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jewel16501 · Oct 7, 2010, 12:37 PM

AK lawyer · Oct 8, 2010, 07:24 AM

Are you the judgment debtor? What do you want a hearing for?

jewel16501 · Oct 15, 2010, 07:19 AM

Yes, I am the debtor. I submit an answer to the suit with court, was waiting court date to appear. I never received notice of date. Was unaware there was a judgement until I received a "negotiation" letter from the atty.

jewel16501 · Oct 15, 2010, 07:22 AM

I want to request a hearing with the court. Did a vacate judgement form and tried to enter it with the court, but was told I need a request for hearing. I am not sure of what I need to supply the court to do that?

AK lawyer · Oct 15, 2010, 08:37 AM

You were told by the clerk of court that you need to request a hearing in order to file your motion to vacate the judgment? Next question you should have asked the clerk is how to request the hearing.

this8384 · Oct 15, 2010, 08:57 AM

Originally Posted by jewel16501

Yes, I am the debtor. I submit an answer to the suit with court, was waiting court date to appear. I never received notice of date. Was unaware there was a judgement until I received a "negotiation" letter from the atty.

Typically the date of the hearing is printed or written on the summons. From what you've posted here, I don't believe a judgment was entered. An attorney won't "settle" if he's already been given a judgment; if the judge says you owe $5,000 then the attorney has no reason to say he'll accept $3,000 instead. Have you contacted the court to see if there actually was a hearing that you missed and if a default judgment was actually entered?

What documentation have you received regarding this lawsuit? Are you certain this debt is still within statute of limitations?

jewel16501 · Oct 15, 2010, 10:54 AM

This is the confusing part. The court said the default judgement was July 09. The settlement offer was sent to me last month?

jewel16501 · Oct 15, 2010, 10:56 AM

This debt is beyond the statue of limitations, but still I have a default judgement against me.

jewel16501 · Oct 15, 2010, 10:57 AM

Had I known of court date, I would have been there as I knew it was beyond the statute of limitations.

this8384 · Oct 15, 2010, 11:20 AM

Did you actually receive anything from the court showing a default judgment? Or did someone there just state that there was one placed?

You could potentially get this dismissed on grounds of improper service. I'd drive over to the court and ask them to pull the file so you can see what's in there.

jewel16501 · Oct 15, 2010, 12:06 PM

I did drive over there. They said they did mail the notice, but I never got it. They repeated my address and it was correct. They showed me the computer screen of what all went on with the case, dates, etc.

this8384 · Oct 15, 2010, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by jewel16501

I did drive over there. They said they did mail the notice, but I never got it. They repeated my address and it was correct. They showed me the computer screen of what all went on with the case, dates, etc.

Who originally served you with the summons?

You mentioned that the clerk showed you a history of hearings on certain dates but do they have copies of the original paperwork? They should have something you can look at to see what exactly is happening.

I realize every state is different but I find it bizarre that a summons was served without a hearing date already recorded on it - I've never heard of such a thing. Typically the plaintiff files the paperwork, pays the fee, the court clerk schedules the hearing a few weeks from the date of filing and the plaintiff has to serve the defendant in a timely manner prior to the hearing.

AK lawyer · Oct 15, 2010, 12:47 PM

Originally Posted by this8384

...
I realize every state is different but I find it bizarre that a summons was served without a hearing date already recorded on it - I've never heard of such a thing. Typically the plaintiff files the paperwork, pays the fee, the court clerk schedules the hearing a few weeks from the date of filing and the plaintiff has to serve the defendant in a timely manner prior to the hearing.

I don't find that to be strange at all.

Unless it were a small claims case (which I suppose it is because it's in the SC forum), it would be very unusual to put a court date on the summons. If Texas does that for sc cases, fine, but it's not a given that they do. They could very well wait to see if an answer is filed and then either schedule a hearing or enter a default.

But it appears that in this case OP was served with process and either failed to note a hearing date on the summons or was not given a date. In either case, it appears the thing to do would be to move to set the default aside, so that heshe can get his/her day in court.