NEED HELP! Served with Summons

Discussion in 'Credit Talk' started by BumbleBee, Oct 8, 2002.

  1. BumbleBee

    BumbleBee Well-Known Member

    In a nutshell:

    DH was served on 9/30 at work. Fortunately, no one else saw it! Same law firm has at least one other account of DH's that we have been paying on and should pay off this month.

    This suit is from Colorado Capital Investments, Inc. We have no idea who this is. Obviously, we should dispute this.

    CR's were ordered last week. I received first one yesterday. DH ordered his a couple days later so should be receiving them this week, I hope.

    Please see the following post for more details:
    http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&pgnum=2&postid=248461#post248461

    So, here are my questions at this point:

    When do we send the dispute? Do we wait at least until we receive the CR's to see if and how it is reported? Is it necessary to include anything other than "not mine" in dispute? Also, it seems to me that it would be advantageous to wait until about 10/30 to send dispute (he has 35 days) because that would give us more time to develop a strategy and maybe even get money to settle if debt really is his, right? Law firm is local, so mail should arrive next day.

    Sassy posted a great link in the other thread, so I will be reading through that to see just how to compose the answer, but I don't think it covers any of these other questions.
     
  2. keepmine

    keepmine Well-Known Member

    Here's your problem. They hit you with the lawsuit before you could ask for validation. Disputing is the wrong term. You must answer the summons. Depending on if your state requires discovery in small claims court, the other side may not even respond.
    I think I would answer the summons by saying I had no knowledge of Colorado Capital and have requested validation and have not received a response. THen, you'll just go to court and see what they got. If this is a local law firm, that's not good. It means they've tried a lot of cases in this venue and know what minimum standard of evidence this judge will accept and, they likely have it.
    Good luck working something out.
     
  3. BumbleBee

    BumbleBee Well-Known Member

    OK.. now, I'm confused. The Summons says, "No request will be made to the Court for a Judgment until the expiration of 35 days after your receipt of the Petition and Summons. If you dispute the debt and/or request the name and address of the original creditor in writing within the 35-day period that begins with receipt of the Petition and Summons, all collection efforts, including this lawsuit, will cease until we send you the requested infromation."

    The Petition says, "Unless you, within 30 days (notice the discrepancy) after receipt of this notice, dispute the validity of the debt, or any portion therof, we will assume the debt to be valid. If you notify this law firm, ..., P.C., in writing, within the 30 day period, that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, our law firm, ..., P.C., will obtain verification of the debt and mail a copy of the verification to you. Upon your written request within the 30 day period, our law firm, ..., P.C., will also provide you with the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor. This is a communication from a debt collector. This communication is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained from this communication will be used for that purpose."

    See why I am confused? In two different places, they mention disputing this. But they also mention verification and "validity of the debt". I'm not going to panic, though... I still have some time to figure it out. Any ideas to "unconfuse" me? LOL
     
  4. sassyinaz

    sassyinaz Well-Known Member

    oh BumbleBee,

    THAT is nasty. Those are your mini-miranda rights required to be provided to you within 5 days of an initial communication.

    That it is attorneys explains the summons, humphhhhhh.

    You need a crash course in validation! By disputing the validity of the debt, they are required to provide you proof of the debt before they can "assume" the debt is valid and proceed with collection activity. Pretty much, put up or shut up ;-)

    What state are you in? That will help others to help you.

    Here's the provision in the FDCPA:
    http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm#809

    Here's a site that will give you a 101:
    http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/debt_validation.shtml

    After that do a search here for validation, you'll get all sorts of good information.

    Have you read the sample letter section, there are sample validation letters there?

    And the FAQ, can't miss that!!!!! It has links to everything you could ever need, just doesn't have a validation overview, that's why I gave the other site, easier to follow for a crash course than searching and piecing it all together.

    Sassy
     
  5. keepmine

    keepmine Well-Known Member

    Never seen a summons worded like that. Yeah, demand they validate the debt. Tell them you have no knowledge of Col. Capital and see what they come up with.
     
  6. Why Chat

    Why Chat Well-Known Member

    Try this website;

    http://www.nwjustice.org/docs/205.html
     
  7. BumbleBee

    BumbleBee Well-Known Member

    OK... I live in OK. I noticed the link you gave me earlier for how to answer a summons was from Washington and the terminology is a little different. It still has some great info, though. I can always run it by my SIL (she's an attorney) before sending it to make sure it is done properly.

    I've looked at the sample letter section and also creditinfocenter.com. That's how I found this place. I even ordered Kristy's book, but haven't read it all yet. Guess I should get busy reading the part about validation, huh? :) Read the FAQ, too. I know... I also read PsychDoc's Primer... Read! Read! Read!

    DH says he has settled on both the Providian accounts he had and we are almost finished with Cap1. The only other CC he had was Direct Merchants and he doesn't think the balance was as high as what this is. However, this law firm did call about Direct Merchants a couple of months ago. So, it is either that one or they pulled it out of thin air! Bad thing is, he called them back and they agreed to wait until we finished paying Cap1 to start paying on Direct Merchants... if that is what this is. Only one way to find out, right?

    My head is spinning. I have other stuff I need to be doing. *deep breath* I sure am glad I found you guys when I did. I would really go bonkers if this was the last week before we had to file the answer!
     
  8. BumbleBee

    BumbleBee Well-Known Member

    Thanks, Why Chat. That's the site that Sassy gave me earlier. I've printed it out and will keep it close by as I work on the answer! Now, if somebody can find me something like that for OK... I tried a search on Google and came up empty-handed. :-(
     
  9. sassyinaz

    sassyinaz Well-Known Member

    BumbleBee,

    Are you sure this is a real summons, does it have anything indicating it is from the court? Could this be an attorney fake summons?

