Judgment Time frame

[underwater2]

Hi I am being sued for breach of contract in the FL. I am planning on filing BK in Dec.
The plantiff respond to our request for docs today. How long do I realistically have before my court date? My atty has told me it depends 1-3 months? but I wanted to see what others have experienced.
Does anyone have any suggestions to buy more time that I could mention to my atty? I was thinking of depositions or a pretrial mediation meeting to see if we could settle? If they do get a judgement - how soon before they contact my employer? Is it a pain to get the judgement removed in BK? I have seached but can't seem to find these answers. Thanks in advance for your advice.

[AngelinaCatHub]

It is always best to avoid a Judgment. It can be very troublesome. Questions are, what is the breach, and the wording in the contract, if you make an agreement now, would it be binding within a bk. A judgment can be set aside in bk but takes a bit more trouble. The whole suit can be discharged and is tolled while the bk goes on. So the key is when you are ready to bk, all stops on your behalf. You have a lawyer and his 1 to 3 is fairly accurate for response times and Court docket schedules. You're good for now. 'Hub

[ryan]

How long do I realistically have before my court date? My atty has told me it depends 1-3 months? but I wanted to see what others have experienced.
Does anyone have any suggestions to buy more time that I could mention to my atty?

In my area it would be about 2 months, based on where you are at with the suit time-wise.

[Freddy03]

Are you sure they gave you everything you requested in your document request? When I requested documents A LOT was left out when they finally produced so that might stall it a little longer.

Not sure what county you are in but you can set your own trial date if you want.

I did for one of my cases in FL. Call the clerks office and ask them you want to set the trial and set it as far as they will let you.

Or if they set trial out say end of Oct and if you lose you will have 45 days to produce the financial fact sheet. Then depending on the attorney they will start the garnishment process. If you are head of household you will have to file out a HOH affidavit with the court to prevent them from garnishing your wages.

Also if you are worried about a possible bank levy (because you have to list your bank account on the financial fact sheet) on the 46th day (after you sent out the sheet) switch bank accounts.

Good Luck!

[Freddy03]

I have had 3 cc cases and 2 went to mediation before trial. The other one I'm thinking b/c it was over 10K did not - straight to trial.

[underwater2]

I emailed my atty again today. He said probably he could delay till Dec but no promises. He said their side must give 20 days notice and contact my attorney to set something up. So worse case would be Oct 20th. I am just trying to have the judgement on my record. Based on the 45 day time frame to provide the info it doesn't look like they will be able to ganish or anything before I file. I just might need to clean up the judgement after I file. Thanks for the feedback. People on this board are very generous with their time

[underwater2]

Motion for Summary Judgement

My atty requested a jury trial a month ago and they produced their documents and then they file Plantiff file Motion for Summary Judgement. Is there a hearing or is a judgment just entered if the judge rules in there favor? How long before they can get at bank accounts? Also can I have my atty file something so they cannot contact my employer. I am HOH so they cannot garnish my wages. thanks for the replies.

[tobee43]

My atty requested a jury trial a month ago and they produced their documents and then they file Plantiff file Motion for Summary Judgement. Is there a hearing or is a judgment just entered if the judge rules in there favor? How long before they can get at bank accounts? Also can I have my atty file something so they cannot contact my employer. I am HOH so they cannot garnish my wages. thanks for the replies.

first i find it hard to understand, unless your atty believes you will win this case, not to attempt to settle it asap.....as how are you going to continue to pay the firm??

this is a civil case...and not like a cc company suing you.

i just find it hard to understand that an atty working in your best interest in this case understands your filing bk and may likely not be able to pay all his or her fees....additionally, one never knows how long a trial can take...i once saw the simplest of cases...and i mean i thought it was a no brainer...go to trial...well the people involved were all caught up with all their legal cost up until the trial began....and this "simple" case turned into a 17 day trial....costing these poor people more than it would have cost them to defend themselves against murder charges and it was a SIMPLE civil suit.

so just be careful...and i would push your atty's for postponements as much as possible....the holidays are coming up shortly....he or she should be able to get the court to delay it ...and then once you run into the holiday period the courts usually are nuts and hopefully your case will be put off and give you time to breath and file your bk....

at which point they may back out because if you file bk they have nothing to collect from, provided you are a no asset case.

best of luck...i hope it works out for you.

[seFlaDude]

Mine took about 8 mos from start to finish, your lawyer can drag his feet, by not returning info until last minute and so forth

[underwater2]

My attorney replied with affirmative defenses. I am not sure how strong they are but we did reply. He is also planning on contacting their atty this week to settle. I am just nervous about how agressive their atty has been and concerned about their motion for summary judgement. I have read that these are filed at any point before a trial. I am just worried that the judge will rule in their favor and I never get to trial. Has this happened to anyone here? Or is it more likely that I will get to trial. I know every case is different but just want to get thoughts. thanks.

[tobee43]

well...if you settle...and they get a judgment against you it will solely depend on what type of judgment it is.

some can be removed once your go bankrupt. many people are sued ...lose own tons of money...it's non criminal and they get the judgments removed after the discharge.

this is sticky because you know and your atty knows your going to be filing bk.......

[underwater2]

I thought that if we settled, part of the settlement- would be them dismissing the current lawsuit. Obviously there is a timing issue( if the judge rules before all the settlement documents were put together). IF that happened couldn't I get them to vacate the judgement as opposed to filing BK. I assume this would all be negotiated.

[tobee43]

I thought that if we settled, part of the settlement- would be them dismissing the current lawsuit. Obviously there is a timing issue( if the judge rules before all the settlement documents were put together). IF that happened couldn't I get them to vacate the judgement as opposed to filing BK. I assume this would all be negotiated.

if you do settle...and usually a settlement includes the paying of some type of monetary sum....and you intise them to do this by saying i'll pay you X if you dismiss the current lawsuit....they do.....and agree to X.

then you file bk....and it's not up to them those you settled with...to vacate the judgment...it's your bk atty that goes in after the discharge makes a motion to vacate any judgments providing they into the type of category that can be vacated.

like i said....i think that could be a bit sticky...however, of course i do not know all the details and maybe someone else has another view about this situation.

[underwater2]

My hearing date has been set for early Jan. So it looks like I have the window I wanted. Trying to negotiate a settlement now. If that fails I am ready to file in Dec. small victories.....

[GoingDown]

If you are going to file bankruptcy anyways, why are you so worried about the judgment? Once you file bk, the debt underlying the judgment gets discharged. You then simply file a motion to vacate the judgment and that will be the end of that judgment. If they use the judgment to file a lien on non-exempt assets, they will be lost. But if you have no non-exempt assets, then the judgment is completely worthless to them once you file BK.

But if you are really worried about it, then file BK as quickly as possible and stop the lawsuit dead in its tracks before they even get a judgment.