[kjmiller]

I have been sued in municipal court by a junk debt buyer over a previously disputed credit card debt. Their validation has been on their letter head with the name of the original creditor and the amount (not right), but with my Social security number. They sent me an interrogatory, which I answered (have to by Ohio law) mostly with "Defendant leaves the plaintiff to their proof" or "This is not relevant to any issue in this action, and not calculated to lead to admissible evidence". I have sent them a discovery request of my own asking for a certified copy of the debt, whether the plaintiff has purchased the debt and for what amount, original copy of the credit application, documentation of payments, etc. etc. Today in the mail I received a copy of a motion they have filed for a continuance due to the fact the attorney is supposedly going to be out-of-town. They have not yet answered my discovery request, but the 15 days I requested is not up yet. What should I do now? (Note: Ohio is notorious for accepting very the bare minimum in the way of validation in court.)

[Fr_Chuck]

First you can't say that the amount is wrong, if they are not proviing proof ( well you can say it, but you are not proving it either are you with copies of prior bills, reciepts and the such.)
It is normal for a amount owed ( lets say 4000) to be 6000 or more by time it gets to court, smaller amounts may even be double or more due to court and attorney costs.

But you show up for any and all hearings

[ScottGem]

Please don't use the Comments feature to post follow-up, use the Answer options.

Just show the court your requests and the lack of compliance from the plaintiff.

[kjmiller]

Hope this is where I should respond/thank the bearer of advise. I've never used the site before, sorry if I used the wrong thing; "comment" seemed logical. This claim is for a small amount ($1,200 which actually should be $730), but I can't afford much of anything (I found how much they paid for the debt - of course much less). I think they are stalling trying to "come-up-with" the information. I just don't know if because they didn't validate the information in the first place (before they filed in court), and if they don't come through with the requested info by Sept 28th (my deadline) that will be enough. I know enough to show for all hearing dates. I just don't know what my next move should be. Normally, would non-compliance with a non-court ordered "discovery request" be enough for dismissal, or should I file a motion to compel after my Sept 28th deadline? The original court date was for Oct 5th, but they filed a motion for a continuance - I haven't heard anything from the court about that yet, but I'm assuming they'll get one. Thanks!