I live in PA. Received a summons from local magistrate as notice I'm being sued by Midland Credit Mgmt by Hayt Hayt Landau, in the amount of $828.00. I have no idea what this is for, never did business with these guys, MCM is a CA, never got letters or calls. Summons came to my parents home and my dad signed for it. The summons lists an account number, and has the info that Defendant entered into a contract and failed to comply, blah, blah. Should my defense be that I have no idea who this is for, or should it be that they failed to communicate with me, but sent summons to my parents. If they would have sent letters to my parents house, my folks would have given me. Date is set for 8/14 and I have to notify them that I will appear and defent. Help!
This is likely to be a bit confusing for you because I am going to have to tell you what to do in two different ways that will seem to contradict each other. The first statement I will make is that you don't have to notify them of anything. That is the statement that I will contradict later and then you will understand why. What you have to do is reply to the court, not the party that sued you. If I were in your position I would first file a motion for a more definite statement rather than an answer. To do that I would look over their complaint and see what it might be that I didn't understand. One of those questions might be who is the company claiming that I owe them if that is not made clear in the caption of the case. They should be the plaintiff but if not then I would ask that question. Another question I might ask is what is the alleged debt for. I can't make up questions that are pertinent to the case without actually seeing the complaint itself. Then I would file my motion for more definitive statements with the clerk of the court, taking 3 copies with me. The clerk would file stamp 2 copies, keeping one and returning one to me. I would then use a document called CERTIFICATE OF MAILING and send the plaintiff's attorney a copy of my motion and a copy of the certificate of mailing by certified mail return receipt requested. That is the way you notify the court and the plaintiff's attorney that you will be defending. From there it gets a lot more intensive depending on what you get back as a result of your motion for more definitive statement. You might want to file motions to dismiss later or you might finally need to file and answer accompanied by affirmative defenses. Everything you do must be sent to the plaintiff's attorney and filed with the court. I said you don't notify the plaintiff or the plaintiff's attorney that you will be defending. That is basically true because many people think that all they have to do is send the plaintiff's attorney a letter of some sort and that takes care of it, but that's not true. The only way you should contact the plaintiff or the plaintiff's attorney is through court filings.
Thanks for the speedy reply. Am I able to request info prior to the hearing date even though this is small claims court w/a local magistrate? I assumed that I was only able to request info (as you suggested) if my case was a civil proceeding in a higher court (forgive my lack of legal knowledge). The summons I received only shows that the Plaintiff is Midland Credt Mgmt c/o Hayt Hayt Landau. I know I've never done business w/them, and looked and found they were a CA. I also know I've never been contacted by them. They sent the summons to an address I haven't lived at for over ten years. If I go to the magistrate's office, are you saying that I should file a motion for a more definitive statement there? As opposed to filling out my answer that says that I have no idea what this is for? I'll look again at the complaint and see what in particular it says it is for, but from what I could tell, it was for a credit card. An attorney from Philadelphia signed it (I'm in Pittsburgh 5 hours away). Is there a standard form to fill out online that I can request more definitive information? Once that is finalized and I file with the clerk in the magistrates office, are you saying that I should then send a copy of that via Cert of Mailing to the plaintiff on the summons? Just want to be sure I'm clear. The letter from the magistrate's office said to notify them within a certain amount of time if I am planning on defending myself. I just assumed that I would write up a narrative explaining events and citing FDCPA and case law. I'm really confused now!
Be wary of Midland... Do some research, Midland Credit is one of those CAs that seems to always get "debts" for other people, or those that have been already settled/paid. Their business practices are questionable, very questionable. There is plenty on the web about them, it may help in your case showing other cases of incorrect identity. Also, be prepared to "educate" the judge in your case, the judge may not be up on all of the Acts pertaining to this case. So, brief yourself on the Fair Debt Collections Pratices Act, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act, both on on the FTC website. www.ftc.gov Good Luck
Well, I've never had any dealings with small claims courts and many of them have their own individual rules of procedure since they are geared to making it easy for both the plaintiff and the defendant. They usually fall far short of that goal however. Another thing is that most small claims courts do not allow either the plaintiff or the defendant to be represented by an attorney. Again your small claims court rules of procedure will explain all of that. You will need to check with your local court clerk on that point. If your small claims court don't allow attorneys then you can file to dismiss on that grounds and make them take it to district. Since the plaintiff is Midland Credit Mgmt they are a debt collector, a buyer of what is called "out of stat" debt or "junk debt buyers." So, it sounds to me like you need to ask who is the original creditor in your motion for a more definitive statement if that is allowed in your small claims court. It seems to me that where you need to eventually get to is filing a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted if the debt is outside the Pennsylvania statute of limitations as I now suspect that it is. Narratives don't work and you certainly don't want to try to use FDCPA as a defense. Many people believe that if they violated FDCPA or some other law that ought to take care of the problem. Zero it out so to speak but that is never the case. If you want to use FDCPA you just about have to file a separate case on them in Federal court. The general theory of operation is that you owe the money and didn't pay and that is wrong. You claiming they did wrong makes two wrongs and two wrongs never make a right. If you try to countersue that probably would not be allowed in most small claims courts. Again, I don't know about small claims courts so I might be wrong about that. It might be ok to do that in your small claims courts and might not in others. I don't know. But that is beside the point because the judge probably wouldn't listen to your complaints anyway. Since you apparently live in a large city and hiring an attorney (if allowed) would cost you more than the debt I'd recommend that you seek out a local college with a law school and call them up or go see them and see if you can't get a graduate law student to help you. Most law colleges have that kind of program in order to give graduating students a bit of help with legal problems. Since the amount you are dealing with is small and the issues simple you probably could get a grad student to help you but your request has to be reviewed by the Dean or a professor of the school and a student assigned by the proper person you need to call them or go to the college to ask. You should get excellent help for free that way.
