Dismissal without Prejudice (Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC)

[Lorenso]

Hi all, new member joining in!

I was sued by Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC for an alleged debt. I filed an answer & motion to compel arbitration. I filed a demand with the American Arbitration Association (AAA) as well.

I just received a letter from local District Court (TX) that Portfolio Recovery Associates filed a notice of non-suit (Texas procedure rules 162 & 163) dismissal without prejudice.

Furthermore, I then received a (strange?) letter from AAA stating they could not arbitrate with Portfolio Recovery Associates in particular. I am not sure how to interpret this letter? (attached).

Any recommendations on next steps to ensure this collection activity stops and is removed? (i.e. formal letter, civil suit, arbitration w/JAMS etc.?)

Thanks,

Lorenso

 

 

 

[nobk4me]

In my opinion, you won.  You don't have to arbitrate.  PRA dismissed the case.  They probably won't sue you again.  If they do, it's rinse and repeat.

As for stopping collection activity, you could send them a cease and desist letter, if they contact you again.  I would not.  I would consider this a victory, and if they contacted me again, if this were my situation, I would monitor their communications for violations of consumer laws.

As for removal from your credit report, you can dispute it with the credit reporting agencies.  Again, I would not.  You dodged a major bullet with this lawsuit.  I would accept it as the victory it is, and not try to push things.

[BackFromTheDebt]

On 1/4/2022 at 2:10 PM, nobk4me said:

In my opinion, you won.  You don't have to arbitrate.  PRA dismissed the case.  They probably won't sue you again.  If they do, it's rinse and repeat.

As for stopping collection activity, you could send them a cease and desist letter, if they contact you again.  I would not.  I would consider this a victory, and if they contacted me again, if this were my situation, I would monitor their communications for violations of consumer laws.

As for removal from your credit report, you can dispute it with the credit reporting agencies.  Again, I would not.  You dodged a major bullet with this lawsuit.  I would accept it as the victory it is, and not try to push things.

This is excellent advice.

 

Take your conditional victory, let sleeping dogs lie.

[HAMMERZIPPY]

i am not clear,  what did portfolio fail to do with in AAA protocol?   that is crazy.  sorry i am late in on this,  but did you file to move it to arbitration? or did they? 

[Bulldoger]

2 hours ago, paigep77 said:

i am not clear,  what did portfolio fail to do with in AAA protocol?   that is crazy.  sorry i am late in on this,  but did you file to move it to arbitration? or did they? 

They don't mention it, more than likely the are not paying fees prolonging arbitration not being forthright you know being PRA.  MCM was ban from AAA years ago to they have since worked out an arrangement with AAA, I assume the same will happen in time with PRA.  As for now this is good news for all that have a PRA account with arbitration clause.  I have one and it will be AAA I file with if they sue me.  SOL is over on July 28, 2022.  Hopefully this holds out till then or they sue me quickly.   

[foreverinourhearts]

is there a cost to pay to file with AAA?

[BackFromTheDebt]

4 hours ago, foreverinourhearts said:

is there a cost to pay to file with AAA?

Yes 

 

In some situations you can file and quickly work out a settlement before you pay.  Most of the time you have to pay.  I think it is $200

[shadow99]

2 hours ago, BackFromTheDebt said:

Yes 

 

In some situations you can file and quickly work out a settlement before you pay.  Most of the time you have to pay.  I think it is $200

A few months ago, I filed with AAA online.  To file that way, I had to pay the fee at the same time as filing. 

The attorney settled with me within a week.

AAA had not had time to review the case to see if it met minimum standards.  They were so busy it took about 2 weeks for them to get back to me about cancelling the case. Since it was so early in the process from their perspective, they refunded the $200 fee I had to pay.

[BackFromTheDebt]

13 hours ago, shadow99 said:

A few months ago, I filed with AAA online.  To file that way, I had to pay the fee at the same time as filing. 

The attorney settled with me within a week.

AAA had not had time to review the case to see if it met minimum standards.  They were so busy it took about 2 weeks for them to get back to me about cancelling the case. Since it was so early in the process from their perspective, they refunded the $200 fee I had to pay.

This is a nice variation on the same theme.  
 

In the old days we had to file by mail.  The fee was billed when they got it.  For some cases I was able to work out a settlement before the fee was paid.  

[shadow99]

4 hours ago, BackFromTheDebt said:

This is a nice variation on the same theme.  
 

In the old days we had to file by mail.  The fee was billed when they got it.  For some cases I was able to work out a settlement before the fee was paid.  

That's why I added my experience. My experience with JAMS during COVID was file by email. The wait for the bill.

If I was more experienced, I probably could have done the same thing you did.  However, it drug out so it cost me $250.  Still a cheap price for the results and I did like that JAMS was much more responsive than AAA - kind of worth the $250 since it was my first time.