topic Re: Am i being sued? part2 in Rebuilding Your Credit

Am i being sued??

grillandwinemaster — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 00:30:20 GMT

I received an attorney solicitation in the mail today indicating that I was being sued by Portfolio Recovery Associates, and that I should retain there services to represent me.

The letter from the attorney indicates the date Portfolio supposedly filed this lawsuit as Jan 20th, 2017.

The letter from the attorney solicitation even indicates a case number and jurisdiction. It "looks" pretty legitimate. I do have an outstanding collection account with PRA. So it all looks genuine.

However, I'm not overly concerned since this is a time barred debt and I have copies of old credit reports to prove this. I printed and saved old credit reports just in case something like this would happen.

My concern is this, I haven't received ANY information from the court. I haven't been served. There has been zero indication that a lawsuit has been filed. It is this that has me concerned. Shouldn't have I received something from the court indicating a lawsuit has been filed BEFORE I start getting solicitations from "well meaning" attorneys?

Any and all thoughts would be greatly Appreciated.

Re: Am i being sued??

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 00:40:32 GMT

If you go to your local courts website you should be able to input your information and see if a suit has been filed.

Am i being sued? part2

grillandwinemaster — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 00:42:52 GMT

Ok, in my earlier post I indicated that I believe that PRA has filed suit against me on a time barred debt. Because I'm confident that i can prove this, I'm not overly concerned. I'm "almost" looking forward to appearing in court.

My question is, can I use the fact that they (pra) are suing on a time barred debt to my advantage? Can I use this as leverage? More specifically, would there attorney be authorized to accept and sign a pay for deletion agreement? More than likely for an amount less than owed.

I'm aware that PRA is notorious for not doing pfd agreements. But I'm hoping that perhaps if I'm face to face with whatever attorney they have hired on the court date, HE may be more reasonable and willing to negotiate?

I was prepared to wait out the credit reporting period, which runs for 3 more years without incident. But now there actions have me thinking that maybe I can flip this into a positive!

Any and all thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Re: Am i being sued? part2

Blackswizz750 — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 01:56:30 GMT

The question is have you been served? If not, then there may be a violation depending what state you live in. Also, of this is time barred debt, this should even be on your report due to SOL. I know you mentioned you have old reports; that is awesome and any other items from PRA that's very old as well should work. If the debt is over 500, it would hurt to have an attorney look at your case.

I had a case dismissed and Credit One had to also delete all negative info off my report. I still have my court papers if they should feel froggy. That 250 saved me much more.

Re: Am i being sued? part2

gdale6 — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 03:35:20 GMT

2 threads on same subject have been merged into one.

Re: Am i being sued? part2

grillandwinemaster — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 16:11:22 GMT

So It appears that i am indeed being sued. I was able to copy and paste the following information from my local county courthouse website. Thanks, Cincy, for this tip! Perhaps someone can enlighten me a bit on this matter? So i see most of the dates are indeed 1/20/2017, complaint filed, summons issued and filed (not applicable)? What does this mean? I wont be receiving a summons? I noticed a date of 7/21/2017 as "service completion." What does this mean? What is this referring to? Why is this date so far off in the future?

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. Also, I will be updating this thread as new developments arise in this case. I figured this would make for interesting "data points," if you can call them that.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

01/22/2018 8:30 AM DEPT. S17 OSC RE: STATUS OF DEFAULT JUDGMENT PURSUANT TO CRC 3.740 - Minutes

07/21/2017 8:30 AM DEPT. S17 OSC RE: SERVICE COMPLETION PURSUANT TO CRC3.740 - Minutes
01/20/2017 PLAINTIFF PORTFOLIO RECOVERYASSOCIATES,LLC FIRST PAPER FEE PREVIOUSLY PAID IN FULL. Not Applicable
N 01/20/2017 DECLARATION RE: REDUCED FILING FEES BP6322.1(C)(1) FILED. Not Applicable
N 01/20/2017 NOTICE IMAGED Not Applicable
01/20/2017 CASE ASSIGNED FOR ALL PURPOSES TO DEPARTMENT S17
N 01/20/2017 CIVIL CASE COVER SHEET FILED. Not Applicable
N 01/20/2017 SUMMONS ISSUED AND FILED Not Applicable
N 01/20/2017 COMPLAINT FILED. (LIMITED JURISDICTION - DEC BP6322.1(C)(1)). Not Applicable

Re: Am i being sued??

grillandwinemaster — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 16:12:32 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If you go to your local courts website you should be able to input your information and see if a suit has been filed.

Thanks CincyReds fan, for this tip. I was able to retrieve quite a bit of information from my county courthouse.

Re: Am i being sued??

heavyjay — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 16:26:08 GMT

Get your ducks in a row now for when you're served. Your CR isn't good enough to prove a debt is time barred. Their attorney will object to it as hearsay. You need something from the OC to substantiate the DOFD.

ETA: Unless you're in a small claims court that doesn't allow discovery, you should be able to get everything PRA has through the discovery process. After being served you would answer the complaint with time barred as an affirmative defense.

Re: Am i being sued??

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 16:33:20 GMT

Lawyers sit in court houses all day looking for cases they can solicit. The hungry ones anyways. Usually because they don't have much business.

