eas21 Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 I have a cc debt case that's been going back and forth for a year now. The plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgement a while back and then had a court date set for June 13. They mailed me the notice of court date on June 7 and I received it on June 11. However, I was out of town for business all week and did not even have a chance to open it until this weekend (after the 13th). That seems like very short notice and there's no way I could have made it since I was out of state and had no way of knowing. I am severely disappointed about how this has played out and don't know if there is anything at all I can do. All the hard work I've done is gone. Am I screwed or is there anything I can do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomnTex Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 They probably got a default judgement on you. Check with the court to see what happened. You can try and file an appeal based on the fact that you were given short notice and not notified in time to appear. Slim chance, but about all you probably have at this time. Next time, anytime you get any mail from a JDB or court, do not ignore it, open it right then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eas21 Posted June 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 I did not ignore it. As I stated above, I was out of state for work all week and the letter arrived on Tuesday and court was Thursday. I didn't even have access to the letter to open it until after Thursday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomnTex Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 Miss understood. Thought you had got it but put it aside until you got back. Anyway, get to the court house and see what happened. Then we will know where to go from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shellieh98 Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 If i were you i would Go to the court and find the status. If they got a default judgement, file a motion to vacate immediately. List your reasons, hopefully you will get it rescheduled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomnTex Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 They probably got a default judgement on you. Check with the court to see what happened. You can try and file an appeal based on the fact that you were given short notice and not notified in time to appear. Slim chance, but about all you probably have at this time. Next time, anytime you get any mail from a JDB or court, do not ignore it, open it right then. That's what I said............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shellieh98 Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 lol sorry, didn't see your post, i opened the thread, got distracted, and came back to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PayCutHurtMe Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 It's not easy to find rules for OK courts. I found this, but it is a local rule for the Oklahoma County District Court. Local Rule 13 b.: “Any party opposing summary judgment or summary disposition of issues shall file with the court clerk within fifteen (15) days after service of the motion a concise written statement of the material facts as to which a genuine issue exists and the reasons for denying the motion…” I'd say you got railroaded. There's no way what they did was proper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlitterGal Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 Oklahoma courts are awful to deal with. The Oklahoma Supreme Court Network will be your best friend, if the suit appears in a reporting county. If so, find your case and bookmark it. That will help you find out what you're doing. I know it was suggested you go to your local courthouse and find out what's going, but if you are in Oklahoma County, you will stand in line all day and get nothing. The Oklahoma County clerks office generally tells you that informing you of the status of your case falls under "legal advice" and isn't proper. However, default judgements are expectionally easy to get vacated in most of Oklahoma. Start by finding out where your case stands, then let us know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eas21 Posted June 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 @PayCutHurtMe @GlitterGal The county this is in is Noble county. It is dealing with Midland Funding, via Love, Beal, and Nixon. I spoke with the court clerk and judgement was granted since I did not appear. She said that LBN filed an order for hearing on May 14, and filed a certificate of service on June 10, saying they mailed it to me on June 7. I'm sure LBN conveniently sent it as late as possible to give their selves as much of an advantage as they could get. So, I'm assuming my option at this point is to file a motion to vacate the judgement with my reasons? I'm a little rattled and angry right now about this all, so I need a little outside perspective on my best course of action. Thanks for all the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlitterGal Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 To begin with, did they send CMRR? If not, they can't prove when you got it. Remember, you received it on the day you opened that letter. A motion to vacate the summary should be easy to find in this forum. Make that motion and see if you can get a letter from your employer that states you were away on business. If you can't (or if you're self-employed), get your records. Your hotel bill, gas receipts, anything proving you were gone. Reopening the case is first. If you aren't too far from Perry, I would go and personally talk to the clerk. See what the clerk knows and might be able to point you at for getting this all fixed up. Did you file an objection to the summary? If not, you may have a bigger problem, because (at least in Oklahoma and Cleveland counties) they typically won't reopen if you weren't being very aggressive. One other thing to remember: depending on where your regional post office is, that may have had to go all the way to OKC before coming back to Noble county. With the chaos of the recent storms, mail delays are not uncommon. Time is ticking!! The quicker you get the motion to vacate in, the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyerfan Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 I have a cc debt case that's been going back and forth for a year now. The plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgement a while back and then had a court date set for June 13. A while back? Did you file an opposition to the MSJ? It is possible that it was denied if your opposition was good. An MSJ is judged on the pleadings. A motion to vacate is a good idea but only if you lost. If you didn't file an opposition, you lost and it is not because you didn't show up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spikey Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 A while back? Did you file an opposition to the MSJ? It is possible that it was denied if your opposition was good. An MSJ is judged on the pleadings. A motion to vacate is a good idea but only if you lost. If you didn't file an opposition, you lost and it is not because you didn't show up. At least from what I've read, he didn't get the MSJ until last