Just served Summons. Please help with answers for Complaint

[syctaz]

Hello all,

I would greatly appreciate if you all could help with this "COMPLAINT ON CREDIT CARD ACCOUNT" I was served.

I was also wondering if it would be a good idea to request a debt validation on this account with this reply to Plaintiff?

 

The Plaintiff is MIDLAND FUNDING LLC, ASSIGNEE OF CHASE BANK USA, N.A.

The attorney is Frederick J. Hanna & Associates, P.C.

 

"COMPLAINT ON CREDIT CARD ACCOUNT

 

COMES NOW Plaintiff in the above-styled action and states its complaint as follows:

 

1.  The Defendant, a resident of this county, is subject to the jurisdiction of this Court and can be served at his residence address of xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

(However, I was not served at my residence address....I was served at my work place).

 

2.  Defendant entered into a credit card agreement with the Original Creditor identified as credit card account number xxxxxxxxxxxxx.  Defendant received and used the credit card at issue in this action.

 

3.  Defendant breached the credit card agreement by failing to pay as agreed and left an outstanding balance of $4,142.57.

(I can not verify if this balance is correct).

 

4.  All rights and title to Defendant's credit card account were legally assigned to Plaintiff in writing.

 

5.  Despite demand by Plaintiff, Defendant has failed to pay the amount due on the credit card account.

 

6.  Defendant is liable to Plaintiff for the sum of $4,142.57 plus court costs.

 

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff demands Judgment against Defendant in the principal sum of $4,142.57, interest of $.00, plus court costs of $255.00."

 

 

Again, I would greatly appreciate any and all help on answering this Complaint.

Also, do you all think I should include a Debt Validation request with these Answers.  I'm not sure about the rules of the Debt Validation letter.

 

I also just noticed that this Complaint was filed with the Court Clert on 3 Dec 2012, however, I was just served with this Summons and Complaint today, 17 Jun 2013.  The Summons (dated 3 Dec 2012) states that I have 30 days after service of this Summons upon me.

So, do I have 30 days from 17 Jun 2013, when I actually received this Summons and Complaint?

 

Thank you all in advance!!!

[Savoir]

Hello all,

I would greatly appreciate if you all could help with this "COMPLAINT ON CREDIT CARD ACCOUNT" I was served.

I was also wondering if it would be a good idea to request a debt validation on this account with this reply to Plaintiff?

No, it is too late for debt validation after you are served; you can request all the information, and more, that they are required to give you for DV during the discovery phase.

 

The Plaintiff is MIDLAND FUNDING LLC, ASSIGNEE OF CHASE BANK USA, N.A.

The attorney is Frederick J. Hanna & Associates, P.C.

 

"COMPLAINT ON CREDIT CARD ACCOUNT

 

COMES NOW Plaintiff in the above-styled action and states its complaint as follows:

 

1.  The Defendant, a resident of this county, is subject to the jurisdiction of this Court and can be served at his residence address of xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

(However, I was not served at my residence address....I was served at my work place).

Admit in part, defendant is a resident of (your county).

 

2.  Defendant entered into a credit card agreement with the Original Creditor identified as credit card account number xxxxxxxxxxxxx.  Defendant received and used the credit card at issue in this action.

Denied. Plaintiff has not provided any admissible evidence leading to the conclusion that defendant entered into any credit card agreement or that he received and / or  used the alleged card.

 

3.  Defendant breached the credit card agreement by failing to pay as agreed and left an outstanding balance of $4,142.57.

(I can not verify if this balance is correct).

Denied. Plaintiff has not provided the alleged credit card agreement showing the terms or conditions which constitute a breach of the alleged agreement.

 

4.  All rights and title to Defendant's credit card account were legally assigned to Plaintiff in writing.

Denied. Plaintiff has not produced the necessary documents to assure defendant of a legal assignment from the alleged original creditor, Chase Bank USA, N.A.

5.  Despite demand by Plaintiff, Defendant has failed to pay the amount due on the credit card account.

Denied. Defendant has never received demand from plaintiff for payment of any alleged debt. (unless you have)

 

6.  Defendant is liable to Plaintiff for the sum of $4,142.57 plus court costs.

Denied. Plaintiff has not provided a satisfactory accounting of the alleged amount they are claiming is due.

 

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff demands Judgment against Defendant in the principal sum of $4,142.57, interest of $.00, plus court costs of $255.00."

