Sued in Texas

[ForeverPuzzled]

I am being sued in TX by the firm of Rausch, Sturm, Israel, Enerson, et al for over $25,000, but have not yet been served.  The information below was derived from the documents now of record and reviewable online at the clerk's office.  I need help!  And getting an attorney is out of the question.

After setting out the discovery level, the following is contained in plaintiff’s petition under Parties:

“Plaintiff is a national banking association organized and existing under the laws of the United States of America, and having its principal place of business in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Plaintiff is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation and the successor-in-interest to FIA Card Services, N.A. (“FIA”), formerly known as MBNA America Bank, N.A.  FIA was merged into and under the charter and title of plaintiff effective October 14, 2014.”

The plaintiff on its pleadings is shown as Bank of America, N.A. and claims in those pleadings to be the original creditor.

While the plaintiff’s party allegation may or may not be true, the original agreement I think was made with MBNA America Bank, and I was, until relatively recent, totally unaware of any relationship with FIA, or if that is simply a name change from MBNA, a d/b/a, whatever.  I do believe that B of A actually was involved, as payments were required to go to them.  Nothing is provided in the pleadings to substantiate any of their statements.   FWIW, the account was in default at the time of the alleged merger and, I firmly believe, already charged off.   The SOL is no help, as the last payment was less than 4 years ago.  

I also received both written and oral debt collection efforts from two different entities for this debt.  I have a letter from one, but only the recorded original message for the other left on my phone which was requesting I contact them, but which did not mention the creditor.  When I did contact them, it was the same B of A account they were attempting to collect. The two efforts by the different entities were about 7 months apart.

Are the allegations regarding ownership of the account sufficient for plaintiff’s claim or should there be more?  Elsewhere in this forum I think I have seen a plea to the jurisdiction being proposed, but that was where the plaintiff clearly was an assignee.  I am unsure here just who is on first, what is on second, etc..  But it seems if others are trying to collect the same debt before B of A now, there must have been some assignment or other agreement which would, it seems, preclude this plaintiff from now claiming original lender, as though they always handled the account.

I will also receive, with the petition, discovery in the form of interrogatories (6), admission requests (15) and production requests (15).

Plaintiff is also seeking recovery as an account stated.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  I apologize in advance for the length of this request – I am just quite concerned, as one might imagine.

[Clydesmom]

50 minutes ago, ForeverPuzzled said:

Are the allegations regarding ownership of the account sufficient for plaintiff’s claim or should there be more?

Yes.  It takes very little for an original creditor to prove their own accounts. 

50 minutes ago, ForeverPuzzled said:

But it seems if others are trying to collect the same debt before B of A now, there must have been some assignment or other agreement which would, it seems, preclude this plaintiff from now claiming original lender, as though they always handled the account.

BoA IS FIA card services.  This is not a junk debt buyer case you are being sued by the original creditor.  They typical junk debt buyer defenses about "assignment" are not available to you in your case.  Their using more than one collection agency prior to suing doesn't change their standing to sue.

52 minutes ago, ForeverPuzzled said:

I am just quite concerned, as one might imagine.

You should be.  25k in debt will be in Superior/District Court and they will follow ALL the rules.  I suggest you at least do a free consult with a consumer attorney to get some basic guidance on how to get started.  Unfortunately because this is an original creditor @texasrocker threads won't be of any help because they are based on a suit by junk debt buyers.

[texasrocker]

If it is indeed an original creditor for that amount then a consultation with a bankruptcy attorney may be the best option.

[CCRP626]

@ForeverPuzzled if bankruptcy becomes the advisement from your atty consult you may also want to figure when the account was opened (see your credit reports). Bank of America/FIA up to 2010 offered arbitration with NAF (which can't arb any longer) but the agreements gave the option if NAF isn't able to do it they'd pick a nationally recognized independent arbitrator which would be AAA or JAMS. Survival clause in the agreements. Bankruptcy would still be an option.