Dismissed without prejudice today:)

[bellasummer]

I'll take it..I know its not as good as dismissed with prejudiced but I'll take it.They had no evidence,pulled me aside before court trying to settle.I said"i'm not paying a debt I don't owe"....I was eating him alive not vice versa..I think I was pointing my finger at him at one point:)...I was ready to go state my case with all my defenses..He had nothing.no evidence.

If i get sued again for the debt I'll eat the next JDB alive as well:)

[admin]

Woo hoo!!!

[bellasummer]

I should be happy right!! I am but they have harrassed me so much and threatened me so much this makes me feel like they will come back around and harass me at a new job etc like they did..

But yes other than that I was calling the shots:0)..Thanks to Nascar I couldnt do this without him or Lebascas guiding me through!..I was so nervous last night when I realized that they answered the interrogatory as if they were going to bring in a witness. I kept looking around to see who it might be..

They were going to go down because I was super-prepared.The JDB lawyer didnt prepare for me thats for sure:)

I also got free parking,the parking guy let me go for free.. It was my day to say the least.:)Thanks All!!!!

[merrybucks]

Let the party begin!!!!! I don't think you have anything to worry about in the future. It's not worth it to them to take another shot at this case.

[bellasummer]

++xdancexPArty time...Ive been dealing with them for so long ..I am in the detox phase......Party it up. Another JDB confronted and defenseless..Yippee!

[nascar]

That Is Great!!!!!

I Knew You Could Do It!!

[Lecasbas]

What was the reason for dismissal "without prejudice"?

[nascar]

What was the reason for dismissal "without prejudice"?

Mostly because JDB attorney was no match for CIC and bellasummer - one tough litigator.

[Methuss]

I should be happy right!! I am but they have harrassed me so much and threatened me so much this makes me feel like they will come back around and harass me at a new job etc like they did..

So they dismissed without predjudice....and they had nothing to prove their claim.

FDCPA violation. Taking an action to collect that they could not legally take. Frivolous lawsuits are a form of collection harassment. Have a chat with a lawyer about that. It may go somewhere that leads to some $ in your pocket for your troubles and an injunction on them barring further attempts.

[bellasummer]

Well in their interrogatories they sent me a non-valid agreement being that it was for 3 years after the debt was supposedly opened.The dates were so far off, it was all they could get their hands on it appeared.Also they had a generic "bill of sale"with none of my personal information on it to identify it as the actual bill of sale.They tried to scare me with this as well as answering in a question that they would have a witness to testify to the ownership of account.When I got there,there was nothing but him fumbling around in his briefcase...It appears he was just reading me from a list,he didnt pull out any factual information or documents..Just pulled me aside of course...I knew what he was doing..On that note Methuss doyou think it is still a violation or just folding of his cards?

..I'd like to dedicate my JDb victory trophy to Lebascas and Nascar..And Mehtuss and DebtorsHusband and anyone else i might have missed.:ROFLMAO2::IThankYou:

[Andy Simmons]

"So they dismissed without predjudice....and they had nothing to prove their claim.

FDCPA violation. Taking an action to collect that they could not legally take. Frivolous lawsuits are a form of collection harassment. Have a chat with a lawyer about that. It may go somewhere that leads to some $ in your pocket for your troubles and an injunction on them barring further attempts."

----That's incorrect. The fact that they dismissed their case does not mean, by itself, that there was a violation of the FDCPA, nor does it mean the lawsuit was frivolous. If you file a FDCPA lawsuit based on nothing more than this, you are the one who is filing the frivolous lawsuit. With some exceptions, a plaintiff has an absolute right to dismiss its case.

Now, these credit card cases are often weak for the reasons stated above, namely, that these companies, when faced with competent opposition, have problems proving they actually own the debt or can't prove that the debt is owed. The generic bill of sale you mentioned, that is not actually linked to the defendant's account, is a huge evidentiary problem. But having a problem with one's evidence doesn't mean the case is frivolous.

One day they may get their paper and evidence together and then they'll start winning these cases, but until then, they have a weakness due to inadequate documentation. That does not necessarily make their cases frivolous. Just weak.

Indeed, all it takes for them to win one of these cases is for you guys to admit you owe the debt, which people do all the time. How then can the cases be frivolous when they win most of them?

