Sued in small claims under FCRA, they didn't answer

[marbol]

What is the name of your state? TX

I was informed by the clerk of the court that the big giant company I sued didn't bother to respond to the service/suit.

How common is this? Does this usually result in a default judgment, or does it usually result in them claiming improper service, etc.?

I find it hard to believe that this big of a company just didn't respond at all.

How should I protect myself? Should I call them and tell them that the trial in absentia for them is this week?

Thanks

[marbol]

Originally Posted by marbol

What is the name of your state? TX

[...] How should I protect myself? [...]

Thanks

Let me respond to myself from "Debt Guy" since he will undoubtedly reply with something like:
"Pay your bill. I hope they counter sue and get all your money.", "You deadbeat."

Ok - now that we've gotten that out of the way, I would invite serious advise.




P.S.: There is no bills involved in this. It is a non-permissible pull question of about 8 instances.

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by marbol

Let me respond to myself from "Debt Guy" since he will undoubtedly reply with something like:
"Pay your bill. I hope they counter sue and get all your money.", "You deadbeat."

Ok - now that we've gotten that out of the way, I would invite serious advise.




P.S.: There is no bills involved in this. It is a non-permissible pull question of about 8 instances.

I have no clue what you are talking about.

By the way, advise is a verb; advice is a noun.

[tranquility]

You should keep all your posts in the same thread, it gives people one place they can look at for all the background.

There isn't going to be any trial in absentia. That you think there will be makes me think you overstated you prior successes.

[debtcollector`]

Originally Posted by marbol

Let me respond to myself from "Debt Guy" since he will undoubtedly reply with something like:
"Pay your bill. I hope they counter sue and get all your money.", "You deadbeat."

Ok - now that we've gotten that out of the way, I would invite serious advise.




P.S.: There is no bills involved in this. It is a non-permissible pull question of about 8 instances.

As far as I know, Debt Guy has never responded to a poster in such a fashion and you show your abject ignorance by attacking him in such fashion. I think you are quite a sad person. But you give me hope at the same time. When I read your posts I am reminded that Darwin could not have been right. There is no way a species that includes you could have evolved to the level of man. Touched by God. Most of us. You are just touched.

DC

[marbol]

Originally Posted by tranquility

You should keep all your posts in the same thread, it gives people one place they can look at for all the background.

There isn't going to be any trial in absentia. That you think there will be makes me think you overstated you prior successes.

Sure there is. It's set for this Friday.

And I started a new thread because this is a completely different case. If I continued the old thread, people would mistake this lawsuit with the other one.

Can't most of the people here read? FCRA and FDCPA are two different things. That should have clued people in. Or am I only allowed one lawsuit per month?

[marbol]

Originally Posted by debtcollector`

As far as I know, Debt Guy has never responded to a poster in such a fashion and you show your abject ignorance by attacking him in such fashion. I think you are quite a sad person. But you give me hope at the same time. When I read your posts I am reminded that Darwin could not have been right. There is no way a species that includes you could have evolved to the level of man. Touched by God. Most of us. You are just touched.

DC

Oh Maybe it was you I was referring to. But No attack was meant. That's why I put two smilies in there. Lighten up. Sorry Debt Guy. It was someone else I meant to "attack" - although it was meant in fun. Some people here seem to have left their senses of humor somewhere else.

[Texas Pooh]

We don't do "trials in absentia" anymore in Texas (the last one had to do with that unfortunate incident at the Alamo ...).

If the "big giant company" doesn't file an answer or appear at the hearing (no answer must be filed prior to the hearing), a default judgment "may" be entered (that is, if you prove up proper service, the court has personal juridiction over the "big giant company", and the small claims court has jurisdiction over the matter, all of which are highly doubtful).

The "big giant company" has an automatic appeal to the county court, where the entire matter will be tried "de novo" - that is, again, as if the trial in small claims court never happened. Thus, even if they fail to show up in small claims court, it won't matter one bit.

Finally, they will likely move to have the matter removed to federal court and/or seek to have sanctions entered under 1681(n) for filing a frivolous pleading.

[Chien]

Then, again, it might just be you. Any errors in your filing?

A retail agency/client was recently served with a FDCPA suit filed in Small Claims. It’s without merit and fabricated nonsense, and there are at least three absolute defenses, but we respond to such matters. (I monitor compliance and assist with this stuff, as attorneys can’t appear in Small Claims in California).

The point of the story is that the agency was served as “X Corp. dba Y”. X was the founding company and is two generations/acquisitions dissolved and gone. The current president of “Z Corp. dba Y”, justifiably exasperated at going through this kind of thing, said (jokingly) “maybe I should just skip it and let them take judgment”.

There is no “X Corp.” any longer. A default judgment is useless, and the president of Z Corp. must waste a day to get a defense judgment. Only integrity, a respect for the system and a desire to defend the “Y” name will result in a hearing on the merits.

If you were right, TP is right. If you messed up, like my client, "big giant company" has a different kind of "gotcha".

[marbol]

Originally Posted by Texas Pooh

We don't do "trials in absentia" anymore in Texas (the last one had to do with that unfortunate incident at the Alamo ...).

Ok. The clerk of the court called it a trial since they failed to answer.

Originally Posted by Texas Pooh

If the "big giant company" doesn't file an answer or appear at the hearing (no answer must be filed prior to the hearing),

Not sure how that is true, because the clerk asked me what day I wanted to come in and prove my case to the judge. She took my date, gave me a time, and so the "big company" wont' be notified of it first.

