Summons in Massachusetts - How Do I respond?

I recently received a summons regarding debt collection. Not only have I received nothing from the Plaintiff (CACH, LLC), but I doubt the validity of the claim. That being said, let%26#039;s assume the debt is real. They claim that it is a credit card debt that was charged off in 11/2005 by my credit card bank and bought by CACH (also known as J Anthony Cambece Law Firm) in 10/2007.

What do I need to do to respond to this Summons. There is no court date or much of anything else describing what I need to do to respond. All it says is that I have 20 days to respond.

Please help me ASAP. Thanks!

Summons in Massachusetts - How Do I respond?

You need to contact an attorney and have them answer the complaint. If you don%26#039;t response to it you will received a default judgment. If you don%26#039;t want to hire an attorney. Go to the court house get a copy of the complaint and denie all the claims. Then file it you also have to send a copy to the opposing attorney

Summons in Massachusetts - How Do I respond?

Hey there!

First off, don%26#039;t freak out. I fought off two such law suits without an attorney, but you just have to know the rules.

Second, they have to prove their claim before they win anything.

Below is some advice I hope you find helpful -- not a lawyer, just speaking from experience:

-- Statute of limitations on credit card debt (is it a credit card?) is 5 years in Massachusetts. If you left the state and returned, the SOL sometimes is %26#039;on hold%26#039;. For example: You acquired the debt in MA, but moved to RI and then back to MA. The SOL stopped the day you left MA and resumed the day you returned.

-- Some states do not permit attorneys to be debt collectors. Check the MA statutes. There are usually strict rules regarding this. Also, most states require debt collection permits. Just because they say they have a permit, don%26#039;t assume it. I fought off one of my cases on that very point.

-- Have you ever heard from this debt collector? If your first and only communication from then was this summons, then they (may) have violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Debt collectors must give you the chance to validate your debt before suing you, but many do not abide by this.

-- There is rarely if ever a court date on a summons. The reason for this is that there are tons of procedural hurdles to get through before a court date can be set. Don%26#039;t assume that the summons is fake. I would, however, call the court house of the county in which the summons was issued to make sure it is genuine. It is also a violation of the FDCPA to impersonate court papers to scare people into paying. This is a NO NO!

-- When you call the court house, ask if you get an extension to answer. In NC where I live, 1 extension is permitted, and I%26#039;m sure this is allowed in MA, too. You will probably have to file a motion to do this. File an extension to answer because 1) it buys you time 2) it will cost the plaintiff more money.

-- I used to live in MA, and I think that they may have a lawyer referral service. Often your first session is free or at a reduced cost, usually for 30 min to an hour. Meet with a lawyer and ask him questions about fighting the case on your own or perhaps hiring one. Fighting a case on your own will require a lot of reading and research. Also, it will require a TON of patience.

-- The summons usually is just a piece of paper with a complaint -- that is what the plaintiff is accusing you of as well as what they want the court to do. Now you have to craft an answer (that is, plead) by responding to the accusations. A good book that you should read is called %26quot;Represent Yourself In Court: How to Prepare %26amp; Try a Winning Case (Represent Yourself in Court)%26quot; -- you can buy it on AMAZON. Great book! It shows you how to write motions and create a pleading. The book is general but it will put you in the right direction.

-- If you decide to do this on your own, bombard the other side (the plaintiff) with discovery requests. Make them produce documents and answer your interrogatories on the debt. Lawyers hate discovery because it is costly. The more expensive you can make this, the more likely that they will drop the law suit.

Interrogatories are questions that you pose to the plaintiff - usually specific questions related to the case.

-- Some people might suggest that you get the debt validated. It%26#039;s too late for that now. You%26#039;re being sued. Use the discovery phase (discovery begins AFTER you file your answer with the court AND the plaintiff has received your Answer -- again, not sure in MA, but you usually have to wait a few days after filing you answer to begin discovery requests) to %26quot;validate%26quot; the debt by asking for contracts, statements, etc.

It%26#039;s important that you file a motion for an extension to file your answer to get an additional 20 days or whatever they allow in MA.

Good luck.

Summons in Massachusetts - How Do I respond?

When you were served with the Summons, you should have received a copy of the complaint too. If you didn%26#039;t, call the attorney who filed the complaint and demand that they send you a copy.

Not surprised that there is a court date listed on the summons...it seems all you have to do is respond to the complaint...the summons should tell you how...if you have any procedural questions, you can always call the Court Clerk and ask them.

Summons in Massachusetts - How Do I respond?

I concur with the poster above-Don%26#039;t freak out. I am going through the same situation. I was initially a little rattled because no one likes the idea of being sued. The legal process can be intimidating, but hold strong. You Can and Should fight them, at least for that fact that it is your right no matter what the situation. I am not an attorney so please do not construe this as legal advice. I have taken legal classes in the past and these are just some things that I have learned that I thought may help you.

You should check your local laws (especially as far as statutes of limitations go), but also google the Rules of Court in your county. The rules outline how pleadings should be composed (check format guideline of the pleadings), filed, and how the process should generally go. It will tell you Motions that you are able to file after your answer has been filed with the court (like Motions for Extensions, Motions to Compel if they do not answer your Interrogatories during Discovery). You will be concerned with the Rules of Civil Procedure portion of your local rules.

Usually these companies just go one step further to intimidate by serving you. They also figure if you can%26#039;t pay the debts they claim you owe, then you can%26#039;t hire an attorney to help you and wont answer the complaint. If you don%26#039;t answer, they automatically get what they ask for even if it is not a legitimate claim or they are breaking the law all over the place. Also read the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

I just found out that the collections company suing me does not even have a license to collect any debts or contact any debtors in my state.

I had never received anything from these collectors either, and it is probably because they did not have a legal right to contact me or collect this debt.

You may be able to talk to a volunteer attorney for a limited amount of time. My county has a program that has this legal service in our library once a week. You may have something similar somewhere. However, they are not always correct. I went to talk to an attorney yesterday and I am 99.9 % positive she was incorrect in a lot of her advice. It was not her area of expertise and she had no problem admitting that.

The last thing is to remember that they have the Burden of Proof since they brought the lawsuit. You do not have to prove anything. They have to prove that they have a legal right to collect this debt, that you actually owe this debt, that you owe the amount listed in the debt, etc. You will want to get this information out of them during the Discovery phase.

Google for your state:

Statute of Limitations on open-ended account

Sample Answer pleadings (you will want to deny any allegations they made in their complaint that are incorrect or you can deny based on insufficient information to form a belief and make sure to respond to each paragraph listed)

How to answer a Lawsuit for Debt Collection

Also, check out this site:

http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/...

Like the poster said above, it is too late to validate now via letter, but it explains the situation.

I hope this helps.

Summons in Massachusetts - How Do I respond?

Hi,

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