Help..currently fighting judgement in court

[Anonymous]

I have been fending off this collection agency in court for almost 10 months now.  Does anyone know if a signed contract is enough info for them to stand on to win a judgement? 

Currently I have been fighting this myself w/out an attorney.  The case is now set for a trial.  I want to file a motion for discovery so this CA will have to provide all the info normally required when you DV. 

Anyone have any advice or a form to help me file a motion for discovery?

[niecey89]

sounds like it is too late. i had a judgment once it goes to court, it is pretty much validated. all you can do now is talk to the judge

[Anonymous]

yes and no, it goes to court you have a chance to fight it and I have successfully fought one for my mom which took 3 years but it was dismissed in her favor but there is another one for a friend who is not going so well. It all depends on the court and who you are dealing with it.

Read this if you are interested in my case and hopefully it will yield some help. http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=rebuildingcredit&message.id=31010#M31010

[Lel]

What exactly does this contract say? If it is a contract signed by you stating that you would pay money in exchange for goods or services, then that might be enough for the collection agency to win a judgment.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have been fending off this collection agency in court for almost 10 months now.  Does anyone know if a signed contract is enough info for them to stand on to win a judgement? 

Currently I have been fighting this myself w/out an attorney.  The case is now set for a trial.  I want to file a motion for discovery so this CA will have to provide all the info normally required when you DV. 

Anyone have any advice or a form to help me file a motion for discovery?

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Small tip for your discovery, send them a request to submit any and all "proof" or "evidence" they will be presenting in court within 20 days to substantiate the debt/contract/obligation by showing a signature or agreement signed by you.

If they provide you the information and it doesn't have anything that specifically ties you to it, then you are lucky and you can argue this doesn't prove you owe it and most judges will agree, make sure you attend your case management conference and express that to the judge (whether they show up or not).

If they don't provide you anything in the 20 days, guess what you get lucky again as they can't use ANYTHING against you in court period because you argue that they didn't present it to you and it is perry mason ambush and does not allow for proper review and to mount a defense and the judge will exclude it which means you win.

Anything outside of this, you will have to play it by ear but for the love of god be careful what you say over the phone or in person, be careful what you say in writing or fax or email and do no enter any arrangement or agreement without it being in writing (paper trail, your best friend).

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind that if they successfully obtain a judgment against you, you will probably have to pay their attorney fees.  You can hold them to their burden of proof, but despite the impression you might get from some people on this board, I would guess that most cases are settled before trial.  It is unethical for an attorney to file a petition without any proof of the claim. 

[Anonymous]

Correct, it is unethical for them to file without proof but they do it all the time as that is the number one way to collection against the average person. They bank on fear, lack of resources or money, knowledge or ability to hire an attorney to pay up or even miss their court date and lose by default judgment. Of the most notably unethical are the attorneys of CACV of Colorado and they collect 90% of their money by threats and filing claims in court they have no way to back up and then strong arming people into paying or getting default judgments. Some of the others are PCI and Associates, NCO Financial and a few others.

I know this because I have dealt with it first hand several times and as a law student, I have the unfortunate displeasure of knowing all these dirty little things associated with the law, lawyers and so on which cast such a shadow over a potentially noble field. Primary reason I am becoming an attorney to help those like myself, family and friends and millions of others who get screwed daily by unethical and dirty entities who want to collect money to get their commission or just collect on bad debt they have bought and now want to cash in.

[Anonymous]

It's never to late and I have won some battles.  But the war is not completed! 

[Anonymous]

OUCH....read your post about your case for your friend.  Good work!  But unfortunately no help to me in my case.  I was served at my post office box.

[Anonymous]

The contract was basically a note to borrow money from Citifinancial in 2002.  Notes have a SOL in my state of 15 years.  So I can't get them on that.

They only submission of proof at this point is the contract with my signature.  It says amount financed, how much interest will be charged, and the total amount paid back after all payments and the interest rate is on it. 

What I find interesting is that I'm being sued for an amount that is different than the contract (more money) and that doesn't even reflect any payments that were made.  And of course they've tacked on an ungodly amount of interest.  More than double what my original loan was. 

So I'm thinking, and I've already made a point to the judge that they just keep showing a signed contract.  But they haven't showed any form of payment schedule or running balance.  So how do they justify the amount they are suing for?

Thoughts and remarks appreciated!