I am representing myself as defendant against plaintiff, a collection agency. P has filed motion for summary judgement in civil court. How do I respond to that, and also how do I file motion to dismiss on factual errors by the P? Court is in Hartford, Connecticut.

Shannon

I think you might be on the wrong board. This board is for family law rather than collection cases.

Nonetheless (and I'm a family law attorney, not a collection attorney) I'll see if I can help.

A motion for summary judgment alleges that there are no material facts in dispute and that as a matter of law the moving party is entitled to judgment (it is usually a motion that defendants bring but it is available to plaintiffs too but I think much harder for them to win). In other words, the collection agency is saying they don't need a trial (I suppose because everything is so cut and dried!).

You need to file an opposition to the motion alleging some material facts in dispute. I don't know what they would be so you need to sit down with a lawyer and go over your case. Let me try to give you an idea of how a summary judgment works by giving you this hypothethical. Let's say you are being sued over an unpaid dental bill for $1,000. The complaint says the dentist did a crown for you on a certain date, you asked for the work, agreed to pay $1,000 for it and then wrote a bad check. Now the collection agency sues saying you owe the $1,000. You answer by saying you paid the bill.

Next step for the collection agency? Motion for summary judgment. They offer proof of the work that was done for you and a copy of your check that was returned from the bank unpaid. They further supply a declaration from their bookkeeper that states you never made good on the check. See, they are saying there is nothing to go to trial on. If what they said is all true then they win as a matter of law. Right? That's what a summary judgment is for. It's to speed up the legal process a bit.

So how do you oppose it? You raise a triable issue of fact! Example, you submit in opposition your declaration that says that when the bookkeeper called and told you your check bounced, you immediately gave her your credit card number and she ran it as payment in full. And to back that up, you submit a copy of your credit card statement showing a payment to the dentist on this same date for $1,000. Now what is the judge going to do? He'll deny the motion because now there is a triable factual issue in dispute; i.e, did you or did you not pay the $1,000? You say you did and have evidence of this. The dentist says you didn't.

As far as dismissing for "factual errors" you have to be more specific. It's not clear what you are referring to.