I received service from the Sheriff (hand-delivered) a Law Suit filed in the County Common Please court. (PA Court). It was filed by Weltman, Weinberg and Reis out of Philadelphia. I intend to defend and make them prove their case. I do not want to pay my attorney $175/hr since I presume the outcome will be the same regardless. My questions are this: How should I reply? It says I should "take action within 20 days by entering a written appearance personally or by an attorney filing in writing with the Court your defenses of objections to the claims set forth against you." An alternative may be to see what they would actually settle for, but I do not want to muck with that unless I know what I am doing. FYI: The original balance in default is appx. $1K. They are now asking for $2500. Anyone? Thanks.
You will have to decide which of the two choices is best for you.Either settling before court or filing answer to avoid default judgment. Be aware that Cap 1 keeps very good records.
Decision Any idea on what a likely settlement amount would/could be? Also, if I file an answer myself, what is the procedure? Thanks
If you don't know how to file a responsive pleading at this point (which is not a good initial move anyway), pay your attorney the fee. It will be well worth it. Secondly, you may be able to settle that account for half the amount. At least the principle will get it done.
Call Weltman and see what you can settle the account for. If you cannot pay what they're proposing, hire an attorney (this will be hourly or a flat rate) to file a Motion for a More Definite Statement. Do not allow them to file a responsive pleading without the above motion first.
Ok If I do the settlement route, how can I ensure that they will do what they propose? Stop the Civil action, report to the credit agencies, etc.? Thanks!
You need an attorney for this. However, you would need the a copy of the Motion for Voluntary Dismissal after you payment has cleared. Make sure it is with prejudice.
Oh, they are garbage pails. Since we aren't under any NDA's with them I can say the following. It exemplifies that these attorney's are either stupid, liars, or both. Anyway, we had a client that had a charge-off with Discover. The account was pursued in Ohio. Weltman was representing Discover and sued our client in their "municipal" court system which is basically small claims. Ohio has a funky court heirachy and these municipal courts can be county or city but, I digress. Now, we don't normally represent our clients in a legal context but, we do if they have decent cases, are within the scope of our jurisdiction licensures, etc., etc. We had done some work and felt that Discover's claim was poor and could be offset and then some. To the point, we countered the Complaint under 1681s-2b. Guess how Weltman responded . . . a 12b6 insofar as there was no cause of action under 1681s-2b to be had against Discover. Idiots . . .
