Michigan: Assigned attorneys file lawsuit but then don't??

[weepignwillow66]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Michigan

I received a letter from an attorney's office on October 8th, assigned by the collection agency that now owns my debt. I have verified both. My debt is small claims if gone to court, less than $2,000. The ownership on the account was changed three times before being sold to Midland Funding, LLC (A nasty collector, so I've read). I was given one month to make a payment and then it was sent to the attorney's office. I was also made aware of the change in ownership each time.

The letter from the attorney was to tell me that they are filing a lawsuit against me. Strangely, the letter was typed up on the 8th, signed on the 10th and then postmarked on the 14th. :/

Of course, I called them as soon as I could hoping as they had advised in the letter that I could avoid a lawsuit. When I called I had already checked with the courts here in Michigan to see whether the lawsuit had indeed been filed. Negative. There is no lawsuit filed against me in the State of Michigan.

I am trying to get my a license here in Michigan and I do not want this to reflect badly against me, so I called the attorney's office to either set up a payment plan or pay the entire account off, since the creditor had already told me that any future payments would have to be made through the attorney's office.

I called the office and let them know that I had received their letter. I did not indicate what type of letter I had received, only that I had received it. The woman on the phone then looked up my account with their office and proceeded to let me know that the lawsuit had been filed on the 14th of this month and I owed not only the original debt but also the court fees from the lawsuit. (The letter they sent wasn't even signed until the 10th and wasn't postmarked until the 14th! How is this??) Mind you, I have not received a summons of any sort. When she said this, I asked her why there were court fees. She once again told me that the lawsuit had been filed on the 14th. I asked her if it was filed with the court here with the 61st district court. She verified that yes, it had been. She did not provide me with a case file number of any sort. I then ended the call and called the court to verify that it had indeed been filed. I talked to a clerk at the court who then looked up my name and found nothing that had been filed against me, period. She then suggested I try with the county court. The county court also has nothing.

I have read several complaints with this attorney's office online in several forums and scam alerts that they will start payments with those in debt to "avoid a lawsuit," only for the those already on payment plans with the office to then receive a summons afterwards despite all of this. I'm very uneasy and unsure of how to proceed. I don't want to be taken to court, but it seems that this office has already got its heart set on doing it no matter what I do. The only thing I can think to do is call them and pay the full lump sum, which is financially impossible for me to do, not soon anyway.

Is it legal for them to lie to me and mislead me into believing that a lawsuit was filed even though it hasn't? Can they charge me for court fee's for a lawsuit that hasn't even been filed? I'm not sure how to proceed. The creditor will not take payments from me and I do not know what to do.

Any info or advice is much appreciated!

Thank you!

 

[justalayman]

do you intend on paying off the debt in full (without the court costs)?

what date did you check the court and have you checked with the courts since then? If so, what was your findings?

 

[weepignwillow66]

do you intend on paying off the debt in full (without the court costs)?

what date did you check the court and have you checked with the courts since then? If so, what was your findings?

I do intend on paying it in full. It was the only plan that I could think of to get the monkey off of my back, so to speak.

I checked with the courts on the day that I called the attorney's office, yesterday the 23rd, and then also today. Still nothing. The courts told me there was nothing opened or closed with me listed as the defendant.

 

[justalayman]

it sounds like they are likely doing a lot of things wrong here but before you head off to court to sue them, a bit more from you:



did they give you a total owed?

verbally or in a dunning letter?

did you actually offer to send them the money for the debt?

 

[Mark Maroon]

I received a letter from an attorney's office on October 8th, assigned by the collection agency that now owns my debt. I have verified both. My debt is small claims if gone to court, less than $2,000. The ownership on the account was changed three times before being sold to Midland Funding, LLC (A nasty collector, so I've read). I was given one month to make a payment and then it was sent to the attorney's office. I was also made aware of the change in ownership each time.

The letter from the attorney was to tell me that they are filing a lawsuit against me. Strangely, the letter was typed up on the 8th, signed on the 10th and then postmarked on the 14th.

Nothing unusual so far. Save the letter and the envelope.

I called the office and let them know that I had received their letter. I did not indicate what type of letter I had received, only that I had received it. The woman on the phone then looked up my account with their office and proceeded to let me know that the lawsuit had been filed on the 14th of this month and I owed not only the original debt but also the court fees from the lawsuit. (The letter they sent wasn't even signed until the 10th and wasn't postmarked until the 14th! How is this??) Mind you, I have not received a summons of any sort. When she said this, I asked her why there were court fees. She once again told me that the lawsuit had been filed on the 14th. I asked her if it was filed with the court here with the 61st district court. She verified that yes, it had been. She did not provide me with a case file number of any sort. I then ended the call and called the court to verify that it had indeed been filed. I talked to a clerk at the court who then looked up my name and found nothing that had been filed against me, period. She then suggested I try with the county court. The county court also has nothing.

