What do do in Civil Suit after Discharge chapter 7?

[Gregreece]

Hello,

I was involved in a civil suit (car accident) proper person. I was the one being sued, the defendant. When i filed chapter 7 it put a stay on the case and the other party(plaintiff) never pursued during my bankruptcy and i was discharged of all debts. Now that my Bankruptcy is over and we had a "status check" back in the civil court, the plaintiff claimed they chose not to pursue me. The plaintiff has abandoned the civil case and it still reads "open" we were told by the judge to file something.. a order? with the courts to dismiss and close up the case. What do I file?

thanks

[despritfreya]

Two ways to handle.

1. Plaintiff files a Motion or Stipulation (signed by you) to dismiss the suit with prejudice or

2. You wait until the Court enters an Order dismissing due to lack of prosecution. This happens in State Court where I am all the time. Court issues a "150 day Minute Entry" that states the case will be dismissed if nothing is done within 150 days. I assume most courts have a similar procedure.

[justbroke]

I'd just wait for the Dismissal for Lack of Prosecution as stated above. It takes some time, and the Court generally does this on their own merit. Otherwise, the plaintiff would need to dismiss and there is actually a fee for that in most jurisdictions.

[reesemay]

Best bet is to talk to the judge or the clerk to get the right answer

[AngelinaCat]

It will usually take a year from the date of the last activity filed with the court. My advice is just to sit and let it go. Eventially the judge should issue an order closing the case for 'Want of Prosecution'. But it doesn't always happen. Sometimes, the court clerk will just dispose of cases that haven't been acted on in a timely manner.

In our case we had a civil suit against suit against us that had lain fallow for 17 months before we filed. When we filed, that tolled the case, but the 'Suggestion of Bankruptcy' notice became another activity in the file, so after Discharge, we had to wait around some more.

We finally went to the court clerk and asked what was going on? We were told that the case was 'Disposed of'. When we asked what that was, we were told (after the standard, we can't give legal advice, call your attorney), that for all intents and purposes, the case was closed. Any party could file a motion to reopen, and we could file a motion to have the judge formally close and dismiss it, but then that would notify the other party (Plaintiff) and they would have the opportunuty to repond, and possibly reopen it themselves and move forward.

We chose to ignore it, and since then, the Plaintiff has had a massive heart attack and is out of the picture.

Good luck to you!