thunder0932

Just got back from my hearing. It went relatively well. I must say, spending time in the Law Library helped a bunch as well as taking the entire day yesterday to observe the judge decreased my anxiety levels tremendously. Needless to say, I did a good job pissing off the lawyer. In the hallway, I mentioned the arbitration clause in the agreement and the lawyer stated "I've read the agreement, I know what it says". Then, I tried showing her the MTC and stated "I don't need to see that". The next thing I know, the lawyer tells me she's going to request a continuance and makes a mad dash back into the courtroom. Once I walk back into the courtroom, literally 10-15 seconds after the lawyer walks off, she's already chatting up with the Judge and I overhear her stating I wish to follow the arbitration clause in the cardholder agreement. I decide the best course of action is to stand in the middle of the courtroom and make it clear I want to be apart of this conversation. The Judge then validates my intent, and I make it clear that I wish to proceed with arbitration per the cardholder agreement. Once I tell the Judge that I have a MTC prepared, the Judge proceeds to give me a "deer in headlights" look. It's then that the Judge welcomes me up to the podium to present her with the MTC. The Judge then asks the lawyer if I had shown her the MTC - she reluctantly says yes....I then chime-in stating the lawyer refused to look at it. My guess is that the lawyer wanted to see the case be continued with some dim hope that the MTC wouldn't be mentioned. At this point, I think the Judge realized that. You know what's really funny? After reviewing my MTC, the Judge proceeds to ask the lawyer if she has any arguments specifically towards the MTC. Keep in mind, I just told the Judge she refused to even look at it. Hell, I'm still holding onto her copy while speaking with the Judge. The lawyer's response was golden: "The defendant hasn't applied with JAMS yet and I was just made aware of the intent to arbitrate" - Translated: "I'm well aware of the cardholder agreement we gave to the defendant and it's arbitration clause. At this point, I'm just gonna make stuff up. Additionally, I can't make any arguments against the MTC because I didn't bother looking at it" The Judge then points this out in the cardholder agreement: "If a party files a lawsuit in court asserting claim(s) that are subject to arbitration and the other party files a motion with the court to compel arbitration, which is granted, it will be the responsibility of the party asserting the claim(s) to commence the arbitration proceeding." The Judge stated that her take on that was Midland is required to initiate JAMS. The Judge asked again if there was anything else the plaintiff wanted to add....no says the lawyer. It's at this point the Judge turns to me and says she's going to file my MTC and issue a 30 day continuance awaiting Midland to commence the JAMS proceedings. She says I'm free to go and tells the lawyer to wait for the paperwork. It took me a bit to process everything that occurred within that short time....but it eventually clicked. I proceeded to laugh my a$$ off for the next 20 minutes driving home.

Whoops - it was 2018. Sorry for that mess up! I've corrected it.

Yeah, to be clear...the argument isn't whether or not I falsified the application (I didn't); through my interpretation of the CARD act, it's still a violation for the OC to approve a card without requesting for a pay-stub etc. Looked at my BB order history; and guess what? I had an in-store order on 3-13-15 (called BB and got the receipt...paid using the card). So, if my interpretation is correct, they very obviously opened up a line of credit without obtaining proof of income. To be honest here, there's other tried and true methods out here to get this to go away. I just thought it was an interesting observation to share and I'll look around for a free consultation. Thanks a bunch for the input!

So these are the two things I'm looking at...again, this was applied for and approved in a BB store at the spur of the moment - I never sent them anything as proof of income. At most they might have asked me an estimate as to my income (memory is hazy). Hell, I didn't even turn 21 until right after the last utilization.

In that case, should I press for dismissal with prejudice? Ideally I'd like to get a dismissal with prejudice...after whats happened recently (attached the thread below)...I'd really like to shut their **** down. Thanks for the suggestion!

