Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Michigan
How do we handle a debt collector that was paid but sued us anyways? My husband was threatened with being sued by a debt collector. Last week he called the debt collector and paid the debt in full (we have a copy of the cleared check). Today he received a notice from the local courthouse- it is a default judgment against him for that debt. It was dated 4 days AFTER he paid the debt off in full. Obviously something wrong occurred but we don't know what to do or what our rights are in this situation. We never received any kind of notice to appear- just the summons dated way back in January and then the default judgment. What do we do?
1 Answer from Attorneys
I would need a lot more facts that you present to give you a clear answer. You were sued when the lawsuit was filed. That happens before you received the summons. There is never a notice to appear if you don't file an Answer. The notice on the summons requires you to file an Answer within 21 days. A lot of people think that the summons expiration is the court date but that is not true. The expiration of the summons is simply the end of the time that the person that sued has the power to serve the summons. Almost every single consumer I talk to thinks they will be given a court date but that will never happen if you don't file an Answer. You only get a court date when there is a dispute. If you don't file an Answer the court thinks there is no dispute because legally you admit to everything in the Complaint when you don't file an Answer in a timely manner. Sounds like your payment happened after you had already defaulted on the debt.
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