I WON! Went to trial and I won!

[SingleDadJames]

Well I’ve been waiting a LONG time to post this but better late than never:

I WON!

That’s right…I FINALLY had my trial with /\/\idland funding . I never posted about it on the board until now, but I also successfully fought off a Motion for Summary Disposition and went through the accompanying oral argument just prior to trial as well.

Although I’m not convinced it’s truly “over", I did win this particular battle and I owe a lot of people a huge thank you! Long Story short, the judge ruled in my favor and rendered a verdict of dismissal for no cause of action. I’m not totally convinced this issue will disappear forever, but I’m certainly more prepared now than I was at the start of the experience.

Thanks to all of you and especially MustangGrrL027, ADSOFT, Massive, Admin, Savoir, Linda7,chuckygee, RebelLady, Recovering Attorney, LadynRed to name a few. There are many more and if I forgot to name you please realize it’s nothing personal. It’s partly because I can’t list everyone and partly because my brain is still fried from this little experience!

In all seriousness, thanks to anyone and everyone who posts here and shares their knowledge. It is greatly appreciated! I owe an extra special thanks to MustangGrrL027 because she helped point out a great tactic to use that may be of benefit to others in similar situations but more on that later.

Since it's been awhile since I updated I'll be posting updates on what happened between my last post and trial. Hopefully I'll have time soon to combine everything or edit this to a start to finish thread to outline everything from start to finish in a single thread.

[ADSOFT]

Great NEWS!!!!!!

Check the court online service for the last entery, and summary of minutes. You will know what happened there.

[SingleDadJames]

Be advised these next few update post from me will be loooong...but I wanted to post as much info and help for the entire community as I possibly can!

I believe I stopped posting about my case after a pre-trial conference and just after the plaintiff supplied a stack of alleged credit card statements along with a letter saying I could call to discuss settlement. At that pre-trial hearing I refused to settle, informed the court that in my opinion no account stated exists and that it was ultimately a matter for trial. The judge agreed and then set a trial date. That’s about where we left off.

Not long after that (and I never did post about this here on the site) the Plaintiff’s attorney filed a Motion for Summary Disposition, which is really just Michigan’s version of a motion for summary judgment. For those that don’t know a motion for summary disposition/judgment is a basically a motion saying to the court that there is no real reason for a suit to continue on and go to trial. In theory the moving party is saying “this case is already over and shouldn’t go to trial and waste the courts time because . . .”

In their motion the Plaintiff claimed there were no genuine issues of material fact and they were entitled to judgment as a matter of law. They set the motion hearing for this on a Monday and the Trial was scheduled for the following Thursday.

Their brief in support of their motion for summary disposition wasn’t too long but it was pretty intimidating at first glance. In it they cited some MI cases about account stated (which was the basis for their claim). They also stated that I had requested a copy of a signed application, which was true. They then stated they didn’t need this under an account stated anyway (which is also true). They also pointed out there is a statute that says the OC doesn’t have to retain the application for more than 24 months after the account was opened (also true). They then argued that they only need to show I had received statements and failed to object to them in a reasonable time and/or that they also need only show I used (or authorized use of) the card. They also argued that one of the alleged statements showed a payment made and they pointed out some caselaw that seemed to show a voluntary payment is enough to establish acceptance of the account balance alleged due and an account stated.

I thought it was odd that in their motion for summary disposition they threw in the allegation of “breach of contract” and it is NEVER mentioned in their complaint. I can only assume they had realized I was kicking the legs out of their account stated theory and decided to try to add breach of contract. They claimed I failed to perform and breached the terms of the contract without ever describing what the terms were. I had even requested a copy of the alleged credit card agreement in Discovery months earlier and they never did supply it.

It’s weird that the document I thought would be the easiest for them to provide was the one they never would give me. I really expected them to at least throw a generic agreement from years after the account was opened at me the minute I requested a copy of an agreement.
At the close of their brief in support they argued that I had never made any objections to the account, that no written dispute was ever received, and that there were no outstanding issues of material fact to be decided at trial. Those were all outright lies.

At first I was pretty intimidated but I sat on things a day or two to calm down and then I started researching how to defeat a motion for summary disposition. I realized there are several different ways, or combinations thereof, that a motion for summary disposition can be brought. The Plaintiff’s Motion in this case was brought pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(10) which basically says that: “Except as to the amount of damages, there is no genuine issue as to any material fact, and the moving party is entitled to judgment or partial judgment as a matter of law.”

