Need another legal mind to confirm my thoughts.

[kenpo1980]

Okay, this is really irritating. About five years ago I defaulted on a student loan and it went into collection with a law firm. To avoid being sued I agreed to a payment plan and as a condition I had to agree to a stipulation of judgment. I made payments consistently over four years and finally in January of this year when I sent a payment I also sent a letter asking how much I still owed to which the firm sent me a letter stating the matter was settled in full and that they would request the whole action be dismissed. About two months later I received a copy of the request for dismissal and not only was it dismissed but it was dismissed with prejudice.

Well today I was sitting on my couch in the comfort of my home when I heard a knock at my door. Much to my surprise I was being served and not only was I being served but I was being served by this exact same law firm for the exact same matter that was dismissed over four months ago. I called the law firm and of course they were closed so I left a message. And my feeling and hope is that they will just call and say they made a mistake but if they don't wont this matter just be kicked out immediately by the court?

[Amerikaner83]

I would think so. SAME law firm - SAME debt - AFTER a dismissal with prejudice...I'd certainly think so.

[montanatim]

You said you received a request for dissmissal, was it signed by a judge? Are the cause numbers on this "dissmissal" the same as the summons? I hope you kept copys of everything. If the numbers are the same, the law firm is playing dirty, and never actually entered the request. Find out where you stand, call or visit the court and look at both case files,if indeed the numbers are different, see if they ever entered the dissmissal request. If it was entered, granted and signed by a judge your in good shape. If there's one open case get council.

[kenpo1980]

Actually the case numbers are different but just looking at the complaint I can see it is the exact same case. The amount they are asking for is actually less that what I believe I paid over the last four years, which also included their legal fees, and that's what makes this even more bizarre. There isn't a judge's signature on the request for dismissal so I am guessing it's just a copy of what they filed or intended to file. Regardless I can't imagine any judge or referee not dismissing this because clearly the firm is intentionally trying to deceive me or the message that this was dismissed didn't make it to somebody in the firm. This has to be some internal screw-up at this firm because why after four years of me making payments would they say the matter is settled and then out of the blue decide to sue me?

[IHateCAs]

Go to the courthouse. Pull a copy of the file. See what dismissal order was filed.

Even if they never filed that dismissal, I would suspect that letter (that you still have right?) saying the debt was paid in full along a with a copy of the dismissal they sent would give an estoppel defense some teeth.

[IHateCAs]

And just to give you a quick rundown of estoppel.

They represented that your debt was paid in full.

You relied on their representation and had good cause to do so. (IE you stopped paying and assumed it was over).

You will be harmed by relying on that false representation (allowing this lawsuit).

Basically a court would say it was unfair for them to change their tune now.

[IHateCAs]

This would also make a very interesting countersuit for you. They absolutely violated 1692e(2). They either misrepresented that the debt was paid or are now misrepresenting that it is unpaid. No way out of that one.

[kenpo1980]

Thanks for all the great advice. I actually spoke to their "collector" this morning (the attorney is of course out of town) and he asked that I fax him the cover sheet for the summons, which I did, along with the letter form the attorney stating the matter was resolved and the request for dismissal with prejudice, with the court stamps and everything that was filed back in March. I also let him know that if they didn't respond promptly I would be hiring a lawyer to deal with this.

His initial response was that it looks like there may have been another loan out there to which I replied, "so you guys decided to wait five years and then after telling me the matter was resolved spring this on me." My legal training tells me that even if there was some other loan that someone forgot to bring to my attention they would still be screwed since it is the exact same client and the exact same cause of action. No matter what it is clear that someone srewed up on their end because filing a suit is actually the last thing these guys generally do since they are always hoping to scare people into settling.

[montanatim]

Just to be safe I would find out if the case was dissmissed or not, for my self. I definatly would not rely on these incompetent morons for information.

[kenpo1980]

Well, I am going to give them a week to respond and if I don't get hear from them I am going to hire an attorney to deal with this. After reading up on 1692e(2), thanks to IhateCAs, I think I may have a claim against them. Even with my legal education I don't think it was unreasonable for me to rely on the dismissal I received from them and the letter stating the matter was resolved as meaning I was completely done with them and their client.