Motion for Summary Judgement

[SwimminUpStream]

I am being sued by Chase Bank via Marcadis and Associates. I respind back to the Court when I received the initial court papers.

Now I just received from Marcadis a request for "Motion for Summary Judgement".

It is my understanding that they can get this without the judge ever hearing my side or trial??? (other than my original response to the Court in the initial suit)

YIKES

HELP

[LoadedGuns]

Call the court house and ask when the motion is being made then show up.

[blondeinmn]

Depending on the district, a response may or may not be made at the courthouse in front of the judge. It all depends on the local rules of civil procedure. More importantly, what is your strategy. That will determine your tactics. Responding to a motion can be tricky and often requires the assistance of an attorney. If you really don't owe the debt, respond to it properly. If you do, your solutions lie elsewhere.

[MSbklawyer]

A motion for summary judgment essentially says : "Judge, take everything Swimmin has said in his response as true. Even with that, we win the lawsuit."

You (or preferably your attorney) need to respond to the motion for summary jdugment or it is likely to be granted. But even if you do respond to it, if the answer that you filed and your response to the motion don't assert any real defenses, then the court can enter judgment in the other side's favor.

Here's a real life example that happens all the time:

Creditor files a lawsuit against Debtor for unpaid credit card debt. Debtor files an answer to the lawsuit which says that he hasn't paid the debt because he has been unemployed and hasn't had the money. Creditor will file for, and get, a summary judgment. Even if the court accepts everything in the Debtor's answer as true, Creditor is still entitled to judgment.

[SwimminUpStream]

I have no attorney. I guess I figured at this point...the worse they can do is garnish my wages (need to remove my name from joint bank account).

I do owe the debt, but like so many when interest rates went up, illness etc etc....

I certainly do not know if I could DV at this point, or if I missed the boat with that the first go round.

From what I hear, Marcadis is very aggressive as well in collecting "their" money.

[catleg]

Honestly, courts rubber stamp these things because 99% of the time what the plaintiff alleges is true and the debtor is just wasting the courts time. Assuming we're talking about an original creditor.

Your job, if you want to delay, is to convince the judge (or actually, the judge's clerk, who is going to actually read this) that you may be part of the 1% where there is a real problem (misidentification, legitimate dispute, etc).

The motion should include certain items to substantiate the debt, such as, last statement, an affidavit of business records, and an affidavit that says you're not a service member.

If you want to respond, you need to file an answer to the motion, and usually pretty fast. You need to dispute the records and convince "the court" (again, judge's law clerk) that there is a material issue in dispute.

P.S. Yes you missed the boat on DV. Not that it would have mattered.

[catleg]

Call the court house and ask when the motion is being made then show up.

This assumes the court will even hear "oral arguments".

Most of the time the case will be decided "on the papers" and your case will not be called, if you show up you'll be given a copy of the judge's order granting the motion.

[LoadedGuns]

This assumes the court will even hear "oral arguments".

Most of the time the case will be decided "on the papers" and your case will not be called, if you show up you'll be given a copy of the judge's order granting the motion.

Has always worked in my state, your experience may vary.

[treehugger1]

As Catleg has stated, this is an original creditor. I'm pretty sure Marcadis has their shit together. If they did not, they would not be motioning for summary judgment. It is good to keep in mind that each state is different.

I have witnessed a few hearings where the judge simply asked the defendant if he/she owes the debt. At such a point you best tell the truth. When the defendant's stated they did not owe the debt (they meant they owed less than the plaintiff claimed,) the court ask THEM to provide such evidence. This is all tied to Oregon's rules of civil procedure, but my take is that if it's the original creditor and you wan tto argue against a summary judgment, then you should most likely hire an attorney.

You might check your local court's records and pull a few recent cases involvng Chase/Marcadis and defendants. I have found that this is the best way to get a feel for everything. If you are lucky, you might find a argument against a summary judgment that worked for another defendant. I'm guessing that summary judgments are granted most of the time.

[SwimminUpStream]

Thank you everyone for your input. I guess then my next step is to remove my name from our joint bank account...then go from there.

I can only hope for some delay as I live in Florida, but checks and home office are from another state!

[OHBOY]

The question on my mind is this:

does/did Marcadis and Associates provide any kind of proof that they are REALLY representing Chase ?

The reason I am asking is because I read a in a notice I recieved from a 'collector'/attorney that 'their client' is Chase. Since I am sure Chase never shows up, how does one know if that is the truth ?

Is Marcadis and Associates (or any other law firm for that matter) at any point required to provide documentation, such as a signed attorney client agreement pertaining to a particular case, that proves that Chase is indeed their client ?

I know my question may be considered stupid, irrelivant, or whatever...but, it's something that has 'bugged' me for some time.

[catleg]

The plaintiff should be Chase Bank.

[SwimminUpStream]

Yes it shows Chase as the Plantiff and Marcadis is their "attorney". I double checked all that as well.....

[Bell30656]

File an objection to the motion for summary judgment. If you need examples just swing by the courthouse and peruse a few cases. Then just copy the documents you need.

Treehugger, my answer to that question would be that at this time I have requested documentation via discovery to ascertain IF there is a debt that I owe.