Judgement timeline

[pitts48]

I recently received a lawsuit summons for a credit card debt and had to respond within 20 days to the court, or the creditors lawyer could obtain a default judgement. I responded and am now waiting to see what happens next. My question is how long after responding to the summons does it take till I would have to appear in court if the creditor does not drop the suit. does it take weeks , months or what? What sort of timeline typically. I live in Florida in case it makes any difference. Anyone with Knowledge or experience similar to this I would appreciate your input.
Thanks a lot

[Minnymouth]

It depends on your local court docket how long you will wait before you have to appear in Court...... and yes, I would make sure I appeared..... otherwise they get default judgement...

Maybe someone with more knowledge in this area can give you some input....

Keep us posted.

[HHM]

At this point, the timeline depends on the practical concerns of the court...I would imagine in Florida, you are probably looking at a timeline of not more than 2 months.

The real issue is (1) whether you properly responded, (2) whether you have any real defenses to a claim. The next step for the creditor is typically to file a Motion for Summary Judgment and set a hearing. If its a small amount of money in dispute, a hearing may already be set and you should get notified of by mail from the court. The hearing itself, will probably take no more than 5 to 15 minutes.

[IOIOIO]

The real issue is (1) whether you properly responded, (2) whether you have any real defenses to a claim.

Any suggestions as to the best response if you know that you have no defense?

[HHM]

Since you don't already know of a hearing date, I will assume the case is not being heard in a small claims court environment.

1. A proper response to a Complaint is called an "Answer". Since these types of lawsuits are common, most courts websites will typically have a form you can download and fill out. Regardless, the Answer gets filed at the Court Clerks office, and must be done before the expiration of the 20 day deadline, there is usually a fee associated with filing an answer.

2. Since you are representing yourself, you don't really need to worry about issues like filing frivolous pleadings etc. Basically, all an "Answer" is, is a point by point response to the claims contained in the Plaintiff's Complaint. Most complaints contain enumerated claims. i.e. (1) Defendant is a citizen of "xyz" state and a resident of state "abc" county. (2) Defendant owes $6,789 to Plaintiff, etc. Again, given that these suits are common, the complaint may be on a standard form and may be a little different than what I am describing here.

There are only 3 possible responses you should give. 1. Admit, 2. Deny, or 3. I don't know. The legal phrase for 'I don't know' is "Defendant lacks sufficient knowledge to form a belief as to the truth or falsity of Plaintiff's allegation". When you Admit a Plaintiff's allegation, you are stating that the allegation is true, so if you really are a resident of "xyz" state, you can--and should--admit that statement as true. Note, when it comes to denial, you only use that if you KNOW the allegation is false. So if the complaint says you are a resident of State Y, but you are really a resident of State Z, then you would enter a denial to that claim. You ONLY use "admit" or "deny" in an Answer when you KNOW for a fact, that the allegations are true or false, otherwise, you responde with "Lacks Sufficient Knowledge...."

For example, when responding to the section of the complaint related to how much you specifically owe, you can reasonably claim "Defendnat lacks sufficient knowledge...." because odds are the amount contains calculations of interests and fees that you know nothing about, so YOU don't really know how much you owe, and therefore, you have not technically admitted to owing the money, forcing the creditor to schedule a hearing to prove their case.

[IOIOIO]

...there is usually a fee associated with filing an answer.

...when responding to the section of the complaint related to how much you specifically owe, you can reasonably claim "Defendnat lacks sufficient knowledge...." because odds are the amount contains calculations of interests and fees that you know nothing about, so YOU don't really know how much you owe, and therefore, you have not technically admitted to owing the money, forcing the creditor to schedule a hearing to prove their case.

If you can plausibly claim you don't know, as in your example, but your circumstances are such that you're certain a judge will decide in favor of the plaintiff, what might be the real life consequences of not answering at all? Is it merely a matter of giving the plaintiff their judgement a little more quickly in exchange for not having to spend the time and money on (lots of) answers? Any estimate as to the difference in the time it takes to obtain a judgement after an "I don't know" answer versus after no answer at all?

[HHM]

First, who is sueing you exactly, the Creditor you owe the money too, a collection agency, etc.

Note, an Answer is a single document and they are quite easy to prepare, so don't worry about that aspect of the answer.

