I am an attorney, but I am not your attorney. Nothing I say here should be considered legal advice; you need to seek advice and discuss these issues with a competent attorney in your jurisdiction. I am not your lawyer, you are not my client.
Yes, you absolutely need to speak with an attorney, and start looking as soon as possible. Only a handful of lawyers handle credit card debt defense, and you may have to do some real looking to find one that does, especially if you live in a smaller town, so you need to start looking right away. You say that you “probably” owe that amount, and that it’s “probably” within the statute of limitations, which tells me that you might not owe that amount and it might not be within the statute. That is an issue you need to have an attorney investigate. If you’ve been sued and don’t properly respond to the lawsuit, you will have a judgment for that amount, even if the amount was wrong or if the debt was outside of the statute of limitations or the entity suing you could not really prove that they validly held the debt. In other words, somebody can sue you on a bad, unprovable debt far outside of the statute of limitations that you should owe nothing on, and through your inactivity you could end up with a default judgment for thousands of dollars.
You say that you learned of the debt by reading legal notices in the paper; that’s frankly astonishing. Service by publication in a newspaper is generally a last ditch effort when the person filing the lawsuit has exhausted all efforts to find the person being sued and personally serve them with the papers serving them with the lawsuit, and the number of people who actually see legal notices notifying them that they are being sued is roughly equivalent to the number of people who are struck by meteors. If you actually saw a legal notice in the paper that you are being sued you are extremely lucky.
I can’t tell you how to find a lawyer that handles these sorts of cases, but your state’s bar association may have a lawyer referral service that can help. I would ask if they have handled these sorts of cases and what the outcomes have been. Even if the debt is arguably valid, you may be able to negotiate through your attorney a settlement for considerably less than the amount being sued for (especially if you can come up with some cash up front), as the other side may be all too happy to drop the matter for a modest sum of cash in hand. Again, look for a lawyer and keep looking, starting first thing Monday.
Thank you very much. That gives me a start, which is what I was looking for. Yes, I was stunned to see myself in the newspaper, and it was quite on accident! I’m not a hermit, so I’ve no idea how they did not find me.
How do I find out about this lawsuit? Do I just go to the courthouse and ask?
Thanks again for taking the time to help a stranger.
It should have a case/cause number in the notice. Take that number to the county courthouse, and ask to see the complaint. That will tell you who suing, why and who to contact. Take that to a lawyer and see what you can do to avoid a judgment and eventual garnishment.
You could also look for the attorney’s name who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the creditor, and contact them to see about payment arrangements.
Sateryn76 is correct that you should be able to use the notice to find out more about the lawsuit at the courthouse where it was filed. However, I would absolutely contact a lawyer before I directly contacted the party that filed the lawsuit about payment arrangements. I don’t know the law in your jurisdiction, but in my jurisdiction making payment arrangements on a debt that would otherwise be barred by the statute of limitations is a reaffirmation of the debt, meaning that by acknowledging the debt and making payment arrangements for it, you may be putting yourself back on the hook for a debt that otherwise would be legally be unenforceable and uncollectable. Settlement of a debt is something best worked out through a lawyer if possible.
I’d suggest contacting the bar association in California. If they are anything like the bar association in my jurisdiction, they will give you one or more referrals to lawyers in your specific location who handle matters such as you are dealing with. It’s only a few minutes on the phone or Internet to find out if they offer referrals or not. Good luck!
Yes, this is astonishing and it jumped out at me too. How do you know it’s you? Could there be someone else in town with the same name as you? I was under the impression that newspaper service was a last ditch “compliance” gesture when personal service couldn’t be made because the defendant’s whereabouts are unknown. Did you change your address and never notify the bank?
I thought that as well. In order to serve by publication, don’t you generally have to sign an affidavit stating that you’ve searched high and low and to the four corners of the earth for the person, but they simply can’t be found?
If the OP is at a residence and hasn’t been ducking service of process (again without knowing details, just a WAG) an attorney’s first move might be to move to dismiss for improper service. That might be just an annoyance, but it might also put the refiling past the statute of limitations.
I “may” owe 15k in cc debt because I do not know my legal rights and do not wish to admit to anything in writing that may come back to bite me. Also, until I see the actual lawsuit I don’t know for sure what I’m being sued for. (tho I think it’s a pretty good guess)
I really don’t know how they didn’t find me to serve me in person. I haven’t moved. They know where I work, and my job freely (sometimes questionably) gives out employee schedules so our clients can work with their favorite person. It never occurred to me there might be some question about proper service, so I’m glad to know I should investigate that.
The legal notice in the paper is definitely me. I am in a small town. My name is unusual, and it is spelled unusually on top of that.
I’ve no objection paying what I legally owe. But neither do I wish to pay what I do not owe.
Again, thank you everyone for your suggestions, your expertise, and your time. I would appreciate any and all ideas/suggestions you have.
I would answer both of these questions as absolutely yes. First, look at what they have to see if they can prove you owe the debt. They probably can, but don’t make it easy on them.
Like others have said, if you talk to them and look at your finances, you may be able to come to an agreement with the creditor to accept a lesser amount.
If you do nothing, a judgment will be entered against you (which is hell on your credit for 7 years) and they will start looking for assets to collect whether that is non-exempt personal property or your wages (and interest will continue to grow on their judgment, and they can usually reaffirm it forever).
A general piece of advice to anyone who gets behind on debts, has debt collectors calling, etc: While it is easier in the short term to bury your head in the sand and ignore the calls, it is strongly advised to get in front of the situation. Bankruptcy may be the best option. If you have substantial non-exempt assets, it may be your worst option. Getting a professional to evaluate everything for you (and not those debt consolidation whores) is the thing to do immediately; not just for this lawsuit, but for all debts.
If you start now, you can put yourself on a path not to be in a bad financial situation, however painful that may be in the short term. But doing nothing ensures that it will get worse. Good luck!