What is the DOFD grill?

Re: Am i being sued? part2

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 16:35:59 GMT

@Blackswizz750 wrote:
The question is have you been served? If not, then there may be a violation depending what state you live in. Also, of this is time barred debt, this should even be on your report due to SOL. I know you mentioned you have old reports; that is awesome and any other items from PRA that's very old as well should work. If the debt is over 500, it would hurt to have an attorney look at your case.

I had a case dismissed and Credit One had to also delete all negative info off my report. I still have my court papers if they should feel froggy. That 250 saved me much more.

SOL has nothing to do with credit reporting.

Another words;

Time barred on SOL means the creditor/CA can't sue.

They can report 7 years plus 180 days from date of first delinquency.

Re: Am i being sued? part2

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 16:39:09 GMT

Could there be a default judgement on you that you are not aware of? Top line mentions default judgement...

Re: Am i being sued? part2

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 16:51:19 GMT

PRA has no problem suing people, but they don't like being sued. I had a paid collection with them at one time and I found a few loopholes of getting them off my reports through my state (Massachusetts). They wouldn't budge until I filed a statement of claim in the Massachusetts district court. They deleted before the court date. A week later PRA called me and asked me to dismiss the case because they deleted. In which case I did and sent them documentation showing them I dismissed WITHOUT prejudice.

Re: Am i being sued? part2

heavyjay — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 16:54:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Could there be a default judgement on you that you are not aware of? Top line mentions default judgement...

The dates are weird:

01/22/2018 8:30 AM DEPT. S17 OSC RE: STATUS OF DEFAULT JUDGMENT PURSUANT TO CRC 3.740 - Minutes

07/21/2017 8:30 AM DEPT. S17 OSC RE: SERVICE COMPLETION PURSUANT TO CRC3.740 - Minutes

Re: Am i being sued??

grillandwinemaster — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 19:01:59 GMT

The date of first default is 11/2012. I have this as Cap1 reporting me 30 days late on all 3 bureaus.

It's a little confusing though, because they reported me 30,60 in 9/2012 and 10/2012, "ok" in 11/2012 and 30 days in 12/2012. So the latest SOL would be 11/2012 since I would have to have been late in Nov 2012 in order for Cap1 to report me 30 days in Dec 2012??

If they had filed in Nov 2016, they would be within the SOL. Unless there's some kind of "extension" period to file past the SOL, I do believe they're clearly outside of SOL.

Re: Am i being sued? part2

grillandwinemaster — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 19:03:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Could there be a default judgement on you that you are not aware of? Top line mentions default judgement...

Let's hope not. I havent received any alerts from my credit report services.

Re: Am i being sued??

grillandwinemaster — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 19:07:04 GMT

@heavyjay wrote:
Get your ducks in a row now for when you're served. Your CR isn't good enough to prove a debt is time barred. Their attorney will object to it as hearsay. You need something from the OC to substantiate the DOFD.

Wouldn't the original creditor reporting me late, and subsequently charging off the account be substantiation of the DofFD from the original creditor?

Re: Am i being sued??

RobertEG — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 19:10:26 GMT

The courts have held in numerous jurisdictions that filing civil action on a debt for which the state SOL is known to have expired is a violation of the FDCPA.

While it is not an explicit provision of the FDCPA, depending upon where you live, it could be a violation based on case law precedent in your jurisdiction.

I would consult an attorney for an opinion as to whether their civil action was a violation,and additionally for review of the court documents for opinion as to any other violations, such as lack of proper service of notice. You have a procedural mess for which you need review by an attorney.....

Re: Am i being sued??

heavyjay — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 19:50:00 GMT

@grillandwinemaster wrote:
@heavyjay wrote:
Get your ducks in a row now for when you're served. Your CR isn't good enough to prove a debt is time barred. Their attorney will object to it as hearsay. You need something from the OC to substantiate the DOFD.
Wouldn't the original creditor reporting me late, and subsequently charging off the account be substantiation of the DofFD from the original creditor?

The OC's business records can substantiate the DOFD. Your credit report may be correct but it is still hearsay.

Re: Am i being sued??

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 19:59:12 GMT

No Problem! Good luck going forward. I have an open collection from PRA myself. SOL expires in 13 months. Just trying to ride the storm out

Re: Am i being sued??

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 21:03:21 GMT

New guy on the block here.

This would be my suggestion. And my story.

I would suggest talking with a lawyer. You should be able to find a lawyer that will take your case for free or almost free. PRA is a junk debt buyer, and probably will balk at being sued back for violations of FCRA.

I had a junk debt buyer sue me in State court for $1200. One day out of the blue, a process server served me with a notice that I was being sued. I looked and looked, but could not find a local consumer protection lawyer. Eventually I found one that was based about 2.5 hours away that agreed to represent me. I paid him a $200 retainer to get started and he took it from there. Long story short, he filed a countersuit against the CA and they dropped the original case with prejudice. But my lawyer wasn't done. He worked out a settlement of the countersuit and the CA ended up paying him $2500 to drop the countersuit. He also gave me my $200 back.

Now your case might be different, but if it is somewhat similar you might can find a lawyer to handle your case for free or little money.