    Sassy
     
  10. BumbleBee

    BumbleBee Well-Known Member

    Yep! It is a real summons. Has the court stamp with the case number. And they will follow through. We've dealt with the same law firm before. In fact, I have a few questions about that case, but I'll save that for another post.
     
  11. BumbleBee

    BumbleBee Well-Known Member

    bump
     
  12. Why Chat

    Why Chat Well-Known Member

    The forms and guides are generic. Just look up civil court procedures for Ok. (or wherever) to make sure they do not have any major differences.

    These civil court procedures are pretty well standardized.
     
  13. sal826

    sal826 Well-Known Member

    I think this is just a doctored up collection letter - is it possible this isn't a REAL court summons?






    -Sal
     
  14. Why Chat

    Why Chat Well-Known Member

    I have placed a link on my website (under misc.legal stuff) that has a link to ALL State Court sites for rules,procedures and forms.
     
  15. BumbleBee

    BumbleBee Well-Known Member

    Sal,

    Believe me... as I said to Sassy above, it is very real. What makes you think that it isn't? Not that it matters, really, because it doesn't change the fact that it is a real court document and if we don't do something about it, it will be followed up by a judgment!

    Same law firm... different creditor... got served with a summons, only at home instead of at work. The process server must have been hanging out in the neighborhood waiting for us to come home because we had barely stepped out of the car when we saw this guy. He asked for DH who asked what he wanted. Boom! He gets served!

    DH gives an answer, although he doesn't do it quite right and fails to actually file it with the court. But attorney agrees to the terms DH sets out in his letter (and that's another problem, but we'll deal with it another day) and says she will prepare an "agreed judgment" for him to sign and encloses paperwork for him to make his first payment. Payment made. In fact, he made 3 payments and suddenly, he receives a copy of a "Journal Entry of Judgment"!

    DH sends a response to the judge and copies it to the attorney. Oops! Attorney made a big boo-boo. She remembers that she was supposed to prepare an Agreed Judgment, but can't find that she ever did it. Two options... she can vacate the judgment and go ahead with the Agreed Judgment or she can vacate the judgment, DH can continue to pay to pay it out and she will then dismiss when it is all paid. (That is probably gonna get sticky! *sigh*) It is up to DH what to do.

    Of course, DH opts for vacating the judgment and continuing the payments! Final payment to be made this month. Then the FUN begins!

    So... we know very, very well that this is, in fact, a real summons. It has been filed with the court and they will follow-through with it. I do wish you and Sassy were right about it being fake, but since we've already "been there, done that" we know that it isn't. :-(
     
  16. BumbleBee

    BumbleBee Well-Known Member

    Thanks, Why Chat. DH is off tomorrow so we are going to see my parents. I've got some stuff I have to get done before we go, so I really need to tear myself away from this for a while. If I don't get a chance to check in before we go, I'll be here when we get home and I'll be checking out your links then!
     
  17. mark

    mark Well-Known Member

    I think sal was just confused. i was thinking you got a fake-judgement letter from the CA (scare tactic and such on their part) as well until you just explained it all.

    although I see in the beginning you posted that your DH was served.

    Im following your thread because I've never had a judgement and I anticipate RMA trying to stick one on me.

    EDIT: good luck.
     
  18. BumbleBee

    BumbleBee Well-Known Member

    Can you work out a settlement with them and avoid that? This judgment stuff is no fun, although I'm anxious to see what is going to happen with the one we are about to pay off! Lots of questions in my head, but I have got to get busy with some other things tonight and save the questions for later!
     
  19. BumbleBee

    BumbleBee Well-Known Member

    Well, I've looked at Why Chat's links, but they didn't do me much good. :-( Thanks, anyway, Why Chat! I sure wish I could find something for Oklahoma like the link that Sassy posted for Washington, but since I can't, I guess I will use that as a guide. It sure helped me to understand what the answer needs to consist of. I can always have my sister-in-law review it and make sure I have done everything right. It's a little embarrassing to go to her about this stuff, but she's been through some tough times, too. Nice to have a lawyer in the family. :)

    Now, for some questions... The summons says that DH has 35 days to file an answer with the court. There is another place in the petition that says 30 days, so I'm thinking we need to go with that. What do you all think? Maybe I need to ask my SIL about that, but I value the opinions here, too.

    I read somewhere... don't know if it was here or somewhere else... that we could take the answer to the attorney's office and have the receptionist date stamp the original and the copies, then go file them with the court. That way we have proof that they have been received, so I may do it that way rather than rely on the mail. Should I wait until the end of the 30 days to file the answer? I understand that disputing, asking for validation, etc. stops the lawsuit/collection activity from moving forward until they provide validation. At what point can they proceed again? Is there a specific amount of time they have to wait after sending us validation? I want the maximum time possible to try to work out a stategy to get the best settlement possible and since I am so new to this, that may take a little while!
     
  20. Why Chat

    Why Chat Well-Known Member

    I do not know which part of my website you went to.But under Misc. Legal Stuff is a link called "court procedure"

    http://www.findlaw.com/10fedgov/judicial/district_courts.html

    You are confused about validation requests stopping a judgment.It will not stop anything, or slow it down, once it was filed it will proceed according to your State's laws.

    File your answer as soon as possible, follow the directions on the Wash. website (that's where you saw about having the lawyer's office stamp your notice of service).

    Make sure that ALL your proofs of service and notice of appearance are in the court at least within the 30 days.
     

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