[jb1973]

Hi there, I was served a judgement this morning for credit card debt for about 4500$.
There is no option for a court date to dispute this. I haven't spoken to these people before nor have I received any written letters. I do not believe the debt is mine.

Here is my hangup though, I have 30 days from today to respond/dispute this judgment. I called the clerks office and they said there is no court date, you just need to come in and file a dispute if you believe it isn't yours. She also stated that these rarely if ever even go to court. She said that its my job to prove that they are wrong or the judge will issue the judgement. That scares me! I have 30 days to prove these people wrong. What if they don't respond to my validation letter? Is there any other way to handle this sort of thing?

Also, I cannot find an attorney that will help me out. Conversation examples so far today:
"Hi do you guys handle civil cases?"
"Yes we do"
"Great, I have a civil case against me from a debt collector, I just need some help proving this isn't mine"
"Ohh ok we dont do those, sorry"

Is that normal? I'm so uneducated in this area. Any help is very much appreciated. Thank you.

[2BInspired]

I am not an expert and dealing with my own issues at present. But have you requested in writing they validate the debt? From what I understand if you request in certified and in writing validation if they ignore they are essentially not providing proof of the debt. Meaning if you are unable to attend the court date and a judge awards a judgement you can later ask to vacate as they did not provide proof of the debt. Also what state do you reside. How is it that the burden of proof is on you and not them sorry what the clerk says doesn't make any sense.

[jb1973]

Hi and thank you! As of about an hour ago, and after researching online, I did in fact send a letter asking them to validate the debt. I sent it certified mail.
I agree with you that it doesn't make sense. At least, not in my opinion. I live in the state of Georgia. The other thing is, there is no court date at all. Its just a summons for a judgment and if I don't dispute it, it slides through the system and judge approves it. She said I had to come up to the clerks office, bring any of my so-called proof to be filed in the dispute then I just sit back and see what happens.
After reading several other peoples stories, I thought mine was strange that I did not
Have a court date, and that now I have to work to prove them wrong, rather than them prove themselves.

[excon]

Hello jb:

First off, in legal matters, the terms you use DO matter. You began your question saying you received a judgment. Then I find out, of course, that you did not yet get a judgment, but that what you received is a summons.

Next, you didn't understand the clerk. Please, do not get your legal advice from the clerk. She certainly did not call your proof "so-called". It IS up to the plaintiff (you're the defendant) to prove their case. If they don't prove theirs, you DON'T have to prove anything.

excon

[jb1973]

Thank you =)

[bretb]

Hi there, I was served a judgement this morning for credit card debt for about 4500$.
There is no option for a court date to dispute this. I haven't spoken to these people before nor have I received any written letters. I do not believe the debt is mine.

Here is my hangup though, I have 30 days from today to respond/dispute this judgment. I called the clerks office and they said there is no court date, you just need to come in and file a dispute if you believe it isn't yours. She also stated that these rarely if ever even go to court. She said that its my job to prove that they are wrong or the judge will issue the judgement. That scares me! I have 30 days to prove these people wrong. What if they don't respond to my validation letter? Is there any other way to handle this sort of thing?

Also, I cannot find an attorney that will help me out. Convo examples so far today:
"Hi do you guys handle civil cases?"
"Yes we do"
"Great, I have a civil case against me from a debt collector, I just need some help proving this isn't mine"
"Ohh ok we dont do those, sorry"

Is that normal? I'm so uneducated in this area. Any help is very much appreciated. Thank you.

What they filed with the court against you is a "complaint"

Now, you need to file in response is an "answer"

(remember the court is an unbiased mediator (lack of better term)... they're not on anyone's side... and like 99.9% of judges, they MUCH prefer you two settle your little fight outside of court.

Make sure you ANSWER that complaint. If you do... I'll bet 10 to 1, they drop the complaint, otherwise, it will be set for a pre-trial hearing that you'll likely show up to and they won't show (been there, done that). If it does reach a court date, do yourself the favor I did...

Before you show up in court, type a nice little letter asking the judge to dismiss the lawsuit, include something about having to take off work to be here and the party that is suing doesn't even care enough about the lawsuit to show up themselves. Title your letter "motion to dismiss" at the top and ask that it be filed with the clerk of courts. :)

This will get your little scavenger friends attention if nothing else does and they'll be dropping their suit in no time.

(once again... the scavenger does NOT hunt living prey. They're not looking for a legal, costly court battle...

What the scavengers seek are DEAD prey. They prey on the weak who will do NOTHING when they receive a summons to court, except for ball up in a corner and cry.

If they want to play hardball... :) game on, baby!

But trust me, the $300 they probably paid for your $4,500 debt (that likely will never get paid [at least not if YOU know what's best for you]) is not worth the added expense of paying their legal team $120 an hour to sit in court arguing with you.

Answer the complaint, and likely your legal problems will mysteriously disappear. If not, you might need to take the added step that I did. Type a letter asking the judge to throw out this stupid lawsuit so we can all get one to bigger and better things, title it "motion to dismiss" and the judge will likely set a hearing date to "hear" your reason that the lawsuit should be dismissed.

10 to 1, they'll give up before that hearing date (like Credigy did with me), but if not... GO to court again and when they don't show up there, and the judge asks why he/she should dismiss the lawsuit, you can just point to the empty chair across from you in the court room.

You won't even have to explain, "this is not MY debt". :) save your breath for relating your victory story to other potential scare victims of the scavengers plot.

[jb1973]

Awesome, thanks so very much for your advice on this =)

[ScottGem]

If you look through this forum you will find many other threads with the same story. And the same advice on what to do. There is also a sticky note at the top of the forum with some general instructions.

As pointed out you did not receive a judgement but a summons notifiying you that you are being sued. The reason there is no court date is because they want to see if you plan on disputing the suit. Since most such cases result in a default judgement, why bother crowding up the court calendar until they know if there is the need for a hearing?

So now you answer the summons stating you plan on defending against the suit. I don't know why the clerk told you you had to disprove the debt. As excon said, as the defendant the burden of proof is on the defendant. And the acceptable proof is the contract with your signature on it along with proof that it wasn't paid.

Next you request the creditor send you such proof. From there, how you proceed depends on whether they can produce the proof.

[dmarlow2323]

I got called by an "officer miacheals" for a debt and yet the officer never showed up to my house and left a voicemail to call this number and I called the number and they wouldn't tell me the court date and verbally abused me saying their going to take all my pay checks for are the next 15-20 yrs for everything I own and say I committed credit card ffraud by paying them. I fell behind due emplyment hardships with other bills at the time. I keep checking the courts website and I don't have any judgements or courts dates showing up. What do I do? Im thinking about doing chapter 7 right away to rid these problems and start fresh.