Suit in Missouri by JDB. Advice please?

[giba]

I have an old CC debt that is now supposedly owned by Cavalry.  The summons I received has zero affadavits attached.  In fact, the only attachment is a copy of terms and conditions from the CC company.

 

The lack of any supporting documents with the complaint pleading makes me suspicious about their ability to back up their standing.

 

Anyway, I can't afford to have this go to court so in the end I've got to pay them what they'll settle for[1] before trial.

 

My question is this:

 

Is a strategy of going ahead as if I were willing to go to trial to get them to settle for a lower amount a good idea that has a decent chance of resulting in a lower settlement amount?

 

The petition I received (pursuant to Missouri Chapter 517) alleges a valid assignment of debt with no supporting documents.

 

 

[1] As of a phone call to them last week wherein I said something along the lines of "I'll give you $250 only so I don't have to deal with this hassle" they offered to settle for ~$1400 which is about $100.00 off of what they're suing for

[racecar]

You will need to answer plaintiffs complaint or you will lose by default.

Just in case you have to go to court you should read this case and view the pdf files with it.

http://www.courts.mo.gov/sup/index.nsf/9f4cd5a463e4c22386256ac4004a490f/05b1ab4a57ec67848625792f00750254?OpenDocument

CACH LLC v. Jon J. Askew

Challenge to evidentiary standards for debt collection cases

Listen to the oral argument

http://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=46

read the rules of the court and rules of civil procedure

 

 

 

 

 

[giba]

You will need to answer plaintiffs complaint or you will lose by default.

 

 

Right.  

 

The question is not should I answer the complaint at all.  It's whether or not spending a bunch of time answering the complaint, doing discovery, and doing research has a substantial chance of getting the plaintiff to settle for a lower amount.

 

Since I'm not going to go to trial, and if, let's say, the typical thing is that once a JDB sends something to their lawyers they're not going to settle, then I may as well just pay them now and avoid wasting my time answering the complaint and all the other pre-trial stuff.

[racecar]

You could call the law firm offer 800.00 tell them your moving to Texas and you would like to work this out with them before you move.