My question is about 5 days ago I called the collection company coming after me to settle which I did. The money has been withdrawn from my checking the only thing is I have a Pretrial conference tomorrow afternoon. Is it nessary to show up because I have already paid them back in one lump sum. Also this is in Brevard county FL.
Listen! Rid yourself of the notion that you can safely ignore attending the pretrial conference because you think that you "
have paid them back in full"! What is important is what the judge thinks.
And DO NOT rely on the plaintiff's lawyer telling the judge that the claim has been fully satisfied. (If he knew it had been paid, there wouldn't be a pre-trial conference!) You need to be in attendance with your proof of payment and demand that the attorney verify with his client that the claim has been fully satisfied.
Often communicating verification of payment to the lawyer is lost or delayed so if they lawyer doesn't have it at hand, then ask that the conference be continued until he is able to verify with his client.
What you need is a for the plaintiff to file a motion for an order dismissing its lawsuit WITH PREJUDICE!
And as I have already mentioned if the lawyer was aware that the claim has been fully satisfied, he would have filed such a motion and had the pretrial conference vacated! The fact that it has not been vacated should be a warning to you and one not to be neglected!
