I am being sued for a credit card debt. I wish for my day in court. What's the firt step I need to take? I intend to defend myself in court. Does anyone have the proper form I need to answer the court back in the alloted time? Also what about a SWORN DENIAL form? (visual examples would be great):D

If you are bing sued in small claims court then a simple letter of your Intent to Defend and requesting a hearing is sufficient.

Look in the Bankruptcy and Debt forum. I believe there is a sticky there with some examples.

There are also loads of threads that discuss this same question.

I am being sued for a credit card debt. I wish for my day in court. whats the firt step I need to take? I intend to defend myself in court. does anyone have the proper form I need to answer the court back in the alloted time? Also what about a SWORN DENIAL form? (visual examples would be great):D



You don't need a sworn denial if you are talking about Small Claims Court - as Scottgem said, a letter is sufficient.

What is your defense to the debt?

My defense is that the debt is past the SOL. I was in rolled in a "debt manegement" group that was "helping" me pay the debt.

In reality the company(DM) was a scam. And non of my payment I was sending out to the debt manegement company were making there way to the CC company.

This was in the news and can still be found on the net. Thet the debt manegement were shut down by the FBI in 05-06

Being scammed is not a defense. But it might negate your SOL defense since your intent was to pay.

If the debt is truly out of the SOL then that will be a good defense, If that management company did talk and deal with the credit card company on your behalf, and agree to pay, that may well have legally started the SOL all over again, if they ever sent them even a dollar, it will have started it over.

OK here is the deal. I summitted a letter of validation and a genral denial with BOTH the courts and the sueing attorney. (By cretified mail to the attorney) and by person to the court were this is being handeled. Yes, I had all documents noterised and stamped by the courts
Today I received a notice in the mail on my court date March 3rd 2009. I have not as yet received a reply to my letter of validation as well as a respose to my letter of denial. I intent to contact the courts and notify them on this.

Is there any other advice you have for me at this point or should I contact the courts first?
And tell them. My request went unanswered

On a similar note I have been doing some investifgating on my own on the net. Seems that the attorney and the company he works for do things this way .You know "SOP".

Hmmmmm very interesting on that

Any help/answers would be appreciated
mew1157

You will just have to wait and show up in court and tell the judge you still have not received any reply to your request. You could go to the clerk's office and request that you look at the other cases that this particular attorney handled for that company and see what happened in those cases. This is public information and you are allowed to view these other files and even have the clerk make copies of anything in the file that you are looking at. This could help you determine what kind of "game plans" the attorney uses.

File Discovery to the plaintiff, look up the rules in your state, if the fail to provide the information, you can file Motion to Dismiss for un-validiciated claim. Remember this for the hearing they must have the original contract you signed, not a copy the original.

OK I have been looking online for a form for discovery .I can use in my case. So far I have been unable to find one. Or do I need to go to the Court clerks office and use a form there?
I understand that the wording etc must be exact to be legal. Does anyone have advice? Links(to sample forms etc?)
Also does it need to be noterized as well? As in the letter of validation and sworn denial?
Any and all help would be appriciated

Often small claims court is not as "picky" on the exact wording and at times have more forms together.

Also what state is this,

This is in the stae of Texas

I have a question about interrogatorries in a small claims lawsuit(credit card) suit. What are they? How do I file one? Could anyone show me a sample?

Just an observation, but you can find forms for interrogatories (A formal question submitted to opposing party to answer, generally governed by court rule); but you need to review the rules of the court (small claims) and make certain that interrogatories can be used.

Small Claims courts tend to be very informal. So if you explain what info you want we can advise how to get it.

Ok,what I need is the following

1. I sent a letter of Validation to the sueing attorney and had it filed with the court(small claims as well). And have yet to get an answer from the attorney

2. I want some kind of answer so I recently filed a Motion of discovery as well,(we will see how that send this to the sueing attorney as well certified mail)

3.The judge has set a court date March 3rd, so I will either ask for a Dismisal on the grounds that I have not received any documents from the sueing attorney and can there fore not properly build a defense since the information I need has not been sent to me by the attorney. Or at the very least get a Postponement of the hearing/proceedings till I have the information.

