Have I been served with a lawsuit or not?

Someone came to my house, maybe late in the evening or on a weekend. They were wearing civilian clothes and driving their personal car. They handed me some official looking papers stating that I was being sued by some company I’ve never heard of on an old credit card debt. Should I be concerned? Is this legitimate?

Chances are you have been sued by someone in the debt buying industry. Debt buyers will purchase large bundles of charged off accounts, then try to sue on them as if they were their own. They frequently lack substantial documentation to prove their case, but are counting on a very high default rate, or that the consumer will try to defend
themselves.  Chances are you have been served with a genuine lawsuit.  If you
have any doubt, call the court.  Most attorneys that work for the debt buyers will utilize private process servers, which are technically civilian officers of the court, but generally have full time employment elsewhere.

Any plaintiff is certainly within his right to utilize a private process server instead of a court deputy to obtain service. I have done so myself. The more informal appearance of a civilian process server combined with the consumer’s lack of familiarity with the debt
buyer can lead the new defendant to not take the matter seriously. A failure to
answer could result in a default judgment being granted against you. It’s your
choice.  If you never answer, you make it easier for the debt buyer to win a quick default judgment against you for potentially thousands of dollars.

If you are served, one page of the service should include a citation page. This should include the contact information for the court. You can always speak to one of the clerks to verify that the suit has been filed. Or, you should speak with me or another consumer
attorney to discuss what is going on. One good way to tell if you are really
being sued is by looking to see if you are getting solicitation letters from
attorneys who want to defend you. These are generally sent out based on the
public records of court proceedings.

Call me now to discuss your situation. I offer a free consultation.

Sued by a creditor, Can I afford an attorney?

The better question is can you afford not to hire one. Credit card lawsuits are filed en masse by a handful of law firms across the state. I’ve personally reviewed court files and seen one attorney file over 20 cases in one day in the same Justice of the Peace Court. In the majority of debt buyer cases, and a pretty good percentage of original creditor cases, the creditors and their attorneys the lack the documentation to properly prove up their cases.

Debt litigation is a lot like a poker game. My job as a debt defense lawyer is to force the other side to show their cards. The creditors have the burden of proof to prove up each and every element of the cause of action they are seeking recovery for. While this may not sound that complex do you, do you think you can afford the risk of trying to do this all by yourself?

I recently took on a pro bono client from Legal Aid of Northwest Texas. She was considering filing for a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. She was being sued by a 3rd party debt buyer claiming to be the assignee of a credit card account that she had defaulted on. After filing an answer and asking for some discovery, the debt buyer dropped their suit, and she elected not to file Bankruptcy. However, about a year before I met with her, she had tried to represent herself against a separate 3rd party debt buyer. She decided to take an agreed judgment and will be paying $150 to 200 per month for several years to come. While I cannot promise a particular result, I am fairly confident that I could have either gotten that case dismissed or negotiated to an amount quite a bit more reasonable. In addition, she paid for her own pre-filing Bankruptcy class which I could have arranged for her to get at no charge. In short she lost money by not hiring an attorney sooner.

If you are indigent and cannot afford a lawyer, there are a number of services available, such as Legal Aid of Northwest Texas that may be able to find an attorney to handle your case pro bono. The Tarrant County Bar Association offers a legal line twice a month where you may call and ask questions of a local attorney who is volunteering his/her time. If you are a veteran, there is a group called the Texas Veterans Legal network that may be able to assist you. If you don’t hire me, get help somewhere. As I stated in my last blog entry, judgments don’t ever really go away.

Call me now for a free consultation.