civil court summons response?

Nook_Rich · Jun 16, 2004

I received a summons from civil court saying I am being sued by a lawyer representing a collection agent. The summons says I am to appear at the court with my "response."

Background: I requested validation from the collection agent, and they never provided it. As a result, the entry was removed from my credit report. Now they are suing me.

My question is: Is there a specific legal document I am supposed to use for my response? or is there a form letter I can use? Is the response simply a statement of the facts of this case?I live in NYC county

kaykay29 · Jun 16, 2004

Originally posted by Nook_Rich
I received a summons from civil court saying I am being sued by a lawyer representing a collection agent. The summons says I am to appear at the court with my "response."

* You don't have to appear at court at all and they hope you don't. The summons says you are supposed to and the lawyer hopes you don't.

Background: I requested validation from the collection agent, and they never provided it. As a result, the entry was removed from my credit report. Now they are suing me.
* Getting it off your credit report don't keep them from filing a law suit on you.

My question is: Is there a specific legal document I am supposed to use for my response?
* Yes. You need to file your answer with the court in writing and you need to send a copy of your answer to the plaintiff's lawyer. You need to follow the format of the complaint they used so you get the headings all correctly formatted and then just below the heading you can title it something like

Defendant's answer to plaintiff's motion for summary judgment.

Then you need to look at their complaint and make a statement that says something on the order of

"1. Defendant admits plaintiff's allegation that Defendant's name is [your name]

2. Defendant admits that he lives at [address]

3. Defendant denies each and every allegation of Plaintiff.

After that general statement you need to list each of the plaintiff's allegations that you wish to deny separately and say why you deny it.

Then take it to the court and sign it at the county clerks office and you will need to take a certificate of mailing and sign that at the court house too. Be careful about that because some courts rules demand that you have it served upon the plaintiff's attorney by a process server or a sheriff. If you fail to follow the rules of the court they may deny that you even answered or the plaintiff's attorney may file an objection to your answer saying that you failed to follow such and such a rule.

What I have told you here is just a very, very rough idea of what your answer should look like. Please don't take it as legal advice because I am not an attorney.

If you want my advice and you want to do it yourself without an attorney you can but if you decide to do that you should do the best you can to prepare it and then take it to an attorney and let them go over it. Better yet, I would advise you to go to an attorney and get competent legal help to start with.

You can also get good help at your local law library.

or is there a form letter I can use?
* Yes, sort of. You can also find copies of answers to use at the local law library.

Is the response simply a statement of the facts of this case?
* In a manner of speaking, yes. You really should seek competent legal assistance.
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jam237 · Jun 17, 2004

You forgot a biggie...

If they still have not provided validation. Filing a suit is "continued collection activity prohibited under Section 809(b) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act."

kaykay29 · Jun 17, 2004

Re: Re: civil court summons response?

Originally posted by jam237
You forgot a biggie...

If they still have not provided validation. Filing a suit is "continued collection activity prohibited under Section 809(b) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act."
Click to expand...

Quite right, of course.

leadhead · Jun 17, 2004

Re: Re: civil court summons response?

Since they violated the FDCPA, file a counter-claim against them with your answer,

Nook_Rich · Jun 19, 2004

Thank you all for the good advice, especially KayKay, it was very helpful!

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