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I hope that you have not taken the advise of the people that are telling you to call the debt collector to make an agreement of payment. If I were you I would either contact a lawyer or do nothing. I was actually handed a similar piece of paper which looked like an actual court document as well. As it turned out the papers were not legitimate court papers but rather something made up by the collection agency. The person that handed it to me was just a person that worked for the collection agency. This is a scam some of them use to try and get you to pay something. I found this out when I spoke to a friend of the family who happens to be a lawyer. After he looked at the papers he laughed and told me to pay nothing and not to contact them.
My situation was somewhat complicated since I never actually owed anything since this was a matter of identity theft. I proved this to the original credit card company that held the debt and they said they were not able to stop the collection agency from collecting since they already sold the debt to them. It was explained by the lawyer I know that after a long amount of time without the debt being paid these collection agencies actually buy the debt from the original company for a much smaller amount of money and then try to get the person who owes the debt to pay them more than they paid the original company for it. This is why collection agencies will always "work" with you on the amount you pay.
My lawyer explained to me how after a certain amount of time (I do not remember the time frame) the collection agencies can't take any legal court action if the debtor has not paid anything. He told me that if I were to make any payment, even a penny, for some reason there is more they can do but if I continue to not send any sort of payment they can do nothing. He said that the debt was so old that the company was nearing a point where they would not be able to contact me at all so they were trying this last move hoping that I would fall for it and pay them something.
I never paid them anything and I have never heard from a collection agency since. This happened to me about two years ago. My friend also told me that these agencies are legally not supposed to do this such as they did either. The papers I received actually did look like real court papers and even had a made up docket number and everything. One thing it did not have was the official stamp from the court that court papers here in Suffolk County, NY get.
The fact that someone at the court had told you to contact the collection agency tells me that there probably not really a legitimate court action taking place. If I were you I would definitely contact a lawyer just to find out if the papers are legitimate.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Egobop
I hope that you have not taken the advise of the people that are telling you to call the debt collector to make an agreement of payment. If I were you I would either contact a lawyer or do nothing. I was actually handed a similar piece of paper which looked like an actual court document as well. As it turned out the papers were not legitimate court papers but rather something made up by the collection agency. The person that handed it to me was just a person that worked for the collection agency. This is a scam some of them use to try and get you to pay something. I found this out when I spoke to a friend of the family who happens to be a lawyer. After he looked at the papers he laughed and told me to pay nothing and not to contact them.
My situation was somewhat complicated since I never actually owed anything since this was a matter of identity theft. I proved this to the original credit card company that held the debt and they said they were not able to stop the collection agency from collecting since they already sold the debt to them. It was explained by the lawyer I know that after a long amount of time without the debt being paid these collection agencies actually buy the debt from the original company for a much smaller amount of money and then try to get the person who owes the debt to pay them more than they paid the original company for it. This is why collection agencies will always "work" with you on the amount you pay.
I agree that it is always wise to check with the court clerk to find out if it is a true summons or not.
Quote:
My lawyer explained to me how after a certain amount of time (I do not remember the time frame) the collection agencies can't take any legal court action if the debtor has not paid anything.
They can always sue no matter how much time has passed. They can sue 50 years from now and win if the debtor fails to respond to the summons. SOL is an affirmative defense. A debtor should either inform the collector that a debt has passed SOL before a suit is filed, or, must answer the summons if a suit is filed claiming an affirmative defense of SOL and show up at the trial to defend that position.
Quote:
He told me that if I were to make any payment, even a penny, for some reason there is more they can do but if I continue to not send any sort of payment they can do nothing.
Re-setting the collecting SOL is based on states laws, some states allow it and others don't. In NY the only way that the collecting SOL can be re-set is if a promise to pay or an acknowledgment is made in writing. If you walk up to the collector and verbally said you were giving them $1 to pay on the debt then handed them the cash, the collecting SOL would not legally be re-set by that action. (see NY § 17-101.)
Quote:
He said that the debt was so old that the company was nearing a point where they would not be able to contact me at all so they were trying this last move hoping that I would fall for it and pay them something.
As far as I know NY does not have a law stating that collectors can no longer try to collect after a certain period of time. If you would be so kind as to find out what law states that and post it in here you would be doing many in your state a favor.
