helpme389 Posted December 13, 2016 Report Share Posted December 13, 2016 Please help me I am being sued for the below amount and I know to deny most if not all of the statements but they included in here that I admitted to an account with that amount and all I did was ask them for verification of the information. They wanted to set up a payment plan of some astronomical amount and i refused to give information over the phone. Please help with an answer and any affirmative defensese. I was reading it would be best to just state that the defendant reserves the right to give affirmative defenses later. So the burden of proof remains on PRA. Yes. Please answer the following questions for us to be able to effectively help you: It would help if you would start your own thread and answer the following questions when you do: 1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit? PRA 2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? (should be listed at the top of the complaint.) Carrie A. Brown; Thomas M. Murtha; Sheena Daneshyar 3. How much are you being sued for? 3,735.33 and court cost 4. Who is the original creditor? (if not the Plaintiff) CITIBANK, N.A./SEARS, ACCOUNT NUMBER **************20 5. How do you know you are being sued? (You were served, right?) Registered Mail 6. How were you served? (Mail, In person, Notice on door) Mail 7. Was the service legal as required by your state? Yes Process Service Requirements by State - Summons Complaint 8. What was your correspondence (if any) with the people suing you before you think you were being sued? Via telephone. Each time I asked them to mail information on the alleged debt and told them they were not getting any information over telephone. 9. What state and county do you live in? NJ Camden County 10. When is the last time you paid on this account? (looking to establish if you are outside of the statute of limitations) I am not sure. Any payments made were to the original creditor maybe in 2013 11. What is the SOL on the debt? To find out: In NJ 6 years but if agreement was from Delaware 3 years Statute of Limitations on Debts 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 Suit was served 13. Have you disputed the debt with the credit bureaus (both the original creditor and the collection agency?) No 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. No 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? 01/03/2017 Here is an example of what the summons/complaint may look like: Sued by a Debt Collector - Learn How to Fight Debt Lawsuits 16. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affidavit? Statements from the OC? Contract? List anything else they attached as exhibits. Nothing was sent with complaint NOW COMES Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC, by and through their attorneys, by way of complaint against the defendant hereby states: 1. The plaintiff is registered and licensed to do business in New Jersey and the defendant is a resident of CAMDEN county and who social security number ends in ***-**-*123 is subject to this court's jurisdiction. 2. The Defendant entered into an agreement for a credit account with CITIBANK, N.A./SEARS, account number ************1234. 3. The plaintiff is the purchaser and current owner of the Defendant's account with CITIBANK, N.A./ SEARS said account and all rights as owner of the account having been assigned to Plaintiff. 4. The above referenced account was assigned by CITIBANK, N.A. to Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC on January 29, 2016. 5. The original creditor sent account statements to defendant showing balance due on the account. 6. The defendant agreed to an account stated balance due of $3,735.33. 7. Th amount currently due an owing on the account stated is $3,735.33. 8. The Plaintiff has made demand upon the defendant for payment of the amount due and Defendant has refused to pay said amount Wherefore the Portofolio Recovery Associates, LLC demands judgement against the Defendant(s) ___________________ in the sum of $3,735.33 s/ Thomas Murtha Esquire Thomas Murtha Esquire Attorney for Plaintiff Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BV80 Posted December 13, 2016 Report Share Posted December 13, 2016 Here is the OP's post: Please help me I am being sued for the below amount and I know to deny most if not all of the statements but they included in here that I admitted to an account with that amount and all I did was ask them for verification of the information. They wanted to set up a payment plan of some astronomical amount and i refused to give information over the phone. Please help with an answer and any affirmative defensese. I was reading it would be best to just state that the defendant reserves the right to give affirmative defenses later. So the burden of proof remains on PRA. Yes. Please answer the following questions for us to be able to effectively help you: It would help if you would start your own thread and answer the following questions when you do: 1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit? PRA 2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? (should be listed at the top of the complaint.) Carrie A. Brown; Thomas M. Murtha; Sheena Daneshyar 3. How much are you being sued for? 3,735.33 and court cost 4. Who is the original creditor? (if not the Plaintiff) CITIBANK, N.A./SEARS, ACCOUNT NUMBER **************20 5. How do you know you are being sued? (You were served, right?) Registered Mail 6. How were you served? (Mail, In person, Notice on door) Mail 7. Was the service legal as required by your state? Yes Process Service Requirements by State - Summons Complaint 8. What was your correspondence (if any) with the people suing you before you think you were being sued? Via telephone. Each time I asked them to mail information on the alleged debt and told them they were not getting any information over telephone. 9. What state and county do you live in? NJ Camden County 10. When is the last time you paid on this account? (looking to establish if you are outside of the statute of limitations) I am not sure. Any payments made were to the original creditor maybe in 2013 11. What is the SOL on the debt? To find out: In NJ 6 years but if agreement was from Delaware 3 years Statute of Limitations on Debts 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 Suit was served 13. Have you disputed the debt with the credit bureaus (both the original creditor and the collection agency?) No 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. No 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? 