4. All Motions,letters of validation,Request, have all been Noterized signed (by me and dated),and filed with the court. To have a "paper trail" of various action I have taken to try and get something to build my defense on. I am not sure if the attorney is under any obligation to provide this. However all I have received is the original lawsuit and his motion of discovery. Which I responded to. In the form of an "Intent to Defend" form.I also responded to a sworn affidavite he sent as well,with a letter of sworn denial.Which I got noterized and filed as well.Plus sent to him certified mail as well. I have all receipts etc. For all these things I have sent as well.

This is all very fustrating not to receive any letters or info from the sueing attorney. Although I have been told access to the information is protected by my civil rights and the FAIR CREDIT COLLECTION LAW passed by the senate.

Anyone have some advice? I was considering asking to speak to the judge on this matter. To see if I can receive a Postponment or Dimissal.

Ok,what I need is the following

1. I sent a letter of Validation to the sueing attorney and had it filed with the court(small claims as well). And have yet to get an answer from the attorney

2. I want some kind of answer so I recently filed a Motion of discovery as well,(we will see how that send this to the sueing attorney as well certified mail)

3.The judge has set a court date March 3rd, so I will either ask for a Dismisal on the grounds that I have not received any documents from the sueing attorney and can there fore not properly build a defense since the information I need has not been sent to me by the attorney. Or at the very least get a Postponement of the hearing/proceedings till I have the information.

4. All Motions,letters of validation,Request, have all been Noterized signed (by me and dated),and filed with the court. To have a "paper trail" of various action I have taken to try and get something to build my defense on. I am not sure if the attorney is under any obligation to provide this. However all I have received is the original lawsuit and his motion of discovery. Which I responded to. In the form of an "Intent to Defend" form.I also responded to a sworn affidavite he sent as well,with a letter of sworn denial.Which I got noterized and filed as well.Plus sent to him certified mail as well. I have all receipts etc. For all these things I have sent as well.

This is all very fustrating not to receive any letters or info from the sueing attorney. Although I have been told access to the information is protected by my civil rights and the FAIR CREDIT COLLECTION LAW passed by the senate.

Anyone have some advice? I was considering asking to speak to the judge on this matter. To see if I can receive a Postponment or Dimissal.

I think you need to step back for a moment. What is likely to happen is the attorney won't show up and you ask for a dismissal WITH prejudice.

If the attorney does show up but does not have the requested documentation, then you again ask for a dismissal with prejudice. If he does have the documents, then you ask for a postponement to study the documents.

I wouldn't push too hard for getting the documents, you have done what is required to request the documents. The ball is now in t he plaintiff's court so wait him out.

How long of a postponement ,(time) will the judge likely give me?

Depends on the court schedule. It should be sufficient time to review the documents.

Can anyone give me link to the Fair Credit Collection Act Document?
Full Document with all the laws(complete) would be great

Do you mean Fair Debt Collection Practices? http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf

OK here's the deal. About a week ago I received a motion of discovery from the sueing attorney. In response to my motion for discovery. In which there were RESPONSES to my questions and his own motions(questions).

In general he asked
1 who I was seems weird to ask because he filed a suite)
2 who else has knowledge of this lawsuite?(weird again because I'm the defendant and he is the plaintiff and I thought that was all that was needed)
3 Do I have relatives or family with assets?(money,land ect)

His responses to my motions were
1 stating that this is MY debt.(Not producing an original contract or similar legal document as required by law. He just stated this is your debt and I have been assigned to collect)
2. stating that a one MR.Grey(that signed a sworn affidavit affirming that this was my debt would NOT be produced as a witness on the day of the court proceedings. Although I filed and sent a sworn denial that was noterized and filed with the courts to him and the court. It was my understanding that if I filed a sworn denial in response to a sworn affidavite signed by Mr.Grey that he must be produced as a witness). Or do I get my civil liberties violated on that matter?