But yes, if you don't answer, the creditor can get a default judgment as soon as the 20 day Answer period expires. It typically takes a about a week from the time the creditor requests a default judgment to getting the judgment. If you file an answer, you are just prolonging the envitable, but you have a better chance of getting a payment plan, or reduced amount if you show up and plead your case in front of the judge. Look at it this way, once they get a default judgment, you can't really undue it later if you discover something is wrong...so if you at least show up, you can plead you case...moreover, their may be exhorbanant fees and interest being tacked on that the judge may not allow.

[nomoney4u]

I'm in the same boat

I have one creditor trying to sue me..Had a cop at my door trying to serve my summons. Only though, I did'nt answer the door. I was wondering If that is going to work against me.?? It has been about one weeks since...Have'nt seen anyone here since...I was intending to recieve the summons and doing what was suggested above. So I don't get defualt judjement. But I nobody has knocked on my door sisnce. Can they get a default judgment without serving the summons?

[HHM]

What they are probably doing now is attempting to serve you by what is known as service by publication. If you have ever looked at the public notice section of your newspaper, it announces lawsuits (actually, its usually in some obscure publication, but nonetheless). The time line on that is typically 3 weeks (BUT YOU MUST CHECK WITH YOUR LOCAL RULES AS THE TIMELINES WILL VARY STATE TO STATE). Basically, if they can't serve you personally with the Summons, they publish the summons in a newspaper for a certain amount of time. If you haven't responded within a certain time frame, then the creditor will get a default judgement.

However, the service of summons's rules vary widley. Apparently, you have seen the summons, perhaps in your state, it's enough that they leave a copy at you last known residence. In any event, you probably don't have much time.

[SinkingFast]

I have one creditor trying to sue me..Had a cop at my door trying to serve my summons. Only though, I did'nt answer the door. I was wondering If that is going to work against me.?? It has been about one weeks since...Have'nt seen anyone here since...I was intending to recieve the summons and doing what was suggested above. So I don't get defualt judjement. But I nobody has knocked on my door sisnce. Can they get a default judgment without serving the summons?

States have procedures that have to be followed regarding notifying the defendent of a Claim. You'll need to read up on the Rules of Procedure for your specific location.

Some States, the plaintiff only has to advertise in a public publication, such as a newspaper, and that's considered notice.

Evidently the rule where you are is to serve you. Most States don't allow for a Process Server to deliver a Summons to anyone under 18 years of age. So if your young child/niece/nephew/neighbor child had answered the door, the Process Server could not legally have left the Summons with the child.

Some States, if the Plaintiff proves they diligently attempted and unsecessfully served the Summons on the Defendant, the Court considers that to be sufficient. The plaintiff can proceed with getting a date for the Hearing regardless of whether you actually were served or not.

[nomoney4u]

Yeah I guess I should go down to Clerk of Court and file a response. I do live in the same state as Pitts48. I did go to the Clerk of court website did a search and did find a case opened in my name And found that they payed a fee. But did'nt show any other information. Would it be safe to assume I have 20 days from the date the case opened in the clerk of court to file a response ??

[SinkingFast]

Here's some info for you from a previous post:

no_it_all, Post #10

Well, that depends...For example, to start a suit, all a creditor has to do is serve you with a Notice of Summons. You generally have twenty days to respond. Ignore it and the creditor then goes to the Clerk of the Court and pays the 2 or 3 hundred dollar fee, obtains a docket number and also puts in a motion for a Summary Judgement (since you did not respond to the Summons). This whole process cost maybe 5 hundred bucks, which includes the Process Server fees. It isn't all that costly.

If you do get served, it is most important to respond in a timely manner. Why? Because if you do, you have shown the Creditor that you <might> be fighting the suit. Now, THAT cost money, so maybe that is when they will back off. Remember, to start a suit, all a creditor (if your state follows the Federal Laws of Civil Procedure, and many do) is grab a free copy of a Notice of Summons from the Court house and have it served. If you don't fight back, THEN they will pay the fees to get it on the docket. If you do fight back and the creditor backs off, they are only out the hundred bucks it cost to get you served and the fifty bucks for having a para-legal fill out the Notice of Summons..

