Court Dismissed - JDB Requesting Reinstatement

[Circe]

I was waiting to be notified of mandatory arbitration in my case being sued by Equable, when I received notice that the JDB was filing to get the case reinstated as the Court had dismissed the case before they were able to file for summary judgement.

FYI, I will not be finding out why the case was dismissed nor getting a copy of the dismissal until I contact the Court on Monday.

My first question is, am I correct that they can't get a summary judgement when I had filed my answers and therefore did not fail to appear?

I find their argument to get the case reinstated weak as it's basically "We were late - whine whine whine."

Second question is, I just wanted to confirm here that I should try right away and get the judgment amended to have been made "with prejudice" so that neither they nor anyone else can't file against me again.

HISTORY: Previous post here.

Brief timeline:

*October served w/notice they were filing suit.

*Received at PO Box in late November a Request for Admission mingled with Request for production of documents that they mailed 11/11/11.

*Received notice they intended to file for Summary Judgement on or after 12/13

*Dec. 9 I filed answers to Requests with the court, notarize, sent copy via CMMMR to JBD

*Picked up the following notice at my PO Box this Friday afternoon, 2/3/12

Full text of what I was sent by the JDB:

[Page 1]

MOTION AND ORDER FOR REINSTATEMENT

Plaintiff moves the Court to reinstate the above case, which was dismissed on December 19, 2011 as to the Defendant(s) MEXXXXXX, by the following order:

(X) UTCR 7.020 Judgement of Dismissal

( ) ORCP 54(

(3) Judgment of Dismissal (including cases that were reported settled and cases dismissed for failure to appear at trial assignment pursuant to SLR 7.055(8)(A))

( ) Abated or inactive status due to bankruptcy, independent arbitration, appeal or other

( ) Judgment of Dismissal for failure to comply with rules of arbitration (requests under this provision

must

be presented to the Dispute Resolution Department)

DATED this 23 day of January 2012.

[signed by]

of Attorneys for Plaintiff

[places below for Judge to sign and "Continue", set a trial date, put trial in queue to be assigned at date, choose "The final judgment or decree submitted with this motion and order shall be entered forthwith", or "Other".

[Page 2]

IN THE CIRUCUIT COURT FOR THE STATE OF OREGON FOR CLACKAMAS COUNTY

PLAINTIFF

VS

MEXXXXX

STATE OF OREGON

County of Lane

[note: this is county of attorney, not of the jurisdition???is this an error in my favor]

I, the undersigned attorney, being first duly sworn, on oath depose and state:

I am the attorney for the Plaintiff herein. I make this affidavit in support of Plaintiff's motion for reinstatement filed herewith.

Default Judment paperwork was sent to the court just after the case was dsmissed on December 19. 2011 before we received notice that the judgement of dismissal was entered. We move for reinstatement of this matter so that the documents may be resubmitted.

It is in the interest of parties to this lawsuit that this case be reinstated.

Dated January 23, 2012

[closing statement signatures and notarization, etc.]

Edited February 5, 2012 by Circe
typos

[usagi555]

They weren't asking for summary judgment, they were asking for default. If you responded, this is not proper.

To get the case dismissed with prejudice, you need to have a legal reason to give the courts to do so.

When you filed an answer, did you send a copy to the plaintiff's attorney? If so, and they're still asking for default, it just about guarantees that you are dealing with a special class of douche bag.

[BV80]

special class of douche bag.

This should be a new acronym on the boards along with JDB and FOAD.

SCODB - pronounced scod - bee

[Circe]

They weren't asking for summary judgment, they were asking for default. If you responded, this is not proper.

I did respond. Hopefully that will remain in my favor.

When you filed an answer, did you send a copy to the plaintiff's attorney? If so, and they're still asking for default, it just about guarantees that you are dealing with a special class of douche bag.

I did send them a copy. SCODBs they are!!!

[usagi555]

I had another thought about what they filed, but it doesn't revoke their SCODB status. They probably don't know how to deal with anything but defaults, and have many instances where they failed to prosecute the case in a timely fashion. They may have told some poor overworked paralegal, "Hey, go to the courthouse and file a motion to have the case reinstated," and the poor overworked paralegal probably said "OK," and printed out some standard form motion for this without checking to see if it was the right one and maybe even affixed an electronic version of an attorney's signature to the document.

