Answered the front door this evening expecting the pizza guy. Turned out it was a process server instead. Apparently, I’m being sued for some doctor’s bills I thought I had paid off, and I have 20 days from today to respond or else the case defaults. The amount I’m being sued for, including filing fees and attorney fees, is something I can easily pay off - about $350. (The principal + interest is slightly over $100, with the fees taking up the rest.) The debt is completely legitimate and I have no intention of trying to dispute that I owe it.
The last page of the filings contained an offer from the collection agency to settle, which I provide verbatim;
Sounds good, but I don’t understand what an “award of costs” is. I looked up the relevant statute (this is WA, for the record) and it didn’t answer my questions much either;
I’m pretty sure I want to settle, but I don’t understand what happens if I do. The $125 is already baked into the total that I’m being sued for. If I settle, do I not pay that? Do I pay the same anyway? Do I end up paying more? What happens if I answer the summons and the court rules against me anyway - do I end up paying more than if I’d defaulted? Should I call them tomorrow and see what they want me to pay? Should I call a lawyer, or is that going to wind up costing me even more than what I’d pay otherwise?
Any general advice from our resident law-talkin’-guys would be much appreciated.
The 'award of costs" business seems to mean that if they sue you, and you then settle before a judgement you may still have to pay for costs including the attorney’s fee. But the $150 is the statutory attorney fee - that doesn’t mean it’s the only cost included. It might involve all sorts of filing fees or costs of photocopying.
Do what I did when I was involved in a small-scale lawsuit: contact a lawyer.
Note this is NOT the same thing as “hire an attorney”.
What I would suggest (meaning, what I would do) is contact a lawyer with some expertise in the area in question and offer to pay for a slice of their time to explain such terms, your possible options, and the consequences of one or another. This should be under an hour and may save you money and trouble down the line.
One thing I suggest you do NOT do is fail to appear on a court date. From my admittedly limited experience this may piss off the judge and certainly does not make you look good. In the case I was involved in the other party wound up being on the hook seven times the original amount asked for, largely because the judge was pissed the other party didn’t bother to show up. Seems to me you’d be better off showing up and saying sorry, lost track of that bill but I have the money and I’m willing to pay the debt right now.
Maybe it’s actually in your interest to show up in court and state your willingness to settle, maybe it’s in your interest to settle beforehand. That seems the be the question here, which one is better for you?
However, I am not a lawyer - that’s why I suggested you contact a real lawyer - and what you do in the end is your decision.
Lawyers are worth their weight in gold. Never go to court by yourself. Even if you’re a lawyer, get another one to represent you. Even if you plan to settle and avoid court, get a lawyer. There is no good outcome without one.
There’s a phone number on the letter. Call, see what kind of a settlement can be negotiated. The debt was probably bought for pennies on the dollar from the doctor’s office, and they will settle for any amount above what they paid for the debt, which is their margin of profit… They might let you off the hook for an immediate payment of a hundred bucks or so. Get the name of the person you talk to, ask for that offer in writing, then send them a check.
No guarantee this will work, but it might. However, the fact that it has gone to process may change all that. Did you ever get a bill for this before, in recent months?
I’m not going to get into the trivia of what is which is Court awards:
The biggest thing you need to be aware of is there is a clock ticking - if that suit is not dismissed, and you do nothing, there will be a default judgement and a massive hit toyour FICO.
It will probably be a straight-forward process to reverse a default judgement, but it will be expensive.
FILE A RESPONSE TO THE SUIT.
Only if the plaintiff will ask for the suit to be dismissed (preferable ‘with prejudice’) can you afford to NOT answer.
If you take the Summons to the Court House/Court Clerk (or local equivalent), if it is a slow day, it is likely someone will give you the correct form and show you how to fill it out.
Worst case: pay a store-front lawyer to file a response.
Once a response (even a “I didn’t do it! Nobody saw me! You can’t prove it” one), the case gets scheduled and a default judgement is avoided.
I would not wait longer than 20 days before filing, even if I planned to pay the silly thing.
Q: Who now owns the debt - the MD or the Collection Co? If the MD still owns it, you can pay the MD (by CA law, at least) and the Collection Co goes away - but not before dismissing with prejudice.
Called the number on the settlement offer. The person was out of the office and I left a message. I’ll try again tomorrow. If I can’t get through still, then I guess I’ll try going to their office in person on my day off next week.
I think you’re doing the right thing. Talk to the guy who can settle the complaint and find out the dollar amount he wants. It’s going to be higher than you expect, because he’s going to tack on legal fees from filing this suit.
If you can bring yourself to pay the amount he quotes, then just pay. If the amount is ridiculous, or if you don’t have the money to pay, or you don’t think you actually owe the money, then you’re going to have to get a lawyer. Your lawyer might be able to negotiate down the amount, since now that you’ve got a lawyer the collection agency is going to go to some expense showing up in court. But then you’re going to have to pay the lawyer.
If the amount is small–for whatever value of small you consider small–and you really do owe the original money, then just settling is going to save you a lot of hassle.
I do legitimately owe the money. I had a lot of bills from a lot of places after my hospital stay earlier this year, and I thought I’d paid them all off but it looks like this one slipped through the cracks.
In my own limited experience working with companies that use collection agencies, once the agency has the debt, the original company (in this case the doctor) aren’t able to take a payment. Because the collection agency now ‘owns’ the debt.
I have gone to court and helped others, through my work, with debt collectors, which are fairly easy to get off your back in courts. I work with a social service agency and this comes up a lot.
Most of the time, they don’t have any of the necessary documents to prove you actually owe the debt and if you fight back, they will drop the suit.
Of course, you could wind up owing it but collection agencies want to settle. Depending on the amount and the court costs and filing an answer fee, you may be ahead by setting it.
The process to fight it, is outlined in may debt forums on the Internet, and far beyond the scope of this forum. One thing you will find if you do hire a lawyer, your hired lawyer will be more interested in settling than fighting and winning.
I talked to the collection agency and they’ve offered me a settlement that’s slightly less than what they were suing for. In exchange for a payment, they’re willing to dismiss the suit and fully discharge the debt from my record.
I’ve gone ahead and prepared the paperwork I need to file just in case I don’t get a notice of dismissal before the 20 days after I was served, but hopefully I won’t need it.
Definitely answer the suit, too. You’ll probably get a court date and in the meantime they will accept the settlement and dismiss it.
I made the mistake of settling a $100 lawsuit (insurance was supposed to cover, didn’t and then lapsed) without answering and I got a default judgment on my credit report for 7 years.