After finding and reading many objections to a motion for summary disposition and supporting briefs (there are literally hundreds or thousands of examples on the internet) it quickly became obvious that under MCR 2.116(C)(10) all I had to do was show there was one single genuine issue of material fact remaining for trial. The catch is you have to provide documentation or sworn affidavits to prove any of your objections or arguments.

For example, if in a motion for summary disposition/judgment the plaintiff says you never disputed the account in question it’s not enough to simply say yes you did. Just like at trial, you need to have some sort of proof. You’d need to attach proof of a letter of dispute or something similar. In some cases you’d need to write up an affidavit if it was hard to prove something or you had little documentation to back it up. The bottom line is you can SAY anything you want in an objection to a motion for summary disposition/judgment, but you have to have proof to back it up.

In my response in opposition to the Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Disposition technically all I had to show was that there was at least one remaining genuine issue of material fact for the judge to decide at trial. This was not difficult because I had objected to and denied pretty much everything and everything was in dispute. When the plaintiff’s attorney whined about “limiting the issues” for trial even the judge had commented that it seemed like all was fair game and that since I had denied, everything was up for debate at trial.

Rather than just lay out a single genuine issue of material fact to defeat their motion I decided to pretty much lay out all of the remaining issues and any relevant arguments I had to oppose. A motion for summary disposition and any objection are pretty much a trial on paper. Since my trial was only a few days after the hearing on the motion for summary disposition, I decided to pretty much lay out all remaining issues and any arguments relevant to their motion. It’s basically just outlining how the trial would likely proceed so it was great preparation for argument at trial anyway. If the Plaintiff files a motion for summary disposition very early in the proceedings then you may not necessarily want to go "all in" and show them your entire hand before trial. I figured I was safe enough that if I waited until the last day to serve my opposition and file it, they wouldn't have much time to read and respond.

In my arguments I went through and picked apart their arguments and looked up all the cases they cited. It’s a lot less intimidating when you go through and find all of the holes in the Plaintiff’s arguments. You seen realize they haven’t spent much time on things at all! I listed any major arguments to contradict theirs in my brief and made notes of all the others to bring up at trial because I assumed they’d probably rely on most of the same arguments and cited caselaw.

I did a ton of work and research and my response in opposition and accompanying brief were about 20 pages in length. I was a little nervous about submitting something too long but I’ve been noticing the Court probably just skims things over and most of the work is done at oral arguments. From what I’ve seen you make major arguments orally and then can rely on your written brief if need be. If the court can’t make a decision on a motion at the close of the motion hearing I believe they can take time to read through the documentation in greater detail and render a decision after analysis.

[SingleDadJames]

Originally Posted by ADSOFT

Great NEWS!!!!!!

Check the court online service for the last entery, and summary of minutes. You will know what happened there.

Thanks ADSOFT! I appreciate all the direct input and indirect help you provided me through reading through your old posts.

That's one thing that I hate about this court in MI, they have no online access to the docket etc. I can't check the filings or anything online. I either have to call the clerk or drive to the courthouse and check on things. At least they have ancient clunky PC's to check things online when I do go to the courthouse. I hope all of you litigants in courts with easy online access truly appreciate how much easier it makes things!

[workingpoor]

A victory for one is a victory for all. Congrats SDJ

[jackson212]

ive come to party!

[ADSOFT]

Originally Posted by SingleDadJames

Thanks ADSOFT! I appreciate all the direct input and indirect help you provided me through reading through your old posts.

That's one thing that I hate about this court in MI, they have no online access to the docket etc. I can't check the filings or anything online. I either have to call the clerk or drive to the courthouse and check on things. At least they have ancient clunky PC's to check things online when I do go to the courthouse. I hope all of you litigants in courts with easy online access truly appreciate how much easier it makes things!

No sense in stopping now.

PUT THE FINAL NAIL IN THE COFFEN (... sorry I can't spell, lol)

Go to the court house. There MIGHT be a document that you file when you have a judgement in your favor. That will kill it for sure. Also you JUST might be able to ask for a more definite answer/ruling from the judge.

Kill that Lawsuit.

[formerpara]

CONGRATULATIONS Singledadjames!!! I've only just begun my battle with those bottom feeders. Waiting to see if if my Answer/Affirmative Defenses get's signed for by Ceritified Mail. They weren't there at first attempt. Your posts have inspired me!!!!