Quote:
I never paid them anything and I have never heard from a collection agency since. This happened to me about two years ago. My friend also told me that these agencies are legally not supposed to do this such as they did either. The papers I received actually did look like real court papers and even had a made up docket number and everything. One thing it did not have was the official stamp from the court that court papers here in Suffolk County, NY get.
If it was not a true summons then the collector was in violation. Did you file suit against them? If not, why?
Quote:
The fact that someone at the court had told you to contact the collection agency tells me that there probably not really a legitimate court action taking place. If I were you I would definitely contact a lawyer just to find out if the papers are legitimate.
The court clerk would be the best person to ask to find out if anything had been filed in your name.
I agree that it is always wise to check with the court clerk to find out if it is a true summons or not.
They can always sue no matter how much time has passed. They can sue 50 years from now and win if the debtor fails to respond to the summons. SOL is an affirmative defense. A debtor should either inform the collector that a debt has passed SOL before a suit is filed, or, must answer the summons if a suit is filed claiming an affirmative defense of SOL and show up at the trial to defend that position.
Re-setting the collecting SOL is based on states laws, some states allow it and others don't. In NY the only way that the collecting SOL can be re-set is if a promise to pay or an acknowledgment is made in writing. If you walk up to the collector and verbally said you were giving them $1 to pay on the debt then handed them the cash, the collecting SOL would not legally be re-set by that action. (see NY § 17-101.)
As far as I know NY does not have a law stating that collectors can no longer try to collect after a certain period of time. If you would be so kind as to find out what law states that and post it in here you would be doing many in your state a favor.
If it was not a true summons then the collector was in violation. Did you file suit against them? If not, why?
The court clerk would be the best person to ask to find out if anything had been filed in your name.
I am retired from the NYPD and I know there is no time limit on anything once a court summons is issued. The lawyer I spoke with told me there is a certain amount of years that the debt holder has to file a court complaint though.
I have no idea of how long the collector can try to collect on the debt without a court case being filed against someone but I have not had anyone try to collect this debt since this incident. This could be due to the fact that they handed me a fraudulent summons and I know that it is fraudulent.
I did not file any suit against the collection agency due to the fact that I had a lot of things going on at the time and did not want to spend any time or money on pursuing this. I was simply happy to find that this was not a true court summons and that I did not have to respond to it. What made me question the summons was the fact that it did not have a court stamp and that the summons mentioned my contacting the collector. While working I had seen many court summonses and they all just give a time, date, part of the court to respond to and a brief summary of what the complaint is about. I never saw one that said to contact the person(s) bringing the complaint against another.
In my case the court was checked with and there was no action being taken against me.
I am retired from the NYPD and I know there is no time limit on anything once a court summons is issued. The lawyer I spoke with told me there is a certain amount of years that the debt holder has to file a court complaint though.
I have no idea of how long the collector can try to collect on the debt without a court case being filed against someone but I have not had anyone try to collect this debt since this incident. This could be due to the fact that they handed me a fraudulent summons and I know that it is fraudulent.
I did not file any suit against the collection agency due to the fact that I had a lot of things going on at the time and did not want to spend any time or money on pursuing this. I was simply happy to find that this was not a true court summons and that I did not have to respond to it. What made me question the summons was the fact that it did not have a court stamp and that the summons mentioned my contacting the collector. While working I had seen many court summonses and they all just give a time, date, part of the court to respond to and a brief summary of what the complaint is about. I never saw one that said to contact the person(s) bringing the complaint against another.
In my case the court was checked with and there was no action being taken against me.
What I bolded, would that not it's self be a crime?
Court Summons and Request for Information - Discovery Requests
You have received a summons complaint, answered and have appeared at Court. Sounds like the Attorney has issued so served you with what is known as Requests for Written Discovery. Your situation involving An Attorney/Plaintiff Creditor changes once it is served with a Summons Complaint.
Basically that is information, they want to get to try to use against you. It is done as Legal Pleadings, and depending on Court rules, can be sent to you USPS, and may or may not NEED to be filed in Court. You also have the right to ask them, or request from them, the same type information, and they too are bound by Court laws to respond.
As Capitol one is the Plaintiff, until you have further information otherwise, they're the ones allegedly owe. Use the word Allegedly whenever possible. You tried to pay - they chose NOT to accept YOUR terms.
My guess is they are doing a legal proceeding - Discovery Requests. Usually a set of 3 different documents. Request for Admissions - Request for Interrogatories, and Request for Production of Documents.