So, this was interesting. I was just served a separate lawsuit from the same process server today, which was filed back in October 2017. The plaintiff? Midland Funding LLC CitiBank (Best Buy CC) - Green & Cooper. Midland filed a lawsuit this month and that can be found here: Questionnaire 1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit? MIDLAND (Blood-Sucking) FUNDING 2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? Green and Cooper LLP 3. How much are you being sued for? ~$1519 4. Who is the original creditor? CitiBank (Best Buy Credit Card) 5. How do you know you are being sued? Served 6. How were you served? Someone dropped it off in person 7. Was the service legal as required by your state? Not sure, more on that below. 8. What was your correspondence (if any) with the people suing you before you think you were being sued? No correspondence. More on that below. 9. What state and county do you live in? Georgia Cobb County 10. When is the last time you paid on this account? 02/2016 11. When did you open the account? 2015 12. What is the SOL on the debt? 6 years 13. What is the status of your case? "NON-SERVICE" 1-15-18 14. Have you disputed the debt with the credit bureaus. No 15. Did you request debt validation before the suit was filed? No 16. How long do you have to respond to the suit? 30 days 17. What evidence did they send with the summons? Exhibit A: Statement 11/18/2016 Exhibit B: Statement 12/18/2015 Exhibit C: Bill of Sale from OC, Affidavit of Sale from OC, Certificate of Conformity Exhibit D: Electronic Field data Exhibit E: Affadavit from Midland's Legal Specialist A Few Things Here: I'm completely blind-sighted by this. I have never received any notice as to the purchase of this debt by Midland. The defendant's address on this lawsuit is listed as one I've never resided at (I don't know where they got it from) The electronic records contained with the supposed bill of sale and one of the CC statements uses an unknown address listed in Alpharetta GA - The last time I resided in Alpharetta was well over 10 years ago. Hell, I would of been too young at the time to open a line of credit. I was 20 years old when the card was opened....it's a Best Buy card applied for/opened in-store. I just figured out today proof of income is required to open a line of credit with the OC for those under 21. I sure as **** didn't show a BB employee my tax forms/pay stubs. Is this a violation of the credit CARD Act? If so, how/would it apply today? So Midland/G&C had the proper address for the Synchrony bank card....but both Midland/G&C and CitiBank completely F'ed up my address. Which is ridiculous considering every other account I had opened does not have this problem - hell, even Midland/G&C had the proper address apparently in-order to serve me with the Synchrony lawsuit. Further, according to the CC statements provided...I submitted a payment on 2-2016 - I was living in Atlanta at the time...not Alpharetta. So, I assume my friendly process server recognized my name from serving me with the Synchrony papers and decided to pay me another visit today. Here's the paperwork (I've added notations in red): complaint_clean.pdf In addition to that, they completely fail to show how the account even got to $1,519.69 they are demanding. In Exhibit B they provide a CC statement with a closing date of 11/18/15 with my ending balance at $514.88 - no other records are provided to represent this payment of $400 on 2/2016 in Exhibit D. **** To me, this is a steaming pile of horse-****. Should I begin seeking legal council as to the potential violations (if any) that might have occurred? Regardless what happens; I'm kind of glad both of these are happening at the same time....I'd rather eat **** for a few months rather than draw it out for a year+.

So, today was the day...my first (and hopefully last) time being served. I have updated my original post above with a scanned copy of the documents I received. What's the opinion on affidavit admissibility? I've found contradictory statements in relation to this. I think the best route is to ask for the magistrate court rules for Cobb County - I assume I ask the clerks for that? I found a document titled "Introduction to Small Claims Court" on Cobb County's website and in it: So...my take-away from this is exhibits A,B,C, and D are inadmissible for either being hearsay or lacking a credible witness from the OC. Further, take out the affidavits and the only thing left is this heavily redacted Bill of Sale - which they seemingly found necessary to redact the title for some reason. --- My current plan is to sit on this for a week before I file my answer...then hit them with the MTC in court.

Luckily I managed to find my case in the electronic filing system - I've set myself up with an account and made myself familiar with the submission process. I'll continue research into case preparation, common JDB arguments/attacks, and JAMS. Thanks a bunch! Y'all are awesome, seriously, big thanks for the support and advice. I will keep all of this in mind as this case progresses in the upcoming months. The more I read about JDBs, the more comfortable I am fighting them. Just going through cases in Cobb county (hundreds for Midland), and seeing just how many go into default judgement gives me some motivation to continue this fight. I'll update this thread as soon as I'm served and ask any relevant questions when they come along.

