Sued in Tx by PRA - served with Petition and Discovery

[radar]

1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit? Midland Funding

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.)

RAUSCH STURM

3. How much are you being sued for?

$3,xxx.xx

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

CAPITAL ONE

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

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?

None

9. What state and county do you live in?

CAMERON COUNTY, TX

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

July 2017

11. When did you open the account (looking to establish what card agreement may be applicable)?

November 2014

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

Four years.

13. What is the status of your case?

Served

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?

No

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

Until March 4 (first Monday following 20 days from service)

17. What evidence did they send with the summons?

No. Served with Original Petition and First Discovery for Disclosure, Production and Request for Admissions

18.  How did you find out about this site?

Internet search.

 

Hello to all of you. I'm asking for help here as I navigate this law suit. I don't have very much legal knowledge, nor do I have the aid of an attorney, so any help is greatly appreciated.

This law suit was filed against me in Cameron County, TX in a county court. I've submitted photo attachments of the Discovery and part of the Original Petition that I was served with. I have not submitted an Answer to the court just yet. I'd like to learn what advice you might have for me as the Original Petition contains certain claims and legal justifications such as "account stated" and 'breach of contract," which I'm not sure I wholly understand. Any help on what to include in my answer would be great. Where I could especially use some help, too, is in my responses to some of the questions in PRA's discovery request. I have 50 days from date of service to respond, and I don't want to fumble and lose my case. I marked some of the discovery questions that I especially needed help formulating a response to. I know that I have a debt with the Original Creditor; it's PRA that I'm not sure about. Should I acknowledge the debt with the Original Creditor, though?

Also, since I was served with discovery am I able to submit discovery as soon as I file my answer with the court? Any help with a discovery package would be greatly appreciated. I want to understand their case against me better, but I don't want to burden them with naïve requests that could just make me look silly. Does any discovery I send them operate on the same time clock theirs does? I have 50 days to submit answers to their request.

Any help is really appreciated. Thanks to all of you. 

I apologize about the photo quality. I don't have access to a scanner at this moment. I submitted what I thought would be useful and highlighted questions that I could use help answering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nobk4me]

Calling @texasrocker

[texasrocker]

Send a general denial immediately.  I will work on answers to their discovery tomorrow; too tired tonight.

For your answer use the same format as the Plaintiff's Original Petition that you were served with the court and case information on top of the page.

DEFENDANT'S ORIGINAL ANSWER

Comes now, <your name>, the Defendant in the above styled and numbered cause and files this Original Answer in this action and would respectfully show the following:

I.  GENERAL DENIAL

Defendant generally denies each and every, all and singular, of the allegations set forth in the Plaintiff's Original Petition and demands that the Plaintiff proves same by the preponderance of credible evidence.

II. PRAYER

Wherefore Defendant requests judgment of the Court that Plaintiff takes nothing from the Defendant and the Defendant be granted any further relief that he <or she> is justly entitled to.

<Your name, address and phone number>

File it with the court immediately and send a copy to the attorney's office that filed the lawsuit.

[radar]

Thank you both for reading and for your responses. Texasrocker, I will get this general denial to the court straight away. Thanks for helping, too.

[texasrocker]

Please post the discovery portion more clearly.  These scans are too big for the whole page to be displayed and I need to be able to see the entire page and the numerals designating each item.

[radar]

I understand. I will post a more useful file, containing the full discovery, as soon as I’m able to. Thanks again. 

[radar]

@texasrocker

Sorry for the wait, Texasrocker! I had trouble posting to the thread because of a technical error with the forum, but that seems to be cleared up now. I have uploaded the complete discovery in the attached pdf file. Thanks once again.

[texasrocker]

REQUEST FOR DISCLOSURE-

a- <your name>, Portfolio Recovery Associates

b- <your name>, Portfolio Recovery Associates' address and phone number unknown.

c- This is a lawsuit arising out of an alleged consumer credit card debt.  Plaintiff is not a financial institution, not an
   original creditor, and not a lender or issuer of any credit card.  Instead, plaintiff claims to be the owner through an
   assignment but does not identify who assigned the debt. Plaintiff only vaguely alleged an assignment and has not produced
   any evidence of its alleged ownership of the debt.
 
   Defendant generally denies the allegations contained in Plaintiff's Original Petition and demands that Plaintiff be required
   to appear and provide strict proof of said allegations.

d- unknown

e- unknown

f- No expert witnesses at this time.

   1- n/a
   2- n/a
   3- n/a

g- unknown

h- unknown

i- unknown

j- n/a

k- n/a

l- unknown

REQUESTS FOR PRODUCTION-

1- Defendant objects to this request as overbroad and as an impermissible fishing expedition.  If plaintiff were in
   fact the rightful creditor it would already have copies of these documents in its possession.

2- Defendant objects to this request as overbroad and as an impermissible fishing expedition.  If plaintiff were in
   fact the rightful creditor it would already have copies of these documents in its possession.

3- Defendant objects to this request as overbroad and as an impermissible fishing expedition.  If plaintiff were in
   fact the rightful creditor it would already have copies of these documents in its possession.

4- Defendant objects to this request as overbroad and as an impermissible fishing expedition.  If plaintiff were in
   fact the rightful creditor it would already have copies of these documents in its possession.

5- Defendant has not been able to identify the alleged account that is the subject of the lawsuit from the plaintiff's petition and
   from this request.  Defendant will supplement.

6- Defendant has not made any such determination and will supplement.

7- Defendant has not made any such determination and will supplement.

8- Defendant has not yet made this determination.  Defendant will supplement.

9- Defendant has not yet made this determination.  Defendant will supplement.

10- Defendant has not yet made this determination.  Defendant will supplement.

11- Defendant has not yet determined whether to bring a counterclaim. Defendant will supplement in the event that he brings a counterclaim.

12- Defendant has made no such claim. Defendant will supplement.

13- Defendant has made no such assertions. Defendant will supplement.

14- Defendant objects to this request as impermissibly shifting the plaintiff's burden of proving standing to the defendant.  The plaintiff's
    own petition constitutes a judicial admission that plaintiff is not the original creditor.  Plaintiff must plead and prove up any assignment
    and has done neither.

REQUEST FOR ADMISSIONS-

1- Denied.

2- Denied.

3- Denied.

4- Defendant objects to this request as vague and uncertain because there is no way to discern from the request what the plaintiff contends were the "applicable terms and conditions and/or cardholder agreement" and the determination whether these were "applicable" calls for a legal conclusion.  Subject to and not waiving these objections, after a reasonable inquiry the information known or easily available to Defendant is insufficient for Defendant to admit or deny the request.

5- Defendant objects to this request as vague and uncertain because there is no way to discern from the request what interest,
   late fees and other fees and penalties to which the request refers.  Subject to and without waiving these objections, denied.

6- Defendant objects to this request as vague and uncertain because there is no way to discern from the request what the plaintiff
   contends were the "applicable interest rates, late fees, over limit fees or other fees" and the determination whether these were
   "applicable" calls for a legal conclusion.  Subject to and not waiving these objections, after a reasonable inquiry the information
   known or easily obtained by Defendant is insufficient to enable Defendant to admit or deny the request.

7- Denied.

8- Denied.

9- Denied.

10- Denied.

11- Denied.

PLAINTIFF'S FIRST OF INTERROGATORIES-

1- Defendant has never had any account or dealings with Portfolio Recovery Associates and does not owe any money to Portfolio Recovery
   Associates.  There is no evidence that Portfolio Recovery Associates has standing to bring any claim for a debt allegedly owed by
   Defendant to any creditor. Defendant does not recognize the alleged account.

2- Discovery is not yet completed.  Defendant will supplement.

3- Defendant has not filed any counterclaims at this time.

4- Not applicable. Defendant has not filed a counterclaim at this time.

5- Unknown.

[radar]

Wow, thank you @Texasrocker for your aid with this task.

 I did have a question about "defendant will supplement." With such an answer am I promising the plaintiff that I will provide documents either now or at a later time? I have none of the documents the plaintiff is asking me for.

I know that I don't submit my answers to the court; I forward them to the plaintiff's attorney. But should I be providing a letter to the court that I mailed a response, certified mail, along with the proof of receipt? And should that be done for the discovery request I am sending to them? Because the court has on file that plaintiff has submitted first discovery to me but will not have on file that I submitted discovery to them, or that I have submitted an answer for their first discovery. Maybe that doesn't matter??? Any one else is also welcomed to respond.

Once again thank you for the incredible help, Texasrocker.

 

[radar]

Update: I have since mailed first level 1 discovery to plaintiff's attorney and have verified it was received on March 11. I will await their responses.

 

Question: Now, I'm preparing to submit my responses to their own First request for discovery. Can some one help me with how to format that response? I have help with the actual answers, but I'm not sure if there is a required introduction I have to submit with them. I have been reading through TRCP, but I'm not finding any thing about that.

Their request for discovery has a "verification page," too, where I am supposed to sign and also have it notarized. Did I make a mistake not providing a verification page on my own first discovery that I sent them? I figure they know they have to sign all responses to me any way.

Any help, please and thanks.

[texasrocker]

Same format as the petition that you were served with the case and court information at the top.

Then, "Defendant hereby serves and propounds his responses to Plaintiff's Requests for Disclosure, Requests for Production, Request for Admissions and Interrogatories" (without quotation marks)

To: Portfolio Recovery Associates through their attorney of record <attorney's name, address>                                                                                            

From: Defendant, <your name, address>

Just type each of their items and double-space it for your answer below each one, i.e.

RESPONSES FOR REQUEST FOR DISCLOSURE

1. R.194.2(a)  State the correct names to the parties of the lawsuit.                                                                                                                                                ANSWER:    <your name>, Portfolio Recovery Associates

2. ...etc.

Ignore the "verification page."  You do not need to get answers to discovery notarized.

[radar]

It looks like my response never posted here.  I had wanted to say thank you for the very useful help, so thank you. Everything  has been sent off. Just awaiting responses now. 

[radar]

@texasrocker

It is now the 15th of April.  The Plaintiff’s attorney failed to respond to my discovery requests.  I did receive missed calls from her office. However, I did not think it wise to respond.  How should I move forward? 

[texasrocker]

2 hours ago, radar said:

 

@texasrocker

It is now the 15th of April.  The Plaintiff’s attorney failed to respond to my discovery requests.  I did receive missed calls from her office. However, I did not think it wise to respond.  How should I move forward? 

Yes, definitely ignore any calls or letters offering to settle.

Send them a letter via certified mail stating that if you do not receive answers to your discovery within seven days then you intend to file a motion to compel the answers and the complete forward flow agreement showing chain of title of the alleged account.

[radar]

Thank you again for your response, @texasrocker. Does my letter require a special header as the previous correspondence with them did? My general layout for the letter will include a greeting, a statement that this is a good faith attempt to resolve the issue before involving the Court, a reminder of the date discovery was received and how much time has passed, and a statement that if I don't receive within seven days I will have to file a MTC. Should I include any other points?

 

Also, I imagine this is bad for them that they did not respond within 30 days, that it must give me some advantage. Thoughts?

 

Thanks again.

[radar]

@texasrocker

I pm'd you.