how do i answer a civil complaint?

[tony_apples]

What is the name of your state? NYS

Hi all.

I am a resident of NYS, and I am a 50% shareholder in a NJ corporation. The corp is insolvent, and owes money to vendors.

One of the vendors, based in Irvine, CA, has filed a civil suit against the corporation, but also named me and my partner. I want to avoid a judgment, as I believe that the debt is a corporate debt only (never filed a personal guarantee).

I have called a few CA attorneys about representing me, and they all want a $5K retainer...I just don't have it, so I need to go it alone.

First, we weren't properly served. I only found out about the suit because the plaintiff's attorney sent to my partner, via regular mail, proof of service - this was about 4 weeks ago. It said that the complaint was mailed out via certified mail in April, and gives the name of the person that signed for it.

We have no idea who that person is - we don't know the name, and the manager of my brother's apartment bldg says he doesn't know the name...so, in short, we never got the complaint.

I wrote to the plaintiff's attorney and told him so, and asked that he mail a copy to my attorney, a NJ lawyer. My attorney received it, but said he wouldn't acknowledge receipt because he isn't representing me in this matter since he is not a CA attorney.

I called the court clerk, and she said that a judgment hasn't been entered yet - that the request for a judgment was rejected "for missing information" and that the plaintiff has a "case management conference" with the judge on 9/23.

1) How do I go about answering the complaint?
2) were we ever properly served?
3) since my attorney got a copy of the complaint (although he didn't acknowledge it) - does this count now as service?
4) should i write the court and let them know about the improper service?

Thanks all. Sorry so long!