Go to your state nameCourts.gov; check your states Rules of Civil Procedure Court Rules under Discovery. Usually there is a time period to respond. In my state it is 30 days.
Your two friends right now are your States Rules of Civil Procedure. Lawyers break rules all the time. They did with me several times. Judges allow them to do this. The other friend is the Federal Law Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. The Attorney is a Debt Collector for Capitol One.
I'm not sure if this is legal on this post, but I would like to and can help you. Send me an email to rcmeek@yahoo.com with attachments of the legal docs or requests for Information.
You say someone is calling you. It may NOT be the Attorney or Law Firm. Google the numbers shown on your caller ID. Talk to your Court Clerk, about Plaintiff's harrassing you with phone calls and such, if the googled numbers turn out to be the Attorney. My guess is and you're going to love this - It's another Collection Agency also trying to collect.
The only way they can legally collect now is to get a Judgment against you from the Court, and they may still file a Motion for Summary Judgment. Just pray they don't.
Please be aware, I am not an Attorney. I am writing from my own experiences in fighting 2 lawsuits on my own without an Attorney. I never had any previous Legal experience until these experiences. I just want to help you, get through this, it is extremely stressful; I know I've been there.
I have documents of Request for Discovery you can use for the Attorney to serve them questions to see what ALL they have. I'd really like to see your summons complaint! That will tell me a lot also. But I definitely need to know, what they are asking for in these requests. I have some awesome answers, that they would use on your requests for Discovery; and they get nothing to use against you.
Last edited by petmommy; 03-04-2010 at 12:47 PM..
Reason: needed to change format of information
You have received a summons complaint, answered and have appeared at Court. Sounds like the Attorney has issued so served you with what is known as Requests for Written Discovery. Your situation involving An Attorney/Plaintiff Creditor changes once it is served with a Summons Complaint.
Basically that is information, they want to get to try to use against you. It is done as Legal Pleadings, and depending on Court rules, can be sent to you USPS, and may or may not NEED to be filed in Court. You also have the right to ask them, or request from them, the same type information, and they too are bound by Court laws to respond.
As Capitol one is the Plaintiff, until you have further information otherwise, they're the ones allegedly owe. Use the word Allegedly whenever possible. You tried to pay - they chose NOT to accept YOUR terms.
My guess is they are doing a legal proceeding - Discovery Requests. Usually a set of 3 different documents. Request for Admissions - Request for Interrogatories, and Request for Production of Documents.
Go to your state nameCourts.gov; check your states Rules of Civil Procedure Court Rules under Discovery. Usually there is a time period to respond. In my state it is 30 days.
Your two friends right now are your States Rules of Civil Procedure. Lawyers break rules all the time. They did with me several times. Judges allow them to do this. The other friend is the Federal Law Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. The Attorney is a Debt Collector for Capitol One.
I'm not sure if this is legal on this post, but I would like to and can help you. Send me an email to rcmeek@yahoo.com with attachments of the legal docs or requests for Information.
You say someone is calling you. It may NOT be the Attorney or Law Firm. Google the numbers shown on your caller ID. Talk to your Court Clerk, about Plaintiff's harrassing you with phone calls and such, if the googled numbers turn out to be the Attorney. My guess is and you're going to love this - It's another Collection Agency also trying to collect.
The only way they can legally collect now is to get a Judgment against you from the Court, and they may still file a Motion for Summary Judgment. Just pray they don't.
Please be aware, I am not an Attorney. I am writing from my own experiences in fighting 2 lawsuits on my own without an Attorney. I never had any previous Legal experience until these experiences. I just want to help you, get through this, it is extremely stressful; I know I've been there.
I have documents of Request for Discovery you can use for the Attorney to serve them questions to see what ALL they have. I'd really like to see your summons complaint! That will tell me a lot also. But I definitely need to know, what they are asking for in these requests. I have some awesome answers, that they would use on your requests for Discovery; and they get nothing to use against you.
Hi, I do not know if this was a response to my post or someone elses, but it seems to be.
In the request, It states, "Enclosed please find Plaintiff;s Request for Production of Documents, Plaintiff;s Request for Admissions and Interrogatories for service upon you, with reference to the above matter."
It goes on to say, "Request for Production Propounded by the Plaintiff To the Defendant"
Then it goes on to say,
"Plaintiff's Request for Admission of Facts" and in a lengthy diatribe of lawyer speak, basically says, Failure to answer these requests for the admissions within 30 days shall result in their admission for the purpose of this action." It then goes on to ask a myriad of questions, and requests my response to each.
