Sued by Portfolio Recovery - Minnesota

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

A consumer protection attorney is normally a one time fee from start to finish. You wouldn't be running up costs by using one to go to trial. In my case, when portfolio sued me, my attorney cost about $400. All I had to do was answer the phone and accept or decline offers. When the deal was made, I electronically signed the paperwork and made payments. If it had gone to trial, I wouldn't even need to show up. Heck, I don't even know what my attorney looks like because I did everything over the phone and email. I saved money by doing this, not as much as I would have if I did it myself, but I didn't have the time for it. Being that you're looking for a dismissal versus a settlement, you may want to give it a shot yourself. Just remember, a consultation is free, and from what was provided, any attorney should be able to say whether or not it could be easily dismissed. At that point, you could decide whether you want to take it on yourself.

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Thanks! I definitely read through your experience as well prior to posting this. I live in a pretty small town but I'll see if I can find some attorneys that could do a consultation. I'm mostly worried about whether or not, and how, I would need to reply to this discovery plan. I don't think I am required to, but I feel at that point they would then file the paperwork in district court and I want a copy of that contract before hand.

Minnesota seems to be the only place with this process HAHA

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No, all courts have it. They're required to turn everything over to the defendant so that they can plan a defense. At this point, you have to answer and say they don't have a leg to stand on based on what was provided. If the court agrees, it'll be dismissed, if they disagree, a date will be set.

[Red1Blue]

I did  hear that Portfolio would not take legal action. Most of the time they try to settle and remove from the report. I wonder due to Covid-19 and economic down turn these collection agencies are taking these steps and going in the legal route. I am not sure when the people do not have jobs and income to pay these debts how are they going to cope with these law suits. Hope things with economy will recover soon and situation will improve.

[Anonymous]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

A consumer protection attorney is normally a one time fee from start to finish. You wouldn't be running up costs by using one to go to trial. In my case, when portfolio sued me, my attorney cost about $400. All I had to do was answer the phone and accept or decline offers. When the deal was made, I electronically signed the paperwork and made payments. If it had gone to trial, I wouldn't even need to show up. Heck, I don't even know what my attorney looks like because I did everything over the phone and email. I saved money by doing this, not as much as I would have if I did it myself, but I didn't have the time for it. Being that you're looking for a dismissal versus a settlement, you may want to give it a shot yourself. Just remember, a consultation is free, and from what was provided, any attorney should be able to say whether or not it could be easily dismissed. At that point, you could decide whether you want to take it on yourself.

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Thanks! I definitely read through your experience as well prior to posting this. I live in a pretty small town but I'll see if I can find some attorneys that could do a consultation. I'm mostly worried about whether or not, and how, I would need to reply to this discovery plan. I don't think I am required to, but I feel at that point they would then file the paperwork in district court and I want a copy of that contract before hand.

Minnesota seems to be the only place with this process HAHA

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No, all courts have it. They're required to turn everything over to the defendant so that they can plan a defense. At this point, you have to answer and say they don't have a leg to stand on based on what was provided. If the court agrees, it'll be dismissed, if they disagree, a date will be set.

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Interesting. I've not seen anyone else mention the discovery planning process itself. I'll be reaching out to an attorney to get their opinion as well but I just didn't find any resources regarding how to respond to a suggested discovery plan properly. I found information on replying to a summons and complaint but that was as far as things went.

[vntrsc]

Check out Rule 26.06(c).

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/court_rules/cp/id/26/#26.06

[Anonymous]

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@vntrsc wrote:

Check out Rule 26.06(c).

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/court_rules/cp/id/26/#26.06

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I've definitely got the Civil Procedure page on bookmark. They sent me a discovery plan with their most recent reply that covers all of those. I just have the three options they list on the cover sheet, or I guess I could always write up my own. It seems pretty thoroughly written out, which I'm sure is just because it's a prefilled template their office uses

[vntrsc]

@Brian_Earl_Spilner 

"No, all courts have it. They're required to turn everything over to the defendant so that they can plan a defense. At this point, you have to answer and say they don't have a leg to stand on based on what was provided. If the court agrees, it'll be dismissed, if they disagree, a date will be set."

No, not all courts have a pretrial disclosure rule in which everything must be turned over to the defendant.  Some courts only require documentation be given to the defendant via attachment to the complaint or a motion for summary judgment, or if requested by the defendant via discovery requests after his answer is filed.  

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

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@vntrsc wrote:

@Brian_Earl_Spilner 

"No, all courts have it. They're required to turn everything over to the defendant so that they can plan a defense. At this point, you have to answer and say they don't have a leg to stand on based on what was provided. If the court agrees, it'll be dismissed, if they disagree, a date will be set."

No, not all courts have a pretrial disclosure rule in which everything must be turned over to the defendant.  Some courts only require documentation be given to the defendant via attachment to the complaint or a motion for summary judgment, or if requested by the defendant via discovery requests after his answer is filed.  

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Ah, thanks for clearing that up.

[vntrsc]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

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@vntrsc wrote:

@Brian_Earl_Spilner 

"No, all courts have it. They're required to turn everything over to the defendant so that they can plan a defense. At this point, you have to answer and say they don't have a leg to stand on based on what was provided. If the court agrees, it'll be dismissed, if they disagree, a date will be set."

No, not all courts have a pretrial disclosure rule in which everything must be turned over to the defendant.  Some courts only require documentation be given to the defendant via attachment to the complaint or a motion for summary judgment, or if requested by the defendant via discovery requests after his answer is filed.  

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Ah, thanks for clearing that up.

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Thank you for bringing it up.   We (myself included) sometimes have to be reminded that the court rules in one county or state are not the court rules elsewhere.