Do not confuse weakness with being frivolous.

I read about all these pro se defendant credit card cases where the credit card lawyers drop the case at the court house on the day of trial. In contrast, they always nonsuit my cases long before trial, usually right after I file a motion. My clients never even have to visit the courthouse.

I have gotten the sense that these credit card lawyers will push their luck farther with pro se defendants. They have nothing to lose by making you come down to the court house on the day of trial, and usually they are doing a bunch of them all at the same time, so they have to be there anyhow.

Anyhow, congratulations to the winner. It feels good to win, doesn't it?

[bellasummer]

It does feel good to win!!! Yes I think he either:

1-Thought he might be dealing with someone who doesn't do their research..My family makes fun of me because I am a research junkie..

2-Thought I wouldn't show because the weather was horrendous out here.So he would get a default.

3-Or try to settle in the hallway.

So there you have 3 reasons why a JDB would show up at the courthouse..It's like a crap shoot.But luckily none of those 3 things happened...They lied all the way up to it,saying the would produce a witness,that they were waiting for documents etc..But in the meantime he was calling me to try to settle,but I ignored these phone calls..I almost felt bad for him because I was so prepared to talk to the judge.He was just trying to find me on a list in his briefcase.I think he didnt want to make a fool of himself in front of the judge.He had nothing.It seems he knew the procedure he was told to do.he found me in the seat when he walked in and asked to talk ouside.

I gave it to him as hard as the JDB has been giving it to me...All the threats,harrassment,to my work and home...He himself didnt deserve it,but I sent a clear message to the people he is representing..I kept saying'Tell them,I said......"....

Basically bottom line,don't aggravate an italian girl...hahahaha and have a clear case or don't bother me.

[M&M]

Congrats Hun, It makes me feel so good and gives me hope when someone beats these scum bags. to them.

[bellasummer]

Thanks M+M...I'm still in my detoxing phase.I feel like they are still going to come after me..They really harrassed me alot..It's weird that I feel this way..Honestly if they find me at a new job I'm going to get a lawyer.I'm sick of the threats and harassment.....Hopefully its all over..I worked hard on it and my nerves are finally starting to unwind:)

[Andy Simmons]

They might still bother you. Because the case was dismissed without prejudice, they are still within their rights to continue collection efforts.

Often, a dismissal without prejudice is the end of the matter because the statute of limitations will be a problem if they refile. But they can keep bugging you with demand letters and calls, yes. The threats might be hollow at this point, but they can keep bugging you. I've seen this happen. I've seen the debts get sold to another collector after the previous collector had dismissed the case.

I'm not sure what a lawyer can do about that now. A lawyer might have gotten you a dismissal with prejudice, and if they had, then you could do something about it if they kept bugging you. But as you explained already, you couldn't find a lawyer to take the case.

Bone up on FDCPA law and be prepared if they keep bugging you. But probably they won't. Don't worry about it until it happens.

As they say in Texas, don't go borrowing trouble.

[Andy Simmons]

"It makes me feel so good and gives me hope when someone beats these scum bags."

--of course, the debt collectors think the same thing about y'all.

I don't think debt collector lawyers are scumbags. They are just doing their jobs and they have professional rules of conduct that they know they have to follow. They also have reputations to protect.

I cannot say the same about non-lawyer debt collectors. Quite a lot of them don't hestitate to violate the FDCPA and engage in outrageous behavior. They don't seem too worried about the FDCPA. If they get popped, that's just a cost of doing business. Being nasty is the name of the game, and they have little to loose and everything to gain by being nasty if that is what it takes to get paid.

Lawyers, by contrast, have a lot to lose, such as their reputations or even their law licenses, by being thugs and outlaws. There are some bad apples, of course, but I think calling this entire groud of lawyers "scumbags" is the wrong attitude.

The ones I have talked to are actual human beings.

[Andy Simmons]

"I gave it to him as hard as the JDB has been giving it to me...All the threats,harrassment,to my work and home...He himself didnt deserve it,but I sent a clear message to the people he is representing..I kept saying'Tell them,I said......"....

