Question being sued but haven't been served yet

[4ever]

I just got a letter from another attorney that lives 80 miles away and never had contact with me. He said Capital one was suing me as of Oct 6 and to contact him if I didn't have a lawyer yet. He told me to look up the details on casenet which I did and sure enough I have a court date for Nov. 11! My lawyer hasn't even told me about this yet. We have our lawyer paid and are reworking our paperwork since they couldn't figure it out so we haven't had a real set down meeting with him yet.
Do they serve summons on weekends? I will be taking this letter and what I printed off of casenet to my lawyer Monday. Does this mean I still have to show up for the court date? I don't know why they haven't served me yet if it was filed on the 6th. under the docket entries it says "Summons Issued-Associate". on Oct 8.

[drowning123]

No, you cannot be served on a weekend. I believe you also cannot be served after 6 PM during the week. Anyway, still go to court on November 11, since you have the date and let them know your intentions to file for bankruptcy or if you have already filed for bankruptcy, let them know that, too. You'll then be free to go. The whole hearing on Novemberer 11 shouldn't take more than 5 minutes - I think.

[4ever]

Thank you! I don't know whether to be grateful to the other lawyer or not. At least I know whats coming at me instead of opening my door one day and have papers shoved in my face. I just hope they don't come in a police car. That would be a nice conversation starter in this neighborhood.

[ryan]

No, you cannot be served on a weekend. I believe you also cannot be served after 6 PM during the week. ....

Maybe you cannot be served on a weekend in New York, but you can be in many other states, including IL and I'll bet Missouri as well.

[drowning123]

True dat, Ryan, but also. I've gotten served and it was a regular guy. But as ryan pointed out, things are done differently in each state.

[msm859]

No, you cannot be served on a weekend. I believe you also cannot be served after 6 PM during the week.

In California you can be served any day and at any time.

[4ever]

Maybe you cannot be served on a weekend in New York, but you can be in many other states, including IL and I'll bet Missouri as well.

you win ryan! A cop in a police car just showed up (today is Sunday) and gave me the summons. I guess anything is possible in Missouri!

[4ever]

The lawyer's secretary said we should hopefully be in the BK before Nov. 17 which is the court date. So if we are in, should I still show up at court? Don't want to have them come looking for me.

[free2breathe]

Ask your attorney if you should appear. If you don't appear, they will likely get a default judgment against you. Since the debt will be included in your bankruptcy, all you'll have to do post bk is file a motion to vacate that judgment. I'm not sure what would happen if you appeared in court with a copy of the filed bk paperwork. Wonder if the judge would deny the judgment based on the fact that it would be easily vacated after bk anyway? Anyone have any firsthand experience with this?

I just got good news. Apparently in the state where we used to live, they cannot get a default judgment if we weren't actually served papers. I know from a source that someone tried to serve papers, but obviously since we'd already moved, we weren't there. In our case, no service=no judgment. Just one more thing not to have to worry about.

[jcj112562]

I had a suit served on me, which I answered. This was a local civil matter (think county court). I filed my Chapter 13 pro se the day before I was to appear in court, got the case number, went over to the courthouse, gave them a copy of the paper the Clerk of the Bankruptcy Court gave me, which had the file number, and *POOF*..no more appearance required, no more suit. The judge is not going to allow it to proceed. Additionally, after the giant pain the people who brought the suit were to me, they somehow neglected to file a claim with the trustee during the required timeframe. Nothing like having them erase 4500 bucks of non-secured debt before I had to pay a dime.

John

[free2breathe]

Great story, John! I had a feeling that if the OP just presented their bk papers with the case no. that there would be no judgment, just didn't know exactly how the courts would handle it. Finding out these little bits of information is like having a belt loosened a notch. It's getting easier to breathe.