You mention to check your credit report- was this debt on your report, and how long had it been there?

What you really need to learn is the law and how to defend yourself in court. You should also learn that what they did is known as overshadowing just for starters. Then they supplied you with false and misleading information. That is two reasons to turn the tables on them and file a federal lawsuit against them for their violations of FDCPA. There will probably be more violations than you have already mentioned. The next thing you need to learn is that it is a whole lot better to be a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit than it is to be a defendant in any court.

If you file a federal lawsuit on them they have to hire another law firm to defend themselves and if you name the plaintiff as a co-defendant then they can’t represent their plaintiff in any court.

Filing federal lawsuits against debt collectors is no big deal and my students do it all the time and win consistantly without lawyers.

I have one student who has filed 40 federal lawsuits and won all but one. I have another who has filed 7 federal lawsuits and won all of them. I have many students who have also filed and won only one or two federal cases.

I’m not going to tell you that it is easy but neither is it all that difficult. Once you have done it a time or two you can actually prepare a case in about an hour or two.

Don’t let the lawyers screw you around. They will do it every time.

Learn how to do it yourself and win.

I would file a writ to have them state the origin of the debt.

If nobody complains or reports them they can send out summons and collect $100 all day every day as opposed to you paying the $250+ hour for attorney’s fees… sounds like a scam to me..

Personally, I think it might anger me so much to know that I am being sued for something I didn’t do (or for a debt I don’t owe) that I would try to fight it. But maybe that is an emotional reaction rather than a rational (and economical) one, I don’t know.

What I would do is get a lawyer to propound Discovery immediately and if it turns out that you’re not liable for that debt and they do have the wrong person, I would try to recover my attorneys fees and costs from the other side as well. I would not settle until I have an idea of what it is they think they have against me. Initial discovery (in California, at least) can be made on generic forms and should cost that much (Discovery is the “fact finding” part of a lawsuit)

There is a lot of information on the Internet, such as Nolo Press http://www.nolo.com/ for example, to help consumers understand the legal system. However, my advice would be to not try to mess with a lawsuit myself and most definitely hire an attorney. Even if you’ve done your homework and you think you undestand the process of the lawsuit 100%, when the other side sees a law firm’s name on the pleadings as opposed to just “in pro per” it makes a BIG difference.

I also wanted to add a couple of details about something I read in one of your previous posts; you mentioned something about having 10 days to respond to a Summons. In California, I believe you have 30 days to respond after personal service was effected (I saw respond, not “answer” because there are various pleadings you can file when you get sued, not just an answer/general denial).

Also, I believe I read in a previous post something about law firms obtaining defaults judgment by serving people at an expired address. I am pretty sure that in California, that kind of service would be considered invalid.

Good luck and thank you so much for taking the time to do this blog and let other people benefits from your experience. I intend to start reading through all your posts; this is a excellent blog!

Hang in there,
TF, California

PS. I like how your lawyer gave you both options (settle or fight) right in the beginning and let *you* make the decision.

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Any lawyer, whether a collection attorney or a personal injury or a divorce attorney, would prefer to resolve and settle a case at any point along the legal process whether suit has been filed or not. In fact, the courts generally frown upon any attorney who does not seek to attempt to settle a case before it reaches possible trial.

90-95 percent of all civil collection matters are won by the plaintiff’s attorney due to default as most defendant’s do not wish to fight a case especially if they know they owe the money. To state that the law firm is a bottom feeder because they win by default is to fail to recognize the realities of the legal system and how defendants NORMALLY react to the service of the summons.

In your case, you stated at the beginning you have no idea what the debt is for. Generally , these situations arise froma divorce proceeding where the ex spouse was supposed to pay the bill on which you both were jointly liable. Unfortunately such an order does relieve the exspouse who does not have to pay from liability to the creditor as that order does not relieve liability between the creditor and both of the spouses. Couple that with the fact that when a party is relieved from the responsibility to pay the bill, he or she fails to send the credit card company an updated address thus when the other spouse fails to pay as ordered by the divorce court, the victimized spouse never gets a notice until it is at the collection stage.

Therefore you are so correct in advising people to check their credit report annually or even more frequently. It is important.

Just dont shoot the messenger (the attorney) who is trying to collect a debt on behalf of his client. You quoted Bud Hibbs as saying that they were barely on the legal side of the law. That is saying theat the lawfirm IS on the legal side of the law.

As for the other issues regarding the answer date and validation that is something else. If you did not send the request for validation within 30 days of receiving your letter containing the 30 day validation procedure, the law firm is under no obligation to send you validation.
check your dates before youd ecide to stand on what you presume to be correct.

Abusive law firms should be punished but the mere fact that someone is a collection attorney is no excuse to call them bottom feeders etc. If all people paid their bills (assuming no error) there would be no need for collection agencies or attorneys.

I suggest you get competent legal advise and make your decision.

Chuck

Brad offers some great advice. You stood up to these people, who appear to do this sort of thing regularly. If you do not continue your fight, they will keep doing this to other people.

Read it and weep.
Want my advice, see if you can pay pennies on the dollar. You’re young. Move on.

They didn’t produce any documentation also so we moved for a summary dismissal. Amazingly, they forged documents and changed the dates. I’ll keep you posted on what happens to me.

Four months is a long time. Intgerst and penalties are piling up. Bust-a-move.