Originally Posted by Texas Pooh

a default judgment "may" be entered (that is, if you prove up proper service, the court has personal juridiction over the "big giant company", and the small claims court has jurisdiction over the matter, all of which are highly doubtful).

How do I prove proper service? The constable served the entity that I specified. I got that entity from the Secretary of State of Texas, and have a certificate that states the entity was in business in Texas, and was still an active entity.

Originally Posted by Texas Pooh

The "big giant company" has an automatic appeal to the county court, where the entire matter will be tried "de novo" - that is, again, as if the trial in small claims court never happened. Thus, even if they fail to show up in small claims court, it won't matter one bit.

Yea, I know. If they want to do that. It would cost them more to do that than to settle.

Originally Posted by Texas Pooh

Finally, they will likely move to have the matter removed to federal court and/or seek to have sanctions entered under 1681(n) for filing a frivolous pleading.

Since I also have items in there related to the TFC then I don't think the Federal Court is capable of handling matters pertaining to the Texas Finance Code.

How do you get sanctions against someone for filing a lawsuit? I might loose, but I'd hardly call that frivolous. If I genuinely believe I'm right, how could that be frivolous? The "giant company" put erroneous things on my credit reports. Then I was denied credit because of them. I can show these charges to be true. The law provides for this. This is basically a tort for those damages. Nothing frivolous about it. The "giant company" damaged me.

[marbol]

Originally Posted by Chien

[...]
A retail agency/client was recently served with a FDCPA suit filed in Small Claims. It’s without merit and fabricated nonsense, and there are at least three absolute defenses,
[...]

Nothing is absolute until ruled on....

Mine is FCRA and TFC. Not FDCPA

[Texas Pooh]

Let's see, where to begin ...

1. When a defendant doesn't file an answer or appear in court, a default judgment is entered. If you did not submit evidence of damages in your petition, and/or the damages are not readily apparent ("liquidated", to use the legal term), the court has a hearing and the plaintiff testifies as to damages. In this case, you'll have to prove your actual damages as a result of the defendant's actions, and your maximum result is, of course, $1,000. The court can not order the "big giant company" to remove the allegedly incorrect information from your credit reports. Of course, all the "big giant company" has to do is show up at the hearing and they are entitled to contest the damages.

2. Service, Jurisdiction: Unless the "big giant company" has an office/store/operation in the county and precinct in which you have brought the action, there is no jurisdiction over the defendant.

3. Removal to Federal Court: We've been through all that in your other post. The federal court can and will hear any case which involves a federal case, even if it includes other claims that arise under state court. Thus, once the "big giant company" appeals to state court, they can remove it to federal court.

I actually know that you are not going to believe any of this. I also know that tomorrow you'll post that you were victorious, and/or that the "big giant company" amazingly enough emailed you and you got some allegedly big settlement.

I post more because your posts are incredibly misleading to the average poster, who may actually believe that it is easy to pursue these cases and that a good result is easy. Nothing could be further than the truth. There is a reason that you get the comments you get from the senior members of this forum.

[marbol]

Originally Posted by Texas Pooh

Let's see, where to begin ...

2. Service, Jurisdiction: Unless the "big giant company" has an office/store/operation in the county and precinct in which you have brought the action, there is no jurisdiction over the defendant.

Jurisdiction is complex. In general you have to sue someone in their jurisdiction. But in credit cases, specific law permits suits to be filed in the place where the action that gave rise to the lawsuit took place. In the case of credit reporting agencies, this can be the plaintiff's home county and precinct at times.

Originally Posted by Texas Pooh

3. Removal to Federal Court: We've been through all that in your other post. The federal court can and will hear any case which involves a federal case, even if it includes other claims that arise under state court. Thus, once the "big giant company" appeals to state court, they can remove it to federal court.

Sure, but it gets harder for them to argue that a federal court is best to decide state issues. Cases have been remanded back to state level in the past. It's easy enough to look them up.

Originally Posted by Texas Pooh

I actually know that you are not going to believe any of this. I also know that tomorrow you'll post that you were victorious, and/or that the "big giant company" amazingly enough emailed you and you got some allegedly big settlement.

No big settlement. Most small claims cases are settled. it's usually not worth it to pursue them based on money. Big giant company would probably much rather agree to my terms than continue litigation while paying their attorneys 200+ dollars per hour.

Originally Posted by Texas Pooh

I post more because your posts are incredibly misleading to the average poster, who may actually believe that it is easy to pursue these cases and that a good result is easy. Nothing could be further than the truth. There is a reason that you get the comments you get from the senior members of this forum.

No - what I would like to convey is that when big giant companies don't follow the law, there are remedies available to the "little guy" that will help them force the big companies to follow the law.

All of the settlements I've gotten so far involve much less than 1000 dollars. But the most you can get from suits is not 1000.00 - Some of the statues are "per violation" or "per action" and you can have multiple counts in a single lawsuit. You can even sue multiple defendents in the same lawsuit.

[Texas Pooh]

How about you cite the statute or case law for any of the following completely inaccurate statements, and then we'll have a reasoned discussion:

But in credit cases, specific law permits suits to be filed in the place where the action that gave rise to the lawsuit took place. In the case of credit reporting agencies, this can be the plaintiff's home county and precinct at times.


Sure, but it gets harder for them to argue that a federal court is best to decide state issues. Cases have been remanded back to state level in the past. It's easy enough to look them up.

But the most you can get from suits is not 1000.00 - Some of the statues are "per violation" or "per action" and you can have multiple counts in a single lawsuit