Being sued by a small town business

[wareagle]

I was served papers recently. It is a small claims monetary judgement notice.

I am not sure how to proceed with this though. This is my first time being served. No information was included with the notice. Here are the details of it:

You are hereby notified that the plantiff(s) demand(s) from you the amount of $949.00 plus costs based on unpaid account

Unless you APPEAR by completing and filing the attached appearance and answer form with the clerk of the court at the Courthouse in City, Iowa, within 20 days after service of this original notice upon you, judgment shall be rendered against you upon plaintiff's claim together with interest and court costs.

IF YOU DENY THIS CLAIM AND APPEAR by filing the attached appearance and answer on or before the date specified, you will then receive notification from the clerk's office of the place and time assigned for hearing.

Signed by the attorney for the plaintiff.

The back page has an area to write whether I admit or deny the allegations and a place for me to sign.

What do I do with this? Do I call the attorney and try to work out a lump sum payment of say 400$ and payment plan the rest? Will they even do this? I obviously don't want this to go to court.

I DO owe this debt...though I just now was REMINDED of the debt for the first time in 4 years(SOL is 5). No notifications had been sent to me in 4 years until 2 months ago, and I assumed paying a payment of 100$.

WHat is the proper way to handle this? I don't have 1000$ to pay it off at this time.

This is NOT a collection agency, but rather being filed through the small town business.

[wareagle]

Anyone have any suggestions?

[tempteroffate]

A) Prepare your Answer to the Summons.

Determine what you can and can't do and be prepared to stick by that decision.

C) Go ahead and contact the business' attorney. Simply explain that the debt was long forgotten until you received the summons, but you would like to handle it outside of court if possible.

D) Give the business' attorney your settlement terms.

E) Wait for a response; however, do not let the time to file your Answer pass while waiting. If necessary, file your answer while you wait.

F) Get everything in writing.

G) Plan on appearing in court with your answer filed until you receive notice that the case was dismissed.

These are kind of loose suggestions/guidelines, but how I would approach the situation. I am definitely not an attorney nor any sort of professional legal counsel. Do what fits your situation best and if necessary consult qualified legal counsel.

[wareagle]

Is admitting to owing the debt a bad idea in the answer? I guess I was hoping I could handle the whole thing outside of court.

[zmontana]

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know much about this process, but if you really want to settle this out of court and are willing to pay, I'd contact the business directly to work out a payment plan. I'd guess that the total amount will go up since they've had to accrue some legal fees.

[KentWA]

If you admit, they will just get a judgement in nothing flat. If you deny, they would have to prove the account and amount. You can deny on several points. How do you know that the amount is correct? This buys you the time to reach a settlement.

[wareagle]

I contacted the business attorney, whom I know personally. I told him the situation that the debt was unknown for 4 years and that we attempted to make payments as soon as we were made aware of the debt(1 month ago). He claims we made a payment and stopped. I told him that was not true. He suggested that if I can pay 300$ up front, I can continue making payments and he will not proceed. He states he will send everything in writing in the next few days. He said I can do nothing now and no need to send in the answer form.

[rikkivs]

Attorneys love to tell you not to answer the summons because they'll get a default judgment if you don't answer! Cover your bases and if you honestly believe he'll send you those papers, write "Settlement in progress" under Affirmative defenses on your Answer form. Also, ask for an accounting of the alleged amount by saying something like "Defendant asks for a copy of the account/Bill of Particulars itemizing account from zero balance". This way the courts know that you are willing to settle but have to make certain the amount they're suing for is correct.

Even if you didn't answer the suit and they sent in a default package, they are still REQUIRED to justify how they came to the amount for which they are suing. I've seen judges adjust the judgment amount if attorneys cannot justify everything they're asking for in the suit.

At least you are covering your bases should they proceed with the suit. You never know so it's better to be safe than sorry...so Answer!

[Guest usctrojanalum]

How many days do you have left to file a response? if you have like 15 you can wait it out like the attorney suggested but if you have like 2 I would file an asnwer.