Help, judge ignored everything in court today.

[Donnie]

I went to circuit court today to defend CA’s MOTION TO CONFIRM ARBITRATION AWARD for MBNA America.

When I was originally served with Summons & Complaint back in December, I called MBNA America and asked them if they were in fact suing me and if they had retained Rausch, Sturm, Israel & Hornik as their attorneys to sue me.

MBNA’s supervisor told me no that they were not suing me and also that they did not retain the collection firm that I mentioned.

MBNA’s supervisor said that the account was probably sold to Wolpoff and Abrhamson and that Wolpoff probably hired the CA to collect for them. This would make Wolpoff the Plaintiff.

At court this morning, I started out by informing the judge that MBNA America has informed me that they are not the Plaintiff in this case and that they have not retained this law firm to sue me.

I continued to inform the judge that the CA has not submitted to me any kind of Validation of the alleged Debt in spite of my several letters disputing the alleged debt and ordering the CA to Cease and Desist in any and all collection attempts.

I told the judge that the CA has not submitted any signed contract or agreement between MBNA and myself that can even verify that I even had an account with MBNA America.

I informed the judge that there is a case that is precedent that shows that a CA can not even file a law suit unless they have verified and validated the debt.

I also informed the judge that arbitration must have the consent of both parties and that I refused to submit to the alleged arbitration proceedings.

I informed the judge that this CA is not even the law firm that submitted the alleged claim to arbitration and that it was Wolpoff and Abrhamson, clearly showing that the CA has no first hand knowledge that any arbitration proceedings ever took place or what allegedly took place.

I informed the judge that the CA’s law firm has not provided satisfactory Debt Validation to me and that they have been calling my house for several months violating the FDCPA 15 USC 1692g( causing my telephone to ring several hundred times through those months.

The judge ignored everything and gave judgment to enforce their award.

I spoke with the CA after the hearing and informed him that unless he drops this suit, I am going to file a suit against his firm for the several FDCPA & FCRA violations in the neighborhood of $700,000 dollars.

The CA didn’t seem concerned about that in the least. I have all of my letters and the CA’s phone records can be used as proof to confirm the hundreds of calls that they made.

I was surprised at the outcome in court of how a judge could rule the way that she did inspite of no evidence beyond an alleged arbitration award that I didn’t even participate in.

I need some advice on how to handle this from here.

There is a 7 day Order Rule that is going to be mailed to me which gives me 7 days to respond.

Should I file the suit right now for the FDCPA & FCRA violations or am I wasting my time?

Should I appeal the judgment made today on grounds that there was no evidence of a signed contract or evidence that I ever received a copy of any agreements?

What are my options?.

I am without funds to afford an attorney and I don’t know if any of them would consider taking on the FDCPA & FCRA violations lawsuits against the CA without a retainer.

Donnie

[admin]

I edited your post to make it a little more readable (added paragraph breaks), I hope you don't mind - it was tough going.

First thing that hit me was DID YOU BRING IN YOUR CASE LAW for the judge to look at??

What kind of motion did you file - were all these points brought up in your motion?

[Xanathos]

Well, the correct response to the CA would have been to say "See you on appeal", and not be so outrageous on what you said you were going to sue them for. I have no idea how you came up with $700,000, but a CA would have had to completely ruined your life over the span of years. If I were an attorney representing a CA

hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe

hahaha

er, ok...sorry, comic relief break. Anyhow, if I were an attorney representing a CA..heh...I'd not take seriously or worry about the statement of anybody saying they'd chase me for 700 large for calling them when I shouldn't have been, either. These CA lawyers may be twits, but generally speaking, they do have modicrums of intelligence to have gotten their Bar numbers and know what is and isn't plausible..

It's too late for this last bit now (since it's already after the fact) but being in Michigan, you really should have had the case removed to Federal instead of leaving it in Circuit. Michigan isn't exactly abound with consumer protection laws and consumer friendly judges from everything I understand.

[Donnie]

I have been reading on this message board that pursuant to the FDCPA 15 USC 1692g( If a consumer notifies the debt collector in writting within the 30-day period described in in subsection (a) that the debt, or any portion of thereof, is disputed, or that the consumer requests Debt Validation, the collector shall cease collection of the debt.

This means that they are not allowed to call you and cause your telephone to ring. The Federal Trade Commission told me that they can be sued for up to $1,000 for each time they violate this law. In my case, over 700 phone calls x $1,000 = 700,000. If I am wrong on any of this please correct me.

In Michigan under the MICHIGAN CONSUMERS PROTECTION ACT - MCL 445.251 sec. 2 A regulated person shall not commit 1 or more of the following act:

(n) Using harassing, oppressive, or abusive method to collect in debt, including causing a telephone to ring

If anyone has information on this or my situation, please let me know. I could use some help.

[admin]

Ya, but...

a) you need to cite the proper laws in court (and have them with you in writing, hopefully highlighted)

follow the rules of procedure and

c) have proof that they violated the laws.

Did you do all of that?

[Xanathos]

As admin said, we need to know tha tportion and

2) The FTC steered ya wrong. The FDCPA allows for damages up to $1,000 (min. $100), plus actual damages for violating. The $1,000 isn't per violation, it's a one-time amount. They can violate the law 500 times and it'd still just be $1,000. Your actuals would go up, but not the statutory.

The FCRA is the one that allows the $1k per violation.

[Recovering Attorney]

I think the judge did not ignore you so much as realize that all your arguments were made a little late. The CA was there to confirm an arbitration award. This assumes you had process served on you for the arb and thus had your " day in court", such as it is. So, the proper defense was that the arbitration process was somehow flawed.

Now, you may have some FDCPA violations, but remember there is a 1 year SOL on those.