[SingleDadJames]

So I must have done something right with my "Response in Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Disposition". We had the motion hearing and the judge pretty promptly denied their motion.

The Plaintiff's attorney was the first attorney that originally showed up and who I hadn't seen for months. He called me out in the hall prior to the hearing and basically tried to intimidate me. He said, "Of course the court wants us to resolve this between ourselves if possible. Is there even any point in having this conversation?" I mentioned that the previous attorney had mentioned a settlement number that was just a slight discount of the alleged balance due. I told him based on that number and what I'd seen, there was no way I was going to settle for that amount. I also reminded him that I didn't even believe this account was mine or that the plaintiff truly even owned it. He just said, "Ok". Then as I turned to go back into the court room he threw in, "So you're prepared to argue these briefs?" I just said, "Yeah..the best I can" and went back in and sat down awaiting my turn.

We were shortly called up by the judge. By now the judge was pretty familiar with the case and my face simply because I've shown up for EVERYTHING. Since he recognized this wasn't the usual attorney, the judge immediately complained to the plaintiff's attorney that "It would be nice if we could have some continuity with an attorney in this matter". The plaintiff's attorney just replied, "Yeah." lol WTF? Nice response buddy.

Then the judge flipped to the beginning of the file and noted that this attorney was the first to appear and he seemed just a little less pi$$ed.

The judge then said he noticed we went out in the hall to discuss things while he was dealing with the previous case, and he asked if there was any progress. I am quickly learning not to talk unless there is an absolute need to so I let the plaintiff's attorney whine a little. He informed the court that there was no resolution and that I was not receptive to settling and that ultimately "The Defendant feels it's a matter of proofs." DUH Dip$hit. Your plaintiff bought an alleged BAD debt and then sued me. Of course you need to prove it...why would I roll over and hand over money I don't have to someone who can't prove this debt is mine or that they even own it?!?

The judge addressed the Plaintiff and said, "This is a relatively small amount. I know a lot of times in these cases one of the biggest issues is the matter of unreasonably high interest rates and fees. Did your client give you any leeway or negotiation with those?" The attorney said they did but basically that there wasn't much to negotiate with me. The judge then asked me if I had any interest in settling the matter without court intervention because the trial was later that week and "Generally the time to settle the matter is before and not AT trial". I said I'd discuss the matter again but basically there was no way I would settle on a debt that I didn't know was mine and definitely not at the amount they keep mentioning. We moved on pretty quickly after that.

Since I still had an outstanding Motion to Strike the plaintiff's affidavit of debt that hadn't been heard, I noticed it for the same day as this hearing. The judge immediately brought it up as one of the issues at hand for the day. He pretty quickly shot it down as being premature. He looked at me and said, "it hasn't technically been entered into evidence yet so there's really nothing to strike. You can wait until trial and then raise your issues then." Out of the corner of my eye I saw the Plaintiff's attorney's head turn toward me and he looked at me with a big stupid chesire cat grin.

While the judge was technically right about the affidavit not being evidence, I believe I had a pretty strong argument for it to be stricken anyway since it was a document attached to the complaint that failed to comply with court rules for proper format of a pleading. The affidavit of debt referred to documents and written instruments but none of them were attached. There is a Michigan court rule that says when defense or claim in a pleading refers to a written instrument it must be attached as an exhibit. MCR 2.113(F)(1)
If not the pleading fails to comply with court rules and the pleading, or parts of the pleading are subject to a motion to strike MCR 2.115(B). Since the affidavit was attached to the complaint it was part of the pleading MCR 2.113(F)(2).

Although I believe these were all valid reasons to have the affidavit stricken I believe the stronger reasons were reasons of hearsay etc. I was entirely prepared to argue this at trial and just read from my brief supporting the motion to strike if need be. I could raise the issue of not having the written instruments attached as a last resort at trial. After the judge had already given the attorney a hard time I could sense things might be going my way so I didn't push the motion to strike argument. I just politely told the judge I was happy to object to the affidavit at trial and kept my mouth shut and didn't push the issue.

Boy am I glad I did that because the tables quickly turned on the Mr. Cocky attorney who had been smirking at my motion to strike a moment earlier.

