Pleae Help Wih Lawsuit Questions

FXS I will try and answer some of these for you

1. Yes you can include a settlement offer letter with the suit. I would do a search for offer to settle her on the credit board and see what comes up.

2.I don't know if they have to fly someone over all of my suits have been done in Federal Court. If they don't show up in some way you will get a default Judgment against them.

3. yes and no do a search for threads that have Lawsuit info in them.

4.No if you win ask the judge to put in his order for relief that the trade line has to be removed from your credit files........Also in your offer to settle make sure one of them is the complete removal of your trade line off your credit files as part of the agreement to settle.

Hope this helps.

Here is a letter I sent to one of the CA I sued in Federal Court offering to settle. Don't know if its that good but here is a sample of what you can use


Date

CA name
CA Address
City, State, Zip

Re: offer to settle Federal Suit sent via US Certified Mail No. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Case Number C2 03 XXXX

TO whom it may concern:

This letter is my offer to settle my law suit that I filed in Federal Court on XX/XX/XXXX.
I will dismiss my case against you with prejudice and I will agree that this case is close if you agree to due the following:

1. Remove the invalid debt from my credit files with Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian. The file number is XXXXXXXXXXXX.

2. Guarantee to me that this account or any variation of this account , once removed will reapear in my credit file.

3. Mark this alleged account paid in full 0 balance.

4. Pay X,XXX in damages to me in US Certified Funds via overnight delivery.

Once all 4 items have been met, I will sign a motion to dismiss this case. My offer to settle on these terms is open for 20 days from the receipt of this offer.


Your name

 

First of all, what state do you live in? I'm in Texas and in the middle of a lawsuit against an OC in justice court. Come the 13th of the month they get thier ass handed to them.

Ok...as to your questions...

1) Feel free to send a settlement offer with the lawsuit. Judges love to hear that you are trying to clear thier docket by settling the matter out of court. If it is truly a reasonable offer it WILL help your case.

2) This depends. Is the CA licensed and bonded in your state (is it required to be?) Do they have a registered agent in your state? Generally, they will need to be present for the trial if it comes to that or you will be given a default judgement. The judge has the pervue to allow them to phone conference in on hearings if he/she so chooses. What is the basis of your trial? FCRA or FDCP violations? are there state statutes involved also? All of this depends as you will need to be able to establish jurisdiction and/or proper venue for this action to be initiated in the court you have chosen. If you can't reasonably do this you will probably get your case dismissed/transferred. This may be an issue if the defendant is from out of state. You may need to dismiss the case yourself and refile in a state district or federal court.

3) There are a few boards that discuss lawsuits. There is help on this board, creditcourt.com, and others. Most of the help on the boards deal with federal cases, so beware of that. See if there are any Pro Se help from the local and state bar where you live. Also look for books which deal with where you live. Locate copies of the local rules of court, the rules of civil procedure for the state you live in, a civil remedies code for the state you live in, copies of the statutes you allege were violated (FCRA, FDCPA, State), and begin researching applicable cases on the web. Notably try findlaw.com--its free. Other pay to use sites that will have state case law include national law library. I use them for texas and federal case law research.

4) doubtful that they would provide a validation in the court house. Since you have already filed, you need to begin working on pre-trial discovery. Research in your state the forms and procedures you need to follow for a Request for Disclosure, Plaintiff's first set of Interrogatories, Plaintiff's first set of Admissions, and Plaintiff's Request for Production. There are at least 3 purposes to discovery for you

a) drive up the costs they incur in order to bring them to the negotiation table
b) force them to provide documents, statements, etc. which prove your point or incriminate them in some way (you have to do this in a round about way)
c) Drive them nutzo with paperwork

In many cases if the defendant is a corporation they MUST, BY LAW be represented by an attorney. Ouch--that gets expensive fast. Be careful with discovery. There is a distinct set of rules and procedure you must follow with it. You may even want to ask an attorney to help you prepare those documents.

Also, since you have filed be prepared for the defense to file a motion to transfer venue. This will result in a hearing where the judge decides if you get to keep the case in his/her court. You need to cite the relative sections of the statutes that were violated that give the court the proper venue. You will probably get this in the next week or two. In the mean time, get started with discovery!!!!

5) winning in a small claims doesn't compel them to correct the credit report. In most small claims the only thing you can recover is monetary damages. The way to look at it is a) this extra flow can buy a lot of comfort or, more usefully, b) you would now have a judgement against the CA. You have a royal flush now against them. You are in the catbird seat and can negotiate for deletion if you want. If they won't play ball and are bonded in the state, file a claim against the bond they posted to do business in the state. That's what its there for.

Hope that helps. Let us know where you are living--that makes all the difference in the world as to what you can sue for, how the procedures work, etc.

 

just want to make a couple corrections: