Motion to set aside judgment

[Information3]

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

Hello,

Recently I was sued for debt collection. I filed my answer pro bono and was in contact with plaintiff's attorneys. I expected next to hear back from the court about future dates, but instead summary judgement was issued against me. The affadavit submitted with plaintiff's motion included new evidence which the court used to issue summary judgement. But the law clearly states that such documents had to be provided to defendant at a later date than indicated in the evidence.

For simplicity, according to the statute the document submitted by Plaintiff would have to be dated at least sometime after Dec. '09 and most likely later, during the calendar year 2010.

The document submitted in motion for summary judgement was dated 2008. According to statute, it should not be relevant to the case.

I called the clerk and asked for information about filing appeal, since in my opinion there is a clearly incorrect legal ruling. The clerk advised me to file motion to set aside the judgement. What should I do? Is there a template for this? It was easy to find resources online to learn how to file and submit my answer after I was summoned, but not so easy to find out how to file motion or appeal in response to summary judgement.

Thank you.

 

[Zigner]

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

Hello,

Recently I was sued for debt collection. I filed my answer pro bono and was in contact with plaintiff's attorneys. I expected next to hear back from the court about future dates, but instead summary judgement was issued against me. The affadavit submitted with plaintiff's motion included new evidence which the court used to issue summary judgement. But the law clearly states that such documents had to be provided to defendant at a later date than indicated in the evidence.

For simplicity, according to the statute the document submitted by Plaintiff would have to be dated at least sometime after Dec. '09 and most likely later, during the calendar year 2010.

The document submitted in motion for summary judgement was dated 2008. According to statute, it should not be relevant to the case.

I called the clerk and asked for information about filing appeal, since in my opinion there is a clearly incorrect legal ruling. The clerk advised me to file motion to set aside the judgement. What should I do? Is there a template for this? It was easy to find resources online to learn how to file and submit my answer after I was summoned, but not so easy to find out how to file motion or appeal in response to summary judgement.

Thank you.

I don't know how much money we're talking about, but your understanding and competence in the legal arena is sorely lacking. You should really consider talking to an attorney.

 

[Information3]

I don't know how much money we're talking about, but your understanding and competence in the legal arena is sorely lacking. You should really consider talking to an attorney.

I understand that I am ignorant of the procedural rules for legal cases. If I could afford to hire an attorney, I would have done so. Since I cannot, I am asking for what limited help I can receive here. Any would be appreciated.

I feel I have a valid legal defense. I was not given the opportunity to present it. The plaintiff's evidence it submitted to the court is dated and not relevant to the case, according to the law. The statute clearly states they must have provided those documents and resources to the defendant at a later date, or they did not fulfill their obligations as creditor. Am I not entitled to defend myself in court? How can summary judgement be issued by such a gross misapplication of the law?

 

[quincy]

I understand that I am ignorant of the procedural rules for legal cases. If I could afford to hire an attorney, I would have done so. Since I cannot, I am asking for what limited help I can receive here. Any would be appreciated.

I feel I have a valid legal defense. I was not given the opportunity to present it. The plaintiff's evidence it submitted to the court is dated and not relevant to the case, according to the law. The statute clearly states they must have provided those documents and resources to the defendant at a later date, or they did not fulfill their obligations as creditor. Am I not entitled to defend myself in court? How can summary judgement be issued by such a gross misapplication of the law?

Here is a link to a motion form for setting aside a judgment, from Hamilton County. You can find a similar form for your county at your county court.

https://www.hamiltoncounty.in.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/9867

 

[Zigner]

I understand that I am ignorant of the procedural rules for legal cases. If I could afford to hire an attorney, I would have done so. Since I cannot, I am asking for what limited help I can receive here. Any would be appreciated.

I feel I have a valid legal defense. I was not given the opportunity to present it. The plaintiff's evidence it submitted to the court is dated and not relevant to the case, according to the law. The statute clearly states they must have provided those documents and resources to the defendant at a later date, or they did not fulfill their obligations as creditor. Am I not entitled to defend myself in court? How can summary judgement be issued by such a gross misapplication of the law?

If you are CLEARLY liable for the amount, a summary judgment may be issued. You say they included "... new evidence which the court used to issue summary judgement." How do you know that the new evidence was used as a part of the decision-making process? Why do you believe that the original evidence wasn't enough to allow for the issuance of a summary judgment? How do you expect to argue that your interpretation of the law is correct?

 

[Zigner]

Here is a link to a motion form for setting aside a judgment, from Hamilton County. You can find a similar form for your county at your county court.

https://www.hamiltoncounty.in.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/9867

This wasn't a default judgment. This was a summary judgment.

 

[adjusterjack]

The clerk advised me to file motion to set aside the judgement. What should I do? Is there a template for this? It was easy to find resources online to learn how to file and submit my answer after I was summoned, but not so easy to find out how to file motion or appeal in response to summary judgment.

Probably too late after almost 10 years and even if the court would entertain such a motion at this late date you probably don't have grounds.

