cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

What happens at a Summary Judgment Hearing?

tag
Anonymous
Not applicable

What happens at a Summary Judgment Hearing?

I submitted my response as instructed to the Judge - what actually happens??? 

Thanks for any thoughts!
Message 1 of 11
10 REPLIES 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What happens at a Summary Judgment Hearing?

Hoping this helps. From what you've stated, a Complaint has been filed against you in a Court of Law and you have been given 30 days to Answer the Complaint, during this time period the Plaintiff or Plaintiff's attorney has filed a Motion with the court asking for Summary Judgement (probably on the merits of the case). That is, the Plaintiff must state grounds for Summary Judgement. For example; in your Answer to Complaint you made have stated an Admission (of the debt, if it was a debt) and Plaintiff's attorney will use that against you to get a Summary Judgement.
 
When filing an Answer to Complaint you generally want to Deny everything except perhaps Jurisdiction of the Court and let the other side Prove the stated allegations (prove the case).
 
From here it starts to get more complicated. The ball is now in your court and from your question you may be knocked out of the ball park at the Summary Judgement Hearing. What you can do is get an attorney to Enter his Appearance on your behalf and Motion the Court for time to review the Pleadings (Complaint, Answer and Motion for Summary Judgement).
 
If you go to the Summary Judgement Hearing and the other side prevails (the Judge Enters a Judgement against you) your recourse will then be to file an Appeal within a set period of time, at this point it gets expensive.
 
Again, hoping this helps.
Message 2 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What happens at a Summary Judgment Hearing?

More info.
What actually happens at the Summary Judgment Hearing is that the Judge has reviewed the case and has been asked via Motion to Grant the Plaintiff Summary Judgment against you and the Judge either will or will not grant the Summary Judgment on the Pleadings (the paperwork submitted) and he may take testimony or ask you or the other side key questions and may make his decision right there. If he denies the Motion it will be set for trail, if he grants the Motion a Judgment is entered against you.
 
Either way, you will want some horse power behind you. An Experienced Attorney.
 
All the best.
Message 3 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What happens at a Summary Judgment Hearing?

i think this is a good time to reiterate the fact that it is usually not a good idea to try to represent yourself when you have been sued by a creditor.  first off, a lawyer can usually negotiate a better settlement of the case, before trial, which might help you avoid atty fees, court costs, etc.  a lawyer may also be in a better position to negotiate a PFD as part of the settlement.  also, a good lawyer will file an answer that does not include any admissions that may make the plaintiff's case for them.
 
a summary judgment motion simply says, "hey judge, we filed a complaint, the defendant filed an answer, and if you look at both the complaint and the answer, there ain't no dispute as to the pertinent facts of the case.  since there ain't no question as to the facts, go ahead and make your legal conclusions based on these impliedly agreed upon facts." 
 
smj's are difficult for plaintiffs to win...but the ones that are winners are usually the ones where a defendant is unaware of their right to deny allegations in the petition, regardless of whether they are actually true or not, and files an answer admitting most of the allegations.  that will sink you. 
 
the above general legal information is just that- information.  it is not an evaluation of your case or a recommendation of a course of action for you to follow.  all cases are different.  your interests are best protected by seeking the advice of a lawyer licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.  although i am a lawyer, a client-attorney relationship has not been formed between us by my posting of the general legal information above. 
 
 
Message 4 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What happens at a Summary Judgment Hearing?

I did deny everything and stated they never provided DV - they just sent me their latest response to mine (hearing is next Thursday of course) - love how I always get this crap on Friday nights...anyway...they claim they did NOT violate my rights because I did NOT ask for DV  during the initial 30 day period - my understanding is you are supposed to dispute within the first 30 days -and you can request DV at any time - which I did the very next time I heard from them (7 months later) - and a year later again, they still have NOT provided PROOF - this is SOOOOO frustrating - guess what - I'm getting my response filed with that stinking court before the hearing !!!  Unfortunately, I am only hopeful an attorney I found WILL take the case but I could totally be too late because the hearing is next Thursday!
 
IPLEASE HELP - any words of encouragement at all?  I did receive the hearing stuff - it isn't supposed to be until April 2008 - this firm is trying to eliminate the necessity for that by getting the summary judgment NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!
Message 5 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What happens at a Summary Judgment Hearing?