Background I was laid-off in 2016 and am now a full-time student receiving assistance from a few sources - I am on track to earning my bachelors in IT/Security this year (after 1 1/2 years of study). In late 2016, my mother attempted suicide (due to prior abuse from her now ex-husband - stepfathers suck) which had brought a heavy burden upon my family and I. Nothing is more terrifying than having to drive from Atlanta to Alpharetta...not knowing whether your mom is dead or alive. Unfortunately, this combination of events has led me to largely ignore my financial situation and place me where I am today. Currently, I have close to $7,000 of debt supposedly purchased between 3 junk-debt buyers. Do I regret some of the decisions I made regarding my financial situation? I do. This lawsuit has opened my eyes as to the importance of resolving this situation. It's my hope that this community would be willing to assist me through this process. So, to anyone responding to this thread (and the many more I plan to make) - let me go ahead and state that I am greatly thankful for your time and input. Questionnaire 1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit? MIDLAND (Blood-Sucking) FUNDING LLC DBA SYNCHRONY BANK 2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? Green and Cooper LLP 3. How much are you being sued for? ~$2200 4. Who is the original creditor? SYNCHRONY BANK (Amazon Store Card) 5. How do you know you are being sued? The non-stop flood of lawyer advertisements 6. How were you served? Someone dropped it off in person 7. Was the service legal as required by your state? Yes 8. What was your correspondence (if any) with the people suing you before you think you were being sued? No correspondence - I logged into Midland's website to view amounts they were trying to collect after I was made aware of the lawsuit. 9. What state and county do you live in? Georgia Cobb County 10. When is the last time you paid on this account? 05/2016 11. When did you open the account? 2014 12. What is the SOL on the debt? 6 years 13. What is the status of your case? Suit Served 14. Have you disputed the debt with the credit bureaus. No 15. Did you request debt validation before the suit was filed? No 16. How long do you have to respond to the suit? 30 days 17. What evidence did they send with the summons? Exhibit A: Statement 12/21/2016 Exhibit B: Statement 1/22/2016 Exhibit C: Bill of Sale from OC, Affidavit of Sale from OC, Blanked Certificate of Conformity for Notary Exhibit D: Electronic Field data Exhibit E: Affadavit from Midland's Legal Specialist SCAN: complaint-clean.pdf It's essentially the same as this user: Goals 1. Dismissal with prejudice 2. A clear understanding of the process for potential litigation in the future. My Questions 1. What do you recommend I should be doing now? Will it be possible to visit the court and obtain the complaint and relevant information before being served? I am currently awaiting to be served - I will update with the necessary information as soon as I obtain it. Ideally, I'd like to start this process and get a court date ASAP to get this behind me. 2. I am planning on going to court prior to my hearing. Anything in particular I should look out for? I am looking through active cases in my county similar to my lawsuit...taking note of the court date and judge. I am planning on spending an entire day in court prior to my case to take note of practices/procedures within the courtroom - as well as any quirks the judge may have. 3. Is arbitration a better option for me? Which CC agreement should I use? From reading other threads on this forum; the most potent Midland Repellent™ is sending the case into arbitration per the cardholder agreement. My plan is to request this go into arbitration through JAMS. I have attached 2 cardholder agreements (from CFPB) - one pertaining to when I opened the card and the other for when the account was in last good standing. Ideally, it'll probably be best to use the agreement G&C provides (should they) - so they cannot argue the legitimacy should I provide one myself. If they don't, which agreement is recommended? creditcardagreement_opening.pdf creditcardagreement_goodstanding.pdf 4. When do I MTC Arbitration? I suppose this question relates to my lack of understanding the procedure in depth (more on that below). It is my understanding that I will write up a document stating I wish to arbitrate my case, print 3 of them out, and provide them to the judge/lawyer. At which point should I provide this? Should it be the first words that come out of my mouth - when I submit my answer? 5. Any "What Can Go Wrong" horror stories relating to choosing the route of arbitration? This will help me make a more informed decision about where I wish to take this case. 6. Any literature/resources you recommend? I have a narrow view of the entire process in regards to procedure and process. I understand that though I'm representing myself; I will still be held-up to the same standards as a lawyer. Therefore, I'm well aware of the time and resources I will need to put into this to see this case end in my favor. If anyone has any resources/literature covering the magistrate courts in GA - it would be greatly appreciated! So far, my understanding probably represents what's in these videos: https://georgiamagistratecouncil.com/video-home/ ------- Thank you all for your time and consideration. I'm really glad a place like this exists and I look forward to participating in this community in the future!