What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? South Dakota
For starters I’m not a lawyer or an aspiring lawyer, so thank you in advance.
I find myself as a defendant in a (frivolous) lawsuit. After I received a summons and complaint I contacted a lawyer and explained my situation being “broke and defendant” in the lawsuit. I decided to defend myself in this matter for financial reasons and most of my information is coming from http://legis.sd.gov/ and similar websites.
I replied to their interrogatories and request for documents. I also sent them a set of interrogatories and request for documents. My understanding for SDCL 15-6-33 is that they had 30 days to respond to my interrogatories and request for documents. Today is day 30 and I haven’t received anything yet so I called the plaintiff’s attorney’s office and the attorney is out of the office on a family matter so I requested to speak to his assistant and she is on vacation so I asked to speak with anyone who is handling the case in the attorney’s absence and no one is available this week…….
I asked the county clerk if there was a motion for an extension and she couldn’t find one so I’m left assuming that they are not moving forward with the case. I suspect that in part they are not moving forward after reviewing my tax filings for the last 2 years……( negative on the net income). However, I’m not planning on staying broke and would like to get this over with.
The two options that I have found seem to be uncommon 1) summary judgement 2) dismissal with prejudice.
I have found a form to request dismissal without prejudice but this seems like the plaintiff could wait and refile the case at a later date, which I obviously don’t want hanging over my head as I try to financially rebuild.
Can I file a “motion to dismiss with prejudice”? If so, how do I get the reasons to the judge? Is that included in the motion or as an attachment?
Should I be looking to file for summary judgement? If so how do I go about that? Most of the allegations are either not disputed i.e. my name, my address the others are too vague to dispute i.e. “The defendant committed fraud” (then never explaining what was/wasn’t done)
Again, my main goal is to get it closed and move on. So far my I have a ton (legal term?) of time involved in this case but my only costs are the certified letters to the plaintiff’s attorney.
If this is a duplicate post, I apologize I tried 3 times - was using IE
Thanks again!
For starters I’m not a lawyer or an aspiring lawyer, so thank you in advance.
I find myself as a defendant in a (frivolous) lawsuit. After I received a summons and complaint I contacted a lawyer and explained my situation being “broke and defendant” in the lawsuit. I decided to defend myself in this matter for financial reasons and most of my information is coming from http://legis.sd.gov/ and similar websites.
I replied to their interrogatories and request for documents. I also sent them a set of interrogatories and request for documents. My understanding for SDCL 15-6-33 is that they had 30 days to respond to my interrogatories and request for documents. Today is day 30 and I haven’t received anything yet so I called the plaintiff’s attorney’s office and the attorney is out of the office on a family matter so I requested to speak to his assistant and she is on vacation so I asked to speak with anyone who is handling the case in the attorney’s absence and no one is available this week…….
I asked the county clerk if there was a motion for an extension and she couldn’t find one so I’m left assuming that they are not moving forward with the case. I suspect that in part they are not moving forward after reviewing my tax filings for the last 2 years……( negative on the net income). However, I’m not planning on staying broke and would like to get this over with.
The two options that I have found seem to be uncommon 1) summary judgement 2) dismissal with prejudice.
I have found a form to request dismissal without prejudice but this seems like the plaintiff could wait and refile the case at a later date, which I obviously don’t want hanging over my head as I try to financially rebuild.
Can I file a “motion to dismiss with prejudice”? If so, how do I get the reasons to the judge? Is that included in the motion or as an attachment?
Should I be looking to file for summary judgement? If so how do I go about that? Most of the allegations are either not disputed i.e. my name, my address the others are too vague to dispute i.e. “The defendant committed fraud” (then never explaining what was/wasn’t done)
Again, my main goal is to get it closed and move on. So far my I have a ton (legal term?) of time involved in this case but my only costs are the certified letters to the plaintiff’s attorney.
If this is a duplicate post, I apologize I tried 3 times - was using IE
Thanks again!