Medical Bill Lawsuit

[bdebtfree]

Ok...Yes, I'm a moron. We have medial bills that we haven't paid a dime one in a couple years so they decided to sue. Can't blame them. We could have at least paid 10.00 a month... That being said. . . Here is a run down.

Bills are in my wife's name

Wife is unemployed now, but was not at time of service

We recently moved just across the state line

The sued us in the state we USED to live in

We set up a P.O. Box in the old state to get forwarded mail (from people like

this)

They have not been able to serve her because they can't find her

She recently received a new "bill" from the hospital that hasn't contacted us in months about this debt - I am assuming because they couldn't find her to serve papers.

So my question...

If we start paying them, what is the likelihood they will sue in our new state? Or if they take our payments, have they accepted our terms? and are then unable to sue? How should we approach this?

If I were on the bills, I would sue the CA myself since they never validated after threatening to sue, but that's of no consequence now...

Besides, now that we are across state lines, is the current suit even valid?

BTW, the only way we found out she was being sued was by a solicitation from a local atty for defense services mailed to our P.O. Box.

I know we have to deal with it, because eventually they will find her...we have to file our taxes eventually

[montanatim]

If we start paying them, what is the likelihood they will sue in our new state? Or if they take our payments, have they accepted our terms? and are then unable to sue? How should we approach this

You can make an offer that includes them dropping the suit,they may well counter that you sign a stipulation to judgment if you default on any new plan. Even if they take some of your money, with out some sort of agreement to the contrary the suit could still be pursued.

Besides, now that we are across state lines, is the current suit even valid? The plaintiff could sue either place,that is where the contract originated or where you are now.

In my opinion, if the provider still holds the account you are probably better off, should you wish to enter settlement negotiations. They may still believe in good customer service/relations even at this point.

You could argue inconvenient forum from your new state but I don't think it would fly, they have origination, all the records, and potentially all witnesses, in their district going for them in a venue fight. At the end of the day if you won, you'd probably get a new summons in your local court. Fight now/fight later?

She recently received a new "bill" from the hospital that hasn't contacted us in months about this debt - I am assuming because they couldn't find her to serve papers. I find this interesting in that the hospital may have this account back and you are not dealing with a CA at this point. Check the court file on this and see if the suit is dead.