Along with filing a summary judgment -- hearing is in a month -- this JDB offered a settlement. They had originally wanted $5K. I offered $2K and they filed a lawsuit as an answer. Now they are offering for me to settle for $8K. There's no way I can come up with that, though. If I lose in court they want $12K. Here's what they have: Declaration of JDB. Declarartion of their own attorney. Assignment and bill of sale (not on letterhead or with a name and title, but has someone's signature from original creditor) Statement of account that's notarized* credit card statements but no original agreement. *It says that the JDB is a debt collector, although their argument against my counter-claim is that they don't have to abide by state laws/fed laws because they are not a debt collector. My defenses are: that this is past my state's sol for open agreements They are suing me for a written contract they can't produce I don't have a contract with them directly (lack of standing) They have no first-hand knowledge of original contract (hearsay) They didn't put license number on summons* * They admitted they don't have a license to collect debts in my state My counterclaims are: that they continued to contact me directly after I hired an attorney They emailed people not involved with the case extensive details of the case (email addresses they got from googling my name) after I had filed an answer to their summons in court Constant threats about how I will lose in court Tried to intimidate me during a conference call between JDB attorney and a naca attorney I was considering hiring--bizarre, inappropriate accusations. naca atty commented that not only was he trying to intimidate me, he was trying to intimidate him. They said in their motion for summary judgement that they don't need a license to collect in my state (was rehashed here a couple days ago) And that they dont have to abide by state laws since they're not a collection agency (although of course they are and also they have been trying to collect directly from me for three years--going through an attorney is recent. After all this, not sure I can win in superior court, though. The thing is that now I can't afford to settle for all they're asking for. I don't think I can win, though and I don't want a judgment against me. Sorry so long!
If it;s a notarize it should have a stamp and sig,a statement from oc with out a letterhead is bogus.Hey dont' give up youv'e gone this far.Besides if you lose you have to pay if you do nothing you'll have to pay.The lawyer said it right there trying to bullied you into settleing.They only paid pennies on the dollar.offer them 10 cents on the dollar!
What they did wrong is never a defense to a complaint. It may be grounds for a counter suit but those seldom win in local courts. Statute of limitations is a valid defense if you can prove it or they admit it in their pleadings which sometimes happens or you can get them to admit it through discovery. Sometimes tricks will do amazing things. I have been helping someone with a case where the attorney sent demand for discovery a couple of months ago but the defendant didn't answer. Then about a week ago he got another copy of the same thing along with a motion for summary judgment because he had not responded to discovery. We noticed that the motion didn't have any court stamps on it so we checked to see whether it had actually been filed or not. We found out that it had not been filed at the courthouse. We prepared and filed a motion for extension of time to complete discovery giving a good reason why it should be granted. We sent a copy of the motion and a demand for admissions containing about 20 demands to Plaintiff's attorney. The judge agreed to sign his motion this morning at trial. The attorney showed up in court and told the judge he wanted to dismiss the case which the judge immediately granted. I guess he didn't want to admit or deny anything.
Yes, they admit that this debt is past sol for OPEN agreements, but not written. Court may decide cc debt is open. So you won?
Why would they argue that they're not a collection agency if they thought my argument re: state and fed violations had no merit?
I would not count on that. Credit cards all carry a written agreement and that is the way courts usually rule. But that may not be the point at all. What bank issued the card? No, I didn't win. I wasn't the defendant. I don't even live in that county. The defendant won today in a sense but the plaintiff has the right to refile the suit any time it chooses to do so. That means that the win is probably only temporary. The defendant was speaking to another defendant in the hall outside the courtroom and the lawyer had both cases. The lawyer tried to butt into their conversation but they ran him off. The other defendant got her case postponed somehow so I suppose that lawyer wanted to see if they were conspiring to beat up on him or something. (LOL)
Some JDBs are doing that hoping to avoid getting hit with FDCPA lawsuits. Some are also trying to claim they are factoring companies and not debt collectors. For all the good that does them in court they might as well be claiming that black is not black but just an absence of light. Those arguments are about as silly as some of the tax protester arguments.
I meant they may decide it's a written agreement. sol in creditor's state is 4-5 years and I'd be in it.
That's right. All the local judges care about is whether you owe the debt or not in most cases. Winning in local courts is very rare indeed. So why argue that which has no bearing on the issue before the court? I personally believe that there is no better way to lose than to focus on things that the judge isn't interested in hearing.
