Asset Acceptance has filed suit, but I was never served

[signal]

Asset Acceptance purchased a bill I had from around 2009/2010. They have filed in court and I can see the case in the online courts documents.
My parents said someone came to their house to serve me, and they notified the person that I don't live there, and they gave the process server my current address and phone number.

My current address is correct on all my documents (drivers license, social, etc) and its correct in my credit files.

I look in the court system and it shows that there is a court date for April. No one has actually contacted me, but I worry about getting a default summary judgement against me if I don't show up. Should I call AA?

Next thing, yes I owe this money. Statute of Limitations is still about 12 months away. I have not been pursued legally by anyone yet, this AA filing is the first.

I owe the money, I am not filing BK. Should I just call AA and try to negotiate a settlement, or hire a lawyer to fight? Amount is $2250.00

My plan is to just let my creditors go past the Florida SoL (4 years). I want to deal with this AA creditor as cheaply as possible, not sure if settling is generally going to be cheaper at this stage or hiring an attorney to try to deal with it.

The online court system shows "Summons Issued" but as I say, I have not yet been contacted by anyone.

[justbroke]

You have not been served, or alternatively served by "alternate means", so they can't file for Summary Judgment yet. They will probably try to serve you at the address given by your relative. Of course, I'm just speculating, so I don't know what they will do. If they serve you by alternate means, publication, they may actually get a judgment. The filing of the lawsuit may actually toll the statute of limitations with respect to this debt. Just wanted to let you know that.

As for settlement or fight, that's a personal decision. Even if not thinking of fighting, you may want to consult with several different attorneys to see what they say about this. There is no sense paying $1,500 for an attorney to fight a $2,200 debt (where the debt will balloon if you lose). From a practical standpoint, I would not settle for $2,200. I don't personally know what I'd settle for, but that's something you could probe the attorney about during your free consult!

[GoingDown]

And I hope it goes without saying, that once someone files a lawsuit against you, in most states, your money is no longer safe in a checking account and savings account.

Sadly, your money is now safer as cash stuffed under your mattress, than it is in a bank.

If you're not going to file bankruptcy right away, get your money out of banks and keep it as cash, and just use cash, money orders, and pre-paid debit cards to pay for things until this matter is resolved.

Fighting a lawsuit in most cases is a waste of time and money. Judges usually side with creditors. But filing bankruptcy can stop the lawsuit from going forward and prevent them from getting a judgment.

[bcohen]

Fighting a lawsuit is not a waste of time and money, even if you ultimately lose. First of all, by fighting back every step of the way, you can delay the judgment by 4 to 6 months. This gives you time to spend down non-exempt funds, and prepare to file for bankruptcy (assuming that your total debt load warrants this). Second, and more importantly, fighting the lawsuit drives up the creditor's costs, and may result in them dismissing the case. Many creditors--especially if they are junk debt buyers such as Asset Acceptance--simply don't have the evidence needed to prove their case, and are hoping for a default judgment.

I was sued by Discover Bank through the law firm of Gurstel Chargo back in September 2012, and just recently received notice of a judgment back in January of this year. I fought back every step of the way, and I am glad that I did. It didn't have the effect that I hoped for (avoiding the judgment completely), but I did run the creditor's legal costs up more than $1200, which although it was added to the judgment, will never be paid. I am filing for Chapter 7 next week! If enough people fought back for the purpose of driving up the creditor's legal expenses, the creditors and collection attorneys would think twice about suing people who are clearly poor and have no lienable assets.

[salsa]

I've had a lot of experience with Asset Acceptance. They are the primary reason we filed a chapter 13. Even though they paid pennies on the dollar, they wouldn't settle. I did fight the lawsuits, but in the end they did win on all 3 of my accounts. Not sure how every state handles, but if they get a judgment. In my state at least that can survive I believe 20 years.

So now we are in a chapter 13 for 5 years, and right now looks like 0% to unsecured. So I hope they are happy now.

[GoingDown]

Fighting a lawsuit is not a waste of time and money, even if you ultimately lose. First of all, by fighting back every step of the way, you can delay the judgment by 4 to 6 months. This gives you time to spend down non-exempt funds, and prepare to file for bankruptcy (assuming that your total debt load warrants this). Second, and more importantly, fighting the lawsuit drives up the creditor's costs, and may result in them dismissing the case. Many creditors--especially if they are junk debt buyers such as Asset Acceptance--simply don't have the evidence needed to prove their case, and are hoping for a default judgment.

I was sued by Discover Bank through the law firm of Gurstel Chargo back in September 2012, and just recently received notice of a judgment back in January of this year. I fought back every step of the way, and I am glad that I did. It didn't have the effect that I hoped for (avoiding the judgment completely), but I did run the creditor's legal costs up more than $1200, which although it was added to the judgment, will never be paid. I am filing for Chapter 7 next week! If enough people fought back for the purpose of driving up the creditor's legal expenses, the creditors and collection attorneys would think twice about suing people who are clearly poor and have no lienable assets.

Yeah, but how much did you pay in court costs, etc., to bloody their nose? Was this in Maricopa Superior Court or in the local justice courts? If it was in the justice courts, no big deal, I guess, since it wouldn't cost much to respond to their lawsuit. But Superior Court, on the other hand is a horse of an entirely different color in terms of what it costs to fight a losing battle in court.



At this point, since all my debts are beyond even the 6 year S.O.L. I will fight every lawsuit vigorously all the way to the bitter end, and win, and then ask the court to award me all the court costs as well.

But I will fight them in court because I know I will win. It wouldn't be me fighting a losing battle in this case.

[GoingDown]

I've had a lot of experience with Asset Acceptance. They are the primary reason we filed a chapter 13. Even though they paid pennies on the dollar, they wouldn't settle. I did fight the lawsuits, but in the end they did win on all 3 of my accounts. Not sure how every state handles, but if they get a judgment. In my state at least that can survive I believe 20 years.

So now we are in a chapter 13 for 5 years, and right now looks like 0% to unsecured. So I hope they are happy now.

Well, at least they won't get paid a penny of the debt. That's good.

[bcohen]

Yeah, but how much did you pay in court costs, etc., to bloody their nose? Was this in Maricopa Superior Court or in the local justice courts? If it was in the justice courts, no big deal, I guess, since it wouldn't cost much to respond to their lawsuit. But Superior Court, on the other hand is a horse of an entirely different color in terms of what it costs to fight a losing battle in court.

First of all, I do not think in those terms. I would have had no problem spending $1000 or more to run up the plaintiff's costs by several times that amount. However, this was not Superior Court, it was the justice court, as the amount at stake was less than $10,000.

I spent about $250 total, and $100 of that was copying fees, because I went to the Superior Court and obtained case files for several other past cases filed by Discover Bank in which responses were filed. (I couldn't find any cases at the justice court level where the defendants bothered to file even a response, so I looked to the higher-dollar cases.) I did this for the purpose of obtaining legal documents in the proper form to use as a template for my response, discovery requests, and motions.

I consider that money well spent, because it accomplished two goals. First of all, I was able to delay the judgment long enough to spend down the money from my summer job and carry out proper pre-bankruptcy planning, and take my time preparing the bankruptcy documents. Secondly, it drove up the costs for this a**hole law firm, who will now not be paid, because I am BK'ing their judgment. I am quite happy about both of these things!