Hi, my father has been sued in small claims court in MA by Gary H. Kreppel, PC representing Palisades Collection, LLC. It's much too close to trial date (8/31/09!) to ask for verification. The debt is about $800 and described as "For Goods sold & delivered on or before 10/31/04 with PALISADES COLLECTION credit card."

My father is old and feeble and has a really hard time keeping up with any paperwork whatsoever, hence the reason I didn't have time to get any verification rolling. Needless to say I will bring him to court to avoid default judgement.

I know my father has no clue what this is about, and the summons really doesn't identify it either. In fact I doubt Palisades does any kind of credit card issuance. My question is how should I approach this in court without incurring the wrath of the judge? Can I demand original signed contract proof of debt? Also I feel this may be very close to SOL (6 years in MA I believe), but again I would need to see good documentation to even know for sure. Will the judge be on my side in this? Should I bring up Palisades' shady reputation? Any help at all appreciated.

If he is on Social Security they can not touch that unless the debt is government, child support or student loan.
The statute of limitation goes back as far as the very last payment not when the debt was made.

Here is a chart on the SOL

Statute of Limitation on Debt

Thanks for the info. My father is on SS, but also owns a condo with a rverse mortgage on it. Can they go after that money?

Right now I'm really looking for what my approach in court should be (see my questions in first post). Another thought, would it be smart to bring up FDCPA in court? Any advice is appreciated.

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Originally Posted by N0help4u

If he is on Social Security they can not touch that unless the debt is government, child support or student loan.
The statute of limitation goes back as far as the very last payment not when the debt was made.

Here is a chart on the SOL

Statute of Limitation on Debt

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I think the most they can do is put a lien on the condo and when he dies they get first dibs on what is owed.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but again at this point I'm looking for presentation strategies in court. Should I demand signed contract proof? Should I bring up Palisades' shady reputation? What should I avoid so as not to piss off the judge?

Legally, I would think that either their not having adequate proof of debt or SOL would be cause for dismissal, but I'm no lawyer and this is small claims, so anyone with any experience chiming in would be helpful. Thanks.

Do you have a phone number for them?
You can look them up on here. http://800notes.com/

I don't know what all you should or can bring up.

Collection companies often refuse to supply you with reports on your own acct.
My daughter almost lost her job in the military because they wanted her to show proof of her credit history and why it was bad.
The companies refused saying it is against policy.

I figure since they don't want to provide proof they can take me to court and sort it out there.