Filed 12/7 - Just Found Out Citibank Sued On 12/15

[DirkDiggler]

We filed Chapter 7 on 12/7/11, today my wife recieved a letter from a lawfirm offering to "help" us with this lawsuit. Well they included a Case #, so I looked on our local court's website and sure enough a Civil Collections Suit was filed on 12/15/11. Is this a violation of the Automatic Stay? Or could it be viewed as an "accident" due to the short time between us filing Ch. 7 and the filing of the lawsuit? I will be bringing this up to our attorney tomorrow....will this affect our 341 hearing this thursday? Thanks for any help and comments!

[malf1204]

Not if they were not yet notified of the BK filing and even then they can plead stupid and get a slap on the wrist.

[DirkDiggler]

The Certificate of Notice for our case states that Citibank was notified electronically of our Chapter 7 Filing on 12/10/11. Funny thing is its been almost a month and we haven't been served yet haha

[AngelinaCat]

It IS a violation of the Automatic Stay. The other side can plead whatever they want. If you have the paper trail with the dates on YOUR side, have your attorney go after them. Many of these agencies try to push the situation as far as they can, hoping they will get something. Don't let them.

Good luck to you!

[btbeme]

Attack!

[2manybills]

Have your attorney send them a copy of the notice of bankruptcy filing again, advising them that they are in violation of the Automatic Stay, and that they required to immediately file a dismissal of this suit with prejudice. Make sure this is done before they try and enter a default judgment against you. Not that it is valid, but it is still a pain in the rear to get set aside once it is entered.

[LadyInTheRed]

Have your attorney send them a copy of the notice of bankruptcy filing again, advising them that they are in violation of the Automatic Stay, and that they required to immediately file a dismissal of this suit with prejudice. Make sure this is done before they try and enter a default judgment against you. Not that it is valid, but it is still a pain in the rear to get set aside once it is entered.

The dismissal would probably be without prejudice since the debt has not yet been discharged. If the BK is dismissed or that debt declared non-dischargable for some reason, the creditor should be allowed to refile the complaint.

[2manybills]

The dismissal would probably be without prejudice since the debt has not yet been discharged. If the BK is dismissed or that debt declared non-dischargable for some reason, the creditor should be allowed to refile the complaint.

Good point. The only thing with this one, is they should have never filed this lawsuit in the first place.

I actually had one where they entered a default judgment and we had to have it set aside and dismissed. The creditor (I think Chase) recorded an Abstract already, all with a BK pending. There is a large creditor's firm in Northern Cal that is known for doing these kinds of things.

[DirkDiggler]

Good point. The only thing with this one, is they should have never filed this lawsuit in the first place.

I actually had one where they entered a default judgment and we had to have it set aside and dismissed. The creditor (I think Chase) recorded an Abstract already, all with a BK pending. There is a large creditor's firm in Northern Cal that is known for doing these kinds of things.

Would that firm be Hunt & Henriques? Thats who the law firm that represents Citibank is

On another note, I decided to check by last name and Citibank sued me 12/5/11 for a different credit card, so they beat our filing by 2 days. How does that work? I've emailed our attorney about both cases, but haven't heard back yet....

[2manybills]

Would that firm be Hunt & Henriques? Thats who the law firm that represents Citibank is

On another note, I decided to check by last name and Citibank sued me 12/5/11 for a different credit card, so they beat our filing by 2 days. How does that work? I've emailed our attorney about both cases, but haven't heard back yet....

It is Hunt & Henriques!!! They do this stuff all of the time.

Ask your attorney to file a copy of the Notice of Bankruptcy with the Court with that case number on it. That way the Court would enter default. Have they even served you yet? Although with Hunt & Henriques, it doens't matter, they file proofs of service without even serving you!