Okay. At least 4 non-pp pulls from a Credit Card Issuer that I never signed up with, applied for, etc. etc. etc. They blow off my non-pp letter and say contact bureaus. They ignore my second letter. The inquiries show that they are generated from the Pleasanton, CA location. Do I sue in Alameda County where I live and Pleasanton, CA is? Or do I sue them in the County that the Sec. of State has the Corporate listed? Their registered agent is in So. Cal. How should I proceed, PLEASE... ITS letter will be next, but I'm lining up the ducks.
You bring the suit where you live. If there is 4 non-pp pulls you sue in the court within your area which has "competent jurisdiction". Jurisdiction and venue are two completely different concepts often confused with one another. Jurisdiction means that the court has the authority to hear the case. If small claims in your state has a limit of $5,000 you cannot sue for $6,000 because it exceeds the scope of that court and it doesn't have what is called "subject matter jurisdiction". You would have to bring suit in the next higher court--likely the county level--to proceed. Venue is simply "where is the best place to have the trial". Usually it is where the actions occured that gave rise to the case. For a non-pp the damages caused to you were while you were a resident ot the precinct you are in when they happened. The other side will definitely try to change the venue to thier home area (to save the costs of defending themselves, travel expenses, thier familiarity with thier own judges, etc.) but you should be able to beat that down fairly easily. The FCRA states very clearly that you can bring the case in ANY federal district court or other court "of competent jurisdiction". YOU get to decide home field advantage (pending your judge's actions on the venue issue). Hope that helps--btw I'm not an attorney. I did however just settle a non-pp lawsuit for quite a bit more than the statutory $1,000 so I learned quite a bit
BTW...the credit card issuer will NOT pay attention to you until they are served with the papers. You may get more attention from them if you send you next letter with a copy of the complaint you will file if they don't respond to you within x days. Send it cmrrr to the registered agent of the company in the state where you live. THAT will get their attention.
The kicker is, I don't have a cc with them. I wouldn't apply for one with them and didn't. Their Corp. office is in San Francisco, I live in Pleasanton, and they do business in Pleasanton, and that is where my non-pp's came from according to the address on the CR's. Yes multiple CR's. So if the Agent for Service is in Southern California, should I use the court and have them do the Certified Mail for summons, or contact a Process Server??? Thanks...
That you don't have a CC with them doesn't matter. The damages to you came while you were a resident of where you are now, correct? therefore you can bring suit where you are, not them. The CR only shows where there place of business is. Think of it this way...a business man drives his corporate car from San Fran to Pleasanton. While there, he backs into your car (the cause of action). You can therefore, if need be, sue his company in pleasanton, not SF. The actual damage to you occured while you were in pleasonton--your credit score was lowered, private information was obtained improperly, etc. The registered agent is in southern california. If you want to send them another "chance" to correct this before you file, you can send it cmrrr and be fine. After you file you will need to have the complaint officially served via an approved process server. Usually this will be the sheriff where the defendant is. You will send him a copy of the claim, along with the fee for service, and they will make everything happen from there.