Basically bottom line,don't aggravate an italian girl...hahahaha and have a clear case or don't bother me"

--sorry, but no message will be sent. For every bold Italian girl like yourself who can defend herself, they win a hundred of these cases. Win they lose, they just move on to the next case. They don't need or expect to win each case, it's not personal to them. They just need to collect enough money to make a living, and some of them, like Dodeka, have made a fortune.

But yeah, you stood up for yourself and that feels good. They can't take that away from you.

[M&M]

"It makes me feel so good and gives me hope when someone beats these scum bags."

Sorry, I did not mean to categorize all lawyers into one group, but unfortunately I haven't heard of too many who are debt collectors that do have a heart or that are not in it for the money. I know there are exceptions to this.

The ones I have talked to are actual human beings

You being a lawyer they may show more respect and maybe even another side to you. I could be wrong about this, but I have found in my profession that this is true.--

of course, the debt collectors think the same thing about y'all.

Unfortunately this is true, because they have become hardened and believe everyone is guilty.There are some of us out here that are actually innocent of what we are being accused of. I have rarely heard of any lawyer saying I believe this person is innocent and he should be found innocent of the charges.Even if he knows they are innocent, many will persist in their quest to have the court find them guilty, because this is their job. What happened to innocent until proven guilty.

I realize it is not just the lawyers that become hardened to their professions. I have seen Dr's. and nurses that become very hard and almost inhuman towards those who are dying, it is a safety mechanism. If they just treat them like a number then when the person dies they feel they won't be effected by it. I have seen teachers who just don't care anymore because they have so few students who actually want to learn. They become hard because they feel that the reason they became a teacher is gone, but what about those few who actually want to learn, they are left by the wayside. I think that everyone should remember why they got into the profession they chose and not pick a profession just because it has good pay. I know lawyers get into their profession because they want to win, but there must be times when they just know they are wrong, yet they persist in taking action against others.

[nascar]

Personally, I'm disappointed at the general lack of ethics displayed by a great number of attorneys whose practice involves collecting delinquent debt.

Skirting around the law, employing deception, and generally conducting their business like a run-of-the-mill debt collector is not acceptable behavior for an attorney no matter how one tries to justify it. I'm not aware of any exceptions to the Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys who collect and sue upon delinquent debt.

[bellasummer]

People should pick a profession they are proud of.I wouldn't be proud being a debt collector.Id be embarrassed.

--"sorry, but no message will be sent. For every bold Italian girl like yourself who can defend herself, they win a hundred of these cases. Win they lose, they just move on to the next case. They don't need or expect to win each case, it's not personal to them. They just need to collect enough money to make a living, and some of them, like Dodeka, have made a fortune."Sorry but I sent a message,not sending a message would be sitting back while some JDb bought a debt for pennies on the dollar and harrassed me for it.Threatening to follow me to another country,calling my work everyday,asking for my checking account numbers.When I had meetings with actual corporate lawyers around my desk all day..Not sending a message would be cowaring down to these people.Gving them what they want and letting them shake you down....

[admin]

I think a message was sent, definitely. Unfortunately, it's just not big enough to stop the entire industry.

[M&M]

Perhaps they won't pay attention to one message, but if enough people have the tenacity like Bella had and fight for what is right. Then, perhaps sooner or later they will get the message loud and clear that people are not going to take this lying down.

[bellasummer]

You got that right M+M...I can tell you what the major problem is.Noone knows how JDB's work,noone knows how to deal with them.I have had to explain to all my family members how they work and how to beat them.They were stunned about everything.They said most people would be like "oh wow,you'll let me settle for $5,000 on a $10,000 debt.Thats great where do I sign...Alot of people don't look further into it.They don't know how they can get defaults so easy...My sister said "wow what a gimmick,thats crazy".

There is no website like this website.I would have been blind like everyone else without you guys!!

[M&M]

I know they offered to settle with me for 55 % of the balance. If I owed it this would be a he// of a deal, but since this debt is not mine I would be out allot of money if I paid it. Everytime I watch a cop show and the attorney plea bargains a deal and the defendant sits there saying , but I'm innocent, it sends chills down my spine. I know many of these people are guilty but some of them haven't done anything wrong, yet they have to take the bargain and say they are guilty just to get a reduced sentance.

[bellasummer]

In that case,stick it to them!!!!Around how much is the alleged debt?