Sued by Discover/Moore Law Group, Colorado

[cokeguy223]

1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit?
Discover Bank

2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? (should be listed at the top of the complaint.)
The Moore Law Group

3. How much are you being sued for?
$1,500

4. Who is the original creditor? (if not the Plaintiff)
Discover Bank

5. How do you know you are being sued? (You were served, right?)
Yes, served

6. How were you served? (Mail, In person, Notice on door)
In person

7. Was the service legal as required by your state?
Yes

8. What was your correspondence (if any) with the people suing you before you think you were being sued?
I asked them for proof of debt, they sent me a stack of credit card statements in response.

9. What state and county do you live in?
Colorado, Jefferson

10. When is the last time you paid on this account? (looking to establish if you are outside of the statute of limitations)
May 2015

11. What is the SOL on the debt? To find out:
6

12. What is the status of your case? Suit served? Motions filed? You can find this by a) calling the court or looking it up online (many states have this information posted - when you find the online court site, search by case number or your name).
The case number is blank, so I'm not sure?  I can call tomorrow and find out.

13. Have you disputed the debt with the credit bureaus (both the original creditor and the collection agency?)
I have not disputed it with the credit bureaus

14. Did you request debt validation before the suit was filed? Note: if you haven't sent a debt validation request, don't bother doing this now - it's too late.
Yes, and they answered with a stack of statements for the last year.

15. How long do you have to respond to the suit? (This should be in your paperwork). If you don't respond to the lawsuit notice you will lose automatically. In 99% of the cases, they will require you to answer the summons, and each point they are claiming. We need to know what the "charges" are. Please post what they are claiming. Did you receive an interrogatory (questionnaire) regarding the lawsuit?
June 15th

16. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affidavit? Statements from the OC? Contract? List anything else they attached as exhibits.
Attached are a few statements as evidence.

 

 

I've never gone through anything like this before.  I often hear people state I should ask for evidence of the debt when I go to court but they already sent me proof of debt so will that even work?  Also I'm sure you guys have heard this story before, lost job, no work, no money.  This isn't the only debt I have, I have probably about $8-10,000 in debt through various creditors.  Is my best bet possibly just filing for bankruptcy?  If I do file for bankruptcy what happens to this summons?  Thx everyone.

[hades01]

Bankruptcy is like the nuclear option.  Using it to wipe out 10k in debt is kinda like nuking an island in the middle of the pacific because someone spotted a shark offshore (from an airplane).  It might not seem like it, but it's better to owe a lot of money to a lot of people than a lot of money to one creditor and at the moment you're only being sued for $1500.  But, to answer your question, declaring bankruptcy will freeze any current collections lawsuits, although you'd have to let the court know (in your answer to the summons or the cmc).  You absolutely do have to respond to the summons, ignoring it is the single worst thing you can do.  Fortunately, answering it is usually quite simple.  Check your court's website and see if they have a ready-made form for answering complaints; also check to see if they have a fee waiver at the same time.  Exactly how you answer will depend on what you want to do (I leave the specifics to people who know CO), but getting some forms in order now will give the anxiety you're feeling an outlet.

You have time, so the biggest thing this very second is to take a breath and try to manage the anxiety.  Since you're being sued by an original creditor for a relatively small amount, I'd check your card contract and see if there's an arbitration clause.  You can find contracts here:  http://www.consumerfinance.gov/credit-cards/agreements/.  You'll need the most recent contract prior to your default (so the most recent contract from before May 2015).

[cokeguy223]

1 hour ago, hades01 said:

Bankruptcy is like the nuclear option.  Using it to wipe out 10k in debt is kinda like nuking an island in the middle of the pacific because someone spotted a shark offshore (from an airplane).  It might not seem like it, but it's better to owe a lot of money to a lot of people than a lot of money to one creditor and at the moment you're only being sued for $1500.  But, to answer your question, declaring bankruptcy will freeze any current collections lawsuits, although you'd have to let the court know (in your answer to the summons or the cmc).  You absolutely do have to respond to the summons, ignoring it is the single worst thing you can do.  Fortunately, answering it is usually quite simple.  Check your court's website and see if they have a ready-made form for answering complaints; also check to see if they have a fee waiver at the same time.  Exactly how you answer will depend on what you want to do (I leave the specifics to people who know CO), but getting some forms in order now will give the anxiety you're feeling an outlet.

