Received Interrogatories Through Regular Mail ?

[vin64]

Hello,

This is my first post on this forum.

I am being sued by Pressler for Midland Funding in Ny State.

I was served a summons and complaint and properly answered it and filed with the court.

After I sent in the answer to the complaint I received from Pressler first an offer to settle for the total balance of the debt stated.

Right after that (the next day) I received (through regular mail) Interrogatories to answer and Notice to Admit Truth Of Facts.

Both of these documents are accompanied by a cover letter that say they must be answered within 20 days and returned to the office signed and sworn before a notary.

My question now is this.

Since this was sent to me regular mail, Is this a legitimate way of sending this to me and do I have to answer when sent to me this way? I was not actually served these papers or did not receive them certified mail.

How would they know what date even starts the 20 day timeline or if I ever even received it?

Thanks

[antiquedave]

you need to take a look at your state civil rules to see how discovery is handled, they can ask for anything I guess but does your rules allow them to pursue discovery against you without leave of the court?

I sent a discovery request to the plaintiff and was denied and then submitted a motion for discovery which was approved. Someties the rules say you can do xyz if the other party consents but if they don't consent than it has to be by leave of the court or by motion.

So I guess the question is do you consent to discovery and do the rules allow the plaintiff to pursue discovery if you don't consent at this time?

BTW discovery goes both ways and it was nice of them to provide you with the format to structure your own discovery request.

[admin]

If you can possibly follow your case online (many courts put case status on line and you can look it up by case number), do it and see if they've submitted the docs to court as well.

It may well be (as suggested by last poster), that it is perfectly proper to send you discovery via the mail in your jurisdiction.

You need to review your civil rules of procedure.

[Guest usctrojanalum]

My question now is this.

Since this was sent to me regular mail, Is this a legitimate way of sending this to me and do I have to answer when sent to me this way? I was not actually served these papers or did not receive them certified mail.

How would they know what date even starts the 20 day timeline or if I ever even received it?

Yes, this is a legitimate way to send discovery and you should answer it. In NYS the clock will start ticking 5 days after the discovery was mailed. To be honest you really don't have to answer them in 20 days, before they could even bring a motion to compel they would have to send you 3 letters in a good faith attempt to have the discovery completed without the request of judicial intervention.

[lheart]

And in many jurisdictions, discovery is handled completely outside of the court unless one party is uncooperative. In mine, nothing discovery related is filed in the court, including the request, unless a Motion to Compel Discovery is required.

[formerpara]

In my state I didn't file the discovery requests or requests for admissions with the court. Only a notice of filing.

Edited March 14, 2011 by formerpara
typo

[vin64]

So if it is ok to request discovery by regular mail but nothing can be done by the plaintiff if I dont answer other than filing a motion to ask the court to get me to answer why should I answer at this point?

It seems to me like it is just making it easier on the plaintiff by answering now and not making them file the discovery motion?

Not answering now also gives me more time to prepare my answers if the plaintiff does file the motion to compell.

Thoughts please.

Thanks

[BV80]

They won't necessarily file a motion to compel. If you don't answer, they could just file a Motion for Summary Judgment.

[vin64]

usctrojanalum,

Since you are a process server in NY State, can you tell me if there is a time limit on how long an affidavit of service has to be filed with the court clerk after the actual service is completed for the service to be valid? (I am talking about the service of the summons and complaint)

Thanks

[Guest usctrojanalum]

14 days. I am not sure if it is business or regular days, but if I were to take an educated guess I'd say regular days.

[Guest usctrojanalum]

They won't necessarily file a motion to compel. If you don't answer, they could just file a Motion for Summary Judgment.

I agree they could do this, but in my experience when plaintiff's are asking for any type of discovery in these type of simple cases it means they do not have the necessary information required to proceed with MSJ.

[vin64]

It is getting close to the 20 days that I have to answer the request for discovery now.

I sent the Plaintiffs attorney a request for discovery FIRST in the form of a Bill Of Particulars that was never answered by them.

Can I use there failure to respond to my request as a reason to object to answering the request for discovery they made on me?

To me it seems like they now set the precedent that discovery requests outside of judicial intervention are to be ignored.

Also. Can I file for a motion to dismiss based on the fact that the affidavit of service for the summons and complaint was not filed in time with the clerk?

If the 14 days is correct they are way over that timeline in filing by about 2 weeks. They filed the affidavit of service about 30 days after serving me.

Thank You

Edited March 26, 2011 by vin64
Added more info.

[Guest usctrojanalum]

It is getting close to the 20 days that I have to answer the request for discovery now.

I sent the Plaintiffs attorney a request for discovery FIRST in the form of a Bill Of Particulars that was never answered by them.

Can I use there failure to respond to my request as a reason to object to answering the request for discovery they made on me?

Did you send any follow up good-faith letters asking for the discovery you requested? If you did not, then no.

Also. Can I file for a motion to dismiss based on the fact that the affidavit of service for the summons and complaint was not filed in time with the clerk?

I'm not sure.

[vin64]

usctrojanalum,

Did you send any follow up good-faith letters asking for the discovery you requested? If you did not, then no.

Is there any format that I have to use to send the follow up good faith letter?

Can I just send the original Bill Of Particulars again with the heading at the top reading "2nd Attempt"? or do I have to actually site the civil rule regarding to the amount of time required to respond?

[vin64]

I recently defended (pro-se) against a motion for summary judgement in a case where I am being sued by Pressler and Pressler in NY.

The judge did not grant the motion and has now called for a preliminary conference to take place on July 26th.

What can I expect from this conference? and how should I prepare?

Thank You

[BTO429]

While it may not be absolutely necessary, I stile file my interrogs, answers and discovery with the court....It is my way of having proof of what I sent them entered into the court case records.

If the clerk asks you why just say for records keeping and proof so the court will know just in case there is a problem with the Plaintiff not wanting to respond or the Plaintiff claims I did not file my answers on time.

The court clerk will stamp the docs and file them in your case, the stamp from the clerk will have the date on it, that way there is no questions, and no way for the other side to say to were either late or did not send your answers at all.

[legaleagle]

Prelims like this are usually for the court to determine if there can be a settlement, or if there has to be a trial. Be prepared to tell the judge exactly what triable issues there are that make a trial necesssary.