on the motion, the trial will take place immediately thereafter. It was a bit different for us, as the judge forced us to get an attorney. That’s what allowed time for the Anti-SLAPP motion to be filed.
Otherwise, we would have won the case on-the-spot and saved a bunch of time and all the lawyer’s fees. Another travesty on this is that the claim was only about $3,500; however, the lawyers filed it in Civil Court – Limited Claims (up to $25k) instead of Small Claims Court, so that they could recover their fees on top of the judgment. They really are/were scum.
I hope your case works-out well. Seek a Consumer Rights Attorney in your area if the case is frivolous. Good luck to you, and let us know how things go.
