Hi, I received a summons last Wed. (9-5-07) that has me scheduled to report to a pretrial conference on Mon (9-10-07). The collection agency is suing over a debt they purchased from one of my old credit cards. The last payment that was made on the card was 1-5-02. The Florida statute of limitations is 5 years which has already passed. I plan on going to court representing myself on Monday. I understand that I need to NOT acknowledge that I owe anything on this debt. I plan to ask the judge for a Motion to Dismiss the case due to the statute of limitations expiring. Also, it seems the amount of time from when I was served the summons and when I need to appear in court is very short. Do I have some sort of legal recourse regarding this as well? Thanks for any advise.

I would not mention the short time frame since the hearing was set by the court, not the creditor. If this is a just a pre-trial conference, then its simply a time for you to express your Intent to defend and ask for verification. I don't think you can make a motion to dismiss at this time, but you can try.

File NOtice of Intend to Defend, and File Motion to Dismiss expired SOL, at he same time, the court will not waste their time on a matter expired. By filing the Motion to Dismiss that informs the court of that matter.

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Originally Posted by mr.yet

File NOtice of Intend to Defend, and File Motion to Dismiss expired SOL, at he same time, the court will not waste their time on a matter expired. By filing the Motion to Dismiss that informs the court of that matter.

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Thanks Mr. Yet

By the way, should I file all of this information prior to appearing to the pretrial conference? The pretrial is set at 10:30am on Monday(9-10-07). Or, can I simply take the printed copies and hand them to the judge? Thanks again for all you advise.

Since this is Friday, just bring them with you.

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Originally Posted by jmax31

Thanks Mr. Yet

By the way, should I file all of this information prior to appearing to the pretrial conference? The pretrial is set at 10:30am on Monday(9-10-07). Or, can I simply take the printed copies and hand them to the judge? Thanks again for all you advise.

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File Monday with the clerk of the court and have extra copies that are timed stamped to take into the court rooom with you.

Thanks again everyone. You have been a great deal of help. This definitely helps me go into Monday with a little more confidence. Have a great weekend!

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Originally Posted by mr.yet

File monday with the clerk of the court and have extra copies that are timed stamped to take into the court rooom with you.

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Hello again,

Well, I survived the pretrial without much fanfare. The judge basically came into the room, asked that each person answer Accept or Deny for the charge. I went up, Denied the claim, and was told that a mediation date will be set. That was it. Oh yeah, prior to arriving in the court room, I filed a Notice of Intent to Defend & a Motion to Dismiss with the Civil Division records department.

My question, what should I expect on my next trip to the courthouse? Since I already filed the paperwork, will the judge have it in hand and Dismiss the case? Do I need to file any further documents prior to my next court appearance? As always, much thanks for your advise.

Signed - Representing Me

You need to file a motion for discovery to get verification and history of the debt. For some reason they think the SOL hasn't expired, you need to know why to be prepared to answer.