It's a little unusual that they would have postmarked a letter to you on the 14th suggesting that you call them or they will file a lawsuit against you, and then go ahead and file a lawsuit against you on the 14th anyway, but it's possible. It's also possible that the person you spoke with was lying. Save your notes on this conversation. Yes, once they have to file they will request from the court that you pay fees and costs and interest, etcetera associated with the lawsuit, on top of the original debt. Good that you tried to get what court they claimed to have filed the lawsuit in, and that you checked other courts that they could have filed it in. But remember, just because you can't find it, doesn't mean that they didn't file it. It could be that they filed it in a different court, or that it takes the court a while to get it and docket it,(remember the time from when they wrote the letter to you until you got it in the mail), or that the court clerk who was trying to find the case misspelled your name, etcetera.[/QUOTE]

Is it legal for them to lie to me and mislead me into believing that a lawsuit was filed even though it hasn't? Can they charge me for court fee's for a lawsuit that hasn't even been filed? I'm not sure how to proceed. The creditor will not take payments from me and I do not know what to do.

It is a violation of the FDCPA for them to threaten to sue you if they have no intention of doing so. But I don't think there is a specific time frame related to their intent (ie. I don't think there is a specific time frame between when they threaten to sue and when they have to file). Just because they threaten to sue you, and they don't for a couple of months, doesn't mean that they didn't intend to file suit against you. I am pretty sure that I saw a good case out there where some big collection agency was sued because they sent letters threatening suit when they clearly had no intent to file suit (sorry, I don't have the case off the top of my head). It would be nice to catch them in a lie about having filed suit already, but it's possible that the one person you spoke with was simply confused (or that you were), and they weren't saying that the suit was already filed and that you already owe them court costs, but just that a suit would be filed and what court it would be filed in when it is filed and that you will owe them filing fees after they file. You might try calling them again to see if you can work out a payment plan and find out again what they claim regarding the filing of a law suit and what you owe them.

 

[weepignwillow66]

it sounds like they are likely doing a lot of things wrong here but before you head off to court to sue them, a bit more from you:



did they give you a total owed?

verbally or in a dunning letter?

did you actually offer to send them the money for the debt?

The amount was disclosed in the letter they sent me making me aware that they were going to file a lawsuit. She also told me over the phone that it would be the full amount I owe in addition to a court processing fee as well as other court costs.

I did not offer to send them any money in any shape or form. The conversation didn't get that far. She looked up my account after I informed her that I was calling because I received a letter from their office. She told me what I owed: the balance of the debt, and court costs. My response was, "What court costs?" She then told me that they had already filed a lawsuit. I asked when. She told me the 14th. I told her that I checked with the court records and found no such thing. She then reminded me that it had been filed. I asked her if it was filed with the 61st district court. She said yes. I asked if there was a way that I could obtain proof of that. She responded with, "Proof that the lawsuit was filed?" When I said yes, she told me that she supposes that I could contact the court if they provide such information. I went silent for a moment because I just said that I checked with the court. Now I feel stupid for not asking for the case number. That would have been hard to probably give me for her.

I told her that I needed to look into this and she gave me a toll-free number to call back when need be.

But no, I did not offer to set up payments, pay the amount in full, nothing.

 

[weepignwillow66]

Nothing unusual so far. Save the letter and the envelope.



It's a little unusual that they would have postmarked a letter to you on the 14th suggesting that you call them or they will file a lawsuit against you, and then go ahead and file a lawsuit against you on the 14th anyway, but it's possible. It's also possible that the person you spoke with was lying. Save your notes on this conversation. Yes, once they have to file they will request from the court that you pay fees and costs and interest, etcetera associated with the lawsuit, on top of the original debt. Good that you tried to get what court they claimed to have filed the lawsuit in, and that you checked other courts that they could have filed it in. But remember, just because you can't find it, doesn't mean that they didn't file it. It could be that they filed it in a different court, or that it takes the court a while to get it and docket it,(remember the time from when they wrote the letter to you until you got it in the mail), or that the court clerk who was trying to find the case misspelled your name, etcetera.