week when he was out of town. Looks like he got screwed to me. I'm surprised that little notice is allowed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eas21 Posted June 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 Let me clarify everything. From the sound of what you guys are saying, I screwed myself before I even knew it, which if that's the case, I'll learn from my mistake. The motion for summary judgement was filed and received a few months before. I was in communication with the court clerk and they had informed me that since they filed the motion, a court date would be set, and I would be notified of that date. So, I was under the understanding that I was in a waiting game until the hearing date, at which point I would be able to defend myself in front of the judge. I have since found out that the people working in the court clerk office aren't the brightest as I've had multiple "I don't knows" to questions that they should know in another case I'm involved in. Again, I should have done more homework and filed an opposition, and if that's the reason I lost, then that's my fault. On June 7, they sent me the certificate of service, informing me that a hearing had been set for June 13. It included a copy of the "order of hearing" and the certificate of service. That is what I didn't have access to open until after the June 13 court date. However, when I spoke with the court clerk's office today, they did say that I lost due to failure to appear. I can have my employer provide a letter stating that I was traveling for work if it's worth a shot of filing the motion to vacate. They did not send it CMRR, they simply sent it first class mail. I appreciate all the responses, even though it's disappointing, it looks like in the long run, the bigger issue was my own fault, regardless of the issue of when I received notification of the hearing date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomnTex Posted June 18, 2013 Report Share Posted June 18, 2013 That letter will help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shellieh98 Posted June 18, 2013 Report Share Posted June 18, 2013 yep, and maybe you should work on an opposition to file if it gets reinstated. I don't know the rules of your court but if it wasn't required, I would do one so you have it for the new date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyerfan Posted June 18, 2013 Report Share Posted June 18, 2013 Yeah, I don't know every court's rules but in most an MSJ is judged "on the pleadings", which means you don't argue it in court (although you can to aid your pleadings). The judge decides the MSJ based on the motion, opposition, affidavits and exhibits. Your "in court" arguments are just used to highlight or reinforce points or answer questions the judge may have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlitterGal Posted June 18, 2013 Report Share Posted June 18, 2013 You need to get down there and look at the actual file the court has. It sounds like they might have denied the summary judgement, and then (because you weren't present) issued a ruling based on your absence. You need to see exactly what was signed by the judge. Clerks in Oklahoma basically have to have a high school education, and fighting a suit in a little county like Noble is probably not common enough that they even really understand what's happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyerfan Posted June 18, 2013 Report Share Posted June 18, 2013 I hope I didn't imply that you shouldn't try to get this vacated (if they did get a judgment). By all means, never stop fighting. I was only letting you know how I saw it probably went down. With a letter from your boss and their late (can't even prove they sent it) notification you have a shot to at least be heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eas21 Posted June 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2013 @GlitterGal I think you hit the nail on the head there. It makes it a big pain in the rear. I will stop by and see what the actual file says. So, based on what I'm deducing, my best course of action from this point is: 1.) Go in and look at the actual file of the court. 2.) File a motion to vacate.3.) Begin working on an opposition to MSJ just in case. I greatly appreciate all the help everyone's provided. It's helped calm me down and get refocused here! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eas21 Posted June 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 Okay, so after looking at the court clerk entry, the judgement was granted for summary judgement, not a default judgement. My respect level for the competency of court clerks goes down by the minute. I have learned a valuable lesson so far to always take anything they say with a grain of salt. So, with that said, it sounds like I lost based on not filing an opposition to summary judgement. See rule 13a here: http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=93629 If I'm reading that right, since I didn't file it, I won't have a leg to stand on in filing a motion to vacate, is that correct? It looks like I don't have anyone to blame but myself here and if that is the case and I'm out of options, then that is on me, and I'll learn from it for the next time! Thanks again for everyone's help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyerfan Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 Sadly I think this part of that rule says it all: If the motion for summary judgment or summary disposition is granted, the party or parties opposing the motion cannot on appeal rely on any fact or material that is not referred to or included in the statement in order to show that a substantial controversy exists. With no statement from you there is nothing you can show. Sorry this happened to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eas21 Posted June 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 @Flyerfan - That's exactly what and how I read it as well. No need to be sorry, I shot myself in the foot on this one and will live and learn! So, since it looks like my options are limited, what will happen now? I don't have the money to pay them the lump sum. Are they willing to work out payment plans at this point? I guess my question is: although limited, what options do I have and what can I expect? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spikey Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 @eas21 As someone that's been threw the mill on some debts before I found this place, they should try to work with you, but they will set the terms of any payment plan. You can try to tell them what you can afford to pay but they don't have to accept it if they think it's too low and will take too long to pay off. If you can't come to an agreement they will take further legal action, either against your bank account or garnish your wages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomnTex Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 I would clean out any bank accounts and stop all direct deposits to it. I would just leave a few dollars in it to make it look like your using it. Tell them if your collection proof that you will pay X amount as that's all you can afford, or they can forget about it. But, you must be collection proof for that to work completly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts