Judgement Timeline Question????

[vegemily]

I am confused about the notices I am getting and I'm hoping someone can help.

1) Received letter in the mail from courthouse indicating that my case has been assigned to an arbitration track for caseflow management.

2) Next day, received letter from courthouse stating "Discovery Order"
"And now this 27th day of November, 2010, it is ordered that discovery shall be completed by April 18th."

3) got served with actual lawsuit papers from Citibank indicating I have 20 days to respond.

I have some questions. Does this mean that nothing will happen with this case until AFTER April 18Th? Or can something happen sooner if I don't respond within the 20 days. Thanks for your time. I am wondering because I want to push off the BK for a month or two instead of running in to file in the next 20 days...

When I talked to the lawyer last week half of this didn't happen yet. He said it would be cheaper to file prior to a judement being entered then to pursue a notice to vacate. (I own a house) But, I'm unsure of the timeline here.

[Freddy03]

The summons and discovery order are separate.

You will need to answer the summons within 20 days (if you are not going to file before then) to prevent a default judgment. Then you have up to 4/18 to get the courts and Citi the requested info in the discovery order. If you file before 4/18 you won't need to get that info to them. So if you answer the summons you have up to at least 4/18 before even going to court.

Good Luck

[drowning123]

From my experience, if you don't respond in 20 days, there'll be a default judgment against you, which you'll have to include in your BK. BK will stop everything. After BK, you'll then have to file a motion to vacate.

[vegemily]

ok thanks. I'm going to ask the lawyer how much he'll charge me to answer the summons because I don't want to file yet.

[treehugger1]

"Then you have up to 4/18 to get the courts and Citi the requested info in the discovery order. If you file before 4/18 you won't need to get that info to them. So if you answer the summons you have up to at least 4/18 before even going to court."

Whoaaaaaa! Suppose you file an answer. Great. How much will this cost you? In some states filing an answer can cost $100 - $300 dollars. And then, after you start the discovery process you can get nickled and dimed to death for filing all the discovery papers with the court and the plaintiff's attorney.

Next step after answer: In general a discovery phase begins. For those who stated you have until 4/18 , they need to read YOUR state's rules of civil procedure before giving advice. Suppose that you file an answer and within a few days the plaintiff sends you a "discovery request," in which you have 20 - 30 days to respond (much sooner than 4/18.) Suppose you ignore such a request (by the way, depending upon your state, it may cost you additional fees to file your response to discovery and serve your response on the plaintiff,) and having ignored such a request, the plaintiff now motions for summary judgment. This can all occur a LONG time before 4/18. Just because the court has put some time on the discovery stage does not imply you have until 4/18.

So, either carefully read your state's court rules of civil procedure and any special local rules that may apply, or ignore everything with the knowledge you will eventually file for BK. As mentioned, a BK will solve most of yoru problems related to judgments. If it is your intent to keep from getting a judgment, then you have some work to do. The last thing you should assume is that you are safe until 4/18. EVERYTHING varies by state.

[vegemily]

Well my lawyer wants me to file within the next 30 days. He said there is no point waiting and it's better to go ahead before a judgement is entered or someone else files suit. So, that's what I'm going to do. I just need to scrounge up some money.

[treehugger1]

Probably a good idea to file if you are worried about judgments, garnishments, liens, etc. However, all of these can be entertained and dealt with under federal and state bankruptcy rules.

I don't know why attorneys are always so worried about suits when you are broke. LOL. However, BK is certainly a bit easier and cheaper if the BK is clean with no liens, judgments, etc to deal with. Of course BK attorneys want you to file immediately. They need to eat as much as the rest of us.

In the end, you need to decide what it is that will help you close your eyes and sleep at night.