Small claims help

[ribengals]

I live in MA and have a small claims court case coming up. The Plaintiff (Midland Funding) claims that I owe their client roughly $500 in credit card purchases for online goods from Pay Pal. I have never heard of either Midland Funding or their client. I do not believe this is my debt, but they have my name and SSN. My question is what kind of proof do they need to prove this is my debt? Don't they need a signed contract or something along those lines? Also, the debt occurred in 2009. Isn't there a statue of limitations? What is the best way to defend myself without a lawyer?

 

[quincy]

I live in MA and have a small claims court case coming up. The Plaintiff (Midland Funding) claims that I owe their client roughly $500 in credit card purchases for online goods from Pay Pal. I have never heard of either Midland Funding or their client. I do not believe this is my debt, but they have my name and SSN. My question is what kind of proof do they need to prove this is my debt? Don't they need a signed contract or something along those lines? Also, the debt occurred in 2009. Isn't there a statue of limitations? What is the best way to defend myself without a lawyer?

There is a six-year statute of limitations for filing a debt collection lawsuit but no statute of limitations for trying to collect on a debt. But it is more complicated than this. And a debt currently under collection action by Midland Funding makes even the complicated more complicated.

Here is a link to Massachusetts laws about debt collections with some excellent articles and resources, followed by a link to small claims information and help:

http://www.mass.gov/courts/case-legal-res/law-lib/laws-by-subj/about/debt.html

http://www.mass.gov/courts/selfhelp/small-claims/

If you haven't done this already, I suggest you pull your credit reports to see how the debt is showing.

Good luck.