Creditor suing me..how do I extend trial date?

[AllMyFault]

Chase is suing me.
Our case management conference was in June and the trial is set for mid December. I thought I would be ready to file my Chapter 7 petition by then but it looks like I won't be filing until February now. I haven't been able to afford an attorney yet so I filed my answer to the original complaint myself and attended the case management conference without an attorney. I'd like to be able to extend the trial date myself as well. How can I do this?

Thanks!

[tobee43]

i understand it's scary....but the worse chase can do...the possible very worse, is to get a judgment against you. since you're filing chapter 7 once it's discharge and chase has been successful with their suit, you can just file a motion to vacate the judgment.

however, what i would do, is go to that court date and advise them of your filing...or see if you can get it postponed....if not, just go to the court and let the judge know you are trying your best...and attempt to stall until the filing...if you can that will prevent you from chase getting the judgment...however, remember the very worse senario is that you will just have to file the motion AFTER your bk is discharged.

best of luck...and once again, i understand this is very scary, but it will be fine.

[AllMyFault]

I'm really not worried about the judgment itself as I have had quite a bit of time to prepare for this. My concern is that Chase will get the judgment and will seek a wage garnishment. I am barely making enough to survive right now.

[dumpinmydebt]

You need to check your local laws, but this is how that scenario would play out in my state.

You don't show up in December. We'll say 12/15. They get a judgment. You have 30 days to pay it. That's 1/15. You don't pay, they have to give you a 15 day warning. That's Jan 30. Then they can request garnishment. That's February.

[AllMyFault]

You need to check your local laws, but this is how that scenario would play out in my state.

You don't show up in December. We'll say 12/15. They get a judgment. You have 30 days to pay it. That's 1/15. You don't pay, they have to give you a 15 day warning. That's Jan 30. Then they can request garnishment. That's February.

Thanks for the info...
Lets say they request / get the garnishment on February 10th and I file my B.K. on February 15th. Does my filing immediately stop the forward progress of the garnishment or would I need to wait for the discharge to go through to stop it?

[tcreegan]

Hi AllMyFault,

In a "case management conference" do they show you to a room where the lawyer for the creditor pressures you sign off on a default judgement or settle...? That is what happens around here....

Some stalling tactics:

If you didn't get a detailed final statement in the 'case management conference' file an answer asking for one.

Dispute one of their numbers, interest rate, atty fees, final balance

File for 'discovery' time to find the original credit agreement document and verify some of their numbers (interest, fees).

Since you didn't start w/ a lawyer, file for an extension to 'obtain legal counsel'


In CA, there is a 30 day wait between judgement and writ of execution (sounds terrible doesn't it?) Creditor has to hire someone to serve you with the writ and I imagine there is another waiting period. Also, poor folks can file an exemption claim.

For more ideas go over to the collection forum here, they probably have more ideas as well as some techniques to stall the collection.

Good luck with this,

Tom in Colo

[2manybills]

Thanks for the info...
Lets say they request / get the garnishment on February 10th and I file my B.K. on February 15th. Does my filing immediately stop the forward progress of the garnishment or would I need to wait for the discharge to go through to stop it?

If you don't mind me asking, what courthouse in So. Cal? Send me a PM. I would contact the clerk in the department. Tell the clerk that you would like to request a continuance of the trial date. See if you can get the clerk to kick it for a couple of months.

Pretty much in So. Cal, when a case goes to trial and judgment is entered, it will take the court (LA or OC) about 3 to 4 weeks to finally enter judgment. Then they will have to get a writ of execution issued from the court and then send out the order for attachment to the Sheriff's Department. That is another 2 week process once judgment is entered. But you are running pretty tight. I would see what I could do to get that trial date pushed ahead.

[AllMyFault]

Hi AllMyFault,

In a "case management conference" do they show you to a room where the lawyer for the creditor pressures you sign off on a default judgement or settle...? That is what happens around here....

Hi Tom,
No, they didn't try anything like that. The preceding took a total of 5 minutes.

Thanks for the advice!

[2manybills]

Hi AllMyFault,

In a "case management conference" do they show you to a room where the lawyer for the creditor pressures you sign off on a default judgement or settle...? That is what happens around here....

Some stalling tactics:

If you didn't get a detailed final statement in the 'case management conference' file an answer asking for one.

Dispute one of their numbers, interest rate, atty fees, final balance

File for 'discovery' time to find the original credit agreement document and verify some of their numbers (interest, fees).

Since you didn't start w/ a lawyer, file for an extension to 'obtain legal counsel'


In CA, there is a 30 day wait between judgement and writ of execution (sounds terrible doesn't it?) Creditor has to hire someone to serve you with the writ and I imagine there is another waiting period. Also, poor folks can file an exemption claim.

For more ideas go over to the collection forum here, they probably have more ideas as well as some techniques to stall the collection.

Good luck with this,

Tom in Colo

Tom:

In California a case management conference is part of the "normal" flow of a civil matter. It's the court's way of finding out how many days the parties think that the trial will take, if they think there is any discovery they want to complete, and if there are any disputes between the parties that will be anticipated to be brought before the court via motion. Then usually the court will set a trial date from there.

[tcreegan]

That is good news 2manybills, here the whole process is skewed toward the plaintiff, even had a court staffer say "well, you owe the debt, there is nothing you can do, they will get a judgement" and the creditor attorney said "it will go upstairs and they will rule on it this afternoon so you might as well settle now"

Don't get me started, glad things are better in California!!!

Tom in Colo

[2manybills]

Honestly, California is so broke, the State courts are short staffed, overworked and underpaid, like the rest of us. Better, I'm not so sure about that! The best thing AllMyFault can do, is stall! Another issue out there in the IE where AllMyFault is from is that criminal matters have prescidence over civil matters, and the courts are so backed up with that stuff, they are more apt to just continue the trial, especially if they think it is a waste of time. I have some people I'm helping file and Chase sued them for $2K. Unreal. I called the attorney and they just put the file on hold because they know the people are going to file. Why waste their time.

[dumpinmydebt]

Thanks for the info...
Lets say they request / get the garnishment on February 10th and I file my B.K. on February 15th. Does my filing immediately stop the forward progress of the garnishment or would I need to wait for the discharge to go through to stop it?

Your filing would stop it, but you would need to take action to inform the parties of such. If you file in person at the court you will get your case number within 10-15 minutes (depending on how busy the clerk is.) I would then deliver the notice in person to the parties involved in the garnishment. I would also inform your payroll department the minute you file as they would be the ones to stop it.

[2manybills]

The notice of stay has to be served on the court where the civil action is pending and also with the garnishing sheriff along with those mentioned by dumpinmydebt. If you file pro se AllMyFault, you will get your case number at the window after the Research clerks look everything over. If you retain an attorney, your case number is assigned right there on Pacer, in seconds.

See if you can put that trial off and PM if you get stuck.

[freedomnow7]

Is it possible she can elect arbitration, if it was included in her original contract, to extend things out a bit?

[2manybills]

You can't usually elect to arbitrate collection matters.