BackFromTheDebt

One thing — anything you already filed with the court must be sent to the attorney.

Maybe not. Send the copy the attorney, certified mail. ASAP. If there are any issues, deal with then as they arise.

As @fisthardcheese pointed out, if they are listed as a debtor on your BK form then the court case status doesn’t matter. They are treated the same as any other debtor. It is not unheard of for creditors to drop a case without prejudice when BK is filed, although getting a stay is more common.

But judgments last a long time. In many cases a judgment can be renewed. So it may last 20 years. What many creditors do is get a judgment against someone currently “judgment proof”, then sit on it while it collects interest for a few years. Then, when the debtor is working again, they garnish the wages to collect the judgment plus interest. Still, a JDB spending that kind of money to chase an unemployed debtor in arbitration is almost unheard of. A more likely explanation is that somehow a law firm was able to convince them to open their wallets for a sure win. This

It is not uncommon to go after a debtor who has very few assets. The goal is to get a judgement, and then garnish the wages while the interest from the judgment piles up. But going into arbitration against someone who is flat broke is an incredible waste. Still, sometimes they do really stupid things. Go figure.

That’s good, since you already reached out to the center. I’m sure you know what to do in mediation.

Did the judge say who was supposed to initiate and schedule the mediation?

DV is the debt validation letter JDB is the Junk Debt Buyer CMRRR is certified mail return receipt requested.

The rules of civil procedure are different from state to state, sometimes from county to county, and often differ in different courts in the same county. For example, in my state there are very strict rules as to what must be produced, IF the defendant asks for it. We don't know what state you are in, nor do we know what sort of court or what kind of money is involved. In some courts, but certainly not all, the plaintiff's next step would be to file an MSJ. If you don't defend against it, you lose. You may want to object to their MSJ on the grounds that certain evidence ha

A victory is getting a settlement you can live with. I’ve lost money over the years by not taking settlements I wasn’t happy with but could have lived with

I can attest to this from experience. I was under water when I got my 1099C forms, so I didn’t pay any taxes. That raised a red flag with the IRS, so I had to send information with all my assets and liabilities to show that I was, in fact, under water. I did all the tax stuff so I could’ve kept the information from my wife. But I didn’t. We had a lot going on. Some of the debts were my cards, some were her cards and some were joint. She even had to show up in court a few times. My wife was very happy to have me take the lead in fighting off the debts, and

Please start a new thread and give a lot more information. Nobody can give you advice without the full story.

Yes, Cap 1 removed arbitration a decade ago. Very sloppy indeed. Out of curiosity, did you file anything to stipulate that the agreement they sent in was correct?

Right now is the perfect time to settle. 1. Make sure you send a copy of the filing to their attorney 2. Wait a few days, then contact the attorney’s office and offer a mutual dismissal of all claims by both sides in arbitration and court.

There is an important underlying point behind @BV80’s responses. Not all courts have the same rules. Every state has its own rules of civil procedure, and they are different for different types of courts. Small claims and civil courts often have different rules. To make things even more complicated, rules can differ for the various counties within a state. For example, the rules in my particular county are unique to my county, and no other county anywhere in the USA. So that limits the advice we can give people. We aren’t lawyers, and even the most experienced tri