Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California
Default AND dismissed at the same time?
I was sued in April for a credit card
debt in the name of an old business.
I was sued for about $4700. They
served someone else by mistake, and
I later found out by accident. I
responded in time to the summons
with a General Denial, with no
affirmative defenses. After that,
there was a process of service
hearing set for the end of Sept. I
just received a Memo of Costs after
judgement with declaration of accred
interest of $25. I checked the case
summary online and all of the
sudden it looks like the following has
occured over a month ago in July:
request for default judgement;
dismissal without prejudice entered;
waiver of atty fees; judgement
entered in the amount of $4220.
Why would they request to waive
their atty fees? Why would the total
judgement amount be $500 less
than amount I was sued for? HOW
can a default judgement AND
dismissal without prejudice be
entered at the same time?? On
what grounds can the plaintiff just
get a default judgement granted
when I responded to the summons??
Also, this account WAS at one time
sold/assigned to a Junk Debt Buyer
who FAILED to respond to my
validation demand, which I have
proof of via certified mail.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Default AND dismissed at the same time?
Q: Why would they request to waive their attorney fees? A:There could be several cognizable reasons, the most likely of which is an inability to produce a contract with an attorney fees clause in it.
Q: Why would total judgment be less than amount requested in complaint? A: Total judgments are usually less than the amount requested b/c plaintiffs usually request more than they are really entitled to.
Q: How can a default judgment and request for dismissal be entered at the same time? A: In order to get the default judgment against you, the court probably required the DOE defendants be dismissed from the case. The court requires this so the case does not remain on its docket for years and years.
Q: On what grounds can plaintiff get a default judgment when I responded to the summons? A: Several; you could have failed to appear at a scheduled trial because you did not get the notice of trial, your response could have been rejected after filing by the court clerk because a default had already been entered, or another technical reason which would require futher investigation.
You have a maximum of 6 months (sometimes less) to file a motion to vacate the default judgment from the date of entry. If you want to claim the defense of Violatin of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (which I would strongly recommend), you will have to file a motion for leave to file a cross complaint after you set aside the judgment.
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