Now it was his turn to argue his motion for summary disposition and it was pretty obvious the Plaintiff's attorney hadn't even really bothered to read up on the file or even really get himself up to speed with what was going on. It's almost like these goons think they are entitled to a win just because they showed up and are licensed attorneys and we aren't.

I don't even think this guy understood the concept of how their motion was brought. It was brought pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(10) and basically claimed that there were no genuine issues of material fact remaining to be decided. All I had to do was show there was a single major remaining issue pertinent to the resolution of the case for the judge to decide at trial to defeat their motion. He made some general arguments that basically said statements were sent, i didn't object, one of the statements showed a payment, and the plaintiff was entitled to judgment.

I was prepared to start countering with all of the counter arguments I made in my brief but the judge pretty much did it for me. I was trying to rely on my written brief as much as possible but I did rehearse ahead of time to try and outline what I'd say.

Before I could bother the judge asked the plaintiff's attorney most of the issues I raised in my brief. I had to do very little talking.
The judge then said, "Well based on what I've seen there were, issues remaining to be decided at trial and I'm going to deny the Plaintiff's motion for summary disposition".

Boy did that trigger the whining from the other side. "Your honor, if you aren't going to award a full motion for summary disposition then at least award a partial disposition based on what issues aren't in dispute." I almost crapped my pants because I didn't even realize there was such a thing

The judge looked at me and I quickly pointed out pretty much everything is in dispute and we don't agree on anything. He didn't look impressed with that answer. I was worried I was going to have the tables turned on me so I started laying out some of the outstanding issues remaining just in case the judge didn't read through my entire brief in detail.

I got to the part where as a last resort I pointed out that the plaintiff admitted in Discovery that there was an arbitration clause in the alleged credit agreement that if exercised by either party precluded litigation. The plaintiff's attorney jumped on it and laughed and said, "Your Honor nobody has elected arbitration". The judge looked at me and sternly said, "It's a little late to be electing arbitration now."

I replied, "With all due respect your honor I can't elect arbitration when I have no copy of the agreement to even read the clause and see how it's worded." I pointed out that I had asked for the alleged credit card agreement before and that it wasn't provided. The judge replied that he didn't recall me making the court aware of it in pre-trial and I agreed that other in Discovery I probably hadn't. The judge then got mad and said when we set the trial date I should have simply told him there was outstanding Discovery and that I wasn't ready for trial. I realized we were starting to get off topic and that I just might orally argue my way into a hole so I once again played my "STFU" card.

[SingleDadJames]

I informed the judge that it didn't matter, since this had gone on for well over 7-8 months that I just wanted to go to trial and have it be over with. The judge denied their motion for summary disposition and then gave both the plaintiff and attorney reasons why we perhaps we didn't want this to go to trial.

I've been continually attacking the bill of sale and everything else. They simply attached a paper with the alleged account number and my name in an attempt to make the bill of sale look like it specifically applied to the alleged account in this case. The judge turned to me and said, "Suppose you are right about this bill of sale. I'm not saying you ARE, but for the sake of argument suppose you ARE right. In all likelihood all that will happen is this matter be dismissed and the will get refiled." I knew he was right so I just nodded in agreement.

He then turned to the Plaintiff's attorney and said, "You'd better have someone here on Thursday. We are generally going to need some sort of witness rather than simply having a trial based on the pleadings." It was then I sort of knew that all my complaining about lack of authentication and hearsay were probably going to be right on track. With that the judge said he'd see us on the day of trial.

I couldn't believe I made it through all that without having my arse handed to me by the judge or a licensed attorney. The attorney hurried out ahead of me struck up a conversation with another attorney in the hall. I made my way out to the elevators and he asked "Are you sure you don't want to talk about this?"

I walked over and said "Not unless your settlement number is going to be around a hundred bucks." I did not want to settle but I figured I'd still have a dozen or more hours of preparation before trial so I didn't panic before the judge. I also realized that even if I won it was going to be nothing more than a dismissal since I didn't have any counterclaims. I figured a Ben Franklin might be worth trading for a dismissal with prejudice and saving myself the time, copying costs, mileage, etc preparing for trial.

We never got that far in our "discussion". He grabbed his briefcase and said "Ok. Fine. I'll just put you up there on Thursday and you can tell the judge this is yours" and he stormed off. I told his back to have a nice day and then walked out feeling a little shell shocked but happy with my mini victory!

Although I’m no attorney and it wasn’t perfect, I was proud of myself for defeating the motion for summary disposition on my own! It took a bunch of research and a little common sense. It just goes to show what we can accomplish as pro se litigants with a lot of determination and research!

Thanks for putting up with this looooooooong post. I want to make sure I share as much of info as I can while it's still fresh in my mind. (I've even taken notes along the way to remind myself in case I get to have this pleasure again). I’ll post a summary of what happened at trial in my next post.

[usctrojanalum]

Midland has been beaten like 4 times this week alone. keep up the good work.

[fightemdontfold]

Great news and a great job by you. Only one question, why are you willing to settle for even a fraction of what they sued for, these goons have nothing legit to prove their claims, I wouldn't offer them squat.

I think pro se defendants I have read about on the boards seem to be overly courteous to the JDB lawyers, even after they have demostrated that they have no substantial proof to back up their lawsuit. I have resisted "making things personal" by succumbing to my urge to call these clowns suing me up and telling them how frivolous their claims are, but if one of these lawyers tried to get rude with me they would get it right back.

In the only appearence I have made in court on a motion to compel discovery, the warm body the goons suing me sent never attempted to make contact with me, in fact he came into the courtroom a few minutes before the judge did. I was prepared to interrupt him if he tried to locate me and talk to me with "save it, I have nothing to say until we get up there in front of the judge" if he did approach me.

It's one thing if the JDB actually has something that you think might be substantial, but maybe its just me but I am very angered by these clowns wasting my time and putting me to trouble when they have no proof to win in court. You said it yourself, these lawyers think pro se folks are idiots and easy wins for them, why show them any respect or kindness when they have no respect for you, your time, or your ability to defend yourself.

[fightemdontfold]

One last thing, I will be looking forward to what hopefully will be a happy ending for you when you go to trial. Make sure to post, I will be looking for it.

[hopefulscambeater.]

That is awesome, congratulations!

[calawyer]

SDJ:

It simply doesn't get any better than this. You beat Midland at its own game. Hope you have a most excellent weekend!

You should now check out whether, under MI law, you are the "prevailing party" entitled to your costs of suit. At the very least, you should be able to get your filing fee. When I googled the MI filing fee I saw that it might be as much as $150. If so, you should end up with a judgment in YOUR favor for $150. That should look pretty nice on the credit report!

Again, nice going.

[fightemdontfold]

Since you mentioned filing fees, I thought I might bring this up here and now. How many states actually do that, require that a defendant responding to a lawsuit have to pay to respond, that sounds off the wall crazy to me. I know in KY you don't have to pay to file an anwser, etc. I can imagine the ratio of defaults are even higher when these JDB's sue people in states that make the defendant pay just to respond. That is really messed up that one might oppose the claims of the JDB but might not have the money to spare to even file an anwser denying the claims.

Hell yeah, if you had to pay to respond I would definatly be quick to demand that they pay to compensate you for that at least.

[inthesticks]

This is great SDJ! You are giving a lot of people hope!

[antiquedave]

THAT IS WONDERFUL NEWS! CONGRATS! IT GIVES ME HOPE!

[Linda7]

Congratulations!!!! It's happy dance time for sure!!

[SingleDadJames]

As promised I took a great deal of time to type out what went down at trial. So grab a cup of coffee and put on your reading glasses...this is going to take a minute

It took me nearly twice as long as normal to get to the courthouse because we had a huge snow storm that week and the roads were terrible. In factn many courts in the surrounding area were closed the day before. To be sure I didn't risk a trip to the court for nothing I even called the court just prior to closing the day before my trial to make sure the Plaintiff's attorney didn't ask for a continuance etc. due to the nasty weather. No such luck.

I got to court and the plaintiff’s attorney showed up (this time was the other attorney that had dealt with most of the case). I was 80% sure they’d let me get all worked up for trial and then dismiss at the last minute. To my surprise that was not the case. She came up to me and said “Obviously the court wants us to resolve this issue if we can. I’ve been authorized to offer you a settlement of 50% of the balance plus our costs payable over 6 months. I have been authorized to offer that or we can have the judge come out and render a verdict.”

I informed the attorney that I had already had a discussion and threw out a low settlement number with the other attorney at the motion hearing for the motion for summary disposition. I informed her it was only because I didn’t want to have to research and prepare myself to argue against a licensed attorney at trial. I explained that I had now already gone through all the preparation for trial and I wasn’t willing to settle. I did note that I was most interested in a dismissal with prejudice but it wouldn’t be for the proposed 50%.