 

 

Again, I would greatly appreciate any and all help on answering this Complaint.

Also, do you all think I should include a Debt Validation request with these Answers.  I'm not sure about the rules of the Debt Validation letter.

 

I also just noticed that this Complaint was filed with the Court Clert on 3 Dec 2012, however, I was just served with this Summons and Complaint today, 17 Jun 2013.  The Summons (dated 3 Dec 2012) states that I have 30 days after service of this Summons upon me.

So, do I have 30 days from 17 Jun 2013, when I actually received this Summons and Complaint?

 

Thank you all in advance!!!

 

 

Please note: I am not from your state. My state requires me to give a reason why I deny their allegations. Your rules of civil procedure may differ in this regard.

If they do not require a reason as to why you deny; eliminate the explanations from your answer.

 

As explained previously, the time for debt validation is past; this should have been done no later than 30 days after the first dunning letter was received from the attorney representing MF (if any was received).

 

You might want to look into your court's rules to see how long a summons life expectancy is. In my state, a summons expires after 91 days but, a second summons may be issued for a period not exceeding 1 year from when the original summons was issued. It's all in the rule of civil procedure for your state and local court house.

[syctaz]

Thank you so much for these great Answers....these will definitely help me out.

 

With regards to your answer for the Debt Validation

:

"As explained previously, the time for debt validation is past; this should have been done no later than 30 days after the first dunning letter was received from the attorney representing MF (if any was received)."

 

The Summons and Complaint was the first correspondence I received from Frederick J. Hanna & Associates.  I never received an initial letter from Frederick J. Hanna.  Because of this, is there anything I can do since they did not give me an opportunity to send a Debt Validation letter, or do I still have to wait until the Discovery phase?

 

Thank you!!

[not going down]

The amount they are suing you for could exceed small claims court ... 

Do you know if they filed in District Court ...  or what your state small claims court "Cap" is ???

Most states have a $3000.00 - $3500.00 Cap for County Court Filings...

 

Take some time to review "Arbitration" ...   get a hold of your complete card agreement , see if it has an arbitration clause in it...

Arbitration could make it go away real fast , and your still in the Preliminary stages of this suit ...

Contact Linda in the Arbitration forum...

 

I would read up on Discovery , Admissions , and Interrogatories... 

That's what is coming next ...

 

send me an internal e-mail (Personnel Message) after you read this post...

[Savoir]

Thank you so much for these great Answers....these will definitely help me out.

 

With regards to your answer for the Debt Validation

:

"As explained previously, the time for debt validation is past; this should have been done no later than 30 days after the first dunning letter was received from the attorney representing MF (if any was received)."

 

The Summons and Complaint was the first correspondence I received from Frederick J. Hanna & Associates.  I never received an initial letter from Frederick J. Hanna.  Because of this, is there anything I can do since they did not give me an opportunity to send a Debt Validation letter, or do I still have to wait until the Discovery phase?

 

Thank you!!

Doesn't matter .......... once suit has been filed, DV is no longer an option.

DV is really not of much use anyway unless you can include an option for arbitration. Don't worry about it. You can include the election of arbitration in your affirmative defenses if there is one.

[BV80]

See what your rules state about answering the complaint.  Can you simply deny, or do you have to include an explanation as to why you've denied?

 

Also, what evidence was provided with the complaint?

[Savoir]

@BV80 ...........good point about the rules for answering .........

 

See what your rules state about answering the complaint.  Can you simply deny, or do you have to include an explanation as to why you've denied?

 

Also, what evidence was provided with the complaint?

[BV80]

@Savoir

 

@BV80 ...........good point about the rules for answering .........

 

If they haven't provided any evidence, there's no reason to say any more than necessary. 

 

That being said, in some cases, it might just be best to answer certain allegations with  "Defendant has insufficient information to admit or deny.  Based upon the foregoing, Defendant denies."

 

However, I don't care what they do or don't provide, I'd flat out deny #4, #5, and #6.

[syctaz]

@not going down

I'm not sure how to do the internet email on this, but I'm hoping this was the correct way to do this.  I'm sending this to you because you requested that I do from your post.

 

Thank you.

[syctaz]

@not going down

This is being done in the Superior Court For the County of Decatur, State of Georgia.

I don't have a copy of the card agreement, so I'm not sure about the arbitration clause.

 

Thank you.

