First Big CC suit in the works

[treehugger1]

Well, the process server showed up at work and served me the papers at the end of the day. LOL. what a cluster F**K. the guy was great and while he was not interested in anything other than doing his job, he was taking notes. LOL. As always, everything was cordial and the guy was glad I was not violent. It was all pretty cool. He had a stack of summons about 6 inches thick in his vehicle. Business appears to be booming.

wow, how the world can change for a debtor within 12 hours.

[treehugger1]

So, now need to make some decisions. I'll send an offer to the attorney firm and see what Chiti might accept. Again, the legal firm has crossed all their t's and dotted all their i's. I have been to enough local debtor suits in my county to know I'd be slaughtered if I answered and attempted to defend against this. Just reality...

[treehugger1]

Update

After pouring through the Oregon Revised Statutes (laws) and the Oregon Administrative Rulings (How the laws are applied) and the state and local Civil Rules of Procedure, I have found a discrepency in the complaint. At least I think it is a discrepency.

Prior to tthe allegations of the plaintiff, there is a statement that is all capital letters and bolded. It says that the complaint is from a debt collector and information obtained...etc. Then the paragraphs of the allegations begin. In the end, the complaint is signed by an atorrney of the Washington lawfirm.

In Oregon, every debt collector must be registered. There are exceptions. One of the exceptions is that if they are an attorney collecting on a consumer debt on behalf of a creditor, they do not have to be registered as a debt collector. So, here is the inconsistency. The complaint CLEARLY states they are a debt collector. Yet, at the end, the complaint is signed by an out-of-state attorney. I could probably file an answer and state as an affirmative defense that the litigators are not authorized to conduct business in OR. I could easily cite the Statutes and motion the court to issue a decision related to whether or not the Legal Firm can preface the complaint as a debt collector. To a least-sophisticated consumer, the collector statement along with the legal firm's signature seems to suggest misrepresentation. If I can afford the cost to file an answer and motions, it would be interesting to see what our local judge(s) (all elected officials who do not have to be members of the state bar, that's my sense,) would do with my answer. In one sense, and answer calling into question an inconsistency in the statutes could potentially set up an appeal should the judge grant judgment for the plaintiff. This probably sounds lame, but what the heck, is the plaintiff represented by an attorney, or is the plaintiff's representative a debt collector.

Okay, so I am just day-dreaming here. However, they make other allegations such as "defendant entered into a written contract with plaintiff within the past six years." Nope, any continuing contract had to be based on my original application of 20 years ago. I have signed no written agreement with CHITI in the last six years. I think the 6 year thingy is being used by the legal firm to counter any potential SOL.

They also mention that defendant is contractually obligated to XXXXXXXXXXX#### account. They list 12 "X's" and then 4 numbers. It's pretty clear that I the defendant can deny ever having any account with "X's" in it. LOL.

Not sure what I will do here, but it does seem clear that a debtor with a lot of money and time on their hands could definitely make such a law firm provide solid proof of their allegations.

The downside is that an answer throws it all into mandatory arbitration here. That tacks on even more money as both defendant and plaintiff have to kick in several hundreds of dollars to pay the arbitrator. This process does add on another 60 -120+ days before a decision must be rendered by the arbitrator. In addition, arbitration decisions can be appealed here. So. if this were a case involving a wealthy corporation with 100's of thousands of dollars to spend, I can see how this process could take years. I wish I had that kinfd of money just to see what might happen.

Perhaps it is time to head down to the courthouse and review some past answers against collection suits.

I could go pay for an attorney here, but i seriously doubt they could be anymore creative.

[catleg]

These debt trials usually end up the same way. If you owe, you lose.

Little technical violations will hardly slow them down. The PF attorney could be John Wayne Gacy and show up in an ice cream truck with bodies stuffed in the freezer, you'll still lose. Take it from an 0-1 self represented litigant, spare yourself the agony of 100's of hours of research, just to have the case decided by the judge's idiot 1L law clerk.

TH, you have just one ace in the hole here, in that you have a local judge against a very out of town plaintiff attorney. My best bet would be to find some fine downtrodden low rent local member of the bar who is likely to garner the judge's sympathies, and engage said attorney to negotiate the best stipulated settlement you can with out of town PF attorney. Say, 50% paid out over 12 months or something like that. Win win win for every except Citibank, who cares about them anyway.

That's my theory anyway. Feel free to open fire at will.

*glossary: PF=plaintiff 1L=1st year law student.