If you are working and have a steady income, AND your state allows wage garnishments, then it may be worth while for a credit card company or collections agency to bring a suit (or at least fish for one)..
__________________

http://www.bankruptcyforum.com/showt...1494#post61494


Possibly, based on the info you gave, the Creditor may only be at the "service" stage. The next step, as described above, would be to pay the fee to get the Case listed on the Court Docket.

[HHM]

State's must vary on this...I disagree with no it all interpretation of what happens. The 1st step is the file the complaint with the clerk of court which is when the case gets a docket number, you can only get a summons when you have filed a complaint with the court and recieved a case number. (which typically costs not more than $200). At the same time as when the complaint is filed, the court will issue a summons to the creditor to serve on the Defendant. If the plaintiff is succesful in "personally" serving the defendant (i.e. the process server walks up and hands the complaint to you, note, it is not a requirement that you need to sign for it), the complaint is served, and the creditor files the affidavit of service (i.e. the affidavit filled out by the process server swearing that the server actually served you) with the court.

Now, if the process server is unable to serve you personally, and has taken reasonable steps to serve you personally (i.e. made several attempts at your last known residence, researched certain databases for current info etc.) all states provide some form of alternative service of process. The most common is what is known as "service by publication" (which I described above). The plaintiff must pay a newspaper to publish the summon in their newspaper for a certain number of consecutve weeks, usually 3 weeks. If at the end of that 3 weeks, the defendant still has not responded, the plaintiff requests from the clerk a default (which is simply a designation from the clerk that no answer has been filed) and then will request from the court a Default Judgement. (there are typically no additional fees for this). The request for default judgement must usually be supported by documentation of the amount owed and an affidavit.

In anyevent, the 20 day countdown begins the day you are served, not the day the complaint is filed with the court. It sounds like to me they are in the process of tyring to get you served.

[davids]

judgement

I recently received a lawsuit summons for a credit card debt and had to respond within 20 days to the court, or the creditors lawyer could obtain a default judgement. I responded and am now waiting to see what happens next. My question is how long after responding to the summons does it take till I would have to appear in court if the creditor does not drop the suit. does it take weeks , months or what? What sort of timeline typically. I live in Florida in case it makes any difference. Anyone with Knowledge or experience similar to this I would appreciate your input.
Thanks a lot

I really have to ask this, does time really matter? seeing they are going after a judgement against you, I would think they would get it either way, weather you repond or not... of course correct me if i am wrong...

[davids]

summons

State's must vary on this...I disagree with no it all interpretation of what happens. The 1st step is the file the complaint with the clerk of court which is when the case gets a docket number, you can only get a summons when you have filed a complaint with the court and recieved a case number. (which typically costs not more than $200). At the same time as when the complaint is filed, the court will issue a summons to the creditor to serve on the Defendant. If the plaintiff is succesful in "personally" serving the defendant (i.e. the process server walks up and hands the complaint to you, note, it is not a requirement that you need to sign for it), the complaint is served, and the creditor files the affidavit of service (i.e. the affidavit filled out by the process server swearing that the server actually served you) with the court.

Now, if the process server is unable to serve you personally, and has taken reasonable steps to serve you personally (i.e. made several attempts at your last known residence, researched certain databases for current info etc.) all states provide some form of alternative service of process. The most common is what is known as "service by publication" (which I described above). The plaintiff must pay a newspaper to publish the summon in their newspaper for a certain number of consecutve weeks, usually 3 weeks. If at the end of that 3 weeks, the defendant still has not responded, the plaintiff requests from the clerk a default (which is simply a designation from the clerk that no answer has been filed) and then will request from the court a Default Judgement. (there are typically no additional fees for this). The request for default judgement must usually be supported by documentation of the amount owed and an affidavit.

In anyevent, the 20 day countdown begins the day you are served, not the day the complaint is filed with the court. It sounds like to me they are in the process of tyring to get you served.

where I live (tx) that puplish the newspaper is not true...I was given a summons at an aparment where i no longer lived, and it just so happens I drove by the apartment one day and there the summons hung, they made 3 attempts to deliver in person, and then they just left it there, weather I came back by the apartement and found it would not have mattered, I had 30 days from the last attempt to show up to court to settle the summons with the apartment...there wasnt no and's if's or but's either...If i had never come back and found the summons, I would have ended up with a judgement against me...