[syctaz]

@BV80

There was no evidence provided with the Complaint when it was served to me.  The only items that were served to me were the Summons and the Complaint.

[syctaz]

Hello all,

When I answer the Complaint and have it filed with the clerk of the court, do I also need to mail a copy to the Attorney for the Plaintiff?

 

Thank you

[BV80]

@syctaz

 

Check your rules.  In my state, we file the original with the court, and send a copy to the attorney for the other party.  Be sure to keep a copy for yourself.  (I know you know that, but sometimes nerves can make us do strange things )

 

When I sent a copy to the attorney in my case, I sent it by certified mail return receipt requested.  I wanted to make sure he couldn't claim he never got it.

 

Also, you might need to include a certificate of service.  That would simply state that you sent a copy of the answer to Counsel for the Plaintiff on _________(date) by certified mail.  Then date and sign it.  See what's in your rules.

[hot in az]

_{Hi , Are you in Arizona???  If you are they have to serve you within 120 days from the complaint for it to be valid. In Az you can deny everything but must be each paragraph. Check out Beergoogles forum as he is in AZ too. However it looks as though they served you out of the time frame allowed.}

_{Also they will send you everything in disclosure so don't worry about DV.}

 

_{I would look into a motion to dismiss or MSJ if they served you  out of this time frame. Can anyone chime in on this?}

[hot in az]

I would go to the court Monday and check on that date of service.  Then if they did file a second summons ask the clerk for and answer form. They have all the forms there. Get some motions forms while you are there to..

Fill out the answer form. Make sure if you are served with a spouse they sign too.

I admitted #1 I am in the jurisdiction

Paragraphs 1-10 are all denied.

Plaintiff is not entitled to judgement is next question.

My answer was I have never heard of or had any contact with Midland Funding. I owe Midland Funding $0.00

Plaintiff is not a proper party to this action and lacks standing to sue the Defendant.

 

Then get stamped from clerk . They will make you a copy and you mail certified registered receipt to atty.  Anything you mail should be that way.

Hope this helps. The answer is the easy part. The form spells it out for you.

But check that date first.

[syctaz]

@hot in az

 

I looked up the Georgia rules (I'm a resident of GA) for the time allotted to serve the Summons and Complaint and this is what is stated (please look at the last sentence):

 

Summons – By whom served.

Process shall be served by the sheriff of the county where the action is brought or where the defendant is found, or by his deputy, or by the marshal or sheriff of the court, or by his deputy, or by any citizen of the United States specially appointed by the court for that purpose or by someone who is not a party and is not younger than 18 years of age and has been appointed as a permanent process server by the court in which the action is brought. Where the service of process is made outside of the United States, after an order of publication, it may be served either by any citizen of the United States or by any resident of the country, territory, colony, or province who is specially appointed by the court for that purpose. When service is to be made within this state, the person making such service shall make the service within five (5) days from the time of receiving the summons and complaint; but failure to make service within the five-day period will not invalidate a later service.

[syctaz]

Thank you all for your help in this and helping me answer the Complaint I received.  I filed my answers with the court and sent a copy to Frederick J Hanna (attorney for Plaintiff).  Then, I received this letter from Frederick J Hanna:

 

"We have received you answer filed with the Court in the above referenced matter and we would appreciate the opportunity to discuss your case in further detail.

We encourage you to contact us as soon as possible to explore payment arrangements which might conclude this matter without further inconvenience or expense to either yourself or our client.

Our client does not wish to cause you any unnecessary inconvenience and has given us some flexibility in dealing with your case in order to facilitate a resolution that can work for both parties."

 

I really don't want to contact them on the phone where I might be recorded or through correspondence where they might keep it as evidence in the future.

 

Can you all please recommend what should be done at this phase since I've gotten this letter from them, or should I just wait.

 

Thank you!!

[Spikey]

They're looking for a settlement without spending any time on your case. You don't have to do anything regarding their communication. I would get started on discovery if I was you.

[shellieh98]

you could write them back and say this isn't my debt, I would be willing to settle for a mutual dismissal with prejudice.  

[hot in az]

Start working on your Request for production of documents. And your request for admissions. There are some good ones on page 4 of the forum by ABCand123  and Bravoflacco. In my state you have 40 days from the filing of your answer to file a disclosure form with the court and get your discovery sent to the other party. They have the same time as well. Check your Georgia rules of procedure to see how long you have to get this stuff in.