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Trooper27 · Nov 20, 2009, 09:20 PM

I have a credit card debt that a law firm is litigating. We are at the stage whereby the case has gone through pretrial. I moved for the court to deny plaintiff's request for phone testimony. Now the plaintiff's attorney doesn't want to file papers to go to trial. My question is; is there a time frame that the plaintiff must file for trial, beyond which time, I can file for sanctions? Is it possible the law firm has realized they can't win this case and are delaying so that I will forget the case? If they don't have their evidence to prove their case, what are my options here to ensure they don't use this delay tactics beyond the statute. I am also contemplating counter suit if in fact they can't prove their case. I am in Colorado and I have searched through Colorado Rule 316, but have not found anything to this effect. If I could counter sue, what are grounds for this? Your help will be appreciated.

Trooper27 · Nov 24, 2009, 03:09 PM

I know a lot of people have reviewed this thread, but none has chimed in on it. Any Pros out there willing to offer help?

twinkiedooter · Nov 24, 2009, 06:48 PM

Since you went through the Colorado Rule 316 you can also contact your local courthouse where the suit was filed and ask the Clerk of Courts what the Local Rule is regarding delaying trials and what the Rule is for that county. Local rules are rather interesting and spell out what you need to know. Easy to find out.

As far as countersuing them - what are your grounds for countersuing them? The fact they brought a lawsuit against you and delayed going to trial? The Judge would dismiss your suit in a heartbeat at the first hearing. You basically have no grounds for a countersuit. Do they owe you money? No. You owe them money.

twinkiedooter · Nov 24, 2009, 06:56 PM

Oh yes, I forgot. It's the Judge's office that sets the trial dates - not the Plaintiff's attorney. Since you've already had a pretrial conference or pretrial hearing your Judge's Judicial Assistant probably already has this trial on the trial calendar. The Plaintiff's attorney can ask for another date in the future for the trial due to conflicts of the attorney's schedule. This is permissible. But the Plaintiff's attorney can only ask for so many postponements and must go to trial. The Clerk of Courts will happily give you the same information I have only she will be able to pinpoint just how many "postponements" of trial the attorney is allowed per Local Rules.

ScottGem · Nov 24, 2009, 07:41 PM

Also there is no such thing as delaying beyond statute. The counter stops when the suit is originally filed, not when it goes to trial.

excon · Nov 25, 2009, 05:27 AM

Hello T:

I don't believe there's any requirement for an attorney to file for a trial date.

But, that's not BAD for you... After all, you COULD lose.

excon

Trooper27 · Nov 25, 2009, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by excon

Hello T:

I don't believe there's any requirement for an attorney to file for a trial date.

But, that's not BAD for you... After all, you COULD lose.

excon

Well Excon, that's my concern. What if they don't file for trial date, and the plaintiff end up selling the same debt to yet another law firm or debt collector whose strategy is to obtain a default judgment when you're unaware. I just want to bring this claim to it's final conclusion.

twinkiedooter · Nov 25, 2009, 02:33 PM

AFter so many months of inactivity (usually a year) the Court will hold a hearing regarding the inactivity of the case and more than likely it will be dismissed by the Court then. But that is not likely going to happen.

No collection attorney is going to let money slide out of his hand that easily. So don't bet on that happening in a big hurry.

And no, the plaintiff is not going to sell the same debt once a lawsuit has already been filed. The original attorney wants to get paid his fee by the plaintiff so it will be tried in due time.