Some things you have stated are not real clear to me. Is this a debt case (are they claiming you owe them money)? Are you asking them to provide you with proof of the debt? Do you owe the debt but disagree with them about the amount? Have you used goggle to look up the Rules of Civil procedure for the Court you are in?
 
First of all stay calm as you deal with all this. You are not dealing with a death penalty and you will survive all of this.
 
If you feel that you are out-gunned which you may very well be in that you are going up against what may be or become a stacked deck, then, what you have to do is play for time by reversing your strategy, in part.
 
Since they want to move fast on this, what you do is slow it down again by Filing a Motion and Order for time to hire attorney or Motion to Continue and/or Reschedule Hearing the ground are that you do not understand your rights in this matter and that you have contacted an attorney but are not sure if he will take this case and need more time to hire an attorney.
 
Be prepared to move forward in case the Judge denies your Motion but this will also serve as grounds for Appeal in case he grants the Summary Judgment. You are entitled to know your rights and hire an attorney there is no law against that yet lol.  The other side will counter that you have had plenty of time or more than enough time to hire an attorney, therefore, you can take the position in your Motion that Plaintiff's most recent response (whatever title they gave it) has now made you aware that you do not have sufficient knowledge of the Rules of Civil procedure and laws to proceed with this case pro se (on your own) hence, you are asking that the Court grant you a reasonable time period to hire a competent attorney.
 
If this Motion is strong enough the Judge will not hear the Summary Judgment issues at all and will continue the matter to another date. 
 
You can find out from the Court Clerks office or possibly the Judge's secretary etc. (some Courts have pro se people there to help others don't also the law school may be able to help) what Form of pleading they will require to be filed basically it's a simple Motion and Order for the Judge to sign continuing the matter to a blank date. Some of the Court people can be a pain and the standard answer is 'we can not give legal advice".  You are not asking for legal advice you are asking a "procedure and/or process question".
 
So, it's either the attorney you have contacted files an Entry of Appearance and Motions the Court for time or you Motion the Court for time to get an attorney.
 
As you wade thru the Judicial process both process and procedural issues arise from time to time and the foregoing observations are of a generic nature relative to process.
Message 6 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What happens at a Summary Judgment Hearing?

You had not hired an attorney because you had a 2008 hearing date (prior to this Summary issue arising recently).
Message 7 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What happens at a Summary Judgment Hearing?

The issue is that I know this is a top baddie that purchased my account; I've had (3) CAs try to collect for LVNV.  I used the same dispute with each of these (3) CAs; the first two, never heard from again.  This 3rd one, didn't hear they claim because of the "cease" portion of letter...so the next communication was the S&C; to that I responded with DV. 
 
In the response I hope got to the court today; I stated that the paragraph CAs are required to put in their initial notice states "if we dispute the debt or any portion thereof" and I did write in about 5 days from receiving; no, by this time in 4 months and sending the first two CMRRR I thought it was insane as I mentioned, not all these people can collect?!  And I have heard that if you pay one, the others CAN and do still come after a person.
 
My hearing is first thing I believe Thursday morning this week after the holiday; I doubt I'll get to say anything but I have until July 24 to introduce a lawyer, and if I'm even asked, I will state exactly what you said - that I've contacted a lawyer and I just don't know yet if he will take the case.
 
It isn't death, I know you are right, it stinks though to watch JDBs get away with inflating a debt; not having to prove that they really DO have the right to get ANY money from you.  I found the scale of what they pay for accounts like this...the original debt with the OC was $1300; to which, yes, I can prove; and the SOL is not over until next year.  I guess I don't know as much as I thought, but I do live check to check so I can't just fork over money; and I think I mentioned this before, they are reporting this account twice, which is KILLING my credit score and the stinking CR won't change it...been trying to get that deleted for almost 2 years!
 
Thank you for helping - great user name because it works!
Message 8 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What happens at a Summary Judgment Hearing?

file a motion for continuance with the court to acquire the representation of an attorney

 

 

 

 

 

 

Message 9 of 11
DaveInAZ
Senior Contributor

Re: What happens at a Summary Judgment Hearing?


@Anonymous wrote:

file a motion for continuance with the court to acquire the representation of an attorney


Welcome to the MYFico forums, and it's good to search to see if there's already a topic on something you're interested in. But this topic is from 2007 and all resolved long ago.

Message 10 of 11
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.