RE: Small claims court I'm hardly an expert but reading up on the Federal District Court procedures before filing my case in small claims court did not help me one bit. I'm still waiting for my hearing date, but as near as I can tell the procedure is something like: File the claim This amounts to filling in a form letter, it has very little room for anything other than a dollar amount. Send/Receive the summons (depending on which side of the aisle you're on) Basically sending/getting a copy of the form you filled out to file the claim. Preliminary Hearing My guess is this is to weed out the flakes before filing an actual court date with the judge. As near as I can tell, the magistrate hears both sides to see if something can be worked out, if the plaintiff has a reasonable case (with supporting evidence, etc.) and/or if the defendant wants to put up a defense. My guess is this does not take very long so you should be brief and to the point (regardless of which side of the aisle you're on) Court date If you have a case, and didn't get a summary judgement, then you go to court and have a judge hear the case. Which reminds me, my small claims court date is in 6-weeks so I'd better start thinking about my case. I'll keep you posted.
You can sue in small claims court for violations of the FDCPA/FCRA, the only difference is the maximum dollar amount you can sue for (varies by location). You can enter a countersuit (in small claims) also. What puzzles me here is that a law firm is entering the case into a small claims court(?). As you said, attorneys are not allowed in small claims, only the principal parties.......so, who would represent Midland? As a note, you want to get this case dismissed and vacated (as if it never happened). You should be asking for the information regarding who the original creditor is, and wha the date of First Deliquency was. You should be ready to enter a defense of the debt being past Statute Of Limitations. Note that YOU MUST enter this defense, it is NOT automatic. You can be sued for a debt past SOL, you are required to raise this defense.
That part about them having filed in small claims court and the fact that in any smaill claims court I ever heard of attorneys are not allowed really puzzles me the more I think about it. I'm wondering if the poster is correct about it being in small claims court. I've heard about a lot of dumb attorneys but it seems unlikely that an attorney would be so dumb as to file his case in small claims court. Something has to be wrong with that or else they do allow attorneys in small claims court in that jurisdiction.
Correct, but I have never heard of any small claims court allowing attorneys, (in fact I beleive they CANNOT file or represent). I know I have been told by court clerks that I absolutely could not have an attorney for a small claims case, ONLY the principals will be heard. But, never overlook the obvious, maybe the law firm is dumb enough. They would have to "own" the debt to act as principal, and then an officer of the business would have to represent. Most likely, it is all a scare tactic; seeing "court papers", coupled with a smaller debt amount, probably scares people into a "settlement" (which they'll offer before actually going before the Magistrate!, since this is part of the small claims process..). Remember, the great majority of people have no idea at all of how to deal with these things.
Thanks for your great input everyone! I read up on the rules of civil procedure (for Minor matters is how it is termed for small claims). Any suit in small claims must be under $3,000 which this is. I also talked to someone on the bus on the way home yesterday and she told me her story. She was sued by Palisades who was represented by Wolpoff and Abramson (I looked them up) for a debt that was about $2400.00. Never received info about the debt, had no idea what it was for. She said she had to notify magistrate she was going to defend herself, and fill out a form in their office explaining her "defense". She prepared a bunch of info citing FDCPA violations (of which they were guilty). Date of her hearing, no one showed up so she won by default, BUT prior to the hearing, she countersued them (which merely meant filling out a form at magistrates office, paying $35 fee). Because they didn't show up, she automatically won her countersuit. She says she might try to levy their bank accounts but they're in another state. I explained that my summons said that the Plaintiff was Midland Credit Management c/o Hayt Hayt Landau. The letter looked like it was form letter from the magistrate's office, and it had standard language about Defendant got line of credit, didn't pay, etc. it was signed by an attorney from Hayt Hayt who shows a Philadelphia address. The summons only shows a number which I assume is the account number, but nothing else but the "if you do not show up for the hearing, a judgement will be issued against you in your absence. notify this office w/in x amount of days if you plan on defending...." You are right in that neither party can have legal representation, however, Hayt Hayt are collection attorneys. I have no clue what this debt is, who it is owed to, dates - nothing! It's not on my credit report and I've never done business with any of these guys! Help!
