Not too much. I received my court date, Aug 6. I had requested the case be moved from Civil to Small Claims but this date reflects it's still in civil. What's your situation? Hockeymom
I was under the impression you were being sued by a law firm in San Jose, CA. When I re-read your posts carefully, it turned out I was mistaken. As such, my information is a moot point. That said, I am following this case carefully. Please keep us informed. Hang in, hockeymom.
I got my pre trial court date set for Aug 6. The court sent this pre-trial statement that has to be completed. It has to be signed by an attorney so now I have to hire an attorney. That should be fun--trying to find someone familiar with consumer law! Should I still send a letter of validation to the opposing attorney? HockeyMom
I may be late jumping in on this thread, but I have two judgements against me, way before I found this site, I was dumb and did not respond at all, One is Discover, and the other is Sears. Discover did garnish my wages, but I had just left my job, so they only got one hit at it. This was in 1999. Sears was in 2000. I am now self-employed. I get letters occasionally from the attorney demanding payment, but the judgement is there until 2006 and 2007, respectively. So, it could go either way. I have always heard Sears plays hardball, but they haven't come after me other than the judgement (as far as garnishing, etc.) I suppose they could come knocking any day now though. Good Luck. I live in a small town, and was absolutely mortified when I was served, everybody knows everybody's business around here. However, that didn't prevent me from being stupid with my money.
Here is the update on Providian/Jefferson Financial Recovery suing me.... Last Monday I met with an attorney who specializes in Consumer Law.He read through the suit and looked over my credit reports and felt there might be some violations but asked me to contact the Plantiff attorney's office and request a copy of my account summary and a copy of the signed contract specifically showing that they were entitled to attorney costs. I had already, with the help of Why Chat, found the address of Jefferson Financial and had sent them a letter asking for validation of the claim. The next day I faxed a copy of a request for that information to the attorney's office requesting the information be faxed or to let me know when it was available and I would come and pick it up. On Wednesday I received a call on my answering machine at home from the company I had mailed the validation to, stating that they are not affiliated with Jefferson Financial Recovery. On Friday, I received a copy of my TU report. Providian is now listing the account as paid as agreed as of 6/2001 with a zero balance. Today since I had not heard from the attorney's office, I called them. Spoke with a gentleman there, not the attorney that stated they have requested the information I requested from Jefferson on 7-11. He said it takes about 30 days and that there is a note on my file about my letter and to mail a copy to me when it comes in. Now here is my question... There is an affidavit attached to the initial suit stating that I am "justly indebted to Jefferson Financial Recovery Group". Signed by a notary. How can that be if they don't even have a summary of my account? How can they be suing me if Providian has my account listed with TU as paid as agreed? I need some help--are they in violation? Hockeymom
The saga continues.... I competed the pretiral statement to the best of my non- attorney like ability. I basically stated that I had requested an account summary of all charges, a copy of the original signed contract with Providian and a copy of the section in the contract allowing for attorney's fees. I had so far, not received these items and requested time for "discovery" of these items. At the pre-trial, the attorney for Jefferson tries to get me to tell him if this is my account, if I have any statements, what my Providian acct was, and whether I had filed bankruptcy before. I told him that I had a Providian account but I did not know if this account was mine and that as far BK, he had pulled my credit report so he should know whether I had filed BK or not. He was pissed and didn't understand why was being so uncooperative! He asked to see my letter to Jefferson and after looking at it, said that the address was wrong. He said he formed the company as a LLC. SO he is the CA and the attorney for the CA both. The judge asked if he (attorney) had the summary and contract and he did not--stated he would have in 30 days from OC.THe judge asked if this was my account and I stated I do not know as I have no doc stating that this is mine or that the amounts stated are infact accurate. Jefferson's attorney started to suggest that I did know it was mine, etc but the judge said that consumers often get confused when an acct is bought by a CA, blah, blah, blah. So he gave us 45 days for discovey and the trial date is to be set in approx 75 days. Jefferson's attorney wants to do additional discovery and interogitorries(?) Okay CNers---what's next?! I am thinking that I should do nothing until I have the acct summary and contract. Am I right?
OK - Let me see if I understand this. The lawyer in front of the Judge admitted to a violation of the FDCPA,using a false name and misrepresenting his identity in his collection efforts?? Have you told the "consumer lawyer" about this?Let me get the statutes for the FDCPA AND Mich. together for you,over the weekend and you can nail his mangy hide to the wall.
She is within the SOL. She sent the request for information about the account to the wrong Jefferson Financial (there must be a lot of them) - this bird had not contacted her prior to suing her, so she had no idea where to send correspondence. He probably thought she wouldn't show up. What about a counter suit? Something to make him wish he hadn't started this, and go crawl back under his rock.
Wow. What a thread. My take on this: You are dealing with unprofessional jerks. If you give them enough rope, they are going to hang themselves and end up owing you money. The "Stealth Lawsuit" stunt is one employed by sleazy CA's. They hope that the defendant will not respond, which gives the CA the judgement they need to deploy their garnishment and lein actions. That, and the other things that they have done, leads me to believe that you will be able to nail their butts to a wall. What you need to do is be very diligent on your documentation. Document everything. Organize your paper work. It sounds like you are already doing that, so good job. Good job on sticking to your guns and not letting them rattle you in front of them. I would have love to have been there. One thing I do, and you may not have time, is get to know my enemy. I gather as much information on the opposing attorney as possible. I would get their state bar assoc record. Sometimes scumbag "lawyers" like this turn out to be disbarred or suspended. Sometimes they aren't even licensed in your state, if at all. That is why they take crappy cases like this and do stupid things. If you can nail him on that, he can do jail time. Would't that be lovely? It's worth a shot. Simply call your state bar assoc and tell them that you are being legally harassed by someone claiming to be an attorney, and that you suspect he is not what he claims to be. Make them prove to you he is what he says he is. When you open your new checking account, be sure to designate to the bank that the account must be flagged as private and that no information may be given out without a password. CA's often call banks pretending to be you to get your account balance and transaction history. They can bluff their way past the standard screening questions cause they have your file sitting in front of them. That is why a password requirement will trip them up.
This is great guys! I knew if I just hung in there I would get some feed back. So today I am contacting the Mich bar to see if this guy is really an attorney. Is there some sort of document I should ask them to fax or send me? Will they also be able to tell me if he has had any complaints or violations filed against him? Also his partner, who wasn't there also signed some of the documents, I probably should check on him too, eh? What do you make of my TU report showing a zero balance/never late? Wierd! Good but wierd. I have now disputed that acct with the other two CRA's to see what happens. I'm kinda of excited but sort of scared too..is this normal?
How soon should I set up this new account? This should be an account where I am not the primary applicant right?
I havethe ammo you need, e-mail me - He is a licensed lawyer, he has a licensed Corp. BUT it is NOT licensed as a Mich Collection Agency. In addition, by using a "false name" he is in violation of the FDCPA and the Mich Statute of Frauds. I think you are beyond SOL, from our earlier "talks" you were dating from when you stopped PAYING the OC, not from when you were FIRST LATE.
It is a 6 year SOL in Mich.,so I guess you can't claim to have defaulted 3 years before the account was opened!
