hlough1 Posted December 21, 2010 Report Share Posted December 21, 2010 Hello All!This is my first post and I had a two-part question that I wanted to ask. The first part of the question deals with how to tell an Original Creditor from a Junk Debt Buyer in a lawsuit?A little background: My wife and I were recently served a summons and complaint in our county court system. County courts are one step above "small claims" courts and one notch below "district courts". County courts handle money issues less than $15,000.00 and have separate "rules" apart from the regular court "rules". The named plaintiff on the paperwork is different from who we had an account with. When I called the plaintiff's attorney to try and sort this out they were at best, evasive. Also scrutinizing the court dockets for other cases involving this plaintiff, the have several hundred. In addition on our court date there are probably forty or so other defendants with this same plaintiff. I realize alot of issues turn on the subtle differences between oc and jdb so I was wondering with whom am I dealing with here? I realize this question has been asked ad nauseum but still a fresh perspective here would be invaluable to us.The second part of my question deals with how to handle representation. My wife and I are both named defendants. I feel up to the challenge of representation pro se and I am doing my homework. My concern is for my wife, who has significant health problems and does not need the added stress of dealing with these knuckleheads. Does she even need to be present in court? Can I get a power of attorney to represent her interests? Can she just be present and I can do all "the heavy lifting"? I would like to thank anyone and everyone, in advance, for whatever assistance that you can provide. I have a pretty clever "answer" ready to go for our first appearance date along with a blizzard of motions. These forums have inspired me to take this plaintiff to task and I feel pretty good about our chances! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InDebt2 Posted December 21, 2010 Report Share Posted December 21, 2010 The plaintiff listed on your complaint is the one sueing you.You don't say who that is and so I can't really respond factually however, it should be fairly obvious.If you've pulled your credit report recently and your OC has your account listed as sold with a balance of $0 ........ it's probably a JDB listed as plaintiff. They also may have a listing on your CR.As to the second question .... I'm unqualified to answer it.Good luck ...... you sound like you have the drive ....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy1960 Posted December 21, 2010 Report Share Posted December 21, 2010 Generally, speaking you will need to check your jurisdiction if there are 2 plaintiffs named then each has to file an answer to the complaint seperately. I highly doubt that you can represent your spouse as you would run into UPL unlicensed practice of law. Given that you should check to be sure I am not from your jurisdiction and all jurisdictions have some differences.You could probably contact any attornies office and get that question answered at no charge or a legal aid group....Best of Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest usctrojanalum Posted December 21, 2010 Report Share Posted December 21, 2010 If you do not recognize the plaintiff, check what your credit reports say. You may seem them on your credit report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hlough1 Posted December 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Thank you all for responding back to me. I especially appreciate the thought about checking on the credit report. I will get right on that. Skippy1960, you also raised an interesting question about the need for separate answers for my wife and I. My plan was to file one answer with both of our signatures on it. If worst comes to worst and my theory about the "power of attorney" does not work out, I can have her present and I can do all the hard stuff. My understanding, in that regard, is as long as she is there and assents to allowing me to handle the case, I am free to pursue things like questioning witnesses, presenting evidence, and the like, since we are both named defendants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hlough1 Posted December 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Hello All,I checked my credit report from all three sources. I can find no reference to either the original creditor of the plaintiff in my suit. Not sure what this means, but in the interest of full disclosure, I wanted to report back. Also if my information seems a bit vague, I apologize. I do not know if the plaintiff in my lawsuit reads these forums or not, but I do not want to give these troglodytes any more information then they already have. I have deliberately left things vague enough to preclude any possibility of these messages being used against me.Thanks, as always, for all the help that you can provide! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy1960 Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Deroagtories stay on Credit Report for 7 years, so if you don't find any information then the accounts could be greater than 7 years old and possible outside SOL for collection in your state, you need to determine this.Be mindful many banks have consolidated so due diligence to reviewing what is there and see if this adds any information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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