So. My next question is what is my next move on this matter? Any suggestions?
I am thinking of filing a complaint with the court on the Mr. Grey issue and also shouldn't he have validated the debt more conclusively?

Is there a court hearing scheduled?

Yes there is a court date scheduled for March 3rd. However I received a notice from the attorney just yesterday saying that he was requesting a delay in proceedings by about 45 to 60 more days.From the original court date (march 3rd). He staeed he was requesting documents from his client(the credit card company sueing me)

The questions he asked are boilerplate questions, probably asked by "him" in every response, the same way the Defendant routinely denies the debt. If the Court will accept an Affidavit there is no need for the witness to appear. Obviously no one is there for you to cross examine but I don't know what issues you are planning to use on cross examination or even if you are planning a cross examination.

Nothing unusual.

>SEVEN Threads Merged<

Please stick to ONE thread for this issue

What about my Sworn denial I filed with the courts? I thought that if I filed that Document it entitled me to have a live witness in court. So they (the plaintiff) could prove their case in a more traditional manner then just a document by an individual that swore on an affidavite. I may file for a subpoena in order to have mister Grey appear. Because I feel if I am accused of something it is in my civil rights to face my accuser in court.And yes I do intend to cross examin. Also I received a letter from the sueing attorney stating that he was requesting a delay(to the courts) in this case based on that he didn't have documents he needs from his client (the credit card company) for the proceedings. He is asking for 45 to 60 days from the original court date.
Also on the same day(Monday the 9th of Feb)
I received a certified letter of OBJECTION from a junior attorney from the same firm.She stated in the letter that they objected to the motion of discovery I had sent on the grounds that

1.my motion of discovery didn't follow the rules of civil procedure.(I followed a simple template form for my request had it noterized and filed with the courts. When the county clerk saw the paper work she said it all looked corret and in order and filed it for me.)

2. they(she the sueing attorney firm and she) didn't understand my request

3. They were sure they didn't have the information I was requesting.(strange since they claim they didn't understand the request)

4. that they were/would look for the information(strange again for the same reasons stated above.)

I can provide copies if anyone is interested.
So in short my request for validation hasn't been confirmed(in an original contract). Just the attorney saying "this is your debt". I think I will have to subpoena Mr. Grey or file a motion with the courts to honor my Sworn Denial. Also now we have this possible delay in proceedings(if the courts grants them that).
LOL ,and this weird letter making conflicting claims about my motion of discovery from the junior attorney(the we object,don't understand,but am sure we don't have,but will request what we don't have or understand).
Anyone got any suggestions on what my next move should be?

Is this Small Claims Court?

If you intend to Subpoena and cross examine witnesses when you clearly have no knowledge of how the system works you are only going to offend the Court. Nothing offends the Court as much as anyone who researches, doesn't have a clear understanding of that research and attempts to "play Attorney."

Once you play the civil liberties card in Small Claims Court you are going to lose - plain and simple.

I realize you think you have been wronged and the system is working you over. Assuming that the cc company can prove the debt, what is your defense going to be? Why, in fact, hasn't this been paid?

I think you're in over your head and either need to pay an Attorney or be more realistic. Again, just my opinion and "we're" all entitled to have one.

What you are missing here is that this is all SOP legal wrangling. In the long run it means nothing. They are trying to intimidate and befuddle you.

Remember Small Claims courts tend to be less formal. {Edit: I agree with what Judy said about playing attorney}

What you need to focus on is the fact that they have to produce a signed contract to verify that the debt is yours. They also have to produce a record to prove the amount of the debt and finally proof that they have the right to collect the debt.

If they cannot produce all three in court you ask for a dismissal. If they claim that the affidavits from Mr Grey is sufficient and the judge agrees, then you say to the judge they need to produce Mr Grey so you can question him. This doesn't necessary mean in court, you could have a deposition done outside of court.

So your next move, as I believe I have said before< is to sit back and wait for the hearing and see what they produce. If they do produce documentation at the hearing, you can ask for time to review it.