I can send you the entire packet sent, and let me tell you it is indeed book like in length.
Thank you for even inquiring and offer to help, it is just so beyond me how one person, an honest one, can go up against these creatures.
Yes it was a response to your post regarding Discovery requests by Plaintiff. Yes they are extensive & quite overwhelming to an untrained & in experienced individual. When is the postmark on the envelope? We'll need to get right on these before your deadline. I can't legally advise as Im not an Attorney or even a trained paralegal; but I can make suggestions & give you ideas.
Do you have the ability to scan the documents to a computer to .pdf format? If you do then you could email them to me. If not, the only quickest way would be to fax them. Unfortunately it can be expensive if you don't have access to a fax machine. I also need to see the original complaint.
Please be assured I deal with customers at work, & will not breach your confidentiality trust in me. I know I will be seeing private personal information. I will treat your information, as I want mine to be respected and treated. sorry about any typos, I'm typing one handed, with a 13 mo old wiggly granddaughter on my lap. Let me know if you have access to fax or a copier w scanner capabilities or a scanner you can use. Time is of the essence. As in your post above:
Failure to answer these requests for the admissions within 30 days shall result in their admission for the purpose of this action."
You DON'T WANT THIS!!! That's a guaranteed win for plaintiff!!! Once I know if you're able to fax to me I'll get you a fax # to send me the documents. Do you have MS word? If not you'll need a FREE download for a compatible program. Openoffice.com I think by sun microsystems a good co.
Future emails please send to tlcpetmommy@gmail.com or the one listed above. Ill respond quicker. I was just notified TODAY of your post above.
Dear displacedndisgusted- Ill be checking this site often as well as my 2 email accounts posted to help you get going on your answers to discovery. I wish I couldve helped you answer the complaint, I would've sugessted you counter claim. Again I'm offering ideas to help you & not legal advice. Once you respond to these posts, we'll get started in your education on this matter.
Also once we figure how ti get ne a copy of your documents, Ill send you via email or? information we'll use to answer those requests. Im sure it will get plaintiff thinking twice on your suit. Please respond asap Im ready to try to help you!!!
I apologize for my typos above. Granddaughter was getting cranky and more wiggly. FYI I am enclosing some other posts I have done for you and other readers to read:
Yes my post on 3-4-2010 was a response, to your post regarding Discovery requests by Plaintiff. Yes they are extensive & quite overwhelming to an untrained & in experienced individual. When is the postmark on the envelope? We'll need to get right on these before your deadline. I can't legally advise as Im not an Attorney or even a trained paralegal; but I can make suggestions & give you ideas.
Do you have the ability to scan the documents to a computer to .pdf format? If you do then you could email them to me. If not, the only quickest way would be to fax them. Unfortunately it can be expensive if you don't have access to a fax machine. I also need to see the original complaint.
Please be assured I deal with customers at work, & will not breach your confidentiality trust in me. I know I will be seeing private personal information. I will treat your information, as I want mine to be respected and treated. sorry about any typos, I'm typing one handed, with a 13 mo old wiggly granddaughter on my lap. Let me know if you have access to fax or a copier w scanner capabilities or a scanner you can use. Time is of the essence. As in your post above:
Failure to answer these requests for the admissions within 30 days shall result in their admission for the purpose of this action."
You DON'T WANT THIS!!! That's a guaranteed win for plaintiff!!! Once I know if you're able to fax to me I'll get you a fax # to send me the documents. Do you have MS word? If not you'll need a FREE download for a compatible program. Openoffice.com I think by sun microsystems a good co.
Future emails please send to tlcpetmommy@gmail.com or the one listed above. Ill respond quicker. I was just notified TODAY of your post above.
Ill be checking this site often as well as my 2 email accounts posted to help you get going on your answers to discovery. I wish I couldve helped you answer the complaint, I would've sugessted you counter claim. Again I'm offering ideas to help you & not legal advice. Once you respond to these posts, we'll get started in your education on this matter.
Also once we figure how ti get ne a copy of your documents, Ill send you via email or? information we'll use to answer those requests. Im sure it will get plaintiff thinking twice on your suit. Please respond asap Im ready to try to help you!!!
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Court Summons and Request for Information - Discovery Requests
Hey
