Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Georgia

Am I obligated to advise the plaintiff in a civil case against me that I have filed the response to the summons they sent me? The courts have my response documented, but now the plaintiff is motioning for a default because of my lack of response.


Asked on 7/17/15, 7:09 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Yes. When you file your answer you have to indicate that you served a copy on the plaintiff.

You should send this now and file a response to the motion for default.

See? The problem here is you are being your own lawyer. You have already messed this up. You really need to get your own lawyer if there is something to litigate here.

Let's back up - why are you being sued? For a credit card debt or some other financial obligation? Do you in fact owe this? How long has it been since you paid? Who now is the creditor/plaintiff? What did you say in your answer?

I do not expect an answer to these questions. But you need to think about them and answer for yourself. Depending on what the answer is will dictate your next steps. If this is a debt you owe, lawsuit is by the original creditor and the lawsuit is timely. then you really do not have all that much in the way of a defense. The court does not care why you never paid. A judgment is still going to be entered at some point against you.

If this is for a debt and a junk debt buyer now has it, there may be an issue if they cannot prove that they are now the owners of your account. But you have to engage in what is called discovery to ask them to produce documentation supporting that they are now the account owner. For this, you should get a lawyer.

Obviously if the lawsuit is untimely you should get a lawyer as well. Same if this is for something other than a credit card debt.

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Answered on 7/17/15, 11:00 am


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