Finding out you're being sued is never pleasant. It often happens when some stranger knocks on your door at home or shows up at your work and hands you a summons and petition. You may start to panic and immediately want to give up, and, truly, this is what they want you to do. Instead of panicking, take a deep breath and resolve to address the issue in a way that protects your economic interests. If you do that, you've already taken the first, most important step towards defending yourself from the debt collectors. You'll find out it isn't as scary as you thought, and if you can force the debt collector to dismiss its claim "with prejudice" and go away, you can begin to repair and restore your credit report much faster than if you hadn't been sued.
Litigation in Three Acts
All litigation has three "phases" or stages, each with a few steps: the time from discovery of the lawsuit up till the first day of court or the first document is due to be filed, the discovery or preparation phase, and trial itself. These articles focus primarily on the first stage because, in debt litigation, that is where approximately 95% of the cases are won or lost.
This series of articles should help you handle the shock of being sued and begin to prepare you to fight. You'll see why you have a good chance to win and how to get started. You'll see what to do and some resources that will help you do it.
Debt Litigation is Manageable
A lawsuit - even a debt collection suit - taken as a whole - is not totally simple, and you will have to learn how to do some new things along the way. There's no way to avoid that, even if it was a good idea, because so much about the law is "learn-by- doing." But actually this learning is a good, as well as necessary, thing. If you're being sued, you want to make sure you win the current suit if at all possible and prevent any others from happening. You will be learning how to do that.
At least each actual step will be pretty simple, and most of them are even easy. As you go through this, remember that debt collection lawsuits are not complicated; the debt collectors probably do not have what they need to win and are hoping to scare you into giving up; and debt cases quickly become unprofitable to the debt collectors if you fight. The more they think you will fight, the more likely they are to give up. You just need to follow some simple steps to keep fighting.
Debt Law Is Unusual
There are some kinds of law where it might be disastrous to try to defend yourself, whereas other types are better opportunities to represent yourself "pro se." Luckily debt law is of this type: the law isn't very complicated and does not require you to some of the things that would be really hard to do by yourself. It doesn't require elaborate examination or cross-examination techniques because debt law cases rarely come down to questions of "credibility" (whether or not you believe a witness). Instead, debt law cases are usually determined on one of just a few "technicalities" regarding evidence.
Also, because of the economics involved, the debt collectors have little incentive to work hard at your case. It might be possible for them to get aggressive and to make it harder on you - but it isn't possible for them to do that and still make a profit on your case if you know what you're doing. Since they are in business to make profit, there's an excellent chance they will eventually give up and drop your case. In other words, if you keep fighting, they will probably eventually dismiss the case.
In the next part of this article, we will begin to discuss the actual steps you must take to defend and protect yourself.
Are you being sued for debt or worried you might be? For a free report on the seven steps to take if you get sued for debt and a series of videos and articles showing you how to take each step, please visit my site at Seven Steps when Sued for Debt. Or just check out my site, which has everything you need to defend yourself from the debt collectors. Your Legal Leg Up.
Kenneth H. Gibert.
I Received a J.D. from Washington University Law School in 1989 and after working with the Federal Court of Appeals for a year practiced law in St. Louis city and county (federal, state and local courts) for over fifteen years, the last several of which were focused almost exclusively on debt litigation. My mission is to protect ordinary people from being taken advantage of by the debt collectors.
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