01/03/2017 Here is an example of what the summons/complaint may look like: Sued by a Debt Collector - Learn How to Fight Debt Lawsuits 16. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affidavit? Statements from the OC? Contract? List anything else they attached as exhibits. Nothing was sent with complaint NOW COMES Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC, by and through their attorneys, by way of complaint against the defendant hereby states: 1. The plaintiff is registered and licensed to do business in New Jersey and the defendant is a resident of CAMDEN county and who social security number ends in ***-**-*123 is subject to this court's jurisdiction. 2. The Defendant entered into an agreement for a credit account with CITIBANK, N.A./SEARS, account number ************1234. 3. The plaintiff is the purchaser and current owner of the Defendant's account with CITIBANK, N.A./ SEARS said account and all rights as owner of the account having been assigned to Plaintiff. 4. The above referenced account was assigned by CITIBANK, N.A. to Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC on January 29, 2016. 5. The original creditor sent account statements to defendant showing balance due on the account. 6. The defendant agreed to an account stated balance due of $3,735.33. 7. Th amount currently due an owing on the account stated is $3,735.33. 8. The Plaintiff has made demand upon the defendant for payment of the amount due and Defendant has refused to pay said amount Wherefore the Portofolio Recovery Associates, LLC demands judgement against the Defendant(s) ___________________ in the sum of $3,735.33 s/ Thomas Murtha Esquire Thomas Murtha Esquire Attorney for Plaintiff Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debtzapper Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 It is very difficult to win a collection lawsuit in NJ Special Civil Division (or in any other court) unless you can countersue for FDCPA or TCPA claims. Even NJ lawyers have said that to us. I remember there was a thread a while back by a NJ OP named Paralyzed who was going to defend himself by using arbitration, but he never said what the outcome was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helpme389 Posted December 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 Ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debtzapper Posted December 15, 2016 Report Share Posted December 15, 2016 @helpme389 Well, I only said it would be very hard to defend yourself by using the court system. You should try going through private contractual arbitration instead. Read your Credit Card Agreement to see what it says about arbitration Answer the complaint with a general denial. Do a google search for "creditinfocenter strategy and steps of arbitration." I don't do extensive posting during the week. I will see if some of our arbitration specialists can assist: @shellieh98 @fisthardcheese Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debtzapper Posted December 15, 2016 Report Share Posted December 15, 2016 This a NJ case where the defendant was sued by Citibank and responded with a Motion to Compel arbitration. The NJ Appeals court said NJ law favors arbitration. CITIBANK, NA v. Delia NJ: Appellate Div., 2014 - Google Scholar ... Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division. ... a copy of the complaint, plaintiff apparently filed suit against defendant on a delinquent credit card account in ... motion to compel arbitration and stay the proceedings, supported by his certification and the card member agreement ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debtzapper Posted December 15, 2016 Report Share Posted December 15, 2016 Read these posts by a NJ OP who was using arbitration to fight his debt collection lawsuit, but he never updated us on the outcome. Still, the steps he took can serve as guide for you. ust Me Asking - Credit InfoCenter Forums www.creditinfocenter.com/community/profile/167656-just-me-asking/ Feb 16, 2016 - My motion was sent back to me b/c in NJ you have to have the 10 ... Then I filed (via mail) my Motion to Compel Private Contractual Arbitration .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helpme389 Posted December 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2016 Ok. I appreciate any and all help. I have been researching through google which lead me to this site. I've been going through threads and seen links that others have left but I haven't looked much into arbitration. All I know for sure is I have to respond to avoid a default judgement. However im not sure if I have to list my affirmative defenses now or say generally I reserved the right to later... And then ask for arbitration on that same answer to a complaint? I will look at the other site you listed. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Me Asking Posted December 23, 2016 Report Share Posted December 23, 2016 To Helpme389 - I had the same situation as you in NJ. Hopefully I am not to late in responding. Let me know if you still have time to file & I will forward to you my pleading which you can use. I Won my case with no problem. It was a cinch! Reply to me and let me know if you would like me to forward my documents to you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debtzapper Posted December 23, 2016 Report Share Posted December 23, 2016 @Just Me Asking Thank you for responding to this thread and to the PM I sent you. You may want to send a PM yourself to helpme because I am not sure if he is checking in here now. I am REALLY GLAD you won your case with arbitration. I don't think we have ever had anyone win in NJ with arbitration. You never did update the board your thread, (which I gave a link to in one of my posts above), so we didn't know how it turned out. Could you please do it now? Or just send a PM to me. Thanks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helpme389 Posted December 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2016 4 hours ago, Just Me Asking said: To Helpme389 - I had the same situation as you in NJ. Hopefully I am not to late in responding. Let me know if you still have time to file & I will forward to you my pleading which you can use. I Won my case with no problem. It was a cinch! Reply to me and let me know if you would like me to forward my documents to you. Please send whatever you can. I have until 1/03/17 to respond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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