It is a violation of the FDCPA for them to threaten to sue you if they have no intention of doing so. But I don't think there is a specific time frame related to their intent (ie. I don't think there is a specific time frame between when they threaten to sue and when they have to file). Just because they threaten to sue you, and they don't for a couple of months, doesn't mean that they didn't intend to file suit against you. I am pretty sure that I saw a good case out there where some big collection agency was sued because they sent letters threatening suit when they clearly had no intent to file suit (sorry, I don't have the case off the top of my head). It would be nice to catch them in a lie about having filed suit already, but it's possible that the one person you spoke with was simply confused (or that you were), and they weren't saying that the suit was already filed and that you already owe them court costs, but just that a suit would be filed and what court it would be filed in when it is filed and that you will owe them filing fees after they file. You might try calling them again to see if you can work out a payment plan and find out again what they claim regarding the filing of a law suit and what you owe them.[/QUOTE]

I spoke with the clerks at the court and asked whether there was a delay with the information showing up in there records. The clerks said that with the small claims courts here that when the lawsuit is filed its immediately available to see both via the internet and of course, right there with them at the court and as of yesterday there was nothing filed against me yet. The only thing that they could find were cases involving my mother from over twelve years ago. We then searched for the plaintiff, Midland Funding LLC, and came up with several records from this month alone. We looked into all the defendants names for possible misspells of my name but nothing even came close to my name and the defendants addresses were neither my address or locations near my address. I checked with the county court and my district court. If they filed with a different county it wouldn't make sense because I have never lived outside of my current county, much less the district.

My only concern about setting up a payment plan is that I do not want this to go to court and it seems that they are going to file the lawsuit whether I set up a payment plan or not.

I feel like this was a shady scare tactic and that I just tipped off their office that I'm not gullible into believing whatever they write or say to me unless I can prove that it is true.

 

[justalayman]

It does not have to be filed in small clzimsl. In fact, it can't be in small claims because you can't have an attorney represent you in small claims so that means they have to file in the regular courts.


Here is what I would do;

Send a check for the amount owed not including the court costs. On the back write;

Payment in full for debt owed to [creditors name]

Send it certified Mail return receipt requested.

Then see what happens.

 

[Mark Maroon]

My only concern about setting up a payment plan is that I do not want this to go to court and it seems that they are going to file the lawsuit whether I set up a payment plan or not.

I would suggest calling them and asking them to send you a letter detailing exactly what you owe them with an accounting of all costs (not just a total sum). If they send you a letter saying that you owe them for court costs, but you are 100% sure that they haven't filed a civil case against you, then I would do as justalayman suggested (ie. pay them just for the original debt, not any court costs, and document the payment and the cover letter that you send with it). Then send them a letter telling them that you are going to sue them for violation of the FDCPA for trying to collect money from you that they know you don't owe them (ie. the court costs for a lawsuit that they claimed they filed against you that they didn't file).

But again I stress that just because you can't find the case doesn't mean that it hasn't been filed or that it isn't on it's way to being filed as we speak (so to speak). Remember, the people that you speak with on the phone are just cogs in a big machine. You might be in the process of being sued, and the cog was simply telling you what is happening as if it was already a foregone conclusion. In other words, the wheels were put in motion on say 10/14, so the cog tells you on the phone that you were sued on 10/14, when in actuality it takes a couple of weeks for them to write up the complaint and get it signed and mail it to the court blah blah blah.

WRT a payment plan. I doubt they would agree to it, but if they did, I wouldn't enter into a payment plan unless they agreed in writing to the payment plan and they agreed not to file a lawsuit unless you missed one of the payments.

 

[weepignwillow66]

I would suggest calling them and asking them to send you a letter detailing exactly what you owe them with an accounting of all costs (not just a total sum). If they send you a letter saying that you owe them for court costs, but you are 100% sure that they haven't filed a civil case against you, then I would do as justalayman suggested (ie. pay them just for the original debt, not any court costs, and document the payment and the cover letter that you send with it). Then send them a letter telling them that you are going to sue them for violation of the FDCPA for trying to collect money from you that they know you don't owe them (ie. the court costs for a lawsuit that they claimed they filed against you that they didn't file).

But again I stress that just because you can't find the case doesn't mean that it hasn't been filed or that it isn't on it's way to being filed as we speak (so to speak). Remember, the people that you speak with on the phone are just cogs in a big machine. You might be in the process of being sued, and the cog was simply telling you what is happening as if it was already a foregone conclusion. In other words, the wheels were put in motion on say 10/14, so the cog tells you on the phone that you were sued on 10/14, when in actuality it takes a couple of weeks for them to write up the complaint and get it signed and mail it to the court blah blah blah.

WRT a payment plan. I doubt they would agree to it, but if they did, I wouldn't enter into a payment plan unless they agreed in writing to the payment plan and they agreed not to file a lawsuit unless you missed one of the payments.

So, lets say that I just want to get this over with. I'll pay all the fees in one lump sum. Even with fees that I may not owe them just so I can get rid of this headache. I'm starting to think that in order to avoid hassles in the future that this is going to be my best route anyway. Just suck it up, dish up the doe, and walk away.

