I am in California. On Jan 4th we received a Summons for Civil Court on a Cap-1 CC Acct. Now What do we do? I called the Atty's office on Jan 7th. The original balance on the acct. Is $1089.25. With Atty + Court + Interest the balance is $1983.38. I asked him for validation and the Paralegal said he "couldn't give us any legal advice" but that the acct. was closed on 1/22/2000. He offered us a settlement of $1685.88 or a 12 or 24 mth payment plan. When I kept asking him what the debt was for he just kept saying he couldn't give me any legal advice. He say's that I can't contact Cap-1 directly because they won't speak to me and that he does not have my statement or file w/specific charges. I told him I would get back to him. I know we need to send a written request for validation but I am concerned about the 30 calendar days that I have to respond to the court. It would cost $140 to respond to the summons. What should I do? Thank You for all your help.
CERTIFIED R/R MAIL and EXPRESS NEXT DAY MAIL and FEDEX NEXT DAY and AIRBORNE NEXT DAY and UPS NEXT DAY DOES NOT EVEN COST ANY WHERE NEAR $140!!!!!
I was referring to the $140.00 filing fee to answer the summons in court. I'm not sure if I should answer the court first or wait for the validation from the lawyer. If the atty drags his feet, will he automatically receive a default if I don't file something in court? Thanks again.
Re: Re: Newbie- Received Summons. $140 filing fee to answer? I can see if it was to counterclaim, but to answer? Answering should be free. I'd better bone up on my constitutional law, because it seems to me that the fee violates access to the courts. I would bet my bottom dollar there's an extra form you can file saying you can't afford the $140. If not, it may be time to test that $140 fee against the good 'ol constitution.
Re: Re: Newbie- Received Summons. You absolutely need to file an answer with the court before the time limit is up.
You should go to www.Creditinsiders.com and read my post "Turning a Suit into a Settlement". Cap1 is no longer playing games with you and has raised the stakes considerably. You should also read "Making Yourself Judgement proof" on Creditnet. If you don't act on this, they will be even harder to deal with when they get a judgement.
Thank you everyone for all your help with this situation. I do have a few more questions. Flyingifr:I understand what you're saying, I will take the advice. My question is won't filling all these motions cost us money? It seems going this route will either upset Cap1 more or they will just drop everything. And since they have more money then I do I don't see them dropping everything. In your experence does this happen? The last activity on the acct was Jan 2000. I know California has a 4yr SOL on Written Contracts. I'm not sure if this applies in this case. They filed the suit on Dec 22, 2003. One last question:Should we try contacting Cap1 for validation? I really can't beleive that they are unable to give me validation. Thank you very much.
Re: Re: Newbie- Received Summons. Very good advice you've gotten so far. It does sound like the $140 is for a counterclaim. A response should be little or no charge. You must respond or the CA will get a default judgement against you. If you don't want to file a counterclaim explain what you did here that you don't have an account with ABC for $x.xx. Explain that you have asked for validation and have been ignored. Be sure to include that you believe any bill with this company is past SOL. The attorney will push this until he realizes you are not going to push over anf that he MUST come up with validation including a signed agreement, all charges, statements and payments, and proof the date of last payment.
Re: Re: Newbie- Received Summons. quote: ---------------------------------------------------- It seems going this route will either upset Cap1 more or they will just drop everything. ---------------------------------------------------- 1*Upset them???? Jeeeezus, they're already suing you - what do you think they will do if they get upset with you? Put out a Contract on your life? Flyingifr ================ 1*What are they doing to make him happy and he's conserned about upseting them. LOL Who's turn is it to do some upsetting anyhow? ..
California Law Suits The filing fees for California went up due to the budget crisis , the $140 fee for a limited answer may be waived in you are in financial hardship. You definitely need to file an answer to avoid a default judgment. You should expect Capital one to file a motion for summary judgment after filing an answer and there may not be a trial. You may want to read the Nolo Press book, Sue in California without a lawyer which covers defending a lawsuit.
Re: California Law Suits quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally posted by hoapres 1*The filing fees for California went up due to the budget crisis , the $140 fee for a limited answer may be waived in you are in financial hardship. You definitely need to file an answer to avoid a default judgment. 2**You should expect Capital one to file a motion for summary judgment after filing an answer and there may not be a trial. 3*You may want to read the Nolo Press book, Sue in California without a lawyer which covers defending a lawsuit. ********************************************************************** 2*Oh How SWEET. Youse PAY the 140 and don't even get your day in court or a chance to defend yourself. Hel* you might as well have ignored the summons, skipped answering and stayed home at least you'd still have your 140 dollars. What a con job - !!!!!!!!!!
Cap 1 San Francisco Lawsuits My observation after glancing at the San Francisco County Superior Court Public Search Website http://www.sftc.org for Capital One Lawsuits is the following. 1. Over 80% end up with default judgments. 2. Almost all the others have dismissals filed either due to lack of service or settlement. 3. Only a couple have had answers filed, both of which were general denials and still resulted in judgments. My advice would be to read the Nolo Press books, Sue in California without a lawyer and Money Troubles which has a chapter on how to handle a lawsuit. You can file an answer and ask to waive the fees on the basis of financial hardship.
Re: Cap 1 San Francisco Lawsuits And the very first one I looked at ended ina Dismissal With Prejudice, so standing up to them CAN help - it certainly can't hurt any since lying down and playing dead gives thema default judgement. My advice to drive their costs of litigation up will work if you are persistent at it. It can't hurt you any. If it costs you $100 plus to file a motion, it costs them teh same to reply to it - and they are the ones throwing good money after bad. Meanwhile you are making yourself Judgement Proof (see my thread about this topic). They may win, but if you play your cards right you can make it a very phyrric voctory.
Re: Re: Newbie- Received Summons. It's my understanding that CC accounts are always open accounts. Unless you signed something that I haven't read about, this seems to be an open account. Is California's SOL different for open accounts vs written contracts? Are you sure you don't have a SOL defense on this?
Re: Re: Newbie- Received Summons. I think the issue is that suit was filed in December 2003. That may stop the SOL as a defense because the SOL is up in January 2004, but the suit was filed in December 2003. I know that in the case of an auto accident, in my state, there was a three year statute of limitations. But I had to file the suit within the three years, the legal action could extend beyond that. So I don't think the SOL is a defense in this case, since Cap 1 filed just before the SOL was up.