You can do this also, as a countersuit in the same case. You will have to have THE COURT (not you), notify them of your suit. I don't know what state you are in, but if an attorney from PA shows up, I would question whether the attorney is licensed to practice in your state. Come to think of it, I would ask the representative first if they are an attorney, then ask the judge about this! The line about "notifying this office...if you plan on defending" is odd, you have to respond to the court, not them......this is starting to sound like a scare tactic. The fact that they are collection attorneys states it all, they are attorneys. In this case they must represent themselves, i.e. "own the debt". This would be a first question to ask if they do show up for the court date. If it is not on your credit report, then this is more and more sounding like a scare tactic, and outright fraud. And, if it is not on your credit report, then most likely it is well past any legal Statute of Limitations for legal recourse of collection. But, that is a "last" defense", your goal is complete vacating of this case. As Cap1sucks has suggested, you can request, through the court, more information regarding the case and account. My bet is that these guys do not show up in court.
I'm in the state of PA, and so is the attorney. I'm in Pittsburgh, and he's in Phila, 5 hours away. The summons from the magistrate said to notify them in the event that I wanted to defend and they in turn would notify the Defendant. Shouldn't the Defendant be MCM Assignee of whomever, represented by HHL? How do I know that they even have a legal right to try to obtain a judgement? From what I understand, I have to wait until the hearing to ask questions and probably fill out a sheet that explains my side of the story. I hope they don't show up.
I would still ask if the person who "shows" is an attorney, and verify they can practice in the state of PA. Also ask if the person is an officer of the company. This is the proper procedure. Good question, hence the need to ask (in court) what capacity they are acting in, or on behalf of. Another good question, hence the ones above to ask. But, come right out and ask how they have the legal right to obtain a judgement "in that court"...
While your small claims court may very well have a different procedure for you to follow since it is a small claims court, here is a little movie showing the general outline of the way you need to handle court cases and how to prepare your motions, filings and pleadings. It also shows the format for filing notices of hearing, order of the court for the judge to sign, certificate of mailing, a comprehensive flowchart of general court procedings and general instructions for preparation. It also recommends that you download and use a copy of "OPEN OFFICE" from the internet. Open office does everything that Microsoft Word does but is much easier to use and keep the formatting straight. It will read files written in Microsoft Word too. It is in .swf format which means that you might have to get a copy of the appropriate player for .swf files but those are free too. Most computers already have that built in. I do hope the movie helps you with your case.
Um, for what it's worth, I live in OH. I had the misfortune of dealing with MRC Receivables. Due to an accident, I endured a brain injury. I could not prove nor disprove that the acct in question was mine. Interestingly, in small claims, the Judge recommended I file Bankruptcy given my financial situation. He gave me a few months citing that I could obtain pro bono help based on my disability income. That wasn't true. Legal Aid will not randomly file for low income simply because they are being dragged into court because it is their feeling that you can't be sued for the actual money. I couldn't a hire a lawyer to file it and under the new laws, I found I would lose my house if I did file! The poor credit is keeping me from obtaining a much needed equity loan. Anyway, in Court, the Judge gave me several months to discover he was wrong about the Bankruptcy. Went back. The Atty for the collection agency STILL did not tell me, (even though I asked in front of the Judge) what exactly this account was. I was told I could either arrange to pay (though they weren't willing to go with a few dollars a month), have a lien placed on my home or go to trial (which could have resulted in the lien also). Anyway, I said I had to think about it. Near the court date for the trial, I got a letter from both MRC and the court stating dismisal of the case. I called MRC. It was explained they had NOT dismissed but in fact had accidentally filed two suits for the same company and were dismissing one. HOWEVER, a couple days later, I got another letter from each for the same thing BUT I noted there were two separate docket numbers. Well, the court date came and went. I didn't attend. Oddly enough, I also didn't get hit with a lien and there has been no further action. Whether MRC goofed and filed the same thing accidentally thus dismissing both the original cases or whether they figured it wasn't worth their effort, I'm not sure. I DO know that the Judge seemed rather sympathetic to my situation and VERY familiar with the guy from MRC. ????? Who knows, maybe the fact that the guy from MRC IS an Atty and was referred to as such by the Judge, actually cost them the case I don't know. They might have figured their scare tactic would work and the Judge let it slide til they saw I wasn't going to change anything and would settle for the lien. Ironically, I would like to note something here. The MRC people, at the first hearing had commented on my "many accts" that they were suing me for, though ONLY the one was actually listed on the document. Could be that MRC didn't OWN the acct they were chasing me for. It's also possible they don't own any of the others because, ever since that incident, NO ONE has bothered to file against me on ANY of my accts (which are numerous and quite high dollar amts). ???? Just thought I would mention it to you for what it may be worth. So it may well be your effort to look into the "attorney" aspect. Good luck to you!