How to a make a check out the law firm in a way that guarantee's that its going to go to the creditor? Would I write: (Attorney's Office)/Original Creditor? Is there a way that I can do that? I'm not finding much online about it.

Also, what is the safest way to get this to them? I don't want to send a personal check because I don't want my personal banking information in their hands in any way shape or form. Would a Cashiers Check work?

I figure if I pay them in full and they try to sue me that the case would just get thrown out because I've paid the debt off.

Does it work that way? I want this taken care of. I have the money (though not easily) and it can be done ASAP.

 

[justalayman]

Office)Original Creditor? Is there a way that I can do that? I'm not finding much online about it.

You don't. In fact, unless you have researched this, there is no way to know if the original creditor even owns the debt still.

but, you can ask the original creditor if you can pay them. You can also ask them if they sold or assigned the debt to another entity. If they sold or assigned it, the original creditor has no right to any of the money you pay.

whoops, I forgot about this:

I received a letter from an attorney's office on October 8th, assigned by the collection agency that now owns my debt. I have verified both.

if the new CA OWNS your debt, then the original creditor is owed nothing.

Also, what is the safest way to get this to them? I don't want to send a personal check because I don't want my personal banking information in their hands in any way shape or form. Would a Cashiers Check work?

sure

I figure if I pay them in full and they try to sue me that the case would just get thrown out because I've paid the debt off.

only if you filed a proper defense.
along with that, it would open them up to being sued

 

[weepignwillow66]

You don't. In fact, unless you have researched this, there is no way to know if the original creditor even owns the debt still.

but, you can ask the original creditor if you can pay them. You can also ask them if they sold or assigned the debt to another entity. If they sold or assigned it, the original creditor has no right to any of the money you pay.

whoops, I forgot about this:

if the new CA OWNS your debt, then the original creditor is owed nothing.






sure

only if you filed a proper defense.
along with that, it would open them up to being sued

The attorney has been assigned the case. I called the collector that now owns the debt and they told me that I will have to work out arrangements with the attorney's office. The attorney is suing on behalf of the Collection Agency. I still make the payment out to the attorney?

I didn't mean original creditor.... I meant current owner. :/ Sorry I have a lot on my mind.

 

[justalayman]

The attorney has been assigned the case. I called the collector that now owns the debt and they told me that I will have to work out arrangements with the attorney's office. The attorney is suing on behalf of the Collection Agency. I still make the payment out to the attorney?

I didn't mean original creditor.... I meant current owner. :/ Sorry I have a lot on my mind.

You can make it out to the creditor. An attorney has a power of attorney to accept payments on behalf of their clients. In fact, most of the time they have trust accounts where they put clients funds. They would be able to take their cut out of that and the rest would be forwarded to the client.

 

[Mark Maroon]

The attorney has been assigned the case. I called the collector that now owns the debt and they told me that I will have to work out arrangements with the attorney's office. The attorney is suing on behalf of the Collection Agency. I still make the payment out to the attorney?

Because debts can be bought and sold, you have to be very clear as to who is doing what. Even your statement that an attorney is suing on behalf of someone else probably isn't strictly accurate. I suspect what you mean is that some "Collection Agency" (CA) now owns your debt, and that an attorney who is representing the CA has asserted to you (in writing and/or on the telephone) that the CA has already filed suit against you or is in the process of filing suit against you.

To restate that, either the attorney is the plaintiff and they are suing you on their own behalf because they own the debt, or the attorney is representing the CA who is the plaintiff that is suing you. But the attorney isn't suing you on behalf of the CA. It's a minor semantic point, but in these kinds of cases it can get very confusing very quickly if you're not clear who is doing what.

If the CA told you that you have to deal with their attorney that is representing them, then that is who you should deal with. Call the attorney and find out what they want to make it all go away. Don't send them any money unless they send you an agreement in writing saying what they will do upon receipt of that money. For instance, the agreement should say something like you will give them $x by such and such a date, and they will agree not to file suit, or they will agree to dismiss any suit already filed, etcetera).

 

[weepignwillow66]

You can make it out to the creditor. An attorney has a power of attorney to accept payments on behalf of their clients. In fact, most of the time they have trust accounts where they put clients funds. They would be able to take their cut out of that and the rest would be forwarded to the client.

Thanks so much

Also, just for fun... The copy of the civil complaint form they sent me was not completely filled out as I stated before. It does not have a case number or anything. However at the top it says
"State of Michigan in the 61st District Court"

I did in fact call that court and there was nothing on file. She told me that no matter what, if it was filed, she'd see it. I think that I might take your advice into consideration on paying only the amount owed for the debt if in fact they send me an accounting copy on the amount they want from me and it includes court fees that sore sky high. If it was only $64 dollars I would just deal with it. But she was talking over $1000 dollars on the phone.