Who decides, open acct or written constract

[russeal]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?NE
Who decides if a credit card is an open account, ( an open account so there fore not written) or that it is a written contract? I understand that some courts treat credit cards as a written contract because there is a signed agreement, while others treat it as an unwritten contract because because it is an opened ended contract (as stated in the Truth in Lending Act). Is this done court by court, or is it a state by state decision. Or course I am interested specifically the state of Nebraska. I have been helped greatly by this forum, but I could use just a little more.

Thank you.

[Ladynred]

It really does wind up being the judge's call, so it would be court by court - unless you can present some local case law that supports the open-ended contract stance. Its not unusual for local judges to categorize credit card accounts as written contracts and far too many have no clue with the TILA says. If you're faced with a judge who says 'written contract' you can try to make you case for 'not' , some judges have been known to ammend their position.

[russeal]

Thank you again, where and how do you research local decisions on similar cases? Would it need to be local, like in the same county or just in the state? I have been in contact with a lawyer in the state, but she seems busy or just doesn't care. I am very new to this, and feel lost. You have been a great assist. My questions may be to broad, but again, any help would be appreciated.

[Ladynred]

Unfortunately, all the best sources, like Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw cost a LOT of money to access for case law. You would want to search for cases that are at least NE cases and, even better, in the same district in NE. The best free source, of course, is a local law library that would have NE decisions.

You could try [url]www.naca.net[/url] and see if you can find a consumer protection lawyer in your area.

[russeal]

The lawyer I have contacted is a NACA member. The nearest law library is probably at Lincoln, 90 miles away. I will try the local library, they do have some law books. I am going to try Richard at Fair Debt Collection again, and ask if he can tell me what he bases his info on. Maybe he has such info.
Thanks.