Sued by Hunt & Henriques / Midland Funding! Pls Help.

[ezzierose]

Hello Everyone, 

I am being sued by Midland Funding / Hunt & Henriques. I was informed by my father in law as they left the summons with him. (They first tried my parents home, which I havn't lived there for like 4 years, then lived with the father in law for a couple years). They gave him the summons 2/7/19 (Filing date 12/28/2018).

A little backstory, opened up an account with Comenity Capital Bank in 2014. Used credits and I was paying it off, but unfortunately fell on some hard times and was unable to continue paying. I currently do not have the funds to pay them (working full time, but also supporting my wife who is a stay at home mom and 2 kids, while also paying for mostly everything to support them). Any help and/or advice would be most appreciated. Thank you.

This is what i found searching using my Case No.:

MIDLAND FUNDING LLC VS (deleted to protect my privacy)

Filing Courthouse:   Norwalk Courthouse

Filing Date:  12/28/2018
Case Type:  Collections Case - Purchased Debt (Charged Off Consumer Debt Purchased on or after January 1,2014) (Limited Jurisdiction)
Status:  Pending

01/03/2020 at 08:30 AM in Department A at 12720 Norwalk Blvd., Norwalk, CA 90650
Order to Show Cause Re: Failure to File Proof of Service and Failure to File Default Judgment Pursuant to CRC 3.740

Parties

Plaintiff:  MIDLAND FUNDING LLC

Defendant:  (deleted to protect my privacy)

Attorney for Plaintiff:  JACOBSEN DEVIN 
 

02/13/2019 Proof of Service by Substituted Service; Filed by: Midland Funding LLC (Plaintiff); As to: (deleted to protect my privacy) (Defendant); Proof of Mailing Date: 02/08/2019; Service Cost: 59.50; Service Cost Waived: No

02/13/2019 Declaration re: Due Diligence; Filed by: Midland Funding LLC (Plaintiff); As to: (deleted to protect my privacy) (Defendant)

02/13/2019 Declaration of Mailing; Filed by: Midland Funding LLC (Plaintiff)

01/09/2019 Order to Show Cause Re: Failure to File Proof of Service and Failure to File Default Judgment Pursuant to CRC 3.740 scheduled for 01/03/2020 at 08:30 AM in Norwalk Courthouse at Department A

01/09/2019 Case assigned to Hon. Sheryl M. Beasley in Department A Norwalk Courthouse

12/28/2018 Complaint; Filed by: Midland Funding LLC (Plaintiff); As to: (deleted to protect my privacy) (Defendant)

12/28/2018 Civil Case Cover Sheet; Filed by: Midland Funding LLC (Plaintiff); As to: (deleted to protect my privacy) (Defendant)

12/28/2018 Summons on Complaint; Issued and Filed by: Midland Funding LLC (Plaintiff); As to: (deleted to protect my privacy) (Defendant)

12/28/2018 Declaration in Support of Bus. & Prof. Code 6322.1(c)(1); Filed by: Midland Funding LLC (Plaintiff); As to: (deleted to protect my privacy) (Defendant)

12/28/2018 Order to Show Cause Hearing/Trial Date (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.740); Filed by: Clerk

12/28/2018 Notice of Case Assignment - Limited Civil Case; Filed by: Clerk

12/28/2018 The case is placed in special status of: Collections Case (CCP 3.740)

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit?

MIDLAND FUNDING LCC

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?

$2,242.68

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

COMENITY CAPITAL BANK

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

Served (Handed to my father in law 2/7/19)

8. What was your correspondence (if any) with the people suing you before you think you were being sued?

-No contact with them, just that I received a letter saying intent to sue.

9. What state and county do you live in?

California, Anaheim.

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

Says in the summons: Date of last payment on the credit account was on or about October 26, 2016

11. When did you open the account? (looking to see which agreement/contract may be applied)

I think either 10/2014, 11/2014 or 12/2014. Not sure.

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

Not sure what this means, but from what I can guess… 3-4 Years in CA??

14. What is the status of your case? 

Filing Date:  12/28/2018
Case Type:  Collections Case - Purchased Debt (Charged Off Consumer Debt Purchased on or after January 1,2014) (Limited Jurisdiction)
Status:  Pending

15. Have you disputed the debt with the credit bureaus (both the original creditor and the collection agency?)

No

16. Did you request debt validation before the suit was filed? 

No

17. How long do you have to respond to the suit?

30 days (Feb 7, 2019)

18. We need to know what the "charges" are. Please post what they are claiming.Common counts,account stated,breach of contract,claims of debt for goods sold and delivered,for work performed,for money loaned or advanced,for money paid and repayment is due,for money received on behalf of the plaintiff,money due on an account stated or on an open book account, indebitatus assumpsit, quantum meruit,quantum valebant,unjust enrichment

 

Collections Case - Purchased Debt (Charged Off Consumer Debt Purchased on or after January 1,2014) (Limited Jurisdiction)

19. Is the complaint "verified"? A verified complaint is one in which the last page it has a declaration from someone stating that the information and allegations are true and correct under penalty of perjury.

I’m not sure

20. Did you receive discovery or interrogatory or Admissions (questionnaire) regarding the lawsuit?

No, I don’t think so.

21. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affidavit? Statements from the OC? Contract? List anything else they attached as exhibits.

Exhibit A: True and correct copt of the most recent monthly statement recording a purchase, payment, or balance transfer prior to charge off.

Exhibit B: True and correct copy of billing statement showing the balance due and owing of $3,659.62.

 

Thank you in advanced to anyone who replies/offers advice.

[nobk4me]

I believe Comenity has a nice arbitration clause.  So I would use the arbitration strategy.  Details here:

 

[ezzierose]

3 hours ago, nobk4me said:

I believe Comenity has a nice arbitration clause.  So I would use the arbitration strategy.  Details here:

 

Thank you nobk4me. Very helpful. 

If you (or anyone else) can, tell me if this is the disclosure in my case?

https://d.comenity.net/express/common/Legal/cca.xhtml

Section I - C (Arbritration Provision)

Thank you.

[nobk4me]

Yes, that's it.  This section:  I. Arbitration and jury trial waiver

[ezzierose]

So I filed my answer with the court using the arbitration strategy. I get a letter on 3/18/19 from Hunt & Henriques that reads "Enclosed find Plaintiff's Specially Prepared Interrogatories, Set One, Requests for Admission, Set One and Demand for Production of Documents, Set One which must be answered and returned to this office with 35 days from the date they were mailed to you." 

Basically asking questions if like ,"Did I ever opened an account with this bank, did the bank issue a credit card in my name, did I use the credit card." In which most of the answers to these questions is yes. I am not denying that I opened an account and used the credit card. 

Am I REQUIRED by LAW to answer these questions and submit my answers within 35 days this letter was mailed to me? Just want to know what my next steps are. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advnaced.

NOTE: I still need to file my MTC with the courts as I was pressed for time when filing my answer. 

 

[nobk4me]

1.  File the MTC Arb with the court, with copy to the plaintiff's attorney, NOW.

2.  Answer their discovery with this:  OBJECTION.  Arbitration has been elected.  The scope of discovery is to be determined by the arbitration forum.

[ezzierose]

On 4/9/2019 at 12:30 PM, nobk4me said:

1.  File the MTC Arb with the court, with copy to the plaintiff's attorney, NOW.

2.  Answer their discovery with this:  OBJECTION.  Arbitration has been elected.  The scope of discovery is to be determined by the arbitration forum.

1. So I filed my MTC, but when I went to do it, the clerk told me to go on the court website and make a reservation for a date. I went ahead and tried doing that, only to come to an issue/error that says "Norwalk Courthouse Department A does not allow online reservations for Motion to Compel Arbitration. Please contact the department clerk for further direction." (Screenshot Attached). On the reservation page, it asks me the type of reservation, so I selected Motion to Compel Arbitration. 

I returned to the clerk and showed her the error the site was giving me, not allowing me to make a reservation. She then says she cannot file it without the reservation. She consults with her supervisor and  comes back to tell me, "it's because you cannot do arbitration in a collections case" (Confused look on my face at this point). She eventually says to me, "I will take it, along with the screenshot of the error, and send it up to the judge". She stamped it and I went on with my day. Not sure what my next steps are. I am waiting to see if they send me something in the mail.

2. Where do I put my answer? Do I just write it on the documents they sent me under question 1 or do I write my answer on a separate sheet of paper? 

Thank you.