[Circe]

The "attorney" hand signed them both - two sigs, not exact matches - so not that.

But the "secretary" who did the certificate of mailing didn't bother to change the doc & just crossed out another secretary's name & wrote in her own which I found amusingly unprofessional.

[Circe]

I just got back from my PO Box and found new filings by the SKODB JBD.

Prime among them is an Ex Parte Motion for Order of Default.

I can't call the court until Monday morning to find out if the judge granted their reinstatement request but their grounds for filing this motion is that I never answered.

I did answer. I even filed the answer with the court as well as send a certified copy to the JDB.

I saw the copies of my answers in the court file when I went down to get a copy of the dismissal.

What are they trying to do here?

FYI, they also filed two affidavits (A-Credit Card Statement) & (B-generic looking Chase cardmember agreement), General Judgment Money Award pre-filled out w/a SASE, & proof that I'm not a veteran.

[usagi555]

I just got back from my PO Box and found new filings by the SKODB JBD.

Prime among them is an Ex Parte Motion for Order of Default.

I can't call the court until Monday morning to find out if the judge granted their reinstatement request but their grounds for filing this motion is that I never answered.

I did answer. I even filed the answer with the court as well as send a certified copy to the JDB.

I saw the copies of my answers in the court file when I went down to get a copy of the dismissal.

What are they trying to do here?

FYI, they also filed two affidavits (A-Credit Card Statement) & (B-generic looking Chase cardmember agreement), General Judgment Money Award pre-filled out w/a SASE, & proof that I'm not a veteran.

They are playing really, really dirty is what they're doing. They're hoping that the court doesn't notice that you filed an answer.

It's either that or they really are that grabasstically disorganized.

I really don't see any other options here. Watch the docket like a hawk on this one. I would also be tempted to ask for sanctions, including that the dismissal be with prejudice for their failure to act in good faith with that motion for default judgment. I wonder what they'd think when you sent them an opposition to their motion and a cross motion of your own?

You might even want to ponder if filing that motion for default judgment on their part was an FDCPA violation. If they do get it reinstated, you could ask leave to amend your answer to file counterclaims, and then nail the JDB for the actions of its attorneys.

EDIT: Just read your last post in your other thread. IMO, they're playing really, really dirty. I'd be showing them what vindictive really means.

Edited February 18, 2012 by usagi555

[Circe]

Brief Update: The case was reinstated under "rule 7" which is all I could get over the phone.

Under this rule the only mistake I could have made in their favor was if I was supposed to "appear" somehow before I was:

a) given a court date which never was set but within 30 days of their serving the summons by mail or service

or

sent a request for admissions.

The requests came weeks later than when I received the summons by mail and then later in person. If the one by mail counted, why did they take efforts to serve me later in person? Or bother sending any Requests?

How can I make sure that the judge sees my answers were filed?

How can I make sure that Oregon's mandatory arbitration isn't bypassed?

Edited February 21, 2012 by Circe
Added info

[Circe]

Bad news. Judge entered the judgement and now I have a lien.

I think I know where I messed up and post this as a caution to others.

I did not include a Certificate of Mailing so my entry of my answer didn't meet the court's criteria. I really didn't know about them - in all that happened, I somehow missed that this document should be included. This is what I supposed happened.

I don't know where I go from here or how this will impact my life. It's just been a really hard day.

[Oarman1954]

I'm really sorry things went the way they did for you.

I am hoping a few of the more experienced members will have some hope and excellent advice for you!

[BTO429]

File a motion to reconsider. In that motion you will ask if the trial court erred in its decision. and state the facts.

Did you actually show up in court or just file motions. If you were not in court in person they can still file for default.

But I think you said they didn't file their papers on time either. I would argue that even though you failed to appear the actions of the Plaintiff filing a late answer should not give them the right to default. The court is holding the Defendant to the letter of the law as it reads but not holding the Plaintiff to the same standards.

[Circe]

A court date was never set. It was all done via filings.

And yes, the case was dismissed just after I filed my answers; then they filed to reopen because they didn't get to file for default before it was dismissed.

I've got a message into a local law firm that handles the defendants side to see if they think I have a case to set aside & file regarding any FDCPA violations.