You have time, so the biggest thing this very second is to take a breath and try to manage the anxiety.  Since you're being sued by an original creditor for a relatively small amount, I'd check your card contract and see if there's an arbitration clause.  You can find contracts here:  http://www.consumerfinance.gov/credit-cards/agreements/.  You'll need the most recent contract prior to your default (so the most recent contract from before May 2015).

Thank you.  I checked and there is an arbitration clause with Discover.  I have been reading up on this but I am still a little confused on the process.  I am going to submit a claim through JAMS tomorrow.  At that point, what should I do with my courts summons.  Do I still file an answer and show up on court date?  Or should I not file with JAMS until the court appearance and tell the judge I want to go that route?

[hades01]

2 hours ago, cokeguy223 said:

Thank you.  I checked and there is an arbitration clause with Discover.  I have been reading up on this but I am still a little confused on the process.  I am going to submit a claim through JAMS tomorrow.  At that point, what should I do with my courts summons.  Do I still file an answer and show up on court date?  Or should I not file with JAMS until the court appearance and tell the judge I want to go that route?

Your contract has JAMS?  Sweet, it's hard to imagine they'd follow you there over $1500.  Triple check you have the right contract and the language though.  Does it say either party can elect arbitration and that election of arbitration prevents either party from further litigation, or something to that effect?  Sometimes there are little clauses that let them wiggle out of the specific venue.  But there's no need to get ahead of yourself.  You got time.

You still have to respond to the summons.  Exactly how you do this depends on the state and I don't know how Colorado works so I don't want to say anything that could be wrong.  In Florida, e.g., you have to submit the motion to compel arbitration instead of an answer to the complaint; if you answer first you waive your right to arbitration there.  I don't think anywhere else is quite that extreme, but I leave the details to someone from Colorado.

If you haven't run across it yet, read the relevant posts from this thread: 

Don't take it all as gospel, there may be differences that you need to adjust for in your jurisdiction, but the basic language of the sample documents are all solid, although for some reason there are html links in the legal citations that need to be removed.

The first step is to send Discover's attorney a 'notice of arbitration election' letter.  Send it certified mail, return receipt requested so you can prove they received it.  You don't need to send anything to JAMS now, and in fact, until you've served the attorney with the JAMS Demand you won't even have what you need to send a packet to JAMS.  It's not even remotely necessary at this point anyway.  If you want to go with arb, the focus now isn't on JAMS, but on sending the election letter, filing your answer and your motion to compel arbitration.

I'd also check into free legal aid organizations in your area, they can help look over your documents, make sure they conform to local rules.  But don't rely too much on any one of them, not all lawyers are equally talented as I discovered to my distress.  Also be aware that pretty much none of them will be familiar with arbitration as a consumer defense.

You've got time, and you've got a lot of material and research to do; don't feel like you need to rush out tomorrow and start mailing stuff.  I submitted our election letter the day before the answer was due and took everything else down to the courthouse the very day the answer was due, though not really out of choice, but there aren't any bonus points for being early.  Take your time and be thorough.

[cokeguy223]

Thank you that link was very very useful.

[Clydesmom]

8 hours ago, hades01 said:

Your contract has JAMS?  Sweet, it's hard to imagine they'd follow you there over $1500. 

Guess again.  Discover is one of those creditors that has done that the OP needs to be prepared that they will follow him in.

12 hours ago, cokeguy223 said:

 I often hear people state I should ask for evidence of the debt when I go to court but they already sent me proof of debt so will that even work?

What you read on sites like this is based on being sued by a junk debt buyer (who won't pay to get the evidence to support their case) when the debt is sold by an original creditor like Discover.  Discover is the original creditor and will have their own records and won't need an affidavit to support them because they can attest to their own documents.  An original creditor lawsuit can be beat but it takes a LOT of work.  

10 hours ago, cokeguy223 said:

Do I still file an answer and show up on court date?

Yes.

10 hours ago, cokeguy223 said:

Or should I not file with JAMS until the court appearance and tell the judge I want to go that route?

You should do both.  File with JAMS (knowing this may not work) and notify the Plaintiff's counsel you are filing for arbitration per the card agreement.  Have a motion to compel ready because they are likely to try fighting it initially.