Dismissed with out prejudice -- for 30 days

[WasteofTaxMoney]

So, after the JDB's attorney trying to serve me since JANUARY and then finally getting served in March, going to pre-trial in June and court ordered discovery, my lawyer filed a motion to compel. The motion was heard this morning by the judge.

When my lawyer called me this morning, he said that the JDB's lawyer asked for a dismissal w/o prejudice. My lawyer said that he thinks that the JDB lawyer was actually pissed at the JDB since every time she's tried to contact them regarding them providing proof of the debt, etc, she either can't get anyone on the phone, or they don't call her back....so, for now, the case is dismissed with out prejudice for 30 days meaning that the JDB gets ANOTHER 30 calendar days to try and produce something of proof. If they don't, then the court automatically turns it into a dismissal WITH prejudice. If they do provide something, then we go back to pre-trial and then bench trial.

My lawyer felt very confident that -- after 7 months -- they have zero evidence to produce and this is just a way for the JDB to try and bide some MORE time....I mean, come on now --

Here's what I think:

JDB (in NJ) hires a lawyer here in MICHIGAN to come after me and sends NO evidence up front. WHY!? If this debt is real, why not just send all your info up front?! Why not have sent a copy of it with the summons, or at least to the lawyer that is supposedly defending you? Ugh.

So, I wait another 30 days for a dismissal with prejudice.

Has this ever happened to anyone else? What was your final out come?

Thanks!

[Massive]

JDB's file suits all over the country with no evidence and 90% of the time they receive default judgments. They end up punting when challenged in a court of law, sometimes on first down and always on fourth down. lol

[WasteofTaxMoney]

So, you're saying that for all these months they have been bluffing and hoping that I woudn't defend myself?

If that's the case, then it would seem that the lawyer representing the JDB is totally clueless. Why even accept to take an account/defend JDB when you have no proof to defend it -- unless of course you feel that the defendant will just automatically give up...?

Ugh....these people are SKUM!!! I don't know how they can sleep at night!

[Linda7]

So, you're saying that for all these months they have been bluffing and hoping that I woudn't defend myself?

If that's the case, then it would seem that the lawyer representing the JDB is totally clueless. Why even accept to take an account/defend JDB when you have no proof to defend it -- unless of course you feel that the defendant will just automatically give up...?

Ugh....these people are SKUM!!! I don't know how they can sleep at night!

You got that right! The thing is - they have so many cases and strategically plan their court days to include several cases at one whack! That makes it nice and easy for them to "swallow" the expense of traveling for court as they usually have several fish to fry at the same courthouse! When I went to court, it was at a small courthouse, so I'm thinking the grand trip from Atlanta out to me was just for me! However, by the time my case was up - the attorney was outside taking a break from his morning cases! And when I left, he was still there waiting for his afternoon cases! It's like someone said, "shooting fish in a barrel"! They hope the defendant doesn't show up, so they get an "easy" win or if the defendant does show up, maybe they can be bluffed to "settle" and the plaintiff will get something. Only occasionally will a defendant show up, ready for battle and then the attorney has to peek inside his folder to see what weapons he has and usually . . . he doesn't have what it takes, so he suddenly wants to dismiss "without" prejudice before court! The attorney says so that his clients can still have time to get their evidence together "if" they want to pursue the case! You would think by the time court rolled around, that lawyer would have all the evidence! Here's the thing - "if" there had been a counterclaim that needed to be addressed, you might could have gotten it dismissed "with" prejudice before court or at least you could have seen the judge and without their proof, the Judge would probably have dismissed it "with" prejudice. So, the lawyer for sure does not want to go into the courtroom and let that happen . . . but, if he can at least walk away with it being dismissed "without" prejudice . . . they can always sell it again to another junk debt buyer and get a little something! Are they slick or what?

Oh forgot to mention, in my case when the attorney was musing his options, I could see him x'ing off the following in his mind -

1. The defendant showed up

2. The defendant won't acknowledge the debt

3. The defendant has a file folder and is ready for court

Go to the next step

. . . and at that - he quickly drew out a preprinted sheet from a stack of them he had in his folder. They were "fill in the blank" sheets. They had all the main information listed that would not need to be changed, like this -

IN THE __________COURT OF ____________COUNTY

STATE OF XXXXXXXXX

Plaintiff,

vs Civil Action File No.

Defendant(s)

DISMISSAL WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Comes Now, ____________________________, Plaintiff herein and hereby voluntarily dismisses without prejudice the above styled action.

This the _____day of _________, 201__.

Attorney's Name & Bar Number

Place for signature & then address

*He quickly filled in the blanks, had the clerk stamp it, handed it to me, shook my hand and apologized for me having to make the trip and then sat down and waited for his next victim!

Edited March 7, 2012 by Linda7

[WhoCares1000]

So, you're saying that for all these months they have been bluffing and hoping that I woudn't defend myself?

If that's the case, then it would seem that the lawyer representing the JDB is totally clueless. Why even accept to take an account/defend JDB when you have no proof to defend it -- unless of course you feel that the defendant will just automatically give up...?

Ugh....these people are SKUM!!! I don't know how they can sleep at night!

Welcome to the real world of debt litigation. Yes, they file tons of cases with no evidence and bluff in hopes that you will fold. Why? Because the numbers work in their favor.

Here is the average scenario for debt collection cases filed:

- 90% do not answer or show up in court which means an automatic win.

- Of those who do answer, 70% - 80% either do not file a legally competent answer denying the debt, do not follow an important legal procedure or court rule, or can be threatened/coerced into a settlement. That would be about &% - 8% of the total.

- That leaves the 2% - 3% of the total who actually fight and make it to trial. As said before, some plaintiffs will simply stop the case at a legally competent answer where all the court rules have been followed. Other plaintiffs will hold out hoping to trip you up or be able to bluff you but when push comes to shove, will back out. You had to deal with the later unfortunately.

Why they do this is because it is too lucrative to do things this way. They do not need the evidence for the 97% - 98% of the cases they are dealing with and can get rid of the 2% - 3% with a Dismissal without Prejudice to buy them time to get the evidence or move on. Gathering the evidence costs money and has been found out, the evidence may not be available anymore.

I would bet that if the success rate without evidence would get closer to 50%, you would find more cases that would be filed with the evidence before they even get to court. Right now, it is not worth the bother. That is why they do it.