I politely informed her that while going to trial before the judge wasn’t the most pleasant idea, it was a must. I said, “The idea doesn’t thrill me and I know you are much more experienced at this than I am”. She laughed and replied in a friendly manner, “It’s not really a matter of experience. It’s a matter of me thinking it’s going to go one way and one way only.” I wanted to say, “Me too” but I wasn’t quite that confident!

We left it at that and that’s when the “Oh $h*t… we are really going to do this!” thoughts started entering my mind. I tried to push the images of the judge ripping me a new one and this attorney going Perry Mason on me out of my mind.

I noticed the Plaintiff walked away and exchanged glances and greetings with a gentleman in a shirt and tie in the front row of seats and then she proceeded to the back. I started to worry that this might be a witness to authenticate documents or records. Maybe she was just sitting away from him to throw me off. I did NOT expect them to fly in a witness but I had prepared some questions to ask the witness on cross examination just in case they did. I flipped through my paperwork to find it and review some of the questions while we waited for the judge.

The first matter before the court was some sort of basic civil issue (I don’t remember what) and the well dressed gentleman I was worried about being a witness was actually the attorney for the defendant in that case. Relieved, I switched gears and went over what I would briefly say in my opening statement.

I went into court armed with a bunch of paperwork and all of my exhibits prepared and easily sorted in separate files. I had watched some youtube videos of opening and closing statements etc. I had also gotten my hands on a pdf file of the juror’s handbook for this court which broke down the basic procedures pretty well. I had a basic idea of the order of things and how things were supposed to go. Apparently the Plaintiff’s attorney hadn’t watched these same videos or read the same book. In fact, I’m not so sure she’s ever actually been all the way to a trial in one of these cases. The trial didn’t really proceed like a trial is supposed to.

She opened by apologizing to the court and me for not being at the motion hearing but something came up. I could care less and it seemed like the court wasn’t interested either. She then started her opening statement by complaining to the judge that she was still unable to come to a resolution with me on this matter. (Just like she started EVERY pre-trial conference.) The judge interrupted, “Yeah, I know. That’s why it’s scheduled for trial TODAY.” I successfully extinguished my urge to turn to her and exclaim “In YOUR FACE!”

She then attempted to introduce the case background and told the Judge the Plaintiff filed an “8 allegation complaint”. I was going to interrupt because their original complaint is basically one allegation or claim backed up with some statements. Instead I made a note that I needed to address the issue in my opening statement/argument. The judge was pretty much right with me. He questioned, “8 allegations?” Then he flipped to the front of the file and said, “You mean ONE single allegation in the complaint that is 8 paragraphs or statements…right?” The judge sort of looked at me like WTF is she talking about. She agreed that is indeed what she meant.
She then started to outline the complaint and the judge interrupted her. “I don’t need you to rehash the entire case. The court has read the file and all the pleadings. It’s all in the file which is, I don’t know: 3 inches thick?” He then held up the file and I had to laugh a little.

The Plaintiff’s attorney then started to mention the statements etc. and the judge cut her pretty short. The courtroom was basically empty except for us when the judge called our case. He said, “I don’t see anyone else in the courtroom besides you and the defendant. Do you have any sort of witness?” He flipped through the file and said “I don’t know if an affidavit from a . . . ‘legal $peciali$t” is going to cut it from a legal standpoint. Is there anyone here for the defendant to cross examine or question?” She confirmed that there was not.

She then whined that I should be put under oath. Since things were going my way I didn’t put up a fight when the judge asked me about it. He put me under oath and she proceeded to ask me several questions in the most half @$$ed monotone voice I’ve ever heard in my life. “Mr SOANDSO did you receive capital one credit card statements on this account from capital one.” I replied, “Not to my recollection, no.” “Did you receive statements from the plaintiff regarding this account?” My answer was, “Other than the ones provided to me in Discovery, no not to my recollection.”

She asked a couple more of the same types of questions, obviously doing it on the fly. She then tried to get cute with some weird question about whether or not I received statements about the statements on the account from the plaintiff. I had no idea what the heck she was asking so I politely informed her I didn’t understand the question and asked her to ask it again. She sighed and just blurted out, “Mr. soandso did you have this capital one credit card?” I just said, “No not that I recall”.