Please Help, sued by PRA using Hunt & Henriques

[muchafan]

Please if anyone can help me, I have searched in this forum quite a bit and I know there has been others with PRA on here, but I just don't understand any of the legal terms on what to do, they all seemed to have some knowledge on the matter and I'm entirely clueless, if anyone can help me...

 

1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit? Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC

2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? (should be listed at the top of the complaint.) Hunt & Henriques

3. How much are you being sued for? Less than $5,000 but more than $2,000

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

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

6. How were you served? (Mail, In person, Notice on door) My mom was served while I was out

7. Was the service legal as required by your state? I'm not sure

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? None

9. What state and county do you live in? California, USA

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

11. When did you open the account (looking to establish what card agreement may be applicable)? I don't remember

12. What is the SOL on the debt? To find out:  4 years

Statute of Limitations on Debts

13. 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). It says Open - Initial Filing, and at the end Improper/No Service

14. Have you disputed the debt with the credit bureaus (both the original creditor and the collection agency?) No

15. Did you request debt validation before the suit was filed? Note: if you haven't sent a debt validation request before being sued, it likely won't help create FDCPA violations, but disputing after being sued could be useful to show the court that you dispute the debt ('account stated' vs. 'breach of contract'). No, Don't know what this is

16. 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? I have 30 days to respond, They are claiming two actions, the first cause of action is Account Stated saying that within the last four years, an account was stated in writing between myself and the plaintiff and on the account a balance of $****.** was stated to be due by plaintiff. Defendant expressly or impliedly agreed to pay that balance. They are claiming to have purchased the debt but have nothing to prove so.

The Second Clause of Action is Open Book Account.

Here is an example of what the summons/complaint may look like: Sued by a Debt Collector - Learn How to Fight Debt Lawsuits

17. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affidavit? Statements from the OC? Contract? List anything else they attached as exhibits. They have two exhibits of evidence, Exhibit A is supposedly the most recent billing statement from Synchrony Bank prior to charge off, and Exhibit B is another billing statement from Synchrony Bank showing the balance that PRA is asking for.

 

[sadinca]

your mom is the defendant in this case, correct? 

do you know how she wants to handle this matter? 

a complaint has been filed and she needs to answer. if the complaint is not verified, a simple general denial will suffice. http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/pld050.pdf

if the debt is anywhere near the Statute of Limitations, it will have to be raised as affirmative defense. 

[muchafan]

38 minutes ago, sadinca said:

your mom is the defendant in this case, correct? 

do you know how she wants to handle this matter? 

a complaint has been filed and she needs to answer. if the complaint is not verified, a simple general denial will suffice. http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/pld050.pdf

if the debt is anywhere near the Statute of Limitations, it will have to be raised as affirmative defense. 

Thank you for responding and I'm sorry for not making it clear, no my mom is not the defendant in this case, I am, but they gave the papers to my mother when she answered the door.

[sadinca]

ok. so you were served via substituted service. you should receive the summons in the mail within the next few days. substituted services allows you 40 days to file and serve your answer (30days +10days for mailing). unless they claim to have serve you personally. 

you should consider serving a Bill of Particulars. you can serve the bill of particulars even before filing your answer. 

[muchafan]

4 hours ago, sadinca said:

ok. so you were served via substituted service. you should receive the summons in the mail within the next few days. substituted services allows you 40 days to file and serve your answer (30days +10days for mailing). unless they claim to have serve you personally. 

you should consider serving a Bill of Particulars. you can serve the bill of particulars even before filing your answer. 

Sorry for being dense but what exactly does a Bill of Particulars do?

[sadinca]

a BOP is defendants demand for plaintiff to provide a detailed breakdown of all the charges, payments and credits that make up the account.