Questioner: Richard
Subject: Court Summons
QUESTION:

I have received a real summons from the superior court of San Diego from Atlantic credit and finance inc and they filed through an attorney in San Francisco. the papers look legit with a file date and i confirmed the case with my superior court with the case number and it has been filed.

it says i should respond in 30 days (filed on 11/6/08) by written response and have a copy served on the plaintiff and it must be in proper legal form if you want the court to hear my case. what should i do? i tried looking for the proper form to use on the San Diego superior court website but i couldn't find the proper forms and i don't know how to get a copy served to the plaintiff. is it too late to send a letter to the collection's agency to validate the debt? and how do I respond to the court?

ANSWER: Yes, it is too late to send a validation letter to the collection agency but the lawyer is a 3rd party debt collector and you should send the lawyer a validation demand. You need to also respond to the summons and send a copy of your response to the attorney accompanied by a certificate of mailing and your demand for admissions and do it all at the same time. Send it certified mail return receipt requested.

You can learn much more about how to do that by listening to my talk radio show which aired this evening and every Monday evening at 9:00 P.M. central time. The shows are always archived at as are many of my training videos.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: so let me get this straight, i shouldn't send anything to the collections agency at this point and just send to the lawyer and court right? how should I respond to the summons and the lawyer? do you have any sample letters for these?

Answer:

Letters get no respect in a court of law. Courts use a special format for all documents. Everything has to be double spaced and follow their rules of procedure. Everything must be prepared in a certain way. Not only that but you have to know how to win or you will lose every time.
You have to know what the other side will most likely do in response to what you do or don't do. If you don't have experience behind you everything you think should win will lose every time. Even though so called sample letters and sample documents are all over the internet those who use them still lose for a multiplicity of reasons. They were sent at the wrong time or they were used in a court of law with different rules of procedure or evidence or they were written and used because somebody thought they had a cute idea that would catch the court or the plaintiff's attorney off guard. Often they quote laws or court cases that have not been used for decades. Some are nothing but junk legal theories. Many people are angered because of how the plaintiff or a debt collector treated them and they believe that the judge ought to be as outraged as they are but judges couldn't care less. Judges aren't there to pat you on the back and wipe away all your tears. Defendants lose almost every time unless they know something the other lawyer don't know or isn't expecting them to know. You can't take bare feet and bare knuckles to a gun fight and expect to come out alive.

No, you shouldn't send anything to the collection agency. It is out of their hands once they turn it over to an attorney. So what does it take to win? You must know the rules of the court system. You must anticipate what the other side is likely to say and do before they do it and be prepared to beat them at their own game. You also have to know how to punch them out and win even though they win the first time around. Just because the judge says its all over don't necessarily mean that it is. It isn't over until you give up. You have to know how to fight back and be willing to do it no matter what. That is what Creditwrench methods teach you how to do. How to stand up, fight hard and win against all odds.