received summons for disputed debt

[adevine]

What is the name of your state?Indiana
Last year I have posted that my husband is a research patient for Medtronics Medical who demand physical checkups every year and are unwilling to pay for these but at the onset of research said they would pay for everything. My husband just received a summons from a Francis Niper, attorney for Med-1 Solutions debt collection agency here in Indianapolis. This bill is for services for his exam last fall. My husband has been unemployed for most of the past 14 years due to companies selling and letting go all old employees. This time he is with a company that has not sold and he has earned his first vacation since 1990. He is 65 years old. The summons says his court date is July 22, during the week we are on vacation in NC to see our son. Can anyone help us as to how to get the court date continued?
I had also written a letter to ST. Vincent Hospital in Jan. explaining that Medtronics is to pay. I sent it certified with receipt as instructed from people on this board. We will also need advice as to what to do next?Thank you very much.

 

[JETX]

"The summons says his court date is July 22, during the week we are on vacation in NC to see our son. Can anyone help us as to how to get the court date continued?"
*** If you have an attorney, simply have the attorney request a continuance or a resetting of the trial date (or whatever process the summons requires).
If you do not have an attorney, the process is not highly 'technical' but could require some input from an attorney. I suggest you contact your local/county bar association and ask if they have a referral service. If so, they can refer you to a qualified local attorney for little or no cost for a short consultation.

 

[adevine]

Thank you, Jetx.
We did get the legal advice from the court itself about continuance and we got the case continued until Aug. 12.
Now, we need to know what we should do. We have the letter sent to the hospital and a letter from Medtronics giving us more instructions for them to consider payment. Per a phone call to the hospital, we found out that the CA does have the letter we sent to the hospital. We do plan on taking all these documents to court. We are trying to get legal help through senior aide here in Indianapolis as we can not afford an attorney. Any more advice from anyone is appreciated and if you want more info from us, we will send it. Thank you.

 

[JETX]

Of course, your best bet if possible is to simply pay the debt to remove the litigation then continue pursuing your claim with your insurance company to recover the payment. The problem as I see it is the court will only decide one thing.... do you owe the debt or not. And based on your post, it would appear that the court could only rule one way..... against you.

 

[adevine]

We do not owe the debt. Medtronics is a huge medical vascular device manufacturer who wanted us for research on an aortic stent so they could get it approved by FDA. They promised to pay for all follow up exams that my husband has to have every year. After FDA approval, they changed their mind. Now all these people have to pay. Most are on Medicare. Some have dropped out of the program because of this and put their health in jeopardy.
We are not on Medicare yet and only participated because they promised to pay. All of this is in writing. The tests are over $2000 each year and they know we can't afford that. We will have to file bancruptcy if we are forced to pay. The hospital got tired of waiting on answers from Medtronics and has sent last years bills to collection agencies and we are getting sued. If we had the money we would pay because this creates so much anxiety, I can't handle it.

 

[JETX]

I certainly feel for the position you are in.... but doubt that the court would hear that as a defense to the debt claim (of course, no one can tell.... they might).
In any case, if this is as you state (and the promise for followup is in writing), I would think that a class-action suit would be possible with all the other patients who have been mislead by their claims. You might check to see if there is any current litigation being pursued (I checked and wasn't able to find any), or might contact some attorneys who specialize in medical class action suits.
Something like:
http://www.bigclassaction.com/medical.html
http://www.classactionamerica.com/cases/categories.asp?categoryID=5

 

[adevine]

thank you again Jetx,
I guess we will have to go to court and show them what we have. The hospital even knows it is contested. Yes, as a matter of fact, the person in charge of research at the same hospital encouraged me, in the most subtle way she could legally, to go online and check out sites about Medtronics. I did just that and sent an email to them, that followed many other attempts through their liason here, hospital, and doctors involved. I did get an answer to that email and now they want all of this justification that we are "indigent." (I hate that word because we were perfect prior to all the job sellouts.) So that is where we are now. I have asked them to verify that word to me in their eyes. A class action suit has been discussed with a couple of attorneys in California who have been handling suits for Guidant. I am so reluctant to file suit. It's not my nature. And there were only around 950 people testing this stent.That's why I was hoping to get our personal case solved before we were sued. Then we start all over in the fall when my husband has his exams again with the results going to Medtronics, and they are lifesaving. Thanks for the links. I will definitely look into them.Sorry, I am getting a little off topic for this board.

 

[JETX]

With your providing additional information that this is involving the 'Guidant' stent, then yes, there are several class action suits that might be relevant to your case.
Some can be found at:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=Guidant+stent+class+action&btnG=Google+Search

 

[adevine]

scared what can happen?

We go to court tomorrow on this. I have spoken with Medtronics and they had me submit all bills to them. She said "I will take them to my director, put them on his desk and say pay them." She cannot have a check cut before our court. I have also called legal aid and was promised I would be called Mon. That was two days ago and no call. If the judge determines we have to pay, what do we do? The papers say be prepared with the money. We don't have the money. Can they garnish right off the bat or will we have time for a check to be cut?
Thank you.

 

[JETX]

Can they garnish right off the bat or will we have time for a check to be cut?

Legally, they can garnish as soon as the judgment is final. Depending on the court procedures, the court could rule immediately at the end of the hearing, or could render a judgment at some point in the future. And then after the court rules, you normally have a set time to appeal the ruling (usually 30 days) before the judgment is final.