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Legal Advice anyone?

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bigtenbadboy

bigtenbadboy

3rd Rate Lurker
Without going into great detail I was served with a civil complaint today requesting satisfaction of a debt under $1000.00. I do not plan on retaining any legal counsel in this matter because a) I believe my defense would be weak even with competent counsel and b) the amount requested does not justify the added expense of retaining counsel considering the probable outcome of going to court.

I have 28 days to respond to the plantiff's attorney. Obviously I am going to formulate some response to this legal action less default judgement be levied against me.

The course of action I am looking into right now is offering a settlement of the debt to the plantiff of a lesser but still significant amount requested in the complaint. In return I would ask as terms of acceptance of the settlement that all further legal action in this claim be dropped.

The questions I have right now are:
1. Does offering a settlment to the plantiff within the 28 day window without responding to the specific "allegations" levied in the complaint constitute an official answer to the complaint?
2. Should any correspondence on my part offering to settle this matter be beforwarded to the court?

I am still in the very initial stages of looking into my options in this matter so please forgive me if I sound ignorant in any way.

I'm all ears to any qualified or even semi-qualified responses!
 
bigtenbadboy;718923; said:
The questions I have right now are:

1. Does offering a settlment to the plantiff within the 28 day window without responding to the specific "allegations" levied in the complaint constitute an official answer to the complaint?

2. Should any correspondence on my part offering to settle this matter be beforwarded to the court?
Click to expand...
Is it a credit debt or a private debt? If it is credit related, then ...

You should not need to go through the court to handle this matter, but at the point a firm has been obtained your options are limited. If the firm has already proceeded to the point of seeking a judgment claim then it's unlikely that you'll receive a greatly reduced offer in compromise. The time for that was months (or years) ago before the account went to charge off. The amount of the settlement could also be determined by whether or not the collection firm is independent of the creditor and has purchased the debt. If the account was purchased for pennies on the dollar, you'll have some leverage; if not, then they'll high hand you and want installment payments to completely pay off the debt in four to six months.

Whatever. You need to call before it goes to court, unless you want to wake up one day to empty bank accounts. You will receive NO notice if that occurs other than a statement from your bank AFTER the funds have been completely removed.
 
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supertroopers1.jpg

You boys like Mexico???!

But seriously the OC is listed as the Plantiff and this is a credit related matter. Obviously if the OC had sold the debt to a third party then they no longer have a right to try to collect on the debt. I'm not expecting to get a huge reduction going the settlement route but I am going to try to get something less I can probably file a bunch of BS motions and let it drag on forever and make it really not worth the expense.
 
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Having been served, you must respond or appear as requested unless you satisfy the plaintiff beforehand, and the plaintiff files a motion to dismiss.

Any response you give that satisfies the summons will be your official response, and the judge will rule on it accordingly.

If this is consumer debt, you will likely lose and have to pay the $1,000 plus court costs if you end up in court. And you get your name in the paper.

My advice: pay the piper and get a dismissal beforehand. If the piper will accept less money, fine. Go for it.

This is based on Georgia Superior Court activity. You will have to see how it works where you are.
 
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bigtenbadboy;718923; said:
1. Does offering a settlment to the plantiff within the 28 day window without responding to the specific "allegations" levied in the complaint constitute an official answer to the complaint?
Click to expand...

No

bigtenbadboy;718923; said:
2. Should any correspondence on my part offering to settle this matter be beforwarded to the court?
Click to expand...

No.
 
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Thomps is correct on both counts.

Your failure to answer in a timely manner subjects you to a default judgment against you. Not that that's a particularly big deal when you already know you're "wrong" as it were..... You'll be made to pay what you owe, and you'll have a judgment lein against you - and that, of course, will scare off future creditors. Regardless of all that, if I were you're attorney, I would answer this complaint. If nothing else it buys you more time to negotiate a settlement.
 
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Thanks for the responses. I think I'm going to go ahead and offer to settle right away at a slight discount and see if they bite. If I don't hear from the plantiff's counsel and my 28 day window is getting close I'll go ahead and answer the complaint and buy more time. I've looked up some cases similar to mine and i've noticed that many of them tend to drag on for a very long time without anybody actually showing up in court. If it comes down to it i'll just probably have to give them everything they want just to avoid having to appear in court.

Well back to my deadbeat ways...
 
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