Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Illinois

Re: personal property lawsuit

Unless you wrongfully obtained possession of the property, your only legal obligation is to return it upon demand to the owner. To protect your right to limit your liability to returning the property, you should not try to anwer the lawsuit on your own, but rather you should hire a lawyer to do so on your behalf. Not only will you have difficulty communicating with the judge (we generally speak a different language than regular people) and have difficulty asserting your rights (it takes us a minimum of three years of post-graduate traning to learn how to do this) but having a lawyer gives your defense credibility you cannot generate without one.

Re: personal property lawsuit

You must answer the lawsuit lest you want to have the law admit on your behalf all allegations contained in the lawsuit. That is the first thing you need to do. In your answer you will have the opportunity to admit, deny or say you don't know (will need an additional affidavit for that) any of the allegations enumerated. Now, you may also have additional independent defenses that you may file as "affirmative defenses." If there are things that the plaintiff in this case could have done to mitigate or all together prevent the occurrence of any of the allegations in the suit, you should point them out and make them answer. Depending on the value of the property, you really should get an attorney...

I hope this helps. If you need more direction or information, contact my office.

Nima Taradji

Re: personal property lawsuit

You must answer the lawsuit. Assert your defenses and make sure the judge is aware that you want to return the item immediately.