See Indiana Trial Rule 60 - Relief from judgment or order.

http://www.in.gov/judiciary/rules/trial_proc/#_Toc502746831

For one thing, motions for relief have to be filed within a reasonable time or within a year of the judgment depending on the grounds.

You were able to file a response to the initial complaint but did you file a response to the Motion For Summary Judgment? If not, then your failure to do so is not grounds for setting aside the judgment.

I feel I have a valid legal defense. I was not given the opportunity to present it. The plaintiff's evidence it submitted to the court is dated and not relevant to the case, according to the law. The statute clearly states they must have provided those documents and resources to the defendant at a later date, or they did not fulfill their obligations as creditor. Am I not entitled to defend myself in court? How can summary judgement be issued by such a gross misapplication of the law?

How? That's easy. You failed to properly respond to the Motion for Summary Judgment. You had the opportunity to do so at the time it was filed. You could have challenged the evidence and raised your defense at that time.

What a Motion for Summary Judgment does is ask the court to rule that there isn't any dispute about the facts and for the court to make a decision based on those facts.

If you didn't come forward with a response that says yes there is a dispute on the facts and here's why, then the judgment was properly rendered against you and that was that.

You didn't know the procedure and you couldn't afford an attorney. Sorry, but there's no fixing that now.

 

[quincy]

And here is a link to Rules of Trial Procedure, Rule 60 (see Rule 60 B):

https://www.in.gov/judiciary/rules/trial_proc/index.html#_Toc502746831



(we posted Rule 60 at the same time)

 

[Zigner]

Probably too late after almost 10 years and even if the court would entertain such a motion at this late date you probably don't have grounds.

See Indiana Trial Rule 60 - Relief from judgment or order.

http://www.in.gov/judiciary/rules/trial_proc/#_Toc502746831

For one thing, motions for relief have to be filed within a reasonable time or within a year of the judgment depending on the grounds.

You were able to file a response to the initial complaint but did you file a response to the Motion For Summary Judgment? If not, then your failure to do so is not grounds for setting aside the judgment.

I don't think you're reading the OP right. The court case is recent...the documents are old.

 

[quincy]

This wasn't a default judgment. This was a summary judgment.

I see that now. The thread title says "motion to set aside judgment." I ran with that.

A form should be available at his county court.

 

[Information3]

If you are CLEARLY liable for the amount, a summary judgment may be issued. You say they included "... new evidence which the court used to issue summary judgement." How do you know that the new evidence was used as a part of the decision-making process? Why do you believe that the original evidence wasn't enough to allow for the issuance of a summary judgment? How do you expect to argue that your interpretation of the law is correct?

Thank you Zigner and all for taking the time to help. In their motion for summary judgement, the plaintiff's attorneys included an affidavit and documents that specifically addressed the defense I stated in my answer. Namely, I argued that according to statute, Plaintiff had obligations as a creditor to provide me with specific documents and counseling services and they had not fulfilled those obligations. They subsequently submitted the documents to the court with their motion (which was immediately granted), but I believe the date of those documents makes them irrelevant to the case. There is a time-dependent component to the statute that was not satisfied. Now I am not even allowed to argue that or point it out.

 

[Zigner]

Thank you Zigner and all for taking the time to help. In their motion for summary judgement, the plaintiff's attorneys included an affidavit and documents that specifically addressed the defense I stated in my answer. Namely, I argued that according to statute, Plaintiff had obligations as a creditor to provide me with specific documents and counseling services and they had not fulfilled those obligations. They subsequently submitted the documents to the court with their motion (which was immediately granted), but I believe the date of those documents makes them irrelevant to the case. There is a time-dependent component to the statute that was not satisfied. Now I am not even allowed to argue that or point it out.

Likely because it doesn't change the facts of the case.

 

[Information3]

Probably too late after almost 10 years and even if the court would entertain such a motion at this late date you probably don't have grounds.

As Zigner noted, the case is new. All of this is very recent, except for the debt which is old.

You were able to file a response to the initial complaint but did you file a response to the Motion For Summary Judgment? If not, then your failure to do so is not grounds for setting aside the judgment.



How? That's easy. You failed to properly respond to the Motion for Summary Judgment. You had the opportunity to do so at the time it was filed....Sorry, but there's no fixing that now.

The sworn affidavit is dated. I assume it took the motion+affidavit a couple/few days to travel from out of state mail to my address as well as the court. A few days later, the judgement was issued. We are talking ~1 week here in which all of that happened. I could be wrong, I am not a lawyer, but I would be surprised if the judgement against me happened because I failed to respond in a timely manner. I don't know of any deadlines that are so quick. I had 20 days to respond to the answer, for instance.

 

[adjusterjack]

I don't think you're reading the OP right. The court case is recent...the documents are old.

You're right. I just noticed the word "recently" in the original post.

 

[Information3]

Likely because it doesn't change the facts of the case.

I don't understand how it doesn't change the facts of the case. Under the terms of the contract, the creditor had obligations they had to satisfy according to the law. I would argue they did not satisfy those obligations. It is discouraging to have something like that overlooked and not even be able to defend my case.