Court date Tuesday please help!!

thotgal320 · ‎07-10-2008

I finally get the date of when I have to appear in small claims court. I am being sued by Asset Acceptance for a utility bill. The amount of the bill is $394 and the last time I had service was 2001. SOL in CT is 6 years, it fell off my CR.

I recieved a letter back in January I admitted to owing the debt but also stated I didn't have the money. So 7 months later I not only get a date it is now in a different city as well. They bought the account in Nov 2006 which means they had over a year to sue. My questions are can they still sue me after I admitted to owing the amount after SOL? Can I dispute it because it is past SOL?

Anonymous · ‎07-10-2008

I've also been in this situation where I had admited to owing the debt after the SOL had passed and then was sued; in fact this happened to me a couple of times. It didn't matter that I had admited it, and the ca certainly didn't have that in writing (I'm unclear on whether this detail is the same with you, but even if they do, SOL pertains to when they can sue--if your state's SOL is 6 years, that's their timeframe no matter what you admitted when. I think they can only adjust SOL if you actually gave them a payment). In my situation, the cases never even got to the judge. I showed the attorney that was set to try the case that the debt was passed SOL and he went to the clerk and told them to dismiss with prejudice (meaning they can't sue me again); this happened in two different instances. Remember, the lawyers are not there just for you. You'll be put into a court room with many other people who the creditors opted to sue. The lawyer is just trying to get through their day, so don't be intimidated. Make sure you get there on time. The clerk will call out your name. You say here. Then after all names are called, you'll get a chance to talk to the lawyer assigned to your case. Just tell them it's passed the SOL. That will instantly tell the attorney you know the law and your rights. That's an ironclad defense and they won't even want to take it to the judge or try to bully you into a payment plan or some such. They'll just want to move on to the next defendant. Just make sure on the papers they filed that the file date is outside the SOL, meaning they sued you after the SOL had passed. A credit report won't necessarily be enough to show that the debt is passed the SOL. If you have something from the ca that says the first date of delinquency that would be best, or if you can get that in writing from the oc. If you don't have this documentation and can't get it in time for the court date, you can ask for a continuance that day for this reason, while both you and the lawyer gets their act together. The lawyer will probably not have paperwork indicating when the first date of delinquency was either. Being sued is not the end of the world. It's the ca last ditch effort to scare some money out of you. You should be okay.

Anonymous · ‎07-10-2008

Two other things: Don't be late because the clerk will enter a default judgement against you if you are not there when they call your name.

Also, the lawyer may not have the paperwork with them about the first date of delinquency to determine SOL, but they can call in to the ca to find out. One of the lawyers I dealt with did this when I only had an old credit report to plead my case with. But he verified that I was right and dismissed the case. No fuss, no muss.

Good luck.

Message Edited by almost_there on 07-10-2008 06:09 PM

Anonymous · ‎07-10-2008

thotgal320 wrote:

I finally get the date of when I have to appear in small claims court. I am being sued by Asset Acceptance for a utility bill. The amount of the bill is $394 and the last time I had service was 2001. SOL in CT is 6 years, it fell off my CR.

I recieved a letter back in January I admitted to owing the debt but also stated I didn't have the money. So 7 months later I not only get a date it is now in a different city as well. They bought the account in Nov 2006 which means they had over a year to sue. My questions are can they still sue me after I admitted to owing the amount after SOL? Can I dispute it because it is past SOL?

In some states acknowledging the debt is yours can reset SOL.

SOL will go from DOLA.

Anonymous · ‎07-10-2008

Good to know. Thanks for the clarification sidewinder.

Anonymous · ‎07-10-2008

SOL pertains to when they can sue--if your state's SOL is 6 years, that's their timeframe no matter what you admitted when. I think they can only adjust SOL if you actually gave them a payment).

Every state has different laws pertaining to what resets SOL. Sometimes just acknowledging it is yours will reset it. However, CT requires that acknowlegment to be in writing.

thotgal320 · ‎07-10-2008

They do have it in writing when I got the first notice in January I acknowledged the debt but even then it was past SOL. I called the OC to see when was the last time I had service with them was and if they would send me a letter and they did. The letter states that the last time I had service was in 2001, the balance and that it was sold to Asset Acceptance in Nov. 2006 which again January of 2008 is past SOL.

Anonymous · ‎07-10-2008

thotgal320 wrote:

They do have it in writing when I got the first notice in January I acknowledged the debt but even then it was past SOL. I called the OC to see when was the last time I had service with them was and if they would send me a letter and they did. The letter states that the last time I had service was in 2001, the balance and that it was sold to Asset Acceptance in Nov. 2006 which again January of 2008 is past SOL.

I am still unclear as to whether SOL can be reset AFTER it has expired or not.

Let us know the outcome.

Anonymous · ‎07-10-2008

thotgal320 wrote:
They do have it in writing when I got the first notice in January I acknowledged the debt but even then it was past SOL. I called the OC to see when was the last time I had service with them was and if they would send me a letter and they did. The letter states that the last time I had service was in 2001, the balance and that it was sold to Asset Acceptance in Nov. 2006 which again January of 2008 is past SOL.

sidewinder wrote:

I am still unclear as to whether SOL can be reset AFTER it has expired or not.

Let us know the outcome.
_________________________________________________________________________

I believe that this all depends on how the states statutes are written. In Wisconsin and Mississippi

the state statutes say the after the SOL has expired, the debt, does in fact expire.

In Klewer V. Calvary, the court held that attempting to collect a time barred debt is violating FDCPA because collection activity misrepresented the legal status of the debt.

According to what research I have done, it does not matter if the SOL is expired. If you make a payment it restarts the SOL. Again, you would probably need to read that states statues to see how it is written.

Anonymous · ‎07-10-2008

guiness56 wrote:

thotgal320 wrote:

They do have it in writing when I got the first notice in January I acknowledged the debt but even then it was past SOL. I called the OC to see when was the last time I had service with them was and if they would send me a letter and they did. The letter states that the last time I had service was in 2001, the balance and that it was sold to Asset Acceptance in Nov. 2006 which again January of 2008 is past SOL.

          sidewinder wrote:

          I am still unclear as to whether SOL can be reset AFTER it has expired or not.



          Let us know the outcome.
         _________________________________________________________________________

I believe that this all depends on how the states statutes are written. In Wisconsin and Mississippi

the state statutes say the after the SOL has expired, the debt, does in fact expire.

In Klewer V. Calvary, the court held that attempting to collect a time barred debt is violating FDCPA because collection activity misrepresented the legal status of the debt.

According to what research I have done, it does not matter if the SOL is expired. If you make a payment it restarts the SOL. Again, you would probably need to read that states statues to see how it is written.

Thx.